BigYawn

The last time I was at the 9:30 Club and the stage was as far out as it was for this show, Hope of the States were playing a late show on a Friday night for $10. You are forgiven if you do not know who Hope of the States were — they broke up — as only 20 people were there to actually see the show, and I don’t know if the band ever came back to DC. I thought $20 was a little too much for this show, and seeing the stage practically at the sound booth confirmed my thoughts.

School of Seven Bells(27) sound good on paper. Two rocking twins from On!Air!Library!, one prog guitar dude from Secret Machines. You’d expect some serious spacey rock full of harmonies and extended crunchy guitar segways. And you get some serious spacey rock full of harmonies and extended crunchy guitar segways, but a bad version of that, for 35 minutes. Forgive me for not having heard their debut album, out last year, more than once, but for all I know, they play the same song for 12 tracks because it sounded like their whole arsenal was that one song on repeat. It all sounded the same to me, the twins vocals buried behind the sounds of two guitars, a synth and a drum machine. Which doesn’t sound like much, but it all bled together quite a bit.

I don’t like trashing a band — ok, sometimes I do — and I really wanted to like this band. But I just couldn’t get past the sameness of everything I was hearing. Rock and Roll twins are funny creatures, and the Deheza girls are no different. They kinda creeped me out a bit, and this is coming from a guy who dated a rock and roll twin. But even their sorta creepiness wasn’t enough to make their performance memorable.

So, I know some of you out there are big Fujiya and Miyagi(28) fans. I’m not, but was willing to give them a try. They will likely not get a second chance with me. Again, the repetition was over-bearing. Between the two bands I felt like I heard a total of three or four songs, played over and over and over. What made it worse was that at least three songs from F+M actually used their band name as a repetitive lyric over and over again. I mean, really? I’ll admit these guys have an interesting band name, but is it really worth singing over and over again that much? Songs like “Uh” and “Knickerbocker,” both off last year’s Lightbulbs, do not help classify the band as lyrical geniuses either. When your chorus is “You make me go Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh…” and you are not Justin Timberlake, there is room for improvement. And speaking of vocals…

Lead singer David Best sings in a voice that can best be described as a loud whisper, never quite fully hitting any notes, always sounding out of breath. For a song or two it sounds unique, but that goes away on song three. And by the end of the set, I just wanted to scream to the guy to please take a deep breath, cause I was suffering from oxygen loss for him.

It is unfortunate, but for me, the best part of the show was the very cool dice art being projected behind the band. I wasn’t impressed with anything I heard all night. You can tell by my many uses of “over and over…” and various plays on “repetition” how I really felt about the show. Luckily for the bands, there ended up being a few hundred folks there when all was said and done. The fact that I could stand close enough to feel the band’s sweat, buy a drink and take a piss all within a 5 foot radius was mitigated by the many people I had to walk around to make those things happen.

Let’s get this over with quickly. MHR(24), or MoonHostageRebellion were a Vienna,VA based band of what appeared to be guys barely out of high school, if that. I speak of them in the past tense because apparently this show was their last, at least according to their Myspace page. Too bad, cause for a bunch of kids their music was pretty damn good. And front man/vocalist Justin Wilder has some talent, and a good rock-band ready voice. I’m pretty sure his family jewels dropped already.

Nico Vega(25) were neither young or good. Comparisons I had heard to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were based only on what the band wants to be, not on their sound or their talent. They try way too hard to be something, and that something ends up being a very transparent trio of wannabe rock stars. It doesn’t help they had a small but rabid group of fans at Jammin Java drooling over their every attempt at good music. I say this to all musicians, know your crowd. 40 people at a glorified coffee shop does not make for the environment to writhe on the floor for 4 minutes of fuzzy guitar as if you are having an orgasm. I hope we can consider this lesson learned?

Now if I could ask Jason Stollsteimer (Jason Von Bondie, remember when they called themselves that? Aren’t drugs fun?) any question in the world — other than Marcie Bolan’s digits — it would be, why oh why are the Von Bondies(26) playing Jammin Java twice in two years? Logic says they shouldn’t be there at all, but I’m willing to let one momentary lapse of judgment by some assistant booking agent slide. But twice? Clearly the Von Bondies would draw a better audience in DC, as they are clearly a city band and not a strip mall band. They seemed to take it all in stride though, even as they played to a slightly smaller crowd than the opening band of high schoolers did.

