Trouble Will Find Me
The National released Trouble Will Find Me today. When the band announced the album, they also announced a series of tour dates, including a night at Brooklyn's Barclays Center on June 5th. I'm kind of off going to arena shows, so I was hoping for something to pop up the way it did just before High Violet came out in 2010. That year, I was able to scoop up tickets for CoolMom and me to a pre-release show at the Bell House. To this day, that stands as one of the best concert experiences I've ever had.
I was excited today when the band announced, to celebrate release day, that they'd be playing a series of surprise shows around New York City -- a lunchtime set at Brooklyn's tiny Sycamore Bar & Flower Shop, a 5pm show at Public Assembly, and a 10pm show at Mercury Lounge. I readied myself to grab a Mercury Lounge ticket when they went on sale at noon. I think I made my ticket request at some time between 12:00:01 and 12:00:03. Alas, it was not to be. Whatever luck I had back in 2010 when I snagged those Bell House tickets just wasn't there today.
It looks like I won't be leaving my trivia team in the lurch again this week. I'll just have to settle for watching last night's Letterman performance and listening to Trouble Will Find Me, which I plan to review later this week.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Snowball 37, Suburban Campers
A Couple of New Things
I just wanted to mention some new things I came across over the course of the last few weeks that I think deserve your attention.
I just wanted to mention some new things I came across over the course of the last few weeks that I think deserve your attention.
- Snowball 37, Declasse. Snowball 37 are David and Tim Fagan, James Faust, and Brent Clore. Originally hailing from Jersey City, the band now call Point Pleasant home. Declasse displays some Jersey Shore influence right away, opening with the sound of Brent Clore's saxophone on "Long Dead and Gone." From there, the album's 13 tracks move through the sounds of 1990's alternative rock, pop punk, and even classic rock with lyrical references to Neil Young and Kurt Cobain. Declasse is available now at your favorite digital music retailer and on Spotify. It's "Jersey Fresh" and worth a listen.
- Suburban Campers, Suburban Campers EP. This one was a surprise, hitting my radar with a "suburbancampers is now following you" email from Tumblrhoo!. According to the San Diego quartet's Tumblr, "we had very little resources upon first recording so we recorded most of our songs with a cassette recorder in our friends livin room. we ended up liking how it sounded so we recorded our entire ep that way." The resulting 5 songs are a lo-fi, reverb soaked collection of dreamy surf pop reminiscent of New Jersey's Real Estate. I think it's been firmly established here how much I love lo-fi, reverb soaked, dreamy surf pop; so this one really struck a chord with me. Suburban Campers' self-titled EP is available as a "Name Your Price" download from the band's Bandcamp site.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Nicole Atkins Helped Re-Open Langosta Lounge
Summer Is Coming
The Jet Star has finally been removed from the ocean, and Seaside Heights says they'll have their boardwalk ready in time for the summer. The Asbury Park boardwalk officially re-opens today.
As kind of a mini kickoff to everything, I headed out to the re-opened Langosta Lounge last night to catch a Nicole Atkins solo set. The place looks great now. It's got a new, much larger stage; and I wouldn't be surprised to see some big performances in there this summer. Nicole Atkins was great as usual, stunning everyone with some material from her just-recorded upcoming LP and an unbelievable rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying." She even told me she remembered signing the top to CoolDaughter #1's takeout food at Langosta Lounge a few years ago.
You've got two more chances to catch Nicole Atkins in Asbury Park this weekend. She'll be appearing at the Stone Pony tonight with Dead On Live, and tomorrow she's doing a DJ set at the Watermark.
Later today, starting at 6pm, Speak Into My Good Eye will be presenting a free showcase at Jimbo's in Seaside Heights as part of the Jersey Shore Festival. There are some great bands on that bill, and you should check it out if you can.
Next week, things kick off in earnest when the Gaslight Anthem opens the Stone Pony Summer Stage with a two-night stand on Saturday and Sunday.
This is all fantastic news; but for many towns in the area, the effects of Superstorm Sandy are still felt daily. Shark River Hills, the hometown of Nicole Atkins, will be holding a concert on June 1st to benefit the Recovery Along the River Fund which aims to aid residents still recovering from the storm. Atkins will be performing, along with Steve Forbert and many others. Last night, Atkins promised that the event would feature plenty of sausage sandwiches.
