Sound Bites

CMJ 2007 Day Three | British Sea Power | Bowery Ballroom

British Sea Power are responsible for one of my favorite gigs of the last five years (NorthSix, August 2003) but it was not exactly their night on Thursday. It was still better than most of the shows I went to that week. Singer Noble has a mesmerizing voice that my friend Kate says "is like a cocoon." And their abbreviated set meant we only got a greatest his set (plus two new songs, one of which being the Wedding Present-esque single "Atom"), short but satisfying. So where did it all go so-so? CMJ audiences are not the most attentive -- there was a group of fratty dudes up front who would not shut up. This probably wouldn't have been a problem if BSP were playing at their normal volume but for whatever reason the amps were below the band's normal gale force. It definitely knocked the wind out of their sails.

CMJ 2007 Preview: Friday Picks

Brooklyn Vegan Day Party w/ iLIKETRAINS, Fatal Flying Guiloteens, Other Passengers, Health, Mika Miko, Yeasayer, Black Kids, Saturday Looks Good to Me, Islands, Yo Magesty @ R Bar (12:15 - 8pm)

After the Jump w/ The Antlers, Nous Non Plus, The Silent Years, The Pendeltons, Cary Ann Hearst, Dead Confederate, Morning State @ the Annex (1pm - 6pm, FREE)

White Denim + The Broken West  + Polytechnic (w/ former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke) + iLIKETRAINS + The Shaky Hands @ Mercury Lounge (7pm, $12)

The Spinto Band + Sons And Daughters + The Maccabees + Alberta Cross + Sahara Hotnights + The 1900s + Drug Rug @ Bowery Ballroom (7pm, $16)

Crashin' In party w/ Shock Cinema, Miss Alex White & The Red Orchestra, Foals, Foreign Born, The Holy Hail, Chairlift, The Deadly Syndrome, Fatal Flying Guillotines, Blackstrap, Soft, Cadence Weapon, Ida Maria,  The Coast, Le Loup, Picastro, Cale Parks, Spirit Marines  @ Galapagos  (2pm - 2am, $5, no badges)

I SAY: Though I find vocalist David Martin a bit on the silly melodramatic side, I like iLIKETRAINS' music a lot, so I figure I'll check them out at the Gothamist House or the BV day party and, if they're good there, again at Mercury Lounge. Actually, again, Brooklyn Vegan outdoes himself with a killer bill of iLT, Yeasayer, Islands and Yo Magesty. But then there's the Crashin' In show, which I am definitely going to to see Swedish singer Ida Maria who my friend Toby is super high on. (She's on at 7pm.) Also worth checking out -- the After the Jump Fest's North Vs. South show. I'm especially anxious to see the South bands the Pendeltons, Dead Confederate and Morning State. Nous Non Plus and the SIlent Years are good too. As for the evening shows.... the Bowery show is tempting. I really like the 1900s and want to see the Maccabees, and Drug Rug do the Let it Be style (Beatles not Replacements) retro-rock.

MP3: iLIKETRAINS - Twenty Five

MP3: Ida Maria - Oh My God

iLIKETRAINS pic swiped from stellabrightlight's Flickr photostream.

CMJ 2007 Preview: Wednesday Picks

Brooklyn Vegan Day Party w/ Celebration + The Meat Puppets + THE DEATHSET + Joan as Policewoman + Le Loup + Team Robespierre + Cut Off Your Hands @ Pianos. (Noon - 6pm FREE)

Pirate Pirate Day Party w/ Billy Bragg, Imperial Teen, Bella, Time Fite, Cadence Weapon and Most Serene Republic @ Arlene's Grocery (Noon - 5pm FREE)

Gothamist House w/ Reverand Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping + Charles Bissell + The Forms + Aaron Behrens + Peasant + O'Death + Cut Off Your Hands @ White Rabbit(2pm - 8pm, FREE)

A Place To Bury Strangers + Foals + Cadence Weapon + Sam Champion + Yeasayer + Alberta Cross @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (8pm, $14)

Deerhunter + Dan Deacon + No Age + White Williams + Ponytail @ Bowery Ballroom (7pm, SOLD OUT)

