Sound Bites

Folk Song Oblivion

Semi-mysterious Glaswegian sextet The Phantom Band sound like a combination of the best moody Scottish groups of the last 10 years: the angst of Arab Strap and Malcolm Middleton's solo work, the sweep of the Delagos, the atmospherics of Mogwai. So it makes sense they're signed to Chemikal Underground, home of all the aformentioned. Their debut, Checkmate Savage, was released about a month ago and it is epic and awesome, nine tracks, nearly an hour long, and not a wasted minute.

It's easy to type out a litany of influences (krautrock, Joy Division, Fairport Convention) but really they don't sound like anyone else. At times it's singer-songwritery but then they'll lock into a motorik groove that can only really come from playing together live. I really, really wish they were playing SXSW but hopefully they'll head this way soon. In the meantime...

MP3: The Phantom Band - Folk Song Oblivion 

Checkmate Savage hasn't been released physically in the U.S. yet, but you can download it from all the usual sources: Emusic, Insound, and Chemikal Underground directly. Highly recommended.

Rooftop Vigilantes | Cake Shop | 2.12.2009

There is a certain brand of rock that just isn't made in New York: shambolic, raucous, but anthemic and super-melodic, with knowing humor. The Midwest, however, excels at this stuff, from the Replacements to Flaming Lips to Tapes n' Tapes. The latest in this line are Lawrence, Kansas' Rooftop Vigilantes who tear it up at Cake Shop. I am always in awe of bands who can thrash around the room while still actually playing. Their album, Carrot Atlas, is 16 songs in just 27 minutes, a total rush. Live, it's faster, sloppy and more awesome of course. Ending the night perfectly, Rooftop Vigilantes dare to cover the Replacements, ripping through a saxophone-free version of "Can't Hardly Wait" which brings the whole thing full circle.

MP3: Rooftop Vigilantes - Girls Want Teeth

MP3: Rooftop Vigilantes - Drew Want Dino

Rooftop Vigilantes Carrot Atlas is a bit hard to find -- not on Insound or Emusic -- but you can buy it directly from Woodenman Records for only $8. Worth it.

I shot some video at the show, which you can watch if you click through the jump...

Mystery Jets | Bowery Ballroom | 2.24.2009

Last we saw Mystery Jets, circa 2006 at Mercury Lounge, they were crusty youth who weren't sure whether they wanted to be Dexy's Midnight Runners or King Crimson. Fast forward two years and we're at a mostly packed Bowery Ballroom and a lot has changed for the band. Gone is 50-something Henry Harrision, singer Blaine's dad who played with the group and probably said thing's like "That's not how Rick Wakeman would've done it!' at practice. With him went Mystery Jets proggy tendencies, replaced by soaring hooks and a love of Big '80s pop. 

Their look has changed too, an unfortunate sparkly fashion sense seemingly inspired by Blanche on Golden Girls, complete with Prom Pearls. But we all wore some regrettable things when we were 20, as evidenced by the very young crowd many of whom looked like they'd just come from Neverland. (The island, not Michael Jackson's former ranch.) But I digress.

The weird time signatures and other whiffs of the '70s might be gone, but that love of Pentangle and Yes has paid off. Mystery Jets know how to play. They are tight, the harmonies are spot-on and generally sound great. And the eccentricities come out in some genius arrangements. The band stuck mainly to their second album, Twenty One (my #2 album of 2008), which doesn't look like it's ever going to come out in the U.S. (Having just signed to Rough Trade, though, pretty much assures that the next one will.) We also got one new song, "Lady Grey," and the three singles off their debut, Making Dens.

The album's best singles -- "Two Doors Down" and last year's best song, "Young Love" -- made the least impact live. I didn't mind so much that Blaine Harrison sang Laura Marling's part on "Young Love," but guitarist William Rees, who sings lead on this one, his mike was still set at "backup singer" so it really didn't pop the way it should've. "Two Doors Down" is the kind of song that probably just shouldn't be played live, it's so over-the-top '80s it should just be heard on the radio. And with the songs's saxophone coda being replaced with guitar, it went from sounding like Whitney Houston to Big Country, which is actually okay by me. The night's best songs were the sweeping, more ethereal ones: "Veiled in Grey," "First to Know" and a show-stopping, goosebump-inducing "Flakes" which seemed to lift everyone a couple inches off the floor.

