I was looking forward to this show for quite sometime. Midlake’sThe Trials of Van Occupanther is the perfect hazy day soundtrack for me and when this year’s The Courage Of Others came out, that album quickly became one of my favorites of the year. By pledging allegiance to old-time country music, 1960s The Band-like harmonies, and exuberant acoustic clatter, Midlake create hushed, dreamy and mysteriously beautiful music.
Matthew and the Arrogant Sea
Opening was the fello Denton, Texas crew, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea. The combination of the hushed, indie balladry with the spacious guitar rock made these guys a welcome addition to the short line-up. Mixing boogie-soaked country and the wail of Matthew’s echoing falsetto may have gained a few skeptical audience members.
Midlake
Ethereal beardy-music has a ready-made audience ready to declare it’s the best thing since My Morning Jacket, and as a result it’s suffering from oversubscription. Midlake are a cut above, but lack the psych-pop complexity of, say, Fleet Foxes.
Midlake
Despite darker notes like the eerie Rulers Ruling All Things, whose sweet melody couches strange, oblique images of snow and destruction, mainly they’re as unshowy, down-home and honest as their plaid shirts.
Midlake
Existing in a vague timeless space somewhere between the early-’70s and a folky, pre-industrial world of Crosby, Stills & Nash harmonies, streams and squirrels, they’re almost too gorgeous, neatly sidestepping the mess of modernity.
Midlake
Of course, you’d only have such doubts hours later. As you stand, rapt, bathed in the chiming acoustic guitar and flute of Van Occupanther or thrilling to Tim Smith’s haunting whisper on Acts of Man, your head will be full of nothing but the desire for it not to stop.
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[mp3] Midlake – Acts of Man from The Courage Of Others (2010)
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[mp3] Matthew and the Arrogant Sea – You Still Love Me Blondie from Family Family Family Meets The Magic Christian (2008)
Swedish indie pop sensation El Perro Del Mar’s new album Love Is Not Pop, which was released in the US by The Control Group on October 20th, has gotten a pretty positive response from the music critic community (Redefine gave it A-). And for good reason, Love Is Not Pop proved she can be consistent and create perfectly crafted pop music without being generic or repetitive. As if last year’s From the Valley to the Stars wasn’t proof enough that she can be minimalistic with soaring pop influence, this album solidified it. El Perro Del Mar will be joining Peter, Bjorn & John at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall on the 19th and 20th this week.
4. Any concerts that blew your mind recently?
Fever Ray in Stockholm this summer.
5. Any non-musical influences you would like to mention?
Ingmar Bergman, Georgie O’Keeffe, John Cassavetes, Yves Saint-Laurent, Bruce Weber, Elsa Haage, Pina Bausch.
6. If your music was to be the theme of a film/TV show, what would it be? A mix between Falcon Crest and Miami Vice, 2001 and Karate Kid.
7. What musician/artist would you like to collaborate with for a day?
Dizzee Rascal
8. What is the album you listen to on a cold rainy day? Studio’s Yearbook 1
9. List four songs you would listen to on a roadtrip?
Songs 1-4 from Dan Lissvik’s album ‘Transmission’.
10. Where do you see yourselves in 7 years?
I don’t. Nothing good can come out of doing that.
11. What is the last book you read?
‘Never Let Me Go’ by Kazuo Ishiguro.
12. Is image a factor in music or is it a waste of time?
It is.
I really like this band. Maybe it’s because they remind me of listening to early post-hardcore acts like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral and Texas Is The Reason in their prime. Which was quite a bit what it was like to witness Cymbals Eat Guitars perform.
While it was a short set and the crowd (at first) was thin, the level of intensity projected from Staten Island’s own Cymbals Eat Guitars was something to behold. The ‘not your average’ indie rock quartet features your fair share of sophisticated atmospheric instrumentals and out-of-control mathmatic time signatures with passionate and mad-as-fuck vocals. This is all thanks to 20-year-old guitarist/singer Joseph D’Agostino.
The guy displays an onstage intensity that makes the experience even more intimate. It seems as though he bares all not only through his intensive vocals but his high energy; jumping and playing his guitar like he’s been holding in this music for years and finally gets to share it with complete strangers. The band itself almost seem at the will of Joseph’s performance and try their damndest to catch up at times.
This doesn’t at all affect the experience whatsoever, just something I noticed. The songs on the band’s self-released first album, Why There Are Mountains, which will be re-released September 29th, served as the majority of Friday’s set. The album translates well live and impressed the crowd (consisting mostly of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart fans) that a band at such a young age could display this level of skill.
