Live: Jay Reatard

When: 7/1
Where: Stuyvensant Oval

I've obviously fallen hopelessly behind on my live reviews, but I'm trying to catch up. Summer is not a good time for deadlines and work ethic, I hope you can excuse the delays!

Jay Reatard is a junior high dropout who makes sharp, burning garage punk, packed to capacity with bright hooks and riffs. I'd heard his live show was even more exciting than his recordings, so I was pretty eager to check it out.

My reaction was mixed however. On the one hand, the band, whose proto-grunge hair-metal look was straight out of 1988 Seattle, rocked hard. Head banging, unwashed hair flying, Flying V's wailing, this is rock music at it's rockin'est. Visually, the band reminds me of the Meat Puppets in more ways than one, and there's some parallels between their music. From Reatard and his band's fashion and their technique, it's clear they don't reject all rock traditions. Like the Meat Puppets, they are punk rock but don't throw the baby out with the bath water. There's nothing wrong with nice lead guitar work and a nice head of hair.

On the other hand, Reatard's fast and frantic delivery obscured many of the hooks in both the vocals and the guitar. If I weren't familiar with a lot of the songs, I would have been unimpressed, since without their strong tunes at the forefront, they all sounded the same.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the show, but for new listeners, I'd highly recommend checking out some of the recorded singles before showing up at a concert. Reatard may blast energetic garage noise better than most people around, but its his songwriting that makes him worthy of your attention. And you might not hear that at the show, but you can't miss it on a single released track of his recent career.

[MySpace]

Upcoming Shows: Wavves, Lovvers + more

Tomorrow! Wednesday, July 15
An obscenely difficult choice...

Wavves, Woods, Real Estate @ Bowery Ballroom | LES, Manhattan | $13 adv./$15 dos.
Wavves is Nathan Williams. Nathan Williams is a young kid from San Diego who writes simple, lo-fi pop tunes, and those songs are everything rock music should be - loud, fun and entirely independent. Woods are a gently haunting, melancholy folk-pop band and another one of the year's best. I think Real Estate is boring and overrated, but people whose opinions I respect keep saying otherwise, so maybe you should give them a chance too? [Wavves MySpace] [Woods MySpace] [RE MySpace]

Sisters, Coin Under Tongue @ Death By Audio | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | $?
Two of my "Bands to Watch in [the Rest of] 2009", playing on their home turf at Death By Audio - what more could you want? You know playing in a familiar location and with a bill of close friends is going to mean both these bands play their very best. Sisters' lo-fi punk may be an odd combination with the mammoth post hardcore of Coin Under Tongue, but variety is the spice of life. Or something. [Sisters MySpace]


Thursday, July 16

Lovvers @ Cake Shop | LES, Manhattan | $10
Lovvers are h an awesome punk band, with a pop sensibility that doesn't make them sound wimpy or like they are fourteen years old. Their music is truly in the spirit of garage rock and early punk - raw and technically unsophisticated, but with an inspired maturity behind the bright energy. They are coming in from the UK, so don't miss them when you have the chance! [MySpace]


Friday, July 17

Abe Vigoda, Dinowalrus @ Cake Shop | LES, Manhattan | $10
Abe Vigoda is one of the better LA punk bands. They are at the youthful, pop-accessible end of the hardcore punk spectrum, and I bet they are fun live. Dinowalrus is a New York band I've been avoiding for ages because I wasn't a huge fan of their recorded material. But I finally went to see them this past weekend and without getting ahead of myself (I will be writing a review), they are AMAZING live. I mean, really, really, really amazing. [AV MySpace] [Dino MySpace]


Saturday, July 18

SIREN FESTIVAL @ Coney Island | Coney Island, Brooklyn | FREE!!!
This two-stage festival is free. If it cost money, I probably wouldn't recommend it, since I'm ambivalent-to-apathetic on most of the acts. But for free, it's WAY worth it. Bands include:
- Built to Spill (sad 90's indie music who I kind of think feel sorry for themselves too much, but who are pretty well loved)
- Raveonettes (Jesus & Mary Chain-y noise pop, a little boring for my tastes, but not bad)
- Frightened Rabbit (Scottish cry-in-your beer music that's kind of shameful mope-pop but that's also really, really irresistible)
- A Place to Bury Strangers (easily the best band of the day, loud loud and loud shoegaze/psychedelic/noise rock that will split your eardrums with screaming feedback and distortion, delivered by an extremely talented and enigmatic three-piece)
- Thee Oh Sees (solid if un-special DIY punk/pop with excellent musicianship and some fun melodies)
- Japandroids (a great punk-pop band, but I'd actually avoid seeing them live if you like their recorded material - technically, they're great live, but their attitude makes the true spirit of punk turn over in its shallow grave)
- Bear Hands (poppy rock music that's undeniably solid, well-arranged and well-played, if not groundbreaking)
...and more.
[Official Festival Website]