SETLIST: Hideaway | Half in Love with Elizabeth | The Boy Who Ran Away | Young Love | Lady Grey | Flakes | Hand Me Down | First to Know | Alas Agnes | Two Doors Down | Behind the Bunhouse | ENCORE: You Can't Fool Me Dennis | Veiled in Grey

MP3: Mystery Jets - First to Know 

You can get the import of Twenty One from Amazon fairly cheap, but there's no legal digital option for us here in America, unfortunately. However, Mystery Jets just signed to Rough Trade which bodes well for us getting future releases.

Also at the show: The Music Slut, Music Snobbery, Sentimentalist, and my cohorts at Brooklynvegan.

New Amazing Baby | "Bayonets"

Alright so here are the first fruits of Amazing Baby's debut album which the band is in the midst of recording and should be released this summer. "Bayonets," which I don't think I've heard them do live, definitely reinforces the Roxy Music comparisons with the sweeping string arrangements and big drama. While not likely to shut up the Brooklyn Vegan hater-commenters, this is pretty great.

MP3: Amazing Baby - Bayonets

The band are about to tour Europe before heading back here for a tour with Cold War Kids in April. Dates below:

February

12 – Anson Rooms, Bristol (w/ Mystery Jets)

13 – Shepherd's Bush Empire, London (NME Awards Show w/ Mystery Jets)

14 – Fleche D'Or, Paris

16 – Paradiso, Amsterdam

17 – Doornroosje, Nijmegen

18 – Molotov, Hamburg

19 – Vega, Copenhagen

20 – Debaser, Malmo

21 – Debaser, Stockholm

April

02 – Wilbur Theatre, Boston (w/ Cold War Kids)

03 – Terminal 5, New York (w/ Cold War Kids)

06 – Water Street, Rochester (w/ Cold War Kids)

16 – Schubas Tavern, Chicago (w/ Cold War Kids)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart + caUSE co-MOTION + The Depreciation Guild | Mercury Lounge | 2.07.2009

The word "twee" gets thrown around a lot when talking about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They are cute, with tendencies towards la-la choruses and cardigans ("we have three extras just in case"). But what you don't hear a lot, at least not yet, is how much they rock. Not the way, say, Cheeseburger rocks, but singer Kip keeps his guitar in buzzsaw mode and the amps set to Tinitus. (Another thing you don't hear people talk about too much is how dirty the lyrics are. All innuendo, but...filthy!) I've seen TPOBPAH a bunch of times over the last year and while they've always been good, they are genuinely really good now -- tight, rocking, and both Kip and Peggy have become more confident singers. This was their album release show, tour kickoff, and first performance since being bestowed (deservedly) with Pitchfork's coveted Best New Music status. The room was packed -- packed! -- with friends and fans, all of whom were very vocal and enthused and bobbing and swaying. The only thing that could have made it a more perfect evening would have been if it had fallen a week later on Valentine's Day.

MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Tenure Itch (buy it)

The whole night's line-up was kind of Friends and Family Night at Mercury Lounge. TPOBPAH's Slumberland Records label-mates caUSE co-MOTION played beforehand, with what I'm pretty sure was their first ever gig at the venue. (The band favors house-parties and Cake Shop.) Spazzy, scratchy, nasally, in an endearing way, they are the Eddie Deezen of indie with a bassist who literally bounces off the walls. Peggy was right up front in the crowd bouncing around too. They play again on Thursday at Cake Shop with Kansas band Rooftop Vigilantes, and Beachniks (which features JB of Crystal Stilts).