Someone even yelled, “How friggin’ old are you?” The set closed with the vocal-hurricane Wind Phoenix and left the crowd and myself hopeful that this band will further prove that on-stage organized chaos is possible.
Cymbals Eat Guitars– Wind Phoenixfrom Why There Are Mountains (2009)
Azure Ray creeped into my life around late 2002 with the ‘November EP’. After that I gradually ended up buying up their entire catalog, but never wound up seeing them live. So you can imagine my disappointment when Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink split up in 2005 to pursue their own solo projects. While their solo material was decent, none of it could live up to the heartwrenching honesty that was Azure Ray. So when Maria Taylor announced on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic show that the band would reform in July 2009 for a handful of shows before working on a new Azure Ray album, I was extatic. A-Ray was back.
Now I wasn’t sure of the turn out even with Cursive’s/The Good Life’s Tim Kasher opening up, but to my surprise, The Great American Music Hall filled up pretty quickly when the Omaha singer-songerwirter took the stage. Not sure what to expect (was he going to play acoustic Cursive numbers? Good Life songs? Covers?), I was pleasantly surprised that he played pretty much nothing but his own solo material. All of it sounded typical “Kasher-style” mope rock about doomed relationships and unusual situations, but it was still nice to hear. He was able to squeeze out “A New Friend” from The Good Life’s ‘Album of the Year’ and a sweet Paul Simon cover. Overall a good performance despite his lack of confidence in his own songs. Also, he mentioned that night that he will be working on a solo record; when it will be released is anyone’s guess.
When Azure Ray took the stage, all was quiet. Most knew the proper mood for an Azure Ray show and those who didn’t found out within the next few seconds. The set list covered tracks from 2001’s self-titled debut (Rise, Displaced), not many off 2002’s Burn & Shiver, but many off 2003’s Hold On Love. We Are Mice, The Drinks We Drank Last Night (which sounded as emotional as ever), a more upbeat and rocking version of Hold On Love, and the crowd’s favorite, If You Fall. It was quite difficult to find anything not to enjoy about the show.
Once the encore kicked in Nick White from Tilly and the Wall (who was playing guitar that night) sang a cover of Now It’s Overhead’s ‘Blackout Curtain’ with the girls doing backup. I was nearly on my knees in awe at how flawless they played that song. Afterwards were two unexpected new songs, one of which was the a-typical dreary Azure-style and the other seemed more upbeat and positive for a band that seems to keep it low key. They closed the night with my favorite A-Ray song, November. A song that holds a very special place in my life and a reminder of where I was 6 years ago.
Which brings me to this; I felt a deep sense of nostalga that night. In fact I was more emotional than I’ve been at a concert in a long time. This was a band that represented a dark time in my life and acted as a close friend who knew exactly how I was feeling. So hearing them play these songs so flawlessly, in this beautiful venue, on this clear chilly night, was something very special to me. I felt like I had gotten a long embracing hug from an old friend, talked for an hour, and went our seperate ways. I left feeling pretty good that night…
It might have been a bit on the short end, but the saying always puts quality ahead of quantity.
And for British singer Natasha Khan also know as Bat For Lashes, her 85-minute set at a sold-out Great American Music Hall last Saturday evening was a quality-filled spectacle on many levels, all with the intent to take her followers on a mystical medieval journey while playing the role of an electro-tinged minstrel.
Hecuba
First off, the very experimental Hecuba took the stage and played a few off their latest release, Paradise. Dressed in a one piece unitard, lead vocalist Isabelle Albuquerque jumped, danced, and kind of freaked out on stage for a good half-hour while everyone tried to interpret what was going on. Entertaining nonetheless.
Bat For Lashes
From the shimmering glitter streamer backdrop to the numerous branches and dolls around the stage, Bat For Lashes, touring behind this year’s Two Suns album, brought a unique style to San Francisco.
Supported by a tight three-piece band, Bat For Lashes opened with the dreamy and hushed Glass before the acoustic trip-pop hues of Sleep Alone. Both songs got decent responses but Natasha Khan was happy to go straight into the following track.
Bat For Lashes
Probably the first true glimpse of her range came during Siren Song, a rich, airy, orchestral number which had the performer going from Kate Bush range to Dusty Springfield with no problems whatsoever, and garnered a louder ovation.
The performer has a knack for crafting fun, carefree electro-pop nuggets such as the toe-tapping Horse and I from 2007’s Fur and Gold release and especially on Sarah, which got the entire crowd singing along.
Bat For Lashes
Just over an hour in, Bat For Lashes was already closing up shop with the groove-filled Pearl’s Dream. With the floor filling up with people and all on their feet, she took a bow, said thanks and left the stage.
