Upcoming Shows: Marnie Stern, Pissed Jeans + more

Sorry I’ve been away for a bit. I will get back on blogging schedule next week.

[Upcoming Shows Playlist]
TONIGHT! Friday, June 18

Marnie Stern + Anni Rossi, True Womanhood @ Glasslands * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * $12/$15
Marnie Fucking Stern, ladies and gentlemen, one of the greatest guitar heroes of our generation. At Glasslands, which is small and often has very good acoustics. This show cannot be beat. Marnie Stern isn’t quite metal and isn’t quite punk and isn’t quite anything else except awesome. Plus Anni Rossi, who’s pretty okay at violin and songs and True Womanhood, who sound like Radiohead - in a good way. GO TO THIS SHOW. [marnie myspace] [rossi myspace] [true myspace]


Saturday, June 19

Pissed Jeans, Pop. 1280 @ Death By Audio * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * $12
This will be one of the hardcore/post-hardcore/noise rock shows of the year. You might be seriously injured but it will be worth it. These bands play lurching, desperate anthems straight from the gut. They channel the collective underbelly of our world and let it out via amplifiers and hella distortion. [piss myspace] [pop myspace]


Sunday, June 20

Dinowalrus @ Cameo Gallery * Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Last time I talked to Dinowalrus, they pointed out that I should stop calling them "mathy" because they aren’t, and for once, a band was right about their own music (seriously) so let me just say they are not mathy, but are very rhythm driven, experimental music that’s clearly psychedelic and sometimes danceable. It’s not so experimental as to forgo a strong pop appeal as well. [myspace]

Knight School, Boy Genius @ Bruar Falls * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * $7
Knight School play fuzzy indie pop with the best tunez around. Boy Genius play less fuzzy indie pop and also have more than few good songs. [knight myspace] [boy myspace]


Monday, June 21

Miniboone, Gunfight!, Quiet Loudly, Pet Ghost Project @ Spike Hill * Williamsburg, Brooklyn
OK, this line up RULES. Miniboone are make big, dramatic pop with manic punk energy. Quiet Loudly are a bit more chill, with a sort of angular take on 60’s psychedelic music. Gunfight! make fun cow punk you can’t not enjoy and Pet Ghost Project do a bunch of stuff that swings between lo-fi pop and post-hardcore noise rock. I wouldn’t normally recommend Spike Hill, but this line up is SICK. [mini myspace] [ql myspace] [gun myspace] [pgp myspace]


Wednesday, June 23

Tortoise @ Le Poisson Rouge * Greenwich Village, Manhattan * $22
Electro kings of experimental music back in the 90’s, Tortoise were an influence on just about every worthwhile post rock band in the last decade or so. Their music draws on ambient, jazz, krautrock and post punk and sounds like no one else. [ myspace]

[Upcoming Shows Playlist]
The long view...

June
24
Wavves @ Knitting Factory

25
Fiery Furnaces @ Brooklyn Bowl
Silversun Pickups, Against Me! @ Williamsburg Waterfront

26
Fiery Furnaces @ Mercury Lounge
Titus Andronicus @ Newtown Barge Park
Liars, Fucked Up, High Places @ Newtown Barge Park

27
Les Savy Fav, Polvo @ Newtown Barge Park

July
6
B-52s @ Highline Ballroom

11
The Roots, Talib Kweli @ Prospect Park

13
Cheap Trick @ Radio City Music Hall

16
Weezer @ Williamsburg Waterfront

17
Siren Fest: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Matt & Kim, Ted Leo, Surfer Blood @ Coney Island

22
Antlers, Dinosaur Feathers @ Pier 54

23
Modest Mouse @ Williamsburg Waterfront

24
M.I.A., Sleigh Bells @ Governors Island

26
Flaming Lips @ Central Park

27
Black Keys @ Central Park
The National, Beach House @ Prospect Park

28
Black Keys @ Central Park

30
Big Takeover: Springhouse @ Bell House

31
Sonic Youth, Grass Widow, Talk Normal @ Prospect Park
Big Takeover: Springhouse, For Against @ Bell House

August
12
Gang Gang Dance, Grizzly Bear, Walkmen @ Governors Island

15
Public Enemy @ Central Park

17
MGMT @ Radio City Music Hall

18
MGMT @ Radio City Music Hall

[Upcoming Shows Playlist]

Live: Pissed Jeans

When: 4/9
Where: Knitting Factory

Last year, I got my hands on a copy of the album by Pissed Jeans that came out and I gave it a good old girl scout try. But I just couldn't get into it. It's a lot of shouting and heavy guitar - which I like - but lacking in melodies or unusual rhythms or most of the sort of things keep my attention.

But live, Pissed Jeans is another beast. Still no melody, no cool beats, none of that. But for two big differences - seeing the band and seeing the audience. The band themselves are not too tough looking. In fact, they look like totally normal (if extremely pale) guys - until the music starts.

Vocalist Matt Korvette is the quintessential anti-hero. He may thrash and headbang all hardcore-like, but he also busts out some extremely awkward and ill-fitting dance moves, grotesquely shaking his booty and gyrating, shirt off. Henry Rollins pops off his shirt because he's got scary muscles, but when guys like this do it, it seems almost a self-loathing gesture, inviting ridicule - which isn't to say Korvette is bad-looking, he's just not quite swimsuit model material. More to the point, it's like when you see some animal outside its usual shell or its usual subterranean environment. There's something almost fragile about it.

Although Korvette's unpredictable presence is enough to capture the audience's attention, the rest of the band is also laying it out like they mean it. And they keep it going even when Korvette molests them, even when audience members rush the stage, even when all hell breaks lose in the room. Focused and heavy, they make a (figurative) brick wall at which the vocalist and the audience can (figuratively) hurl themselves.

In the non-figurative world, though, there's plenty of collision going on. This audience came to brutalize their bodies as well as their ears. The mosh pit was good-natured but still scary as they joined in the band's violence and debasement. The bouncer did haul out a fighter or two and a few people seemed eager to really injure others, but there are always a few, huh? Mostly it was just nice kids come to let out some anger and some energy and I can think of few bands with as cathartic a live show as this.

I'm still not sold on the recordings. I respect the band, but I just can't find a thing to grasp. But as a physical experience to share with a roomful of people, this one not to miss. So don't: they play Death By Audio on June 19 and tickets are on sale now.

[myspace]