Tuddd's Muddd

BOAT at Mercury Lounge, April 9th, 2011

[yeah, my camera phone is garbage.  Deal with it.]

    HEY KIDS!  Remember Friday, when I was in kind of a crummy mood and I went out, got borderline black, and had a great fucking time seeing a band that I really, really enjoy?  Well, LUCKY ME, same darn thing happened on Saturday!  HUZZAH!

    BULLET POINTS!  YAY!!!!

• I was up drinking etc. until about 6 AM last night, FWIW.  Why?  Because it's easier to sit in my chair and continue said activities than it is to move 3 feet north into my pleasant, eager, warm, willing, awaiting bed.  I'm a fucking moron.  Woke up around 10 AM, procrastinated on lunch, then decided to watch the Yankees knock the snot out of the Boston Sucks Red Sox Suck, wheeeee.  The ensuing nap, sadly, did not take.
• I knew that this BOAT show was going to start early, so I started mobilizing circa 5:30 PM.  My day was one of those weird deals where I wasn't *exactly* hung over but I'm still slamming water in heroic quantities and peeing like... uh... what's the cliche here?  "Peeing like a frat guy at a beer pong tournament?" "Peeing like a Brussels Boy fountain slash statue?" "Peeing like a pee pee machine set to 'MAXIMUM PEE PEE?'" No clue where to go on this one.  Spotter, pls.
• Really didn't want to go to the show sober, but all I had on hand was some sub-par vodka.  So I took matters into my own hands and hit up the M.R. Grocery on Roebling, bought a 20 oz. orange Gatorade and an orange FourLoko, slammed the Gatorade, and poured said FourLoko into said now-empty Gatorade bottle so I could get fucked up easily on the J.  Now that's usin' yer noggin!
• As such, although I stepped onto the J at Marcy a sober man, I exited at Essex a stumbling mess.  Not too shab.
• Walked up to Mercury Lounge, opening the door so enthusiastically (hahaha) that the bouncer told me to "be careful, man!" and that " [I] nearly fucking killed [him]!" My bad!
• Chatted with the singer / guitarist and the drummer from BOAT for awhile.  Good dudes.  Their recent tour has consisted of about 9 or 10 dates, and they recorded a Daytrotter session last weekend after their Brooklyn show.  [Full disclosure: I missed the Brooklyn show last weekend because of this shitshow.]  This would be the final show of the tour.  Doesn't look like Daytrotter has their session up yet, but I'll try to let ya know when they do.
• Said BOAT dudes mentioned that they needed to locate a store that would sell them a pair of scissors.  Having attended two different awesome BOAT Arts N Crafts Nites (macaroni shakers and '88 Mets facemasks -- both of which I still have somewhere), I was curious what they had in store for us on this night.
• Not going to slag off either of the opening bands, but let's just say they weren't exactly my cups of tea. 
• BOAT took the stage at about 9 PM or so.  I've made this comparison in the past, but back when GbV first attained some level of national notoriety, audiences were expecting like a weirdo-folk hippie commune to show up and perform the music (understandable, considering some of the weird-ass shit that's on Bee Thousand).  Instead, legendarily, GbV showed up with an insanely loud, arena-ready 2-guitar attack up in this bitch, knocking the assembled audience out of their fucking socks.  A similar thing could have been said for BOAT's live show a couple years ago, especially considering the first time I saw them live it was after hearing their weirdest, scrappiest album, Let's Drag Our Feet, and I half expected the band to consist of a ragtag bunch of acoustic-toting, xylophone-tapping nut-jobs, which was fortunately not the case.  For the record, BOAT's live show these days is basically an awesome power-poppy deal, way louder, funner and more rockin' than 99% of today's (or any time's, for that matter) indie poppers. 
• The set was EXCELLENT.  I was pretty liquid after a few pints and and a vodky Red Bull, so for much of the evening I was basically rocking out and shouting along.  Apologies to anyone that overheard me screaming the lyrics totes off key an' shit.  It happens.
• The evening's "arts and crafts" consisted of a massive cut-out head and word balloon announcing that this was BOAT's New York Record Release show (they were selling their new album, Dress Like Your Idols, on vinyl at the merch table).  Also there was a huge cut-out picture of a plate of nachos, and an another accompanying word balloon announcing "BOAT GOES THRU YOU LIKE A PLATE OF NACHOS!" or something similar, hahaha.  Apparently they weren't allowed to hang these items on the walls around the stage due to potentially causing a "fire hazard," so instead the band held them up at different points during the show.
• The set was EXCELLENT.  (Yes, I realize I said that earlier, but it begs repeating.)  Nothing from the first album (I was considering being a bastard and requesting "Lanterns and Laughing Ladies" throughout the set, but fortunately refrained), but a few each from Let's Drag Our Feet and '09's excellent Setting the Paces, with the rest coming from Dress Like Your Idols.  For the encore, the band gave us the choice: "do you want to hear one of our songs, or one of someone else's?"  The overwhelming response was "SURPRISE US!" so they whipped out their excellent "Interstate 5." 
• So yup, friggin' awesome all around.  Check the setlist below, and further below check a pic of the shirt I bought (one for me, one for Beafi).  RAWK. 

