News: Werewolves, Fun Machine - Tour Dates!

The Werewolves are one of my very favorite NYC bands and finally, I have a chance to share them with some of you who aren't in New York! Their psychedelic music seamlessly merges underground 70's rock and early 90's shoegaze - refined melodies, loud-as-hell guitars, sick pitch shifts and a dose of good ol' fashion grit. ::MySpace

Also on tour are the Werewolves' labelmates Fun Machine, whose live performance is simply mindblowing. Their complex songs are highly experimental, but their sweet pop melodies and hooks will hold your attention over all sorts of craziness. And through complex rhythms, high speeds and out-of-the-blue start and stops, the band never seems to miss a note. ::MySpace

I'm going to list the dates by region, not chronologically.

New England
Werewolves

4/22 @ Cafe Nine - New Haven, CT

4/23 @ Cousin Larry’s - Danbury, CT

4/24 @ All Asia - Cambridge, MA

4/25 @ Ralph’s Diner - Worcester, MA

4/29 @ the Monkey House - Burlington, VT

Mid-Atlantic
Werewolves

4/17 @ Danger Danger Gallery - Philadelphia, PA

4/19 @ Asbury Lanes (with Fun Machine) - Asbury Park, NJ

Fun Machine

4/19 @ Asbury Lanes (with Werewolves) - Asbury Park, NJ

Southwest
Werewolves

3/20 @ Red House Lounge (SXSW) - Austin, TX

3/21 @ Sauced - Oklahoma City, OK

3/23 @ Atomic Cantina - Albuquerque, NM

3/24 @ Last Exit - Tempe, AZ

Fun Machine

3/21 @ The West End - Longview, TX

3/22 @ (SXSW) - Austin, TX

3/23 @ TBA

3/24 @ Ruby Room - Phoenix, AZ

3/25 @ Hangart - Tuscon, AZ

California
Werewolves

3/25 @ Boardners - Los Angeles, CA

3/26 @ Mai’s - Ventura, CA

3/27 @ CIA (with Fun Machine) - Los Angeles, CA

Fun Machine

3/26 @ The Beauty Bar - San Diego, CA

3/27 @ CIA (with Werewolves) - Los Angeles, CA

3/28 @ Echo Curio - Los Angeles, CA

If you live in these places, don't miss this!!! These bands probably won't be back for a while.

Live: Mexico 1910

When: 2/22
Where: Brooklyn Women's Shelter Benefit @ Vanishing Point

Once again, a benefit from the Brooklyn Women's Shelter. Once again, I can't find much information online, so if anyone wants to send me information about how to donate, I'll post that here. In the meantime, I did find this page for volunteers, so please consider giving some of your time.

And the music...

When I walked in, the last band of the night was already playing. Mexico 1910 (or at least, I guess that's who it was) is a four-piece band who performed wearing headlamps. It's not totally original - as someone pointed out to me, Animal Collective has done this - but it was still a pretty cool effect.

The first bars I heard were promising - triumphantly building major chords just the way I like them. I thought, 'I'm gonna like this!'

But I was wrong. It turned out the band's swell wasn't leading up to anything, just the rise-and-fall sounds that seem so integral to post-rock instinct. The music tumbled down from the momentum it had built, wandering aimlessly for the rest of the set. Any given minute of the sound could certainly be called beautiful, but strung together, the beauty was overshadowed by monotony. After a couple of minutes, I was very ready for the band to stop.

Although it can look complex and interesting, post-rock is one of the easiest kinds of music to write and play. It requires minimal songwriting skill, minimal vision and minimal true originality. Yes, it requires strong instrumental prowess, and certainly this band was talented in that regard - their equipment gave them a full palette of lovely sounds, and they found and used each one well. Moreover, it was clear the band had spent enough time playing together that they could anticipate and compliment one another effectively. All this leaves no doubt all four are musically talented, but unfortunately, they just don't live up to their potential.

It's not that post-rock is a dead end or that traditional song structures are the only way to hold an audience's attention. But finding something engaging in the wandering, instrumental post-rock is exceptional, and unfortunately, Mexico 1910 is not the exception.

Live: Weird Owl, Insouciant, Gunfight! and more

When: 1/30
Where: Vanishing Point

In case you haven't noticed, I always make a point of going to shows that have anything to do with the BNS Sessions family. The main reason is that when the Werewolves aren't playing, they usually go and hang out, and I can be in the same room with them and pretend I'm their friend.

So that's how I end up at the shows of a bunch of bands I just heard, like this one, which featured Gunfight!, the Soundscapes and Quiet Loudly. Luckily for you, dear readers, it also featured two bands brand new to this author, so let's start there.

Insouciant - This band hails from New Jersey and while I may have heard the (rather poorly chosen) name before, I knew nothing about them. And in theory it was the kind of music I should have liked - experimental, with definite allusions to math rock and Sonic Youth. But so many bands have made just this type of music that it's become entirely cliche. It came off as disjointed and unfocused, a mush of 90's pre-post-rock influences, swallowed and spat out undigested. (Sorry, that was a gross metaphor, yeah?). They also had four people on stage and it took me a while to even notice this because I could only hear three parts at a time - the band definitely didn't use its resources (i.e. four people) effectively.


