Tuddd's Muddd

Fujiya and Miyagi with School of Seven Bells at (le) poisson rouge, February 17, 2008

  

School of Seven Bells

    Not much time for this one, so let me see how much I can get down in 30 minutes or less.  Go.

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    Yeah, I really, really like School of Seven Bells.  Thick, dreamy electropop at its finest if you ask me, with a definite MBV influence on a bunch of their songs.  This was the third time I would be seeing the band live, with the first coming in December '07 at Mercury Lounge, opening for Setting Suns (before that band was forced to change its name to Magnetic Morning).  At that show I was totally impressed by their songcraft and the trancelike intensity with which they performed, and it certainly ain't gonna hurt when you have two insanely hot chicks in the band.  Very entertaining set, and had me looking forward to the next time I saw them, which was opening up for Blonde Redhead on a bill that also included The Raveonettes (at Terminal 5, in January '08).  On that day School of Seven Bells' heavily-reverbed atmospherics didn't translate well to the larger room, although to be fair to the band, the Raveonettes sound was also mangled beyond enjoyability, so I had to just chalk that one up to technical incompetence on the part of the venue soundguy.  Shoulda been a great show, but wasn't.

    '08 also saw the release of School of Seven Bells (aka SVIIB)'s first long-player, the excellent Alpinisms (#9 on my year-end Best Albums list) which yielded several great songs, with my faves at year-end being "Half Asleep" and "Face to Face on High Places" (#s 30 and 54, respectively, on my year-end Best Songs list -- check out said list for some sweet live mp3s of those songs, btw), although after a couple more months of listening "Iamundernodisguise" and especially "My Cabal" shoulda been on that list, too.  For whatever reason, I wound up not seeing the band live throughout the rest of 2008, so obviously I was pretty psyched to get the chance to see them again, especially in a sweet room like (le) poisson rouge. 

    Wound up not getting out of the apartment until nearly 9:30, and after taking the M to the F I wound up in front of the venue at 9:53... quick lap around the block (Thompson to Houston to Sullivan back to Bleecker) found me taxing the everloving fuck out of my trusty one-hitter.  Show was practically sold out, and predictably security had no fucking clue how to deal with the mess, but once I got inside I wormed my way up to the front, fucking around with cell phone Tetris until the band took the stage at 11.  (Again, I can't stress enough how stunningly insanely hot the Deheza sisters are, hoooo mama.) 

    There's a lot to love about this band.  The melodies are fucking perfect, and the harmonies are amazing.  The music manages to be both delicate yet substantial at the same time, with the obvious meticulousness not overwhelming playfulness, while the understated beats get you primed for some serious eyes-closed head-bobbing.  This is some seriously beautiful, moving, well-executed stuff here.  Many of the songs have a distinct Loveless-esque quality to them, which is tough to pull off without sounding totally cloying.  My only complaint about these guys is that the music is just so thick and there's just so much going on that it's plainly obvious that a lot of it is canned/sequenced... makes me wonder just exactly how much of it is actually being performed and how much is piped in.  But no matter, these guys are highly recommended.

    Setlist went as follows, I think (remember, I was very stoned and probably forgot a song or two) and ran for about 42 minutes:

Face to Face on High Places
Iamundernodisguise
Wired
Chain
Half Asleep
My Cabal

    Okay, gotta go, but a few words about the headliners, Fujiya and Miyagi.  First song reminded me a lot of INXS, which is a good thing, although eventually the songs all started to run together as a maelstrom of krautrocky dancey stuff, similar to '90s ecstacy-accompanying music.  Not bad, although by that point after several beers I preferred the idea of getting a coupla slices to shaking my ass. 

    Good shit, but I gotta go to "work."  Tuddd ya later. 

   

Thalia Zedek Band with The Weight at Bowery Ballroom (opening for Deer Tick), February 13, 2009

   

    First post in awhile, although I have several nearly-finished posts sitting in my draft queue.  Indeed, I plan to make good on my intentions to write at least a little something about every band I see live this year.  As I expected, actually having an occupation/having stuff to do during the day has dramatically cut into the time I have available to waste on this blog.  To boot, '09 has been jampacked with visitors from out of town wanting to get toxic, which I have kindly obliged, con gusto.  Also there's been some drama on the homefront with a roomie moving out and having to find a suitable/non-psycho replacement.  And I've been sick. 