1. Dress Like Your Idols
2. Come With Me We'll Win
3. The Name Tossers
4. Bite My Lips
5. We Want It! We Want It!
6. Kinda Scared of Love Affairs
7. (I'll Beat My Chest Like) King Kong
8. The Ferocious Sounds of Lobsters and Snakes
9. Classically Trained
10. Make Way for the Genius to Appear
11. Lately (I've Been on My Back)
12. Forever in Armitron

        --Encore

   13. Interstate 5

 

Parts and Labor at Cake Shop, April 8, 2011

    Just got back from the show, loaded up the bowl, and poured myself a TALLLLL Vodky / soda / splash'a cran.  Thought I was kinda sober when I got on the train home.  That was an inaccurate assessment / I am fucking TRASHED.  Deets to follow.

• Hate to admit that just a short four weeks ago I still hadn't heard note one by Parts and Labor.  Although, yes, I'm a bit late to the party on these guys, I'm already a full-fledged convert; by this point they've already scored the coveted (HAHHAHAHH!) #1 slot on my first "Best Albums of '11" list.  Naturally, the next step was to see them live. 
• After some serious huffing and puffing, hopped the J to Essex.  Cake Shop calendar said doors at 8, but I was prepared for the worst, which came to fruition when I was informed that shit wasn't going to get started until about quarter after 9.  FUUUUUUUCK!
• Went a few doors down from Cake Shop to Iggy's, a bar I really disenjoy.  Last time I was there I got the distinct impression that I was the only person in the bar not on intense amphetamines, although an improbably awesome PBR special kept me glued to my barstool.  This time, I walked in and they're playing Sublime (?!???!) and I wind up getting harassed by some drunk, coked-up 60 something dude about the goings-on in the NBA.  He had no clue what the fuck he was talking about, but I politely nodded as he spouted such gems as "man, I hope the Knicks play the Sixers in the first round!" [eyeroll]  Needless to say, this guy was BRUTAL, and probably deserved to be burned, alive.  Trying to break up the conversation, I ordered a second pint, but the fucking bartender FORGOT ABOUT ME, leaving me with my dick in my hand for about 10 minutes.  Ultimately, I went unserved.  Despite wanting to get drunk -- and fast -- I decided that my time was better used just wandering aimlessly around the Lower East Side.
• Drank a bunch of pints at that shithole Nice Guy Eddie's.  "Hey Nice Guy Eddies, 'fuck you,' you're a shit bar.  Except for the hot bartender (the one with the glasses)."  Very uneventful.
• Finally stumbled into Cake Shop at about a quarter to ten.  Was informed that I had missed the opening band, Hunters, which was just fine by me; four bands can be a tall order especially if three of them could potentially suck ass.
• First band I saw was Zulu, and they were horrible.  Just tuneless infantile thrashing about, which can be ok if your shouty guy sounds kind of intimidating.  This guy, not so much; he sounded like he was scolding his loftmate for carelessly placing a chai latte on his back-up iPad.  Whiny, monotonous and shitty.
• Began pounding Rock cans with reckless abandon.
• Escaped outside only to be aggressively panhandled by a dude about my size (read: kinda terrifying) for a couple of bucks. 
• Next band, from the "dark hole of Cleveland" (their words, not mine, although I concur), was Puffy Areolas.  They had kind of a proto-punk backbone filtered thru a more modern noisy presentation, which I obviously fucking dug.  The guitarist / singer guy spent most of his time fucking around in the first few rows of the audience (right where I was standing), so mad fucking props on that shiiiiiiiiit.  Was disappointed to see they apparently didn't have any CDs for sale. 
