Central Village

My Upcoming...

Here's what I've got coming up in the next few months.  I feel like December is a bit too quiet for it being almost November already...

10/24: Wolf Parade @ Bowery
10/25: Wolf Parade @ Northsix
Going to see them twice in a row, which is something I rarely do, but I feel with these guys the next time they're in town it'll be in a more undesirable venue.  Helps that these are two of my favorite venues and this is one of my favorite bands.

10/26: The Diggs @ Scenic
It's been a while.  Still love them.  Free show too.

10/27: We are Scientists @ Bowery (Opening for Ambulance LTD)
I hate to pull a CYHSY/National, but I feel like Ambulance has been around for so long doing the same material, I don't need to see them again.  I may stick around for a few songs, but they'll have to show me something special reeeeal quick to keep me there.

10/28: Dresden Dolls @ Webster
Loved them opening for NIN earlier in the year.  Been looking forward to seeing them again.  Good Halloween band.

10/29 (late): Hopewell @ Pianos
One of my CMJ highlights this year.  Excellent band, worth swinging by if you're out in the area.

10/29: The Mountain Goats/Prayers and Tears of ADS @ Bowery
May be out of town for this, but I'll be there for...

10/31: The Mountain Goats/Grizzly Bear/Prayers and Tears of ADS @ Knitting Factory
Glad Grizzly Bear is on this. I've been dying to check them out.  P&T are so good as well.  Great show all around.

11/1: Veruca Salt @ The Canal Room
Whoa...just saw this one.  Doubt I'll go, but its interesting.

11/2: Movable Hype 5.0 @ Knitting Factory
Great lineup for the 1 year anniversary: Bravo Silva, Snowden, The Capitol Years and The Cloud Room.

11/3: Elbow @ Hiro Ballroom
Really dig the new album.  Only US show I hear?  I'll try not to miss it.

11/4: Tom Vek @ Knitting Factory
My biggest miss at CMJ  May be out of town that weekend again, however.  Hope I can make it.

11/5: Fiery Furnaces @ Northsix
If I'm around this weekend, I'm there.  Gotta give them another chance after the Town Hall nightmare.

11/6: Super Furry Animals @ Webster Hall
Never seen them before.  Didn't think they were 'two nights at Webster' big in the states, but I guess so.  Looking forward.

11/8: Joggers/Rahim @ Knitting Factory
The Joggers are creeping up to becoming my favorite band these days.  Need to see them play a proper set, rather than the CMJ 'Houseboat' show.  I've been itching to see Rahim again for a while now too.  Always fun, especially when TaN! are in town...

11/10: Art Brut @ Mercury
I get it, but I still don't love them.  Hoping a live show will convert me.

11/11: Okkervil River/Charles Bissell @ Knitting Factory
Phew...lost of Knitting Factory shows coming up.  Okkervil River hasn't been to NYC in what seems like forever.  Dying to see them live.

11/12: Bauhaus @ Nokia Theatre
Would love to, but tix are a lil too $$$.

11/16: Arctic Monkeys @ Mercury
How could I miss the band that will be "bigger than Oasis and the Libertines combined!!" at their first shows in NYC?

11/17: Blood Brothers @ Nokia Theatre
Opening for Coheed.  Hate to miss them when they're in town, but this'll prolly be a pretty lousy set by them.

11/18: Trizetta @ Northsix
Maybe.  This is the Album Leaf guy's old band.  He's not in it anymore tho I guess.  Like what I've heard, but not sure what it'd be like live.

11/20: Echo and the Bunnymen @ Irving
Sorta interested, but not sure if it's worth it on a Sunday.

11/21: Juliana Theory @ Knitting Factory
Heh...we'll see

11/22: Styrofoam/DNTEL @ Knitting Factory
Really liked Styrofoam last time I saw them.  DNTEL is fun too.

11/25-26: Bright Eyes w/ Feist and Magic Numbers
Would love to go to one of these shows. Great support.  Holding out for a NYC show the week after.  Also can't go if I'm going to this:

11/27: Sigur Ros @ laugardalshöllin - Reykjavik, Iceland
Coolfer posted the travel package info.  I'm seriously considering it.  Anyone wanna come?

11/28: The Cribs @ Mercury
Eh.  Seen them 3 times already this year.  I love them, but will this set really be any different than the last 3?  If not, then be sure to get there early, cause they always lead off with Mirror Kissers->Hey Scenesters combo.

12/4: Iron & Wine/Calixico @ Webster
I'll go to one of these shows.  Webster doesn't seem like the ideal place to see these guys, but what can you do.

