CMJ Wednesday Wrap-Up
Wednesdays offer slim pickings during CMJ week. But Jeff and I caught plenty of memorable gigs on Day One. I'm living it up until Friday, 'cause that's when I leave for my bachelor party (Vegas, baby ... I've never been). Don't worry, though -- Jed and Jim will be taking over concert coverage over the weekend. Plenty more pics and quasireviews to come.
PELA @ Bowery Ballroom. I wasn't really paying attention, and was bummed I missed King Of France. I know Glenn likes 'em. Sorry, I can't recommend one way or the other until I listen further. Lousy blogging so far, I know -- stay with me kids...
FORGET CASSETTES @ CBGBs 313 Gallery. We tried to meet up with Jenny at regular CBGBs ... DENIED. We weren't too disappointed (heard the new LP is "outstandingly bad"). Forget Cassettes were sexy, but Jeff was itching for some Cribs...
THE CRIBS @ Bowery Ballroom. Ran into Cameron and Hartley, both of whom let me stand in front of them to snap a pic of the bloody Jarman bro. I enjoyed their sloppy rock. The new Libertines perhaps? But nothing you'll be fawning over in 2006.
BEANS W/ HOLY FUCK @ Bowery Ballroom. Holy shit is this dude talented. And Holy Fuck were bananas with the backup beats.
At this point we walked a few blocks to Crash Mansion to see Asobi Seksu. Shot the shit with Keith, who is moderating a panel you can attend on Saturday. Waited for the band to take the stage. Waited more. Fuck it, back to Bowery for Devendra.
DEVENDRA BANHART @ Bowery Ballroom. Never felt strongly about the wacky folkie. He seemed like someone I would like: I LOVE Joanna Newsom, Sufjan, pretty much everything on Paw-Tracks. But he's disappointed me in the past (76 recorded songs in 3 years ... they can't all be winners). Pareles sums up my preconceived notion here: "Devendra Banhart is amazing. No, he's annoying! Amazing! Annoying!" But get this ... the band actually rocked. Late in the set he invited two random audience members to take the stage and play a song THEY wrote (he's done this before). "Anyone here write songs? Come up ... you can use my guitar." Devendra closed with that tune that's not about pedophilia.
After the gig, we spotted Antony (& Not The Johnsons) across the street. Moving on...
JOHN VANDERSLICE at Mercury Lounge. Very cool, and he brought buzz band Viva Voce onstage for an encore of "Exodus Damage."
A first night. It's only gonna get better.
Who did you see/going to see?
Posted at 5:02 PM in Concert
Tags: Beans | CMJ | Devendra Banhart | Forget Cassettes | Holy Fuck | John Vanderslice | Pela | The Cribs
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As long as Joann Newsom was mentioned in passing here, I'd like to take this opportunity to ask where the hell she's been?
Every time I go to her website, she's been touring in Europe.
Joanna, please come to the midwest. You can crash at my place. Please?
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what! john vanderslice w/o blonde hair!!?
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I was -and still am- a little freaked out by blood-thristy Cribs guitarist. How can he really enjoy doing that every show? or rather... why?
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Thank God CMJ keeps going to NYC, otherwise when else would New Yorkers get to see all these bands? You know...besides every other week of the year.
Cheers to CMJ for not spreading the wealth!
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I love Viva Voce! :)
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pela dude looks cute
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Pela's stuff (especially some of the stuff they are about to record) is really great.
I'm really glad you had a chance to check out Forget Cassettes. The first record was solid but what they're doing as a 3-piece now is even better. I expect that the new album (based on what I've heard them do live) is going to earn them a whole lot of new fans.
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i saw: the occasion/we are wolves/the octopus project/man man/an albatross.
great show.
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Glad to hear Viva Voce are a buzz band! They're local here in Portland, and played at free our PDX Pop Now Fest. That's a sight better than paying over $400 for CMJ, eh?
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yay for Viva Voce! VV side project (electric iLL) coming out soon on sounds are active... hehe... really...
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I'm glad to hear that somebody went to the octopus project show. My friend just joined the band a few weeks ago and this is his first tour ever. great band.
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I'm going to slip a Sufjan Stevens note in this topic for something un-sufjan stevens-related. I went to Sufjan's first show in Illinois tonight after the release of the Illinoise album. It was at a fairly small club on the U of I campus in Urbana. But a very un-fraternity crowd as expected. I don't even go to U of I. I found it interesting because Sufjan and the Illinoisemakers did not play all the tracks on the Illinois album. Actually, they skipped on not just some of the between song interludes but also major songs like the UFO song, Come on! Feel the Illinoise! (come on! that's an obvious song to play at an IL show), Seers Tower, and maybe something else i'm not thinking of right now. But it was a terrific show so don't get me wrong. It wasn't really treated differently because of it being an IL show about IL but Sufjan seemed pleased to be playing his Illinois album in Illinois. In a surprise, they played "A Good Man is Hard to Find" from the Seven Swans album and broke the Illinois theme. Not an issue to me since I like all of his albums excessively...but i think some were surprised. As expected, the chants and cheerleading routines and even a human pyramid of everyone on stage made for a silly fun time. But just so people who haven't seen Sufjan live before and have heard how good he is in concert, well, it's absolutely true. Probably one of the only bands (besides Radiohead) of the near 100 concerts I've been to that the band's live sound and the songs are probably better live than on the cd. And I got the Illinois album 5 months before it was released and 9 months later still listen to it regularly. So that's saying a lot. Thanks for letting me ramble. Later
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Jack,
I saw him in Detroit onthe weekend and we were expecting more Michigan songs but most were from Il album. I was hoping to hear his Detroit song too, but he didnt even play that. The cheers and everything were alot of fun. I think someone mentioned on this blog or another that he never seems to smile, but he was smiling the entire time and even made fun of himself during one cheer. I think I fell more inlove with his songs live and I can't wait for the chance to see him again...
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Fuck all that; who caught BOWIE kickin' it with Arcade Fire on stage last night?!
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I DID. it was crazy.
(I was also at world's fair, and Pela is good.)
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i caught the damn personals & read yellow @ crash mansion last night. damn personals have a guitarist who was filling in for pete dougherty in the libertines before they broke up. anyways, they were great. i saw them a lot years ago when i was living in boston. read yellow played after them and tore the place apart. i saw them last year with autolux at the fader rec room on orchard, but this year they were a million times awesomer (and louder). for fans of fugazi and noisy, dissident rock. man, they fucking slayed.
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ben ratliff, not pareles, wrote that about devendra.
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Forget Cassettes' new stuff is off the chain. The man who is not the drummer is the guitar/singer dude for Apollo Up, who should have been playing in that same Theory 8 showcase. Anybody catch them, too?
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viva voce a buzz band?
are you talking about the sound the guitar makes?
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The Constantines absolutely killed it last night at the 2am show at Scenic. Show wasn't over til 3. They are the hardest-working rock band out there right now. Hands down. Go see them at one of their other shows before they leave town.
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The Constantines absolutely killed it last night at the 2am show at Scenic. Show wasn't over til 3. They are the hardest-working rock band out there right now. Hands down. Go see them at one of their other shows before they leave town.
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Viva Voce! Still have a hard on from that show.
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