Insouciant
The one really good thing I can say about this band is that their delivery was surprisingly aggressive. They yelled and howled, smashed their drums and cranked it up loud. Without that, the set would have been miserable - instead it was enjoyable, if unmemorable. ::MySpace

Weird Owl - Now, in contrast, here's a band I theoretically shouldn't like. Weird Owl basically plays Southern/hard rock, which is a genre whose most classic albums I might dabble in but that I would otherwise never seek out. But Weird Owl made me think twice about that attitude - they played tightly and confidently, and their songs were solid. I was surprised when I realized I was actually really enjoying their set.


Weird Owl (photo by Miss Molly)
After a while of listening, I also realized that this wasn't exactly your typical hard rock, because the band uses a wall-of-sound technique. The friend I was watching with said it was kind of psychedelic, and I definitely agree. There's some Pink Floyd in there, in the density of the sound. Whatever the combination of styles, it definitely works. ::MySpace

Gunfight! - I reviewed these guys not too long ago. This show was the same, only better - louder, more energetic, much tighter and with even better stage antics. Those included one member standing on his amp, and amp-climbing always wins me over. Also, last time I wrote them up, I wavered on classifying them as "cow punk," because it wasn't quite punk rock. But this time around, even though the band still doesn't fit neatly under a label, there was no doubt they could out-punk most of us any day. ::MySpace

Soundscapes - They haven't changed much since last time I wrote them up. They are still amazing. The only thing that has me slightly worried is that they have a little less energy on stage than they did when I first saw them a year ago. I hope it was a one-night fatigue and not a sign that their shows are becoming too routine to them. But anyway, "less energy" is a relative description, and compared to a lot of bands, these guys are still bouncing off the walls. ::MySpace

Quiet Loudly - Quiet Loudly, whom I reviewed not long ago at all, debuted a bunch of songs at this show. I'll wait until their next album is finished (it's already in the works) to give you the details, but their newest stuff rocks hard and heavy and meanders less than their first attempts. That's good news, so stay tuned. ::MySpace

A final rant, if I may. I'm sick to death of projections behind bands. I think it's basic biological fact that visual stimuli trump auditory stimuli and the result is that all the pictures whirling around behind the band are detracting from the music, not adding to it. Whether it's art films or Windows Media Player "visualizations," it's really starting to make me miss the good old days when you'd actually watch the bands do their thing.

Live: Sharon van Etten

When: 1/25
Where: Brooklyn Women's Shelter Benefit @ Vanishing Point

First off, let me say that this show was a benefit for the Brooklyn Women's Shelter, collecting money, clothing, food and books for homeless women. I can't find much information online, so if anyone wants to send me information about how to donate, I'll post that here. In the meantime, I did find this page for volunteers, so please consider giving some of your time.

Now, on to the music! As regular readers might guess, I'm not into singer-songwriters at all. I find the genre to be very limiting for musicians, with every available creative alley explored a thousand times over. I catch plenty of fair-to-middling singer-songwriters as opening acts or such but it's a very rare occurrence that I would actually seek one out.

But I sought out a chance to hear Sharon van Etten, because I've heard her name so many times, in so many contexts. She contributing vocals to the forthcoming Antlers album (March 3, 2009), which, as I've already hinted, is one of the best and most important records since the 90's. She's played with a number of my friends and a number of bands I love, but I'd never seen her before and I figured it was finally time.


Sharon van Etten
And I can see why so many people lover her. Yes, she's still a singer-songwriter and isn't at the cutting edge of anything. But she's got an outstanding voice - rich and confident but a faint rough edge that conveys the sincerity of her lyrics. She delivers her lines with passion and simplicity, and unlike many young singers (including some who shared the stage with her Sunday), she never adds unnecessary frills.

As a guitarist, Van Etten is certainly able, and moreover, in her compositions, she uses unusual chords, harmonies and progressions, which make her songs stand out from the pack. Her denial of pop conventions gives her music a slightly sinister and certainly emotionally powerful undertow.

As a performer, she's shy, humble and slightly uncomfortable with attention. That would have the potential to be damaging, but she doesn't let it impact the confidence of her songs. In fact, in a way, her vulnerability enhances her performance and certainly leads to a set entirely conscious and respectful of her audience.

If you're wondering whether this has changed anything, no, I'm not won over to the singer-songwriter camp. Far from it. But if I had to pick a songwriter with an acoustic guitar to check out, Van Etten would certainly be near the top of my list. And next time she's on a bill with one of the bands I love, I'm definitely getting there early to catch her set!

Sharon van Etten on MySpace

Album: Fun Machine - Sonnenhuhn

Album: Sonnenhuhn (That's German for "Sun Chicken"!)
BNS Sessions, 2008
Rating: ****** (6/10)

I'm slowly catching up with my reviews, but I'm still a little behind - this album was released digitally yesterday. It's not officially released on disc until January 6, though (or thereabouts - I'm not 100% certain on the date).

