I pussied out and didn't head out last night, so my grand total of shows seen this year is 5. A decent pace, yes, but it's still slightly behind that of last year (93 total shows attended in '08, thankyouverymuch). I'm still trying to narrow down what I'm doing tonight; maybe Freshkills, maybe a bunch of bands at Don Pedros, maybe barracading myself in my room/smoking weed/listening to the new These Arms Are Snakes record on repeat.
Anyway, here's the low-down on the first two shows I saw this year, in chronological order:
Free Blood at Death by Audio, January 6, 2009
I dragged a friend to this show based on my having seen and really enjoyed Free Blood before (about 2 years ago at this largely disastrous show). At that point, the band consisted of the tall gangly dude (apparently at the time a member of !!!) and the notably well-dressed chick on vocals, and a balding middle-age lookin' dude on bass. The music and vibe were fucking fantastic, basically dorky/awesome hipster funk that had asses movin', heads bobbin', boners poppin', and sweat glands secretin'. I remembered writing at the time (somewhere, apparently not on this blog) that their aesthetic reminded me of what might go on in the teachers lounge at your junior high school around 4:30 PM on a Friday: the dude reminded me of my 8th grade Science teacher, the chick looked a lot like my 6th grade Math teacher, and you just knew that they were gonna push aside the stack of ungraded exams and get down once the snotnose brats had filed out. What's more, the bassist reminded me of a 7th grade assistant computer teacher who always seemed just a little too into technology; you just knew the dude had jury rigged his Gyromite robot somehow with one of these bad boys, and he was definitely fucking it.
But I digress. I bought/enjoyed the CD Free Blood put out in '08, which was mainly in the same vein as the live set I had seen. Imagine my surprise when, on this evening, I learned that they've apparently been trying to transform themselves (at least the live show) into a kinda rougher garagey deal, totally grooveless and unsuitable for the type of hiney-waving I had in mind. Booooo.
Doug Gillard with Regal Standard and Graham Smith at Pianos, January 9th, 2009
GbV was (and is) my favorite band of all time, and I have many fond memories of following the band during their swan song in late '04 (I caught 5 of the band's final 6 shows). At that point and for the five or six years that preceded it, lead guitarist Doug Gillard served as the band's musical quarterback, adding an air of professionalism (and superb chops) to what could at times be a ramshackle drunken disaster. Late last year I randomly ran into him and his wife at a diner in Sunnyside, and stammered my way through some variation of "y-you're awesome, man," which he seemed to appreciate. Good dude.
All this January, Mr. Gillard has had a Wednesday night residency at Pianos, joined by friends and special guests as openers, and this was the first such concert. First up was Graham Smith, he of the witty lyrics and tuneful songs, on solo acoustic. Much of the crowd seemed to be familiar with his back catalog, which gave the set a kind of informal, living room-esque feel. Up next was Regal Standard, from Chicago, featuring Jason Narducy (touring member of GbV main man Robert Pollard's solo band circa 2006 and Pollard's new band, Boston Spaceships) and some other dude on acoustic guitars. How to describe their sound... kind of a Toad the Wet Sprocket thing going on there, maybe? Meh, who cares.
Doug Gillard's band was up next, and although the music was fine, I'll forever remember this set as "the one ruined by the drunken Irish dude that for some reason befriended me and wouldn't shut the fuck up." Believe me, that's not a terribly interesting story -- it goes pretty much as one would imagine, including him heckling the band and, at one point actually being gently heckled back -- so let me try instead to focus on the music, which was drawn primarily from Gillard's first solo album, Salamander, and his recently-released Call from Restricted, which by the sound of things contains some bona fide rockers. (I'll check that shit out if/when it hits eMusic.) For me, the set highlights were "Pop Zeus" (from the criminally underrated Gillard/Pollard Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department collaboration), with Narducy on vocals, and the Gillard-penned GbV classic "I Am a Tree."
So yeah, if yer in the mood for some nifty power poppage, check out Gillard's set this Wednesday (the 28th if my math is right) at Pianos.
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Have to hit up Frenchies but I'll be back tomorrow with more show reports from early '09 including sets from The Raveonettes, Pissed Jeans, Fucked Up, and Endless Boogie. Tuddd out.
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Now Listening:
These Arms Are Snakes - Tail Swallower
Easily the best album I've heard thru '09's opening weeks. Mathy, precise and brutal yet oozing with emotion at the same time, not unlike Tuddd's Muddd fave Goes Cube. Just try listening to the last 3 minutes of "Ethric Double" without breaking into full-on headbang mode. I dare ya.