What the fuck happened to these guys? I’ve heard their new album and it is pretty damn good. Pawn Shoppe Heart blew me away when it came out years ago, and it got a good — if slightly mistyped — review from us. Whatever happened in between these two albums didn’t seem to shake Jason’s song-writing skills, or his killer voice. So why does no one care? I mean sure, there was some turn over, two new chicks have replaced the aforementioned Marcie and whoever the other girl was. And true, that sucks, cause yeah, Marcie was awesome. But rock star crushes aside, I’m not sure anyone would notice the difference. “C’mon C’Mon” kicked just as much ass live last night as it did in 2004. New single “Pale Bride” was also impressive. These guys got their shit together, so why is no one listening?

I don’t have the answer to that question, but I hope Jason and co. do, because this is a Hell of a rock band to see live. They were inasanely loud last night, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Old songs and new songs both sounded tight and on point. The Von Bondies seriously shook off the dust covering them in my mind and proved to the band they once were. Minus Marcie of course…

Listen to Pawn Shoppe Heart and Love, Hate and Then Theres You below:

Yeah, I could have seen this show in DC, at the Sixth and I Synagogue, but I’m much happier I did not. When I saw an opportunity to catch Lykke Li(23) while on vacation in Seattle — at the Showbox (at the market) no less — I was very excited. And, so were the many fans there. This was not a DC crowd — sorry DC — these folks yelled, screamed and danced the whole night, even for Wildbirds and Peacedrums(22). This married duo, pictured to the right, are some sort of blue/folk mash up. I say this with a bit of uncertain because I really don’t know how to describe them, other than saying I really didn’t like them much.

It is a tale told hundreds of times over, headlining act brings along a new band, often someone they are friends with, maybe even someone they worked with earlier in their career. Such is the case on this tour, with Lykke Li taking along Wildbirds and Peacedrums on her national tour. Whatever their connection, I can’t say Lykke’s confidence in them, or the blogger buzz surrounding these guys was enough to really get me to enjoy them. He played the drums — which were too heavy in the mix — and she played a variety of instruments I don’t have names for, along with the occasional snare drum or tambourine. It was just too unfocused, I kept feeling like they were playing out of sync with each other, maybe even playing different songs. Very different from their tour mate.

Youth Novels did not impress me on first or second listen last year when it came out, and I incorrectly labeled Lyyke as a Swedish sort of Kimya Dawson, albeit with a much better voice. I’ll admit it when I’m wrong, and in this instance I couldn’t have been more incorrect. Hearing her live has changed my feelings dramatically. The danceable tracks I heard on Saturday just didn’t seem that way on record, at least not to my ears; Ears which need to be checked, I admit. The crowd’s surprising over the top enthusiasm was totally warranted here. Lykke tore it up from the start, playing tracks up and down Youth Novels, turning even the quieter ones into gang-busters. She’s got an impressive stage presence I’ll tell you that. The highlight for me was her version of Kleerup’s “Until We Bleed” which Lykke added her voice for (and wrote, according to her). Love the song, and I thought it was funny that she introduced it as a new one, since it has been around for nearly a year, but let’s face it, Kleerup isn’t on a lot of folks radar right now, tsk tsk. It started as a lite folky number, with the full band going acoustic, but quickly broke into a full on, syn-thy, beat-laden version. Very very cool.

Much like the show in general, the crowd in Seattle really surprised me. One because it was very gay-oriented, didn’t know Lyyke drew that sort of crowd, but two because the energy in the place was insane, way more than anything I’ve seen at a DC show in a long, long time. And the Showbox itself was a fantastic venue. Very happy in my decision to go there. I knew that I would occasionally stumble on an act whose live performance makes me re-think their music, this is the first real case of that. Youth Novels suddenly became a much, much better album, and its author proved to be a much bigger talent that I originally thought.

This was apparently the Sugarplums(19) first show, ever. I wouldn’t have guessed it, but it doesn’t surprise me either. For about 30 minutes — the theme for the night — the duo played a fuzzy Beach Boys styled brand of pop, opening with, of all things, the theme from Scooby-Doo. They mentioned they were going to have a split 7″ with a Swedish band called the Garlands, who also happen to be a duo playing similarly sounding songs. In fact, Swedish pop is a very good comparison to the type of music these two played. Acid House Kings, the Legends, I could really see Labrador Records giving these guys a call. Not bad for a first show.