Live: Dinosaur Jr. + Screaming Females

When: 6/25
Where: Music Hall of Williamsburg

Though I'd heard the name Screaming Females around a lot before this show, I hadn't bothered to look into the band. I figured I only have room in my brain for just so many bands with feminine names (Women, Sisters, Girls, Little Girls, Some Girls, etc. etc.). Given all these bands, it somehow never occurred to me that "Screaming Females" might be literal, not ironic.

As it happens the band features only one female, but she's definitely screaming and she definitely owns the show. Vocalist and guitarist Marissa Paternoster does shriek more than sing, but what she really does is play the guitar better than just about anyone else around. Her songs are a constant barrage of shredding solos and post-hardcore freakouts.

Paternoster is one of the best guitarists I've seen in ages ever. I'd be happy to see a guitarist this exciting in any form, but having a woman as one of the finset emerging guitarists makes me feel a bit better about everything. While women have made huge in-roads into the world of rock, especially since the riot grrrls of the 90's, virtuoso guitar in metal (even post-punk indie metal) is still uncharted territory. Knowing how difficult it still is for a female musician to earn respect in any music scene, I've got to salute Paternoster not only for her mad skillz, but also for the strength of character it must have taken for her to chose such an unlikely musical path.

Of course, she's not the only member of the band. The two men who share the stage with her are also excellent musicians, blasting out a rock-solid rhythm section strong enough to carry Paternoster's most blazing solos. The three showed a strong musical chemistry that's not easily faked, locking together effortlessly.

Ultimately, though, I didn't personally enjoy the set as much as I wish I could have. That's strictly a matter of personal taste, though - as with many metal-influenced bands, Screaming Females use chromatic scales as their palette, and chromatic scales don't speak to me. For that reason, I'll probably always prefer the only-slightly-less-intense music of Marnie Stern. But I'm glad to have seen Screaming Females and I'm glad they are finally getting some of the attention they clearly deserve. [MySpace]

We were hoping that given the unhappy events of June 25, we might be the one audience ever treated to Dinosaur Jr. covering Michael Jackson. No such luck, but the set was far beyond needing a trick like that to make it memorable. Dinosaur Jr. was one of the great American punk/post-punk bands of the 80's, without whom we'd have no grunge, no shoegaze and certainly no guitar solos like Screaming Females' in our indie music.

After a very unamicable split in the early 90's, Dinosaur reunited a few years ago and recently came out with their second post-reunion LP, Farm. I didn't listen to Farm after it came out, assuming it would be a disappointment. But just before I went to this show, the guy who shares my office told me that he'd been listening to the album non-stop, and a recommendation from him was pretty trustworthy so I checked it out. And it fuckin' rocks.

So I wasn't surprised when show rocked as well. J. Mascis has a reputation as a brilliant guitarist, but when listening to the recordings, it's easy to forget how talented Lou Barlow (bass) and Murph (drums) are as a rhythm section. Barlow's dynamic, heavy hooks make him one of my favorite bassists of all time, and though Mascis has tried to take sole credit for the group's success, seeing them reunited and live proves otherwise.

It seems the extreme tension - at times, hatred - between Barlow and Mascis has faded with age. The unspoken rage that has always hovered between them on stage is part of what has always made their live show so thrilling, and it's a little less fun when it no longer seems likely that one will brain the other with a guitar midway through the show. But they aren't buddy-buddy either - they did not engage each other once during the show (until the encore), Barlow instead exchanging smiles and words with Murph. Mascis was the visible loner, as far way on stage as he could get from the others, though he occasionally addressed Murph, good-naturedly enough.

Though touring to support their new album, Dinosaur treated the audience to a surprising number of old classics. And the new material, as I've mentioned, is great too, stronger in melody and less murky in arrangement than many of the older songs. This may make them a bit more conventional, but there's nothing wrong with that - they're still classic Dinosaur.

Most importantly, the band seemed to be having fun. A cynic like me would assume the reunion was only about the bottom line, and that might be a big part of it, but the band also loves being on stage and loves playing their music. Mascis may have a bit of a perma-frown, but Barlow and Murph looked like they were back in their element - only this time, after years of stress and resentment, they're letting loose and doing it right. [MySpace]

Live: Woodsist Festival Recap (Day 2)

The second day of the Woodsist/Captured Tracks festival was moved outside to its originally-intended venue, a vacant lot down the block from Market Hotel, just under the train tracks. And despite the trains rumbling by overhead and the echos off the buildings, the space was great acoustically and aesthetically.

