I lead a pretty busy life* and as such it just so happens that I don't always have time to promptly post reviews of every goddamn show I see. And since it's raining too hard for me to consider walking around the park today, I might as well catch up on said show reviews. (I'm still deciding whether to see Appomatox at Trash Bar tonight, and sadly it will probably come down to how crappy the weather is by then.)
*NOTE: I do not lead a busy life.
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The Young Knives at Mercury Lounge, June 9th, 2008
I went to this show pretty much solely on the notion that "these guys sound like The Futureheads," whose debut album I absolutely adored, and whose News and Tributes was one of the worst records of '06 (save for the excellent Area EP which was appended to said album's back end). And, yes, there is more than a passing resemblance between the two bands' respective sounds, with the main similarities being between the heavily British-accented vocals and the spiky yet muscular performance style-- this is not Franz Ferdinand trying to hi-hat the audience's mouth around their cocks, but a decidedly more workmanlike, sweaty affair. I thought the songs were frickin' great (tried to find their recent album at Other Music today with no luck) and the between song banter was arguably the funniest I've ever seen at a show, with the only possible competitor being the patter of Art Brut's hilarious Eddie Argos. Really highly recommended, and I would have stayed for the whole set had a couple of drunken dickholes started grabbing at me (?!) and stomping on my feet.
I missed Gustav Heden's set, but the other openers were pretty good as well. At first The Magic Wands seemed to be nothing more than slavish Raveonettes/Kills impersonators, but by the end of their set they had me boppin'. And the Postelles' blend of power pop and post-punk was nothing if not fun and tuneful: big nods to Joe Jackson/early Elvis Costello from these dudes, with plenty of danceable jangle.
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The Breeders at Webster Hall, June 10th, 2008
I'm not going to lie to you, I wasn't terribly psyched for this one, as the new Breeders record, Mountain Battles, isn't very good. But there's a pretty decent stable of material for the Deal sisters to draw from for the live show (including covers of Guided by Voices' "Shocker in Gloomtown" and The Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun"), and with much of the new record's bored flatness being amped up considerably in the live setting, there's plenty to look forward to at a live Breeders show. Of course, the crowd went craziest for "Cannonball," but there was a lot of love from the appreciative crowd for stuff from the rest of their catalog (except Title TK, which went largely ignored in the setlist). And how can you not love an encore of that includes "Overglazed," "Drivin' on 9," and "Saints"? Pretty cool.
Openers The Montana Boys, fronted by a 400 pound guy on vocals/keys/occasional guitar, played fairly non-descript white-boy weirdo funk, but at least (some of) the songs were kinda danceable.
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Goes Cube at Europa, June 12th, 2008
Last time Goes Cube played an NYC area show (two, to be more accurate) was in late March when they played a couple of welcome-home shows following their SXSW trek. I managed to miss both of those shows due to family obligations, but this time my brother came along with. As I've mentioned on this site several times, these guys know how to bring the heaviness like few other bands I've seen, local or otherwise, and this show was absolutely no exception. The boys have just finished recording some newer songs, which *surprise* actually have full titles (up until now all their songs had been named "Goes Cube Song" followed by a positive integer) and several of these were debuted, and rock they did. And although the first half of the set or so was plagued by the guitar not being quite loud enough, eventually shit got straightened out. There seemed to be a pretty decent showing at Europa, and according to Goes Cube's MySpace page they have a couple of Brooklyn shows coming up over the next two months, so if you haven't checked these guys' blend of progressive, post-metal and punk, you are highly advised to do so at your next available opportunity.
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I wish I owned an air conditioner. That is all.
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