Florentine Edition

Italian Holiday Friday

Waiting in the hotel room for CoolMom to get back from her conference. Just walked around and figured out the camera today. I did see a guy doing some nice Jimi Hendrix covers on the Piazza di Santa Maria Novella.

You can follow me at @cooldadmusic on Instagram or on Tumblr if you want to see what I'm up to. I try not to bombard the blog or Facebook with pics. 

Have a good weekend, whatever you get up to, and...

Rock on.

Firenze Domani

Hey, did I mention...

...that I'm using up some of my hard-earned frequent flyer miles to meet CoolMom in Florence, Italy tomorrow as she finishes up her business trip?

Yeah, well...

Maybe not much posting. We'll see.

Harper's Fellow Premiere New Video

"Bow & Arrow"

The Asbury Park-based neo-folk / country quintet, Harper's Fellow, have been in the studio recording their debut LP. Just check out the band's Instagram feed.

Today they released an in-studio performance video for "Bow & Arrow" off of that upcoming record. I had a chance to catch their Happy Mondays set at the Wonder Bar a few weeks ago, and they sound just as great live as they do here.

You can catch them live and in person tonight at The Saint as part of an excellent bill that includes Asbury's Emily Grove and Nashville's Griffin House. I'd say I'll see you there, but that's gonna be tough since CoolMom heads off on a business trip tonight. You'll all just have to go and tell me what a good time you had.

Diarrhea Planet and Patrick Stickles Cover Bruce Springsteen

"Born To Run"

I think I read an interview somewhere once where Patrick Stickles said that his bandmates sometimes give him a hard time for his Springsteen fandom. Well, just two days after I had a chance to catch Diarrhea Planet at Long Branch's Brighton Bar, Stickles joined the Nashville band on stage at Shea Stadium for an impassioned and sincere rendition of Bruce's best-known song.

That emotion paired with the four-guitar assault of Diarrhea Planet basically wins the Internet today as far as I'm concerned.

River City Extension Premiere New Video

"If You Need Me Back in Brooklyn"

Paste Magazine has the premiere of River City Extension's video for "If You Need Me Back in Brooklyn." My love for the Toms River, NJ band's Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger is well-documented, and this song is a standout from that incredibly strong record.

The video sees members of the band flitting in and out of existence like ghosts in an abandoned, dilapidated building before the song builds to its climax with the full band playing in the balcony of an empty theater. That final bit of the video even manages to capture a bit of River City Extension's live performance energy.

Shellshag Record Release Show at Maxwell's, April 20th, 2013

Shellshag, Screaming Females, Swearin', Hilly Eye, Great Thunder

The lovely woman who would become CoolMom and I spent a bit of the early 90s living in Hoboken. As I looked for parking last night, the excellent self-titled debut from Swearin’ coming through my car’s speakers, I was thinking about all of the music -- Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Liz Phair -- that we used to listen to back then. I’d headed in to go to Maxwell’s for Shellshag’s record release show for Shellshag Forever.

It was almost as if the show’s lineup had been created specifically for me. Every single band on the bill was responsible for one of my favorite albums from the last year and a half. The common thread linking all of the bands, in addition to some type of association with Shellshag's label Don Giovanni Records, was a debt to the music from the time I spent in Hoboken.

Great Thunder opened the evening. The project of Katie Crutchfield (a.k.a. “Ol’ Waxie”) and Swearin’s / Waxahatchee’s Keith Spencer, last night they also featured Swearin’s Allison Crutchfield on drums and Radiator Hospital’s Sam Cook-Parrott on bass. The band played selections from both last year’s Sounds of Great Thunder and their new Strange Kicks EP (both are available as “name your price downloads” from Great Thunder’s Bandcamp page).

Unsurprisingly, Great Thunder’s sound is similar to Waxahatchee’s though with a heavier tilt toward the rock end of things. The set was great, and if “K and K” want Great Thunder to get as big as Waxahatchee, they just have to go for it.

Hilly Eye, who’s Reasons to Live is still a contender for my Albums of the Year list, were up next. The duo of Amy Klein (guitar) and Catherine Tung (drums) feature less of a traditionally pop sound than the other bands that were on the bill. Klein’s swirling guitar loops and haunting vocals, and Tung’s intricate drumming filled the small space on cuts like “Jersey City,” “Animal,” and “Amnesia” with a noise that still does owe a great deal to 1990s lo-fi.