The Jet Star has finally been removed from the ocean, and Seaside Heights says they'll have their boardwalk ready in time for the summer. The Asbury Park boardwalk officially re-opens today.
As kind of a mini kickoff to everything, I headed out to the re-opened Langosta Lounge last night to catch a Nicole Atkins solo set. The place looks great now. It's got a new, much larger stage; and I wouldn't be surprised to see some big performances in there this summer. Nicole Atkins was great as usual, stunning everyone with some material from her just-recorded upcoming LP and an unbelievable rendition of Roy Orbison's "Crying." She even told me she remembered signing the top to CoolDaughter #1's takeout food at Langosta Lounge a few years ago.
You've got two more chances to catch Nicole Atkins in Asbury Park this weekend. She'll be appearing at the Stone Pony tonight with Dead On Live, and tomorrow she's doing a DJ set at the Watermark.
Later today, starting at 6pm, Speak Into My Good Eye will be presenting a free showcase at Jimbo's in Seaside Heights as part of the Jersey Shore Festival. There are some great bands on that bill, and you should check it out if you can.
Next week, things kick off in earnest when the Gaslight Anthem opens the Stone Pony Summer Stage with a two-night stand on Saturday and Sunday.
This is all fantastic news; but for many towns in the area, the effects of Superstorm Sandy are still felt daily. Shark River Hills, the hometown of Nicole Atkins, will be holding a concert on June 1st to benefit the Recovery Along the River Fund which aims to aid residents still recovering from the storm. Atkins will be performing, along with Steve Forbert and many others. Last night, Atkins promised that the event would feature plenty of sausage sandwiches.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Lemonheads Edition
Playing Wonder Bar in July
The Lemonheads are a strange and interesting story. They started as kind of a hardcorish band of teenagers. Evan Dando's good looks, his penchant for performing excellent cover songs, and his talent for writing some truly brilliant pop songs got the band swept up in the whole "alternative" explosion in the early 1990's.
Their second major-label effort, It's A Shame About Ray, is a landmark record of the 1990's corporate alternative era and an album that CoolMom and I bonded over during the early years of our life together.
Being the type of person that I am, though, -- the kind of person that claims to love Darkness on the Edge of Town more than Born to Run -- my favorite Lemonheads record has to be Lick. The album came out on Taang! records just before Dando took the band to Atlantic, and I think it really shows the band transitioning from their beginnings to Dando's alt-country pop.
It also contains one of my favorite songs of all time, "Mallo Cup."
Tickets for the Wonder Bar show go on sale at 10AM today. It's a great place to see a show.
Rock on...
The Lemonheads are a strange and interesting story. They started as kind of a hardcorish band of teenagers. Evan Dando's good looks, his penchant for performing excellent cover songs, and his talent for writing some truly brilliant pop songs got the band swept up in the whole "alternative" explosion in the early 1990's.
Their second major-label effort, It's A Shame About Ray, is a landmark record of the 1990's corporate alternative era and an album that CoolMom and I bonded over during the early years of our life together.
Being the type of person that I am, though, -- the kind of person that claims to love Darkness on the Edge of Town more than Born to Run -- my favorite Lemonheads record has to be Lick. The album came out on Taang! records just before Dando took the band to Atlantic, and I think it really shows the band transitioning from their beginnings to Dando's alt-country pop.
It also contains one of my favorite songs of all time, "Mallo Cup."
Tickets for the Wonder Bar show go on sale at 10AM today. It's a great place to see a show.
Rock on...
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Black Francis Played the Wonder Bar Last Night
May 14th, 2013, Asbury Park, NJ
I felt pretty bad. Fourth place at the half, but all of the teams had used their bonus round; so we still had a shot at finishing in the money. With the upcoming picture round set to be "Know Your Internet Meme," I knew that my many hours spent in front of the computer could not help but be of some value to my trivia teammates. But I just couldn't stick around any longer.