They also covered a Ride song for shits and giggles, but I don’t know which one. A good musical stretch for them, and, as you’d expect, a lot louder. A great opening band for this show.

I had liked the Depreciation Guild(20) from afar for some time, but hadn’t gotten to see them live yet. They are an interesting band both musically and in their business model. They give their albums away digitally, but later sell singles and even the full records on vinyl. This is an interesting approach that they are not alone in trying, but it got me thinking about how a label could sustain itself with this approach. Giving music away digitally, or like Radiohead, asking folks to pay what they want, could work, but I’d be curious to see the stats on their downloads.

At any rate, the Depreciation Guilds‘ set was pretty good, though tragically haunted by the sound limitations inherent in the Black Cat’s backstage set up. They are a loud band, and vocals become almost transparent in that room in general. Add soaring guitars and forget it. But the vocals were turned up so high that they sort of became a tingy mess. That aside, their set, along with the accompanying projections(see above), was the perfect bookend to the Sugarplums pop, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart(21) fit perfectly between.

The self-titled debut LP from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart just came out, and I like it a lot. But it doesn’t really compare to seeing the band perform live. Take a song like “This Love is Fucking Right,” which is a stand out on the album. Played live it is far fuzzier and way more jangly. The hooks hurt, it was that good. In some instances the band was a little too loud, but who knew that in other cases, they just needed to turn it up and speed the song up a tad, to turn recorded bliss into live rock greatness?

The band kicked out a 3o minute set in what seemed like moments, playing songs mostly off their debut, as well as “Kurt Cobain’s Sweater,” and an older song for their encore. I was sad to see it go so quickly, their energy and pop harmonies were very catchy, and I was jumping around, which does not happen often at concerts. The female vocalist — named Peggy apparently — seemed a little too asleep at the wheel at times, but not having an instrument to play can certainly do that. She really does need to cut those bangs though. The pic above doesn’t do them justice.

So yes, this was the best show I’ve seen so far this year. I was quite happy with all the bands, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were flat out great. I’m looking forward to seeing them in a bigger room sometime soon. Listen to their new album below.

The guy at the left here? Yeah, he is the lead singer of Within the Lich Gate(16). And that hand thing he is doing (wish I could find a bigger pic), yeah that almost sums up everything there is to say about their set from Sunday night. Almost. Added to that is the eternal question of why local bands can’t set up, much less show up, on time. Really guys? I humbly admit to the fact that metal is generally not my thing, particularly the grwwl type allegedly perpetrated by Within the Lich Gate. But, these guys weren’t good. I won’t comment any more on the music, but they need to notch up their professionalism a tad. And the lead singer needs to stop taking his shirt off.

No one in Drugs of Faith(17) took their shirts off, which is ok, though they do have a female bass player. Sort of rare in the metal world — Coal Chamber comes to mind as an exception, however it is I remember that band — females on bass is a very accepted happening in indie rock circles. As you can sort of tell by the picture on the right, it is a pretty sick and demented looking bass too. But she, Taryn, seemed really nice. Apparently, her co-workers were there. I wonder what they thought?

Drugs of Faith faced their own delayed set, with a slowly set up drum kit and a broken bass-string to muck things up. But they weren’t bad. Very buzz-saw like, quick and to the point. There were stark differences in song structure and professionalism compared to Within the Lich Gate. Largely evident when singer Richard cut their set short due to the delays. Respect Richard, respect.

I will say this to the Velvet Lounge, four bands on a Sunday night are bad enough, but starting at 9:30 — assuming the local bands actually have their shit together — is truly bad news. But worst of all, is not regulating the sets. If you’re late, or take too long to get set-up, your set should suffer time-wise, bottom line. And really, do you even need to mic a drum kit at the Velvet Lounge? Much less fully test each drummer’s kit from snare on up? WTF?

