Drawing Boards, Kino Kimino, Outer Spaces, and Very Fresh Played Shea Stadium, 7/3/16 (PHOTOS)

Kino Kimino

3rd of July

Here's just a quick post to share some pics from Sunday night when I headed up to Brooklyn to catch Kino Kimino and Outer Spaces at Shea Stadium. I was there primarily for those two bands but ended up getting an additional pair of extremely good sets from Very Fresh and Drawing Boards in the bargain.

My friend and fellow cooldad, Joe, was already in Brooklyn taking a little music-filled vacation over the long weekend. Like me, he's the kind of guy that would rather hike up to the hot city to see shows than head over to the beach. We met for some pre-show drinks at Kings Tavern and then made the short walk over to Shea.

Brooklyn's Very Fresh, featuring Kino Kimino bassist Cindy Lou Gooden on lead vocals, opened with a set of lo-fi indie rock that was reminiscent of early (good) Liz Phair. They were followed by Baltimore's Outer Spaces who put out one of my absolute favorite records of 2016 in A Shedding Snake. The dark, slightly alt-country songs sounded great live, especially Cara Beth Satalino's vocals. Kino Kimino were next, and Kim Talon's stage presence took the songs of Bait Is for Sissies from quirky, punky pop to the level of performance art. Drawing Boards from Queens closed things out on a high with the chiming, jangling guitars that I always love so much.

Solid night all around and a great way to spend the holiday eve. You can check out all of the pics in the Flickr galleries or on the Facebook page.

Very Fresh

Outer Spaces

Kino Kimino

Drawing Boards

Outer Spaces, A Shedding Snake, 2016

Album Review

I'm trying something new today. It's Memorial Day Weekend. It's beautiful out. I live just over 3 miles from the beach, so I decided to take my bike and my iPad Mini over to Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park in Long Branch to write this review. This would probably work better with an actual laptop, but it's going ok so far.

There's something interesting and weird about sitting here in public at a table on the boardwalk with my headphones on. I'm watching the breeze blow the dune grass from side to side, parents slather children with sunscreen, and an elderly couple unpack their lunch. All soundtracked by the dark, southern-tinged beauty of Outer Spaces' A Shedding Snake. It's strangely perfect.

Guitar and electric piano layer over the opening drumbeat of "I Saw You." Songwriter / vocalist / mastermind Cara Beth Satalino's vocals are a bright counterpoint to some of the dirge-like chords, and the song takes on an almost New Pornographers-like power pop character when the "aaaa aaaas" of the chorus come in.

"I took my insides out / Left them all around the house... ...I'm a dog at your feet," sings Satalino on the deceptively bright, alt-country "Words." After graduating from SUNY Purchase, Satalino spent some time in Athens, GA before finally settling in Baltimore; and "Words" is one of the spots where that early R.E.M. twang comes through. Single "Heavy Stone Poem" is another.

Some girls -- maybe 12 years old -- are carrying Boogie boards down to the beach as Satalino sings "slow... slow... slowly now..." Why aren't they in school?

The wailing guitar that opens "I Was Divided" gives the song a cinematic feel. "The future is brighter than the stars in the sky" is a different sentiment than the co-dependency of "Words," and the "shedding snake" theme starts to become apparent. "Born Enemy" is dark, angry, and one of my favorite songs on the album.

Both songs have a Lynch-ian vibe that contrasts with the sweet smiles of those people over there posing for pictures in front of the ocean.

The album closes, appropriately, with just Satalino and guitar on "What Is Real." Producer and multi-instrumentalist Chester Gwazda -- who's worked in the past with Future Islands, Cloud Nothings, and Dan Deacon -- gives A Shedding Snake its forlorn yet poppy character, but it's Satalino's songwriting and vocals that carry the record. There's something appealing at an almost subconscious level about Satalino's voice. I especially love the guitars here, but I find myself waiting for the vocals to come in every time.

Maybe it was a little too distracting to try and write this at the beach. I kept imagining everything -- the boy over there drinking from a juice box, the mom washing the sand off her toddler, the young couple eating sno cones -- as a weird, conceptual video for the songs on this record. When I took off my headphones, the images of people moving silently through the indie / Americana world of A Shedding Snake became the sights of a pre-holiday weekend Jersey Shore. Both have their charms, but I'm popping the headphones on one more time before I head home.

A Shedding Snake is out now on Don Giovanni.

New Single from Outer Spaces

Photo: Micha E. Wood

"Heavy Stone Poem"

Baltimore's Outer Spaces recently announced their first full-length, A Shedding Snake, which is due May 27th on Don Giovanni Records. Today, the band released single "Heavy Stone Poem" and announced a tour that will bring them to Brooklyn's Shea Stadium on July 3rd and to Asbury Park's Convention Hall as part of the New Alternative Music Festival from September 16th through 18th.

I've found myself drawn to things twangy and jangly lately, and "Heavy Stone Poem" plays right into that for me. The song recalls some of the 1980s, Velvet Underground-inspired sounds of bands like REM or The Feelies, while Cara Beth Satalino's vocals take things somewhere a little more melodic, lush, and countrified than those influences.

Check out the song and tour dates below, and add Outer Spaces to your list of must-see acts for the NAMF in September.



5/20: Baltimore, MD @ Current Space
5/21: Richmond, VA @ Sour Haus
5/22: Raleigh, NC @ Radio Shack
5/23: Greensboro, NC @ Urban Grinders
5/24: Asheville, NC @ Static Age Records
5/25: Atlanta, GA @ 529
5/26: Athens, GA @ The Caledonia Lounge
5/27: St. Augustine @ Follow The Sun Festival
5/28: Gainesville, FL @ Follow The Sun Festival
5/29: Cedar Key, FL @ Follow The Sun Festival
5/30: Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo's
6/1: Oxford, MS @ The Shelter
6/2: New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
6/3: Houston, TX @ Satellite Bar
6/4: Austin, TX @ Barracuda
6/6: Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
6/7: Flagstaff, AZ @ Flagstaff Brewing Co
6/10: Los Angeles, CA @ Pehrspace
6/12: San Diego, CA @ Whistlestop
6/14: Oakland, CA @ TBA
6/15: Portland, OR @ Kelly’s Olympian
6/17: Seattle, WA @ TBA
6/20: Boise, ID @ TBA
6/21: Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
6/23: Fort Collins, CO @ Surfside 7
6/24: Omaha, NE @ Milk Run
6/25: Minneapolis, MN @ TBA
6/26: Chicago, IL @ TBA
6/29: Toronto, ON @ Smiling Buddha (downstairs)
6/30: Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
7/1: Burlington, VT @ ArtsRiot
7/2: Boston, MA @ TBA
7/3: New York, NY @ Shea Stadium
9/16-18: Asbury Park, NJ @ The Alternative Music Festival