High Waisted Played Brighton Bar with Teenage Halloween, Lunch Ladies, and Trans Charger Metropolis, 7/14/16

High Waisted

Party in the Back

Back in April, I wrote about my then obsession with High Waisted's On Ludlow. That really hasn't subsided. The album has been one of my goto records for late-night drives back from Asbury Park or Brooklyn, and it is just solid solid from front to back. I caught the second half of one of High Waisted's sets at South By Southwest; but, since then, the stars have never aligned so that I could see them again. On Thursday night, they finished up their recent tour at Long Branch's Brighton Bar and were even better than I could have expected.

It was an eclectic bill featuring the GBV-inspired rock and power pop of Trans Charger Metropolis, the shoegaze / dream pop of Lunch Ladies, and the heartfelt pop punk of Teenage Halloween in addition to the headliners. All of the openers turned in fine sets, Trans Charger Metropolis not showing any of the rust of an extended layoff and the two younger bands playing to an enthusiastic crowd of friends.

Trans Charger Metropolis

Lunch Ladies

Teenage Halloween

High Waisted played almost all of the songs from On Ludlow, including surf instrumentals "Shanghai Spy" and "Kitchen Safari." At the end of "Hey Hey," Emily from Dentist turned to me shaking her head and just said, "That is a great song." Singer Jessica Louise Dye made all of her demanding vocal parts seem easy -- even after a 3-week tour of singing night after night -- and she and guitarist Stephan Nielsen squeezed some of the most amazing tones out of their rigs. They closed with an aggressive cover of classic "Miserlou" that was just amazingly fantastic.

High Waisted

Pics of all the sets are in the Flickr galleries and on the Facebook page. High Waisted return home to New York tonight with a show at Knitting Factory Brooklyn that also features Total Slacker and Lionlimb.

Diarrhea Planet Were Back at Brighton Bar with Music Band, The Battery Electric, and Trans Charger Metropolis, 11/18/15

If You Build It

The first time I saw Diarrhea Planet at Brighton Bar (my second time seeing them in the area), I think there were maybe 8 people in the place not counting employees. It was a warm Tuesday night, and Gentleman Jim and I headed over from his old trivia night at Red Bank's Downtown. The band were all smiles about it, extremely gracious after the set, and looking forward to the next show at a basement in New Brunswick on Wednesday.

Since then, Diarrhea Planet have done what I wish more touring bands at their level would do. They've kept coming back. Two or three more shows at Asbury Lanes. A show back at Brighton with JEFF The Brotherhood, and Wednesday night's show. I'm going to say that there were maybe 100-150 people in the bar on Wednesday. A good chunk of them crowded in front of the stage for the Nashville band's set and sang along with even the new songs.

Music Band, Diarrhea Planet's Nashville paisanos, took advantage of the large-for-a-Wednesday crowd and did an impressive set of their un-Googlable garage / psych rock. Local openers Trans Charger Metropolis and The Battery Electric had a hand in upping the turnout, and both bands did what they do -- Trans Charger's Justin Normandy throwing in plenty of Pollard-eque leg kicks and Battery's Ron Santee coaxing the crowd closer and closer to the stage.

Diarrhea Planet were all-out with their orchestral guitar rock from the beginning of their set until the last strains of their cover of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck." The crowd went all-out right along with them, at one point hoisting frontman Jordan Smith over their heads for a little crowd surf. A couple of years ago that would have been an impossible move.

It's nice to see a band's work to build a following outside of their hometown and the big cities pay off. It can't be an easy thing, but it looks like Diarrhea Planet have built themselves a nice little midweek tour stop on the Jersey Shore.

Links to pics of all the sets are below.

Diarrhea Planet

Music Band

The Battery Electric

Trans Charger Metropolis

Dentist, Smalltalk, Seaside Caves, Trans Charger Metropolis Played Asbury Lanes for Vinyl Heart Release, 2/13/15

Dentist, Smalltalk, Seaside Caves, and Trans Charger Metropolis celebrated the Vinyl Heart release at Asbury Lanes.

Heart-Warming

Last night was the big night. When I started CoolDad Music back in 2012, I never imagined that any band -- much less a group of bands that I love -- would come to me and ask me to participate in their record release. That is a thing that, in fact, happened, though; and last night saw the release of the absolutely stunning heart-shaped Vinyl Heart compilation featuring Smalltalk, Dentist, Seaside Caves, and Trans Charger Metropolis. There's a little CoolDad Music logo right there on the center label, and I am extremely proud to have been associated with this project even in a small way.

Fans and supporters packed Asbury Lanes to catch sets from all four bands. While each of the bands on the compilation have their own sound, they're all connected by the way in which they reference some of the seminal sounds of indie rock. Trans Charger Metropolis produce short bursts of loud, catchy indie pop that owe a great deal to Bob Pollard and Guided By Voices. Seaside Caves hypnotize with the dark wave, synth-drenched sounds of my youth; while Smalltalk pull from the guitar-based proto shoegaze of the same era. Dentist mix surf with the "loud-quiet-loud" approach of the late 80s and early 90s to produce some of my favorite sounds on the local scene.

Last night's bill was one for which I'd rearrange my schedule any day of the week, and the bands did not disappoint. I took photos of each set in between chatting and sharing a few beverages with CoolMom and lots of friends.

Everywhere I turned, people were smiling as they clutched beautiful red hearts. Congratulations to all of the bands on making the event such a success.

Here are some photo highlights. The rest are up at Flickr.

