The National with Yeasayer at Central Park – 8/04/08

Thanks to a friend’s scheduling conflict I found myself at Central Park’s SummerStage last night to see the National and Yeasayer. (Plants and Animals opened, but I as good as missed them, unfortunately.)

Yeasayer is one of the bands that’s been getting hyped a lot over the past year. I’ve avoided most of that buzz, not having thought much of the few songs I’d heard. Their set last night proved once again that having no expectations often leads to more enjoyable experiences.

Performing live, they reminded me somewhat of an early-‘80s, Lindsay Buckingham-fronted Fleetwood Mac. I half hoped Yeasayer would launch into “Tusk” (a feat I once saw Papas Fritas pull off in a tiny Seattle club, much to my amazement).

When Yeasayer crosses into the world music realms of Rhythm of the Saints or Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, I’m out. Thankfully they tend to maintain a handle most of the time, delivering an infectious blend of jungle funk indie rock. Here’s “Sunrise”:



Headliner the National has turned into one of America’s most compelling and purely solid live acts. The band took the stage in front of a giant eight-panel art installation featuring iconography from playing cards, U.S. currency (including the text “for all debts, public and private”), a whisky bottle label and a cheerleader, among other things. A fitting backdrop.

The Central Park crowd gave them a warm welcome as they opened with Boxer’s “Brainy.” Matt Berninger parsed out his booze- and despair-soaked lyrics in his edgy baritone while hanging onto the mic stand like a damp shirt out to dry. His jangly affectations—slapping his hip in a low grade fit, crossing his left arm under his right as if propping it up—reinforced the tense but tenuous nature of the songs.

The National treated us to the best of their beautiful, slurry songs including “Green Gloves, “Slow Show,” “All The Wine” and “Mistaken For Strangers,” as well as a reworking of “Apartment Story.” A special bonus for this show was the inclusion of a bassoonist, a trombonist and a trumpeter. These songs sound so great with these parts reproduced live.

For me, the only downside to the evening—a beautiful, warm night with distant airplane lights streaking through thin clouds—was the location.

(By which I do not necessarily mean Central Park, nor am I referencing the sub-par sound that often comes from playing outdoors. The National’s soundman did a good job, though Bryan Devendorf’s drums, which drive songs like “Squalor Victoria” and “Abel,” failed to pack the punch one expected.)

No, the simple fact is that the National is a band that belongs in a dark nightclub. It feels wrong to drink beer out of a plastic cup and watch the sunset while Berninger asks his lover if she can carry his drink so he can tie his tie. The National’s music produces images of evening attire, tumblers of ice and whisky, stressful nights lying awake in bed, relationship troubles and glass ashtrays.

This is not beers-in-the-park music. Though nearly every song on Boxer makes reference to drinking, it’s never in a longnecks-and-pool-halls, Hold Steady kind of way. This is music to which you rock out with your cocktail out.

But this is a small complaint that’s not related to the performance, and I’m making too much of it. The National know what we want and they deliver. Berninger gets downright spastic during “Mr. November,” causing the stagehand to sprint across the stage to reconnect his microphone cable before the second verse.

They close with “About Today,” a quiet but emotionally brutal number that holds the audience entranced until the last chord.

Here’s “All The Wine”:

The Oranges Band w/ Bombers and Smoking Popes at the Blender Theater 7/05/08

It’s been three years since the Oranges Band released their last album, the fantastic but largely ignored The World and Everything In It. I became a fan of the band only within the last year and felt pretty sure they’d get around to formally calling it quits before I’d ever get to see them perform live. Thankfully I’m horrible at predictions. The band took a break from recording their new album to play a few shows with the recently reunited Smoking Popes, including one at New York’s Blender Theater.

Playing a gig during the Fourth of July weekend—especially in a city where so many people leave for long weekends—is a recipe for a low turnout, and this show was no exception. Bombers, a wannabe punk band from the Bronx, played to about 100 people, including their friends and parents (and possibly their friends’ parents).

Most of the crowd, which I would guess peaked at 300, were geeked up to see the Smoking Popes (including the guys from Bombers who went a little Wayne and Garth on stage). A few concertgoers dusted off their threadbare 7 Seconds and Agnostic Front and the Damned concert Ts for the occasion. I wasn’t familiar with the Chicago-based Popes until a couple weeks ago, but apparently they were a much-loved (if only modestly successful) punk band back in the ‘90s. They’re back together and released their new album, Stay Down, in March.

As punk bands go, the Popes are of the pop variety. Not much separates their music from the likes of Weezer. In fact, the song “If You Don’t Care” from Stay Down makes me think of Fountains of Wayne on (mild) steroids. And the song’s verses sound like something from Little Buddy’s For Those About To Pop. Check it out here.



It was a bit funny to see aging punk fans so excited over what seems like a pure pop band disguised by a bunch of distortion—sheep in wolves’ clothing. (How different is “If You Don’t Care” from “That Thing You Do” by the Wonders?*) Within the same genre, I think Ruth Ruth’s songs were more interesting and more vivid. (Here’s Ruth Ruth’s “Jerome.”) But enough about that.

