Beach House Live At The Trocadero - 2/24/2011

The crowd was becoming anxious after brilliant freak-folk/dream-pop hybridizing opener Papercuts finished their brief set and their gear gave way that of the main act.  But the stage was not yet set - fog machines pumped massive amounts of inert gas into the air, the fog sprawling out over the monitors and among the damp congregation.  Finally, the house lights dimmed and Beach House somberly emerged from the opaque glycerin mist, methodically launching into the cryptically simple and tense "Gila" (my favorite!), a perfect appetizer for the subsequent set.  Keyboardist/singer/altbaguette Victoria Legrand's throaty mezzo-alto latched onto each syllable of the drawn out "gi-la-ah-ah-ah-ah"'s of the chorus.
The band brought with them the same pyramid/sparkly light background they used for their tour this past summer, but absent was the bassist/keyboardist that accompanied them for that stretch.  Sonically, however, this had no adverse effect.  In fact, the sound was not without a bottom and it was strikingly loud - louder than the last time I was at the Troc, and that was for a Sleigh Bells/Yeasayer show!  In particular, the vocals were mixed very high, almost piercing.  As she belted out "It's a vision, complete illusion, yeah!" during "Silver Soul", I could feel every fluctuation in Legrand's vibrato salvos deep inside my chest.
The singer wore a should-padded lime blazer and violently whipped her bed-head hair (get this woman in a fucking Pantene commercial) to a majority of tunes from last year's Teen Dream as well as a new untitled song with traces of industrial(?!?) influence (it works!).  The other half of the duo, guitarist/backing vocalist Alex Scally, occasionally sat upon a stool while expertly strumming but remained animated regardless, often reminding me of Kermit the Frog with his spastic head bobs and constantly bouncing gangly legs.  Touring drummer Graham Hill added the perfect amount of percussion to each tune, whether banging out a steady bass-snare-bass-snare, prescribing heavy doses of syncopation on the toms or adding small but crucial complements like tambourine or maraca.  As the final tones of closer "10 Mile Stereo" resonated, the crowd, noticeably still in a hazy dream-like state, dispersed into the streets of Chinatown and out into the foggy night.

And by the way, you can check out my YouTube Channel for more videos of past concerts.

Free Energy Live at First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia

Last night Philadelphian glam-boogie rockers Free Energy played one final hometown show before holing up in Fishtown to write and record their sophomore album.  Recalling musical checkpoints in 1970s-set films Almost Famous and Dazed And Confused, their sound is a modernized bridging of the gap between Thin Lizzy and Jay Ferguson.  Run by R5 Productions, First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia isn't a typical concert venue.  Filled with local undergrads reveling in the laid-back, non-carding BYOB policy, the church's dimly lit (see video below) basement - complete with those individual mineral fiber ceiling tiles you see in elementary schools - felt like a deviant youth group gathering.
Opening act Sweatheart, though gimmicky with their sweatbands and unitards, won over the crowd with their brand of Devo-meets-Ween pop rock.  Sample lyrics: "Back up, back up, you're so hot/Back up, back up, like a truck in a parking lot/Back up, back up, into me/Back up, back up, like and F-150."  Second act, The Postelles, took a more straight-up rock approach, sounding like Elvis and Little Richard's lovechild backed by the Ramones.  They even blazed through a cover of "Hound Dog" with help from Free Energy guitarist Scotty Wells and singer Paul Sprangers.
The main act ran swiftly through the majority of their debut self-titled album, along with a few previews of new songs and two covers.  Kicking off with album-opener "Free Energy", they quickly rose the temperature and humidity in the already roasting venue.  Hit single "Bang Pop" was a highlight, as well as new song "Back Scratcher."  Until they played songs like "C'mon Let's Dance" and "Something In Common," I hadn't realized how much room their songs had for audience participation via hand clapping and back-up vocals.  Check out the video I shot rather terribly of logical Petty cover "I Won't Back Down" and see what I mean about the lack of lights.  Before the band finished the encore with closer "Hope Child", they busted out an initially head-scratching cover of "Funkytown" with members of the opening acts helping with vocals.  But once the crowd jubilantly rushed the stage and the band sang "Gotta make a move to a town that's right for me/Town to keep me movin', keep me groovin' with free energy" for the second time, it felt like the perfect end to a long tour and an affectionate love letter to their hometown.