I arrived later than I'd planned to and missed Brilliant Colors, who I heard were outstanding. I'm really bummed about that, since they live way over the West Coast and there's no telling when they'll be back.

I did arrive in time for the Fresh & Onlys, a band whose name I've heard around a lot lately. I was disappointed - their music was generic and unmemorable, just your typical semi-sedated lo-fi punk with listenable but not catchy melodies and unchanging, standard guitar-drum-bass arrangements. There was a synth/sampler but it was often hard to pick out of the sound, since it often played exactly the same part as the guitar and bass. Yaaawn. [MySpace]

One thought that crossed my mind while watching the Fresh & Onlys: at least in the 90's, we let the girls play bass. Now, I understand that sometimes you want a female vocalist or find one who is good and the rest of the people in the band happen to be guys, and that's fine. But in this scene (beyond the scope of this festival) women are disproportionately relegated to backup or co-lead vocals and tambourine, and they're often not even good at that. It may not be anyone's fault, but it's still a bad sign that girls aren't encouraged to pick up instruments or aren't encouraged to join bands. Something is wrong.

Next up were Dum Dum Girls, who at first glance may appear to fall in that same troubling pattern. But there's a huge difference: in both Dum Dum Girls and the Mayfair Sect, Kristin "Dee Dee" Gundred is a phenomenal singer and a solid songwriter. And it seems she has creative control over the music in both bands, unlike many of the tambourine-shaking ladies around. Crystal Stilts' Frankie Rose also joined in on drums, but even if Gundred had been the only woman on stage, I couldn't fault the band. Strong melodies, well-delivered, with a masterful instrumental back-up from Rose, Crocodiles' Brandon Welchez (Gundred's husband, in fact) and Blank Dog/Mayfair Sect's Mike Sniper - definitely one of the highlights of the festival. [MySpace]

Sadly for all attendees, Michigan's excellent punks Tyvek were forced to cancel because (rumor has it) their bassist, Shelley Salant, landed in the hospital this weekend. The good news is that she's OK and that the band will be in New York on July 24 (@ Silent Barn) and July 25 (@ Cake Shop). [MySpace]

Both Woods and Kurt Vile played louder, more aggressive sets than I expected. Perhaps it was the acoustics, perhaps it was the spirit of the day, but both seemed to crank it up. This is really neither good nor bad - I like things loud and distorted but both these bands have such great songs that volume and distortion are irrelevant - their songwriting outshines everything else.

Woods played a thrilling set of many of their best songs, sounding, as always, like an oddly distant, distorted version of Neil Young or the Byrds. Their melodies are sweet folk pop, but their sounds are subtly unsettling. One of the best. [MySpace]

I can't get as into Kurt Vile - he has some good songs, but ultimately, I found the whole thing a little dull for my tastes. That said, if you're into folk and not looking for constant hooks and uptempos, you'll probably love him - he's doing a lot right, for sure. [MySpace]

My dislike of the Vivian Girls is no secret, despite how much I want to like them. Given my lowest of low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. Their delivery was punkier than I'd anticipated and they have actually started moving when playing. The fast, loud, crashing drums helped immensely. However, after a couple songs, I did reach my usual state of boredom. The band's "melodies" are rarely more than three or four notes and their "solos" or "jams" or whatever they are meant to be usually consist of a single chord and go on way too long. If the Vivian Girls made songs clocking it at a minute or two instead of five, I might actually enjoy them. [MySpace]

I had high hopes for Thee Oh Sees, but my reaction was mixed. On the one hand, they followed the whole mediocre-female-singer-with-tambourine concept and there wasn't anything special about them to set them apart from the rest of the bands - they sounded kind of like a recap of the festival, but not in an interesting way.

On the other hand, their delivery was lively and engaging and their arrangements well-conceived. They put their heart into playing and it showed. They also had better vocal lines than many of the day's bands. Still, though, there wasn't enough substance to hold my attention for long. They were fun, but as far as I saw, nothing to write home about and certainly a big creative step down from Woods, Blank Dogs and even Crystal Stilts. [MySpace]

Live: Woodsist Festival Recap (Day 1)

A couple of days at the Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival is all it takes to illustrate how inbred the DIY scene truly is. There were so many members shared between bands that the event simply seems like a quick run-through of all the three-to-five person permutations possible with a dozen core members. (OK, math nerds, settle down. Permutations, not combinations, because sometimes they just rotate instruments.)

