BigYawn

I don’t doubt that there will be many shows that require me dragging my ass out, screaming or otherwise. Last night was really the first tough one for me. But, I do need to take advantage of the opportunities, a show is a show after all, right? And, last night ended up a pleasant surprise.

Sean Walsh and the National Reserve(10) were a pretty professional opening band. The Twang rockers from Brooklyn played a solid set of mostly upbeat numbers, nothing overly interesting or depressing. There was certainly some solid song-writing, and the steel guitar was an added bonus, played by the self described “Chinese Willy Nelson.” You don’t see a lot of Asian men with braided hair. Is it bad that is the most memorable part for me?

Tereu Tereu(11) were a known commodity for me, in that I have meaning to catch them for some time. I liked what I had heard on their Myspace page, and had corresponded with them over various potential shows in the past. After finally seeing them play, I was a little surprised by how different they sounded live. A lot of the harmonies I expected to hear weren’t there. The backstage at the Black Cat is not known for having the greatest sound system, but they have improved it over the years. The vocals were lost in a sea of noise, which actually seemed like a positive thing. I know that sounds like a negative, but the better songs I heard last night were actually the loudest one, where the band truely rocked; no vocals you could make out, no shrill of horns to be heard, just full on noise. Maybe Tereu Tereu is on to something here.

I understand they just recorded a new album. Since what I had heard before and what others have told me sounds so different from the sound I heard last night, I can only assume it will be quite the ear-splitting piece. Something I should pick up.

I was also surprised by Pree(12), in a very good way. Having heard May Tabol sing before, I wasn’t sure how her voice and singing style — which I’ve seen very acurately compared to Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse — would fit as the lead vocals of a full band. But, I also didn’t consider the fact that she was the main songwriter here. The songs are perfectly crafted for her voice and her style. In fact, Pree’s almost folk like qualities seem like a natural extension of Talbot’s vocals. Slightly herky-jerky, just a litte bit different. The band is made of some interesting backing muscians, including guitarist David Barker, who has played loudly with locals the Third Programme and Cobra Collective. I mention him because this is a very odd place for someone who has come from the bands he has. Absolutely no rocking going on last night. Added to the mix is former(?) Ash Lovely singer Vanessa Degrassi and drummer/co-singer Chris Dewitt.

Pree was good, they impressed me far more than I thought I would have been. Their debut record is coming out in March on Kora Records, and I strongly urge you to check it out. And check them out, whenever they next play locally.

The first real week of releases contained a number of bigger indie acts. But many hold a common theme for me, and that is one of a big fat Hunh? Here are last week’s eight noticeable releases:

The leader in the “I don’t quite get it” push of releases this week, Animal Collective have never endeared themselves to me, as I’ve never quite understood what others see in them. It is simply too random, there is no order. Perhaps it is my need for pop formulas, but despite the moniker of the avant-garde Beach Boys, to me, there just isn’t much to latch on to. Merriweather Post Pavilion is by far the band’s most accessible release, but that does not a great album make. Proceed with caution

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Andrew Bird - Noble Beast

On the flip side of Animal Collective’s coin sonically, is Andrew Bird. The violinist writes music with a great deal of structure, quite beautiful in fact. But the hooks aren’t there, and to me it ends up a bit flat. There are interesting moments throughout, “Not a Robot, but a Ghost” comes to mind, blending what seems like a full orchestra in bits and pieces throughout. And “Anonanimal” is a great song, but in the end, while I would never say Bird’s music is generally difficult to understand, I would say it is difficult to outright love.

If i can charge Bird with occasionally being flat, i can accuse Antony Hegarty of being in rigor mortise. His voice is certainly unique, but the fact it never breaks or cracks from any emotional angle gets old fast. And the vibrato just simply kills me. I have heard Antony handle accompaniment well, both with Bjork and as part of Hercules and the Love Affair. But as a solo artist along with his band, he really ends up more an art house bewilderment than anything else. And this album cover is just atrocious.

Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light

AC Newman - Get Guilty

It is often hard to differentiate a band from their lead singer. So while Dan Bejar’s solo project Destroyer sounds little like the New Pornographers, AC “Don’t call me Carl” Newman sure does. But that is absolutely not a bad thing. Insanely catchy, Get Guilty wonderfully balances off the mess of oddities that otherwise hold up the pants for this week. I know I lean hard towards the pop, but it is really hard not to appreciate Newman as a songwriter, whether alone or with his band.