Vinyl Heart Contest: Win Tickets and Records for You and Your Sweetheart

Just Leave a Comment

The Vinyl Heart compilation EP featuring Smalltalk, Dentist, Seaside Caves, and Trans Charger Metropolis will be released with a big show on Friday, February 13th, at Asbury Lanes. CoolDad Music is a proud sponsor of the event because we love all of those bands around here. Asbury Lanes is also kind of the happiest place on earth to us.

You still haven't bought your tickets or ordered your copy of the record, you say? Well, here's your chance to make up for that.

The rules are simple:

Just leave a comment on this post between now and 12 noon on Monday, February 9th. I'll pick a single winner at random from the commenters, and you and your sweetheart, mom, friend, uncle, frenemy, whoever will each win a ticket to the show and a copy of the record.

Now, claiming your prize requires that you can actually attend the show. I'm not going to be shipping out tickets or records. This should not really be that big of a deal as I know you really want to go to this one.

If you don't like your chances, you can still pre-order copies of the record from Arcade Radio and / or pick up presale tickets.

Also, don't forget to go take a listen to the interview I did with Smalltalk frontman and Vinyl Heart organizer, Zak Kaplan.

Get to commenting and good luck.

Interview: Zak Kaplan Talks Smalltalk and Vinyl Heart

Modern Rock at the Jersey Shore

We're a little less than two weeks away from the release of the Vinyl Heart compilation EP. The brainchild of Smalltalk frontman Zak Kaplan, Vinyl Heart brings together four Asbury Park bands -- Smalltalk, Dentist, Seaside Caves, and Trans Charger Metropolis -- on a four-song compilation to be released on heart-shaped vinyl the night before Valentine's Day at Asbury Lanes. For Dentist, Seaside Caves, and Trans Charger Metropolis, I believe this will be the first time that any of their music will be available on vinyl, which is exciting. Smalltalk, Zak's collaboration with Jamie Goldfarb, Tara Jones, John Chladniček, and Pete Steinkopf, are no strangers to interesting vinyl releases; but this will definitely be their first time on a heart-shaped record.

Everything culminates with a show featuring all four bands at Asbury Lanes on Friday, February 13th. CoolDad Music, along with Holdfast Asbury Park, Russo Music, Chunksaah Records, Pirates Press, and Asbury Lanes, is a sponsor of the event. I jumped at the opportunity to help bring this project, which features several of my well-documented favorites, to life.

If you'd like to pre-order copies of the record, you can do that over at Arcade Radio.

Copies will also be available at Asbury Lanes on February 13th. You can grab pre-sale tickets for the show here.

I sat down with Zak Kaplan to talk a bit about Smalltalk and the Vinyl Heart project. You can stream our conversation below. I've also made it downloadable in case you'd rather listen to it in your car or while you run on the treadmill.

And keep it tuned here for a few more fun things as the release show gets a bit closer.

"Vinyl Heart" Comp and Show on February 13th at Asbury Lanes

Indiegogo Still GoGoing

I'm really happy to announce that CoolDad Music is a proud sponsor of "Vinyl Heart," a heart-shaped vinyl compilation and a show featuring Smalltalk, Dentist, Seaside Caves, and Trans Charger Metropolis. This is an extremely cool project that will be putting some of our favorite local bands together on vinyl and giving them a Valentine's Day Eve showcase at one of my favorite venues in the world.

Did I mention that the record comes in the shape of a heart?

The show celebrating the release will feature sets from all of the bands involved, and it takes place on February 13th at Asbury Lanes.

There's an Indiegogo campaign for the project that's just about to enter it's final week. You can head over to the campaign page to pre-order the record and to buy advance tickets to the show.

I jumped at the opportunity to be associated with this project, and I'm sure that the show on February 13th will be an evening we'll remember for a while.

So make those plans with your sweetie (or your buddy, or your mom, whoever), and keep it tuned here for more information as we get closer to the show.

NJ Music Odds and Ends: Thomas Wesley Stern, Happy Mondays, Vote for Lost Romance

Dentist plays Happy Mondays at The Wonder Bar tomorrow night.

Pre- and Post- Super Stuff

New Jersey is hosting today's game, but that fact appears to be lost on much of the country. Well, there are a few things you can do over the next couple of days to show some support for New Jersey music anyway. As you get ready to decide which huge corporation tried to sell you stuff in the funniest, sexiest, most interesting way, think about adding one or two of these to your plans.

Thomas Wesley Stern will be playing two sets of their fun and foot stomping roots revival music for this Sunday's Country Comfort at Langosta Lounge between 1pm and 4pm today. It's an excellent way to get back to basics -- and to enjoy an excellent Bloody Mary -- before the sensory onslaught of today's game.

Tomorrow will be the first February edition of The Wonder Bar's Happy Mondays. It's an all-NJ edition featuring New Brunswick's Lovelectric, Trans Charger Metropolis (whose "A Less Dense Dimension" made Alex Rosen's list of best local songs of 2013), and our good friends, Asbury Park's lo-fi dream poppers, Dentist.

Also tomorrow, voting opens for 2014's Hard Rock Rising competition. It's billed as a "global battle of the bands," and New Brunswick alt rock band, Lost Romance, will be competing. You can head over to Hard Rock New York's Facebook page to cast your vote starting tomorrow. All the details of the contest are available at Lost Romance's website.

See that? You've got plenty of chances to support New Jersey and its music, and you don't have to miss a single, big commercial.

Have fun. Enjoy the game. Don't drink and drive. And, remember, you probably have to work tomorrow.