St. Vincent

Marry Me

Miss Annie Clark, who performs as St. Vincent, stole the show when she opened up for Midlake a little over a year ago at the Bowery. Admittedly, I’m not one that’s often overwhelmed or impressed these days by musicians playing solo with a guitar. When I found out that someone would be doing exactly that before Midlake went on, my first thought was regret (this is going to be lame) followed immediately by pity (I feel sorry for her, because I’m an asshole, and because I think most singer-songwriters are terrible and it was unfortunate that this person was not going to be any good; how embarrassing for her). Instead, I was mesmerized by Miss Clark’s sheer musical virtuosity: guitar chops that display both technical excellence and emotional subtlety; complex songwriting that felt both spontaneous and considered, a difficult trick indeed; and an outright pretty, confident voice and stage presence that carried the weight of everything else she was doing. Damn. You don’t come across one of her very often. I was consequently eager in my anticipation to see where she’d go from there.

Her debut album didn’t disappoint; Marry Me is as ambitious as St. Vincent is talented, and often to excellent results. The stripped down songs that wooed me so effectively the first time I saw her are fleshed out in unexpected and thoughtful ways. The lyrics reveal themselves to be clever, sincere and occasionally funny over repeated listens, and she gets extra bonus points for naming her album after an Arrested Development joke. Marry Me was deservedly one of my favorite albums of 2007.

I was both optimistic and curious to see how Marry Me would play live when Miss Clark had a full band behind her. She brought with her a violin player, a drummer, and a multi-instrumentalist who mostly played keyboard and bass. Between the band and the occasional pre-recorded loop, the album came through pretty true to the recordings. The show had good energy, but again it was Miss Clark that owned the night, charming with both her superb musical delivery and disarming inter-song banter. With so much going for her, it is difficult to see St. Vincent becoming anything short of great in the not too distant future; so much of what makes a performer great is already there, quite naturally. Her only challenge is to figure out what to do with all that talent.

Labels: Concert Reviews, St Vincent

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the Epoch’s self titled debut for a couple of months. It’s an ambitious album, which I would loosely describe as indie-pop. But it’s much more considered and complicated than most pop records, with multi-layered songwriting that doesn’t easily reveal its strengths, though I sense them there; they seem to be buried just below my current comprehension of the record. On first listen, it's quirky, with electronic flourishes complimenting that traditional guitar/bass/keyboard/drums setup.
The show at the Mercury Lounge was about a week before the record was released, and like many shows there, it was pretty industry heavy. The opening band really, really sucked. Not that they couldn’t play their instruments, but it was embarrassing. I’ll leave it at that.
The Epochs did a very good job (better than I expected) of recreating the subtlety of the record live. The show felt like there was some kind of tension underneath the surface of the music that never quite broke through; deliberate, controlled, and interesting while not quite rewarding. I don’t claim to yet “get” this record or the band, but I will continue to spin the record and see what happens. For fans of quirky, complex pop without the sugar coating, this band may be for you.

Labels: Concert Reviews, The Epochs

I previously caught Liars at the Warsaw during the Drums Not Dead tour about two years ago. That album was my favorite record of 2006, and that concert was my favorite show of 2006 as well, the best of the many excellent shows I caught that year. It was dark, rhythmic, and impossibly intense, placing in my top ten favorite concerts ever. This was consequently a night I’d been looking forward to for quite some time.

The Warsaw was again packed, and Los Angeles’ No Age got the night off to a good start. They played energetic, loud, simple-punk inspired rock songs. When you’re a duo, it’s important that the limited instruments you play sound great, and No Age excelled here, blaring an excellent warm, fuzzy guitar tone with just enough crunch to it. It made them sound thick, and provided a good base for their melodic, sing-shout vocals. I hope to catch a headlining set from these folks in the future, and have recently been enjoying their latest, Weirdo Rippers.

I didn’t know what to expect from Liars on this tour, but I was certainly surprised when they came out as a quartet instead of their normal trio. The mystery fourth performer took over all Angus Andrew’s normal guitar duties, and didn’t have any problems recreating his unique stylings. Angus came out looking very dapper in a suit, and performed a good chunk of the show sitting from a chair front and center in the stage. Tonight, he took on the persona of sixties variety-show television host, talking frequently to the audience between songs, dedicating songs to friends and generally trying to be charming. He played it completely straight, without any irony that I could notice; rather, I think he was serious, which in itself was quite a surprise; he wanted to be an emcee, not a rockstar. I half expected to see the band go into some cheesy ballad or pop standard, but was always quite pleased when they instead went into their inimitable brand of post-modern mind fuck. I much prefer Angus’ previous persona, the charismatic, intense-evil-sexual-genius who looms and stalks around the stage to such great effect. He was still very much the center of attention visually, but Aaron Hemphill and Julian Gross stole the show musically with their intense rhythmic collaborations and general sonic chemistry. Speaking of which, the songs from Liars’ latest, self titled record sounded great, good enough in fact to make me re-evaluate the record much more positively. Not that I didn’t like it to begin with, but I found it to be inconsistent and less focused than Drum’s Not Dead. What I was missing is the explosiveness of much of the new record. The catalogue material still sounded great, though the band wasn’t quite as tight with it as they were the previous time I saw them perform. All in all, I was very satisfied, and Liars’ reputation as a can’t miss live act stands strong.

