Jan 15
Blues, Country, Indie Rock, Soul No Comments
Although it was the first time in some ten years that both primary contributors to Concert Central were actually at a concert together, we only saw a couple of songs. But the band still managed to make their goodness clear. A rootsy indie sound and fronted by a very lovely young girl with a great voice. Originally from Alabama but now in Austin
Nov 14
A cappella, Indie Rock, Orchestra No Comments
Gorgeous. Not the transvestite stage spectacle and loud queer politicizing I expected, but rather a focus on the music, which is more beautiful and orchestral than I realized from their studio recordings. I finally understand why they’re described as chamber pop. Young cute Canadians – maybe not cute – they were each a little dorky and odd in their own way. The lead singer pleased me with his tall lankiness and dark eyes, and his distinctive prettily quirky voice that warms me like the sound of a well-liked familiar friend. There were two fiddlers, a keyboardist, an occasional trumpeter, a drummer – maybe 7 or 8 people on stage total? Their songs are complicated but hooky, like The Shins but more comfortable. They toy with sounds and their voices and the instrumentation in a sophisticated and sonically pleasing way. They’re often billed as “gay church folk music,” and part of what attracted me to them in the first place was their blaspheming of religious imagery by jumbling it up with explicit homosexual lyrics. While there is something majestic and holy in their sound, the term “folk” doesn’t do credit to their sound. This band and I were meant for each other.
Nov 14
Indie Rock, Modern Rock, Singer/Songwriter No Comments
a former member of The Hidden Cameras and a golden frosted fairy of a man – he’s near albino – his voice was both good and interesting, but his singer-songwriter style grew old very quickly – towards the end of the set, the band moved into indie rock material that was more exciting
Oct 16
Indie Rock, Modern Rock No Comments
everybody wanted to see them at SXSW and nobody saw them – they were three very young girls from Brooklyn harmonizing in a pleasantly monotonous almost atonal fashion – not what I expected but it was an acoustic set so can’t really judge – maybe a little pretentious in the Yo La Tengo way with their disregard for hitting the right note – the flatline melodies were intentional and while the FrustratedPhilosopher found it to be obnoxious hipster posturing, I found it comforting – created a pleasant drone – they were described as surfer girls which made me like their sound more – they were also described as having opened for Jay Reatard (awwww) and Sonic Youth which did not at all fit their sweetie sweet vibe
Aug 08
Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Rock and Roll No Comments
My wife and I recently attended a “Blue October” concert on saturday August 8, 2009 at the “Marquee Theatre” in Phoenix, Arizona. I also had the opportunity to share a few brief moments with the bands lead singer (Justin Furstenfeld) in the parking lot behind the “Marquee Theatre” he was in pain and asked me to open a prescription bottle for him for his wrist. Justin allowed us to take a few photographs of him with me and some other fans and also he did some autographs in his book titled “Crazy Making,” he also autographed some t-shirts for other fans as well. Justin talked about how he gets fined by some bible belt arenas for singing the word “Fuck” and they fine him $1,000 per word. I say they are not living up what they preach and are being greedy which is against the bible.
My wife took photographs of me with the rest of the band as well. I was able to get autographs and photographs of Jeremy Furstenfeld-Drums, Ryan Delahoussaye-Violin, CB Hudson-Guitar, and Matt Noveskey-Bass.
They are all very fan friendly as they exited the “Marquee Theatre” and came directly over to a group of about fifty or so fans. They talked to us, shook our hands, hugged some of us, talked about some personal and band issues going on. They are just a bunch of fun guys. They are still real people that have not yet been consumed by the fame.
I personally would recommend everyone going to a “Blue October” concert. The concert was full of energy and the band was able to hypnotize as they engaged with the crowd.
