Last year I had the opportunity to go to the North Jersey Indie Rock Festival at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City. It was eventful, as I got to see many bands for the first time that I heard about from CoolDad. It was a great introduction to some of Jersey's finest. The one band that caught all of my music loving attention was The Vaughns. I remember just being a little tired that night and waiting for them to finish setting up. When they started to play, I turned around and looked at Mr. Jack Silbert, AKA "Hoboken Jack" and said, "Holy shit!! These guys are awesome!!" (Don't hold me responsible for the accuracy of that quote.) He looked as impressed as I was, and this guy goes to more shows than anyone I've ever known. It was an official stamp of approval.
After that experience, I made sure The Vaughns were on my radar. Coincidentally, Matt Chrystal had an interview lined up with them which appeared on this site last week, and I had plans to see them at FM in Jersey City. The Vaughns are from Springfield, NJ which is very close to where I grew up. I had a feeling, too, that one of their songs drops a line about my favorite coffee shop in Union, NJ. It became personal.
FM was a venue I knew the treads of my boots needed some love at. Going to Jersey City on a Friday night, which is officially my favorite music city, put me in the right mood for a live show. I packed the fully charged cameras into the new bag I got for SXSW, and broke it in.
It was a four band night. Fiscal Cliff opened up, and gave us a little bit of a pop/blues-infused set. They were excited to be at their home base and had quite of few supporters in the audience. Fans threw out song requests and sang along. I especially liked the song "The Ballad of Mice and Men."
Fiscal Cliff
Fiscal Cliff
Fiscal Cliff
Fiscal Cliff
ManDancing rolled in after The Vaughns with some of their angsty raw rock. Some of their stuff was pretty soul baring, and they shared that with the crowd with no restriction. There were times the lead singer, Stephen Kelley, reminded me of Conor Oberst from the band Bright Eyes. He hits you in the gut with his lyrics and sometimes his mic screaming stabbed you right in your emotional boundaries.
ManDancing
ManDancing
ManDancing
ManDancing
Brother Moses headlined the night and were pretty damn amazing. They got the crowd to move up to the stage as they had been acting a little timid for most of the night. By the end of the set, Brother Moses had opened and walked forward into a great night for music. I absolutely fell in love with the song "Sandwich Bags," I love the lyric, "Life is measured out in sandwich bags."
Brother Moses
Brother Moses
Brother Moses
Brother Moses
Now we need to get back to The Vaughns. They were the second band in the lineup, and they put on what I like to call "soulful distortion." Anna Lies's vocals have a bluesy, soul vibe to them; but the loud guitar likes to interrupt her flow bringing something truly powerful to their songs. They also have a presence on stage that makes you want to get back to being in a rock band. They make me debate my life choices on whether I should have bought a Fender instead of a Nikon. The Vaughns played a few new songs that I can't wait for them to release. They also played one of my favorites, "Santa Cruz." The fact that they did not play "Roses" now gives me my necessary excuse to see them again.
The Vaughns
The Vaughns
The Vaughns
The Vaughns
The Vaughns
I'm just warming up this year as I have a feeling that my already unhealthy infatuation with music will hit a new level. There is nothing like having a new band to fall in love with on a weekly basis. I can probably get that Fender and still keep the camera bag.
Semiotics, former residents and proprietors of the much-loved Naner Manor (neé Banana Stand) in New Brunswick, set out on the first of two August weekenders today. This week the band will be playing shows with ManDancing. Next week, they travel with steve. The tour will take the bands from the Mid-Atlantic to New England.
Deeply committed to a DIY ethic, Semiotics booked the upcoming tour themselves. Now based in Philly, they also plan to continue booking and hosting shows at their new digs.
Check out some of the sounds from each of the bands below. Refer to that big, beautiful poster up top for all of the dates, and try to stop in at a show if these bands are coming to your area.
Just a little roundup of some stuff that I've been meaning to post about over the last few days / weeks. I was all set to get this out on Friday, but half-days for the cooldaughters and early carousel shows got the better of me.
ManDancing, Everyone Else
At the beginning of the year, I shared "broken" from ManDancing's Everyone Else. The song encapsulates the feel of the entire record in that Stephen Kelly's singer / songwriter introspection comes through, while Ben Petty's hand in production plus a full band often take things from the personal to the universal. Opener "shows," for example starts quietly before blooming into something more explosive by its end.
