Yellow Tears @ Whitney Museum, Friday March 26th, 2009

Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Couch For a Long Time, 2009.
Photograph by Dan Kvitka.

Okay, so I arrived a little late and missed most of Thurston Moore's noise set for this Whitney Biennial event (but I saw him at Glasslands a while back and it was fantastic, so I don't feel too bad). Anyway, Thurston was gonna headline, but didn't want to follow Yellow Tears, and with good reason, they have a monstrous sound and deserved the top spot.

Yellow Tears are what I would describe as "weirdo noise." Their sound-scape collage is consistently unexpected and indescribable, thus perfect for an Art Museum show. They used one sample of a woman screaming in pain, as if she were being stabbed or murdered, that really blew everyone's mind (or at least mine). I couldn't see very well, but I did see the band doing these contorted facial expressions and rapid tongue movements to the music, that in any other context would seem really off-putting, but somehow worked with the strange music. Check out their album The Piss Mop to see what I mean...

Choir Of Young Believers @ Pianos, March 11, 2010

Beautiful, just beautiful! If the stupid bouncer hadn't detained me at the door for 15 minutes for no reason, I would've seen the whole Choir Of Young Believers set (I guess I was in a line full of scheezy dudes -- but I was going to the show! not to hit on girls at the bar!). As it was, I walked in right during a lush version of "Next Summer" and I knew I was in the right place. They came all the way from Denmark for what I assume is their first US visit. Wow. They were amazing. Jannis Makrigiannis has one of the most beautiful voices out there, just as shimmery as Band of Horses or Fleet Foxes, but COYB tunes are slower and more exposed (instead of hiding under a wall of sound, you can hear every note). Their drummer was real good. Shit, they all were. I was worried their live show would be too EMO or too slow or depressing. Not even close, they're were pros and even rocked out a bit at times. They played a few new songs that were also choice. This band will be huge in like a year or two. They probably already are in Europe. See 'em in a small venue, if ya can...

The Morning Benders @ Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, February 25th, 2009

It's hard to resist The Morning Benders for a regular show, but an all-acoustic bookstore gig? With proceeds going to fight hiv/aids? Near impossible! ("You say the money for this beer goes to fight aids? Yes, I'll have another, and I'm buying one for Carl!"). There was also a cool CD swap thing at this show. I traded my Veckatimest record for a Miles Davis CD, which I didn't end up liking. Oh well, still a cool concept...

So, TMB have a new album out, Big Echo, but it wasn't out yet for this show, so most of us didn't know all the new songs they played. No matter, we all sang along with the new single, "Excuses" for the closer, which was pretty cool. It was lead-singer Christopher Chu's birthday, so I'm sure it was a special night for the band too. And it looks like TMB are moving to nyc too, so now we can go hang out at The Levee together and be friends. Sweet! BTW, the whole line up for this show was good Check out Shark? and Cuddle Magic. Both solid.

Here We Go Magic @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, January 29th, 2009

What's nice about having a blog in which you don't really care about whether it 'blows up' is that you can take your sweet ol' time in posting. I saw Here We Go Magic a couple of weeks ago. They've got one of the best albums out this year and I've been waiting a while for them to get their act together and play a show (they play surpisingly infrequently for a 'local' band).

I thought it would be hard to translate the album to the live stage since i read somewhere that Luke Temple wrote and recorded the album all by his lonesome in his Greenpoint apartment (no small feat). But, lo and behold, everyone knew their parts and they were bad-ass! Probably the most relaxed band I've ever seen on stage. It felt like we were just hanging out in their practice space! Either they're amazing actors or just really chill dudes! Or maybe headlining one of the biggest venues in Brooklyn isn't such a big deal? It isn't! What i liked, is that they really explored their songs instead of just going thru the motions. As if they actually enjoyed playing their music! As if! But yeah, Here We Go was flippin' rad (notice the napolean dynamite reference to the word 'flippin' - yeah, sweet). Even worth the $12+ cover charge. That says a lot! I mean you've got to be good to back up an incredible video like this one... Fangela!

The Yummy Fur @ Market Hotel, January 15th, 2010

The highly-anticipated triumphant state-side debut of 90's glaglow indie-rock band The Yummy Fur exceeded all expectations and brought the real, sweaty, old-school diy ethos to a packed crowd of Brooklyn hipster know-it-alls. I was trying to think of the best way to describe this band... maybe combine the melodic drone of My Bloody Valentine with the post-punk singing styles of The Modern Lovers, aka. AWESOME!

For a band that has been pretty much DOA for the last decade, they really sounded zipper-tight! This current line-up includes the sick drummer from Franz Ferdinand, the blazing guitar lines of Brian McDougall, and an ebullient lead-singer in John (Jackie) McKeown. They even impressed my younger brother, who was in town on vacation, and he usually only gets down with the latest in mid-west underground hip-hop! I bought a tape of Yummy singles after the show from What's Your Rupture? Kevin, who was ecstatic at having The Fur finally play in The Apple. Definitely try to see these guys before they skip back across the pond, you don't want to wait another ten years to see what a truly professional indie-rock band from the 90's sounds like!!!

The Dutchess & The Duke @ Mercury Lounge, January 8th 2009

I'm not exactly sure what compelled me to go to this show. I mean, $10 is a bit much to see just The Dutchess & The Duke. Although I really like their new album, "Sunrise/Sunset," which has some earnestly-sad folk-pop ballads, so that's the majority of my reasoning, but I've seen 'em live before, and they're not exactly mind-blowing (ie. there's not much to look at/ no one doing anything that super-inventively new). Still, something about this band is resonating with New Yorkers, given the sold-out crowd, and even the band members themselves don't quite understand it, asking "How did we trick you into liking us?" I think it has to do with their lyrics. Their songs deal with real emotions, in a bare, stripped-down way, that is refreshing in an often over-produced, overly-effected modern musical landscape. Despite the fact that somebody bought them a few shots of whiskey, and handed them a joint on stage, so their show and professionalism kind of fell apart into a stand-up comedy routine by the end, most of their set was quite lovely and pristine sounding (it's always a pleasure to hear a band perform at The Mercury Lounge, such a gorgeous room). And I truly enjoyed being able to hear all of the lyrics, which can be difficult sometimes on a mixed album. There. I think I just convinced myself!

Farmer Dave Scher @ CMJ - Music Hall Of Williamsburg, October 24th, 2009

I really like former Beachwood Spark Farmer Dave Scher's new solo album (although how can you call it solo album with all those other musicians on it?). His mix of rock, psych, reggae and soul is unique I think, and in general this album is a very positive, optimistic recording. I wanted to see all the studio tricks in person, and Farmer Dave did have an ambitious set-up, with two drummers, a guitarist, a bassist, a hammond-organist, and his own multi-instrumental/effects setup. Was it worth all the hassle to lug all that equipment around the country? You bet! They sounded great, and definitely turned some heads opening up with "Bab'lone Nights" and also playing "You Pick Me Up," one of my favs! My only complaint is that since this was a CMJ showcase, MHOW limited his set to 20 minutes, just when they were getting into it! C'mon Man! Laaaaaame. Let 'em play!