Swearin’ were next to perform. Listening to their self-titled debut as I drove to Hoboken reminded me what a great record the band put out last year; and I, honestly, can’t recommend it highly enough. Allison Crutchfield and Keith Spencer were back on stage, this time with Kyle Gilbride (guitar/vocals) and Jeff Bolt (drums). They opened with the Gilbride-sung “Here to Hear” from that debut LP, and I’m still not able to get Gilbride’s vocal similarity to Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch out of my head. Other songs from the record, including the Crutchfield-fronted album standouts “Kenosha” and “Just” along with the more punk-influenced “Kill ‘em with Kindess” and a new song, injected some serious energy into a crowd that had grown in anticipation of what was coming next.

What came next was New Brunswick’s Screaming Females. By this time, Maxwell’s was packed, wild cheers going up at the sight of Marissa Paternoster, in her trademark Wednesday Addams frock, simply helping to prepare the stage.

The set that followed was an incendiary example that Paternoster and Screaming Females are back at full strength. Bassist King Mike and drummer Jarrett D. provided the foundation for Paternoster’s Mascis / Martsch / Corgan-influenced guitar heroics. Even in its toned-down Maxwell’s version, the audience response to songs like “It All Means Nothing,” “Rotten Apple,” and “Expire” was ferocious, beer and sweat flying. When she wasn’t taking the entire mic into her mouth while wailing a lyric, Paternoster was turning her face ceiling-ward, eyes rolled up into her head while she amazed everyone with her fretwork.

Like each of the bands before, Screaming Females thanked Shellshag for including them on the celebration. This time though, Screaming Females advised their fans to stay for the finale, telling them they’d “regret it forever” if they left. Let's just say that there was significantly more room to move around by the time Shellshag took the stage.

I, personally, was happy for the additional space; and it didn’t detract from the energy of Shellshag’s set one bit. The lighted mic contraption featured on the album cover of Shellshag Forever came to center-stage. John “Shellhead” Driver and Jennifer Shagawat took their positions on either side and exuberantly performed Shellshag Forever in its entirety. Screaming Females’ King Mike was in the audience, right up front singing every lyric.

When Shellshag completed their twenty-seven minute lo-fi masterpiece, they brought Screaming Females back on stage to perform “Green Vapors,” which the bands co-wrote and recorded for Screaming Females’ Chalk Tape cassette / digital EP. The rest of the set included earlier Shellshag cuts, including the excellent “Resilient Bastard” and a cover of The Cure’s (to me, though, it’s always Dinosaur Jr.’s) “Just Like Heaven.”

As the band built a tower from Shag’s drum kit, topped by Shell’s guitar, to close the main set, chants of “Ten more songs!” went up from the crowd. The band acquiesced and went into Liz Phair’s “Fuck and Run” from her twenty year old debut masterpiece. It was appropriate, I thought, as I found myself taken back to the sound of Exile In Guyville throughout the evening.

Shellshag built their show-ending tower a second and final time. They embraced. They kissed. They climbed down from the stage and embraced several fans.

It was a triumphant night for Shellshag and all of the bands on the bill. Even the guy who brought his own tambourine, triangle, and maracas to play along throughout the night couldn’t put a damper on things. For me, it was a chance to see a bill bursting with bands whose work I’ve enjoyed immensely over the last year. To see those bands, who have managed to create some modern classics by re-interpreting the sounds of early indie rock, at one of the cradles of indie rock music was an experience I won’t soon forget.

Record Store Day Eve Edition

Support Your Local Record Store Friday

Tomorrow is Record Store Day 2013. Like last year, I'll be doing swim practice pickup. That means I'll likely have a pretty lousy spot in line out in front of my local record store.

I have it on good authority (the store) that they do have a few copies in stock of one of the things I'm hoping to grab tomorrow: the Titus Andronicus 10" featuring Local Business cut "Still Life with Hot Deuce on Silver Platter" and two unreleased tracks.

Keeping the Jersey-centric vibe going, I think it would also be cool if I could grab the Garbage/Screaming Females cover of the Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith classic, "Because the Night."