• The crowd seemed at least a little into this deal, which was nice because these guys were playing their fucking tits off.
• Drank some more Rocks at setbreak.  Tried to weasel my way into a cheap shot-and-a-beer special, but the bartender wasn't having it.  I'm sorry, but if the best you can do for a well shot and a can of beer is $10, you can go fuck yourself.
• Parts and Labor was up next and they did NOT disappoint.  Just great, noisy, at times inspirational (um, "Hurricane," anyone?) power pop delivered by a bunch of dudes that seemed fucking ecstatic to be there.  Man is this a good band!
• The keyboard dude announced that this was their first show with their new (touring?) guitarist, who apparently 1.) has a pilots license and 2.) once skydived (skydove?) out of the plane used in Point Break.  AWESOME!!!  Oddly enough, the guitarist was mostly inaudible to me for the majority of the set, despite the fact that I was standing no more than eight or nine inches away from him the whole set.
• In my brief review of their newest album, I somehow retardedly neglected to mention that the drumming on Constant Future is just INSANE.  I haven't been so unexpectedly blown away by a drummer at a live show since this Fucking Champs show.  By my count I've seen about 25 shows so far this year (about 50-60 bands at least) and the only drummers I can name that can even so much as hold this guy's jock are Kenny from Goes Cube and Harvey Milk's Kyle Spence.  [OK, fine, and Austerity Program's drum machine.]
• Setlist had a bunch of shit spanning Constant Future, Receivers, Mapmaker and Stay Afraid.  Plenty of new shit but regrettably no "Fake Names" or "Constant Future" or "Bright White."
• Hmmmm.  Not sure how I can more avidly recommend these guys.  Running out of nice things that I can say before this review turns into a straight fuckin' cartoon beejer.  Buy their records, see them live, and when you do, dance around like you're undergoing invisible electro shock treatment.  I did!
• Some props for the venue.  Watching (and becoming obsessed with) Jay Reatard's infamous Cake Shop set from back in the day (and having seen some bad ass shows in this room in my own right) has kind of made me remember certain past great Cake Shop shows with a sort of glowing wistful fondness.  Or maybe it's just the Christmas lights.
  
• Setlist below; see further below for a pic I took of the actual setlist from the stage [yes I am that nerd]:

Setlist:

1. Fractured Skies
2. Echo Chamber
3. A Thousand Roads
4. Wedding in a Wasteland
5. Outnumbered -> (yes, a legitimate segue)
6. Rest
7. Skin and Bones
8. The Gold We're Digging
9. Hurricane [probably the highlight of the set for me]
10. Never Changer [a/k/a pissbreak]
11. Nowhere's Nigh

        --ENCORE--

    12. Changing of the Guard

[Man was it dark down there]

My Costa Rica Trip an' shit

    Got back from an insanely over-the-top across-the-board awesome trip to Costa Rica Sunday night... the occasion was an awesomely high-concept, pricey-as-fuck bachelor party for my pal Woody.  In the name of incrimination avoidance and not doing something foolish like documenting my own crime spree, no names will be mentioned in this post, and the word "hookers" will not be mentioned.  Okay, just that once.  [For the record, right on cue, my shitty camera decided it didn't want to work anymore just a couple days into the trip, so I didn't get many good pictures.  Kinda sucks, but yeah, the trip was absurdly awesome.]

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This is the house we stayed in.  Right on the beach, 12 rooms, huge fucking pool, jacuzzis, the whole fucking deal. 

