The Mekons at The Bell House on July 31, 2009 and The Murcery on August 1, 2009

So for my first review on the re-started blog, I'll be reviewing a show that I went to that is also available online. Well sort of. I saw both Mekons shows. The first was at The Bell House, was "acoustic" (more about that later) and not recorded. For that one I have pictures. The show at The Mercury is available here at NYC Taper. No pictures though. I'm sure you can find some if you look around. But what more could you want if you can get the entire show on MP3 or FLAC?

So first, a discussion about the first show. I was hoping that it was a mistake when The Bell House had the set listed as acoustic. I had good reason to hope since they seemed to be using the promo material from their 2007 tour. Unfortunately, this not a mistake. The band played seated and "acoustic" like they had in 2007. Why do I keep putting acoustic in quotes do you ask? Well that's because everyone except for the drummer played the exact same instruments both nights. The real difference was that the band played seated and the drummer played a hand drum set the first night. Other than that, there was nothing more acoustic about one night versus the other.

One thing that could have made the first show more acoustic than the second one would have been Tom Greenlaugh. Unfortunately, he was not with The Mekons either night. Jon explained that he had some family business he had to deal with. Whatever that means. So yeah. That was the big disappointment for both nights. However, Susie Honeyman was with them the first night, and I don't think I've ever seen her play with them live. So that was nice.

Anyway, I still haven't said anything actually reviewing the first set. Honestly, I think they might have been better off without Tom. That last time (Fall 2007) he seemed out of it, and I think he was forgetting words to songs. This time they also played a good mix of songs from different albums. I think only maybe 2 or 3 albums weren't touched at all between the two shows. It wasn't a tight set by any means, but in a spacious venue like The Bell House, this is hardly a problem. If my memory serves me correctly, they came back for two encores. I didn't like the friend they had sing "Heaven and Back." The guy couldn't even remember the words.

But really, I had few complaints. I could come up with 10 songs I love that they didn't play, but I also heard them play 10 others that I love just as well. With a band that's been around as long as The Mekons, you can't expect to hear more than half of your favorites.

So my last disappointment about The Mekons shows was that the 2nd night, they played a nearly identical set. There were probably no more than 5 songs that were played one night and not the other. This was really disappointing when they played the quieter material from Natural the second night. I don't dislike any of those songs, but they were played pretty heavily the last time I saw them, and I definitely could have used more full on rock songs. That being said, both sets were fantastic, and "Memphis Egypt" and "Where Were You" were enough to complete my night on Saturday.

And what about the recording of that second show? It's pretty good. Clear sound. NYC Taper does great work. You can hear the audience cheer in the middle of "Cockermouth" when Jon ripped his shirt open. On some of the quieter songs, you can hear people talking, but that's going to be the case with any non-soundboard recording in a bar. Mostly, you just hear The Mekons in all of their glory. I wish the guitars had been louder, but that's probably because of the absence of Tom. I highly recommend it.

I am Re-starting this blog

From now on this will be the Live (and sometimes not) Music Review. What does that mean?

Well first, and most importantly, it means I'll be writing in this thing again.

Second, I will renew my focus on live concerts. In fact, I'll make it a goal to review a live show every single day. I'll probably come closer to 4 a week. Will I really be attending 4 concerts a week? No. I will be reviewing concerts that can be found online as well as concerts I have attended. Some of the ones I attend will turn up on NYCTaper, but most will not. I will be reviewing shows that have previously been recorded and are available on all of the free tape sources on the Internet. I will also provide links to various resources as well as reviews of new sites as I discover them.

I do not record concerts myself. I don't have the equipment, the know-how, and to be honest, I don't really want to if there are other people out there doing it. Recording concerts would severely impair my ability to stand up front and shout as loudly as I want. It's just too high a price.

Probably my biggest resource for the time being will be the Live Music Archive. Hopefully other tapers will see this blog and give me more resources. It's my hope to encourage taping and sharing of live concert material. Music is usually best experienced in a live setting, and too few bands make their concert recordings widely available.

So moving forward, this site will provide nearly daily reviews of non-album live shows/recordings. I will also review new albums as I obtain them, but these reviews will be much less regular than the live reviews. Pictures will be available when I went to shows and my girlfriend took pictures. I also need to change the name.

Rated O by Oneida

I saw Oneida Friday night and realized I'd failed to write a review of their album. I've failed to write a lot of reviews lately to be honest, but given how many times I've seen Oneida, I should at least say a few things about the new album.

So in case you haven't heard, it's a tripple album. Sort of. It's not a tripple album in the way that Sandinista was a triple album. This one really could fit on just two records. It clocks in just under 2 hours, and none of the three discs are longer than 40 minutes. But given that I only had to pay $15 dollars for it, I can't really complain. And once I finally listened, it was clear why this was a tripple album: each disc is totally different.

And the first disc is really the big shocker. Instead of opening with pulsing keyboards and shredding guitars, opener "Brownout in Lagos" is a mess of noise and programmed beats. And the vocals? That's a guest singer. And things just keep getting weirder from there. "What's up Jackal" features official Oneida member Hanoi Jane on vocals, but his vocals are so distorted that you really can't tell whose singing (I just know it's him because he sings it live. I could be wrong though. For all I know, someone else sang it on the album.)

Basically nothing on disc one sounds like Oneida. This can be enjoyable and interesting. But it can also be tedious and annoying. "10:30 at the Oasis" is a dozen minutes of electronics that makes for good background music, but really doesn't give me any of the thrills that I go to Oneida for. And "The Human Factor" is just awful. I have a firm policy of never skipping tracks on albums. I sometimes have to break that rule with this one. It's 10 minutes long, and while the first half is horribly boring (droning noise and unispired drumming), it's the final half that is excruciating. Basically, it's just a bunch of yelling. I can't make out any words, and I don't really care to even try. I usually just turn it down. This is by far the single worst track that Oneida has ever recorded and released. I took a moment to think that over. Yes. It is.

Disc 2 is what I had been waiting for. Not every unreleased song I've heardt hem play over the past two years is on there, but the four best ones are. And they're right up there at the front. Beginning the disc, frequent set starter "The River" quickly dispels any fears that the studio versions of these songs wouldn't live up to the live version. "I Will Haunt You", "Life You Preferred" and "Ghost in the Room" are also equal to their live versions. Which is to say, they rock harder than just about anything else out these days.

The remaining three tracks have not been live staples. In fact, I think I've only heard "Saturday" maybe once or twice. They're all pretty good, but after 4 solid winners, I find myself drifting. "It Was a Wall" is especially weak, but thankfully it's the shortest track on the disc. Compared with the first four tracks, the final three sound like Oneida running out of ideas. Listening to it, I feel like disc two is deliberately winding down to prepare us for disc 3.

Disc 3 provides something I knew I'd hear but hadn't heard performed live: new long jams. There are really just two on here, but that's enough to satisfy me. The Disc opens with "O" which is a pleasant 13 minute jam featuring lots of sitar heavy in the mix. "End of Time" is basically a three minute drone that gets you ready for the finally, "Folk Wisdom." Unfortunately, this jam just doesn't measure up to my favorite 10+ minute Oneida tracks (it does manage to be the longest though at just over 20 minutes). "Changes in the City" had more direction, "Sheets of Easter" was a bolder statement, and "Double Lock Your Mind" just rocked harder. This doesn't mean that "Folk Wisdom" isn't a lot of fun. And it's one of the few Oneida jams that falls off the rails completely halfway through and then manages to pick itself back up completely.