12/6: She Wants Revenge @ Mercury
Actually excited to see them.  Great music to dance to.  Missed them at CMJ.

12/7: Voxtrot @ Mercury
One of my favorites.  Will be great to see them headline Merc.

12/12: Explosions in the Sky @ Bowery
Are they two nights at Bowery big?  Never seen them.  Looking forward.

That's what I've got.  Any suggestions are more than welcome.

K, going away for a long weekend.  I'll be back Monday.

Other:

Television:
HOLY SHIT!  Has there ever been a more absurd moment in the HISTORY of television than Jason pulling up in that antique car to take LC out on Laguna Beach the other night?  My brain cannot even register what was going on here.  I'm pretty sure I lost conscious at some point.  Was LC's first reaction really "there are no seat belts?"  Not something like "Oh my God you fucking loser I'm not getting in that thing with you?"  It's almost like MTV is acknowledging how ridiculous this show is to begin with and now they're making these kids do stuff like this just to fuck with the small percentage of viewers with functional brains.  Picture above from TVGasm, who have an amazing LB recap up right now.

Food:
Went to Aureole for dinner with my parents last week for my birthday.  I had maintained after my first time there that, while it wasn't my favorite restaurant, it was perhaps the best meal I had ever eaten.  Strictly foodwise.  This time however, it was perfectly good and all, but I've definitely had better.  Didn't blow me away like the first time.

Video Games:
I don't play video games really anymore, but I did stay up till after 5am at a friend's house this weekend playing Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (went undefeated up till Super Macho Man, for those interested, after what was at least a three year layoff from the last time playing the game.  Yes, I'm sort of proud of this)  More importantly, I picked up the video game adaptation of The Warriors last night and played it a bit.  It is quite an achievement.  The game expands on the movie, starting 3 months before the meeting that kicks off the film and properly sets up the story.  Simultaneously, it also tells the story of how the Gang formed.  Extremely well done.  Gameplay-wise it's rather similar to Grand Theft Auto, but it's obviously not as open ended.  I don't know when I'm really gonna have time to play this much, but it's still a lot of fun.

Sports:
I don't know if any of my teams will actually amount to anything, but for the first time in my life that all three of them are really fun to watch.  I guess the jury's still out on the Knicks, but I caught a bit of the preseason game last night and I like the youth.  Nate Robinson, David Lee and Eddie Curry are great.  As for the Giants, I love watching Eli develop, even when he looks lost (like he did last week).  When I read people like Bill Simmons giving the Giants respect, saying they may have the best shot out of the NFC to get to the Superbowl, it makes me smile. (Even if it was just an effort to jinx them)  The Mets were great last year too.  I hope they can put together a season or two where the youngins come into their own while Pedro is still effective. 2006 - 2008 Should be good years to be a Mets fan.

Spoken Word:
I've struggled through the new Furnaces album a few more times over the weekend and I really would like to find some silver lining here, but I really just don't like it.  There are moments on the album that are pretty good, but the whole thing just doesn't work.  It's not just the grandmother's voice, either.  The pacing of the whole thing is too sporadic.  You know how I've always said that The Joggers are so close to the worst music I've ever heard?  Well, this album is right on the other side of that line.  It's so close to being brilliant, but every time it builds some momentum, it gets slaughtered without warning and I go back to pulling my hair out.  This song's a perfect example.

The Fiery Furnaces - The Wayfaring Granddaughter

Sons and Daughters of lonely ghosts...

I think I kinda skipped over Sons & Daughters a bit too fast.  Really enjoyed their set at Mercury Lounge a while back tho.  I like this new album a lot too.  It's refreshingly unique.  Not many Scottish Gypsy-blues/rock bands around these days.  And they totally killed last night in front of a crowd that prolly should have been indifferent to whoever was performing.  Compared to Saturday night's shitshow with The Rapture, the Franz Ferdinand afterparty at the Tribeca Grand last night was a delight.  I've got some pictures up on Flickr.

I was tempted to buy a GA Pit ticket for the actual Franz show off Craigslist last night.  People were selling them below face, but I decided against it.  Even knocked down to $40, it felt a bit steep despite the excellent openers.  I really like the new album a lot, however.  I think, like most people, I had pretty low expectations for it.  Didn't bother to get it right when it came out or anything, but now that I've got it and have been listening for a bit, it's actually quite good.

It's been well over a year now since I saw Franz and Sons & Daughters share a bill at the infamous Volume show in Williamsburg.  Still one of my favorite shows ever.  I didn't love S&D when I saw them back then, but they've grown on me.  I hope to eventually see both of them again.

