I’d never been to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Gowanus before last Saturday. I was early for the show and needed dinner and wandered through the industrial streets past the dark warehouses until I found a surprisingly nice little bar/restaurant that served up some great meatballs.
The Bell House opened in Gowanus in September and it’s a nice venue. It reminds me of the Showbox in Seattle, but is about half the size. I arrived and got a beer and waited for the opening act to finish up, which they did soon enough.
The Oranges Band took the stage as a three-piece to play “Ride The Nuclear Wave” “Open Air,” “Wild Ride” and “My Mechanical Mind” prior to hired gun Doug Gillard joining them to focus on new numbers. Speaking of new numbers, there are some gems here. I recognized many of them from their
show in July and was anxious to listen to the new album.
Oh yeah, the new album! A bonus of going to the show was being able to buy an advance copy of the new record,
Are Invisible. I’ve given it a few listens over the past week and I’m liking it a lot. Roman Keubler has said he wanted to write about the Baltimore scene on this album (“Gordon’s Nightclub” is a paean to a bar called the Rev, for example). My current favorite is “ArtStar,” which, thematically, reminds me a bit of the Long Winters’ “New Girl.” I love the art school insight: “They want to be known by everyone and / shown by everyone and / blown by everyone.”
But back to the show…
Roman Keubler is probably the least “rock star” of any front man I’ve seen. He has no stage persona separate from the playful and humble guy he seems to be all the time. (He invited his father on stage to shill product for the band, citing his dad’s opinion that they don’t promote themselves enough—a moment that made the show feel more like a gathering of friends than a gig.) I’ve never seen a musician smile as much as he does when he plays. It’s clear that he loves to “rock out” (as he says), but also doesn’t take it too seriously.
Near the end of the set, as they prepared to play “My Street,” Keubler said “It’s either that or ‘I’ll Never Be Alone,’” honestly opening the discussion to anyone who wanted to weigh in. (Is both not an option?)
About 30 minutes later, A.C. Newman, the night’s headliner, took the stage before an excited crowd. I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m not much of a New Pornographers fan. Given a choice, I think I’d have preferred Dan Behar instead (I find his stuff a little more oddly interesting). As such, I won’t even attempt to review the set (sorry, Ben). I’m just not the guy to do it. (Not to mention the fact that I only stayed for four songs before leaving.)
And now for the “thank God it’s Friday’s song of the day” portion of this post.
From the Oranges Band’s new album,
Are Invisible, here is the aforementioned “ArtStar”:
Happy weekend.
A kinda quiet tune for today. The Antlers hail from New York. Their new record Hospice was named by NPR as the best record of 2009 so far (wait, it isn’t No Line On The Horizon?).
Released last week, Hungry Bird is the first Snide album in three years (I think; I’m too lazy to confirm it). In the past I’ve mostly wanted to like this band more than I ever actually did, due primarily to the occasional wacky Barzelay lyric or phrasing that—to my mind—detracted from an otherwise fantastic or beautiful song. Sometimes the man just can’t not make a joke.
The Condo Fucks is a fake band (well, fake in the sense that they have a false bio). The Condo Fucks are actually an alter ego of Yo La Tengo; cutting loose and having fun.
Today, I bring you some honest to goodness R-O-C-K.
I recently heard Lykke Li for the first time. I’m late to the game, I think. Seems she’s been a pretty hot commodity this year. If you live in a city with an awesome radio station and if you commute in a car, you’ve probably been exposed to her already. I do not, and I had not.
Today’s song of the day comes from New York’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (a.k.a. TPOBPAH). I just recently stumbled onto these guys and really like their sound. It owes a lot to the distortion-dream quality of My Bloody Valentine and other shoegaze acts, but has a catchy pop sensibility those bands tended to lack. I also get hints of late ‘80s Jesus and Mary Chain in their song structures.
Lucky for me—and you—Brian is happy to keep my inbox stocked with suggestions for song of the day. His offering for this week: Oldfolks Home.
Prior to about 20 minutes ago neither you or I knew who the Everybodyfields were. I've remedied that situation for myself and am about to do it for you, too.
Their self-titled album came out on vinyl in March and received a lot of buzz (not all of it good). One online reviewer wrote:
A few weeks ago I had the chance to see Meiko, a singer songwriter from LA, perform at a small club in Manhattan. Meiko is funny, quirky and sexy (in a way that reminds me a bit of Liz Phair, though not quite so dirty). Her music can be a little over-simple for my taste, but whatever, I’m an ass sometimes.
First up is a song Brian alerted me to. It comes from the recent collaboration of Kaki King and the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle. They’ve finished a six-song EP entitled Black Pear Tree, including this track, “Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle.” The title comes from the Super Mario Bros. video game and, according to Darnielle, the song is written from the perspective of Toad.
Kings of Leon’s fourth album, entitled Only By The Night, comes out later this month. I know some people who have a hard time with how this band has evolved, going so far as to say last year’s Because Of The Times was an embarrassment. These people are stupid.
I am a big fan of David Bazan.
A lot of people were drawn to the Walkmen courtesy of their song “We’ve Been Had” (and its use in a Saturn car commercial). “The Rat,” from 2004’s Bows + Arrows received quite a bit of airplay as well.