We'll see.

If anyone wants to volunteer to hold my place in line, I'll bring you whatever Munchkins the swimmers haven't devoured. The three that I transport usually make short work of a box of 25, but I'll force them to exercise restraint. For you.

I hope you get everything you're looking for, and...

Rock on.

SIMGE Stuff

A Few Reviews

I just wanted to call your attention to a few reviews I've done over at Speak Into My Good Eye in the last week or so.

-- I really enjoyed the two-song EP, Remember Kids, Your Pigeon Is Sacred, by Clifton, NJ's France.

-- I took a listen to an EP from a little further away. Berlin-based Crystal Shipsss had me thinking about Honeydrum and Ariel Pink with his self-titled EP.

-- Today, I did a review of sorts of the latest from Shellshag, Shellshag Forever. It's an album that makes you feel happy for the duo of John "Shellhead" Driver and Jennifer Shagawat. I think it may even be a little inspiring, which is cool for a short, punk album.

Take a look at all of those if you feel so inclined. You can always keep up with what I post over there by liking this blog on Facebook, by following along on Twitter, or by clicking on the "Speak Into My Good Eye" tab at the top of this page.

And don't ignore the other stuff they've got going on over at SIMGE like the great photos from last weekend's show at the Wonder Bar along with the video interview with Bern and the Brights, the review and photos from last night at Bowery Ballroom, and all of the news items that get posted throughout the day.

Christopher Owens Giving Away Acoustic Lysandre

Also Announces Acoustic Tour w/ Two NYC Dates

I think I must have been on vacation for the week or something, because I remember returning home from a bike ride one day last summer and reading, with sadness, that Christopher Owens had left Girls. I still consider Girls' two albums and an EP to be some of my favorite recordings of the last several years.

Then, early this year, Owens released his first solo record Lysandre. That record contained a good deal of the emotion that characterized Girls; but the fuzzy, reverby, sometimes dreamy sounds of Girls were mostly gone, replaced by a cleaner sound that featured lots of acoustic guitar work along with the full band.

Today, in conjunction with the announcement an all-acoustic tour, Owens is giving away an all-acoustic version of Lysandre. Album standout "Here We Go" retains its bounciness while losing its aeroplane taking off outro. Conversely, the already mostly acoustic "Everywhere You Knew" picks up about forty-five seconds of plaintive strumming at the end of the fully acoustic track.

It's fun to compare the records side-by-side; but even if you don't own Lysandre, you can't really pass up the free version, can you?

His acoustic solo tour will bring Owens to New York's The Slipper Room on June 15th and 16th.

New Order Played Kimmel Last Night

Ummm...

The Peter Hook-less version of New Order played Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night. They did "I'll Stay With You" off of their recent Lost Sirens release of B-sides and outtakes along with the classic "Bizarre Love Triangle."

They sounded really good. But -- and this is not meant as a knock on them -- something about watching the performance made me feel incredibly old. Or, maybe, like I was at the wedding of one of my high school classmates.

Hitting the Pavement Again

Even with "Incurable, Sh*tty Knee"

I've been whining quite a bit lately about the fact that my right knee kind of hurts. I think it may be a physical manifestation of a bunch of other stuff I'd rather be whining about that nobody really wants to hear me whine about anymore.

In what may be a weird reaction to yesterday's tragic events in Boston, I've decided to try running again. I miss the whole group vibe of races, and I miss running with (at least for the first few feet) CoolMom while the kiddos cheer us on from the sidewalk. I miss listening to new records as I plod through the neighborhood. I miss fresh air and feeling healthy. I miss saying, "I'm a runner."

We'll see if my knee lets me do it. But I feel like if I don't try, and I don't sign up for a few big races this spring and summer, then fear and my incurable, shitty knee will have won. See you out there.

We Have a Winner!

Second-Ever CoolDad Music Comment Contest

Thanks to everyone who commented or who just stopped by to have a look around the place. There can only be one winner, though, and that winner is Josh. I'll be sending Josh my extra copy of the Record Store Day 2012 Smugglers Way flexi-zine put out by Domino Records.

Congratulations, Josh!

