Shit Was Good
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I’d traded my Animal Collective tickets for tickets to see Beirut at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and as far as live performances with tribal beats and yelps go, I really think I got the better deal out of it. I’m sure people compared Merrill Garbus of Tune Yards (who opened) to Bjork, and I suppose you silly indie listeners will greet any white musician with face paint and African beats with some amount of caution, and you might be right to, but Merrill isn’t fooling around, kids. From the moment she started layering tracks for the intro song, “Hatari”, she was 100% awesome. She was Rokia Traore meets Panda Bear. I’d seen her play with Sister Suvi once, and I didn’t think much of it then. But her own set last night was better than any Animal Collective show I’ve been to, and if Avey Tare and gang deployed a band of percussionists, they just might sound as convincing live.
Download “Hatari“
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Download “The Bottom of the River” by Adam Arcuragi | The best time I had during my trip to DC was when These United States played a last minute, unannounced show at IOTA in Arlington, Virginia. It was the eve of President Obama’s inauguration, and one of the bands scheduled to play was unable to get into the city because of blocked highways–so they filled in. It turned out to be one of the funnest shows I’ve ever been to: they got into a highly festive mood, playing with some of their friends before playing their own laid-back set. Adam Arcuragi was one such friend–what?! If you haven’t heard this man’s voice, you must. I’d been totally unaware that he was even in Arlington for a show that night, it was an awesome surprise. And though nobody seemed to know if Mark Charles of Vandaveer was even showing up after having been somewhere in a foreign country, Vandaveer was playing, too–what?! The best-planned unplanned show in my history of concert-going. What’s more, Tom Hnatow of These United States played the pedal steel for every song from all four bands that night: Rose, Adam, Vandaveer, and finally his own. Drummer Robby Cosenza played a few songs less, but he barely left the stage either. Onward for video!
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I’m pretty sure that Drink Up Buttercup is pretty much everyone’s idea of a great live show. The songs were good too, but it didn’t matter much what they were playing as long as they were playing, though I was an instant fan of James Harvey, one of the three singers–this one providing operatic voices every now and then. I couldn’t even sit still while capturing the footage from my camera. The Lisps played after them, and it was a blast seeing them in a regular show, outside of their musical; without the need to stay in character, they seemed much more free to move to their own music, and this was more apparent in singer Sammy Tunis, who was strikingly dressed in a black dress paired with red stockings and red boots. It was great to hear a few tunes off their musical, The Futurity–that song about mathematics is pretty sweet. You’ll notice in the video that drummer Eric Farber even moves like a robot to create that mechanical beat. Go see for yourself–videos of both bands are after the jump, and there’s more coming next week.
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If the songs Suckers have been playing live are any indication of their upcoming album, and I’m sure they are, then I already have a top favorite of the year. Watching them live at Webster Hall’s The Studio, where the acoustics seems to be of the crappy variety that ruthlessly blends ordinary distinctions into a big fat muddle, I couldn’t help noticing how much definition these songs seemed to have, and how easily they overcame that muddle-making machine of a venue. I only have the video of “Horn Song” posted after the jump, but every song they played was pristine, with a world of its own. Besides, both Austin and Quinn have divine voices and will sound divine no matter what they sing. Their drummer Brian is distinctly amazing too. They’re playing Crash Mansion next, on Feb 7. Download “Horn Song” by Suckers
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Onward for the video.
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Laden with languid grooves and a divine voice, Callers is one of my favorite bands from 2008, though I’d never gotten to see them live before I did Friday night; they, and that charming stage of Union Pool’s, were worthy rewards for making it out to that part of Brooklyn through the slush. I’m overriding my Gummy vote for “Indie Crush, Girl” and handing it to singer Sara Lucas of Callers, who originally met in New Orleans, formed in Providence, and came into being as they are today, in New York; they identified themselves at the show as “Brooklynish” (that they all originally hail from New Orleans, as mentioned by Pitchfork and WNYC, is untrue; Sara and Don are from Missouri, and Ryan is from Arkansas) . Here are two of their performances from the show, including “More Than Night”, which I picked as one of my favorite songs of the year. I’ll post more from them, and the two other bands who played, Dark Dark Dark and The Loom, tomorrow.