And then there was Tombs(18). I used to hear the joke that you could always spot a NY band on a bill because they would set up and break down faster than anyone else cause they are used to playing on large bills and not having a whole lot of time. This was very true with Tombs. They were up and ready to go in no time, and then for 35 minutes or so, they ripped the Hell out of it, not stopping once for applause, or for a breath. Well, there was a slight break where someone’s effect pedal was whizzing, and the drummer was practicing some yoga breathing, but that’s it. As mentioned above, not a metal head in any capacity, but it was hard not to see that these guys are an incredible band in their genre. Lead singer Mike Hill could actually sing with his grrwl, and all three flat out kill on their instruments, whatever that means. I would have liked it even more if the dreaded lead-singer from Within the Lich Gate wasn’t head-banging obnoxiously along with his stoned lead guitarist. I’m telling you, these guys haunted me all night. And yeah, the arm raising to the gods seen in the picture up top? Lots of that.

Full disclosure, I did not stay to see Dysrythmia, and I feel badly about it. But when you are car-less at 11:45 on a Sunday, you kinda go into survival mode. This show was a chance to try something different, and I’m glad I did. Tombs were great, and I’d see them again in a heartbeat.

I walked into a wall of sound from Cale Parks(13), drummer from Aloha and sometime solo artist. His set up was pretty simple, a couple snare drums, a sampler and what appeared to be a synth of some sort. I was standing in the back, so it wasn’t easy to tell. But, for having such few instruments at his disposal he was quite loud. And, after watching Cale march through the better part of a full set I have come to the conclusion that I would much rather sit through all his quirkiness and anything but organic music over that of a lone singer-songwriter with his all powerful acoustic guitar any day.

It all comes down to passion I think, and Cale had it, jumping up and down, bumping around to the rhythms and beats. Too often the solo guitar player practically masturbates in his own glow. More than any other artist, the solo singer-songwriter tends to be too into their own music. And this is for various reasons, some more legit than others. A rant for another time perhaps, but Cale Parks impressed me with his energy and his sound. And his lack of an acoustic guitar

Something just wasn’t quite right about Paper Route(14). I gotta say though, their website is pretty kick ass. Seems like a simple enough trick, with the video in the back ground, but I still think it is cool. As for the band and the music, well, they just seem too hard to peg.

It isn’t hard to see these guys on top 40 radio. Seeing that they went out on tour with Paramore and Jack’s Mannequin, I am not at all surprised I got this feeling. They are almost too pretty boy, too put together for an “indie” band. And I think a couple of them were married, sooo un-indie. The funny thing, the main songwriter is the bass player, who doesn’t even sing. Weird, considering this band has two main vocalists who tend to trade off on the lead and harmony. I can’t say the music is bad, not at all. Quite catchy in fact. The heavy synth and guitar combo works, and not in a dance-rock kind of way. More hooks, less dance. And in a world heavy on the exact opposite, these guys have an interesting market for themselves. I am interested to see how far they take this though, and if they end up opening for Shiny Toy Guns or the Postal Service someday. I think it is even money either way.

If Paper Route looked like the anti-indie band, Passion Pit(15) might as well have been their polar opposite. One Klopek from The Burbs on bass, check. One slightly over-weight key/synth player of seemingly undetermined foreign descent, check. One super-nerdy looking drummer who can’t possibly ever get laid, check. One lead singer with a fro like Bob Ross and a voice like that dude from Coheed and Cambria (minus all the war lyrics), check. And there was a fairly normal looking guy who must get a lot of tail. Believe me when I say it, these descriptions are really all compliments. The crowd was hugely into these guys, which was a tad surprising since it was their first ever DC gig and they have but an EP out.

But the music held up its own weight in the band. Hopelessly catchy, interminably dancey, it was hard not to move with the energy in the room. Single “Sleepyhead” as well as “Better Things” and “I’ve Got Your Number” (which opens way too similarly to “Bizarre Love Triangle”) — basically their Myspace songs — were the big hits. It was a short set, maybe 35 minutes? Which is too bad, but these guys don’t really have a lot to work with in terms of a catalogue. Apparently much of this stuff was written by the lead-singer to his girlfriend as a Valentines day present. How sweet. You, know, I’ve read that fact a number of times, but what I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere is if they are still together.