Sandwiched between these pomo-punk acts was the Oranges Band, pride of Baltimore. Frontman Roman Kuebler, wearing a blue windbreaker over a red T-shirt, immediately won over the crowd with his playful, unassuming personality. “We’re gonna be about three-quarters as loud as the other bands tonight—and that’s OK.”

The Oranges Band have recruited longtime Guided By Voices guitarist Doug Gillard to play on the new album and on a few tour dates, though it seems he’s not a full member of the band (not that he wasn’t invited, I’m guessing). Kuebler gave him a bit of praise mid-set and noted, “He even learned some of our old jams,” before the band launched into “I’ll Never Be Alone.”

Not surprisingly, most of the Oranges’ set was dedicated to new material, which they played with joyful abandon. “Gordon’s Nightclub,” named after a Baltimore watering hole, is a catchy, danceable number with a surprising time change to keep things interesting. It’s simply a great indie rock song. “On Star” (or possibly “OnStar”) was loud and fun and easily as energetic as anything the band has done. And the aptly titled “Absolutely (Instru)mental,” inspired in part by Laika & the Cosmonauts’ “NY ’79,” gave Gillard even more opportunity to shine.

One of the things I love about this band, and perhaps specifically Kuebler as a vocalist, is their comfort within the spaces of their songs. Kuebler often sings at a leisurely pace, occasionally delivering words or phrases after the line they seem to belong to has passed. His technique mirrors his own casual ease, as if nothing is of much importance. Sometimes, parts of songs seem to elongate as needed to allow breathing room around the vocals, as if to say “no need to rush; we’re not saving lives, we’re just rocking.”

Although they didn’t play some of my favorites (“OK Apartment” or “Atmosphere” or “Open Air”) the new songs were easily just as entertaining. I spoke with Kuebler briefly afterward and I’m sad to report there is no target date for finishing or releasing the new album. (It’s still in progress.)

No worry, though. At least we can look forward to its eventual arrival, which is more than I had reason to hope for a few months ago. I kept that in mind as I walked to the subway with strains of the fiery closing performance of “Ride The Nuclear Wave” in my ears. “Oh, oh, oh, oh!”

Sea Wolf at the Mercury Lounge, 5/28/08

I like Sea Wolf. It’s true I think their EP, Get To The River Before It Run Too Low, is better than the more recent full length, Leaves In The River. But the latter has some great songs, namely “Middle Distance Runner” and “The Cold, The Dark & The Silence.” (I think my third favorite would be the bonus track “The Promise,” and I must admit liking a bonus track that much doesn't say a lot about an album.)

Anyway. I was looking forward to last night’s sold out show at the Mercury Lounge for a few reasons. It was my first show since moving to New York, my first show at the Mercury Lounge, and—having seen Sea Wolf a couple times—the band was like a piece of familiarity amid the unfamiliar.

Openers the Jealous Girlfriends had a few songs I liked, but it seemed like they’re not quite sure what band they are yet. Live, they don’t have a sound that pervades their music (unless you count trebly Fender guitars run through trebly Fender amps; one would be fine, but two is too many). Lead singer Holly Miranda does have a strong voice, though.

On to Sea Wolf.

Sea Wolf has a full-time cellist. Of course, many bands bring a cellist into the recording studio—and there are surely thousands of instances where a cello has added some great mood or texture to a song—but having a cellist as a full-time band member, specifically while touring, seems like an extravagance.

I think with a better guitarist and a better keyboardist (though Lisa Fendelander is awful cute), the cellist wouldn’t be missed during the live performance. And I have to believe the band members would prefer to split the cash five ways instead of six. I know I would.

Another facet of having six musicians onstage is that it's surely more difficult to get into a groove, to hit on all cylinders, to have a great show. It’s simply one additional factor.

This got me thinking. Bandleader Alex Brown Church and new drummer Joey Ficken are easily the best musicians in the group. Ficken (formerly of Portland band Swords) has great tempo and range and his energetic fills enliven the band’s mid-tempo catalog. But I think it would behoove them to take a good, hard look at the others. (It’s essentially Church's band, anyway.)

Maybe the Mercury Lounge has sub-par sound (it wouldn’t surprise me, it being an old, small room). Maybe Sea Wolf needs a new soundman. Whatever the issue, the band sounded a little off for a good portion of the show.

They played every song off Leaves In The River and two from the EP. They also unveiled “Song Of The Magpie,” which they wrote for Augusten Burroughs’s audio book, A Wolf At The Table. “Magpie” is a great song and was a highlight of the show.

The Mercury Lounge floorplan is not conducive to encores. To get to their dressing room, the band leaves the stage to the audience’s right and walks along the wall the length of the club to the back of the space. To return to the stage they have to walk through everyone again. It looks kinda silly.

Having finished the main set with rousing versions of the upbeat “Sea Monuments” (my personal fave) and “You’re A Wolf” they led off the encore with the slow and delicate “Leaves In The River.” This mood swing seemed to cause the remaining crowd to get sleepy.

Or maybe it was just me.