Under the glare of at least one very disappointed look, I waved to the Quizzard as he started dialing a friend in the Great White North for the new "Ask a Canadian" round; and I left Asbury Lanes to head over to the Wonder Bar to catch the Black Francis show. I'm still not sure how my team finished, but I got a voicemail that made it sound like the end wasn't pretty. I don't think I would've been much help.
My Tuedsay Night Trivia commitment forced me to miss opener Reid Paley, with whom Black Francis released an album in 2011. I arrived just as Paley was leaving the stage, made a stop at the bar and was able to weave my way right up to the front. The Wonder Bar was pretty packed, but I'm not sure that the show sold out.
Black Francis walked onto the stage just after 9:30 to a burst of applause even though he was just performing some final setup. He acknowledged the reception and held up his Fender Jaguar. Applause! He held up his electric guitar cable. Applause! He held up his pick. Applause! He pointed to the mic stand. Applause! "OK. That's it. I'm not going to make you clap for a tuner." "We would!!!" was the response from someone in the crowd.
From there, Francis opened the set with "Cactus" and "Wave of Mutilation," shouting "Rock me, Joey Santiago," to his imaginary bandmate at the moment of the latter's mini guitar solo. I didn't keep a set list, but I think the next song was "Subbacultcha," after which Francis said, "OK. I started you off with three moldy oldies... ...let's do a newby booby."
That's how the rest of the evening went. Francis rattled off song after song with barely a break in between, mixing in Pixies classics -- "Mr. Grieves," "Nimrod's Son," "Monkey Gone to Heaven,""Gouge Away" -- with songs from each of his solo incarnations -- "Sing for Joy," "Tight Black Rubber," "Bullet," "She Took All the Money," "California Bound." He added several covers, including "Wheels" by Graham Parsons, "That Burnt Out Rock and Roll" by Gary Green, and a great version of "The Black Rider" by Tom Waits.
One of the most interesting aspects of Black Francis has always been the way he uses his voice. Just like the quiet-loud-quiet approach that defined The Pixies' music, Francis takes his voice from a whisper to a scream or bellow and everything in between. "The Black Rider," especially in the solo format with just electric guitar accompaniment, had Francis running through all of his vocal tricks and affectations in excellent Waits-like fashion.
Paley joined Francis for a four-song encore that included the duo's "Ugly Life" along with Kinky Friedman's "Wild Man from Borneo."
"Intimate" is a word often used to describe solo sets like this. This one came about as close to that as I've seen in a while. Black Francis regularly made eye contact with and acknowledged those of us in the front. The stripped down versions of all of the songs had people singing along, filling in the Kim Deal parts or additional instrumentals on many of The Pixies' slections. And Francis seemed to be enjoying himself as much as the crowd.
It was a truly fine evening, even if I do still feel a little guilty.
I felt pretty bad. Fourth place at the half, but all of the teams had used their bonus round; so we still had a shot at finishing in the money. With the upcoming picture round set to be "Know Your Internet Meme," I knew that my many hours spent in front of the computer could not help but be of some value to my trivia teammates. But I just couldn't stick around any longer.
Under the glare of at least one very disappointed look, I waved to the Quizzard as he started dialing a friend in the Great White North for the new "Ask a Canadian" round; and I left Asbury Lanes to head over to the Wonder Bar to catch the Black Francis show. I'm still not sure how my team finished, but I got a voicemail that made it sound like the end wasn't pretty. I don't think I would've been much help.
My Tuedsay Night Trivia commitment forced me to miss opener Reid Paley, with whom Black Francis released an album in 2011. I arrived just as Paley was leaving the stage, made a stop at the bar and was able to weave my way right up to the front. The Wonder Bar was pretty packed, but I'm not sure that the show sold out.
Black Francis walked onto the stage just after 9:30 to a burst of applause even though he was just performing some final setup. He acknowledged the reception and held up his Fender Jaguar. Applause! He held up his electric guitar cable. Applause! He held up his pick. Applause! He pointed to the mic stand. Applause! "OK. That's it. I'm not going to make you clap for a tuner." "We would!!!" was the response from someone in the crowd.
From there, Francis opened the set with "Cactus" and "Wave of Mutilation," shouting "Rock me, Joey Santiago," to his imaginary bandmate at the moment of the latter's mini guitar solo. I didn't keep a set list, but I think the next song was "Subbacultcha," after which Francis said, "OK. I started you off with three moldy oldies... ...let's do a newby booby."