Some big names came out of the woodwork, but couldn’t really do anything of note, IMHO. Last week’s notable releases below:

I am not in a position to really judge if this is or isn’t one of the Boss’ best to date, or where exactly it falls in the pantheon of his works. No idea, never been a monster fan (but I do have tickets to his DC show in May!!). I do know that everyone and his brother have trashed “Queen of the Supermarket.” Which seems fair enough, cause we know Bruce is not really nor has he ever been in love with a check-out girl. And of course “Working on a Dream” is the big get behind Obama song. Eh, whatever works for you Bruce. This seems like a good mellow album for Bruce fans, what you’ve likely come to expect.

Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream

Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

I always felt that these guys came out with the sophomore album, You Could Have it So Much Better way too soon after the self-titled debut. And now I can say Tonight: Franz Ferdinand came out too far after their sophomore release. They simply lost too much of their buzz, and this album does not regain any of it. There are as many good songs, (”No You Girls,” “Live Alone”) as their is total crap, (”What She Came For”). not to mention a serious WTF (”Dream Again”). What gives here? Way too uneven. It took them this long, but it might have been better to wait a few more months to really get it right.

To see this album classified as electronic make me laugh. Sure, there are soaring synths and keys galore, but that hardly makes this an electronic album. More often than not these songs resemble Belle and Sebastian more than anything else. Electronic that ain’t. This is a pretty album full of great vocals and melodies. Inara George can certainly sing a song. At 14 songs however, it might be a little too long to continue the thread, though they do mix up more mellow affairs with danceable numbers from time to time. Still, long or not, I think this is one of the best releases so far this year… er… month?

The Bird and the Bee - Ray Guns are not Just the Future

Loney Dear - Dear John

Loney Dear either switched labels or self-released each of his first four releases. I can see why. Upon first listen the songs sound different and unique. But after a little while you hear the same words, the same notes over and over again. Doesn’t mean it’s bad by any means, it just stops sounding different pretty quickly. So, you move on to the next label where the same thing happens. Easy to do that when you are only one guy. To be fair,  Emil Svanängen does a decent job of mixing in different tempos and adding more electronic elements to some songs. But none of that makes this a terribly interesting album.

While not the world’s biggest hip-hop lover, I do have my favorites. Zion I are one of them. Perhaps it is the ridiculous production work of AmpLive — I am a lover of good studio work in hip-hop — but this is a duo who really mixes different sounds into hip-hop, whether live instrumentation, great samples or more dance oriented beats, it just sounds a world apart from everyday hip-hop. Single “Antenna” is a perfect example. Also “Caged Bird Part 1,” “In The Mornin’ (Caged Bird Part 2)” and “Peppermint Patty” stand out. These guys should get way more love than they currently do.

Zion I - The Takeover

Bang Camaro - Bang Camaro II

I never know how serious bands like Bang Camaro are, but I get the sense that these guys mean business. The old school rock they play, a little late 70’s instrumentation mixed with some serious hair metal choruses, it is far removed from bands like The Darkness. Which is a good thing, I think. At least people seem to take these guys seriously. But I mean c’mon “Miss Illusion?” Really? “Black smile with a serpent stare Tongue tied with a chain of cobras Miss Illusion disappears!” Yes, really.

I think I’m seeing this all in the big picture now, though I’m not entirely sure what that means. This has come to be a project I am extremely excited about. Though, I am a tad behind. As we all know, January is not a hot bed for touring in the music world, so it is no surprise I am only at band 12. About 15 shy of where I need to be. Looking ahead the next 3 or four months, I think I can break even in February, maybe just a little off, but March and April are going to allow to me to clean up, if I can stay standing for that long. The breakdown for January below:

Shows: 4
Where: Black Cat - 2, DC9 - 1, Comet - 1
Shows alone: 1 (btw I will totally take 3/4 of my shows with other people, I like these figures)
Shows I awkwardly ran into a former friend of mine: 1
Band t-shirts: 1 (Longwave)
Shows I walked to: 1, Go manual transportation! (Did I mention I wrecked my car a few months ago?)

Looking ahead this week, I am excited the Passion Pit show got moved to the mainstage of the Black Cat, it would have been a little sweaty downstairs. I’m also anxious to see what these guys are made of after hearing so much about them. And metal at the Velvet Lounge on Sunday night? Why not? Springsteen tickets go on sale tomorrow morning bright and early, pray for me…