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Shot from inside the "compound." 

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a few pics of the beach.

Anyway, in light of not divulging too much, that's all ya get.  If you're actually my friend (and if you care) you know how to get a hold of me if you have any questions about the trip.  G'night.   

 

 

The Best Albums of 2011 (so far)

    Yes, I know I have a bunch of other posts I should be working on right now (including the second half of this bad boy; plus I should write something about the insanely awesome Costa Rica trip I just returned from), but eff it, I've got to get a "Best Albums" list up before my backlog starts to get crazy.  Again, this is not solely a "Best Albums of '11" list; it's actually ALL the newly released albums I've heard so far this year ordered from best to worst.  And yes, I realize that with both the new Raveonettes album AND the new Kills albums coming out tomorrow, if I waited just a few days the top of this list would look VERY different.  No matter; must soldier on. 

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1.) Parts and Labor - Constant Future -- This album is so in my wheelhouse that it almost hurts.  Lo-fi?  Check.  Live electro?  Check.  Catchy-as-hell songwriting with soaring, arena-ready choruses?  Check.  Massive and huge while still channeling a scrappy, underdoggish spirit?  Awwwww motherfuckin' hells yeah.  Seriously, buy this album IMMEDIATELY.

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2.) Goes Cube - In Tides and Drifts -- I've been a fan for quite some time now; click on the "Goes Cube" link on the left sidebar thingy if ya don't believe me.  And although I've thoroughly enjoyed (and recommended highly) every one of Goes Cube's releases, this is the best thing they've put out yet.  Riffs, hooks, brutish heaviness and aggression mixed with fleeting moments of contemplation, and the best drumming I've heard so far this year. 

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3.) Tapes 'n Tapes - Outside -- Just a very listenable indie rock record, nothing more, nothing less.  For a band that takes a lot of undue shit for wearing their influences prominently on their sleeves, this album's only true misstep is the Vampire Weekend-ish "One in the World."  For fuck's sake!  T'nT are miles better than Vampy Weeks; it's a crying shame that the record-buying indie rock public doesn't recognize that fact.  What can ya do.   

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4.) Soundgarden - Live on I-5 -- This was recorded in '96, and it's not tough to recognize why it wasn't released back in the day: Chris Cornell's vocals veer dramatically between rich, muscular, piercing howl (that's good!) and tuneless, ambivalent, bored-sounding muttering (that's bad!).  But overall this is a decent live document, even if the total lack of any Louder Than Love-era material is a total fucking joke.

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5.) BOAT - Dress Like Your Idols -- I was really psyched for this one, as their last album, Setting the Paces, was the best album I heard in '09.  As has been the case with literally every BOAT release thus far, appreciation of the band's albums benefits the more one listens... that being said, at this very moment (after only a handful of listens) I'm really liking the first half of the record (for Christ's sake, "Bite My Lips" is arguably the defining "sensitive guy anthem"), while I'm not so hot on side B.  Of course, YMMV.  Either way, I implore you to check it out.

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6.) Monogold - The Softest Glow -- Great songwriting, impeccable production, and a crisp, buoyant performance style make this a good listen.  Much, much better than the spate of other current Williamsburg indie pop.  These guys should be a household name, goddamn it, but don't just take my word for it... check that shit out for yourself.    

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7.) Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light (Vol. 1) -- Earth's previous release, 2008's The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull was an absolute revelation: it's easily the single most relaxing piece of anything I've ever seen /heard /encountered.  To me, it's Earth's clear career highlight (this coming from someone who dug the shit out of Hibernaculum).  By comparison, Angels of Darkness is kind of a poor-man's type deal, since The Bees Made Honey's shorter songs, more memorable licks, and Bill Frisell guest spots are so clearly superior.  Bottom line: unless you find yourself yearning for this type of somnambulent crap super-often, this album is pretty inessential.

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8.) Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will -- Only slightly better than 2008's career lowlight, The Hawk Is Howling.  Listenable, but pretty fucking boring, not gonna lie.

