Bob Mould Played Bowery Ballroom with Cymbals Eat Guitars, 9/11/14

In A Free Land

September 11th is always a surprisingly tough day for me. While I don't spend the whole day thinking about what it felt like to be in New York City on that day thirteen years ago or what it felt like in the weeks, months, years that followed; it's surprising the way it kind of sneaks up on me. As Gentleman Jim and I drove into Manhattan last night, the conversation turned for a few minutes -- totally organically -- to our memories of that day; and a little bit of that sadness started to creep into my consciousness again.

After a beer and a few minutes of conversation with some people in the bar -- Gentleman Jim knows everybody everywhere -- we made our way upstairs just in time for the opening set by Cymbals Eat Guitars. The crowded Bowery stage left Joe D'Agostino and the band a little less room to move around than they had at Asbury Lanes, but the energy level was right up there with the show I saw a few weeks ago. I've had some time since then to really get into the band's new record, Lose. It's really grown into one of my favorite records in a while. The songs from the album, with their overall theme of loss (of people, youth, innocence), fit right into where my mind had been kind of wandering on its own for the last hour or so. I didn't really realize that until I wrote those words, but it made for a pretty special short set.

The crowd started to push closer to the stage as we got ready for Bob Mould's set. With the gear from the opening band cleared, the stage went from cramped to spacious. Mould, bassist Jason Narducy, and drummer Jon Wurster took the stage and started things off with "Flip Your Wig." Mould and Narducy stalked around the stage with Narducy throwing in some high leg kicks. Wurster is always a force behind the drums, and I'm always struck by what a good time he appears to be having.

The set covered more Hüsker Dü ("Hate Paper Doll," "Hardly Getting Over It," "I Apologize") and Sugar ("Hoover Dam," "A Good Idea," "If I Can't Change Your Mind") in addition to Mould's solo work. The songs came one after the other with hardly any banter in between. I took a few pictures to accompany this post, but I mostly closed my eyes and let Bob Mould's signature guitar sound pummel me in the chest.

It's kind of weird, I guess, reaching some type of meditative state, clearing all of the thoughts and cobwebs out of your mind as you stand in the middle of a storm like that. It happened both times I saw My Bloody Valentine, and I felt it again last night. After the last song -- "Hey Mr. Grey" from this year's Beauty & Ruin -- I kind of felt myself letting out one of those deep breaths, relaxing my shoulders and neck.

As we drove home, we chatted about a wide range of topics (as Jim and I have been known to do). Maybe I complained a bit about how my kids don't always listen or how some of the stuff at their school annoys me. But, really, it was all happy stuff -- kids, family, the community where we live, music. It was like I'd kind of been nudged -- or more like knocked -- back on track. I'm grateful for that and for, I guess, a whole bunch of other stuff, too.

You can check out a few pictures from both sets up at Flickr. There's also another chance to see Bob Mould and Cymbals Eat Guitars on Saturday when they bring their tour back to New York for a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Cymbals Eat Guitars, Lose, 2014

Album Review

"Our parents got us a dog so we could learn about loss. The slow education," sings Cymbals Eat Guitars frontman Joe D'Agostino on "Chambers." It's a line that kind of sums up the whole record. On a larger scale than simply owning a dog, life is one slow education about loss; and Lose -- the third full-length from this NY / NJ band -- addresses that process throughout its nine songs.

Joe D'Agostino lost his friend and musical collaborator Benjamin High in 2007 when the two were still in their teens. Lose deals directly with that on several tracks, but the record also hits upon more general forms of loss -- youth, idealism -- and the fear of losses that are still to come. But the album isn't a dirge. While Lose still shows some of the experimentalism of early Cymbals Eat Guitars, many of the songs include things like choruses and even a hook or two that make this the most accessible album in the CEG discography. That's a good choice. D'Agostino and the band have a lot to say here, and they've made a record that makes you want to hang around and listen.

"Jackson" opens the record with some simple piano as it builds to the swirling guitars and "oooh oooh"s of the full band. D'Agostino sings of keeping up an appearance of normalcy following a loss, but going through life with "the space sickness" "while we wait for the weightlessness." "Warning" is a speedy, upbeat-sounding rocker anchored by the "ba ba ba" hook at the end of each verse. It also contains lyrics like "The shape of true love is terrifying enough" and "Friendship is the biggest myth."