The record maintains its very personal feel by creating moments when you feel like Kelly is in the room with you. Someone presses record, and you can hear Kelly take a deep breath before he begins ("cigs (cigarettes)," "reprised (ocean)") or just get himself settled ("(lit) ocean"). Then comes a big flourish and all of those inner feelings are turned out on the listener.
I mention this album now not only because it's definitely worth a listen, but also because it's been re-released by new, small label Little Game Records. Lucas Dalakian of ROMP and Matt DeBenedetti of Toy Cars teamed up to help some bands they believe in produce physical releases, and Everyone Else was their first.
Colton Kayser, "Save My Soul"
Jersey Shore singer / songwriter, Colton Kayser, is nearing the July 30th release of his sophomore LP. Last week, Kayser released the second single from A Place to Settle, "Save My Soul."
The sentiment of "Save My Soul" is something I can identify with as Kayser vows not to succumb to "death through productivity" and, instead, pursue his passion. Alt-country can often focus -- and to great effect -- on bitterness or anger, but Kayser subverts that a bit by opting for a positive take on the typical kiss-off.
Kino Kimino / Son Of Stan, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover"
Kino Kimino's Kim Talon teamed up with Son Of Stan to produce this cover of Sophie B. Hawkins's ubiquitous in 1992 hit, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover." The fact that the object of Hawkins's obsession in the song is a woman was considered so controversial by MTV 24 years ago that they quite lamely banned the original video for its "erotic content." That couldn't stop the song from reaching the top 5, though; and if you were within earshot of a radio or TV back then, you could not miss it.
This version reworks a definitive 90s hit, accentuating its droning keys and staccato guitars and making it sound like something that could have been produced 5 or 10 years earlier. The replacement video featured Hawkins performing in torn jeans and a plaid flannel, but those 90s trappings hid a solid 80s groove. That's there in force on this version complete with a brief callback to Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."
Kino Kimino's Bait Is For Sissies is out now and the band play Shea Stadium on July 3rd.
Dentist, "Joel" and Ceilings Stream
I can't let a Dentist release go by without a mention, so here I mention that, last week, our friends released the third single from their upcoming Ceilings which is due this Friday, June 24th, via Little Dickman Records.
On "Joel," singer / guitarist Emily Bornemann sings of not wasting time worrying about what others think of you. Every moment spent dealing with that crap is a moment you'll never get back. And there's probably somebody who thinks you're pretty cool: Your cat? Yourself even? Maybe?
The song starts off with a tired, almost exasperated feel, before picking up into something significantly more forceful and take-charge.
Just as I was getting ready to write about "Joel," Dentist began streaming Ceilings in its entirety over at The Le Sigh. It's a great pop / rock record dealing with all the things you've heard on Dentists' singles -- falling for the wrong person, the futility of constantly chasing a good time, dealing (or not) with the perceptions of the outside world. The songs are also just catchy and infectious, blending Emily's dreamy vocals with the sometimes more in your face and aggressive sounds of the band.
Go stream it and familiarize yourself with the whole thing before heading to The Saint on Friday, June 24th, for the release show with GayGuy/StraightGuy, Darkwing, and Yawn Mower. If you're in the city, you can catch Dentists' NYC release on June 25th at Berlin with Best Behavior, Dead Stars, and Lightning Bug before they head out on a tour of the midwest.
For much of 2015, Steve Kelly and Ben Petty (Subtitles) worked together to massage the songs of Kelly's acoustic, singer-songwriter project into something a little more "full band." We have the first taste of all of their hard work with the first single from ManDancing.
With Petty's production, "broken" successfully melds Kelly's introspective lyrics with something significantly more epic. Following the lyric, "I'm learning that it's a choice I make, every morning when I wake up, to forgive myself and be grateful for my life!" the song explodes with crashing drums and guitar before settling back down on a quiet and hopeful note.
"broken" is the first single from ManDancing's upcoming full-length, Everyone Else, which is due on January 26th. New Brunswick's Naner Manor will host a release show on January 29th that also features Fire Is Motion, LKFFCT, Milkmen, Joe Galuppo, and Gabriella.
Check out "broken" below and then head over to ManDancing's Bandcamp page to grab it as a Name Your Price download while you wait for the release of Everyone Else.
