Upcoming Shows: Mission of Burma, Les Savy Fav + more

Tonight!!! Wednesday, January 27

El Medio @ Bruar Falls | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | $5
El Medio are an awesome lo-fi pop band who hardly ever play live, so go see this. They are sad and restrained and their songs are truly beautiful. [myspace]

Benefit for Haiti: The Walkmen, Ted Leo, Cold War Kids, the Wrens, Here We Go Magic, A.C. Newman, Rhett Miller, Freelance Whales (YUCK), Jimmy Fallon @ Bell House | Gowanus, Brooklyn | SOLD OUT!
This is some line-up! And for a good cause too - no wonder it's sold out. If you can make it, make it. But skip Freelance Whales. I first became aware of Freelance Whales this fall when I was on a subway car with them and eavesdropped long enough to find out their name. Even if the name weren't so stupid, though, I knew the music would be awful just from sitting near them on a train. Imagine my surprise when a few months later, their name started popping up all over the place! And everything we've learned from the blogger buzz deepens my disapproval of their existence. I don't even need to listen to them to know they suck. But anyway, I digress...the rest of this line-up is amazing. You should go.


Tomorrow!!! Thursday, January 28

Mattress, Weird Fantasy Band @ Shea Stadium | Bushwick, Brooklyn | $7
Mattress is a punk band from the New Brunswick scene, which means true, down-to-earth, old-school DIY American hardcore punk. Weird Fantasy Band is kinda the same thing - it seems to be one man backed by a variable collective out of that scene. I haven't enjoyed WFB's music all that much, but "Jasper" says they are amazing live. [mattress myspace] [wfb myspace]


Friday, January 29

Sounds Like Brooklyn: Les Savy Fav + Vivian Girls @ Brooklyn Academy of Music | Fort Greene, Brooklyn | $20-25
Les Savy Fav are one of the hardcore bands fronted a bald, bearded fat dude who strips to his underwear. They aren't the best of such bands, but might come in a respectable second. One of the Vivian Girls just e-mailed me and asked me why I keep taking cheap shots at her band. I take cheap shots because I don't think they are worth the hype and I find them boring. And boring music to me is like waterboarding to most people. But they have improved significantly over the last year and I'm warming up to them ever so slowly. So, I dunno what to say. They mostly still suck, but at least they are better than the Freelance fuckin Whales. [lsf myspace] [vg myspace]

Oneida @ Market Hotel | Bushwick, Brooklyn | $10
I like Oneida's older stuff better and they've changed a lot over the years, but they basically play pretty heavy music that jerks like metal, smiles like punk, bristles like industrial and most of all, breaks your head like krautrock, looping and trancing the hell out. So yeah, it's interesting. [myspace]

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom | LES, Manhattan | $20
Mission of Fucking Burma, folks. They were one of the first of the second generation of American punk bands, but their music was a bit slower and a lot more complex than the rest of the hardcore crowd - they brought musical sophistication back to punk. And they are still awesome. Go see them Saturday, though, because there are too many other shows going on Friday.

PC Worship @ Glasslands | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | $7
PC Worship is amazing lo-fi avant-rock with noise experiments and sadness. But there's too much else going on for me to recommend this show, especially since the rest of the line-up sucks. They are a Brooklyn band, so you'll get another chance. [myspace]

Drunkdriver @ Union Pool | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
One of NYC's most hateful hardcore bands, Drunkdriver put on an unforgettable live show. They seem like really nice people, but would definitely freak your parents out. [myspace]


Saturday, January 30

Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom | LES, Manhattan | $20
See above.

Sisters, Fluffy Lumbers, Total Slacker @ Shea Stadium | Bushwick, Brooklyn | $7
Sisters are the BOMB. Among noise-punk/noise-pop duos, they are easily one of the best. See them now before they go the way of No Age and Japandroids and start playing fewer and bigger spaces. Fluffy Lumbers and Total Slacker are all the rage. I haven't listened yet, but they are probably worth at least checking out. [sisters myspace] [fl myspace] [ts myspace]

PC Worship @ Market Hotel | Bushwick, Brooklyn
See above.

Dinowalrus + Javelin @ House of Yes! | Bushwick, Brooklyn | $10
I've never heard of this place before, but my guys Dinowalrus are playing there Saturday, so if for some reason you skip the above shows, consider this one. Dinowalrus play art. Like Sonic Youth, but only in spirit. Javelin plays throw-away post-disco dance-pop, but I gotta admit, their whole amplification by radio broadcast (BYOB, bring your own boombox) is pretty cool. [dinowalrus myspace] [javelin myspace]


And then there are like no shows worth mentioning for several days...weird...

Live: Ponytail + Javelin

When: 10/10
Where: Bell House

Many ages ago, Ponytail played a set at the Bell House, and I went to see them because they are awesome. Javelin opened up. They were some guys doing run-of-the-mill electro stuff . If you like jumping around to run-of-the-mill electro stuff - and who doesn't? - they are not a bad band to jump around to. But if you're not a jumper-arounder, you should definitely find something more interesting to feed your ears.

Something like, say, Ponytail, one of the most boldly experimental, creative bands to emerge in the last few years. Basically, two guys have amazing noise-guitar frenzies (the kind that take a lot of technical skill) and another guy freaks out on the drums at 1,000 mph, while young frontwoman Molly Siegel whoops and hollers gleefully into the microphone and jumps up and down around the front of the stage. And they're all smiles and energy, almost as if they are having fun. (WOAH!)

I've said before that Ponytail reminds me of a rodeo. It's not just the whooping, and guitarist Dustin Wong's ridin-a-bronco imitation when he plays guitar. It's that the only way to keep up with the music is to jump in and cling on for your life. If you like your music simple, melodic and structured, you'll hate Ponytail. If you like your music as a completely untamed burst of youthful energy channelled into sonic form, well, then, you're in luck.

Ponytail's records are good but nothing compared to their live show. Siegel always jumps into the crowd at some point, to crowd surf or just pogo around in people's faces. Meanwhile, Wong and his fellow guitarist Ken Seeno grin at each other from opposite sides of the stage every time they get ready for a particularly exciting part. And there is no other band on earth that sounds like this.

I can't say whether the show at Bell House was particularly amazing, because the band is always an awesome experience. But the crowd, moshing like crazy - but nice crazy - and dancing, headbanging and shouting along, was definitely hooked, and the band was pretty hooked on the audience too. It gives an musty old soul like me hope to see a hundred and fifty kids losing their shit for music this cutting-edge. If youngsters have this much fun with this music, I think we're all going to be okay.

[MySpace]