Upcoming Shows: The Fugs, Screens + more

[Upcoming Shows Playlist]

TONIGHT! Wednesday, January 20

BENEFIT FOR HAITI: Patti Smith, Yo La Tengo, the Antlers @ City Winery Soho, Manhattan $75 SOLD OUT!
OK, this concert is too expensive, but then again, it's for Haiti, and it's Patti Fucking Smith, the punk rock poet without whom music as we know it today would not exist. And Yo La Tengo who invented American noise pop in the 80's and are still the coolest kids in school. And the Antlers, who topped my Best of 2009 list with their heartbreaking ambient/noise/pop album Hospice. But anyway, it's sold out, so that probably ain't happening.

Big Troubles, My Teenage Stride, the Sundelles @ Le Poisson Rouge Greenwich Village, Manhattan $8
This line-up is sick, y'all. Big Troubles played the last Radio Flyer Review showcase where they plastered their audience against the walls with the sheer volume of their loud, catchy pop. Influences must certainly include the Jesus & Mary Chain, Smashing Pumpkins and Dinosaur Jr - awesome melodies and walls of sound blasted as loud as humanly possible. My Teenage Stride is one of the best indie pop bands around, with great songwriting and tight execution. They will make you smile. And the Sundelles also played my last showcase, cranking out spirited garage rock with enough frenzy to break a bass string. FUCK YES. [bt myspace] [mts myspace] [sundelles myspace]


TOMORROW! Thursday, January 21

Darlings, Motel Motel, Gunfight! @ Union Pool Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Darlings make music by insane people for insane people. I find them charming, accessible but unpredictable and quite raucous when it's called for (which is most of the time). Motel Motel are one of those alt-country bands in the indie rock circuit and they aren't earth shattering or anything, but they are definitely a great listen, even for people who aren't usually into that stuff. Their songwriting is just solid. Gunfight! play cow punk and put on a rivetingly fun live show. [darlings myspace] [mm myspace] [gunfight myspace]


Friday, January 22

Screens, Pygmy Shrews, Fiasco, PRSMS @ Death By Audio Williamsburg, Brooklyn $8
@*^$ #*^%# *&@^$!!! << I normally go ahead and write out the words I think, but here it went a little too far. As in "@!*&# &^$%* *@^%! !*#%, THIS LINE-UP IS BLOWING MY #&%&@# MIND!!!!!!" OK, where to even start. Well, Screens are one of my "Bands to Watch in 2010." They are the cutting edge of indie music. Pygmy Shrews show no mercy as they shred your ears with nasty, DISTORRRTED electric guitar. Fiasco I've written about recently - they are a young band that plays HEAVY post-hardcore with intense complexity and fierce noise. And PRSMS I haven't heard, but I've been meaning to. I'm 85% sure they are awesome, but we'll have to find out together. [screens myspace] [pygmy myspace] [fiasco myspace] [prsms myspace]

Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers @ Knitting Factory Williamsburg, Brooklyn $12?
Shilpa Ray is that badass lady of rock and roll who plays a handpowered harmonium while belting out soulful and blues tunes with punk rock 'tude while giving you the finger. Her backing band is one of the most solid groups in Brooklyn. Yep. [myspace]

BENEFIT FOR TULI KUPFERBERG: Lou Reed, the Fugs, Sonic Youth + more @ St. Ann's Warehouse DUMBO, Brooklyn $75-125
This show is another expensive benefit show, this one to aid Tuli Kupferberg with medical expenses after he suffered two strokes last year. Kupferberg was a founding member of the Fugs, a highly experimental, art-rock/folk band whose influence in the 1960's helped pave the for punk and every other experimental and artistic movement New York has since seen. Despite their influence, The Fugs didn't exactly strike it rich, so Kupferberg's bandmates and friends are pitching in to raise some money. These friends include his bandmates, the Velvet Underground's Lou Reed and Sonic Youth, among others. It's a once-in-a-lifetime line-up and for a good cause. But a lot of us just don't have that kind of money lying around.


Saturday, January 23

Pterodactyl, Kid Millions @ Issue Project Room Gowanus, Brooklyn $15
Pterodactyl has been on this blog so much over the last year, you're probably like "shut up already." Well, screw you. Pterodactyl is one of the most interesting bands around. Their math-punk is jumpy, fast and pounding, with soaring, ecstatic melodies drifting over the flurry of guitar and drums. Kid Millions is from Oneida, who make experimental drone/punk/metal/electro music that will put you in a trance, but a HARDCORE trance. And no, I don't even know what that means, but it's true. [ptero myspace]


Sunday, January 24

BENEFIT FOR HAITI: Rosanne Cash, Nada Surf + more TBA @ City Winery Soho, Manhattan $50
Another show for Haiti, slightly less expensive (but with a slightly inferior line-up) to tonight's show. You should be able to spare $50 for relief efforts in Haiti if you aren't in dire circumstances yourself. You could just give that money to an organization, but if you like music, why not check out some music while pitching in?