PS!!!!  Here's a schedule of future concerts I will also be attending and recapping:
Beach House - 2/24 - Trocadero
Dum Dum Girls - 3/5 - Johnny Brenda's
The Strokes - 4/1 - Madison Square Garden
LCD Soundsystem - 4/2 - Madison Square Garden
CAKE - 4/17 - Keswick Theatre
CAKE - 4/18 - Keswick Theatre
Sleigh Bells/CSS - 5/8 - Trocadero
Fleet Foxes - 5/21 - Tower Theatre

I'm Goin' Down: Vampire Weekend Vs. Free Energy

Within the span of a few months, indie darlings Vampire Weekend and rock neophytes Free Energy have both released covers of The Boss's austere mediation on relationships, "I'm Goin' Down."  Free Energy's version appears on their tour exclusive 7" split with Titus Andronicus and VW included it in the set for their recently released iTunes Session. 

I'm Going Down - Free Energy by livkend

Free Energy's debut album, Stuck On Nothing, takes a few cues from Springsteen in both songwriting and production. To say theirs is the more faithful of the covers is a pretty big understatement - save for the conversion of the saxophone solo to electric guitar and a decidedly non-'80s reduced snare reverb, there are few divergences.  It almost feels like the band is using sheet music from a Born in the U.S.A. tablature book.  While fundamentally simpatico with the material on SON, the song just doesn't quite add up - I've never understood the point of covers that sound exactly like the original.

Vampire Weekend might owe the success of their adaptation simply to practice - they incorporated it into their setlist during their Contra tour over the past summer.  It starts out much more subdued, with only keyboards and handclaps (nice touch).  The rhythm section joins in after the chorus, but instead of trying to inject any trademark Afro-pop signifiers, they achieve a Springsteenian rock shuffle.  Check out the rest of their session here: A-Punk, Have I The Right, Cousins, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and Holiday.

Mini Mansions Cover Blondie's "Heart Of Glass"

I first heard Mini Mansions, a collaboration between Queens of the Stone Age bassist Mikey Shuman and friends Zach Dawes and Tyler Parkford, when I saw them open for Them Crooked Vultures at the Electric Factory back in November 2009.  With most songs composed of keyboard, guitar or bass guitar, and cocktail drums, the bands sound often alludes to the most psychedelic of Lennon-McCartney compositions.  The b-side of their 7" single for "Monk" is a melancholy interpretation of Blondie's hit single "Heart of Glass."  The original's pumping (and pandering?) disco beat was in stark contrast with the lyrics of love gone wrong.  Mini Mansion's reinterpretation extracts this dance-y spirit (save for the buried boom-chick, boom-chick of bass drum and tambourine during the chorus) for a dogged sense of despondency.  Pairing the lyrics with equally sad music might have proven to be too much, but in a way this version seems just the right amount of cathartic and, obviously, no longer tongue-in-cheek.  Listen to the track below, and also check out a bonus video of The Hood Internet mash-up of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" with Arcade Fire's "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)."

CAKE - Showroom of Compassion iTunes Bonus Tracks

CAKE's new album Showroom of Compassion was released about a month ago, temporarily mingling with the Swift's and Perry's of pop music at the top of Billboard's album charts.  The iTunes Deluxe Version included two extra tracks - instrumental "Huge Misunderstanding" and pre-order-only track "The Federal Funding March" - as well as the video for "Sick of You", below.  Unfortunately, the only way for me to share them is for you to swing by my apartment with a blank CD-R.  However, in the interest of concentrating on non-album tracks, I figured I'd discuss them so you can figure out whether it's worth paying $11.99 for one extra song and a vid you can watch on YouTube.