Sons and Daughters - Dance Me In
Franz Ferdinand - Eleanor Put Your Boots On

Child's Play

I've now seen Child Ballads twice in the last 2 weeks and have been pretty impressed so far.  I thought they were good at Webster Hall with Interpol, but really stepped it up on Friday night while opening for the Fiery Furnaces. (To say they were the highlight of the night would be quite an understatement...)

Lead singer Stewart Lipton is the kind of musician you really want to root for.  He's had glimpses of success with Jonathan Fire*Eater before completely falling off.  It's incredably satisfying to see him back on his feet and playing inspired music again.  Productshop wrote up a great background on him a few weeks ago that succinctly tells the story.  He was completely overjoyed to be playing at Town Hall, famously (for those in attendance) calling it the best night of his "dirty thirties."   I sincerely hope it's only better days from here on out.

Fluxblog perfectly described his on-stage demeanor as "blurring the line separating strung-out crackpot and jovial poet, and generally coming off like the most charming dinner party guest imaginable."  As a spectator, you couldn't help but be excited watching him play.  I look forward to seeing them again.

Child Ballads - Cheekbones (The Onion Domes of Tallahassee)

New York, get a fucking job. Seriously.

I went down to try and get tickets to that Tribeca concert series thing with Ryan Adams, Jeff Tweedy, etc.  I've never seen lines like this before.  Maybe 8 full city blocks of line.  I gave up quickly.  Never even found the back.   They were going all the way around blocks and crossing streets.  Spoke to a few kids who were about to get their tix at around 11:30 and they said they got there a little before 9:00am and made it about half a block in the first half hour since they started handing them out.  Me, I foolishly took a lunch break to come downtown and see if everybody had forgotten about it already (since I nearly had).  Obviously not.

Fiery Flameout

So everyone (except BV) hates the new Fiery Furnaces album, and for good reason.  It's pretty far out there.  I wouldn't quite call it unlistenable, because I listened through it once.  Unlistenable is music that I need to turn off because it makes me physically ill.  The last band I can think of that I couldn't listen to was Dillinger Escape Plan.  They literally made me feel sick.  So, on a positive note, Rehearsing My Choir didn't make me throw up.  On a negative note, it's really awful.  I actually started off thinking it wasn't that bad.  But after the 4th of 5th track it really dissolves into a mess.  Sorry.

Lets play the Pitchfork guessing game with this one!  They're previous album's scores are an astounding 8.4, 9.6 and 8.9.  I honestly don't think this one will crack 1.0.  I actually predict they'll just give it a 0.0, which almost seems to excuse it.  As if it didn't exist, or something.

So all that being said, The FF are one of the best live bands I've ever seen.  I've heard that Eleanor sings the Grandma parts and it doesn't sound as bad.  And that they play other stuff as well, not just the new album.  Thank God.  I have two extra tickets in the front of the balcony also.  If anyone is interested, lemme know.

My 20 Favorite Albums of 5765 (Part IX & X)

The final four!
#4 Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

Remember these guys?  This was an easy one.  It's been a little while since I've really sat down and listened to them, but this album was probably the defining record of the last year.  I've never gotten sick of it and the songs remain remarkably relevant. I still get excited when I hear one of them on the radio.  Sure, their inevitable popularity has created some negative backlash, but I think for the most part it's pretty difficult to say with a straight face that you don't think this is good music.  Listening to it now for the 2304958th time makes me wish I could go back and hear it again for the first time again. 

Mp3: Bloc Party - Pioneers 

#3 Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
I'm gonna have a hard time describing this one.  I think it's truly brilliant and I've listened to it more than any other album over the last year, but I don't know if I really have the words to describe why it's so good.  While there are a couple songs like 'Black' and 'For Real' that stand out as singles, the whole album really only works when listened to as a whole.  Hearing the tracks all together is like hearing the ebbs and flows of life being described to you.  There's something about that imperfect, distressed voice singing familiar themes over the jazzy, pop-twinged Americana that just hits me in the right spot every time I put it on.  Perhaps it's best left unexplained.

MP3: Okkervil River - For Real

#2 Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
These are perfect pop songs.  Each track on this album you can picture playing in a background of a trailer for a movie you want to see.  But one of those movies you really only wanna see because the soundtrack's so good.  I know they're all from Toronto and Montreal or whatever, but this album, even more so than their older stuff (which, admittedly, I got into only after listening to this) has a distinct New York feel.  Maybe we've been conditioned to believe that every relevant contemporary love story has to happen here or something, but these are most epic, emotional and heartfelt songs I've ever heard.  And I couldn't end this without saying that Amy Milan has, far and away, my favorite female singing voice.  And that 'Your Ex-lover is Dead' is my second most played iTunes song ever.