"XR" -- appropriately hyperactive, almost Pogues-y with its percussion and harmonica -- will touch anyone who has lost a friend from their youth: "And then, out of nowhere, the smell of his basement." Like Superchunk's I Hate Music -- and, come to think of it, there are moments when D'Agostino sounds a little like Mac McCaughan on Lose -- "XR" also contains the sobering realization that music isn't going to save you and be the answer to everything like you thought it would when you were a kid. The song also includes one of the album's references to The Wrens, a New Jersey band that has had a few things of their own to say about the loss of youth and innocence.

The Wrens come up again in the epic "Laramie" -- synths, soaring guitar feedback -- as D'Agostino confesses to "Chasing the chills I felt when I was eighteen." Chills like those that come, maybe, when singing a dueling vocals version of The Wrens' "I Guess We're Done" when on a long car ride with your buddy.

"Chambers" does capture a lot of what I think Lose  is about. Over the course of its less than four minutes it doesn't just hit upon the idea of life's slow education about loss. It doesn't just express the fear of losses still to come: "The panic sets in, though nothing's happened yet." But it makes an excellent point about how these feelings are bound to change as that education continues. "Here's what it felt like when I was 25," sings the 25 year old D'Agostino, declaring that Lose is simply a document of where he is today, where he's at on the path of his slow education. All of this comes delivered in an 80s power pop sounding package featuring synths and some spacious guitar and vocals.

Cymbals Eat Guitars combine some more conventional song structures with D'Agostino's now more personal lyrics on Lose, making it a record -- like The Wrens' The Meadowlands -- that spoke to me personally on the first listen. I think it's going to be one of those records -- like The Meadowlands -- that I can come back to over the years again, again, and again. As my own slow education continues, I'm sure I'll continue to find things here that speak to me.

Cymbals Eat Guitars start a tour with Bob Mould this Friday at Philadelphia's Theater of The Living Arts. Then, they're in New York with Mould for three dates: Bowery Ballroom on 9/10 and 9/11, MHOW on 9/13. Do yourself a favor and try to catch one of the shows. Not only is Bob Mould... ...well, Bob Mould... but also seeing the songs on Lose performed live gives them added context and dimension.

Lose is out now on Barsuk Records.

Cymbals Eat Guitars Played Asbury Lanes, 8/24/14 (PICS)

Topped Off a Sunday "Festival"

There were a festival-worthy five bands on last night's bill at Asbury Lanes. The homeowners' association that was meeting in the outdoor space adjacent to the Lanes got to hear the first couple of songs from Eatontown's Have A Good Season just before the garage door closed for the night. Lucky for them, too, since guitarist / frontman Nick Palermo heads off to college in the coming days. More on their set, along with sets from our friends in Paper Streets, Long Branch garage / glam rockers Acid, and Brooklyn's Grooms, later.

Staten Island via New Jersey quartet Cymbals Eat Guitars headlined the night. When the band started releasing singles in the run-up to their new album, it felt like they had been gone for a while. Turns out it has been three years since the band's last full-length Lenses Alien. Their debut LP Why There Are Mountains rates as a classic of the late aughts for me, and their combination of Pavement-y sounding indie rock and shoegaze touches a lot of personal bases.

While the sound is there, I've always found CEG to be a bit darker, less absurdist than Pavement. Frontman Joe D'Agostino lets all those emotions out onstage. He furiously attacks his guitar-playing; and, for the second time in a week, I saw someone break strings on multiple guitars during a set.

The new songs sounded great live, and there were name checks of well-known NJ landmarks like Six Flags and Vintage Vinyl throughout the evening. LOSE comes out tomorrow, but I was able to pick up a copy from the band last night. I'm looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks when they open for Bob Mould at Bowery Ballroom.

I managed a bunch of pictures of all the bands. Here are highlights of the set by Cymbals Eat Guitars. There are more on Flickr, and pictures of the other bands will start showing up there as I make my way through them.