Back From Sasquatch

So I got a little sick on Saturday night, but I managed to make it through another two days of festivities at the Gorge. This year there was a much larger NYC contingent that went. Once again I covered it for the one and only Brooklyn Vegan. The Saturday write-up can be found here, and Sunday can be found here. Decided against !!! tonight so I can rest up. Even the red-eye flightback seemed like a spa compared to the nauseas two night I had camping.

What else is this week? Kiss Kiss play Cake Shop tomorrow, and Animal Collective kick of the annual SSSport shows on Friday. Let summer begin.

Thermals on sale @ Maxwell's 8/10

Buy Now! This is two days before their Pool show. You know me... I'll be at both.

Thou Shalt Always Kill

I'm digging this song and video. It's a little cheesey, and reminds me of a similar style song from about 8 years ago, but whatever. It's graduation season afterall.

Next big thing: just a band.



Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill [mp3 over at 'I Was There']

Lyrics here.

Fan Video for "My Body is a Cage"

Not my favorite Arcade Fire song, but this video renders "My Body is a Cage" well, showcasing scenes from the film "Once Upon A Time in the West". If you haven't seen it, I'm told it's spoiler material, so watch out. I'm not a big OMGSPOILER! guy and just added the Sergio Leone film to my Netflix queue. Direct link to the higher quality MOV file [worth it.]

!!! at Bowery Ballroom

!!! - All My Heroes Are Weirdos [mp3]

I think I had lost some enthusiasm for !!! before going into last night's gig at the Bowery. Their incredible loft show in Greenpoint earlier this year was unrepeatable -simply one of the craziest times I've had- so I didn't know what sort of show to expect at the reputable Bowery Ballroom. Not only that, but like-minded LCD Soundsystem blew into Studio B over the weekend and left a breathless sweaty mass of dehydrated gyrating trunks & limbs in ruin.

Fortunately the ensemble of boys -and now their female vocalist- always kick things off strong. The venue didn't explode, and the first few songs could have been deceptively tame, but we all slowly built up steam like a booze-filled locomotive rolling out of Shining Time Station. Once again they played "All My Friends Are Weirdos" second and while it would be a killer song at the end of the set, by playing it early it set the tone that no flat-footed creatures would be tolerated.

My favorite moment of the night was having seemingly four or five false endings, only to slip back into the breakdown and get more intense each time. By the end, I was thrusting my fists in the air so violently, my phone flew out of my pocket, momentarily lost to the floor and stampede below.

Will I go back in two weeks at Studio B? I was undecided 24 hours ago, but fuck yeah I'll be there. Buy tickets now. [pic cred]. Whats-his-name loved it too.

Tiki Bar

I finally got around to watching last week's episode of Tiki Bar. If you don't already watch it, you should subscribe to the video podcast on your iTunes and get caught up. Flash and Quicktime formats available here. Episode 25 below has a guest appearance by Kevin Rose and a mention of Leo Laporte. Dr. Tiki was on TWiT back in March.

This may be the best episode yet.

Sasquatch Festival 2007 Schedule

The Sasquatch Festival finally released a list with set times but no layout?. I've quickly laid it out on this grid to get a better feeling of the weekend. I'll be covering the event again for Brooklyn Vegan this year, so check over there after Memorial day for recaps. Maybe I'll Twitter the whole thing as my note-taking.

Arcade Fire At United Palace, 5/7/07

I think there's a concert going on down there.

Back in March, I predicted one would be able to get into Arcade Fire for $20. I wasn't wrong, per se, but before we could find ideal seats [ie: third row center], 3xWes and I were handed free tickets. Free is less than $20, so we had a winner.

Unlike the intimate Judson Memorial shows in February, United Palace Theatre is really really ridiculously big. Gorgeous -yes- but definitely spacious. This isn't necessarily felt in the orchestra but is definitely a factor up above in the balcony. We couldn't even see the audience in front of the band. Were they going nuts? Were they folding their arms? Would we have to hear about it the next day in the comments of Brooklyn Vegan?