Mar 21
vaguely remember liking them several years ago – the sound was really good at this venue but it had an outsdoory festival feeling which was too un-SXSW to stay – dark sonic indie rock – nuanced – nice vocals too
Mar 20
Alt-Country, Indie Rock, Pop No Comments
I have an extreme fondness for this band’s vocal harmonizing and general sound (please see “Shake Our Tree”)… quirky fun indie pop with interesting lyrics – very unfortunately, the Mohawk’s sound system totally failed the band and underplayed the voices and highlighted the less interesting instrumentation – additionally, in what I saw (a lot), they did not play my song – I think it’s possible they’re solid song crafters and it’s just a matter of being better on album than live – their physical appearances were interesting enough though that I suspect the Mohawk is to blame
Mar 20
I had an idea that they were a Belle and Sebastian type band but not a bit of it – they’re an electronic-sounding indie rock band who apparently have an illustrious producing career though that may have been bad information from people near me – from Sweden and it’s not a guy named Peter Bjorn and a guy named John but rather three guys… I’d be annoyed if I were Bjorn
Mar 19
Britpop, Indie Rock No Comments
a return to the shoegazer label – three girls who made me giggle because they were so self-conscious and wobbly as rock stars – a sad statement on what a white middle-class upbringing does to a girl – had a pop sound but also a few more rocking songs
Mar 19
Britpop, Indie Rock No Comments
clear that on the same label as Your Kisses Cause Crashes, they were more passionate and more crescendoing though – 2 guitars and drums – the lead singer sounded like Conor Oberst
Mar 18
Electronic, Indie Rock No Comments
Another instance of my distorted perspective of band popularity – I realized in the morning that not marking this band as my #1 for the day had been an oversight but I doubted that we’d even get in because they were so huge… … we were one of thirty people maybe on a distinctly uncrowded patio. Don’t know if it was the day, the time, or if I really have no sense of band status, in my own little world of total music access. Anyway, they were fantastic. They sounded less electronic live than they do recorded. They’re just high-quality textured indie rock with pleasingly quirky twists in the riffs and the vocals. The lead singer was endearing and enthusiastic with his one feather earring. The crowd was mostly young gay males but I think it was more a function of the neighborhood than the band, though the feather earring gives me pause. They ended with their HUGE HIT “Ghetto Ways.” Well, their #1 fan, at least, was very pleased.
Mar 16
Indie Rock, Jam Band No Comments
The Films started strong on their set. Heavy influences of the Kinks and the Who were readily apparent. But after the fourth song, Pour it Out, where the boys were joined by Butch Walker on piano, their set kind of fizzled. Their look was straight out of Young Indiana Jones, their jams were stuck in the 70’s and there was an unsettling southern vibe to their music. But not a Athens, GA vibe, more like rural Tennessee. Nothing was bad but if you had told me they had just won a Battle of the Bands contest, I would have believed you.
Nov 24
Art Rock, Indie Rock No Comments
Amanda Palmer stormed into Boston for the first two nights at the Paradise Rock Club, supported by the Danger Ensemble. Palmer’s solo album is a force of nature, as is the performer herself on stage. Playing keyboard solo and accompanied on about half the songs by violinist Lyndon Chester, Palmer ran through most of the songs from her solo album, keeping the audience riveted with soft love lorn songs like Ampersand and the tragic Blake Says. Musically, Palmer has never sounded better. She pounded through spirited versions of back to back Dresden Dolls’ tracks Backstabber and Coin-Operated Boy. During Guitar Hero, she played air guitar and lip synced to her own track from the front of the stage.
She stopped the set twice, once to auction off a signed guitar from the music video for Guitar Hero (it went for $790). Later, she went to a segment called “Ask Amanda” where she answered questions from a hat. It was that kind of show.
The Danger Ensemble is a four-piece performance group that acted out scenes on stage while Palmer played. Some of the pieces were stunning, like the tour de force of “Will Kiss for Kash” during Coin-Operated Boy. During Have to Drive, the Danger Ensemble reassembled in the audience, pushing the crowd away to make a space to work with and proceeded to climb on each other like a living sculpture. It was engrossing and Palmer was happy to share the attention.
The show opened with a eulogy performed by Palmer’s mother (getting the crowd to sing along to Abide with Me) before Palmer herself appeared through the crowd in a white shroud and launched into Astronaut.