An interesting release because this seems like a legitimate step forward for Justin Vernon. Only four songs long, this EP builds off of his debut For Emma, Forever Ago in a very good way. And the Kanye West Auto-Tune attempt with “Woods” is worth the price of admission alone. Way more mainstream approved then I ever thought he would be.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank EP

Matt and Kim - Grand

As dance rock has found its way into the homes of anyone with a Cut Copy CD, more and more bands crop up looking to throw their hat into the ring. Matt and Kim cleaned up their act after the bombastic self-titled debut, and have crafted a record of very catchy and very — of course — energetic songs. The question is whether or not you’ll remember this album after we hear 30 more albums like it this year. I’m willing to say yes, but only because they take the Mates of State approach and really do a lot with a little in terms of instrumentation.

Jason Schwartzman’s solo project. Pretty bland from the actor/ex-Phantom Planet drummer. But to be honest, if i was him I would have left the band too. At least he’s got a decent voice. A number of celebrities/wanna be musicians helped him out with this, which only makes it that more deplorable.

Coconut Records - Davy

Psychic Ills - Mirror Eye

I feel like I should be more interested in this psychedelic stuff, but, like a number of the bands above, I can’t force myself to like a band just because. And to be fair this album all sounds the same to me, too droney, too level. Of course, some of you may disagree.

One of Revival’s(8) songs started with a line about friends being just as easy to find as enemies, or something like that. I don’t know the name of the song, but it was pretty apt for the night. You just never know who you’ll run into at these shows. And you can’t ignore everyone.

I was going to start this post by complaining about how the show started late, but there was virtually no time between sets, so that sped things up substantially. And I can’t bitch about everything. DAM! Festival alum Vandaveer(6) started at 10pm sharp, which was a little late for someone who had been out and about all Inauguration weekend long. Is it ok if I never use that word again? I’ll say this about Mark Charles Heidinger — more or less the one man show behind Vandaveer (along with Rose, his accompanying harmony) — for a singer-songwriter, his voice carries a lot of weight. I am ashamed to say I had not seen Vandaveer live before, and this was way more than a pleasant experience. His short set was highlighted by mostly mellow pieces, and that seemed to be a theme all night long.

BigYawn Presents alum (waaaay back at the ‘04 Artomatic) Brandon Butler(7) wasn’t just mellow, he also pulled out the serious twang. Playing as a three piece, he hit on what seemed to be mostly new material, but I haven’t seem him live in 4 years, and his songs seemed far less country then. I have to say, he really reached back to an almost bluegrass feel on a couple songs, and those really stood out to me. And for a scary looking dude he does have a hell of a voice.

Though I was ashamed to not have seen Vandaveer play live before, I was really ashamed to have never seen Revival play out. Their shows have obtained legendary local status as lead singer Josh Read is often drunk before they even take the stage, which often leads to various on-stage disasters — or so I have heard. Wives tails though they may have been, this was a band I’ve been wanting to catch for awhile.

I have to say, I was impressed but not over-whelmed. In truth, these bands were all playing in the back of a restaurant surrounded by ping pong tables. Not the ideal venue. But the sound was damn good considering. Horses of War is a mellow album, but it had a lot more grit to it than was heard tuesday night. According to some long time fans at the show, this particular band line-up was rather different than shows past. I get the sense that Revival — along with pretty much any band in the whole Federal Reserve collective, as they are called — swap out players like Friday night at a cheap jazz club. The highlight for me was hearing “Fog Rolling In” live.

And then the totally out of place Federico Aubele(9) took the stage. I take that back, he wasn’t completely out of place, because there were a hell of a lot of great musicians there on Tuesday. But Federico took the cake. A short distance from the sounds of his debut CD from ‘04, hearing Aubele without the aid of a tropical soundscape or any backbeat was different, yet just a cool. The man is a very talented finger picker, and his almost flameco styled songs clearly get the ladies all wet. There were a couple of fans — clearly there only for him — who were practically drooling, even after they found out his wife was in the room. Well, she let everyone know she was there. But if I was her I’d have done the same thing. That fro, man, hard to ignore.

While I’m glad I stayed out till 2 am to see all the acts, I would have loved to have seen a tad more energy. From somebody. Anybody. Maybe they were all as tired as me, but I hung in there for all 4 acts and I know most of the performers did not. And while I was psyched to have finally seen Revival, I look forward to them playing another show where I can see if they really can live up to even a portion of their reputation. In the meantime, do check out their ‘07 album, Horses of  War, below.

