The xx played the Apple Store Soho

CMJ is always a fun week in the city since there are countless shows to attend, however this year seemed to lack a many bands I wanted to see. The UK group The xx has been getting pretty solid reviews of their self-titled debut and while I enjoy the album it also seems to be lacking something. The sound never gets too big, the music is ultra simplistic, but the voices sounds really great. Putting a label on the sound is also rather difficult. They mix 80's post-punk, with R&B, and indie-pop. While the album sounds hollow, I figured I should not pass up a free show. The venue was pretty packed by the time the band took the stage a little after 7:00 and the band began to play pretty much straight through their album adding in a cover of "Teardrops" which is off their bonus disc. While the band did sound much fuller live, then on record, the show still lacked a certain element. The four members stood in a line behind two giant boxes with an "x" and lacked a real presence. The music is very low-key without watching the band, and the live performance did not do much to add to the experience. There were definitely some points where the crowd was feeling the energy and tried to dance and shuffle around and the dueling male/female vocals were still really intriguing and the band was loud. In all it was definitely a step up from a record that I already enjoy. However I think this is a record that will be most enjoyed super late at night. It's an after the party album best played when everyone has gone home and you and your friends are almost about to pass out. Throw on this record, sit back, reflect.

Hop Along played an apartment in Brooklyn

On Columbus Day weekend back in 2006 I was given an album entitled Freshman Year by a singer under the name Hop Along Queen Ansleis and it became one of the most sentimental albums of my college years. That was the one of the last weekends I would gather with my best friends from high school and the album was played on repeat. Three years later I was finally able to see Hop Along perform in a small intimate apartment in Bushwick Brooklyn. That album is a collective of background sounds layered under acoutic folkie guitar, however her recent demos have featured a backing band and I was very intrigued to see how this new lineup would relate to her older sounds. After three excellent performances from the other bands on the bill, Hop Along was accompanied by a drummer and bass player and began to perform her new renditions of which I can only seem to compare to Explosions in the Sky meets Band of Horses with female vocals. My friend Franny said it reminded her of Land of Talk. Either way Frances brought a rich lush sound that echoed throughout the small space and unfortunately overpowered her unique vocal styling; something that is always a problem at shows in spaces that size. This was one of the only sets from the night in which I felt the entire audience was engaged and had people singing along with Frances. She only played "Bride and Groom" off of Freshman Year, but it was performed with such perfection that it made the entire night worthwhile. After her brief set she announced she would perform a cover in dedication to the people she had been on the road with and then burst into Bush's "Glycerin" which happens to be a personal favorite of mine. The entire room erupted in a sing-a-long and provided the perfect end to an evening full of excellent truly independent music.

The Big Pink - Live on French TV

Along with The xx, The Big Pink have been one of the biggest acts from across the pond this fall. Their hit "Dominoes" has been getting pretty solid reviews as they bring forth an interesting mix of shoegaze/electro-rock on their debut album A Brief History of Love. As a whole the album is pretty heavy with loud distorted guitar sounds, driving bass, and what appears to be a pretty rockin drummer. Video above as well as one for "Too Young to Love" via P4K.

The Most Serene Republic played le Poisson Rouge

Ever since I heard the debut album by The Most Serene Republic I had been a quest to see this band live. Their interesting mix of poppy post-rock which I think of as a mix of Death Cab for Cutie and label-mates Broken Social Scene. Their records have all been easily accessible but layered with great sounds as well. All of their work is very intriguing and while they always follow their own sound each album still manages to sound a little unique. After years of trying to see them live, only to have other events get in the way, I was finally able to make it a reality last Thursday. I arrived after the band had already started, but the unusually early start time of 7:30 had granted me a good spot in the small crowd. The band powered through tracks from all of their albums and had great interaction from the audience. At one point the lead singer asked if it was worth it to buy the first Ramones album on vinyl, to which I replied with a thumbs up, and he said well alright I guess I'll go buy it tomorrow. Many reviews of TMSR have said that there is too much going on in their records and the band cannot really focus on a direction, however their live shows prove everything that gets lost in the studio. This is perhaps the most accurate way to describe the show. The triple guitars, bass, keys, drums, and a variety of other instruments all came together so well on stage. The only thing that really plagued this performance was that the band was suddenly switched from headliner to opener which drastically cut down their set time and had them playing for a much too small crowd.

