No Fun Fest 2009 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg - May 15, 2009

It's hard to open up a music festival, especially one packed to the brim with discriminating hipsters and demanding electronic noise elitists. Playing a double neck guitar with a violin bow through a couple of ebows and effects pedals, Noveller builds layers of atmospheric and melodic waves of sound that develops into a pleasant and peaceful wash of noise. She even seems like she'd be fun to hang out with, we could talk about all her quirky electronics experiments. Either that, or it would be really awkward. Ha.

Chris Corsano contributed his own considerable 2 cents to this festival dedicated to experimental sound. For this show, he built a custom sensory mic which he ran through a distorted amp and placed in various positions around his hi-hat. All that noise from just one hi-hat! Then for a finale, he jumped on a real kit and showed off some chops for literally a minute. He should've played it longer! My buddy Alex (who went to school with Chris) told me that he recently went on a world tour with Bjork as her drummer, so you know he's got skillz...

Thrones was pretty bad ass. Kind of like if a heavy metal bass god from the 70's retired to a cave with a bunch of electronics, only to emerge 20 years later with a sound no one has heard before. He had a massive setup, playing through at least two amps and three cabinets, including an 8x10 (those always sound amazing). Some moments were pure magic, where I had no idea how he was creating the music I was hearing. How in the heck did he make his voice sound like that? It's not an auto-tune, and clearly there is some kind of upper-octave pitch-shifting, but I really don't know what is going on. No matter, I'm glad I got to see Thrones once in my life, even though I had never heard of him before! He's straight out of the dungeons of rock.

So Cow w/ Diehard @ Bruar Falls, May 7th, 2009

So Cow is a lovely three-piece indie-pop band from Ireland on their first American tour. Actually this was their first show in the states, and I must say it was a success. There's something so endearing about a tight 3-piece band with no weak links, playing 2-minute up-tempo pop-gems. Check out "Casablanca" for taste.

Diehard played a more relaxed and confident 2nd show. I just blogged about them, so I won't go into detail. But I seemed to like the second half of their set better than the first, better tunes maybe? One note of critique, their drummer doesn't have to hit the snare drum quite so hard, we can all hear it...

Comet Gain w/ Crystal Stilts and Cold Cave @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, April 12th, 2009

If you don't like Comet Gain, I don't think we can be friends anymore. Yep, friendship over. But why wouldn't you like them? I see no reason. I have been looking forward to this show for quite some time. I haven't seen them since they played with Girlfrendo (currently members of Love Is All) and The Aisler's Set at NYU back in 2000! Phew, that takes me back! Needless to say, they were great! Finally a band having fun on stage AND playing good songs. What's not to like? And they give good advice, "It's never too late to live your life."



Crystal Stilts also had a good night, probably inspired by having a solid headliner after them. Also, did I smell weed drifting in from back stage right before they played? Might have something to do with it...


My buddy Kevin really likes Cold Cave, so I wanted to give them a shot, but I just couldn't get into it. I even bought a cassette, to see if their recorded stuff was better, but alas, not so. Their lead singer kinda tries to project Noel Gallagher on stage. Eh.

Kurt Vile @ Silent Barn, Friday April 3rd, 2009

Kurt Vile was exactly what I needed after a long week of 9-5. I actually enjoyed his live show better than his most recent record, Constant Hitmaker, mainly because this was a mostly a solo acoustic set, which is a little more intimate than an effects-heavy full band set. Check out the video... Lush! Dreamy! Psych!

Diehard w/ DD/MM/YYYY @ Union Hall, Tuesday March 31st, 2009

Diehard is my buddy Ezra's brand-spanking new band with all original music. Ezra doubles as the lead singer in The Blue Album Group, a Weezer album tribute band, and as expected, some of the sweetness and power-pop charm of the Weez is present in his original music (think green-album weezer, still bubblegum but not as super-pop or emotional as the first two albums -- and not as shitty as the rest of them). With Liz's female vocal harmonies, you get a touch of the Rentals for added flavor. This was their first show ever, so understandably they were a little nervous and you can't expect perfection in a first outing. But I liked what I heard (what can I say, smartly-crafted indie-pop is my jam), and I'd love to see them again as a tighter, more well-oiled machine. Great job Ezra! You make me want to start a indie-pop band myself!


DD/MM/YYYY (pronounced "date format" ? --not sure) has been popping up on some pretty impressive line-ups lately so I'm glad I got a chance to check 'em out. They were uber-tight and energetic (and sweaty!), with lots of UFO sound effects, instrument switching, and band camaraderie. Good stuff, but I couldn't really make out any of the lyrics and the hooks never really grabbed me, so I'm not anxious to see them again, but it was nice to see a band this devoted to the craft and perfection of their music.

Ray Concepcion y Cafe Con Leche @ some bar on 1st avenue, March 22nd, 2009

I don't usually go for Latin bands, but I was walking home up 1st avenue and heard some amazing Puerto Rican music drifting from a random bar, and decided to stop in for Ray Concepcion y Cafe Con Leche's set. To be honest their bass player, Louie Arona, is who really drew me in. He had this way of not playing the root notes, and yet still weaving together some really beautiful and musical lines, all while keeping the form and rhythm. Nice job.

Woods w/ Let's Wrestle, Ca-USE Co-MOTION @ Monster Island, March 12th, 2009

I love Woods. They're one of my favorite bands out there right now. Last time I saw them, about a year ago, they were kind of sloppy, but they've really focused and refined their sound, and now it's like this perfect mix of sweet and melancholy indie psych. I like how they sing through those lo-fi vintage microphones, which slightly distort their voices in a pleasant way. I didn't recognize many of the songs (but they did play 'don't pass on me,' one of my favs =). They were selling a new LP, which hasn't dropped yet, so I'm def looking forward to hearing that!





Let's Wrestle plays some really catchy up-tempo indie-garage (i really like how their myspace address is 'letsfuckingwrestle' =). They came all the way from England to play this show. They were ridiculously tight, which is always a pleasure. The Cribs comparisons are justified in terms of their sound, but Let's Wrestle aren't pricks (jk cribs, you know i <3 u). Just try to not dance along to "I Won't Lie To You." That song rules. See them while you can...

Ca-USE Co-MOTION closed this show, and they really "brought it," probably inspired by the solid performances before them. Ferocious. There was a big dance party up front, but I stopped taking photos at this point to go socialize.