We lost one of the few remaining reasons to own a radio last week, as Los Angeles based Indie 103.1 went the way of the dinosaur. In true scumbag form, the station’s owners switched the programming to Spanish language content in the middle of the day without any warning, and the station is now known as El Gato 103. Sound familiar DC? Of course it does, because the exact same thing happened to 99.1 WHFS in 2005. Of course, HFS sucked by the time it was taken off the air. And rumor has it Indie 103 was slipping a bit as well, playing Soundgarden a little too much apparently. Indie 103 will be making a move to the web, minus their DJ’s though, so not sure what the point of a well stocked ipod is. I already own one of those.

I won’t take this opportunity to rant on terrestrial radio, anyone who knows me knows my feelings on the subject. While I love listening to WOXY and other stations on the web, until car stereos are able to pick up internet stations (I know the technology is out there, but until it is an everyday occurrence) with accuracy, I just don’t see web-only stations really catching on. And certainly not this one, as its DJ’s really made it what it was, especially the celebs like Henry Rollins and Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols. Without them, this one’s over.

On a weekend full of inaugural shows everywhere you look, it was rare to find a club show that had no other inspirations but being a club show. Which made me happy to see that Longwave(5) was in DC, and playing at DC9 at that. I’m thinking all the other venues were full, and really who could gauge what a crowd might look like on a weekend like this?

The decent crowd that did show up were not there for opening band the Shackletons(3). Which is kind of a shame. I had never heard of these guys either, which is weak considering they are getting press from places like Spin magazine and buzz in many other areas of the net. SXSW, Bumbershoot, not bad, not bad at all. And honestly, these guys deserve some of the hype.

I hesitate to call any guy I saw play once enigmatic, but frontman Mark Redding fits the bill. A more distanced everyman than Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn, the two’s singing styles are comparable, though the song structures and lyrics are not. Anyone who has described Finn as a singer who wears his heart on his sleeve hasn’t seen Redding play. The bands bombastic yet melodic style of indie rock does a good job of keeping true to Redding lyrics and mood. I only caught 4+ songs, but I saw enough to be impressed.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for locals the Jackfields(4). Apparently, their drummer just never showed, which is never a good start to a show in which you’re opening for a national act. They had waaay too many instruments set up, and took too long getting all three acoustic guitars, various pedal boards and an interesting Yamaha piano line checked. Their set started with three solo numbers from frontman Mike Reina (pictured right), none of which were all that impressive. And then the rest of the band, sans drummer, played a couple more before getting cut off. I’ll give them some slack for being thrown a monkey-wrench, but they gotta pull it together cause shit like that happens all the time.

I was wondering how they even got on this bill, as their brand of Americana does not fit with Longwave’s sound, but I noticed that Boris Skalsky, late of Phaser and current of Dead Heart Bloom was playing keys and providing some vocals (for the two songs he got to play on). Phaser and Longwave played together back in the day so it all makes sense. But how Boris hasn’t raised the bar on the Jackfields, I have no idea. As an aside, here is my long and rambling interview with Boris’ brother Siayko (also of Phaser) from 2004. Give me some slack, it was my first interview ever.

DAM! Festival alums Longwave however, did not disappoint. Playing old songs as well as a lot off their new album, the band did a great job playing to the size of DC9, which is generally smaller than the venues they usually play. The DC9 sound system had a hard time handling the fuzz of the guitars along with the vocals, so from time to time you couldn’t follow along, but that isn’t so rare with Longwave; they are a loud band live, always have been.

I have to admit, I slept on Longwave’s 2008 album Secrets Are Sinister, so it did not make our Top 50 of 2008 (see post later this week), but it very well should have. I have a hard time understanding how a band so loaded with soaring melodies and crashing crescendos misses the attention of so many. At one point lead singer Steve Schlitz called 2005’s There’s a Fire, “the album that died… quickly.” While that album didn’t help, neither did the long hiatus that followed. All that being said, this might be the best chance the band has had to make good on their talents. Secrets Are Sinister is an impressive album, and if the band keeps touring and kicking out performances like it did last night, 2009 could be a hell of year for them. You can see them next in DC opening up for Bloc Party in March. Listen to Secrets Are Sinister below, “Life is Wrong,” “Sirens in the Deep Sea” and “Shining Hours” are stand outs.

Inauguration Weekend in DC. That means lots of people, lots of traffic and an enormous amount of musical acts playing all over town. I’m pretty sure neither of Bush’s inaugurations were like this. DCist has done a wonderful job of wrapping up all of your musical possibilities in one place. Though, most of these require you to either be in the know or have purchased a ticket already. I have to say I am not totally sold on this partying till you drop over Obama thing. I mean, I voted for the guy and I’m excited about his taking office, but there is just too much going on in my fair city to fully keep your whits about you. Is this what NYC’ers feel like at CMJ? At least their options are better.