Thank you to everyone who helped get the Facebook page to 100 Likes; and, once again, thank you to all of the commenters. I really enjoy hearing from and interacting with everyone, which is really the point of this. I may try to come up with a different contest format for the next time. Definitely open to ideas.

Procrastination Edition / Comment Contest / SIMGE Party

A Few Reminders

Tax day is, of course, April 15th. That means I've got a lot of work to do between now and midnight on Monday.

I'm hoping I can break away long enough to head over to the Wonder Bar for the show being put on by our good friends over at Speak Into My Good Eye. It looks like a fine line-up, and I still have to see The Antics. They were the band I missed when I drove CoolMom home from the Brighton Bar on Bow Wow Wow Night.

And you should all try to find some time to leave a comment over at this post:

Comment Contest for Domino Records Smugglers Way Flexi-zine

for a chance to win the Second-Ever CoolDad Music Comment Contest.

Have a great weekend, whatever you do. And...

Rock on.

Letters

I Wrote Letters

Dear Readers,

I often hear musicians and songwriters talk about how embarrassed they are by their early work. Colin Meloy famously makes a joke out of his "Dracula's Daughter" (You think you've got it bad? / Imagine havin' Dracula for a dad) during the Decemberists' live shows. I remember David Lowery and Camper Van Beethoven doing something similar with a song called "Lincoln Shrine" (I don't wanna go / I don't wanna go / I don't wanna go to the Lincoln Shrine) about an annual field trip that they'd take as kids with their school in California.

It's not that early songs are always bad. Some are, of course; but I think artists often cringe at their early work because it came from a place that they've since moved beyond. A big part of my theory on how nobody ever really changes is that people simply learn to cope a lot better with the aspects of their personalities that they may not like so much. That takes time; and art or music or writing produced in the early stages of that process has the real potential to make its creator hugely uncomfortable. While someone else hearing an early song or reading an early work may find it "raw," emotional, cute, or sweet; that same work could make its author want to hide under a rock.

So my friend apparently found a whole bunch of letters that I wrote in my late teens. I went through a few bursts of letter-writing at that time. Letter writing is a dying practice; and, while I'm not saying I was a master of the medium, I do remember taking a reasonable amount of care in composing correspondences. It was always fun to send them off and then to wait for a response. That's another thing we've lost. The willingness to wait. Today, if I send an email and don't get a response within the hour, I start to wonder if the person on the other end is OK.

As I've discovered over the last year or so, writing is something I enjoy quite a bit. I'm glad I had that experience of writing letters and waiting for letters to come back, but the idea that someone saved all the letters I wrote back then... Let's just say that I'm happy that they still mean something to somebody, but I don't ever really need to see them.

They always tell you that once you put something on the Internet, it can follow you forever. I get that, and I'm OK with it. I mean, there's some stuff from my early forays onto Twitter and Facebook that I'd like to have back; but I was a fully-formed adult (or as fully-formed as I'll ever get) when I did that. They never tell you, though, that some people will fold up and place into a shoebox papers that they should have wadded up and tossed in the trash -- or left out in the rain, or failed to save from a burning building -- years ago.

Your friend,
CoolDad

Not From the 80s Playlist

Spotify Playlist

Just a quick playlist of songs from the last few years that always make me think of the music from my teens. Some are more obvious examples than others, but I think they've all got that something that can get some of us thinking about going to see a John Hughes movie in the theater on the first weekend of its release.

I'll probably update it over time.

OH, AND DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT >>>HERE<<< FOR A CHANCE TO WIN THE SECOND-EVER COOLDAD MUSIC COMMENT CONTEST.

The Normal Living, Less Radio

You Can Take the Kids Outta New Jersey...

Every once in a while, I like to get away from writing about the big mindie releases and highlight something that may be a little more under the radar or local. I recently came across Less Radio, the debut EP by Manhattan's The Normal Living. When I found out that two of the band's founding members, Jon Grabowski and Liza Zitelli, are New Jersey natives, I decided that The Normal Living would be a perfect fit for one of these mini-review posts.

Less Radio is a six song EP, and what jumps out at you immediately is Liza Zitelli's voice. It's a voice that reminds you of Ronnie Spector and the girl group sounds of the 1960s -- a sound that you could argue started in New Jersey with The Shirelles. The band explicitly reference that sound on "Timeout New York," the EP's second track. The Normal Living also incorporate elements of indie pop and country on songs like "Penn Station," which pines for the original, grand structure replaced by the bland New York entry point that all of us Jersey kids know so well.