I already raved about my new-found love for Fun Machine earlier this month, and I was excited to hear and write about the album. But it proved a challenging task.

The tricky thing about Sonnenhuhn is that my reaction is strongly mixed. On the one hand, I'm in love. The entire record is overflowing with creativity. In fact, it doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard, and yet it totally rocks. Looking up close, there's not much I don't like - melodramtic, cheesy keyboard parts (trust me, it's a good thing here), odd, assymetrical rhythms, startling bursts of sound, tense beats, forays out of the key signature, it all works.

That the band can perform such complex, fast, syncopated pieces is astounding in itself. It's hard to actually describe the sound, but think Pink Floyd meets Queen in the year 2500 and makes robot party versions of Broadway showtunes. It's a bit like Dismemberment Plan, a bit like the Talking Heads, a bit like the Flaming Lips. Progressive psychedelic pop? Maybe?

Yes, this all sounds delicious, but when I step back to look at the big picture, it starts to fall apart. The album is a rather sophomoric effort in many ways, mostly because the band doesn't seem to know how to edit or meld their ideas into cohesive statements. Each track isn't a song, it's just a series of loose inspirations stuck together, like a stream-of-consciousness essay. The album is sprawling, and on neither a song level nor album level does the music move forward or build on itself. Specifically, I'm pretty sure you could easily take apart the phrases, rearrange them completely and have approximately the same result. In fact, I suspect the album might improve if you just put in three times as many track breaks and split up the longer songs into two or three minute segments. As it is, it's jumbled and incoherrent and doesn't reveal any larger-scale vision than "hey, this would sound cool!"

But this is still an interesting album and worth getting familiar with. Why? Because each member of this band is clearly brilliant, and I'll bet actual money they'll each go on to do great things in music, either individually or very probably, and hopefully, as Fun Machine. This band is onto something very good - their originality is outstanding and their chops are nothing to sneeze at. If their sound matures with time, they have the potential to be one of the most interesting bands of our time. (Seriously!) One day, we may look back on Sonnenhuhn and see the first glimmer of greatness. Let's hope!

Live: BNS Sessions Party feat. Fun Machine, Gunfight!, Werewolves, Soft Black

When: 11/14
Where: Vanishing Point

I have to say, BNS Sessions, for a crazy little inbred label/collective, has an absolutely outstanding roster, including some of my long-time favorites like the Werewolves and Phonograph, and at least one new (as of this show) love, Fun Machine.

Soft Black - I'd been looking forward to these guys because they run not only with the excellent BNS crowd but also the new NYC indie pop kids. So I was a bit disappointed when their set started out as competent but entirely generic indie-rock. About halfway through, however, things improved, starting with a hushed tranced-out jam number that was surprisingly enjoyable (this from a reviewer who has no patience whatsoever for tranced-out jam numbers). After that, the band managed to kick it up a notch with songs reminiscent of the best of American guitar-driven post punk (Dinosaur Jr. but with a Mekons-esque touch), and while it didn't get me psyched for more, I certainly enjoyed listening.

Werewolves - I've said a lot about this band already, but this set merits mention. The first half did nothing but reinforce my love for them, but the second half, which involved the band sitting on the stage playing with their pedals, was really a waste of time. If this was the first band to make rhythm-less, melody-less noise for 20 minutes, it might have been cool, but at this point, it's cliched even when luminaries like Sonic Youth do it. These guys simply haven't earned the right, and they weren't even moving, so it was nothing but boring for eyes and ears alike. Also, it's rude to intentionally play a room-clearing set when you're not the final band of the night. I still love the Werewolves, but they need to learn some manners and some self-restraint.


Gunfight!
Gunfight! - Said by everyone to be the nicest guys in the entire East Coast music scene, Gunfight! drew the biggest crowd of the evening by far. Their music is basically hipster-party garage rock revival with a country-western bent. Think about it this way - what the White Stripes do with blues, these guys do with bluegrass. It's not really my style, but the band certainly succeeds in what they set out to do. Their songs are fun, well-written and well-performed, with the band clearly having even more fun than their audience is (a lot), forming their own mini mosh-pit on stage, jumping around, attacking each other and just generally making a party of it. Keep an eye on these guys, they could make a splash!


Fun Machine
Fun Machine - I am not sure how this band has flown under my radar for so long. I guess I just had them mixed up with other bands that have "fun" or "machine" in their names. But that's a shame because this band is awesome! They took two easy shortcuts to my heart - dividing lead vocal duties and changing time signatures often - but I think I would have fallen in love even without that. Their songs are incredibly carefully crafted, true multi-part compositions, but they almost never lost their pop appeal or failed to hold my interest (and my attention span is not really generous by any reckoning). The band performed amazingly tightly given the rhythmic and compositional complexity of the music. And like all the bands of the night, they were fun to watch too! This band is immediately jumping to my short list of NYC favorites.

I picked up a load of CDs at the show so stay tuned for some BNS album reviews coming up.