Some of the Woodsist bands are outstanding and several (Wavves, Woods, Crystal Stilts, Little Girls, etc.) number among my recent favorites, but with such a closed circle, it seems like the musicians and the small movement they've created is hurtling towards an artistic dead end. The festival was the culmination of a year and a half of well-deserved success, but seeing so many of the bands play in short succession was just watching them paint themselves into a corner.

Anyway...

The first band I caught was the Mayfair Sect, the debut of a collaboration between Kristen Gundred, the sole member of Dum Dum Girls, and Mike Sniper, the sole member of Blank Dogs - joined by members of Woods to round out the live band. Since Sniper also joined Gundred for the (also first-ever) Dum Dum Girls set on Saturday, the whole thing seemed a bit redundant. But in any case, Gundred has a powerful voice, one of the best of the festival, and Sniper's baritone is not far behind. The songs and performance were solid, but unremarkable - it seems like we've heard this all before.

Little Girls followed, a band "Jasper" recently recommended. Having seen them live, I can stand behind that recommendation even more confidently. The sound in Market Hotel was awful, and almost every band of the night sounded off-key. Little Girls were no exception, but their performance was far less aloof than many of the other bands and the dark tints in their music set them apart from the pack.

Similarly unaloof, Cause Co-Motion! gave an outstanding performance, tearing it up (literally, tearing up some of the stage's paper decorations) and jumping around like fourteen-year-old hardcore punks. However, the venue's poor sound, combined with the band's decision to deliver their songs in extra fast, extra messy punk fashion, ruined the set. I like extra fast and extra messy, but CCM aren't a punk band, they're a lo-fi pop band, and with their melodies falling flat, there was little to listen to. I had fun watching, but my ears were just plain bored.

I was glad to finally catch Psychedelic Horseshit, a band that's managed to generate some publicity simply by being arrogant and rude. Not all that surprisingly, the music sucked. The band seems out to destroy, and while I'm all about destruction, the secret truth is that you've got to do more than tear things down. No harmonies, no melodies, no songs, nothing but vocal snarls, guitar noise and primal drums. The most interesting part of the music were some dual rhythms with no apparent alignment; that was pretty cool, but the novelty did wear off eventually. I found it difficult to listen to the rest, which lacked bass or any low-register notes besides the bass drum. I do have some respect for the band and their willingness to negate everything. Still, making ugly noise to piss people off isn't exactly original.

Though I didn't like Blank Dogs last time I caught them live, their recorded material has really grown on me over the last few months, and I was excited to give the band another chance. Unfortunately, I still didn't like what I saw. If Sniper surrounded himself with other musicians who shared his dark vision, Blank Dogs could be a great live act. However, those who joined Sniper on stage didn't seem hip to his music's murky, gothic undertow. The band played as though they were playing with any other Woodsist band, confusing and obscuring the elements that make Blank Dogs unique.

Headliners Crystal Stilts delivered the most energetic performance I've seen from them to date - though that's not really saying much. They did do far better than the rest of the day's bands (Mayfair Sect possibly excepted) in overcoming the acoustic difficulties - their melodies were clear and in tune and their instruments distinct and balanced.

Despite a few changes (drummer Frankie Rose finally sitting down, for one), the band is doing pretty much what they have been, and their songs still sound disappointingly alike. A few of their more uptempo songs stood out in the set and the rest were at least enjoyable. It was nice to see the band finally having some fun too, dropping their detached posturing and really playing a heartfelt show for a room full of friends.

Upcoming Shows: Japandroids, Mission of Burma + more

TONIGHT - Monday, July 6

Peter Murphy @ Highline Ballroom | Chelsea, Manhattan | $35
Pete Murphy is the original goth, the frontman of Bauhaus.


TOMORROW - Tuesday, July 7

Peter Murphy @ Highline Ballroom | Chelsea, Manhattan | $35
See above.


Wednesday, July 8

Sundelles, Little Girls @ Cake Shop | LES, Manhattan | $7
I haven't seen the Sundelles, but they're meant to play garagey indie pop - 50's revival with a punk 'tude. People like them. Little Girls are one of the five bands I've recommended you watch in the rest of 2009 - a recommendation made by "Jasper" but which I can now more confidently confirm, having seen them at this weekend's Woodsist/Capture Tracks festival. Dark and gloomy DIY punk from Canada that's very worth checking out. [Sundelles MySpace] [Little Girls MySpace]


Thursday, July 9

MC Lyte @ Von King Park | Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn | FREE!
MC Lyte is one the greatest MCs ever, and was one of the first women to get behind a mic and rap. She was a revolutionary, paving the way for women in hip-hop and expanding the boundaries of what rap music could say and do. I'd pay way more than $0 to check this out.