MP3: caUSE co-MOTION - I Lie Awake (buy it)
The other two bands both featured Pains drummer Kurt Feldman. He fronts The Depreciation Guild, who meld early-'80s electronics with classic shoegaze and the do it very well. Somehow, that combination of two quote-unquote dated sounds actually makes them contemporary. They did remind me a little bit of OG shoegazers Revolver but it may have just been Kurt's vocals. A lot of American bands tried to do the dreampop thing in the '90s but almost none of them pulled it off as well as the Depreciation Guild do now. Nice light show too. They open for TPOBPAH on all dates over the next month, so do show up early if you're going to see them. The Depreciation Guild's album is a free download.

Kurt also plays drums in Zaza, who are also in the dreampop realm but a little more on the arty, 4AD side, from what I could tell from the one song I showed up in time to catch. Will have to check them out again next time.

Please do check out Pains and the Depreciation Guild on tour if you can. Videos and tour dates after the jump.

Future Tense: The Week That Was Hit the U.S. in March

Oh happy day. One of my favorite records of 2008 was The Week That Was' debut album, a lush production that recalls the days of Kate Bush, ZZT and The Blue Nile but minus some of the '80s ickier sonics. So I'm very curious how the Brewis brothers are going to pull the album off in a live setting when The Week That Was tours here briefly in March. But if anyone can do it, they can. Field Music were always great live, and all of them are also in TWTW. I guess the real question is how many other musicians will be along for the ride. I can't wait to find out. Here' where:

Mar 7 The Empty Bottle     Chicago, Illinois
Mar 9 Mercury Lounge     New York, New York (tickets)
Mar 15 The Grog Shop     Cleveland, Ohio
Mar 18 SXSW     Austin, Texas

The weekend of Mondo Kim's closing, I picked up the 7" of The Week That Was' brilliant "The Airport Line," mainly because it was $2 but then the b-side, the Razmataz Lorry Excitement remix of "Learn to Learn" turns out to be amazing, transforming the song from Peter Gabriel into Heaven 17:

MP3: The Week That Was - Learn to Learn (Razmataz Lorry Excitement remix)

And the original just for comparison purposes:

MP3: The Week That Was - Learn to Learn (album version)

Buy the album from Insound. It's brilliant.

I Am a DJ, I Am What I Play

Because there's absolutely nothing else going on on Friday -- no shows of interest, no birthday parties of close friends, no Battlestar Galactica -- I know all you NYers are going to want to come to Don Hills on Friday night to see my Manhattan DJ debut. The fine folks at Mondo! are letting me spin this week. My set's promptly at 11pm and then The Nouvellas (sort of like a better, soulful, American version of the Pipettes) perform at 11:30. I'll get a second, perhaps longer, slot later in the night when everybody's good and drunk. What will I play? Probably Metronomy, but as to the rest of the set... show up and see.

Cover is $5 but if you print this post out, it's only $3. Here are the details...

Mondo!
Friday February 6th

Dance to Indie Rock & Pop, Brit Pop, Post-Punk, Swedish pop, Girl Groups and more, every 1st & 3rd Fridays of the month!

Nouvellas [Live Performance, 11:30pm]
Join us in welcoming Brooklyn's increasingly notorious Nouvellas. Paying homage
to 60's girl groups and motown grooves, this local quintet are fronted by the
lovely and entertaining vocals of Jamie and Leah. For fans of of Dusty, Aretha,
The Shirelles, and all things 60's. PLUS

Bill Pearis [DJ Set, 11:00pm]
Also this week, Bill Pearis, of Brooklyn Vegan and Soundbites fame, brings his indie expertise to the Mondo dance floor!

---------
@ Don Hill's
511 Greenwich Street (at Spring St.)
11:00 pm - 4 am
$5 Cover or 3 Flyer or Invite*
---------
Directions To Don Hill's

Life is Short: R.I.P. Lux Interior

My current obsession with reverby garage rock can be traced back to my love of those early Cramps albums on I.R.S., especially the Off the Bone compilation which in some ways I think is all you really need to own. Here's a couple choice cuts:

MP3: The Cramps - New Kind Of Kick
MP3: The Cramps - Garbageman

Buy some Cramps.

