Sound Bites

I'm Chuck Bass

I admit it... I watch Gossip Girl. Furthermore, I like it. It started off a too melodramatic but has, over the course of the season, upped the humor to a point where I think it's genuinely enjoyable. Not quite first season O.C. but close.

However, I have issues with the Gossip Girl conceit. GG is a dishy website that has spies everywhere, yet not once did it ever say anything like, "Spotted: A certain Brookynlite seen hanging with his S's ex best friend, G." This is monumental dirt, and it never comes up on a gossip blog? And the whole "Serena killed someone" cliffhanger last week turned out to be a whole bunch of nothing, and we had to sit through some Lisa Loeb, which was just as bad as when when it first happened 15 years ago. Plus I don't see why Georgina still has a hold over miss Van der Woodsen when all it will take is one sentence to instantly refute everything (even if she and Dan do it he won't stay with her)... yet I still enjoyed this first season's penultimate episode, if just for the dialogue. I loved the scene where Chuck, Blair and Nate were all trying to one-up each other on who was the most horrible person. ("The non-judging Breakfast Club.") Chuck won with "I'm Chuck Bass," which I'm still laughing about. Chuck has become my favoritist Gossip Girl character.

MP3: The Republic Tigers - Fight Song (buy)

I like this Republic Tigers album, Keep Color, especially the dreamy songs but they are a snooze live. They played the that Tribeca Film Festival show at Webster Hall and actually said, "This is our last song, 'Fight Song.' You can hear it on Gossip Girl next week." Republic Tigers are signed to Chop Shop, which is run by GG music supervisor Alex Patsavas. Also on that bill -- The Virgins who once had every song on their EP featured in one GG episode. They were actually pretty good but it felt like Gossip Girl Live!

I'm looking forward to Georgina's dressing down on next week's season finale.

Shake It Tonight

My friend Kelly was visiting from San Francisco last year and we went to see her friend's band, The Blacks, play at Pianos. She told me he played tamborine in the band. "That's it?" I asked skeptically. She replied, "He really gets into it."

That was kind of an understatement. Joel Gion is cool and all, but JDK Black takes tambourine playing to a new, intense level. He's a dynamo. The caption I wrote on Flickr for the above photo: "It was that point in the show where the tambourine player became 'pure energy.'"

The Blacks are back at Pianos, and have been since Saturday, and are upping the tambourine factor just a little. Dubbed "The Tambourine Experiment," they'll be distributing 100 tambourines to the audience, though I doubt the combined crowd's involvement will be able to eclipse JDK intensity... though it will be fun to try.

Musically, The Blacks are in that blues/garage/punk school -- think The White Stripes, Flat Duo Jets, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- and are certainly good at it, but it's the tambourine you really remember. And tonight's show sure sounds unforgettable.

MP3: The Blacks - The Flame

According to the Pianos website, The Blacks take the stage at 11:30, though the venue is notorious for running late (sometimes very late). If you can't make it tonight, The Blacks play Union Pool on Wednesday (5/14) but it's not a 100 Tambourine show. But, really, the one they have is plenty impressive on his own.

Violens + Savoir Adore + Amazing Baby | Union Pool | 5.10.2008

It pleases me greatly to go into a show mostly blind and come out a fan of every band on the bill. That never happens anymore. Maybe I'm just going to the wrong shows.

I was there primarily to see Violens, the new band from some of the Lansing-Dreiden folks, though I'm not sure exactly which ones. Definitely singer/guitarist Jorge Elbrecht, and probably keyboardist Iddo Arad. Maybe more, but hard to say. L-D were an enigmatic bunch who didn't believe in album credits or band photos... or even playing in the live incarnation of their band.

Violens are more forthcoming about the who's and whats. It's also a more cohesive sound. Lansing-Dreiden incompassed everything from synthpop to metal, but Violens seem more influenced by '80s UK pop, both of the jazzy variety favored by Aztec Camera and Prefab Sprout, and those that prefered delay pedals like A Bell is a Cup-era Wire and The Sound. (In that respect, they also reminded me of '90s Swedish band Eggstone.) And like L-D, they still love the reverb. They also like volume. Why didn't I bring earplugs? The ringing in my ears seems especially prominent today. The best moments of the show combined the jazzy and the delay-ridden rocking out. And my favorites of the night are not to be found on their MySpace, so I think there's a lot to look forward to with these guys.

You can get Violens' song "Violent Sensation Descends" from RCRDLBL. They've also got an EP, which wasn't for sale last night, but you can get it at Insound.

Violens next show is June 5 at the Mercury Lounge where they're playing with Chairlift and Mixel Pixel. Tickets ($10) are on sale.