In the end I don't think Rated O will be the milestone achievement for Oneida that they might have hoped for. To be sure, it's a fantastic rock album, but other than the first four songs on disc two, it doesn't offer anything that they haven't already done better. This isn't much in the way of criticism given how good this group's previous efforts have been. And it's the second album in a row where they've managed to surprise a fan whose caught nearly every New York show since 2006. That's not an insignificant accomplishment.

And the show on Friday? Great as usual. The setlist was short, but they squeezed in 3 more songs after they "finished". Setlist as I remember:

Jackal
Ghost in the Room
Saturday
New Jam that I don't know
I will Haunt You
River
Up with People

So apparently I forgot to post Acid Mothers Temple Pictures

I have a lot of other things to post, but I figure I can take care of this right now.

Saturday June 7 Bruar Falls: Dark Meat

I was on the fence about this show. I have Dark Meat's only album, and I saw them last year. Both the show and the album were enjoyable, but neither really blew me away. The album sort of lost steam for me towards the end, and I thought a lot of the band members at last year's show were unnecessary. Especially the fiddle player who spent more time dancing around than playing her instrument.

This time the band was only a nine-piece with only one backup singer/dancer. The fiddle players were gone as well as the 2nd drummer. This was probably for the best since the stage wasn't even big enough for the band they had. The trumpet players had to play in front of the stage, and the band was still smashed together. But it worked. Everything sounded great, and the band was much more tight and focused than the previous show. They only played one song I recognized --"Three Eyes Open"; the rest of the songs were new. I missed "Freedom Ritual", but for the most part I loved the new songs. I had trouble singling any one song out as a favorite because nearly every song was at least as good if not better than the last.

And the band had just as much energy as last time, but it was more focused. Sure, the backup singer did more dancing than singing, but that's what she's better at. And the trumpet players were jumping around, but they were ready to play when their time came. And the one drummer seemed to accomplish just as much as two drummers did last time. I think the band benefited from playing in a smaller venue. This time everyone was forced to get close together, and the band could really feed off of the audience's energy. Last time, The Musichall of Williamsburg felt woefully empty. Hopefully things will pick up for Dark Meat. I can't imagine that they can afford to keep touring and losing money with the audiences they are drawing currently (probably a reason the band was scaled back).

Pictures soon hopefully.

PJ Harvey and John Parish: A Woman a Man Walked By

There is an ongoing debate among Simpsons "fans" about whether or not the show should continue to exist. I've always been baffled by those who wish it off the air simply because the episodes over the last several years have not (supposedly) been as good as earlier episodes. I've never really agreed that they've been that bad, and even if they were, who cares? It doesn't make the earlier episodes any worse.

But after hearing the last 3 PJ Harvey albums, I am beginning to understand why someone might wish The Simpsons would go away. Each PJ Harvey album since 2000's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea has been increasingly disappointing (and even that one was a disappointment when compared with her previous two efforts). These albums have been so bad in fact that it has poisoned the other PJ Harvey albums I have. The most recent collaboration with John Parish is no exception. While some of my disappointment can be passed off to Parish, it still manages to go back and taint Dancehall at Louise Point, an album from what I considered Harvey's best years.

So what's so bad about it? Just about everything. The music is rarely interesting, Harvey's vocal delivery approaches the obnoxious at points and the lyrics just sound a bit silly. From the beginning with "Black Hearted Love", the album disappoints. This is the kind of mid tempo rock song that might have been decent enough filler 15 years ago, but now, it's hard not to grow impatient. The album picks up with the second track, "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen" which features less electric instrumentation, but a much more driving melody. Unfortunately, the next few songs are snoozers, and when things pick up with the title track, they don't move into any welcome areas.

I bought this album shortly after moving in with my fiance, and it can frequently make my enjoyment of music much more fraught than it used to be. Now, when I listen to a loud song that I love, I worry that I'm driving her crazy. There's always a dueling desire within me to turn the volume up to maximize my enjoyment or down to avoid making her miserable. No such battle takes place during the louder songs on this album. I just want to turn them down for both of our sakes.

Wednesday May 6, 2009, Bowery Ballroom: Akron/Family

So in the last four weeks I've seen my three favorite live bands. And all three times I've walked away somewhat disappointed. With Oneida, it wasn't their fault, I was extremely tired, and the venue was suffocatingly humid and hot. And Acid Mothers Temple basically did what I expected them to do. But Akron/Family I had high hopes for, and they kind of let me down.

Why you ask? Well lets start with the set list:

They Will Appear
River
The Alps and Their Orange Evergreen
Gravelly Mountains of the Moon
Ed is a Portal
Creatures
Everyone is Guilty
Sun will Shine
Last Year
Woodie Guthrie's America
Crickets
Freestyle audience jam that I didn't stick around for

If you look at the setlists from the last shows, you'll notice that there's not a lot here that they didn't play those nights, and some great songs that I've been hearing a lot of were left out. Lake Song and Raising the Sparks were especially missed. I thought that they were going into Lake song towards the end of The Alps and their Orange Evergreen, but it didn't happen. Just about everything that bothered me about the last shows was present last night in greater quantity.

But what really had me disappointed was the length of the actual set. I've grown very accustomed to two hour sets from these guys. Not counting anything after Last Year, the set couldn't have been an hour and a half. From most bands these days, it wouldn't be bad, but Akron/Family has set the bar pretty high, and they did not live up to it. Even more alarming is that this is similar to the previous 4 shows I've seen where I just sort of assumed the shortened sets were due to circumstances. But no. Apparently now that they are a real three piece band (with horns/woodwinds backing them), they only play hour and a half sets. From a lot of bands, this would be great, but when amazing jams are getting left out of the set, it's a real bummer.

And then there's how they've been ending the shows. I was briefly excited to see Dana go back to the drums and Seth pick his electric guitar back up after Woodie Guthrie's America. I thought they might play a real encore. But no. It was Crickets. The most boring and useless song Akron/Family has ever performed. And then it got worse. Because for some reason the audience is supposed to sing the final melody over and over. This went on for what seemed like forever. Eventually some girls at front got impatient (not that I wasn't there 5 minutes before them, but all I could think to do was groan) and started stomping and chanting. Eventually this caught on and we got a pretty neat audience/band jam in the middle of the place. I might have been more into it if it hadn't taken so long to get there and the actual set had been better. Instead, I just felt kind of cheated and mystified at how people could be so into it.

I hope this doesn't mean the magic is wearing off for me. Nearly 3 years ago, before Love is Simple was released, I saw them perform at the Bowery, and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen, if not the best ever. They closed with Ed is a Portal like they always did in those days, and while the closing rap had never excited me, they somehow managed to turn the entire audience to mush by the end of the performance. Was I witnessing something similar last week, but unable to take part myself? Or was it really not as good? I don't have an answer, so this review is done.

Akron/Family: Set 'Em Wild Set 'Em Free

This is a hard album for me to review. By the time it arrived in the mail, I had heard 9 of these 11 tracks live on multiple occasions. Because everything sounds better live (especially with Akron/Family), I was inevitably a bit disappointed. Making matters worse, I received the album on MP3 several weeks before the CD arrived in the mail. Since listening to the CD, I have found myself enjoying the album a lot more than I did at first. Further proof that MP3s do not sound as good as CDs. I just wish more people felt this way.

But even with CD quality (which I contend is as good as vinyl) sound, I find myself feeling disappointed and frustrated with this album. There are just too many songs that do not live up to their live versions. One, MBF, should not have even been recorded in the studio. This track is not as much as a song as it is Akron/Family playing as loud as they can. Seth wails away on his guitar and Miles screams. Live, it works. On the album, it's just kind of irritating and doesn't fit with the rest of the material which is mostly wonderfully melodic.