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A gift for those smitten by one Kristian Matsson and his two boots. Video is performance of “The Gardener” at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (this way for previously posted goodies from that show); it lives in its original form in this year’s Shallow Grave. Audio is “King of Spain” from that same night, the quality of which is bearable, though they were a few loud talkers around me, talking about absolutely mundane things, as is usually the case.
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You know that voice of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon’s? The one that sounds like specks of moon come colliding into bells of rain under an ever-widening evening sky? It churned out a lot of fans this year, including one Zach Condon of Beirut (pictured below, at Friday night’s show), most of whom seemed pretty devoted, showing up early, sushing out the chatters and singing their hearts out when asked. Three consecutive dates in the city sold out fast, and some bought tickets for up to $200 per pair on Craigslist. Then there were those, like one friend of a friend who made a trip from Boston, who traveled from elsewhere. That, and I haven’t seen many “Best of 2008″ album lists that didn’t include Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, even though it was released in 2007 and re-issued in 2008. Reflecting on this golden year, most of which was spent on the road, Justin said that he was “ready to come back down to earth” and that he felt somewhat bittersweet about having been done with what needed to be done for the year. Then there were all these songs they played, some new ones from the forthcoming EP, and one cover. Favorite goosebumps moment that involved audience participation is captured in video.
(Zach Condon of Beirut at the show Friday night. They’re playing BAM on February 6. Thanks for posing, I know I made you feel awkward, sorry!)
Onward for videos! Hit continue! Now.
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After 14 months on the road, Yeasayer’s show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday night was the last of the tour, which is probably why front man Chris Keating smashed his gear after a charged encore performance of “Wait for the Wintertime.” The show was pretty incredible, I enjoyed it far more than the last time I saw them, which was at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in April, with Man Man (and their crazy fans). While thanking all their supporters and appearing relieved to have returned home to Brooklyn, Chris mentioned that it seemed like a good start to the next eight years, “If you know what I mean.”
Video of “2080″ from the show is posted after the jump.
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As nice and cozy the layout is down at the Tap Bar at Knitting Factory, the sound pretty much sucked. There was quite a bit of distortion through the two band sets I stayed for, and a couple of feedback issues during These United States, but luckily there is too much charm, energy and cohesion in this band for little things like terrible sound to come in the way of total enjoyment, and I remain baffled as to what it is about these songs, especially the ones off Crimes, that makes them come alive as far bigger beasts when performed live. I must mention that they didn’t play “Honor Amongst Thieves”–why wouldn’t I be obsessed with this song, I listen to it every time I feel the need to awaken from daily slumber. But they did end with “When You’re Traveling at the Speed of Light”, which was just as good, and really the entire set was filled with goodies. Since Mark Charles is away touring with his own project Vandaveer, they played as a four-piece. I made sure to take a video of “When You’re Traveling at the Speed of Light” so that you can witness some of the awesomeness.
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Download “White Winter Hymnal” | This is an entirely overindulgent post–there’s only about a month to go, and I’ve been spending all of my free time obsessing over the elections (luckily I’m not blogging about it here), and I refuse to be overly optimistic, so my breath is held until November 4th. This post is comfort for these nerve-wracking times. It features tons of more photos from the Fleet Foxes show at Webster Hall–and these, taken by Kashish, are far better than the ones I previously posted. My only regret is that keyboardist Casey Wescott was too far off to the left for us to photograph him. And yes, there are a lot of Skyler Skjelset photos. He was standing right in front of us; he looked like a beautiful elf, and the lights were so pretty, and his guitar sounded like twinkling stars, so did you really expect us to restrain ourselves? (I’d like to remind you about these nerve-wracking times). PS. I picked up their vinyl and it features both the self-titled album and Sun Giant EP, plus those marvelous download codes.
All photos by Kashish. Videos by Sahara (from a tiny point-and-shoot, but the quality is surprisingly good–I’m going to add the new song in a while; the second one is “Katie Cruel” unplugged, literally).
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