Monday, January 25

Cheap Trick @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza Union Sq.-ish, Manhattan $49.50 adv. / $55 dos.
Don't hate, y'all! Cheap Trick were the definitive power pop band of the 70's. Their catchy rock albums may be arena-focused, but power pop built a foundation for much of indie music, taking harder and edgier elements and putting them with pop structures, not to lose edginess but to gain it. Cheap Trick are ROCK and ROLL.


[Upcoming Shows Playlist]
The long view...

January 2010
27
BENEFIT FOR HAITI: Walkmen, Cold War Kids, Ted Leo, Wrens, AC Newman, Here We Go Magic + more @ Bell House

29
Asobi Seksu @ Le Poissson Rouge
Here We Go Magic @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom
Oneida @ Market Hotel
Sounds Like Brooklyn: Les Savy Fav, Vivian Girls (yick) @ Brooklyn Academy of Music

30
Mission of Burma @ Bowery Ballroom
Sisters, Fluffy Lumbers, Total Slacker @ Shea Stadium

February
3
Atlas Sound @ Bell House

4
Atlas Sound, Neon Indian, Sisters @ NYU Kimmel
Cold Cave @ Mercury Lounge

5
Sounds Like Brooklyn: Ra Ra Riot, the Antlers @ Brooklyn Academy of Music

6
Don Giovanni showcase: Shellshag, Screaming Females, Jeff the Brotherhood + more @ Bowery Ballroom

9
The Residents @ Webster Hall

10
Harlem @ Mercury Lounge

12
Jonathan Richman @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

13
Jonathan Richman @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
The Magnetic Fields @ Brooklyn Academy of Music

14
Jonathan Richman @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

19
Fucked Up, Kurt Vile, Frankie Rose & the Outs @ Europa
Andrew W-K @ Santos Party House

20
Crystal Stilts, Beets, Beach Fossils, German Measles @ Music Hall of Williamsubrg

21
Dum Dum Girls, Frankie Rose & the Outs @ Mercury Lounge

26
Wild Beasts @ Bowery Ballroom

27
Glenn Branca (record release) @ Le Poisson Rouge

28
Wild Beasts @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

March
5
Muse, the Silversun Pickups @ Madison Square Garden

6
Titus Andronicus, Parts & Labor, Babies @ Bowery Ballroom

10-11
The Magnetic Fields @ Town Hall

12-13
Henry Rollins @ The Fillmore

18-19
Killswitch Engage @ The Fillmore

23
Black Lips @ Brooklyn Bowl

25
Nada Surf play Let Go + surprise guest @ Bowery Ballroom

26
Nada Surf play The Weight Is a Gift + surprise guest @ Bell House
Spoon, Deerhunter @ Radio City Music Hall

27
Nada Surf play Lucky + surprise guest @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

30
Big Pink, A Place to Bury Strangers @ Webster Hall

April
15
Liars @ Bowery Ballroom

18
Liars @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

[Upcoming Shows Playlist]

Album: Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

Album: Popular Songs
Matador, 2009
Rating: ******** (8/10)

This album came out on Tuesday, when I reviewed two other albums. I meant to do two on Monday and one on Tuesday, but then Monday ended up being a holiday (I forgot) and so I'm a bit behind. Please forgive me.

Yo La Tengo have been playing for a quarter of a century now, and over two and half decades and dozen LP releases, YLT have established a contradictory pattern - never staying the same and never changing. On nearly every release, the band has pushed themselves to try new, potentially scary ideas - they never let themselves get too comfortable.

On the other hand, none of the ideas they introduce are truly radical. Think of Yo La Tengo as explorers, heading out in directions from their base camp - as opposed to those explorers who pick up their tents every night and settle down somewhere completely new. This approach isn't good or bad - on the one hand, YLT will probably never revolutionize indie music. On the other hand, they will never give in to the temptation to try arbitrary, artless crap just to keep an "edge."

Unlike the band's last release, 2007's I Am Not Afraid of You..., Popular Songs returns to the denser soundscapes of the band's best work (I Can Hear the Heart... and Painful). However, the band's new direction is immediately clear, when Ira Kaplan's opening lines are accompanied by a wealth of strings. Strings and organ are prominent on many tracks, while the band's more light-hearted quirkiness can only be found in a couple of songs. Kaplan's vocals even seem a bit jazzed up and the whole album is darker and more serious than the group's previous work.

Not shying away from a big un-"indie" sound, YLT here demand respect from a broader audience than ever. Moreover, the rich orchestration is always blended into YLT's typical murky, ambient guitars. The production is deep, dark and cozy - I don't know if the recording was analogue, but it certainly has that organic feel.

However, the release is sadly lacking in catchiness and rockingness. "Nothing to Hide" kicks serious ass, and "If It's True" keeps the tempo while Kaplan and drummer Georgia Hubely pass the vocals deftly back and forth. However, most of the tracks are much more low-key. For example, the pairing of a sweet, introspective song sung by Kaplan (#7, "I'm On My Way") and one sung Hubley (#8, "When It's Dark") remind us that it's not only the band that's lasted twenty-five years so far, it's also Kaplan and Hubley's marriage, and they seem as deeply in love as ever.