The Rosebuds + Gabby Glaser + The Ladybug Transistor + The Hot IQs @ Union Hall (8pm, $10)

Mint Records Night w/ Kate Steele of Little Birdy + The Awkward Stage + Bella + Carolyn Mark @ Knitting Factory (8:30pm, $10)

I SAY: Take the day off work or call in sick -- there are two amazing day parties happening, right around the corner from each other. The big news is Billy Bragg playing the Pirate! Presents party. He is a total charmer, and probably hasn't played a venue this small in NYC since Talking to the Taxman About Poetry. But the rest of the bill is good too-- I really want to see Canadian synth-pop trio Bella, who also play Knitting Factory later that night.with some other Mint Records bands. Plus: Imperial Teen, Tim Fite, Most Serene Republic... you can't lose, though I have a feeling it's going to be a bitch to get into. | You also don't want to miss the Brookyn Vegan day party at Pianos. The entire lineup is killer, and I'm especially looking forward to Australia's Cut Off Your Hands. Plus, BBC 1's foxy Annie Mac will be DJing. | If you don't make it to Pianos in time to catch COYH, they're playing at 2:15 at White Rabbit, just a couple blocks away as part of Gothamist House. Also on the bill: Charles Bissell of the Wrens, so if you've ever wondered what Pitchfork photog Kathryn Yu looks like, I have a feeling she'll be here. | As for the night shows, I recommend the After the Jump Fest at MHOW. British dancepunks Foals are making their NYC debut, plus the space age hippie vibes of Yeasayer, and the sheer volume of A Place to Bury Strangers. | If you missed the Rosebuds at Bowery on Tuesday, they're now playing at Union Hall with the usually good Ladybug Transistor and former Luscious Jackson guitarist Gabby Glaser (who I saw last month at Merc and wasn't so good). | And again, our Canadian neighbors at Mint Records hold court at Knitting Factory Old Office with the afformentioned Bella, and The Akward Stage (who I saw last year), Kate Steele (sister of Luke of Sleepy Jackson fame) and Carolyn Mark. | That Dan Deacon show will probably be the most sought-after gig of the night (advance tickets are sold out), which is reason enough to skip it.

MP3: Yeasayer - 2080

MP3: Bella - Stay Here

A Place to Bury Strangers pic swiped from Mercurian's Flickr photostream.

CMJ 2007 Preview: Tuesday Picks

Brooklyn Vegan presents The Rosebuds + The Most Serene Republic + Miracle Fortress + The Shaky Hands + Bon Iver + special guests @ Bowery Ballroom (6pm, $16)

My Teenage Stride + The Elephants @ Union Hall (8pm, $8)

Cheeseburger + Via Audio + Tacks + the Boy Disaster + White Denim + Juiceboxxx @ Galapagos (8pm, $10)

Dan Deacon + Deathset + Team Robespierre + Juiceboxxx + DD/MM/YYYY @ Silent Barn (8pm, $7)

Celebration + Dragons of Zynth + Tall Firs + Effi Briest @ Union Pool (8pm, $$$???)

I SAY: Three pretty good shows tonight but BV's lineup at Bowery Ballroom is hard to turn down. The Rosebuds are always fun, and you should really see Most Serene Republic. | Then again, for those Todd P types, there's Dan Deacon et all, and he'll be playing in a more freewheeling enviorment than his Bowery show the next night. (Albiet way the f out in Ridgewood.) The rest of that show is good too; The Deathset and DD/MM/YYYY in particular. | Heather at Ugly Floral Blouse says I should go see Denmark's The Elephants | And lastly  Celebration are playing lots of shows this week but not at a cooler, smaller room than Union Pool.

MP3: The Rosebuds - My Punishment for Fighting

Rosebuds pic swiped from Brooklyn Vegan

New Young Pony Club | U.S. Tour, Side Project

New Young Pony Club are finally coming back to the States and it's about time. Their last trip here was a brief visit to both coasts in December 2006, including a stop at the White Room in Brooklyn where I only barely resisted the urge to use the headline "I Dig a Pony" in my slightly over-the-top rave review. Brooklyn Vegan, who was also at there that night, said he saw them at the Øya festival in August and wasn't as impressed that second time, but I have high hopes for their Studio B show on October 18 -- .