Their set was mostly the same they'd played for me a couple months ago. It was powerful, moving, but I had longed for the intimacy of that event. I felt bad for the people who paid $35 - rather $50 with fees- for such distant seats. We got what we paid for and a little more. I was happy.

Nick Drake Song Released

The Books covered a Nick Drake song on Monday ["Cello Song" actually!] which was a fantastic hybrid of both styles: distinctly Books and distinctly Drake. Here's a "new" song -not great quality- but another bittersweet song he accomplished like none before and none thereafter.

Nick Drake - They're Leaving Me Behind [mp3]

His estate is releasing another album [I think this is the second one they've done] off previously unreleased material called "Family Tree". I'm too lazy to check wikipedia. You be my fact checkers. If you ever have time to kill in Barnes & Nobles, read a few middle chapters in Nick Drake's biography. Interesting stuff.

Mellow Cello

Since I was already talking about cello’s earlier, I might as well mention this band Contramano. I described them to a publicist as “better than that godawful Wednesday Society’ [another band that publicist had me check out]. The cellist lick in the beginning is the best part that stays put the entire song. There’s some yelping in there too almost.

Contramano – Reality TV [mp3]

At least it'll get that classic "We Belong" song out of my head. And I don't use the term "classic" endearingly.

Big Audio Dynamite II

What kind of a band has a sequel? B.A.D. that's who. Before I ever knew of the Clash, I was a BAD II fan. My brother got me The Globe (1991) one Christmas and for a ten year old kid with no music sense, it was a revelation. I suddenly held the belief that if I listened to good music, girls would be irrepressibly attracted to me. The Cars. Billy Joel. Never really worked out that way. Well, I mean, now it does. But back then it was hard. I didn't have a blog.

But I digress. I've been playing this all afternoon.

Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush [mp3]

The Books | Wordless Music Series

I've been meaning to talk about the Wordless Music Series for while, not simply because Megan *le sigh* and Ryan *swoon* assist in organizing the event with Ronen, but because it's an experience unlike any other in the indie scene. Their aim is to join the loosely defined "indie" genre with a deeper catalog, turning to contemporary classical music to find points of intersection. Thus it pairs familiar names with an opening ensemble of chamber music, whether that be piano, cello, violin, or "other". You might get a wonderful duet creating a cacophony on piano -and you know what? That beats the Big Sleep opening any day. They've had names like Andrew Bird and Explosions in the Sky as well as smaller acts like Toca Loca and Eluvium [currently #5 album of the year at Metacritic]. It's the depth of the opening acts that distinguishes Wordless from -say- seeing the Books at Webster Hall. Real Quiet -who opened for the Books last night- played three compositions in innumerably altering time signatures. The audiences can be so attentive during a performance, my chewing gum felt like a locomotive in a nursery.

The New Yorker says, "this crowd listens as intently as any audience I’ve encountered outside of Austria, and saves its whoops of enthusiasm for the end. At the moment, there is no more inventive music series in New York."


[Photo Cred]

The Books - Tokyo [mp3]

The Books have nothing to say. -Tunng

Maybe Tunng is refering to lower-case b books in their song "Wind Up Bird", but the similarities between the two bands make me skeptical. Having "nothing to say" fits perfectly for a the Wordless show, despite that they do have words, do have something to say, and actually occassionally project the words on a screen behind them. Doh!

The Books were quiet wonderful. A duo who met in Inwood, they play guitar and cello over electronic samples with formless structures and the resulting combination is less dissonant and more satisfying than I'd expect. I'm not a fan of video projections, but the highly edited footage behind the two performers complimented the pieces smoothly. Such A/V-club attempts are rarely so successful, but the Books are highly in tune with the moods their own music creates - providing sentimental touches as well as humor. They now have a DVD for those unable to get off their couches.

If all goes well, looks like next season's Wordless Music Series will be just as fantastic. They've just announced hosting Beirut for three nights in September. I wonder who's opening?

Brooklyn Heathen was there last night and well as 1xWes and 3xWes.