Penultimate track, Sun Will Shine also does not live up to its live version. The song only has one lyric "The Sun will shine and I won't hide" that gets repeated several times. Live, Miles only sings it a few times before Seth's guitar blasts it off into the most wonderful places eventually leading the audience into some beautiful but loud white noise. On the album however, the line gets repeated almost to the point of being obnoxious. And while the same guitar melody is played, it does not flow naturally into the white noise that concludes the song. The only song that is an improvement over its live version is Last Year, simply because the band doesn't insist that everyone sing along for 10 goddamn minutes.

But after listening to the album several times and getting further away from the live show, those two songs are really my only complaints. Sure, Akron/Family sound better and more adventurous live, but that doesn't make the album any less inspired. Their albums hold up better than those of their predecessor's The Grateful Dead. In fact, opener Everyone is Guilty might actually benefit from the studio treatment. The song has actually had a long road to travel before becoming an actual song. The first couple of times I saw it, it was just an instrumental (or nearly instrumental) jam that didn't seem to go anywhere. Now, the song is a tight and constantly shifting powerful rock song driven by a wonderful groove. The first time I listened to it, I found the constant tempo and melody changes jarring. But after repeated listens, I find myself craving it.

The band's other two rockers are also broken into movements. Gravelly Mountains of the Moon sounds like it's a pleasant acoustic singalong until around three minutes in when the electric guitars and horns kick in, giving the album an extra kick that it was needing around the halfway mark. My only complaint with the song is the "Put me in, let me run with the ball. Ha!" coda that concludes the song. Studio restraint does not manage to dampen my irritation with it. They Will Appear" is almost more successful, but the rock part of the song just feels to short. I once thought that it could eventually become their closer and replace Ed is a Portal (which has actually been replaced by Everyone is Guilty/Sun Will Shine/Last Year), but they haven't figured out how to make this one take off. It's a wondeful song, but not much of a jam.

And then there are the album's numerous smaller pleasures. The mostly acoustic The Alps and their Orange Evergreen, Set 'Em Free and Many Ghosts (the last two have not appeared live at any show in NYC) are both simpler wonderful songs that show what a great songwriter Seth is growing into. Dana's one contribution Creatures may not be the major work that Lake Song was, but it definitely makes the album more interesting.

Ultimately, I like this album. What had me disappointed is not what's on it, but what's not. Akron/Family have worked hard to cement their reputation as one of the most formidable live bands around today. And they have yet to release an official live album (they sell a live disc on their site and at shows, and included a DVD with Love is Simple), and I have seen several major set changes that have yet to be documented publicly in a live format. For their third album, The Allman Brothers decided to do a live album. The Grateful Dead did it on their 4th, and the MC5 made their first album live. So why the hell hasn't Akron/Family released a live album after five studio albums? I make this complaint about tons of bands, but this is by far the most egregious failure of a band to release a record showing them at their best.

Friday April 17, 2009, Mercury Lounge: Acid Mothers Temple, Sonic Suicide Squad and Floating Action

We arrived towards the end of Floating Action's set, so we really just got to hear about one and a half songs. The first had a fairly solid simple riff that worked for me. The final song featured a toy piano. It was pretty mellow, but enjoyable. They seemed to have some enthusiastic fans in the audience. Afterwards, before Acid Mothers Temple, some guy who overheard me saying nice things about them felt the need to interject that they were "yacht rock". I didn't really agree with that assessment. Anyway, I've written enough about a band that I heard for all of ten minutes.

Up next were Acid Mothers Temple's touring partners, Sonic Suicide Squad. I was pretty sure I knew what these guys were going to do before I arrived. When I saw that they had a saxophone player and a trumpet player, I had my doubts, but within a minute into their set, it was clear that my first hunch was right. Sonic Suicide were a noise band. My friend Patrick claims her heard a bit of melody in one of their numbers, and I think I remember hearing one bit of structured sound, but for the most part, each piece was a slab of chaotic noise. They used some sampled spoken word bits, but other than that, there was nothing but noise. For some reason, the guitarist had 20 (we counted) pedals, but we couldn't hear any noticeable effects. Maybe they were being swallowed up by the guy on the various electronic equipment.

Anyway, for what it was, I thought it was enjoyable. They couldn't have played more than 30 minutes, and that was probably just right. Anything more, and I might have grown impatient. As it was, it was a nice warm up for the main attraction...

Last time I saw Acid Mothers Temple I was a bit disappointed. Half of the disappointment was seeing a band that I felt was going through the motions. The other half was the bastardized version of La Novia they performed in the middle of their set. This time they didn't even play La Novia. And it was the same lineup of the band that I had seen last year. And with maybe a couple small exceptions, they played the same set (Intro jam, Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky, Slide guitar Jam, Pink Lady Lemonade with Cosmic Death Disco thrown in the middle, Milky Way Star) minus La Novia. But this night was better. They played a quieter version of Dark Stars before playing the full version that worked quite nicely. And I was actually getting into Milky Way Star this time.

It is disappointing to see a band that's capable of releasing as many as eight albums in a year play almost identical sets every time. There have been some changes since the early 2000s when every show included a 30 minute version of La Novia, but Pink Lady Lemonade remains the 30 minute centerpiece of their set. Kawabata Makoto even manages to include it in other Acid Mothers projects at least briefly. While it is a great jam, and the solos he unleashes for the 2nd half are truly stunning, it always comes with ten minutes of repetition beforehand. Sometimes the melody begins to build on itself, but this is never a guaranteed occurence.

But even if their sets evolve slowly, I will keep coming back. Even if they play the same songs, they are always looking for ways to make them more interesting, and no song is ever played the same way twice. But that's not even the point. Beauty never gets old, and watching Kawabata swing his guitar around his head while moving his fingers all over the fretboard is the most beautiful thing one can ever witness at a rock show. And as long as he keeps doing it, I'll be there even if they never change their set, because with all of the bands I have seen, none of them on their best days come close to displaying the perfect beauty of Kawabata Makoto playing guitar.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz!

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs last album Show Your Bones proved that the group was more than just a gimmick. They were able to tone down the sonic aggression, develop their sound and still deliver captivating songs. Unfortunately, none of those successes are repeated on this album. While SYB saw the group adding acoustic guitars and synths to the mix, It's Blitz! is almost entirely dominated by keyboards, and that's a real shame since Nick Zinn was one of the most interesting guitarists around. This was always this groups secret weapon. Sure, Karen O is right out front with her vocals -and she's a very capable frontwoman, but it was Zinn that added that really made their music unpredictable and was as equally capable of beauty and agression as Karen O.

Unfortunately, none of that is on display here. Instead the songs are dominated by keyboards, and while none are particularly bad, none of the tracks show the sheer joy of "Mystery" from SYB. Instead, this is a fairly restrained and dull affair. After listening to this album more than five times, I can't recall more than half of the tracks. That's never been a problem with the other two YYY albums. The hooks just aren't here.

Opener "Zero" shows promise. It's no coincidence that it's the only song from this album that they played on Saturday Night Live last week. It has a catchy synth hook, and is a genuinely strong pop song. But right after that, things go downhill. "Heads will Roll" tries to keep the party going, but it just doesn't work. "Soft Shock" is even worse and begins to approach irritating territory. By the time I'm listening to "Runaway" I've been so bored that it's hard to notice that this is a pretty song. Closer "Little Shadow" would be a nice bring down if the rest of the album had some life in it. Instead, it just feels like the final disappointment.

Black Lips: 200MillionThousand

It seems like their last album Good Bad Not Evil just came out. But of course that's not true. I just bought it recently, that's all. But it does seem like the tour to promote it never ended, and that may be true. Whatever the reason, 200MillionThousand seems almost unnecessary. Not that it is. It's actually better than their last album in places, and definitely doesn't sound like a retread. But if you had asked me who I wanted a new album from in 2009, The Black Lips wouldn't be on my list.