But as I said, the whole bill at Union Pool last night was very good. All three bands are signed to Cantora Records that is probably best-known at this point for being the label who released MGMT's first EP. Tonight proves they've really got a good ear. The weather was horrible yesterday and I figured between the torrential rain and showing up at 9pm there would be nobody there. But the place was already pretty packed when I got there, and I think as many people were there for opening band Amazing Baby as their were for Violens.

It was Amazing Baby's first-ever show, though you'd never know it. They came prepared and kind of knocked everyone's socks off. Though I'm probably wrong, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Amazing Baby don't sound like any other band in NYC. To draw comparisons... maybe a heavier, more-psychedelic Roxy Music? That sounds about right. Who are they? The band seems to be primarily an offshoot of rawkers Stylofone, but the live permutation, last night at least, also featured ex-Diamond Nights guitarist Rob Laakso and Jane "Spider" Herships on bass. There were also two female backup singers and a keyboardist. (Maybe that's where the Roxy comparisons come from for me.) They're the kind of group you could imagine going the denim-leather/lightshow route but just let the music do the talking. And that came through loud and clear. I'm pretty sure they're my new favorite NYC band and seem ready for domination.

MP3: Amazing Baby - Head Dress

MP3: Amazing Baby - Supreme Being

Amazing Baby's MySpace has these plus three more and you can download all of them.

If you're intrigued, Amazing Baby are playing tomorrow (5/11) at The Annex. Go ahead, bring Mom, it's an early show -- supposedly they're on at 9pm. They're on around 11pm I've just been informed. And if you can't make that, they're playing Glasslands on Thursday (5/15).

In between Amazing Baby and Violens were Savoir Adore who are also making a kind of music that seems scarce these days -- pure pop. This is the sort of stuff that seemed so prevalent in '80s indie music, be it Let's Active or The Go-Betweens or The Reivers. Not that they sound dated in any way -- I don't think this kind of pop ever really goes out of style. (Even though it kind of currently is.) Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer compliment each other so well, both vocally but also the way their guitars intertwine. Keyboards seemed superfluous at times, except when they were set to Melotron, which they usually were.  Apparently most (all?) of Savoir Adore's songs are for a concept album yet-to-be explained involving characters named Mr. P, Dr. Rousseau and a wooded forrest, but you needn't know any of this to dig what they're doing:

MP3: Savoir Adore - We Talk Like Machines

MP3: Savoir Adore - Mr P. Professor of Thought.mp3

Both these songs, plus two more, are available on their Cantora Records page. Savoir Adore are opening for Los Campesinos! this Thursday (5/15) at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and then play Lit on May 23.

So to recap last night's show. Three bands, all different, all great. My friend Don was armed with his nice digital SLR and took some photos which you can find here.

New Radio Dept | "Freddie and the Trojan Horse"

Has it really been two years since The Radio Dept. released Pet Grief? The calendar says "yes." The only reason I noticed this was a missive from Labrador records letting me know that their new album, Clinging to a Scheme, will be out September 10. That's actually a year quicker than it took for these Swedes to follow-up their acclaimed 2003 debut. At this rate, we'll get Album #4 next summer.

According to the band, influences for the third album included "minimalistic post-punk, krautrock, repetitive 'motorik' beat and ambient noise." I don't hear any motorik beat on Clinging to a Scheme's first single, "Freddie and the Trojan Horse," though I do detect some '80s gated drums and less reverb than we're used to from these guys (which still means more reverb than most). It's definitely peppier than almost anything on Pet Grief, which was a disappointment around these parts. Catchier too.

MP3: The Radio Dept - Freddie and the Trojan Horse

Down the Stretch

I don't know much about Horse Racing, but today's Kentucky Derby made me think about one of my favorite reggae songs: The Pioneers' "Long Shot Kick De Bucket." There are apparently loads of reggae songs about horse racing, more than there are non-reggae songs about any other sport. (Caymanas Park in Kingston, the setting of this song, is still hugely popular.) So I'm told. But this is the most famous, and the only one I know.

MP3: The Pioneers - Long Shot Kick De Bucket (buy it)

The Derby also made me think of the only other horse racing pop song I know, "The Fix," a duet between Richard Hawley and Guy Garvey that's on Elbow's new album, The Seldom Seen Kid. This one's a lot of fun:

MP3: Elbow w/ Richard Hawley - The Fix (buy it)

Getting High

So my cable provider, Time Warner, just announced that by the end of this year they're upping the number of "free" HD channels to 50 as of today and promise over 100 by the end of the year. Wisely, they have eschewed things like AMC, Sci-Fi, FX, or Bravo in favor of channels like the Hallmark Movie Channel HD and A&E HD which, by the looks of the schedule, should actually be called the CSI Miami HD Channel.

But the best new addition to TWC's HD line-up has to be NY1 HD, the station everyone turned on in the morning to get the time and temperature before we all got a widget to do the same on our computers. Actually, I'm pretty sure today was the debut of NY1 HD, and oh boy was it worth the wait:

I really feel sorry for the people with old-fashioned 4-3 TVs who don't get to experience what I'm dubbing NY1's "HD bars." This is truly "next gen."

