SHOW REVIEW: JOHNNY FLYNN AND THE SUSSEX WIT LIVE @ The Bowery Ballroom in NYC 5/28/11

Last night, I was fortunate enough to see Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit at the Bowery Ballroom. The show started at 9, with the first opening act, James Mathé, making an appearance. He was one of the best openers I’ve ever seen. He was nothing like you would expect him to be, given that he’s a member of the Sussex Wit. It was a glorious combination of atmospheric/experimental funk and soul that instantly got my complete and undivided attention. He sadly only played five songs, but that was all I needed. Caitlin Rose was the next one up, and I can’t say I liked them. Caitlin Rose herself was funny and between every song spoke to the audience with distasteful charming sass, like after a few audience quips asking "Are you flirting with me?", but they were a country band. If you like country, you would have loved them, but for me they just played about five songs too many. Johnny and his crew came on to set up and tune, and then at a little past 11 they finally came on. They opened with “The Box”, and it was a perfect opener. It’s a song so filled with life and quirk that hearing the full band do it was marvelous. They plowed through “Cold Bread”, so much so that Johnny broke a string on his mandolin, leaving it up to James Mathé to make awkward, but endearing, small talk with the audience. Instead of a trumpet for “Kentucky Pill”, Lillie Flynn played flute, which made it wonderfully bouncy. It was nice and bright, moving the whole crowd sing along. They then played a gorgeous three-song arc of “The Wrote and the Writ”, “Lost and Found”, and “Brown Trout Blues”, all of which reduced the crowd to utter silence. “Hong Kong Cemetery” was done better than the album, with Johnny rotating between trumpet and guitar. They were so good at conveying the melancholy tone, especially with everyone shouting “I’m alright! I’m alright!” over the somber trumpet. The bright middle was made especially bouncy, contrasting nicely with the previous section. “Barnacled Warship” was my favorite performance. Johnny played his violin as he sang, and the whole venue was crooning “I’ll just eat fruit on your doorstep, I’ll just drink pail-fulls of rain” right along with him. You could tell the whole band enjoyed playing it, and that really resonated with me. He informed the audience early on that he was hoarse, and that created an interesting effect on “Churlish May” when he missed a whole verse due to coughing: “I don’t know what happened there!” On the second time around, they still played it brilliantly. “The Water” was one of my favorite performances. “I’m going to play a duet with my sister Lillie”, he said, as they moved next to each other. Don’t tell Laura Marling, but Lillie’s voice is absolutely stunning and, coupled with Johnny’s, was too beautiful for words. As you know, “Been Listening” contains many pauses during the chorus that are just asking to be taken advantage of by the audience. For every single pause, the crowd would scream “Awwww yeah!” or “I love you Johnny Flynn”, and other chuckle causing heckles, which you could see the awkwardness building up in his face while he too was stifling laughter. “Eyeless in Holloway” and “Tickle Me Pink” closed the set with everyone singing their hearts out, moving about, and thunderously clapping in unison. I couldn’t wait for the encore, and boy did they impress: Johnny and Lillie came out and told us that they hadn’t practiced this one or planned to play it, but felt inspired to do so. They played a beautiful rendition of “Amazon Love”, and because I was about three feet away from them, I could see how happy they were to be playing with each other and the look of complete sibling love on their faces. “Leftovers” ended the show flawlessly, with everyone once again stomping right along with the band and chanting “Leftovers is what I want, don’t need no fine cuisine!”

I was thoroughly impressed by this show. The Bowery Ballroom was so intimate, that I felt like a huge connection with the music and the band. I can’t imagine how I could ever feel that at a large venue: it was more of an experience than a show. Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit deliver live. Almost every song was performed better than the album version, and songs like “The Water” and “Barnacled Warship” really made it, as he put it “special”. If you get the chance to, go see him. You will leave more than satisfied with your experience, and I can safely say, it was beyond worth the price of admission. I will never know why more people don’t know about him.

“I probably should prepare something for moments like this, like a funny anecdote about the tour, but I haven’t got any.”-James Mathé, before “Kentucky Pill"

----------------------
SET LIST

The Box
Cold Bread
Kentucky Pill
The Wrote and the Writ
Lost and Found
Brown Trout Blues
Hong Kong Cemetery
Barnacled Warship
Churlish May
Howl
The Water
Been Listening
Eyeless in Holloway
Tickle Me Pink

ENCORE
Amazon Love
Leftovers
----------------------

New Video for Alsatian Darn by Panda Bear

Panda Bear released his video for Tomboy's Alsatian Darn yesterday!



It's like the part before the songs "Tantrum Barb/Working" on Oddsac. I approve.

Arctic Monkeys release the cover art for "Suck It and See"

Well, this was unexpected. I don't even know what they are going to throw at us next. This moderately random and confusing album is due out on June 6th, so mark your calendars.