But, the Tuesday FREE show at Comet Ping Pong with Federico Aubele, Vandaveer, Revival and Brendon Butler seems like an absolute sure thing. And if I really thought about, dancing to Moby DJ at the 9:30 Club all night on Sunday would have been pretty damn fun too.

Other randomness

-Tickets for Bloc Party’s just announced spring tour are on sale today, they are at the 9:30 Club on March 22.

-Does anyone else have this song stuck in their head? Are you as embarrassed as me about it?

-And this may be the funniest commercial I have ever seen about condoms or anything else.

333 different bands over the course of the next 12 months. Roughly 2 shows a week. Duplicates don’t count. I have to see at least 3 songs for it to get tallied. Those are the ground rules.

Show #1 was a lark. Co-worker of a friend sort of thing. In thinking about this daunting task ahead of me, at some point you just need numbers, it doesn’t matter who the band is. And so it began.

The Black and Tan Fantasy Band(1) were playing weekly gigs at the 18th St. Lounge until recently, and their sound totally fits that scene. A three-piece, minus a few songs with a guest MC freestyling, their funky, tropical improv could easily cover a three set performance at the Lounge. Apparently the band is often joined by other musicians, including a full brass section. Too bad I missed that. I generally am not a fan of this type of music, especially when I have to stand up to hear it, but they were pretty solid musicans, that much I can respect. And bassist Ashish Vyas was insanely good. He’s a touring member of Thievery Corporation, so you’d expect him to be good. Also explains the 18th St. Lounge connection. It could have been much, much worse, which leads me to…

Played Tomorrow(2) were a pretty typical jam band. Jam is a term I use regularly, but whose definition I know is a very relative thing. We won’t all agree on it, but let’s just say for me, “jam” is synonymous with “I hate this hippe shit.” I’ll give Played Tomorrow some credit, there were a few songs which almost sounded more post-rock than jam. Almost. I was with a couple musicians, who really thought the music was “tight” — another word who’s musical definition is highly dependent on who you are and still slightly unclear to me. I would agree with that description, but that doesn’t change my overall feelings on the music.

So, I wasn’t all that thrilled with show #1. Ironic that it ended up being a fairly jammy-jam type of evening, given my distaste for the genre. Black and Tan Fantasy Band were alright, but Played Tomorrow was simply not my thing. But that’s not to say you wouldn’t like them. You fucking hippie.

So, 80s pop is a bit of an obsession of mine, thanks to Casey Kasem, that devil. Perhaps my favorite song in the whole wild world comes from this era: “Your Love” by the Outfield. The misconception is that the Outfield were a one-hit wonder. Hardly. A quick examination of Big Innings: The Best of the Outfield disproves that theory (pay particular attention to “All the Love,” “Say it isn’t So” and “Since You’ve Been Gone.” But even I can’t argue “Your Love” is their biggest hit.

The guitar intro is unforgettable, the first verse, “Josie’s on a vacation far away…”, that’s some powerful stuff right there. To me, that is more powerful than the opening of the “Star Spangled Banner.” It is a perfect, 3:36 pop song. Which is about as long as a pop song should be. It is also not over-played at 80’s nights. Sure, it gets played, but not quite too much. When you hear it, you always get excited, right? Don’t argue with me, I know my 80’s pop.

There has been rash of attempts to cover this song lately, from artists as varied as Katy Perry to Bon Iver. I can’t say I hate any of the versions, but they are a little… special? Listen for yourself, and take the opportunity to hear the magic of the original one more time. As lovable and simple a song as it is, I am always haunted by the question, where exactly did Josie go on vacation anyway?

Your Love - Bon Iver

Five years and counting on this wild ride, and somehow I am back to the beginning. I started BigYawn in January 2004 with the intent of just having a blog to talk about music with the five or six friends who might actually read it. It ended up becoming a sizable venture with nearly 50 writers from all over the world contributing CD reviews, interviews and features. Good people, (almost) all of them.

But in the end, it was too much. Mailing CDs to 3 continents got tiresome. Let the Pitchfork’s of the world do their thing, I’d rather just write. No schedules, no pressure, just writing about what I’m passionate about. Music, obviously, but you might find posts on anything from general pop culture to my vacations to cryptozoology to Charles Dickens. But mostly music, new and old.

As I write this initial post, i am realizing just how pretentious this all is. As if anyone cares enough to read this slop. Aren’t blogs dead anyway?

Asshole…