Central Village

I still got my money's worth...

If there is one thing that bothered me about Anton's shenanigans at Pianos last night the most, it was that it put all of the attention on him rather than the three outstanding bands who actually DID play a little music.  Coyle Girelli from Your Vegas, Silversun Pickups, and The Morning After Girls were all superb and I'll be looking forward to the next time I have a chance to see them all. (My apologies to Lorraine Leckie and her Demons, who I missed last night)

I've raved about SSPU plenty of late, so lemme just say that they now not only have more than 1 song, but more than 4, and each one is really excellent.  They mentioned off the cuff near the end of the set something about a residency at Crash Mansion?  Nothing confirmed yet, but I'll keep an ear peeled.

The Morning After Girls (pictured up top) had to follow the trainwreck, hesitant to go on at first since Anton humiliated their tambourine girl on stage when she attempted to accompany him.  They were loud and noisy but had these super-tight movements that came together perfectly at all the right moments.  I had heard the hype but little else going into the show and they really impressed me.  Glad I caught them before they head back down under.

Coyle I had never heard anything about before, but he sounded British and claimed to have a band with him most of the time.  No worries.  He reminded me a lot of Jeff Buckley I suppose?  Quickly googleing his band brings up countless U2 references in live reviews.  Lots of wailing, really strong voice.  No sign of a website, but his band is apparently signed, and he said he'll be back with them soon.  He is certainly worth heading down early for on Friday night at Mercury Lounge with Sam Champion and the Spinto Band.  Check out the afterparty deets at Loose Record.com.

Anyway...for $15 I got to see three really excellent bands while they were in New York for only a short time.  I've done far worse.  As for Anton, he was a depressing carnival sideshow.  I really hope he finds a way to get it together.

I've got more pics of the night up on flickr.

I hope that you'll forgive me...

I kind of just assumed I had posted this already, since I know I've talked about it enough.  Yeti in the comments, as well as a few people who e-mailed me have asked me to put it up, so here it is.  Looking at my iTunes stats, there are 4 songs I've listened to more than Lisa: The opening tracks to the newest Stars and Okkervil River Albums (I listen to albums more than individual tracks, and these are two of my favorites), Kings of Leon's 'Milk', and (oddly) Colin Meloy's cover of 'I know very well how I got my name.'  Keep in mind I've had each of those other songs on my computer at least twice as long as I have Lisa.  So here it is.  Download and enjoy.

Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - Lisa

Also, as suggested in the comments, there is a podcast with P&ToADS' and Cloud Cult's in-studio's last week.  Definitely worth digging up on iTunes and listening to.  Perry's interview is a riot.

13 or Bust

I wrote up a whole post about the 13 & God show (Notwist/Themselves) at Irving Plaza last night, but my browser had a freak out and I lost the whole thing.  Long story short, the show was really boring and the club was barely half full.  I thought the album was pretty good back at the beginning of the summer, but I unfortunately lost interest shortly after I bought a ticket to this show.  I guess that's what happens when you first start supporting an album 5 months after it's released...

This is the one track I still really like:
13 & God - Men of Station

My CMJ top 15: Part 3

5. The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers
Man, I really love this band.  It's a shame that Pianos was such a mess on Friday afternoon and the 3:30 scheduled set turned into a 5:15 start time.  Perry Wright writes some really heartbreaking stuff that I just cannot stop listening to.  My favorite song (maybe of the entire year) is Lisa, which is told from the perspective of an imaginary friend who is trying to cope with the real person growing up and forgetting about her.  Finally hearing it live was like a religious experience.  I can't wait till they come back in October with the Mountain Goats.