    Anyway, Thalia Zedek needs a better publicist... if it hadn't been for me religiously scanning the pages of OhMyRockness I would have had no idea this show was going down at all.  Which would have been a shame, since I really dig her music.  I'm on record (somewhere) declaring Come's 11:11 as one of the most underrated albums of all time.  Furthermore, her 2004 solo joint Trust Not Those in Whom Without a Touch of Madness is a fine record (not to mention an airtight aphorism), and 2008's Liars and Prayers ranked 30th on my year end Best Albums list.  (Also, I bought her first album with Live Skull from about 20 years ago on eBay late last night, so I've got that going for me.)   

    I believe this was to be the fourth time overall I've seen the band, with the first coming on an opening slot with Dinosaur Jr. in December '06 at Rebel on 30th St.  On that night, the band consisted of Zedek on vocals/guitar, backed up by drummer Daniel Coughlin and violist David Michael Curry, with Zedek's thick, morose chording and raspy croon perfectly framed by the expert musicianship of her bandmates: Coughlin's drumming managed to be both substantial and subtle, with Curry deftly switching between melodic leads and harrowing atonal embellishment.  The second time I saw Zedek live I wrote the performance up here, almost two years ago to the day.  Fine show, and the first time I had seen them with the new, full 5-piece lineup (adding Mel Lederman on keyboard and Winston Braman on bass).

    Last year the band rolled through town in mid-June, and although family commitments precluded me from hitting the show down the block from me (at Union Pool), I enthusiastically attended their show at Mercury Lounge the following week.  Not sure why I didn't post a review, but here's the setlist from said show and such.  As you may or may not be able to tell, they focused very heavily on the newest album, skipping old faves like "Ship," "Bus Stop" and "Hell Is in Hello."  Post-set I chatted with the keyboard player for awhile as he related some tragic tales of life on the road as a touring musician over the last decade-and-a-half-or-so.

    So last night I got back to my apartment before 9 and immediately began hitting the dank.  Hustled over to the J and made it inside Bowery Ballroom about 10 minutes into the set of the opening band, The Weight.  As befitting a band named after a song by The Band, these guys were rootsy and twangy and tuneful.  They also sort of had the kinder, friendlier country bar-band thing going, although they ripped off a few tasty guitar solos at times.  The two-drummer setup crossed me up a bit at first, but by and large they kept their rhythms conventional.  Similar to the evening's headliners, Deer Tick, but less angst-y. 

    Moved up to the left side of the stage for the Zedek Band set, and they actually started into their opening song, "Stars," while the house music was still going.  Up next was "Lower Allston" (which incidentally came in at #51 on my '08 Year-End Best Songs list), with Curry momentarily putting aside his viola to perform the song's sad, solitary Mexican-influenced trumpet parts.  After a doleful "Brother," "Body Memory" brought the tempo up a bit, even venturing out into a noisy, seemingly improvised section, a neat diversion while managing to avoid straying into self-indulgent jamminess.  "Since Then" came next, followed by another new song ("Wind?" I can't remember) before the familiar driving waltz of personal favorite "Bus Stop" began.  Awesome.  And a couple of songs later, "Next Exit" closed the set, with the lengthy ensemble sections showcasing the both the band members' individual prowess and the band's tightness as a unit.  Yes, the subject matter of Zedek's songs largely traverses the well-worn area between dreary and dismal, but one can't help but feel affirmed by a performance like this.

    As I predicted pre-set, my back didn't allow me to make it too deep into Deer Tick's set, although I'd seen (and written about) them last year when they played the part of "special guest" on a bill with Death Vessel.  Hopped back on the J and headed home.

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Got some shows coming up, including a few hours from now when I get to see Titus Andronicus open up for Los Campesinos.  I was initially turned off to said Andronicus by the fact that practically everyone compared them to Bright Eyes, who I really don't like, but as it turns out if I had actually heard The Airing of Grievances before January '09 the album would have been Top 5 of '08 easily.  Till next time, Tuddd out.