The Cramps' goth look only seemed silly till you saw them live: Lux Interior was one of the scariest mofos in rock. The version of "Tear it Up" from URGH! A Music War is the quintessential Cramps performance. Totally amazing, though I always felt sorry for the person who had to use the microphone after him:

We'll miss ya, Lux.

Pains of Being Pure at Heart | In Love, on Tour

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have finally released their self-titled debut on Slumberland Records and it's a total charmer: 10 songs, endless hooks, clever lyrics, bad puns, and fuzzy guitars. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't get the Best New Music tag when Pitchfork reviews it (tomorrow?). The band plays Mercury Lounge on Saturday, kicking off a month-long tour with The Depreciation Guild before bopping down to to SXSW. Tickets are still available, but act now, this show will be sold out before the end of the week I'm guessing.

If you miss this one, TPOBPAH play the Bell House on March 13 and that show is with England's amazing Let's Wrestle, so if you had to choose one or the other, I'd actually say wait a month. Or, like me, go to both.

MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Tenure Itch

You can buy the album directly from Slumberland -- vinyl is a mere eight bucks...what a bargain!

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart tour dates:

2/7 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge*
2/8 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie*
2/9 - Washington, DC - Black Cat Backstage*
2/10 - Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks*
2/11 - Chicago, IL - Schubas*
2/12 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace*
2/13 - Montreal, CA - Il Motore*
2/14 - Winooski, VT - The Monkey House*
2/15 - Boston, MA - Middle East*
3/13 - Brooklyn, NY - Bell House#
3/14 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head Club#
3/15 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506#
3/16 - Atlanta, GA - Earl#
3/18 - Austin, TX - SXSW - Red 7 (Terrorbird/Force Field Day Party)
3/20 - Austin, TX - SXSW - Emo’s Jr. (Slumberland Records/Cake Shop Showcase)
4/24 - Wallingford, CT - Wallingford American Legion (All Ages)
6/18 - New York, NY - Cake Shop w/ Crystal Stilts

* w/ Depreciation Guild
# w/ Let’s Wrestle

VVs and ZZZs

The two top bands in California with nonsensical repeated consonants are doing some shows together and I for one am kind of excited. If there was a third band doing this (there probably is, but for this post let's pretend it's just these two) Entertainment Weekly might write about it as a charticle or something. I digress, both bands are good.

WAVVES are from San Diego (home of The Soft Pack and Chino Farm) and are really more of an "is" -- basically one dude, Nathan Williams, who has no shortage of tunesn (many of which contain the word "goth" in the title), releasing two albums (last year's Wavves on Woodsist and the forthcoming Wavvves on Fat Possum) and load 7"s in rapid-fire fashion. It's catchy stuff once you get past the wall of distortion -- there is seeming no recorded sound that, to Williams, doesn't sound better when the record levels are pegged into the red. Even when listening at '3' these records sound loud.

MP3: Wavves - Wavves (from Wavves, buy it)
MP3: Wavves - So Bored (from Wavvves out March 17)

NODZZZ, on the other hand, are from San Francisco and only have one song to date longer than two minutes. They play nasally, bratty punk that often gets them compared to The Dead Milkmen and I'll admit that's the first thing I thought of when I first heard them. Not blatantly jokey like the Milkmen, they're songs are nonetheless kinda funny, catchy, and over before they even get close to annoying. I prefer NODZZZ to WAVVES (yes, both spell their names with all-caps), at least on record. Speaking of records, their debut on What's Your Rupture is available on vinyl and digitally only.

MP3: NODZZZ - Is She There? (buy it)
MP3: NODZZZ - I Don't Wanna (Smoke Marijuana)

The NYC area has four opportunites to catch WAVVES and NODZZZ together (with Woods and Blank Dogs too). Here's the details:

Feb 5 Vassar College - Mathew’s Mug w/ Woods     Vassar, New York
Feb 6 Market Hotel w/ Blank Dogs, Woods, Nodzzz, Gary War     Brooklyn, New York
Feb 7 LessArtistsMoreCondos w/ Blank Dogs, Woods, Nodzzz, Gary War     Brooklyn, New York
Feb 8 UnderGround Lounge w/ Blank Dogs     New York, New York