Sloan Sloan Sloan

I haven't written about Sloan since last May. Which is a long time for me. So get ready, I've got lots of info.

Firstly, this is the cover to the band's new album, Parallel Play -- This is the band's eighth studio effort and the title is a reference to the stage in kids' development when they play next to each other but not with each other. Which is their winking way of describing how the band works these days. For more on this, bassist Chris Murphy had this to say:

Collaboration can be difficult. Our band does less of it than we used to and it's too bad. It may just be a romantic feeling but the songs where something major was added by someone other than the main writer are my favorite. I definitely come in with finished song structures but I like to leave room for someone to play something I wasn't expecting.

We never fight. We just stew. Aren't the best bands the ones that are founded in passive aggressiveness? If this is true then we are truly the best band ever. When you've gone this long without a real fight there is the constant fear that if we start telling each other the truth that it will be the end of the band.

If we videoed this process even Metallica would think we looked like goofs:

"Don't try to make my song sound like the fucking Traveling Wilburys!"
"Yeah well give your backwards delay wah pedal to some 15 year old that thinks it's cool!"
...band over.

We have all developed a sophisticated sense of humor that we use against each other at times. Patrick is the funniest man alive but he also loves digital delay. That would make me a Traveling Wilbury.

This is the most democratic, percentage-wise, Sloan record we've gotten in a long time. As you may know, all four members write and sing and this time it's pretty evenly split, with everyone getting three songs, except drummer Andrew Scott who gets four. Clocking in at 35 minutes, Parallel Play is their shortest ever. Kinda funny, as their last one, 2006's Never Hear the End of It, was their longest. It's out June 10 on Yep Roc but you can hear it right now, via a streaming player on the Yep Roc website. But here's the first single, Chris Murphy's "I'm Not a Kid Anymore":

MP3: Sloan - I'm Not a Kid Anymore (Pre-order Parallel Play)

I've listened to the album a few times and it's another strong one in their 17-year career. Chris Murphy brings snark and melody, Patrick Pentland delivers the Big Riffs, and Jay Furgeson's encyclopedic pop knowledge gives us the best songs on the album, including highpoint "Cheap Champagne," which should please anyone who really dug Navy Blues' "C'mon C'mon." As for drummer Andrew Scott, he generally classes up the joint, and finally answers the question many Sloan fans have been asking: "When will Sloan's genre-plundering finally lead them to reggae?" The time is now, folks.

They may all be nearing 40, most of them with kids, but they've still got it. Certainly, they're still easily one of the most consistently awesome live shows of my rock-show-going existence. If you've never experienced Sloan in person, shame on you, but you can rectify that shortly as they'll be in the States in June:

Jun 14    Detroit        Majestic Theatre
Jun 15    Philadelphia    North Star Bar   
Jun 17    Washington, D    Black Cat   
Jun 18    Cambridge, MA    T.T. The Bear's (buy)
Jun 19    New York, NY    Bowery Ballroom   
Jun 20    New York, NY    Bowery Ballroom   
Jun 22    Cleveland, OH    Grog Shop   
Jun 23    Chicago, IL    Double Door

Tickets for the Bowery shows are on sale this Friday.

But wait, there's more! Lots more ("witch music," "techno," etc)... after the jump.

Calvin Harris | Bowery Ballroom | 4.28.2008

I really try not to be some sort of elitist, but the my elitism kicks in and I get annoyed. The crowd for Calvin Harris at Bowery was overrun with creased-brim ballcap bros and girls who looked like Heidi Montag? Had I somehow accidentally ended up at a Webster Hall club night? The opening DJ, Burns, made it seem like it, playing a predictable set that included "DVNO," "The Music Sounds Better With You," "Robot Rock," and Mylo's "Drop the Pressure." What fresh hell was this?

I guess I shouldn't be surprised Calvin Harris is popular beyond higher-than-thou types like myself. His songs are big, obvious dance tracks, made for maximum enjoyment and butt-shaking. Why would I be the only one to like it? Still, the bankers-n-babes crowd was annoying. But it all pretty much went away when Calvin took the stage. He's a 6' 5" party machine with a tight band and everyone pretty much ate it up. (I think last year's show at Mercury Lounge was better, though. Again, the elitism.) There was a little too much crowd-pumping for my taste ("Come on New York!"), especially when it seemed people were pretty pumped as it was.

Save for four songs we got all of I Created Disco plus two new songs that seem like Calvin's work with Kylie and Roisin Murphy has rubbed off on him. "Back Door" and "Jerusalem" were full-on Eurodisco, complete with sweeping strings and Haddaway-style piano and if the crowd's reaction to them was any indication, just might kill off the jock-jam loving portion of his American fanbase. Bring it on.