The show closed with a lip synced extended version of Rihanna’s Umbrella, a singalong cover of Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer with The Builders and the Butchers supporting and Ryan Sollee sharing lead vocals. Then Vermillion Lies and Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band joined the rest on stage for a wild romp through Leeds United. It was that kind of night. Amazing.
Oct 24
Blues, Dance, Indie Rock, Psychedelic No Comments
the high quality of their sound was immediately apparent – rich and full despite it being an acoustic show, I take note of them because of the distinctive voice but that actually became annoying – seemed contrived – he does have a good voice but could change up on its nasally execution every now and then, very attractive band – appear serious and smart, did a short set of only three songs but with a wide range of sounds from psychy indie rock to hoppy dance hit “Something Is Not Right With Me” in which the drummer continued to play drums with his left hand while shaking the shaker with his right hand… which was terribly impressive to me
Sep 27
Hard Rock, Indie Rock, Prog Rock No Comments
these unassuming boys put on an intense show, a loud wall of noise though definitely not psych-metal – the meticulous melodies and indie yearning hurtled forward as if on a upward bound rumbling train give them a sound that is quite their own
Sep 27
Blues, Indie Rock, Psychedelic, The Vault No Comments
Rockboy discovered this band at SXSW this year and I’d come to like them a lot too – I kept telling him that she sounded like some 70s singer… Janis Joplin… but that wasn’t quite right – it became suddenly and blatantly apparent seeing them live: the round expansiveness and tone of every note of her voice is verbatim Jefferson Airplane… Grace Slick – her voice is the band though the other aspects are just as appealing – she sits playing drums in the center while outputting this incredible voice flanked on each side by matching boys: lead and bass guitars – Rockboy describes them as a mix of White Stripes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs which is accurate with the bluesy driving minimalism of the former and the feminine intensity of the latter – incredibly young crowd who of course could not understand in totality the greatness of this little band
Sep 19
Alt-Country, Glam, Indie Rock, Singer/Songwriter No Comments
knew them from one song that I really liked on Pandora but was more interested when I found out that Stephen Malkmus of Pavement is a member – turns out they’ve been around since the late 80s – the lead singer David Berman is very engaging – he’s thin (a la melancholy drug abuser) with swagger and sunglasses and a speak-singing low voice that alternated between sounding like Lou Reed and David Bowie – they’re like a lo-fi country or indie rock band with a poet/glam rocker fronting them – Emo’s was overflowing with random people – the whole band had class and I am a new fan
Sep 19
Alt-Country, Indie Rock, Singer/Songwriter No Comments
started by informing the crowd that he’d started the tour with a band but was with a band no more, generally seemed bitter and Emo’s is just a venue entirely unsuited to a singer/songwriter, otherwise he did a good job for being a lone guy on a big stage, nice voice and sufficient stage presence, think his purported nuance was lost on a crowd of that size though
Aug 14
no, local band, insipid indie pop, maybe I’m being harsh but that was my initial and enduring feeling
Jun 28
lead singer was Lars’ buddy who is always at Beerland, they were a stripped down minimalist type post-punk, spoken vocals, would need to see them again to rate their interest level
May 31
Opener: The Black Lips
I’ll admit that I think the Raconteurs are brilliant. I have both their albums in heavy rotation on my ipod, so I went into the concert at Manhattan’s Terminal 5 knowing all their songs and most of the lyrics. Their songs always tell a story, sometimes with an ending you don’t see coming. We scored a great view up on the third level, looking over the shoulders of some bored people leaning over the railing. The screens were dependably grainy, so I was glad for the view. All in all, the show delivered few surprises, just a rock solid performance. Jack and Co. didn’t break till well over an hour into the show, consistently flowing from one song into another. Throughout the show, Brendan Benson was as subdued as Jack White was energized. Maybe that’s what makes them work so well together.