I do think Less Radio could have benefitted from some production flourishes like turning up the girl group effect with a more, and I'll use some highly technical jargon here, reverb-y wall of sound treatment. I'm a firm believer in the idea that more reverb makes everything better, but that may be just me. You can tell from the current recording, though, that The Normal Living know how to write a pop song.

You can check out the EP on Spotify or stream a couple of tracks via the band's Soundcloud.

Eternal Summers Launch PledgeMusic Pre-Order. Coming to Stone Pony on 4/13.

Fan Funded Final Phase

Roanoke, Virginia's Eternal Summers, whose Correct Behavior was one of my favorite records from last year, are giving fans the opportunity to pre-order the follow-up to that album via PledgeMusic. Fans can pledge at varying levels, ranging from $10 to be eligible for a download of the album when it's ready all the way up to $2000 for the privilege of cutting drummer Daniel Cundiff's hair. All pledges come with a digital download and access to other content produced during the album creation process. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Camp Sunshine.

If you'd like to catch them live before committing to a pledge, head over to the Stone Pony on Saturday. Eternal Summers will be visiting the Jersey Shore to open for The Presidents of the United States of America.

This is all pretty cool. I've been waiting for some new music from the band, and it always gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to pay bands directly for their music. Maybe we can all get together and scrape up the $1000 to have Eternal Summers play a house concert for the first-ever CoolDad Music BBQ.

Comment Contest for Domino Records Smugglers Way Flexi-zine

Comment for a Chance to Win

A big thanks to everyone who liked or got their friends to like the CoolDad Music page on Facebook. As I said I would do all along, now that the page has reached the arbitrary number of 100 likes, I'm holding a contest for my extra, unopened copy of Domino Records' 2012 Record Store Day exclusive Smugglers Way flexi-zine.

Smugglers Way is extremely cool, and a year ago I became obsessed with acquiring it. So obsessed, in fact, that I ended up with two. It contains flexi-singles (square, floppy, acetate records that play on your turntable) from Dirty Projectors, Real Estate, Villagers, John Maus, and Cass McCombs in a variety of colors. The discs come packaged in a 24-page magazine that contains writing from Alex Bleeker of Real Estate and Laura Marling, Photography by Jana Hunter of Lower Dens, an original score by Owen Pallett, and a bunch of other illustrations, prose, and poetry from other Domino / Ribbon Music artists.

The rules are simple: Comment on this very post between now and Sunday, April 14th. I will randomly select a commenter who will be crowned the winner of The Second-Ever CoolDad Music Comment Contest and send them the prize. If you want a real chance to win, I'd advise against commenting anonymously.

That's it. Thanks again and good luck.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Harper's Fellow at the Wonder Bar

Happy Mondays

I decided to head down to the Wonder Bar last night to catch the Happy Mondays set by Harper's Fellow. Despite playing to a crowd that may have been thinking a bit more about $.50 wings and $3.00 PBRs, they played a great set and were all smiles throughout.

Lead singer / rhythm guitarist Cortney Metzler has a beautiful and powerful voice that blends nicely with that of vocalist Yanell Reyes. The band's overall sound is neo-country / folk / Americana, I guess. Alex Ford (drums) and Brendan Smith (bass) lay a solid foundation, while lead guitarist Eric Castellazzo provides an edgy twang without ever crossing over into full-on country.

Harper's Fellow are in the process of recording their debut record, and I'll be on the lookout for that.

I brought my point and shoot with me again. Apologies to the band, but I think I may still need some practice.

Milk Music Review Up at SIMGE

Cruise Your Illusion

I feel like I haven't posted over at Speak Into My Good Eye for a while now. That all changes as I've got a review of Cruise Your Illusion, the debut LP from Olympia, WA's Milk Music up there today.

When you listen to the record, you'll be reminded of many of your 1990s favorites from the Pacific Northwest. If you listen a little more carefully, though, I think you'll also hear allusions to the most important act that Seattle has ever given to rock and roll.