I probably wouldn't even be mentioning all of this, but this album is too fucking long by at least 10 minutes. Their last two albums were under 40 minutes, so why the hell is this one 50? Sure, 3 of it is silence for the hidden track (and why the fuck is any band including hidden tracks in 2009? Do they pull this crap on every album?), but that just adds to the frustration. It's also not hard to find the tracks that are worth cutting. "I'll Be With You" just sounds unnecessary when the band already has "Dirty Hands", and about half the songs on the 2nd half are pretty forgettable. At least I've forgotten them while writing this review.

All that aside, the album has its strong moments, and shows a lot of promise. Opener "Take My Heart" is a nice dirty rocker, and "Starting Over" is a pretty little song. "Big Black Baby Jesus of Today" is one of their harder rocking songs. Really, the album's best moment is it's official final track "I Saw God". The song opens with inaudible narration that actually gets bleeped out towards the end. This jarring gimmick might frustrate and irritate a lot of listeners, but I think it works. Otherwise, you wouldn't notice that he's cussing, and it adds a certain element of sonic terrorism that makes the song more dangerous. When the final build kicks in, you're definitely paying attention, and that makes it all the more powerful.

But it's the actual final track that highlights my problem with this album. Where "I Saw God" was a thoughtful restrained song, "Meltdown" sounds like something that was crapped out in one jam session with little to no thought put into the lyrics...which is fine. But I would expect a song like that to rock a little harder. In fact, I wish just about every song on here rocked a little bit harder. The Black Lips definitely have no shortage of catchy hooks. What they seem to lack is the ability to translate those hooks into energy in the studio. Live, they definitely know how to make their songs roar. Which is maybe where these songs should have stayed.

March 27-29: Akron/Family

And I'm back. I guess. I really don't have the discipline to keep a blog. Or interesting enough thoughts. But I went to another concert, so here I am.

Being the super fan that I am, I went to all three Akron/Family shows last weekend. The first was at The New Museum in Manhattan, and the 2nd two were at Union Pool in Brooklyn. Openers were Lexie Mountain Boys (who actually had to play after Akron/Family Friday due to traffic troubles), Golden Sparkle Band and Larkin Grimm.

I guess I'll cover the openers first:

Lexie Mountain Boys: I think I would have liked them less if they were the opener. They only played for about 10 minutes after Akron/Family had finished, and that's probably as much as I can take. LMB are an all female group that sings and doesn't play any instruments. They have interesting outfits. Their "songs" are really just a lot of chanting and yelling. It's somewhat entertaining, but to be honest, it looks like some Williamsburg hipster performance art piece more than an actual band that tours, which is what they are. I saw them back up Akron/Family in 2006 at what I considered to be one of the best shows I've ever seen. There, their chanting really helped add something to the music. By itself, I think I would start getting annoyed if it went on much longer than 10 minutes.

Golden Sparkle Band: Jazz group. Piano, guitar, sax/clarinet, trumpet/bass clarinet, drums and standup bass. I really don't know what to say about these guys. I don't listen to much jazz, so it's hard for me to evaluate them fairly. I wouldn't say that I enjoyed them especially, but I wasn't bored or annoyed either. When I do listen to jazz, I tend to prefer the late-career John Coltrane stuff that manages to dance on the border between total chaos and controlled improvization. I wouldn't say these guys managed that. The pieces seemed to have a pretty clear written melody that they would then take detours from. They even had written music with them. When they joined together to play a clear tune, I found myself more involved than I was for the rest of the set.

Larkin Grimm: She continues to impress me. The first two songs which just featured her playing dulcimer and singing were a bit difficult to get into, but once her "band" (a woman on violin and a guy on some Asian instrument I still don't know the name of) joined her, things picked up greatly, and she never lost me. She managed to get the entire audience singing along for the entirety "Ride that Cyclone", and it worked a lot better than I thought it would. The bulk of her set was from her latest album, Parplar, with the exception of the first two songs and another song called "Butcher". Vocal theatrics were even more present than they were the first time I saw her, but instead of being annoying, I found it quite captivating. If you told me that my favorite new musical discovery of 2009 would be a hippie female singer/songwriter with a penchant for high pitched yells, I woudln't believe you. But here we are.

And here's my attempt at a setlist for Larkin Grimm:

Unknown song
Another song I don't know
They Were Wrong
Ride that Cyclone
Parplar
Butcher
Durge
My Justine
Anger in your Liver
Hope for the Hopeless
Mina Minou

And finally. My review of the 3 Akron/Family sets. Here are my rough setlists:

Friday:

Quiet song off the first album that I've never seen them play. I think it might be the hidden track.
River
Unknown new song--Seth sings. Something about objects appearing closer than they are.
Lake Song (with a seperate jam at the end)
Ed is a Portal
Everyone is Guilty
Sun will Shine
Last year

Saturday:

Meek Warrior
River
Lake Song
Raise the Sparks
Ed is a Portal
Everyone is Guilty
Sun will Shine
Last Year
Phenomenon

Sunday:

Meek Warrior
River
unkown song from Friday
Gravelly Mountains of the Moon
Ed is a Portal
Drum machine song that Dana sings
That jam where Miles screams a lot
Everyone is Guilty
Sun will Shine
Last Year
Then they went outside, kept singing Last Year, and then I know you Rider and then Crickets...this went on way too long.

As you can see there was some difference between sets, but not really enough for my tastes. I hadn't heard Sun Will Shine before, and since it was really good, I liked hearing it all three nights. But there were a lot of songs they could have swapped out that I would have liked to have heard. I was surprised to not hear "They Will Appear" which they also didn't play new years, but played at both shows I was at last year (except for NYE of course).

But overall, all three nights were strong sets. New Years Eve, I was very disappointed to see them as a three piece (with backing horns and woodwinds) for most of their set. To me, Akron/Family is a band that needs two guitarists, and ideally 2 drummers and some other people to mix it up. Their brass/woodwind section helps fill out their sound wonderfully, but they tend to stay in the background. The exception was Saturday night when the tenor saxophonist and the alto saxphonist from Golden Sparkle Band joined them for a couple of noisy solos in Lake Song. But I think Seth has really gotten good at looping his guitar at the right times, and using his small keyboard to really fill out the sound.

I still think they were a stronger band when they played with Megafaun, but this was a vast improvement over New Years Eve where I felt their sound was just a bit too empty. I'm once again optimistic about the future of Akron/Family.

So the sets were all great. But I have a complaint with how they ended every one. The segue from "Sun Will Shine" to "Auld Lang Syne" and into "Last Year" was neat. Would have been neater on New Years though. On New Years Eve, I thought "Last Year" was something they had just thrown together before the show for the holiday. Apparently it's on their album and it's their new closer and sing along. That's really a shame because it's just not very good. It's just one line, "Last year was a hard year for such a long time. This year's gonna be ours," and they repeat it over and over. While the silly rap at the end of "Ed is a Portal" and the sing along "Love and Space" managed to get the audience in a joyous mood, this one is just a downer. And I honestly just get annoyed being asked to sing it for 5 goddamn minutes. It doesn't have the spiritual component that made those other closers so successful. Sunday night was the worst where they took it outside where no one could hear them and then added 2 more dull acoustic singalongs.

So yeah. I hope they drop that shit or find a better closer that's actually fun to sing along to. Their sets deserve better.

Friday January 9, 2009 at the Bowery Ballroom: Camper Van Beethoven!