That's how the rest of the evening went. Francis rattled off song after song with barely a break in between, mixing in Pixies classics -- "Mr. Grieves," "Nimrod's Son," "Monkey Gone to Heaven,""Gouge Away" -- with songs from each of his solo incarnations -- "Sing for Joy," "Tight Black Rubber," "Bullet," "She Took All the Money," "California Bound." He added several covers, including "Wheels" by Graham Parsons, "That Burnt Out Rock and Roll" by Gary Green, and a great version of "The Black Rider" by Tom Waits.
One of the most interesting aspects of Black Francis has always been the way he uses his voice. Just like the quiet-loud-quiet approach that defined The Pixies' music, Francis takes his voice from a whisper to a scream or bellow and everything in between. "The Black Rider," especially in the solo format with just electric guitar accompaniment, had Francis running through all of his vocal tricks and affectations in excellent Waits-like fashion.
Paley joined Francis for a four-song encore that included the duo's "Ugly Life" along with Kinky Friedman's "Wild Man from Borneo."
"Intimate" is a word often used to describe solo sets like this. This one came about as close to that as I've seen in a while. Black Francis regularly made eye contact with and acknowledged those of us in the front. The stripped down versions of all of the songs had people singing along, filling in the Kim Deal parts or additional instrumentals on many of The Pixies' slections. And Francis seemed to be enjoying himself as much as the crowd.
It was a truly fine evening, even if I do still feel a little guilty.
Monday, May 13, 2013
mbv Coming to USA
FYF Fest in LA
Hat tip to Mike over at Speak Into My Good Eye for letting me know that My Bloody Valentine will be headlining one of the days at this year's FYF Fest... ...in Los Angeles, California.
Also of interest to me on the bill:
Saturday, August 24
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Breeders, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Eleanor Friedberger, Joyce Manor, Foxygen, Metz, Waxahatchee
Sunday, August 25
Beach House, Yo La Tengo, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Jonathan Richman, Fear of Men
MY BLOODY F'ING VALENTINE!!!!!!
Not to mention that me at a music festival could make for some pretty funny blog posts.
CoolMom and I need to have a chat.
Hat tip to Mike over at Speak Into My Good Eye for letting me know that My Bloody Valentine will be headlining one of the days at this year's FYF Fest... ...in Los Angeles, California.
Also of interest to me on the bill:
Saturday, August 24
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Breeders, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Eleanor Friedberger, Joyce Manor, Foxygen, Metz, Waxahatchee
Sunday, August 25
Beach House, Yo La Tengo, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Jonathan Richman, Fear of Men
MY BLOODY F'ING VALENTINE!!!!!!
Not to mention that me at a music festival could make for some pretty funny blog posts.
CoolMom and I need to have a chat.
Janet LaBelle Releases New Single
"Wide Awake Dreaming"
She currently calls Brooklyn home, but Janet LaBelle is a product of the New Jersey pop punk scene. As a solo artist she's so far specialized in retro, surf, or girl group-inspired pop. On "Wide Awake Dreaming," LaBelle goes for a slightly different sound from the same era.
Piano and strings give the song a kind of early 1960's ballad feel, and had me thinking of a (much) more stripped down version of something like Wilco's "Reservations" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
LaBelle and many, many others from the Tiny Giant Artists Collective will be appearing at Asbury Lanes on June 22nd for the Summer Bummer, which is the rescheduled version of the canceled-by-Nemo Winter Beach Ball.
She currently calls Brooklyn home, but Janet LaBelle is a product of the New Jersey pop punk scene. As a solo artist she's so far specialized in retro, surf, or girl group-inspired pop. On "Wide Awake Dreaming," LaBelle goes for a slightly different sound from the same era.
Piano and strings give the song a kind of early 1960's ballad feel, and had me thinking of a (much) more stripped down version of something like Wilco's "Reservations" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
LaBelle and many, many others from the Tiny Giant Artists Collective will be appearing at Asbury Lanes on June 22nd for the Summer Bummer, which is the rescheduled version of the canceled-by-Nemo Winter Beach Ball.
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