ANGLES-The Strokes

Angles-
The Strokes
Label: RCA
4th Studio Album
Status: Out as of 2011
Rating: 3 Feathers

So, remember The Strokes? The ones who long ago came out with those albums with “Last Nite” and “Reptilia” on them and then released that moderately tedious album…what was it…First Impressions of Earth? Oh yeah, that band. After five years of empty-promises for new material, inter-band relationship problems, and several (some questionable) trials with solo work, The Strokes have finally released their arguably-more-anticipated-than-Is-This-It? 4^th album, Angles. The band is actually happy to be a band again, with the many different musical angles being brought in to give us a very easy flowing and different album. This is The Strokes of the modern age.

“Machu Picchu” is instantly catchy with its grooving disco beat, but it sounds absolutely nothing like what you’d expect. The incorporation of harmonies and reggae rhythms shows that they are, at this point, courageous enough to innovate their sound on the very first song. “Under Cover of Darkness” completely takes a step backward, comparatively, but it’s still so different. It’s like power-Strokes. Casablancas almost ironically notes that “everybody's been singing the same song ten years” because it combines all the standard elements of their sound into four minutes, but I must admit, it delivers with every successive listen. “Two Kinds of Happiness” is pleasantly mellow, with light new-wave overtones, but it’s not overtly remarkable. If it wasn’t underpinned by twangy guitar, I can easily say I would never guess this was The Strokes, assuming it was a typical 80s “indie” band. “You’re So Right” is actually utterly horrific. For some disgusting reason they decided to bypass drummer Fab Moretti’s talent and go right for sickening drum machines, along with static guitar that makes it sound like a carbon copy of Julian Casablancas’ “River of Brakelights”. Even “Metabolism” three gigantic steps back by taking the worse half of First Impressions of Earth and reconfiguring it to make a distraught and confused mess. After developing a tremendous migraine, the natural drums and immense bouncing catchiness comes back for “Taken For a Fool”. It’s so outrageously likable and mind-ingraining that you will listen to it multiple times before moving onto the next song. “Call Me Back” is kind of creepy. It’s easily the most experimental Strokes song ever made, with no outright melody or sing-along qualities. If you only like lively guitar solos and passionate singing, this song will destroy your listening experience, but I like it’s eeriness and out-of-placeness. A song like “Gratisfaction” is so overwhelmingly easily comparable to Billy Joel, with an arena epic chorus and instrumentation that work to get a certain type of emotional power from you that only a coliseum-rock song can. “Life is Simple in the Moonlight” is a beautiful closer. The verses have delicate intertwining guitar with light vocals that create a nice bed for the slightly heavier, more desperate chorus to fall upon. It sums up all the changes, trials, triumphs, desperation, catchiness, and twangyness of Angles into a well orchestrated closer.

It might be the out of control high expectations that come with a band like this, but I can’t say I was that impressed. At so many different points, I got feelings of “I heard this before” or “this sounds just like…”, and it was fairly apparent that some songs just lacked any direction. With that said, this album is not bad. It was significantly more welcomed on the first listen than First Impressions was and certain songs (“Under Cover”, “Taken For a Fool”) really pack the typical Strokes punch. I give them boatloads of credit for trying new things, incorporating new genres, and attempting to expand their sound, but I’m going to view this album as a transition. I fear it lacks the lasting quality their first two releases had, and I really do hope that in a year we don't ask ourselves is this it?

"Everyone was here except Julian. I can describe one day where you'd wonder how the record got made and a day where you would think it's the greatest thing that ever happened."-Albert Hammond Jr.

Video for Under Cover of Darkness

Recommendations: Machu Picchu, Under Cover of Darkness, Taken for a Fool, Life is Simple in the Moonlight
NOTE: I will have my review of Panda Bear's Tomboy out very shortly. Thanks a ton for reading this :)

Animal Collective team up Keep Company!

Yesterday, after a long time of hearing about it, KEEP Company released the special addition Animal Collective shoes, available at their store in Los Angeles, on their website, and at a few selected locations around the globe! All the proceeds go the Socorro Island Conservation Fund, which you can learn about through their website. The shoes are designed by all four members of Animal Collective, and they are really cool, especially the one Deakin made.

Here's a picture of the boys wearing their own Keeps:
Keep also made some shirts to go along with the shoes which were designed by Avey Tare's sister Abby Portner. They are extremely cool.


They also decided to release a very limited addition cassette that features new original songs, one done by each member.

The track listing is:
Geologist’s Jailhouse
Avey Tare’s Call Home (Buy Grapes)
Deakin’s Country Report
Panda Bear's The Preekness

Why'd they design what they designed?

“I’ve always liked camouflage patterns and I’d be lying if I said the idea of blending into the environment and becoming invisible didn’t excite me a little bit.” — Noah Lennox

“My design was inspired by three things - a doodle I often draw based on an image of a shark I saw on a beach closed sign, a birthday card Abby Portner made me a while back that had sort of a wall paper feel to it, and having to get clothes for my kid. I just thought about how psyched I would be when I was a kid to have had sharks on my shoes and how psyched my kid will be to wear a pair if he ends up liking sharks. So basically I wanted to make a shoe for him and I decided to combine the above three things.” — Brian Weitz

“I realized that many of my friends are unaware of what is down there. Telling friends how psyched I was to have seen Yellow Fin Tuna, I also realized that though they have eaten Yellow Fin, [most people] have no idea what tuna look like. I thought it would be cool to represent tuna in some way that I thought looked sweet and would want to wear.” — Josh Dibb

Arctic Monkeys announce the name of their 4th album.