Vampire Weekend - "Horchata"

Almost two years ago Vampire Weekend released their self-titled debut LP that either everyone loved or everyone loved to hate. Despite being critically acclaimed there were many who called it overrated bad pop by rich stuck-up white kids in boat shoes. I personally thought it was one of the best pop albums in recent years. Almost two years later they will release their follow up, Contra, and yesterday the band posted the first track on their website. "Horchata" ditches the poppy guitars but still sounds every bit as catchy as any song off of the first album. In a decade where very few bands have been able to repeat the same success as their debut, these kids might stand a chance.

Vampire Weekend - "Horchata" mp3

Fever Ray played Webster Hall

(photo from Stereogum)

Fever Ray's self titled debut album is the most haunting album of the past year, and perhaps the past decade. The eerie sounds highly resemble that of Karin Andersson's first project, The Knife, and of course her vocals are unlike anything else in music today. The only downside to the record is that it seems to plateau, very highly, with the first track. It never climaxes and leaves you wanting a little something more. The show personified the record to the fullest extent and in places where you are left wanting more, the live performance filled in the blanks. The show was dark. The opening pounding of "If I Had A Heart" was accompanied with smoke and two thin laser beams that eventually opened up when the experience commenced. From that moment the crowd was hypnotized. The live band was dressed in nightmarish costumes and danced in a daze. When Karin appeared she was donned in a headdress that resembles something I wish to see in "Where The Wild Things Are." The entire show was a spectacle that was totally embraced by the music. Everything was back-lit, there was constant smoke, there were lamps that looked like they were straight from grandma's house, and there were green lasers protruding the hall and cutting through the smoke like... well a knife. While there were few glimpses of Karin's actual face, which did have some make-up, the show added to the mystery effect that is Fever Ray. You never really know what is happening. You see the body onstage the band playing live, but there is still that longing to see everything that is making this sonic pleasure. For once, Webster Hall had a great sound show. The prerecorded tracking was killer and the bass was loud. Her vocals were a little weak at times, but overall the sonic aura was amazing. Fever Ray is a mystique. There is mystery shrouded in that dark dissonant ambient texture. It captivates and takes hold of the listener and even more impressively is that it delivers better live then on record. When everyone vanished into the darkness and the lasers disappeared the house lights came on and the trance ended. For an hour it seemed as if we entered a dream and lost sense of what else was happening and then we came down shook our heads and tried to transcribe what had just happened.

Setlist (via The Music Slut)
If I Had A Heart
Triangle Walks
Concrete Walls
Seven
I’m Not Done
Now’s The Only Time I Know
Keep The Streets Empty
Dry & Dusty
Stranger Than Kindness
When I Grow Up
Here Before
Coconut

Japandroids Played Mercury Lounge

Thursday had been a long day by the time 11:00 rolled around and I was in need of some energy. I got to the Mercury Lounge just in time to catch the end of Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, so I grabbed some beer and waited for the Vancouver duo to take the stage. A little after 11:00 the guys came on stage plugged in and began to power away at their loud fuzzy guitar and palpitating drum sound. It was the night before their friend's wedding so they were in an extra special mood. They turned the shoegaze guitar sounds way up and Brian danced around the stage creating great energy that flowed right into the crowd. From the opening chords of "Heart Sweats" the crowd was swaying and eventually the full on rock was delivered. It has been a while since I've been to a show where not only the crowd was having a good time, but based on the actions of the band I think it is fair to say that these two guys really seem to enjoy what they are doing. They played with such passion and had everyone screaming along to "I don't want to worry about dying/I just want to worry about those sunshine girls" that you would think these guys have been stressed about this problem for twenty years. The club nature of the show was also an intricate part of the performance as it felt like these were two guys who just genuinely enjoy rocking out for their friends.

"New" My Bloody Valentine

So I guess at some point over the summer songs surfaced that were recorded by the legendary My Bloody Valentine sometime before their break up in the 90's. Sorry for the late discovery, but I was in China when this all went down and better late then never correct? Anyway there has been no new material since the masterpiece Loveless came out in 1991 and Kevin keeps saying more records are on the way, but there has been no actual evidence of this until now. While they are not up to the caliber of Loveless they are classic My Bloody Valentine sound none the less. No word on whether these are the legit names but they've been circulating the Coachella and My Bloody Valentine message boards under these aliases. Some home made artwork and mp3s below.