If you haven't checked out NYPC's debut, Fantastic Playroom,  you really should. It's a great party album, or pre-party album. Not a listen-to-the-lyrics album ("you really have to display information / to discover relativity") but it's not trying to be. Nearly all the songs are single-worthy, though, which is more than you can say for most records.

MP3: New Young Pony Club - Get Lucky

Here are those tour dates. Sorry, Middle America!

10.18    Studio B | Brooklyn
10.19    Pure | Philidelphia
10.21    Mod Club | Toronto
10.22    Just for Laughs | Montreal
10.24    Subterranean | Chicago
10.26    Hawthorn | Portland
10.27    Necture | Seattle
10.29    Mezzanine | San Fran
10.30    The Echo | Los Angeles

But wait, there's more? New Young Pony Club's foxy keyboard player Louise Hayter has a solo project, The New Sins, who are set to release their (it's just her, actually) debut single, "It Doesn't Work Like That." NME says it sounds like "Sophie Ellis Bextor fronting a low-key LCD Soundsytem." It doesn't -- though I wouldn't be opposed to hearing such a thing -- but it is pretty great in it's own posh, standoffish, groovy way.

MP3: The New Sins - It Doesn't Work Like That"

New British Sea Power

Brighton's finest, British Sea Power, are back with a new EP, a short U.S. tour and a new look. The band have been laying low since releasing Open Season in 2005, and haven't played here since May of that year... when I bought a British Tea Power mug at the merch table.

The new EP, Krankenhaus, is "one that will combine a pre-school understanding of atomic theory with ancient wisdom in amplified rock music," according to frontman Yan. It will be available digitally October 8 and in the decreasingly popular CD format on November 20.

Coinciding will be a brief East Coast tour. If you've never seen them, British Sea Power put on a pretty intense show -- though the days of them covering the stage in locally-foraged greenery is past them. According to a friend of a friend who saw them recently in the UK, "flags are the new twigs." (This picture from BSP's Sept. 22 show in Bradford confirms it.) And listening to their new song "Atom," I'd have to say the Wedding Present are the new Pixies.

MP3: British Sea Power - Atom

Here are those tour dates:

10/15     Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ
10/16     Johnny Brendas, Philadelphia, PA    
10/18     Bowery Ballroom, NYC
10/19     Black Cat, Washington
10/21     Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA

Concert pic swiped from Alex Craven's Flickr photostream.

CMJ 2006 Wrap-Up

Number of bands seen: 25

Canada: 8
Sweden: 3
Los Angeles: 3
NYC: 2
Chicago: 2
Michigan: 2
England: 1
Denmark: 1
Arizona: 1
Cleveland: 1
Portland: 1

Best Band: The Blow, Malajube
Worst Band: Canada (the band, from Michigan)
Best show nobody saw: Thursday's Mint Records showcase at Union Hall
Most disappointing: The Tyde at Mercury Lounge
Best day party: Brooklyn Vegan's Friday show at Fontana's
Best day party margarita: White Rabbit, locale of the Gothamist House.
Best day party freebies: Never-ending Red Stripes at the Fader Sideshow.
Buzz bands that played 17 times but I missed: Thermals, Annuals, the Horrors, Loney Dear

Photo swiped from thisismecl's Flickr photostream.

CMJ 2006 | Lavender Diamond | Joe's Pub

Lavender Diamond singer Becky Stark makes her entrance dressed in a blood-red velvet dress and announces, "Congratulations Everyone! For Peace has finally come to Planet Earth!"

The room tittered, waiting for the punchline, but there was none, which definitely threw most of us for a loop. And with this the tone of the evening was set. The L.A. band has been drawing accolades for it's innocent brand of folk, though most everyone focuses on Stark. It's hard not to. The rest of the band sit in the background while she stands in the spotlight, a beaming smile, Midwest, gee-whiz cadence (to me she sounded just like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals) and, most importantly, that voice.