4. Silversun Pickups
Is there such thing as an Indie one-hit wonder?  I thought these guys were it, hearing Kissing Families almost every day on KEXP for the last few months.  I had nothing else to go on except the strength of this one song, and I wanted to hear it.  Little did I know that when I wandered over to the Fader House on Saturday, that not only was the rest of the set was going to be flawless, but that the band would would be so magnificently loud and intense.  Literally, the amps on the back of the stage were rocking back and forth, on the verge of tipping over.  There was just this feeling in the air that something special was happening.  The band was so caught up in it all that the lead singer inexplicably announced mid set that they now live in New York, which according to their manager is completely untrue.  Regardless, they are welcome back anytime.  Hopefully soon.  And as if seeing Brian Jonestown Massacre at Pianos tonight wasn't enough, these guys will be opening for them there.  Very much looking forward.

3. Wolf Parade
It was almost as if Wolf Parade was trying to blow it.  One member stumbles on stage with a billowing joint in his mouth and wouldn't stop babbling about how he is seeing ghosts.  Another wouldn't shut the fuck up about how drunk he was, acting like a College Freshmen trying to impress a Senior during rush week.  A third looked absolutely terrified to be playing a show this big with his bandmates in such states of mind.  There was also the theremin player who looked appropriately fried for a theremin player, and a comatose drummer who silently gazed off into space for most of the set.  It had all the makings of an epic disaster. This was THE hype band of CMJ.  All eyes were on them, and they were acting like may be too much for them to handle.

But then they started playing music and oh my fucking god did they deliver.  The show had this sloppy precision and overwhelming intensity that was on an entirely different level from anything else I had seen all week.  Whether they like it or not, they nailed this show directly on the head.  Next month, they come back and get to try and top themselves once again. (Tickets are still available)

2. Two Gallants
Seeing these two perform on Friday gave me the idea to create this list.  I don't know why, but it's when it came to me.  I needed to quantify exactly how good I thought they were.  And to think that I was very close to not even going.  What a mistake that would have been.  Jen had mentioned them earlier in the week, and texted me right before they were supposed to go on.  I knew nothing about them, but had nothing else really to do till much later in the night, so I hopped in a cab and booked it crosstown.  By far the best decision I made all week. They were perfect.  I was in awe.  I didn't know people made music like this anymore.  I hope they come back soon.

1. Cloud Cult

These guys are simply the best band out there right now. I feel like I've been talking about them so much recently I'm out of complements.  Craig Minowa's songs deserve the attention of the world.  They are filled with so much pain yet so much hope.  I don't know a fraction of the hardship he's dealt with, but listening to his music is truly inspiring.  I hope CMJ was a positive step in the right direction for them, because they deserve every ounce of praise that will undoubtedly be headed their way over the coming years.

Click here to see 11-15
Click here to see 6-10

Spin Masters

This is QUITE the lineup.  Well done Spin for making Webster Hall seem intimate for the first time since last September...

My CMJ top 15: Part 2

Here's the 10-6!

10. Hopewell
Still know very little about this band except they were amazing on KEXP last Monday and lived up to my own last minute hype at the Cake Shop to kick off CMJ for me.  Thanks to eMusic, I now know their album is pretty solid as well.  Can't wait to see them again.  Maybe at a venue without a slope...

9. The Changes
I just see big things for these boys.  Their sound is too smooth for them to slide under the radar much longer.

8. Pela
I must have missed these guys play a dozen times over the last 4 months.  They seemed to be everywhere this summer and I always told myself I'd just catch them the next time.  Live, they reminded me of a less attractive Stellastarr*.  Which is no real knock on them since they all seem like pretty good looking dudes, but more of a realization on how unrealistically good looking Stellastarr* is.  Anyway, I'm told it's all about the music anyway, so these guys should be fine.

7. Devendra Banhart
I told myself after the last time I saw Devendra play that I would have been bored out of my mind at one of his shows if I hadn't been literally sitting on the stage at Tonic while he and a bunch of his friends jammed out.  I dunno what happened between then and now, but all of a sudden this dude's a rockstar.  He was tight and focused at Bowery in a way I didn't think he was capable of and his band actually complemented him, rather than acting as a distraction.  Keep it up!  That Webster Hall show doesn't seem so absurd all of a sudden.