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9.) Colin Stetson - Modern History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges -- Got turned onto this one when I saw Stetson perform during his slot opening for Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Terminal 5 last month.  For the uninitiated, this is an albumful of a dude switching off between a massive 5 foot tall bass saxophone and a more normal alto sax with no real accompaniment (save the occasional "woman reciting poetry" jag).  Mr. Stetson's flawless circular breathing technique allows him to perform all kinds of wild and wacky oral histrionics on this recording, not limited to: insane arpeggiated 64th notes, weird percussive stuff, didgeridoo-like low humming, and so on and so forth.  All in all, this is as minimalistic an affair as you're going to find on one of my lists, and although it's definitely not for everyone (it's a bit much to listen to it straight through in one sitting) maybe you want to give it a shot if you find yourself in possession of a massive amount of pot / pot brownies (as I have). 

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10.) J. Mascis - Several Shades of Why -- Don't get me wrong, I thought Martin + Me (hard to believe that was released all the way back in '96) was fucking great, what with the clever mixture of interesting covers, Dinosaur Jr cuts and other originals.  By comparison, this album seems pretty flat and monotonous (shit, is that Ben Kweller on background vocals, or a Ben Kweller soundalike?  Why?!), and I can't help but feel that the more hopeful-sounding cuts would have done well on a proper Dino Jr record.  Oh well.

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11.) Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo -- The live show was way better.  Of course, whiny / strung-out sounding acoustic shit isn't exactly my bag.  In particular, this one's just too Westerberg-y for me to really enjoy it.

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12.) Radiohead - King of Limbs -- Easily the worst Radiohead release ever, including crap like Com Lag, the In Rainbows bonus disc, the OK Computer-leftovers Airbag EP, and even the hilariously quaint (by modern Radiohead standards) Pablo Honey.  Yes, Misters Yorke and Godrich like pushing the envelope towards the minimalistic, but usually they're able to weave enough actual melody in there to keep me interested.  Not here.  To these ears, the only good song is "Codex," which, when ya think about it, is basically a poor-man's "Pyramid Song." 

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13.) Yuck - Yuck -- Not a single shred of originality on here.  This album / band slavishly rips off early '90s indie rock godhead, so if you were in on the ground floor with Sonic Youth / Pavement / The Pixies you may be amused by these guys shameless aping of your heroes.  [I, for one, am not.] 

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14.) Lifeguards - Waving at the Astronauts -- I had high hopes for this one, as Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department, the first straight collaboration between Robert Pollard and GbV "modern era" guitar wizard Doug Gillard, is probably the single best album in the annals of Bob's idiosyncratically-named side projects.  (For the record, I'm pretty indifferent to the previous Lifeguards outing, 2004's Mist King Urth.)  Anyway, on this one, Bob does his usual "best" when it comes to all-star level hook avoidance (par for the course since '06 or so, with few exceptions).  Bleh. 

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15.) Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes -- The only thing this album has in common with those of Social D's glory days are power chords and Mike Ness's unmistakable rasp.  The songwriting is uninspired to the point of sounding like one of the countless mediocre bands that have carved minor careers out of ripping Social D off.  Yes, truly the teacher has become... the student.  Longtime Social D fans may find themselves disappointed by this album's suckitude, but the watered-down, safe as milk, fifth rate pop punk contained on this album shouldn't be too much of a surprise for anyone who's witnessed the comical, unintentionally self-parodying humongous racks of merch that Social D has schlepped around the country while on tour lo these last 7 or 8 years (why yes, we do take Visa and Mastercard!).  

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16.) Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde -- Awful, no matter what the tin-eared sycophants would tell you.  These kids took everything that was good about their decent first album -- great guitar tone, gritty production, clever songwriting -- and did away with it, replacing any semblance of authenticity with a glossy, synth-riddled sack of shit, the foundation of which (vocals) are the band's unquestionable weak point.  For crying out loud, if you like T. Rex so goddamn much, just go listen to a T. Rex album already.  Avoid unless you're a total fucking idiot. 

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17.) Robert Pollard - Space City Kicks -- Ah, the Hookless Wonder phase of Uncle Bob's career continues with yet another tuneless turd.  Naptime indeed.