The Raconteurs opened with the title track of their new album, “Consoler of the Lonely” a schizophrenic song that also opens the CD. Like much of their music, “Consoler” takes what could have been an average rock song and adds a twist, alternating between two drastically different tempos and styles. A few songs later, Jack White took over on the keyboard for one of my favorite tracks, “You Don’t Understand Me,” followed immediately by “Top Yourself,” a song of spurned love. Benson sang the last verse softly, over subdued, sustained chords, which set up the cowboy-styled opening of “Switch and the Spur.” On the CD, I didn’t enjoy that track that much; it feels a little too corny. But performed live, it connected in a way that I never expected, and it featured a thrilling guitar solo by White just before the final section.
When the band transitioned into “Intimate Secretary,” one of the goofier tracks on the first album, I was disappointed by the blandness of the performance. There was no contrast between sections, making the song one long string of strange lyrics and sustained volume. It was followed by “Old Enough,” a country-tinged track thanks to the surprising addition of violin to the band’s musical texture.
The excitement of “Old Enough” led into a four-song section which was the peak of the whole show. It started out with a fabulous rendition of “Rich Kid Blues,” with long slow breaks after each fast section, leading into Benson’s slow, sweet vocals. A droning bass line became a downright creepy version of “Level,” with Benson and White trading extended solos. The final solo guitar line turned into a non-syncopated version of the intro to “Steady as She Goes,” the monster hit off the Raconteurs first album. Benson led the song with guitar solos in every break. The zenith of the whole show was a frenetic and powerful performance of their psychedelic blues track, “Blue Veins.” White’s guitar solo was almost overwhelming in its emotion, but he brought it down to a soft level before coming back crashing loud. White’s vocals and guitar playing were so over the top, he nearly knocked over an amp during an awesome extended coda that closed the song.
That was the sole break in their performance, with the roadies running around the stage putting everything back in place. The crowd was so energized after “Blue Veins,” they didn’t stop clapping and cheering the entire 10 minutes the band was off-stage. When they came back to finish up their set, they came out with “Broken Boy Soldier,” White frequently using a voice box set up near the back of the stage. I liked his use of the voice box (and what I think was a delay button hooked up to it), there was for no apparent reason a mirror attached to the setup. When he used the voice box, he turned his back to the audience and stared in the mirror. (My friend and I spent most of the walk home discussing various theories, most of them centering around narcissism and just plain old weirdness.)
The first words anyone spoke to the audience were from Jack, asking “Everything all right?” When the crowd cheered in response, the band broke into a sped-up version of “Salute Your Solution.” I thought it was an excellent decision, as the uptempo opening contrasted more with the slow sections contrast and made the song much more exciting. “Many Shades of Black” followed–hands-down my favorite on the new CD–but without the horns featured on the album, it lacked energy.
The show closed with “Carolina Drama,” a brave choice given how mellow its ending is. Most bands save their most exciting song or biggest hit for the ending, but the Raconteurs chose a slow, intense story to end their set. It gave the show a lot of closure, though, and we walked out feeling like we’d gotten more than our money’s worth.
Setlist
Consoler Of The Lonely
Hold Up
You Don’t Understand Me
Top Yourself
Switch And The Spur
Intimate Secretary
Old Enough
Together
Rich Kid Blues
Level
Steady As She Goes
Blue Veins
Broken Boy Soldier
Salute Your Solution
Many Shades Of Black
Carolina Drama
May 31
Garage Rock, Indie Rock No Comments
The Black Lips from Georgia opened the show, and their potentially interesting music was overshadowed by the frenetic—and occasionally revolting—stage antics of their guitarist. While the band played songs which all seemed to come off a ’50s compilation CD, the guitarist would frantically whip around the stage performing all the tricks he could think of. It’s fine to have one or two gimmicks, but he did the same thing for every song: he’d knock over his mic stand and catch it with his foot before it hit the ground; he’d strum over his head or with his tongue (are we back in the ’80s now?); and worst of all, he’d spit a huge wad of phlegm into the air and—brace yourself—catch it in his mouth. A middle school gross out trick at best, he did it over and over again throughout the set. Maybe that’s his way of amping up the routine.