I always experience a bit of worry when going to see a musician or a band that is several decades past their best work. Camper Van Beethoven released an album in 2004, but it kind of felt like a weirder Cracker album, and doesn't hold up to Camper Van Beethoven's best work. But I'd never seen CVB or Cracker (yes, I actually like Cracker), so I decided I would have to give them a chance.

Fortunately, all of my fears were totally groundless. Camper Van Beethoven played a pretty comprehensive set that included favorites from all of their albums. Sure, there were a lot of songs I would have loved to hear that they didn't play (Abundance, Surprise Truck, Sometimes, Jack Ruby, She Divines Water, etc.), but this is almost always the case with bands like CVB that have dozens of great songs. There was very little talking between songs. David Lowery told one not-very-interesting story to introduce one song, and other members of the band mentioned other concerts they were playing. But that was it.

While the band was not especially energetic, the audience was clearly having a blast. I am always reminded of the age of these groups when I arrive and notice that I'm one of the younger members of the audience. Pretty much everyone there looked like a middle aged former hippie. There was some great air guitar, bass and drums played. As much fun as I was having, I just couldn't match the excitement of those around me, and I didn't try.

For me the highlight of the set was "Interstellar Overdrive" which closed out their set. Much less noisy than the original Pink Floyd and CVB versions, it still had some pretty solid guitar playing in the middle. I was also really excited to hear "Circles" played live, but it just wasn't as good without the backwards vocals. There really wasn't a weak moment in the set.

Anyway, NYC taper has a complete set list as well as a recording, so just go over there if you need that stuff. The setlist I picked up as well as NYC Taper has "White Riot" listed, but I definitely didn't hear that played. Maybe it was some unrecognizable version...

Wednesday December 31, 2008: Last show at the Knitting Factory-- Akron/Family, Deerhunger and Dirty Projectors

Dirty Projectors

Deerhoof

Akron/Family



Well those are the only bands that we got to see. There were at least 7 other bands, but we didn't see anything that wasn't on the main stage, and we missed Megafaun because they played at 8:30 and The Knitting Factory didn't open the doors in time for people to get into see them. I'll never understand why clubs do that.

So first up were The Dirty Projectors. I think I may have seen them open for Jarvis Cocker. At least one song sounded familiar. But this was much worse than I remembered hearing at that show. Basically the first two thirds of their set was awful and nearly unbearable. The Dirty Projectors basically seem to be at war with melody and rythm. And that's fine. There are lots of bands that play songs without any followable tune that I love...well maybe just a few. But the way these guys (well 2 guys and 2 girls) did it just grated on me. And the weird vocals would be fine if they merged with the music better, but instead they were way up the mix and super grating. Especially one song that was basically only sung by the lead male singer. But at the end things picked up. The last two or three songs were actually quite good. One was a briskly paced number that showed off some pretty strong guitar playing. And another featured a very noisy freakout at the end. I started their set bored and annoyed, but by the end, I was fine with it.

Then Deerhoof. I like Deerhoof alright. This was the third time I've seen them. The first time, the band got lost on the way to the venue, showed up about an hour late after people had been given refunds and sent home and played a 20 minute set that was actually quite impressive. Since then they've grown up a lot as a band and gained a much larger fan base. And a rowdier one too it seemed last night. For a variety of reasons, I was not in the mood for a lot of pushing, shoving and crowd surfing. So that really put a damper on things for me. And to be honest, I ended up more focused on that than much else. I liked Deerhoof alright. But I've never found much of their music very memorable. I find it hard to come up with anything to dislike about them, but the goodwill I have towards the band doesn't really extend much to their music.

And then the main attraction. To be honest, I felt kind of ripped off. This was my first time to see Akron/Family perform as a three piece, and it was kind of a drag. They were joined by a woodwind section for most of the set, and members of Megafaun came out periodically to add guitar/bass or extra percussion, but they were not featured as members of the band as they had been in the past. Raise the Sparks suffered when Seth's guitarstrap came undone, and there wasn't another guitarist to help pick up the slack. And the sound just wasn't as full as I've been used to at Akron/family shows.

But if the band had been as together as I'm used to, I would have been less disappointed. But their set was about a half hour shorter than the last 3 shows of theirs that I've seen. And to be honest, it was the first Akron/Family show I've seen in years that did not offer me something new and exciting from the band. From any other group, this set would have thrilled me. But coming from these guys (who last fall put on possibly the single best show I have ever seen), it just felt like a giant letdown.

Here's the rough setlist:

Auld Lang Syne
Lake Song
Turn on Your Love Light
New Song
New Song
Crickets
New Song
Raise the Sparks
Ed is a Portal

The new ones aren't that new by now, but I still don't know the titles.

Alles Weideroffen by Einsturzende Neubauten

Well this one wasn't heavily promoted. I didn't realize it existed until I saw it in a CD store. Compared to 2004's magnificent Perpetuum Mobile, this feels like a minor work to me. I'm sure that there are a lot of fans of Einsturzende Neubauten that feel differently. This album funded entirely by the Einsturzende Neubauten fan club, and more importantly the entire recording process was available for fans of the band to witness and comment on. I've read in a couple of reviews about how the band would revisit previously discarded musical paths and discard others based on comments from their fans. I've never heard of a band allowing their fans to contribute so much to the creative process, so I certainly admire it. Unfortunately, the result is an album that just does not come accross as strongly as Einsturzende Neubauten's previous works. While there are no bad songs, there is little on this album to give it the strength of other efforts from this group.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of impressive tracks on here. Opening song "Die Wellen" starts with quiet piano and percussion and then slowly increases in volume until the end. There's no explosion of sound or cathariss. Just one crescendo for a little over three and a half minutes. It works. Not particularly well, but it works. "Weil Weil Weil" and "Lets do it Dada" show off their ability to deliver catchy almost dancable grooves. Both of these songs would be candidates for singles if this band did singles. Einsturzende Neubauten has never been a dance band, and that seems kind of tragic to me with all their rythmic capabilities. When they turn down the volume, the results are a bit more hit and miss. "Nagorny Karabach" is about as unmemorable a track as they have ever written. But "Ichhatteein Wort" is about as pretty as songs come these days.

My biggest moment of disappointment comes at the end of this album. "Ich Warte" was featured on a recent live album the band released, and live, the song is extremely powerful. It starts with a quiet melody and then when the percussion joins in and Blixa Bargeld sings with the full power of voice, the song really carries a lot of energy. But on this album, the song feels almost lifeless. The climax just doesn't have any punch to it. And the song hasn't been substantially altered. I can't figure out what's wrong. Was Blixa feeling sick that day they decided to record? Could they just not figure out how it should sound? I just don't get it.

I can't help but wonder what "Von Wegen" would have been if Einsturzende Neubauten's fans had been left out of the creative process. The song starts quietly enough before building to an orchestral climax. But there's this part in the middle where Blixa sings "Von Wegen" over and over that doesn't fit in at all with the rest of the song. It sounds like something the band decided didn't fit, but fans decided sounded cool and as a result got left in. It does sound cool, but it also just doesn't belong. Then again, I could be completely wrong.

I bought this album when it came out in January. I really haven't listened to it much since then. Listening to it again for this review, that seems like kind of a shame. There's lots of good music on here. But I guess something about it leaves me cold. I admire Einsturzende Neubauten for their tireless experimentation and committment to expanding their creative process. Unfortunately, I just can't get too worked up about the results.

Well shit. According to Allmusic.com, this album came out last October. Well I've come too far not to post this.

The Airing of Greivances by Titus Andronicus is the best album of the year

I started this one a while ago, but for whatever reason I couldn't finish it. I've bought my last new CD of the year (The Orchard by Fire on Fire), and I can say with supreme confidence that no album this year has excited me more than this one. I fell in love with this band within the first ten minutes of hearing them live for the first time. Live, they can be a chaotic sloppy experience, but on this album, they actually manage to reign things in just enough to deliver one of the most effective and compelling rock albums I've heard in a while.