MP3: Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead

#1 Cloud Cult - Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus
I have raved and raved about these guys to anyone that would listen from the second I first heard them.  I've never met anyone who thought this album was anything short of amazing.  It's the complete package.  The lyrics are poignant and touching, and while the songs are relatively gentle, they never feel sleepy or reserved. They combine the vocals, guitar, strings and electronic beats all perfectly.  The album sprawls over such a huge stretch of human emotion, but all the songs keep a universal theme of hope in the face of uncertainty as to why we're all here on earth.  Very hippie, but legit.  Obviously, there isn't a bad track on the disc, but a lot of albums on this list don't have bad tracks.  I'm confident in saying that there is not a song on this album that is anything short of a masterpiece.  And I mean that as sincerely as anything I've ever written.  This is the best album of the last year by a landslide.  Anybody with ears is doing themselves a great disservice by not bringing this music into their lives.

MP3: Cloud Cult - Living on the Outside of Your Skin

Previously:
#'s 5-6
#'s 7-8
#'s 9-12
#'s 13-14
#'s 15-16
#'s 17-18
#'s 19-20
My 2004 Picks

I need to stay better informed

I had no idea that Nine Black Alps had a new full length out in England!  I listed to it once through this morning and honestly, it hasn't really blown me away.  I'm willing to let it grow on me tho.  There are a couple of solid tracks, but the whole thing sounds too much like generic mid nineties grunge.  The EP seemed to have more individuality.  And live these guys are so deadly there's little to criticize.  The songs I recognized just have more of a bite when seen in person.  I don't know if these guys are friends with The Cribs, or if they've ever played with each other besides bookending that show at Mercury Lounge, but (as Mirror Kissers comes on the radio) they definitely share a bit of the same sound.  I'd like to see them tour together in America or something.  They would complement each other well.  As for this album, I'll give it some time, but not immediately as good as I hoped.

Nine Black Alps - Unsatisfied
Nine Black Alps - Behind Your Eyes

My 20 Favorite Albums of 5765 (Part VIII)

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
The prettiest album of the year?  I don't think I've fallen asleep to any album more in the last 4 months than Illinois.  And that's of course a good thing, cause I have a hard time sleeping sometimes.  The songs are like magic.  Like a higher power created them or something. (pun only sorta intended)  Perhaps it's only fault is that it's too long.  I found myself moving along or dozing off usually sometime after Man of Metropolis.  But it's hard to fault an album for trying to give too much.  The first 3/5's of this record is probably better than anything else I've heard all year, and that's what earned this spot.  So good, it more than picks up the slack of the latter part.

MP3: Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

#5 Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
The biggest surprise, even tho I've prolly mentioned how this album would be in my top 5 a dozen times before.  I still, after three tries, cannot get into them live, but this album just nails it.  I understand all the knocks.  It's a derivative and played out sound that is 6 months too late.  Whatever.  It's better than nearly everything else that's come out in this vain.   The lyrics are desperate and heartfelt, the songs are all upbeat and painfully catchy.  I think I listened to this record either to or from work every day for about 2 months straight this summer.  It was the only thing I wanted to hear.  And with every listen, I'd hear something new.  Maybe it was a hook or a harmony or particular lyric, but it just continued to flake off on me over time.  Every song on here, even to this day, just stuns me.  And then there's Acrobat, which, towards the end of the album, takes every expectation you've built up from the first 11 tracks and completely flips it on it's head.  What an absolutely brilliant mindfuck.  I would have never thought that these brit-pop also rans could have this sort of effect on me, but they consistently hit all the right spots and ended up with pop perfection.

MP3: Maximo Park - Acrobat

They come out at night...

After Bravo Silva played their show at Rothko on Saturday night, we decided to hold a last minute afterparty at an undisclosed loft in Soho.  In high school and throughout college, this was our default party spot.  Thanksgiving weekend, New Years Eve, etc.  It had been a really long time since we've had a big get together there, but Saturday night was disgusting and nobody felt like going out in that mess, so we got in touch with Bravo Silva's management (heh) and told them to spread the word and bring booze.  It was quite a throwback evening.  Figurines got knocked off the walls.  A couple held an impromptu piano concert.  There were handstands without pants.  My pictures were so ridiculous I refrained from putting them on flickr.  Lawrence and Jen (from whom I stole the picture above)  appear to show some restraint with theirs.  Anyway, the night ended close to 6AM with a dozen umbrellas left behind and the proverbial broomstick banging through the floor from the apartment below.

Oh, and then there was this little incident, which many of us are only hearing about for the first time this afternoon:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/mis/103368114.html