Considering how the main set finished on such a high, the encore’s gentle, melancholic tandem of Prescilla and Moon and Moon might have caught some off guard. Well she brought that high back with her second encore by finally performing Daniel, much to everyone’s delight.
Bat For Lashes
Whether you’re prepared for it or not, Bat For Lashes is going to be pretty huge in coming months. With her vocals always on key and her demanding stage presence, she is one of the better live shows you could end up seeing this year. It was for me.
(if you are a regular reader, you might notice that we have eliminated the “Download” button. This is due to the new Wordpress 2.8 and all it’s glory for messing with my alignment. A small change but a necessary one in my opinion.)
After much thought, I have decided to drop the Weekend Showcase post and start review shows on Saturday. I was running out of shit to talk about and was completely disinterested in what I was writing about. So here we go, hope this works out better.
So for those who frequently visit this website, you probably know I am a huge fan of the band dredg. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out they were not only play one San Francisco show, but two shows in the city. I was also overhearing rumors of special guests and new songs to be played these nights as well.
Now this is a double review, so I am going to attempt to give you rundown on both the Great American Music Hall show and Bimbo’s 365 Club show.
Judgement Day
So lets start with Judgement Day, the string metal band. They have toured with dredg several times already and I was able to catch them on their last tour in New York and Connecticut. It’s always a joy to see them live because the audience always loves them. I like to look around once in while in the middle of one of their songs and watch people’s jaw’s drop and mouth, “This is fucking amazing!” Yes it is. This time around their performance was way more intense and sounded spectacular. It’s a band that sounds like non-other and have a unique stage presence that makes them one of my favorite acts to see live. I’m serious about that last statement. Between the heavy metal slaughter that is Out of the Abyss to the acoustic version of Air Raid, Judgement Day made both nights very special.
Torche
Oh Torche, where to begin? If you’re unfamilar with Torche, they’re a more watered down version of The Melvins. A more accessible sludge metal band for those of you that have short attention spans. The band didn’t bring anything new to the table and were unlucky to follow the amazing Judgement Day. However, the band was pretty entertaining to watch. The drummer was wailing away and showed extreme intensity for nearly every song, the bassist was jumping and running around on stage, and the guitarist/singer was…well, making funny faces at the crowd. Which may have prompted an audience member to chuck a cup of beer at him, causing the singer to toss his guitar at the assailant and stomp off stage. That was at the Great American Music Hall, the Bimbo show was a whole-lot calmer than the previous night. I wonder why…
dredg
I have seen dredg at least 10 times in my lifetime and I must say that these shows were probably the best I’ve ever seen them. They sounded fantastic and the new songs didn’t sound plastic or poorly rehearsed. Opening with Stamp Of Origin: Pessimistic, a short track off their upcoming album, The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion, the song blended nicely into crowd favorites, Ode to the Sun and Same Ol’ Road. The band then went into the instrumental Brushstroke – New Heart Shadow followed by Of The Room, a song that never gets old no matter how many times I hear it live.
dredg with Ben Flanagan of The Trophy Fire
So with the crowd sufficiently hyped up on familiar songs, the band went into the newer songs. For both shows, Ben Flanagan of The Trophy Fire and Benjamin Henderson from Good Hustle came up to help the band play opening track to the new album, Pariah. There’s a specific part of the song that involves several singers all at once and that’s where the guests joined in to make the song sound enormous.
dredg with Judgement Day
Another highlight was Judgement Day adding strings to this the songs Jamais Vu (which instantly became a stronger song), Long Days And Vague Clues (a brutal instrumental that sounds like a synth metal solo), Lightswitch (a weird combo of Murder by Death whisky-rock and dredg-like atmospherics), and Triangle (a fan favorite). The addition of Judgement Day made dredg’s performance seem more genuine and emotional. I for one would prefer the guys of JD to become permanent members of the band and contribute to every tour, I know I’m not the only one. After playing three more new tunes (Ireland, RUOK, and Information) and a few more off Catch Without Arms (Bug Eyes, Sang Real), the band wrapped it up with the epic and cinematic Down To The Cellar with Stamp Of Origin: Horizon. For those who have not heard the new record, this is not only a great song to end the album but also their live shows. At the end of a dredg show you don’t feel cheated or unsatisfied in the slightest bit. You don’t even feel you need an encore (which they never do).
dredg
This show proved to me that dredg are still in their prime and have really found their niche in the music world. To miss one of their shows, especially one with Judgement Day, would be a mistake that you wouldn’t want to make.
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