Opening song "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah NJ" basically seals the deal by itself. Opening with Patrick Sickles alone on guitar and vocals sounding as if he has a long hallway between himself and the microphone, the song kicks into gear with a rousing cry of "Fuck you!" and blasts off with about a minute and a half of furious rock music with the second half of the lyrics sung with the full band behind him. Then the music falls back to allow a guitar riff to rive above the wreckage. Eventually the rest of the band joins in again to the end, and they sprint to the end of the song. The only thing I don't like about this track is the barely intelligible spoken word bit at the end, but every other moment is flawless.

And the album is full of similarly great songs. "Joset of Nazareth Blues" sounds like it should be a Mekons song (highest compliment I can give a rock song), Parts 1 and 2 of "No Future" are both spectacular as well. Part 1 is especially interesting, because it's probably the slowest and quietest song on the album. Sure it features plenty of loud guitars like the rest of the tracks, but as fun as that is, the quieter beginning is done so well that I never get impatient for the song to kick into high gear.

Songs like "Arms Against Atrophy" suffer only by comparison to the numerous great rock songs on this album. And that's really the one drag of listening to The Airing of Grievances, the songs I love stand out so strongly from the rest, that 3 of the 9 songs almost feel like filler. But all in all, this is the most exhilarating and exciting rock album I've heard in a long time. Exhilarating because...well duh, I just told you. Exciting because ....well there is also the obvious for this one. But there's also the fact that this album shows so much promise. Titus Andronicus could become any sort of rock band they wanted judging from this album. They could be the rowdy sloppy rock band that I first thought they were. They could be a loud guitar-rock band. Shoe-gaze, punk, country or whatever else they wanted. This album shows promise in so many ways.

But so much of this album is about being young, angry and disillusioned that I wonder if these guys can keep it up as they grow up. If the next 4 Titus Andronicus albums are like this, it'll get really old really fast. But there are 6 of them. Maybe someone else will pitch in on song writing duties. Or maybe Patrick Sickles will continue to amaze us. Whatever it is, I'll want to stick around at least for the sequel.

Tuesday December 17, 2008, Brooklyn Masonic Temple: Walkmen and The Dodos

And it's another pictureless review. Pictures should be back in time for my review of the Akron/Family New Years Eve Spectacular. So for this one, you'll have to find pictures somewhere else.

First, the venue: The show was held at The Brooklyn Masonic Temple which seems like somewhat of an unlikely place for a show. Once inside, it doesn't seem like that much of a stretch. Sure, it's not a regular concert venue, but it looks like it's used as a community/recreation center, so concerts for the Brooklyn hipster community make sense. It's also conveniently located 4 blocks from my apartment. Unfortunately, this didn't mean that I was home shortly after the concert was over. I made the mistake of checking my coat, and despite leaving during the last song to beat the crowds, I was stuck in line for nearly an hour waiting for my coat. So that sucked.

I also missed the first song of The Dodos' set because it took longer than expected to check my coat. Point is, don't check your coat there. But at least I only missed one song of The Dodos set, and I was lucky that it wasn't one of my favorites ("Red and Purple"). The Dodos put on a strong high energy show. The band is a three piece of guitar/vocals, drums/vocals and added percussion/viberaphone (I think). So just by virtue of their interesting instrumentation, The Dodos have an interesting sound.

I already reviewed their album earlier this week, and while I liked it, I wasn't able to form a very strong opinion of it. Fortunately, I had no such difficulty with their live show. Despite being seated, the lead singer/guitar player plays with a lot of energy, and the emphasis on percussion gives the songs lots of kick. His guitar playing is strong enough that it doesn't need accompaniment by another guitar to fill in the empty spaces. There were a couple of non-album songs that were good but didn't live up to the strongest moments on the album. But then again, this was the first time I heard these songs, so it's hard to judge. The set was just about perfect for me. Other than "Paint the Rust", they played all of my favorite songs on the album, and they closed with the track I was most dying to hear ("The Season"). So that was a lot of fun. Approximate set list that is probably about 70% wrong:

Red and Purple
Eyelids
Fools
Joe's Waltz
Unknown song
Unknown song
Jodi
The Season

And up next were The Walkmen. After seeing them last February, I'd pretty much given up on seeing these guys live. I skipped a series of shows they had earlier in the fall, and I probably would have skipped last night's show if not for The Dodos. The Walkmen do not play $20 worth of music live. For a band with 4 albums of original material, there is no reason for them to play just 15 songs. But that's about all you get from these guys. I could maybe understand/excuse if the songs were longer or more exhausting to perform, but for the most part, the band looks pretty relaxed on stage. Which would be fine IF THEY PLAYED LONGER. When I first saw them, I thought they put on an intense show. Those days seem to be over.

I don't really know what else to say. Song by song, they do fine, but I don't really get why they play live. They don't seem to enjoy it that much. I was especially disappointed last night that they left off two easy croud pleasers ("Little House of Savages" and "Thinking of a Dream I Had"), and I generally try not to let my enjoyment of a show be determined by the band's set list. Because, what would you rather hear? Your favorite songs performed poorly as a chore or songs that the band can get truly fired up playing? Some of my favorite shows of all time have even been dominated by songs I'd never heard before. But with The Walkmen, I can't find anything about their shows to make them more than the sum of the songs they play. So on a night like last night when they don't play my favorites, I go home feeling cheated.


Songs they played mostly not in order:

Donde esta la Playa
In the New Year
Louisiana
Red Moon
Four Provinces
New Country
All Hands on the Cook
On the Water
The Rat
They're Winning
Seven Years of Holidays
Red Moon
Canadian Girl
Long Time Ahead of Us
White Christmas
Another One Goes By

Black Mountain: In the Future plus bonus disc/EP

Operation review all albums I bought in 2008 is moving full steam ahead. This one came out in January. Since it's now December, this review seems a bit late. But something should be said about this band and this band.

Specifically: Fuck Black Mountain. Or fuck Stephan McBean. Or fuck their fans. I don't know. I'm being overly harsh, but something about this album kind of pissed me off.

I'm not entirely sure why I hate this album. Black Mountain's debut album was one of my most beloved albums at the time of its release. And I had really enjoyed the first Pink Mountaintops album (another band from lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Stephen McBean). A part of my backlash is the idiocy of having 2 bands for one songwriter. The Pink Mountaintops appear to be just McBean and whoever he can bring along for the ride while Black Mountain seems to have a set lineup with distinct roles for each band member. BUT IT'S STILL THE SAME GODDAMN SONGWRITER FOR BOTH BANDS. HIS SONGS ARE NOT THAT DIFFERENT. Sorry...got a little excited there.

But it's not just the multiple band names that have soured me on Black Mountain. Although I think that does play a major roles in revealing the weaknesses of both projects. While the Pink Mountaintops are unfocused and unpolished, they are also energetic and less predictable than Black Mountain which may benefit from tighter musicianship but can be completely lifeless.

And lifeless is the word that I'd use to describe too much of the music on this album. It opens with enough promise. "Stormy High" is a solid rocker even if repeating the title of the song over and over seems like a pretty weak refrain. And "Angels" is a nice mellow classic rock tune. But then things start to go wrong, and they just get worse as the album progresses. "Tyrants" attempts to be some sort of 70s prog-rock epic, but the final jam feels totally forced and empty. Singer Amber Webber does her best to howl some life into the tune, but it just never comes.