Wreaths Played The Saint Last Night

A Night Out in Asbury Park

Well, I missed the opening Yappy Hour yesterday. Turned out OK. The whole family, including CoolDog, took a trip to Dorbrook Park so that CoolDaughter #2 could participate in her soccer goalie clinic (hilarious). CoolDog got a nice walk and made plenty of new friends.

Later, we all (minus CoolDog this time) headed to the Brickwall Tavern for a pre-roller derby meal. I had a couple of pints of North Coast Brewing's excellent Pranqster Belgian-style golden ale, and then we all headed over to Convention Hall for the bout.

The evening's announcer assured everyone in the stands that, whatever happens to Convention Hall, roller derby will continue throughout the season. We'll see. We made it through the first half and Chuck-a-Duck before we decided that it was getting a little late. The girls did have a great time. We'd brought two cars, so I peeled off from the family and headed over to the Saint.

I made it just in time to catch the great set by Little Dickman Records recording artists, and Asbury's own, Wreaths. Equal parts 1960s psychedelia and 1990s shoegaze, Wreaths shook the small space. They've got an EP coming out on Little Dickman soon. I'm not sure if there are any plans to do a vinyl release, but something about Wreaths had me imagining myself lying back after setting a record to spin on the turntable and just losing myself in the noise. They'll be playing the Brighton Bar on April 24th, and I strongly recommend catching them.

I've been messing around with my new point and shoot lately and took some pictures of the set.

Big Day for Asbury Park

Dogs, Derby, Droning

The weather may not be cooperating temperature-wise, but spring is here. It's a big day (by my standards, anyway) for everyone's favorite urban outpost by the sea.

Ever since adding CoolDog to the fold, I've been waiting to take him drinking with me in Asbury Park for the Wonder Bar's "Yappy Hour." That goes from 1-7 today. At 6, the doors open at Convention Hall for the Jersey Shore Roller Girls' season opener (and season finale?); and tonight, the Saint is hosting Black Sabbath tribute band, Black Reign. I hope to head over there in time to catch openers and Little Dickman Records artists, Wreaths, and their droning, psychedelic, "dream punk."

All of this depends, of course, on what CoolMom has planned for us this evening; but I'm gonna do my best to work in some of it.

For one day, at least, we can all try to forget about the Madison Marquette / City of Asbury silliness and just look forward to a great comeback summer for the Shore.

Full Schedule This Weekend Edition

Baseball's Back Friday

After the frustrating first few days of the season, which always include that off-day right after Opening Day, the Yankees are in Detroit and the Mets are home against Miami for a full slate of games this weekend.

The weather looks like it may start to feel a little more like spring.

For some reason, my mood's been improving.

Enjoy and

Rock on.

Waxahatchee Played 285 Kent Last Night

Also Radiator Hospital, Modern Hut, Certain Spiders

I've written quite a bit about Waxahatchee over the last several months. I haven't been the only one. The New York Times did a feature on sisters Katie (Waxahatchee) and Allison (Swearin') Crutchfield back in August of 2012. Rolling Stone named Waxahatchee as one of its Must-See Acts of South By Southwest. That coverage was in addition to the praise that appeared in the usual places like Pitchfork (Cerulean Salt, 8.4) and Stereogum, and a "First Listen" for Cerulean Salt over at NPR.

Katie Crutchfield brought Waxahatchee, as well some of her good friends, to that mecca for all bands on the rise last night: Brooklyn, NY. The crowd at 285 Kent surprised Crutchfield a bit, I think, with both its size and the reception it gave her. It shouldn't have. In the span of just over twelve months, Katie Crutchfield has put out two fantastic records for Don Giovanni as Waxahatchee; and it's nice to see that she's getting the recognition that she deserves.

285 Kent is an extremely spare place: a small bar at one end, the stage at the other, graffiti-like artwork on the walls. It shares one of those walls with Glasslands Gallery next door, and I could almost do a review of the Golden Grrrls show that happened there based on the sounds seeping through to 285. 285 Kent is big, though, and Waxahatchee sold out the place. The show was all ages, and the crowd gave me that sometimes self-conscious feeling I get about being one of the oldest people in the place. I just tell myself I don't look it.