Cowboy Song
Belinda Song
Kevin Song
Good For You

Revolution 09/09/09

It comes as no surprise that a Beatles review would appear on this blog as well as everywhere else on the internet today. It has been about 40 years since the Beatles split and the world still has yet to get over it. Today the entire catalog is being reissued and The Beatles: Rock Band is also being released. So why exactly is all of this so relevant? Well in a time when people don't buy music any more it is hard to imagine a time when a band changed the world. Yet it is even harder to imagine that nearly four decades after the band's demise the world is still changing. The Beatles are impossible to escape. A day like today may make that more clear then ever when everyone from Rolling Stone, The New York Times, CNN, and Pitchfork are all talking about and reviewing the classic albums, but really it is nothing new. Today just happens to be a day when all the attention is making headlines. When the Beatles Anthologies were released in the 90's the song "Free As a Bird" was released as the first new Beatles song in twenty-five years and it won a grammy. In 2008, Abbey Road was the second best selling vinyl album of the year. 39 years after is was released. The Beatles 1 is the best selling album of the decade. The Mirage hotel in Las Vegas is home the the Cirque Du Soleil show Love which is inspired entirely by the Fab Four. Entertainment Weekly claims "Forty-five years after this single hit the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, it's still nearly impossible to get any two people to agree on what chord that famous opening clang! actually is." The Paul is dead rumors circulated long before the help of the internet. How many bands inspired a whole generation of hair styles? And correct me if I'm wrong, but can anyone name another band to have all five of the top songs on Billboard at once? Nearly everywhere you look the Beatles literally are here, there, and everywhere. I know everyone regards the band as the most important in the history of music, but it is still impressive that they are still as big as ever. Jesus is getting tired in their shadow. Yet to me the most impressive aspect of the band is not that they are still legends after all these years, but in fact how many years they were actually a band. In less then a decade they produced thirteen full length albums, a feat that is unimaginable for any other band or solo artist. What makes it even more remarkable is that every one of those albums received rave reviews. Even the haters at Pitchfork, who must be pissing themselves at the chance to finally give the albums their beloved 10.0, gave an 8.8 as the lowest review to With the Beatles. In today's world we're lucky if a band releases an album every other year, let alone multiple albums in a single year. However the Beatles were masters in the studio. Sometimes I forget that all of their best work came after they stopped touring and hid away in the studio. The three back to back to back classics of Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper's all came about after they stopped performing and the latter two were released within ten months of each other. In fact the only year in which the band was active that they only released one album was 1968, and that album was the self-titled "White Album" which is arguably the best double album ever recorded. That alone is unthinkable. Also how many bands today wish they were psychedelic enough to record "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Within You Without You" and anything off of Magical Mystery Tour? (Animal Collective please raise your hand here.) Perhaps it was all the time in the studio which ultimately led to the break-up as was hinted in the film version of Let it Be, but it was probably worth it. The Beatles re-invented music forty years ago and are still at it today. How much more can be said that has not been said before? Not much.

So I'll leave you with this, EW just did a list of their top 50 Beatles songs and in return he are some of mine:

25. "Within You, Without You"
24. "Can't Buy Me Love"
23. "Paperback Writer"
22. "Revolution"
21. "I am the Walrus"
20. "Here, There, and Everywhere"
19. "Rain"
18. "Tell Me Why"
17. "Come Together"
16. "Eleanor Rigby"
15. "In My Life"
14. "If I Needed Someone"
13. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)"
12. "Happiness is a Warm Gun"
11. "Dear Prudence"
10. "Don't Let Me Down"
09. "Something"
08. "Let It Be"
07. "Strawberry Fields Forever"
06. "I Need You"
05. "A Day in the Life"
04. "Hey Jude"
03. "Across the Universe"
02. "And Your Bird Can Sing"
01. "Tomorrow Never Knows"

Thank you Beatles, for 21 years I've been happy just to dance with you!

"Two Weeks" redone by Gabe Askew

Grizzly Bear has been getting lots of love from the rap world as of late. Jay-Z was recently spotted at their show in Williamsburg with Beyonce and then he released this dope statement courtesy of Pitchfork:
"[Grizzly Bear is] an incredible band. The thing I want to say to everyone-- I hope this happens because it will push rap, it will push hip-hop to go even further-- what the indie rock movement is doing right now is very inspiring. It felt like us in the beginning. These concerts, they're not on the radio, no one hears about them, and there's 12,000 people in attendance. And the music that they're making and the connection they're making to people is really inspiring. So I hope that they have a run where they push hip-hop back a little bit, so it will force hip-hop to fight to make better music. Because it can happen. Because that's what rap did to rock.
When rock was the dominant force in music, rap came and said, 'Y'all got to sit down for a second, this is our time.' And we've had a stranglehold on music since then. So I hope indie rock pushes rap back a bit because it will force people to make great music for the sake of making great music."

Now Kanye is showing love for the Brooklyn quartet by posting this video on his blog. The official video for "Two Weeks" already exists, but media artist Gabe Askew went ahead and made his own. It might be even better then the original.

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.