Labels: Concert Reviews, Liars, No Age

I’ve never listened to that much metal, nor have I been to many metal shows. A couple of years ago, a few records and a few friends started to re-introduce me to the genre, and I liked some of what I heard. This was a significant departure from my usual musical stomping grounds. When a good friend of mine told me that the best metal show to come to NYC in several years was going to happen just a few blocks away from my apartment, that Vice was throwing it, and that Mastodon was the (at the time) secret opener, I immediately bought tickets. Mastodon became known to me last year through the press and goodwill for Blood Mountain; while that record didn’t particularly grab me, it did command respect, and I’d heard good things about their live show. I’d never heard of Neurosis, and was surprised at the level of reverence with which they were talked about among my metal friends. Allegedly, they were the best heavy band, ever. And clearly, while no one was complaining about Mastodon opening, everyone I knew was going to the show to see Neurosis.

Even though I’ve attended many, many concerts, including a few metal shows, I felt like very much like a tourist in a foreign country who understands a few words of the language and little else about the strange place where he finds himself. The cultish and charming Masonic temple was packed with people who looked and dressed very different from the various hipster and twee incarnations I usually see at shows: Long hair, leather, and folks sporting tee-shirts for their other favorite metal bands (Barroness in particular had a lot of supporters) were massively abundant. Mod hair cuts and neon were nowhere to be found, and likely ridiculed if they were. The crowd had clearly gone to great lengths to pre-game for the show, a quality I appreciate. There was a very pungent haze permeating the whole building. The room was very dark, with minimal lighting on stage. There were a lot of big, angry looking dudes with smoking-hot girlfriends. Anticipation for the metal was palpable, and delivered when Mastodon got on stage to run through some new material. I expected to see a lively mosh pit, and was not disappointed. The biggest dude in the mix was a bouncer, who must have been close to 7 feet tall and 350lbs+. He just hung out in the middle of the pit, and when things got a little too rowdy he’d simply lift his arms into Jesus position and everyone in a 20 foot radius went flying while he chuckled. That dude rules.

Mastodon put on a technically impressive performance that seemed to please the crowd; speed and complex time signatures tended to define their set, which included most of the hallmarks of metal which have previously kept me away: yelling/growling and gratuitous guitar solos. However, the guitar solos really didn’t seem too gratuitous, much to my surprise. They seemed to be about dominance, almost a call to the audience something like “my guitar solo is badass, respect and submit!,” both of which I unquestioningly did. The massive and convincing displays of aggression and masculinity were both alien and impressive to me.

Mastodon, while good, didn’t have shit on Neurosis. If the hallmarks of a good metal show (as far as I can tell) are massive displays of power, aggression and masculinity, coupled with flawless technical proficiency, Neurosis are clearly at the pinnacle of the genre. It was a darkly atmospheric, loud, intense display of complete dominance. They were fucking heavy, and they make your favorite band look like a bunch of pussies, which seems to be the point. While I doubt that I’ll ever move beyond tourist stage into this world, I thoroughly enjoyed this visit, and should I have the chance, I’d absolutely go see Neurosis again.

Labels: Concert Reviews, Mastodon, Neurosis

My list comes later than everyone else's this year because my list is clearly the best list. In case you were wondering.
2007, from the albums I heard and the concerts I attended, was a decent year for music. It was year where I heard many good records, but very few, if any, great records. 2007 lacked any masterpieces by established artists, though there were some sturdy additions to already established catalogues (Radiohead and Spoon come to mind). 2007 did see some new talents emerge (St. Vincent, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Marnie Stern) as well as other acts come into their own with breakthrough sophomore releases (Deerhunter, The Besnard Lakes). While it's certainly a little early to have any kind of definitive perspective on 2007, I think it was average but pleasant.
Creating a ranked list was a more difficult this year than in years past; my top ten were nearly interchangeable, all records that I liked (even liked a great deal), but without much particular difference in merit to distinguish them. That being said, I did take a shot, and my rankings this year were not based on my own subjective thoughts about "quality," but rather specifically on enjoyment and frequency of listens. I also didn't include EP's in the mix, unless they were clearly a companion piece to a record.
So, starting with the EP's first:
4) Black Kids - Wizard of Ahhhs
3) High Places - Ancient Almanac
2) Illinois - What The Hell Do I Know?
1) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is

And albums:
30) The White Stripes - Icky Thump
29) Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm
28) AA Bondy - American Hearts
27) White Rabbits - Fort Nightly
26) Caribou - Andorra
25) Liars - Liars
24) Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
23) Bat For Lashes - Fur and Gold
22) Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
21) Dungen - Tio Bitar
20) Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
19) The Clientele - God Save the Clientele
18) Parts & Labor - Mapmaker
17) Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
16) Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
15) The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
14) Holy Fuck - LP
13) St. Vincent - Marry Me
12) Amon Tobin - Foley Room
11) The Bird & The Bee - The Bird & the Bee
10) !!! - Myth Takes
9) The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
8) The Field - From Here We Go To Sublime
7) Deerhunter - Cryptograms/Fluorescent Grey
6) Feist - The Reminder
5) Blonde Redhead - 23
4) Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
3) LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
2) Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
1) Radiohead - In Rainbows

Labels: 2007 Recap