Radiator Hospital (aka Sam Cook-Parrott) opened with a solo set on electric guitar. He had no setlist but managed, giving the crowd a nice glimpse into the short, personal songs that make up the Radiator Hospital catalog.

Don Giovanni Records co-founder Joe Steinhardt followed, performing a solo acoustic set as Modern Hut. His sound and delivery are reminiscent of some of the indie lo-fi recordings of the late 80s / early 90s done by people like Lou Barlow.

During both sets, the Crutchfield sisters and other friends of the bands sang along and just generally looked like they were all having a good time. Katie Crutchfield mentioned from the stage several times how nice it was to be playing with and for friends.

Things got louder for Brooklyn trio Certain Spiders. I haven't been able to uncover much about them online, but I really enjoyed the sound that their guitarist coaxed from his Telecaster: twangy, but still a little dark.

Waxahatchee took the stage at around 10:15. They were a trio last night with Cook-Parrott and Keith Spencer joining Crutchfield on bass and drums respectively. The songs from American Weekend, including "Noccalula," "Grass Stain," "Be Good," and the title track all got the full-band treatment and sounded great. Idea to Waxahatchee and Don Giovanni Records: Release an EP that features some of those arrangements. I'll buy it.

Crutchfield held the crowd rapt with those songs and the tracks off of Cerulean Salt, including "Coast to Coast," "Brother Bryan," "Tangled Envisioning," and "Peace and Quiet," for her entire set. Her sister, Allison, joined her for a duet on "Blue Pt. II," and the band closed out the show (Crutchfield under protest, I think) with their rendition of Paul Simon's "Boy In The Bubble," Crutchfield standing on tiptoes and straining as she screamed the chorus. Unlike probably 99% of the people in the place, I was able to sing along with every lyric to that song.

I had a few moments of doubt last night. Like, "What am I doing, at my age, driving all the way to Brooklyn while my family stays home to go to a show with a bunch of kids?" But Waxahatchee's two records absolutely deserve all of the press and recognition they've received; and once Katie Crutchfield took the stage with her band, all my doubts went away.

I've said this before: as much as we like to tell ourselves this, we never outgrow the feelings that Crutchfield writes about in her songs. I'm beginning to think that I'll never outgrow the feeling I get seeing my favorite artists, new or old, perform live.

Caitlin Rose Played The Mercury Lounge on April 1st -- FIRST-EVER GUEST POST!!!

And MomVee Stood The Whole Time

OK. This is exciting. My former kindergarten classmate, current Tuesday Night Trivia teammate, fellow blogger, and good, good friend, MomVee, has agreed to write a review of the Caitlin Rose show she attended at Mercury Lounge a few nights ago.

Check out her work over at Watering Place, and you'll quickly understand why I'm so thrilled to add her voice and her perspective to CoolDad Music, even if it's just this one time. I think adding the point of view of a coolmom is an important step for CoolDad Music; and, while we do overlap, MomVee's musical tastes differ enough from my own to bring some freshness to this space.

This is an excellent one-off, but I'll see what I can do about getting MomVee to pay us all a visit every once in a while. Until that happens, you can keep up with her through her blog and by following her on Twitter.

Caitlin Rose at the Mercury Lounge

By MomVee

I don't remember how I first came across this video of a little girl brilliantly covering Caitlin Rose's "Own Side."



Most likely someone linked it on Twitter, but it could also have been embedded deep in the "recommended posts" on Google Reader. You know, the ones you check out when you really, REALLY don't want to do anything productive. Anyway, thanks to Rowan, her parents, and the OP, I discovered Caitlin Rose a little over a year ago. iTunes reports that I have played "Own Side" 319 times, and that's just when I'm sitting at the iMac.

I really like her work. I really like Wilco's work, too, but I saw them at the Hammerstein Ballroom six years ago and as I staggered to Penn Station through back spasms I told my husband that I would never again attend another standing room show, as I was too old. R. thought it was about 14 years too early to make that claim, but I have managed to avoid standing concerts ever since. Until now. Caitlin Rose doesn't come to New York very often. She's a Nashville native and she's very big in the UK. So much so that's she's picked up Spencer Cullum, Jr.* a delectable British pedal steel player who looks like a cross between Harry Potter and Gary Louris of the Jayhawks...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I was going to see Caitlin Rose in person even if I had to stand up to do it. So Monday night found me at the Mercury Lounge. As small venues go, the Mercury Lounge is pretty good: the main bar is in a separate room just as you come in, so you can grab your drink and then go into the performance space, where everyone is nicely focused on the performance--there's a tiny satellite bar in the corner but it's unobtrusive. There are even a few seats to either side of the room, but I eschewed them and stood with the young'uns. And they were young, whew! It was an early show--6:30 doors/opener, 7:30 main act--so I guess most of them had just woken up.