6. Voxtrot
It's no secret that Voxtrot has been one of my favorite bands for a while now.  Their Saturday afternoon show in the unnecessarily pitch dark Rothko was pure fun.  What I think is so remarkable is that every time I see them, they play new songs I hadn't heard before, and they are all as perfect as the ones I've been listening to since January.  At some point these guys HAVE to write a stinker, right?  I mean, nobody can be this consistently catchy.

The top 5 should be up tomorrow morning.

Life after CMJ

I haven't really been keeping an eye on what's been announced and what going on sale recently, but there's some new stuff out there.  The oddest of which is Soul Asylum at Bowery.  Who knew?

9/23 - Katrina Benefit w/ Asobi Sesku @ Rothko (tix at door)
9/25 - Katrina Benefit w/ The Wrens, Nada Surf, etc @ Southpaw (tix at door)
9/27 - Katrina Benefit w/ The Diggs, Upwelling, etc. @ Rothko (tix at door)
9/29 - Nine Black Alps @ Rothko
9/29 - Drive-By Truckers @ Warsaw
10/8 - Sons and Daughters w/ Eiffel Tower @ Northsix
10/23-24 - Eugene Mirman @ Pianos
10/25 - Patterson Hood @ Mercury
10/26 - Soul Asylum @ Bowery
11/7 - Jem @ Bowery
11/7 - Ben Folds @ Radio City
11/12 - Okkervil River @ Northsix
11/15-16 - Arctic Monkeys @ Mercury (no tix yet)
12/7 - The Subways @ Northsix
12/31 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Irving

My CMJ Top 15: Part 1

I decided to list up my favorite bands from CMJ.  Here's the 15-11.

15. Smallspace
They could use a lot more touring to build up some stage presence and confidence, but it's hard to tell what they'd do on an actual stage, rather than crammed in a corner of the 169 Bar.  The songs are all there, though.  Hopefully they'll draw some buzz the next time they come through New York and make a strong impression.

14. Wolf Mother
I only caught a portion of their short Fader Room set, but I saw enough to know that these guys were special.  Tipped off to them by Good Times Jay, they have a lot of Zeppelin in them and a tight enough sound and stage presence to really get big if the right people are paying attention.  The Aussies may not be in America all that often for the coming year, but when they do come back it should be a not to be missed event.

13. We Are Scientists
These guys have popular mainstream rock written all over them.  And that's a good thing.  Enough of a mix of Bloc Party and the Fuse Emo-band-of-the-week to keep all remotely interested on board.

12. The Joggers
The live show was not what I expected, but still very very good.  You picture a bunch of sloppy drunk Faux-Brits, but get instead get witty Pacific Northwest smartasses.  Which I'm perfectly fine with, don't get me wrong.  Memorable quips were, regarding the interior of the Cake Shop, "I feel like we're playing on a houseboat", and responding to a fan shouting "Joggers  Rule!" with "We don't rule, we administrate." 

You had to be there...

11. Fruit Bats
I have no problem admitting I'm late to the game here, but they were far better live than anything I've heard on a record.  They said they haven't played New York in 2 years, which sounds about right, since I surely would have been convinced to go see them sooner.  Eric Johnson, by the way, belongs in the pantheon of bespectacled Indie frontmen, right alongside Colin Meloy and Ben Gibbard, whom he spent most of the showcase between bands chatting with on the VIP balcony.

10-6 later today...

CMJ: A Long Weekend in Pictures

I did a few General Admission posts on Gothamist for CMJ.  Check out Day 1, Day 2, and The Weekend.  I was only really able to cover the highlights on there, though.  Here are pictures of everything I went to go see in chronological order.  My only big regret was not catching either of Tom Vek's sets, which I hear were excellent.  He'll be back soon I'm sure.  Pretty much got to everything else I wanted to see, though.  Good times.

Hopewell

Tim Fite

Youth Group

Operation Overkill

Walking through Rockefeller center yesterday coming from the KEXP in-studios: Three New York City police officers guarding a J. Crew in full riot gear with assault rifles.  I'm at a loss here...

Joey?

"Apparently, Al Qaeda is targeting places where absolutely no minorities will get hurt..."

Thank you.