A classically trained tenor, Stark's pipes cut through the room and at times, like on "You Broke My Heart" it was mesmerizing. With the title serving as a refrain, it is beautiful and sad. Other times it's a bit like, as someone sitting near me said, "talent night at the insane asylum." She is earnest, childlike and more than a little eccentric. Is this for real or some sort of stage persona? (I am told it is not an act.) Whatever the case, the Stark on stage has a strange ability to bewitch, and by the time of the group sing-a-long finale, a large portion of the room had become converts.

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Lavenderdiamond.com offers a couple mp3s off their sole EP, The Cavalry of Light, including "You Broke My Heart." The band signed to Rough Trade with an album due out in early 2007.

Photo swiped from m.norr's Flickr photostream. She was sitting close enough to me that I remember seeing this on the lcd display of her camera when she took it.

CMJ 2006 | The Blow | Fader Sideshow

Sometimes you get caught off-guard by a performance that cuts through the hype, jaded irony, and free Red Stripe haze. Such was the case at Saturday's early-ish performance by Portand's The Blow at the Fader Sideshow. Running late, I only caught four songs, but it was still the best show I saw all week by a mile.

Lady Sovereign and Lily Allen have nothing on Khaela Maricich, who had the crowd hanging on every word -- and she did it with only a microphone and a iPod. While on record the band is Maricich and beat designer / production wiz Jona Bechtolt, it's been a one-woman Blow on this current tour. After seeing her, I'm of the opinion other people would just get in the way.

Maricich is a funny, charming, engaging -- and yes, sexy -- performer who seemed entirely comfortable being alone on the stage. Despite the prerecorded backing tracks, the songs (mostly from their great new album Paper Television) felt more like conversations here, taking time for digressions where the music would stop mid-song and she'd go off on a tangent, but the beats would kick back in at just the right moment. She has, as they say, amazing flow.

MP3: The Blow - "The Long List of Girls", which Maricich joked she was trying to sell to Beyoncé.

She reduced many a hoodied blogger to stammering idiots that day. In attendance: Heart on a Stick, Yeti Don't Dance, and many more.

Photo swiped from The Rotation Room.

CMJ 2006 | Dirty on Purpose | Club Midway

Yet another day party, this one at Club Midway sponsored by V2 Records, The L Magazine and Haystack Media. After catching The Blow at the Fader storefront, stopping by the Gothamist House for a really good bloody mary, I made it just in time to catch Dirty on Purpose who were playing their fourth show in 24 hours!

Full disclosure: I am friendly with the band (some of them even know my name!), and have seen DoP a dozen times in the last two years. But this is the first time I've ever seen them purely as a four-piece. Ever since Erica Forster left the group to focus on her other musical endeavor, they have been playing shows with guest female vocalists filling in her parts. Ever since their show at last year's CMJ (shortly after Forster's departure), it has been my opinion that they should just ditch those songs and move on without a replacement.

And this show cemented those feelings. Dirty on Purpose have become a real powerhouse in the last year, combining noise, melody and inventiveness. George Wilson is one of those insanely creative guitarists who is still doing new things with his instrument without going into atonal noise territory. He was going absolutely apeshit on his guitar during the band's opening instrumental number, scraping it across the mike stand, banging it against amps, the floor, any other surface he thought might make an interesting noise. He's also got a bank of special-made pedals that would impress Kevin Shields or Doug Martsch. The rest of the band are no slouches either -- the all contribute to the songwriting -- framing some of the noisier elements in within strong songcraft.

While everyone except bassist DJ Boudreau sings lead on at least one song, you'd wouldn't call any of them strong singers (drummer Doug Marvin is the closest to that)  However, they've come a long way since last year, sounding quite good on Saturday. Joe Jurewicz in particular sounds more confident than he ever has, though I'd love to hear him drop the falsetto and try singing in a normal register. Just once. I've quibbled about Club Midway's sound before, but I thought it was clear -- and loud -- in this instance.

The band played for around 40 minutes, hitting most the highlights of this year's excellent Hallelujah Sirens, with a crescendo of the full-on shoegaze number "Marfa Lights" which just killed. I am a friend, but at times like this I am merely a fan.

MP3: Dirty on Purpose - "Marfa Lights"

Photo swiped from extrawack's Flickr photostream.