At this point a petty person would complain about her drink. I haven't gone out much in the past five years or so, and meanwhile I've been spoiled by my brother-in-law's fine wines and my husband's masterfully crafted cocktails. So I won't complain about my drink.

I was late because, despite my advanced age, I have not yet learned to accurately read a train timetable. However, the opener--Rose's guitarist Andrew Combs--had not yet gone on as of 7 pm, this being one of those nice times when the irresponsible circumstances of the young and the old bring them together. Combs is a looker, a capable guitarist and an above-average lyricist who could easily slide onto any episode of ABC's "Nashville." He did a few numbers strictly solo, a few joined by members of the band, and then it was time for Caitlin Rose.

She opened with the very catchy "No One to Call," the first cut on her new album, The Stand-In. I didn't keep a set list but looking at The Stand-In I'm pretty sure Rose performed more than half her new songs, including "Only A Clown," (she bravely declared her fondness for clowns against the current cultural phobia, and made clowns a thread throughout her between-song patter), "Waitin'," "Dallas," "Pink Champagne," "Silver Sings," and "Old Numbers." From her previous album, Own Side Now, Rose performed "Shanghai Cigarettes" and "Spare Me--Fetzer's Blues."

On about the second or third song, my companion leaned over and asked, "You've seen her before, or just heard her?" I knew instantly what she was talking about. Rose, obviously comfortable on stage and easy with the aforementioned patter (if very self-aware), is virtually expressionless while singing. Some emoting would bring her to a whole new level of performance, and it would help to get her intricate lyrics across. My friend, herself a veteran performer, had an interesting theory: Rose's voice is such a magnificent instrument that she doesn't have to make any of the "straining for the note" or "whoops I missed it" faces the rest of us make when we sing. It is fun to hear those effortless melodies, but it would help to add the human connection.

The set was a short 45 minutes (Rose mentioned that explicitly, along with the fact that early shows "give me the f&*#ing willies") and it ended on a heart-pounding high with new song "Menagerie" followed by a rollicking cover of the Buck Owens classic "Tiger By The Tail," which highlighted Andrew Combs once again.

I had been a little irritated with the two young women next to me, who spent the entire 45 minutes discussing their social lives and prospects for the evening, but all was forgiven when Rose declared the end of the set and the three of us called in wistful unison, "Own Side!" Confession: I had a very brief fantasy that Rose would say, "I'm really tired of singing that, but MomVee, why don't YOU take the mic..."

It was not to be. The lights went up, and I went around the corner to get some tapas and a decent glass of wine.

*Cullum and Rose's guitarist Jeremy Fetzer have a side project, Steelism, that I'll be checking out soon because I love pedal steel and cute Brits.

Milk Music / Waxahatchee Take Me Away

It's Been a Long Couple of Days Already

Maybe it's my age, but I've found it harder and harder to get back into the grind lately following any amount of time off. We all had a nice holiday weekend here. I took the girls to see Taylor Swift. We had a big, family dinner on Sunday, and I got my dual nerd fix of The Walking Dead finale and the Game of Thrones premiere.

Now, it's more commuting for CoolMom and more conference calls for me.

During any free time I have today, I'll be turning to the debut release from Olympia, Washington's Milk Music, Cruise Your Illusion, as I prepare to do some sort of review of the album. The album is another entry in the 1990s fuzz / grunge revival that seems to be one of the themes of 2013. It's out now on Fat Possum, and you can still stream it at Pitchfork.

Then, this evening, Mike from Speak Into My Good Eye will be joining me for a trip to 285 Kent in Brooklyn. We'll be seeing my current obsession, Waxahatchee. Look for a review of that one in the coming days.

So, even though things have been quiet at CoolDad Music for the last few days, there's lots brewing.