Setlist: Conjoined Skin | Certified | Disco Heat | This Is The Industry | 80s | Merrymaking at My Place | Neon Rocks | Back Door | Jerusalem | Colours | Vegas. I Created Disco | The Girls

MP3: Calvin Harris - Disco Heat (buy I Created Disco)

Also in attendance: The Music Slut, Punk Photo, and Disconap.

I wasn't really close enough to get good pictures, but I do like the one I took found above. Calvin's all a blur but right in the middle of it is a clear-ish shot that looks like he's staring straight at the camera. Spooky.

South | Union Hall | 4.26.2008

In March 2002 I saw Elbow open for South at Bowery Ballroom... the first time I'd seen either band live. All I remember about that show is it was Guy Garvey's birthday and that I thought South suffered a bit from having to follow Elbow. I've seen both bands since, each has gotten better, but that certainly crossed my mind as I hopped into a cab right after Elbow's Webster Hall show Saturday and raced across the Manhattan Bridge to catch South at Union Hall.

Who can say why bands become more or less popular? South have genuinely gotten better over the years, I think, with 2003's With the Tides being the album that shoulda been their Big Breakthrough, and 2006's Adventures in the Underground Journey to the Stars their creative peak. South's fourth album, You Are Here, is a little to new to rank it, but I do like it and certainly think it's better than today's middling Pitchfork review.

MP3: South - Opened Up (buy You Are Here)

It is a little weird hearing some of their sweeping epics in such a small venue, but I guess I should view it as a treat. The songs from Journey to the Stars worked best (the New Order-y "Shallow" and fused "You Are One") in this environment, but it was a good, not great, show overall. But they are certainly one of this decade's most underrated bands and if they're playing near you, they're worth a look:

Apr 30 North star bar     Philadelphia PA
May 1 Great Scott     Boston MA, Massachusetts
May 3 Rock & Roll Hotel     Washington DC, Washington DC
May 5 Abbey Pub     Chicago IL, Illinois
May 6 Turf Club     St Paul MN
May 8 Marquis Theatre     Denver CO
May 9 Mesa Theater & Club     Grand Junction, Colorado
May 11 Doug Fir Lounge     Portland OR
May 12 Nectar Lounge     Seattle WA
May 14 The Independent     San Francisco CA
May 15 The Echo     Los Angeles CA
May 16 Brick by brick     San Diego

I spied Matt from the Music Slut from across the room, singing along to every song. His report is a little more detailed than mine.

Elbow | Webster Hall | 4.26.2008

"That's something you don't hear very often," joked Guy Garvey early in his bands performance at Webster Hall. The phrase in question was a shouted "Elbow rocks!" from the audience.

It's true. Though Elbow do rock in a gentle, yet epic sort of way. This was the first night of their American tour for Elbow's great, just-released fourth album, The Seldom-Seen Kid which is full of the heartfelt mini-epics the band are so good at. Joined on this tour by two violist/backup singers, Elbow were grander than usual, but it was Garvey's charm, humor, and smokey voice that makes people lifetime fans.

Another phrase you don't hear that often is "pristine sound at Webster Hall." I bash the venue nearly every time I write about it but not this time. If it wasn't for the "thump thump" of Awesome '80s Prom coming from below I would call it perfect. We got most of The Seldom Seen Kid, a nice chunk of Leaders of the Free World (my favorite album of '05), plus older favorites "Newborn" and "Grace Under Pressure." This was the best Elbow show I've attended.

There were also two great sing-a-long-moments. Garvey orchestrated a crowd-assist for set-closer "On a Day Like This" which the Webster Hall audience were more than happy to help with. I have a feeling this is going to happen at all the shows on the tour, so if you want to start practicing now, here's a little help:

MP3: Elbow - One Day Like This (buy The Seldom-Seen Kid)

The second was a bit more special. "If you want us to come back for an encore, you're gonna have to sing," he dared us, and then asked the crowd for suggestions. "It's gotta be something everyone knows." Someone yelled "Killing Me Softly" and a broad smile grew across Garvey's face. "Brilliant choice." Everyone laughed but I think few thought it would really happen. But then, after the band went offstage, sure enough the song broke out in the middle of the crowd and filled the whole hall. Garvey came out almost immediately, grinning "You lovely fuckers!" Right back at you, Guy!

Also in attendance: Music Snobbery and Johnny Leather. Go see them if you can. Dates:

April 29 - Park West, Chicago, IL
April 30 - Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis, MN
May 2 - Bluebird Theatre, Denver, CO
May 3 - The Depot, Salt Lake City, UT
May 5 - Showbox at the Market, Seattle, WA
May 6 - St Andrew's Wesley Church, Vancouver, Canada
May 8 - Bimbo's 365 club, San Francisco, CA
May 9 - Avalon, Los Angeles, CA