"Huge Misunderstanding" is written in the vein of "Conroy" from compilation B-Sides and Rarities in that it has a more electronic sound, especially in the drums.  Peppered with intermittent afuche-cabasa, woodblocks and staccato trumpet, it ambles for two and a half minutes back and forth between an A and a B section, but in spite of this simplicity remains tense and exciting.  It's perhaps best listened to on your iPod while inconspicuously trailing a mark.

"The Federal Funding March" reminds me of a nefarious brass band posing as Salvation Army volunteers.  Presumably the same vocal take as the album version, this cut completely eliminates all original instrument tracks and substitutes an amazing horn arrangement complete with booming sousaphone, eery clarinet, trademark trumpet and even an especially ominous-sounding xylophone.  If you didn't know better you'd think the new arrangement had been recorded somewhere between Boardwalk Empire and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

It's a real shame that iTunes' modus operandi is to claim b-sides as exclusives and force listeners to shell out full album dollars to hear them (and it's kind of weird that CAKE of all bands would strike this kind of deal), but in this case, I'm glad I pulled the trigger.

PS, whether you're a friend offering encouragement/criticism/suggestions or just a stranger looking for some good old-fashioned cybersex, please feel free to leave a comment!

Sleigh Bells

The duo Sleigh Bells has become fairly popular since being discovered at CMJ and signed to M.I.A.'s N.E.E.T. Recordings a year and change ago.  By now, most of us have friended fem-donis singer Alexis Krauss and erected shrines fashioned of neon bras, human skulls, report cards and hearing aids in her name.  The polarizing band is often labelled noise pop and, if forced to finger them on that genre's continuum, they'd be somewhere between Rihanna with distorted guitars and a No Age/Scott Storch collabo.

In addition to their label debut, Treats, you can grab their 2HELLWU CD-R here.  It features non-album tracks "Holly" and "2HELLWU" as well as early workings of "Kids" (here titled "Beach Girls") and "Rill Rill" (here titled "Ring Ring").  And if you're still craving more ring ring-ing (sorry) in your ears after that, check out the new version of "Holly" from the "Tell 'Em" 7" single that came free with all pre-orders of Treats from Insound.

A live staple, "Holly" sets Alexis's soft descending "ah ah ah"'s against not only songwriter and producer Derek Miller's snarling guitar, but also Alexis's own guttural chorus "hey hey"'s.  When she asserts, "Never need to ask, we'll tell ya who's boss," you fucking believe her.

Sleigh Bells - "Holly" (Tell Em B-Side Version) by Some Kind of Awesome

He Gets Me High

Real quick, here's a new song for your lunch break from the Dum Dum Girls.  Their new EP He Gets Me High will be released March 1 and they're set for a February/March US tour.  Break out your finest hosiery.  Can't wait for Johnny Brenda's!

What it do?

My self-worth is derived from the number of Japanese import compact discs w/ obi strips I own.

Do you enjoy tzatziki and one piece thong swimsuits? Can you easily overlook amateur photo editing? Here is a blog about music!


A precursory thirty second Bing! search, has yielded several revelations: 
- an alarming number of people have stomach tattoos that incorporate their their belly buttons as bodily orifices
- this is exponentially more disturbing when said belly buttons are outies
- the last thing the internet needs is another music blog


In spite of all of these deterrents, I am forging on.  I'm going to try to update this on a daily basis (read: weekly, if I'm lucky) with a focus on vinyl and import only songs from my collection.  Not sure how posting mp3s will work, but I'll at least try to provide links to other sites.


In forthcoming posts, I'm going to concentrate on bands I'm planning to see in concert this spring: Beach House, Sleigh Bells, Dum Dum Girls, Free Energy, Cake, Fleet Foxes, and LCD Soundsystem.


OK, that's all for now.  Heading to a super bowl party where I will obsessively reflect on how lame this post sounds and subsequently eat too much buffalo chicken dip.  

Peace out Jack/Meg, James, Damon/Jamie(?)