Tuddd's Muddd

White Denim at Mercury Lounge, Oct 19th, 2008

   Once again, there's been very little action here at the Muddd, which closely mirrors the lack of action in my show-going life over these last couple of weeks.  But if yer gonna go through a spell where yer kinda sick and not going out much, you can't do much better for sheer high-energy rawk action than White Denim.  Yes, I'm aware that I have a propensity for overstatement but seriously, these guys know how to bring some damn righteous rock and roll to the table.  Keep reading for deets. 

    I walked into Mercury Lounge just in time to hear the opening notes from Ribbons, a two piece, boy/girl, drum/guitar outfit.  Their brand of earnest-ish guitar rock was okay but had me wandering towards cell phone Tetris immersion territory a couple songs in.  This, in turn, led to a conversation with the guy sitting next to me, who turned out to be James from White Denim (vocals, guitar).  Fuckin' cool dude -- he shared some funny stories about life on the road which ranged from unfortunate to hilarious to unfortunately hilarious.  For bands at this "level" (my favorite level, incidentally), it's certainly not a life filled with nothing but groupies n' snortables.

    Up next were Philly's Papertrigger, who I thought I remembered having seen before... turns out yeah, I saw them with Frog Eyes in the same room back in mid-March.  These guys bring a kind of noir-ish folk rock without succumbing to the dreaded "rootsy" tag.  The songs were good, and the unusual instrumentation (occasionally including double bass, saxophone and drumstick-on-aluminum-pipe percussion) kept me from going back to Tetris. 

    Brooklyn's own Amazing Baby were up next, and having seen this band just last month I kinda knew what to expect.  These guys seem to know every hot blonde in Brooklyn, but when you take away the posing and preening to me the songs sound kind of like a novice-level imitation of all things '70s NYC.  Again, if you're going to pick a musical period to mimic you could do a lot worse. (In their defense, the songs on their MySpace really benefit from an ambient production style which makes them sound less New York Dolls and more Roxy Music.  Check 'em out, because it wouldn't shock me in the least if these guys became frickin' huge).  Bottom line, if you love Used to Be Women, you'll probably like Amazing Baby. 

    White Denim followed, and right from the get-go it was plainly obvious that this wasn't going to be your typical Sunday night navel-gazing Mercury Lounge crowd; for one, the house seemed damn near packed, and for another, everyone seemed to be drinking heavily.  After I saw these guys the first time (with Tapes 'n Tapes back in April) I struggled with a quick-n-dirty way of pigeonholing their sound, so let me take another stab.  Yes, there's a major element of psycho boogie/garage here, but also white-boy rock-soul (think Three Dog Night and/or any Eric Burdon project), psychedelic, and some downright anthemic guitar licks.  And the energy that coarses through the live performance is absolutely infectious: after the second song not only had the band sweated through their shirts, but the first few rows of drunken maniacs (many of whom were transplants from the band's native Austin) had too.  White Denim's songs have a way of shifting dramatically from one tempo to another, which compliments the ragged presentation to the point where you start to think of the brief pauses less as "hey, that song must be over now" and more "*phew* -- time to catch my breath."  This was one of the ten best sets I've seen all year, and as I walked back to the J after the show I found myself grinning like a retard several blocks away.   

    I'm in a bit of a rush (yeah right) so let me close by mentioning that White Denim will be playing tonight at Union Hall, and you can get your tickets here -- you will not be disappointed.  I plan on tracking down release info for these guys over the next couple of days... according to Pitchfork they have an album out on November 3rd, and I just found one of their EPs on eMusic here.  All right, gots ta go, see ya at CMJ.  Tuddd out.

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    NOW LISTENING: David Byrne/Brian Eno -- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

    Man, this was not what I was expecting from a Byrne/Eno collab: a downright optimistically soothing, rather straightforward pop record all the way through.  Favorite tracks so far: "One Fine Day" and the title track.  Had I heard this in time for my most recent Best Albums of 2008 So Far entry it would be top 10 easy.  Highly recommended. 

A Place to Bury Strangers with Sian Alice Group, Amazing Baby and Arttanker Convoy at Music Hall of Williamsburg, September 15, 2008

   

    Well, I'm out the door early tomorrow to run a full day's worth of errands (meeting an appraiser, picking up a prescription from a doctor's office, getting x-rays, mowing my Grandma's lawn, buying a pair of sneakers to replace my worn-thru go-to New Balances, beating off, smoking weed, bitching about the Mets, etc.), so I figured if I didn't get something posted now this "piece" might not wind up ever getting written.  Henceforth.

    I took a spin through Tuddd Archives the other day and found that this was to be the fifth time I've seen A Place to Bury Strangers live, which is only fitting now that I think about it.  When you're talking Brooklyn bands, off the top of my head only Cheeseburger, Goes Cube and Austerity Program are as enjoyable in the live setting.  I dug APtBS' debut album (#23 on last year's best-of list) but it's live that these bastards really make their mark.  More on that later.