Suck It and See

What is happening. I give them credit only for the fact that a song like "Brick By Brick" can only go on an album with such an atrocious title. The tracklisting for the album is a boatload of fun too:

01 She's Thunderstorms
02 Black Treacle
03 Brick by Brick
04 The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala
05 Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair
06 Library Pictures
07 All My Own Stunts
08 Reckless Serenade
09 Piledriver Waltz
10 Love Is a Laserquest
11 Suck It and See
12 That's Where You're Wrong

I'm looking forward to hearing "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala", the seemingly inspirational "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair", and "Piledriver Waltz". This is going to be terrifyingly interesting.

Show Review: Bright Eyes live at Radio City Music Hall 3/9/11

Last night, I had the privilege of seeing Bright Eyes at Radio City Music Hall. Wild Flag, an all girl group from Portland, Oregon, were the first to play, and they were pretty good. I’m usually not a fan of all girl groups, but they had an edge and really packed a punch. Superchunk went on second, and for their age, I was very happy with the fact that they were still punk, and that the singer’s voice was unique. I’m going to be honest, I don’t know either of their music except for what I saw, but I recommend both of them. After about 2 hours, Bright Eyes finally showed signs of coming out. They opened by playing Denny Brewer’s slightly haunting speech that began The People’s Key. Hearing that alone, I lost it. I don’t have much memory of it, the tears and the shaking overcame me: Conor Oberst was real, not just this voice I've pouring over for so many years. After a perfectly done "Firewall", they moved into the ever danceable “Jejune Stars”. He then greets us kindly, informing us that the next song contained some graphic sexual content and that necessary ears should be covered and people should leave if they feel uncomfortable, then breezed right into a beautifully done “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)”. He introduced “Hot Knives” the same as “Take it Easy”, and said, “I wonder who made this setlist cuz it’s really gross.” That’s one thing about this event, he spoke between almost every song, and every single one of his speeches contained something quotable, clever, or downright inspiring. The night kicked up for me when they surprised us with an epic two song run of “An Attempt to Tip the Scales” and “Padraic My Prince”, both of which reduced me to pure tears. I can safely say, even songs I wasn’t too fond of like “Arc of Time” were performed so magnificently that I now will have them on constant repeat. The final leg of the set consisted of “Bowl of Oranges”, “Old Soul Song”, “Poison Oak”, “The Calendar Hung Itself”, and “Ladder Song”. I don't know how my heart kept beating. I cannot ever hope to express in words how ecstatic and uncontrollably blown-out-of-my-mind I was. They all expressed such great emotion that I know translated to every person in that audience, especially the exposed and pure “Ladder Song”, where Conor sang and played piano up there alone. I couldn’t help but get teary eyed when he sang “Doesn’t it just make you wanna cry?” No surprise, they ran out of time to do their normal 24 song set, so the encore was only three songs, but I’m not complaining. “Lover I Don’t Have to Love” was the final "graphic sexual content" containing song, and it was done very nicely, but it probably could have been more dramatic. “Road to Joy” destroyed every other song performed. Right before they were to perform it, Conor, some how, broke his amp and his back-up amp, but that did not take away from it all. It’s a gloriously grand song to begin with, but hearing him scream “I’M WIDE AWAKE IT’S MOOOORRRRNNIN’” live just solidified my concert memory as perfect. Hearing the first chords to “One For You, One For Me” provoked tears of joyous sadness, for it marked the end of not only seeing one of my favorite bands live, but possibly the last time seeing Bright Eyes as a band live in New York.

I would recommend in a heart beat seeing Bright Eyes live, but I would only suggest it to those who recognize his older stuff and his lesser known material for I felt like I was the only one around me who knew songs like “Padraic My Prince” and even “An Attempt”. I really had hoped to see “Four Winds”, “Something Vague”, and the ever gorgeous “Lua” live, but I can’t say I have any real complaints. They are a great band, and I feel very privileged that I was able to see remarkable musicians like Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Andy Lemaster perform in such a respected and grand setting.

Quotes from the Night:

“I’m giving up apologizing for lent.”-Conor Oberst

"If you had told thirteen year old me that Superchunk would be opening for my band at Radio City Music Hall, I would have laughed in your face, kicked you in your shins, and told you to go to hell."-Conor Oberst

.......................................
Setlist:

Firewall
Jejune Stars
Take It Easy (Love Nothing)
Hot Knives
An Attempt to Tip the Scales
Padraic My Prince
We Are Nowhere And It’s Now
Shell Games
Approximated Sunlight
Arc of Time
Triple Spiral
Cleanse Song
Trees Get Wheeled Away
No One Would Riot For Less
Beginner’s Mind
Bowl of Oranges
Old Soul Song [For The New World Order]
Poison Oak
The Calendar Hung Itself
Ladder Song

ENCORE
Lover I Don’t Have to Love
Road to Joy
One For You, One For Me

.......................................

Video for "Trees Get Wheeled Away" from the night.