I spent most of the Antlers’ set at Northampton’s tiny, almost empty Iron Horse Music Hall wondering why they weren’t doing it for me. When I wasn’t thinking about this I was considering wearing earplugs to shows and I was thinking about where I was going to catch the bus back to where I live and wondering if it was possible to read four parts of Virgil’s Aeneid in twenty-four hours (fortunately, it’s possible, but I don’t recommend it). This is an issue because when I go to a good show I can think of nothing but lyrical and sound progressions and what’s going to be next, what’s going to be next? I don’t care about my inevitable hearing loss or bus schedules or homework, especially. I don’t care about making a fool of myself with ridiculous dance moves and ecstatic cheering when the band breaks out some classic jam. I don’t think about why this is working or why this isn’t working. If I did think about all these things, I would probably have no place reviewing concerts. I was a little upset with myself that I let my mind wander so much, but customarily when you are in the front row watching a band perform a bunch of tracks from their breathtaking album you have to try to let your mind go elsewhere. Continue reading →
Gig Reviews
2
Nov 09
The Antlers, Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton MA 9/26
29
Sep 09
fun. @ Great Scott, Boston
Live, fun. is fun. Period. And they proved it last week at Great Scott in Alston MA.
Originally I was skeptical as to how the bill, a perfect storm of catchiness, that opened with Miniature Tigers was going to translate on stage. Aim and Ignite is an album that maintains a lot of its tone and consistency with shifts in the mood of its arrangement and a more-than-healthy dose of strings and brass. Sure, the songs are undeniably melodic, but I worried about how Nate Ruess’ off-Broadway indie pop delivery would fare in a different setting. Would they try to replicate the arrangements? How would that play to a bar crowd? What would their lineup deliver? Continue reading →
18
Sep 09
Yes Giantess’ Jan Rosenfeld Wants You To Dance, Played with Little Boots in New York
PMA was at Little Boots’ Bowery show featuring Yes Giantess and The Plastiscines Wednesday. We got to talk to Jan Rosenfeld of Yes Giantess outside the venue standing in front of the JMZ Bowery station subway entrance. It was a short, five minute chat before the start of the show.
As you know, Yes Giantess (formerly just Giantess) are the four piece synthpop band from Boston that caught our attention after showing up in the pages of NME amid much praise. Jan’s the lead vocalist and songwriter of the group. We asked him to explain a few things about the band and he obliged. Below, we discuss everything from porn to Twitter. Jan enlightens us on the band’s influences, how they got hooked up with miss Boots herself, and their undying drive to get you kids dancing. Continue reading →
2
Sep 09
Grizzly Bear/Beach House/VEGA @ Williamsburg Waterfront, Brooklyn, 8/30
Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. Photo by Rezflicks.
At JellyNYC’s last free concert of their NYC Pool Party series on the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn last Sunday, it seems like the forecasted bad weather was just about the only no-show. Otherwise, the full capacity crowd had to wait in an hour-long line that wound around the surrounding avenues of the tiny East River State Park before getting in. But for those who finally did, what more could a few thousand flanneled music lovers ask for than hearing Grizzly Bear, Beach House, and Vega with a riverside view of the New York City skyline behind them? Nothing — unless, of course, the answer is more free shows in Brooklyn. Continue reading →
26
Aug 09
Girl Talk @ Williamsburg Waterfront, Brooklyn, 8/23
Picture Courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan
It was tough trying to explain a Girl Talk concert to my parents. “It’s a guy with his laptop, putting songs together. There’s toilet paper rolls, and confetti and stuff. Basically, it’s just a giant dance party. Trust me, it’s not lame- I think.”
And thankfully, as expected, the Girl Talk live experience was far from lame. It was an epic, hour-and-a-half masterpiece of mash-ups, beach balls, sweaty hipsters, and soothing rain. The beautiful New York backdrop didn’t hurt, either. Continue reading →
29
Jun 09
Miike Snow – Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, June 20
Miike Snow are six on stage, and they all wear matching shiny black track jackets. One, obstructed by stacked trunks bearing equipment, wears a cowboy hat. Their music is complex and dancy, all synth and keyboard and a thousand unnameable gadgets, a little guitar and drums that sound like a machine. Everything is arranged in a neat arch on Music Hall of Williamsburg’s wide stage, organized in little stations for each member.
Somewhat surprisingly, Miike Snow’s songs are about sadness and depression – songs to walk alone in the rain to, lyrics-wise. Their music is music to get down in the club to, unthinking and unconsidered. The bald man twisting dials on the synth in front of me bobs his head excitedly – “he looks like he belongs DJing in a club,” my friend insists – to lyrics like “don’t forget to cry at your own burial.” The crowd dances more than I had expected them to. Depressing lyrics don’t matter – for Miike Snow, words are an afterthought, something to provide added rhythm, to layer with fuzz and xylophone. They are good words, often, but unnecessary. What matters is music – sound, loud and echoing and varied and ecstatic, regardless of anything else. Continue reading →
6
Jun 09
Grizzly Bear, Town Hall, New York, May 29 2009
Town Hall on 43rd Street in Manhattan is full of smoke like a 1920s lounge. With red velvet chairs and polished mahogany and giant crystal chandeliers, everything seems like a throwback. Grizzly Bear’s music seems to fit here – sometimes it contains elements of the past, but they are wrapped up in smooth modern twists – reverb, omnichord, a pile of effects pedals on the floor. But there is that choir element, a layering upon one another of four voices; there is the string quartet and the piano; there is the flute and the clarinet. Grizzly Bear’s music comes from another time and it is not now, and it is difficult to say whether it is the past or the future. Continue reading →
15
May 09
Chiddy Bang – Southpaw, Brooklyn, May 13 2009
Southpaw, in Park Slope, is dark and uncrowded. The sparse crowd is an awkward, eclectic mix. In one corner a DJ spins nineties rap, watched by awestruck preppy hipsters in peach button-downs. Most of the crowd clusters happily by the long bar. Chiddy Bang’s first New York City headlining show is performed for no more than forty people, happy drunk girls and guys in their thirties absently sipping a beer and, in one corner, a white-haired couple I assume are somebody’s grandparents.I have never seen live rap before, with the exception of one Talib Kweli song. But Chiddy Bang aren’t really a rap group like you’d expect them to be. Continue reading →
9
Apr 09
Ra Ra Riot – Webster Hall, NYC, April 4 2009
Wes Miles pulls at his clothes like he wants to say “Free me from this earthly prison!” He stares into nothing. He turns this way and that with lifts and presses of one boat-shoed foot. Wes Miles does not stand still, and the rest of his band does not stand still, and no one in this cavernous room stands still, and everything jitters electrically.
This is Ra Ra Riot’s biggest headlining show to date, and Wes nervously admits this between “Run My Mouth Off” and “Winter ’05,” halfway into the show as if he doesn’t want to jinx things. I have always believed that Ra Ra Riot deserve more attention and more love, and when year-end lists came out last December I looked nervously for The Rhumb Line (their only album) everywhere, for their name in the top-ten of best live band, for “Ghost Under Rocks” under best song, but I was disappointed to discover that not all people extend the kind of adoration to Ra Ra Riot that I do. This sold-out show appears to be a step in the right direction. Continue reading →