Things seemed to pick up with "Wucan", but that song is still a just a less interesting "Druganaut" which wasn't even my favorite track to begin with. And with "Queens Will Pay", the album delivers another totally lifeless (that's the theme for this review) attempt at a rock epic. The song sounds alright for most of it's duration. The problem is that at the end when they're supposed to be rocking out, it really doesn't feel like it's picked up very much. The climax is a giant let down.

But if you take 9 of the album's 10 songs, I'd still say maybe 4 out of the 9 are keepers. And the track I'm leaving out is 16 minutes long. So it were a keeper, then Black Mountain would be doing pretty well in my book. Well it's not. In fact, the song in question, "Bright Lights" is probably one of the low moments of the album. Which is sad since each of it's sections could have held some promise, but taken as a whole, the song is just a prog-rock mess. It opens with acoustic guitar and moaning vocals from McBean and Webber. I like nonsense lyrics just fine, but they don't work so well when the vocals are put right at the front of the mix. After a few minutes of this nonsense, the rest of the band joins in with a briskly paced stoner groove. This all sounds pleasant enough, but it doesn't really go anywhere until the song fades to pleasant white noise around the 8 minute mark. That gives way to a slow sludgy bass groove that eventually gets joined by electric guitar. Eventuaally, the song reaches its inevitable climax and it's all over.

When I saw Black Mountain late last year before this album was released, they closed with this song. McBean said they had one last "short" song. I guess he thought he was being cute. The whole time I was listening, I kept wondering when it would end. I wish it had been a short song. None of the individual sections are bad, but they never work together coherently, and the middle part just feels like a waste. The other time I saw this group live, McBean was wearing a Grateful Dead T-shirt. After listening to this album, that feels like some kind of joke. His musical influences don't like with the Grateful Dead or any other band famous for jamming. Despite it's long length, there's really no jamming on "Bright Lights" or any of his other tracks. Maybe some noodling, but none of his songs are written to provide room for improvisation and unpredictability.

Black Mountain is a prog-rock band. Maybe that isn't a bad thing, but I've never had a taste for the stuff, and I don't see much fun in reviving the music of the poorest regarded rock music of the 70s. I'm done with these guys.

Saturday December 13 at the Knitting Factory: Oneida Fest 08 with Pterodactyl, Oakley Hall, Parts and Labor and Oneida

There were a lot of other bands, but those are the only ones I saw. Actually saw a little bit of Knyfe Hyts, but I wasn't into it, so we didn't stick around for more than 5 minutes. I didn't go to this show with my girlfriend, so there are no pictures. I'm pretty incompetent with a camera, so if she's not there to take pictures, it doesn't happen. And really at this point, I think I have plenty of pictures of Oneida. Maybe it would have been nice to have a few of Oakley Hall's new lineup, but whatever.

Apparently I was alone in this sentiment, but I was really really irritated that The Knitting Factory didn't have a coat check last night. It was below freezing outside, and everybody there brought a coat. It's kind of hard to dance around and have fun when you have to carry a heavy coat around with you. At least it is for me. Really don't get it. They could have made an easy 200+ dollars if the coat check room had been open. Assholes.

Anyway, I got in right as Pterdactyl started. Walking in, I was amazed at how much the song sounded just like the album. Especially since I'd seen them twice before buying their album and didn't recognize any songs from their live set. Also, they were playing on one of the smaller stages, so you would have expected shittier sound. But it was pretty good. Unfortunately, the stage was pretty small, so I had to get pretty close in order to see. The set included some songs that weren't on the album, but there was plenty for me to recognize this time. They closed with "Esses" and "Polio", the two strongest songs on their album. That's as close as you're going to get to a set list.

Next were Parts and Labor on the main stage. The band was a four piece with a guy playing keyboard/other electronics and singing in the middle, another guy singing and playing bass on one side and a female guitarist who didn't sing on the other end. And of course a drummer...who was actually really good. And holy shit. I just realized I know that girl in the band. Sort of. She's from Austin. Well that's interesting. To me. But I should hurry up and say what I thought of them.

...Which is that I'm not sure. The songs weren't band, but they weren't that great either. There were several interesting moments in the show, but I kind of had a problem with the singers voices. I just didn't like them. Which feels like a shitty reason not to enjoy a band since it's not really their fault. Yeah, not sure if I have anything else to say about that. It was pretty good indie rock that was enjoyable enough, but nothing I feel like I need to hear again. But I could see myself changing my mind about that group...either way.

Next we saw Knyfe Hyts. Well we didn't really see them since we were so far back and the stage was practically nonexistent on the bottom stage. And all we heard was noise. So we left.

Up next was Oakley Hall on the same stage. This time I was smart enough to make sure I had a spot close to the front where I could see. Last time I saw them, all of the members of the band I've known were present for the entire set, except for their drummer who was replaced by STEVE GOULDRING FROM THE MEKONS (sorry, I'm still impressed). This time they had their new regular drummer back with the band. Fred Wallace was also present, but Claudia Mogel wasn't. Instead, they had the woman from Company playing violin and singing, one of the other members of Company playing guitar and two other musicians playing a harmonium and electric piano.

The set focused a lot on newer and quieter material. And while it was nice to see that they're actually playing songs from their new album, mellow mid-tempo country rock wasn't what I was in the mood for. Also, with all of the musicians on stage, there was way too much down time between songs. I left before the last one or two songs because I wanted to get a spot towards the front for Oneida. The set list I remember:

Marine Life
Volume Rambler
Color the Shade
Burry Your Burden
song I don't know
Free Radicals Lament

And then finally. The main attraction. The mighty Oneida. They opened with a cover of Throbbing Gristle's "Discipline" with a guest singer. Bobby played bass, and the whole band was loud. It was pretty cool for about five minutes. It went on for ten. From then on, it was mostly a mix of covers and originals, with the originals sounding better than the covers. The covers were still pretty cool. They played "Hit it and Quit it" by Funkadelic and "She Cracked" by the Modern Lovers. Papa Crazy (also known as Pat Sullivan from Oakley Hall) joined them for "She's Cracked", and it was pretty awesome.

That was all over in about forty minutes. Then came their final jam. It was just tribal drumming and noise. For twenty goddamn minutes. I tend to enjoy Oneida's longer songs on albums, but when they jam live, sometimes the songs can get away from them. I can't really say with this one since it was the first time I'd heard it, but it really never worked for me. And there was no encore or anything after that. Kind of left me disappointed. The set list as I remember it:

Discipline
The River
Hit it and Quit it
Ghost in the Room
She Cracked
I will Haunt You
Final Jam

Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paradiso UFO: Glorify Astrological Martyrdom

This year AMT and the Melting Paradiso UFO has really let me down. The live shows were lackluster compared to the shows last year, and both albums I've bought from this version of the band have been nearly unlistenable. I'll try to get to the other one, but for now, I want to talk about this one.

But before I rip into it, I just want to say what an awesome album cover and title. It's probably one of their best ones ever. I just couldn't resist even though I know perfectly well that about half of their albums are really not worth listening to.

And the music? The album has just three tracks and all three are pretty awful. The opener "Phantom Utopia Or Suicidal Star Warriors" is probably the worst of the three. It barely has any melody or energy. Instead, Kawabata cranks up his guitar as loud as he can and just blasts it for 20 goddamn minutes. The second track, "Cosmic Soul Death Disco" is slightly better in that it actually has a recognizable groove that the track centers around. Unfortunately, the tune just isn't that good, and the guitar playing is as uninspired as it was on the last track. The album mercifully closes with a shorter song "Stargate of the Hell" that is my favorite simply because it's 15 minutes shorter than the next shortest song on the album.