Friday, July 10

Japandroids, Little Girls @ Cameo | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | $8
Japandroids have recently become one of my favorite new bands. Like No Age but more conventional and with more tightly-written songs, Japandroids offer an amazing mix of roaring noise, punk energy and infectious melody. This is what pop-punk should have been. I just told you about Little Girls (see Wednesday listing). [Japandroids MySpace] [Little Girls MySpace]

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ South Street Seaport | Downtown Manhattan | FREE!
The Pains have got nothing on Japandroids, but they are pretty good pop music that the kids are crazy for. Their ascent from playing loft parties to a few dozen friends to scoring full features in Spin and Newsweek has been dizzying and makes me kind of want to hate them. But I can't hate them because they are nice people, outstanding songwriters and great performers. Like I said, you should go see Japandroids, but if don't have eight bucks, this FREE show is a pretty sweet alternative. [MySpace]


Saturday, July 11

Japandroids @ Pianos | LES, Manhattan | SOLD OUT!
Japandroids rock. (See above.) [MySpace]

Parts and Labor @ Market Hotel | Bushwick, Brooklyn | $7-20 (donation)
Parts and Labor are a super-rad NYC band. They play experimental rock that can be kind of like Oneida and kind of like Liars and often like no one else in particular. They have some very pop moments and some very weird ones, inhabiting the no man's land between pop music and noise-rock more fully and broadly than any of their contemporaries. Since you went to see Japandroids on Friday and Pianos is sold out anyway, you'll want to head over to Market Hotel on Saturday night. [MySpace]


Sunday, July 12

Mission of Burma, Fucked Up, Ponytail @ Williamsburg Waterfront | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | FREE!!
Daaaamn. Mission of Burma has been redefining indie, punk and noise since the early 80's and their reunion a few years ago came a surprise to those familiar with the band's good-natured break-up, meant to save the last remaining shreds of Roger Miller's hearing. Better earplug technology has allowed them to regroup and play awesome shows like this. Fucked Up are one of the best hardcore punk groups around these days, and as for Ponytail, they are amazing live as well as recorded. [MOB MySpace] [FU MySpace] [Ponytail MySpace]

Live: Brief Candles

A quick trip through Midwest in mid-June may have cost me the chance to see the Northside Festival, but the silver lining was the chance to finally drop in on one of my favorite shoegaze bands, Milwaukee natives the Brief Candles.

The band's live show is one of the most literally "shoegazing" I've seen, but surprisingly, not in a bad way. Sharing the front were Kevin Dixon and Jen Boniger, both on guitar and lead vocal duties, and they did spend a lot of the set focused on their expansive pedal boards. But their downward focus was intense and unreserved - these may not be your typical audience-engaging singers, but their passion and energy were unmistakable.

The set was obstructed by numerous technical problems, most notably in the volume of Boniger's microphone. The first few songs were plagued with feedback, and for most of the rest of the set, she was barely audible. At times, the levels seemed to fluctuate every few seconds, with one line loud and clear, the next completely lost.

Given this and a slew of other minor technical difficulties, the band carried on with remarkable determination, neither resigning themselves to the imperfections nor obsessing over them so much as to kill the momentum of the set - between songs, adjustments and repairs were attempted while the band continued to address the audience with banter or noise.

Bassist Drew Calvetti rounded out the band's heavy sound remarkably, while drummer Jake Bohannen stopped the music from getting bogged down in its own weight. Both are fun to watch, and stylistically, both betray a striking similarity to early (i.e. best) work of their Midwestern neighbors the Smashing Pumpkins - that delicious sound of shoegaze meets Joy Division meets grunge.

A few errors did emerge, including the presence of a fifth band member lurking near the back, whose purpose remained unclear to me throughout the show. Many songs also wore on a little too long, with composition lost amid aimless drifting. This problem, however, is less troubling live than on the band's recordings, because the band's compelling stage presence provides interest where the music falls short.

The Candles were welcoming and their performance heartfelt. They even attempted to accommodate audience requests (though sadly, they declined to perform their 2006 masterpiece "So Long"). Despite the technical glitches and imperfections, I couldn't wish for a more satisfying sheogazey night.

[MySpace]