The worst news about this album is that it not only follows a YLT tradition of ending albums with incohesive jams, it takes this problem to a new level by closing out with three tracks ranging from nearly ten minutes to nearly sixteen minutes long. Like "Spec Beebop" and "Night Falls of Hoboken," these songs are self-indulgent. They must have been fun to record, but they aren't fun to listen to - as foreground, they are too long and repetitive, as background too droning and predictable.

Anyone familiar with Yo La Tengo will be used to this kind of thing, though. And anyone familiar with Yo La Tengo can tell you it's worth plowing through the bullshit to get those perfect, slow-pop gems. If you're new to YLT, don't start here, but if you're already a fan just hungry for more, you're in luck.

Shows You Should NOT Attend This Fall

As you probably noticed, there are a ton of awesome shows coming up this month and later in the fall. Here's what you should avoid:

Sept. 9 - Boredoms @ Terminal 5
The Boredoms are probably the greatest noise rock band ever. Terminal 5 will make them inaudible. Skip it!

Sept. 17 - Horrors @ Bowery Ballroom
Unless you go to hear Crocodiles, who are good but not great, skip this show. I heard the Horrors open for someone or other recently, and they were miserable. Just boring, wanna-be-goth-but-have-no-idea-what-that-means generic rock band. Skip it!

Sept. 18 - Trail of Dead, Secret Machines @ Webster Hall
Don't skip these bands, skip this show and catch them the next day at Music Hall of Williamsburg, which is smaller and has immeasurably better acoustics. Unless you really want to see Youth Brigade on Sept. 19, in which case, this is the best you can do.

Sept. 24 - Japandroids @ Mercury Lounge
I loved Japandroids until I saw them live. If you like this band, buy their record and avoid their show at all costs!

Sept. 25 - Yo La Tengo @ Roseland Ballroom
Roseland Ballroom is a creepy, corporate place that's still somehow dirty and has absolutely miserable acoustics. The show is almsot $30, and as great as Yo La Tengo is, you can see them under better circumstances for less money if you're patient. It's not like they're likely to break up - they've been a band for close to thirty years now. Skip it!

Oct. 4-7 - Sufjan Stevens @ Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sufjan is good, but these "small venue" shows (at 500-cap. venues, small is always a relative term) are way overhyped. Anyway, you can't get tickets even if you want to (they've basically made scalping impossible), but at least feel better about not getting tix, because it's just not worth all this buzz.

Nov. 11 - Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. @ Terminal 5
If you go to this, you will just cry and/or put your fist through a wall out of frustration, because you will not be able to hear anything of two of the greatest indie bands in American history. Terminal 5 may have the worst acoustics of any venue building in human history. It's defeaningly loud yet paradoxically inaudible. You'd have better luck hearing the bands inside a giant jet engine. Skip it!

Radio Flyer's Desert Island List

I've been working really hard over the last few weeks to get caught up on all the notable music of 2008 so I can give you a kick-ass Best of 2008 list (oh, do I love lists!) but I have a lot I still need to get through. So, to speed things along, I cleared everything off my 4GB iPod, and filled it with all the 2008 albums I have. I had 1 GB left over and a few minutes to fill it with all of the "old" music I didn't want to leave home without.

And after I finished, I realized I had essentially created my "desert island" list, the music I would take into exile with me if I were only allowed 1 GB (how 21st century is that?!) for the rest of my life. And I think the list is rather different than what it would have been if I had been consciously creating a "desert island" list for others to read. Here's what made the cut:

- Electrelane - The Power Out, The Greater Times
- Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes
- Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures and thirteen miscellaneous songs
- My Bloody Valentine - Loveless, Tremolo
- Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea and seven miscellaneous songs
- The Pixies - Come On Pilgrim, Doolittle, and eight songs from Surfer Rosa
- Skip James - four miscellaneous songs
- Slint - three songs from Spiderland
- The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream and fifteen songs from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
- Sonic Youth - twenty miscellaneous songs
- Stone Roses - "Don't Stop" and "I Am The Resurrection"
- The Stooges - four miscellaneous songs
- Walt Mink - twenty miscellaneous songs
- Yo La Tengo - thirteen miscellaneous songs

I'm pretty surprised at some of the things on there, like Stone Roses and Yo La Tengo, and I'm also surprised I'm now OK leaving home without the Velvet Underground.

If I had time to weed some of the dud songs out of that list to make more room (or if I actually got 1.2 GB on my desert island), here's what would have been next:

- Big Star - fifteen miscellaneous songs
- Company Flow - six songs from Funcrusher Plus
- Echo & the Bunnymen - "Thorn of Crowns"
- Jawbreaker - nine miscellaneous songs
- Mercury Rev - "Meth of a Rockette's Kick" and "Coney Island Cyclone"
- Minor Threat - three miscellaneous songs
- Mississippi John Hurt - three miscellaneous songs
- Nick Drake - "Road" and "Which Will"
- Ride - "Leave Them All Behind"
- The Velvet Underground - three songs from The Velvet Underground and Nico

Well, there you have it.