This is the second total turd I've heard from this version of Acid Mothers Temple. And this one is actually just a shittier version than it's predecessor. There have been at least two other albums released by them this year, so maybe there are stronger moments on those. But as far as I can see, Kawabata is doing his best to prove that The Melting Paradiso UFO is out of ideas. This is a shame since he's made so much great music with these guys. Since he's the only member of the MPUFO that isn't in the Cosmic Inferno, the first instinct would be to blame Tsyuama Atushi. But I don't think that's the problem. All Acid Mothers Temple projects are basically Kawabata's band. Rather, I think the problem here is a lack of collaboration. AMT&TMPUFO's string of great 2007 albums came after bringing a new female singer to the group and including saxophonist/flutist Ono Ryoko in their sessions. This album just has the core 4 members of the group. Without his female muses to inspire him, Kawabata Makoto seems completely adrift.

The Dodos: Visiter

Well a lot of people seemed to like this one. It'll probably appear on Pitchforkmedia's best albums of the year list, and maybe a couple others. I guess I get it. These guys manage to deliver a lot of strong and distinct tunes with just one guitar and drums. There are a some guest musicians, but for the most part it's just guitar and drums on this album. But then again, I also get why a friend of mine said he didn't "get it". Visiter could either be a sign of great things to come from these guys, or an interesting and enjoyable first album that will fade as time goes by.

....

So that paragraph was written yesterday, and then I tried to write a 2nd one and couldn't really come up with anything. And this is after deleting an already begun review of this album. I don't know why, but I'm having a hard time thinking of what to say about this album. I like it. I have listened to it a fair amount, and I always enjoy it. The first song "Walking" is a nice little introduction to "Red and Purple" which I like alright, but doesn't quite live up to the promise of it's opening. But then things start to get interesting. "Fools" is an enjoyable frantic song. And "Joe's Waltz" pretty much shows off all of The Dodos' strengths. It opens with a pretty nice haunting melody before taking off, being constantly driven by a bluesy riff and a refrain of "You need help!"

And that's not even halfway through the album. Some of the songs are kind of forgettable. I don't really remember what "Winter" or "God" sounds like. And I remember "It's That Time Again" only because it's pretty short and easy to remember (half of the words are in the title). But there are enough good songs on here that I have trouble picking any solid favorite. "Jodi", "Paint the Rust" and "The Season" are all candidates along with "Joe's Waltz".

But I'm still not sure how I feel about the album as a whole. It's a bit too long given the lack of anything to tie the tracks together. It's about an hour long, and it goes by pretty quickly, but it feels like a bit much for a debut album. But I guess they've probably been playing and writing songs for a while now and decided to put as many out there as they were able to. This is just my speculation...

I'm seeing The Dodos this Tuesday, so I'll probably have a better idea then if the success of this album is a fluke or a sign of great things to come. Still not sure, but after this album, I'm definitely open for more.

Retribution Gospel Choir: S/T

There's a part of me that kind of wants to hate the Retribution Gospel Choir. It's a much less substantial Alan Sparhawk live project compared to The Black Eyed Snakes. In fact, the band is basically Low without Mimi and with a different drummer. And two of the best songs on this album are also Low songs. And I really miss The Black Eyed Snakes, and it doesn't look like they're coming back anytime soon. It also doesn't help that this album just doesn't sound as good as the two Black Eyed Snakes albums or any Low albums.

But that's about as far as my complaints with this album go. Clocking in close to 30 minutes, there is not enough time to find much to complain about here. With the Retribution Gospel Choir, Alan Sparhawk has created his most straightforward rock project to date. As a three piece consisting of guitar, bass and drums, The Retribution Gospel Choir deliver 2-4 minute powerful rock songs. Two of the album's strongest moments are re-worked Low songs. Both "Breaker" and "Take Your Time" fit the rock format better than the more challenging approach of Low's last album Drums and Guns.

But not all of the album's strong moments are re-worked Low songs. "Destroyer" and "Holes in our Heads" are also similarly dark and powerful rock songs. "Holes in our Heads" features some really nice guitar playing at the end, further reminding me why Alan Sparhawk is one of my favorite guitarists of all time.

For the most part, this album sticks to gloomy territory. Most of the songs are about as bleak as the material on the last Low album, but with programmed beats, guitar loops and pianos being replaced by a straight-forward rock set up, the anger and despair of "Breaker" comes through even more strongly here. But it's not all gloom and doom on this album; "Hatchet" (also appropriated from Low) and "Easy Prey" are pleasant upbeat rock songs that don't really do anything new or interesting, but still manage to entertain.

With 30% of the material recycled from the last Low album and only one band member who doesn't play with Low, Retribution Gospel Choir feels more like an Alan Sparhawk solo project than an actual new band. Some of these songs would not work with Low, and I'm glad he cared about them enough to record them and tour with them. And given how well both of his recent side projects have worked, I've started wondering if Low is holding Sparhawk back. I wonder if he'd make better music if he didn't confine himself to the name and the band which doesn't allow him the range that he seems so clearly capable of. But so far he hasn't released a disappointing album, so why should I complain?

Primal Scream: Beautiful Future

I'm back, and this time I won't be leaving. I'm going to try to review all the albums that came out before I started this blog. And at least one more that's coming out before the end of the year. It's a review a day, so we'll see if it actually happens. First up is the new Primal Scream album.

I didn't know anything about this album until I saw a review on Pitchforkmedia. I guess everyone has written them off after their last turd, Riot City Blues. Which is a shame, because while that album generally sucked, it had some fun moments, and Primal Scream have recorded plenty of exciting music to earn the right to release one bad album without being written off.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that Beatiful Future may be shitty album #2 for these guys. I honestly haven't made up my mind, but a lot of the problems that were present on Riot City Blues are present here. This was somewhat unexpected for me since Beautiful Future is sonically much closer to Vanishing Point and Evil Heat than the retro-rock of Riot City Blues. features a return to the electronic music that has given us many of Primal Scream's best moments. But the problems on Riot City Blues went much deeper than their return to retro-rock. Specifically, Primal Scream sound like a band that are running out of ideas. They've reinvented their sound so many times that there really is no way of knowing what the "real" Primal Scream sounds like. Like Riot City Blues, Beautiful Future is a forced shift in style that never sounds genuine and is only intermittently entertaining.

My problems with this album started immediately with the opening title track. "Beautiful Future" ranks up there among the most boring songs Primal Scream has ever done. When I heard that this album featured a return to electronic music, I was hoping for another Vanishing Point, but instead, this song let me know that I was in for something else entirely. For the first time in a long time, Primal Scream sounded upbeat and happy, and I hated it. Things got worse with "Can't Go Back" which is just a straightforward rock song that just makes Primal Scream sound old. They're trying to summon more angst than they really have.

Unfortunately, one of the album's strongest moments can't even be properly credited to Primal Scream. The song "I Love to Hurt (You Love to Be Hurt)" features a collaboration with CSS's Lovefoxxx. I didn't even know who she was until I bought this album. After checking out a few clips on Youtube, I'm pretty convinced I would hate that group if I listened to them anymore. But her seductive voice adds a level of energy and interest to a song that would just feel pathetic if Bobby Gillespe was the only one singing. The song is one of the most heavily electronic pieces on the album, and I have a feeling that it's not too far from irritating the fuck out of me, but whatever ballancing act they pulled off on that song worked. The same can't be said for the rest of the album.

This isn't to say that there aren't other enjoyable moments here. The soulful chorus backing the group on "Zombie Man" manages to make that a rather fun song. "Suicide Bomb" also works as a strong mid-temp rock song. But too many of the songs on here are literally forgettable (there are at least two songs that I simply can't recall what they sound like), and too many of the rest are just not very interesting. Even when the album works, it's the sound of a band with no idea what it wants to say or how it wants to say it.