Their music was an updated version of ’50s chord progressions and drumbeats, played louder and faster and crunchier for a modern audience. The annoying guitarist also played vocalist on a few numbers, singing in an odd imitation of Bob Dylan, both in terms of the timbre of his voice and general incomprehensibility. I think in a smaller venue or perhaps on CD, I might have enjoyed their music, but I was too distracted by the mediocre performance.
Apr 29
Indie Rock, Pop, Psychedelic No Comments
pop pop pop rock, then picked it up a little to “rock” as they said but it was more like pop pop rock then, I liked the lesser pop version but overall they were quite good, 60s jangly pop with psychedelic edges, I suspect that the gray-hair member of the band is behind their sound rather than the cutesy-voiced singer but who knows
Apr 29
Blues, Country, Glam, Indie Rock, Performance, Singer/Songwriter No Comments
Friend3 and Friend2’s band of four months – they both sing though Friend2 is more Mountain Goats while Friend3 is dramatic rock, Friend1’s ex-roommate is on trumpet, “burner” on incongruent V-shaped guitar, long curly hair on drums, band includes some three other members-mostly brass, so as the vocals/songwriters varied did the music, from witty-lyric silly-voice songs to dramatic rock opera numbers to a rock-medium when both sang together, distinctive diverse band with musical talent, they’re disparate right now plus can’t judge them fairly because I know them
Apr 15
Art Rock, Indie Rock No Comments
friends of Red Leaves (names may be misspelled), daters who looked nearly exactly alike, reminded me of Yo La Tengo in terms of sound and the insufferable attitude (particularly the girl), she played guitar, keyboard, etc. and he played guitar, tambourine, etc. – something about her atonal voice reminded me of The Slits – they were stripped down but I quite liked them
Mar 30
Art Rock, Indie Rock, The Vault No Comments
April 12th starts at 8pm! Momo’s on Rio Grande/6th Street above Katz. Rockin’ for Rescue is Dedicated to ending the euthanasia of homeless pets by creating awareness and providing education to the public and provide support for non-profit animal rescue organizations. Please visit http://www.myspace.com/rockinforrescue Rockin for Rescue where you can make a tax-free donation or purchase some very cool t-shirts or wristbands!!! Hope to see your shiny faces at the show!!! Lisa Umbarger from the Toadies will be performing with her new band Tile. Come out and check out the new band.
April122008Show.jpg http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/Flyinghellion/R4R/April122008Show.jpg
Mar 28
Indie Rock, Psychedelic No Comments
Stylistically went from Creedence to Crosby Stills & Nash to Trans Siberian Orchestra. They managed to build up momentum in the half hour set so that by the time they hit the track Honestly and followed up with a nameless instrumental jam, they were on fire. Played a setlist of songs from their upcoming release. MySpace page they describe themselves as ” Psychedelic / Soul.” Sure. Whatever it was, absolutely, foot-stomping grand. Jesse Gallagher’s energy level is unreal.
Mar 14
eh, just indie rockers, nothing remarkable, though the pictures of trees blowing that popped up when I googled them were funny
Mar 14
Hard Rock, Indie Rock No Comments
finally got to see this fantastic band, like a train speeding through a desert when they’re good – all drum roll progression, two brother-looking guys exchanged lead vocalist duties, voice could be annoying but it works and is the reason that they are founded in indie rock circa 1980s with hard rock overtones to make it modern, newer songs were more ponderous
Mar 02
College Rock, Indie Rock, Singer/Songwriter No Comments
a sociologist by day and a songstress by night — her CD release party, she and her piano were accompanied by B. Sterling Archer (a whiz on many instruments) and Brett Staggs, still strikes me as solid and genuine, she is a more mainstream Fiona Apple, I was so proud
Feb 10
Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Indie Rock No Comments
Dead Moon and the Pixies, quirky indie rock with a lot of soul, only saw the end of the set but pretty appealing
Feb 07
Weezer/Death Cab, skinny little boys… with a TOTAL anomaly of an aging 80s potbellied bass player closing his eyes rocking hard and pretending that he was actually in a heavy metal band, he got his moments but in the end the boys were triumphant, I think the disjunction made for more interesting songs
new fiction by Andrew Marx
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