    So I stumbled out the door and headed towards Music Hall of Williamsburg at about 8:30; got inside 20 minutes later expecting a 9 PM set time for the openers, and let me tell you, NOBODY was there.  Seriously, less than 20 people downstairs, literally nobody except my greasy ass upstairs, and the Mezzanine was closed off.  I sat down in the empty stage room ready to burn through some Tetris, only to be asked not to sit where I was by security.  Really?  There's nobody in the fucking room and I have to get hassled about not sitting on the steps?  Man, I hate this venue!

    (Interestingly enough, I spoke with a couple guys tonight who said that security gave them guff about taking pictures of the show with their phones.  Ridiculous, no?  It's no wonder that every time I bring up Music Hall of Williamsburg in conversation with other Brooklynites people bitch about what a collection of cocksuckers the security guys are, so it's not just me whining about this nonsense.)

    With nobody in the house, openers Arttanker Convoy took the stage at about 9:20.  I probably would have liked their set a lot more if 1.) I had smoked weed before the show or 2.) if I had been to less avant-garde-ish shows lately.  Seriously, along with Lou Reed and John Zorn and Monotonix last week, I've also since been to the uber spacy/dissonant Jazzmaster 50th Anniversary show at Knitting Factory and a Todd P joint featuring Lightning Bolt and Growing.  So yeah, for someone who usually uses truly noisy shit as little more than a palette cleanser, said palette was spic and span.  To paraphrase Robert Plant, I was in the mood for a melody.

    Up next was Brooklyn's Amazing Baby, and the kids seemed to really like them.  Seriously, I counted no less than fifteen separate people hopping to the front of the stage to snap pictures... having never heard of them I was surprised that they have such a significant buzz.  (I'd like to think I keep up on such things.)  Amazing Baby were okay, and although there's certainly nothing wrong with wearing one's influences on one's sleeve, if you're going to be totally derivative, you'd better have some pretty great songs.  For the record, it wasn't until the final jam that they really managed to rock the fuck out.  Of all the groundbreaking garage bands to compare them to sonically, I'd have to say there's a definite MC5 influence there with maybe a bit more widdly widdly on lead guitar.  Were they posing and preening a bit?  Sure, but they did look like they were legitimately having fun.  I tells ya, these kids could be huge, I tells ya.

    Sian Alice Group were up next.  I caught them with The Big Sleep and Priestbird in February at Mercury Lounge and I remembered enjoying them, but not as much as I did this time around: a kind of post rock/krautrock hybrid with definite pop flourishes, and flat-out perfect vocals.  The instrumentals, while usually subdued, carried their share of the weight, as well.  At various times during the set I was reminded of Godspeed's masterpiece Lift Your Skinny Fists..., several Mogwai songs, Under Byen's "Mission," and even some stuff from the new Portishead long-player.  Really, it's a fucking crime that I haven't listened to Sian Alice Group's new album yet. 

    A Place to Bury Strangers wound up not starting their set before 12:30 or so, by which point I had wriggled my way to the front of the stage.  (On my way up I shook APtBS frontman Oliver Ackerman's hand and wished him a good set.)  Fortunately, the place wasn't totally empty anymore, with probably 100+ or so in attendance.  While the evening's first three bands had averaged in excess of six members onstage apiece, A Place to Bury Strangers are a power trio.  Or a quartet if you count the impressive array of homemade effects pedals as the true fourth member of the group.  Seriously, the frickin' bassist alone has like eight pedals! 

    Self-billed as "NYC's loudest band," these guys throw MBV, Jesus and Mary Chain and Sonic Youth in a blender, topping that off with krautrock-style drumming and rock-solid bass playing.  Add in striking visuals (projected on a sheet behind the band), strobe lights, occasional equipment destruction, and enough feedback to rumble your innards.  They opened with the unreleased "Gimme Acid," going into "Don't Think Lover" and "To Fix the Gash in Your Head" and "I Know I'll See You" (all from their self-titled first album) along with a couple of other newer jams before Ackerman began precariously swinging his guitar around his upper body, eventually spiking it to the stage and ripping the strings off.  During this, bassist Jono managed to lock into a perfect feedback drone which led into arguably the Strangers' best song and perennial set closer, "Ocean."  Awesome.   

    Fuckin' shit, it's getting late and I have to be up at 7.  I'll be at Mogwai on Thursday.  (I think it's Thursday.  I'll be there regardless.) 

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NOW LISTENING:

I downloaded a bunch of tracks from the Daytrotter Archives recently, with my favorites being the sets by Holy Fuck, The Thermals and Times New Viking.  If nothing else, go to the site and download Oxford Collapse's "Search Party..." how they left this song off Bits is quite the conundrum.