Tuddd's Muddd

The Best Albums of 2010

"Another year has come and passed.

Quick, you poo stabber!  Bring on '11 fast!" [shakes fist at God]

--Maya Angelou

    So, another shitty year!  Here's a list of crappy shit that happened to me this year. much of which I've already bitched about on this blog:

--Big, scary fire at my mom's house, during which mom awoke on top of a BURNING MATTRESS and was lucky to escape unharmed.  Alas, the business that I run out of mom's house wasn't so fortunate. 

--My car was broken into twice.

--A third time that my car was broken into, it was stolen by some punk-ass neighborhood kids who tried to extort $$$ out of me before giving the car back.  Eventually I wound up stealing the car back from these brainless pieces of shit before the cops informed me that since they were too fucking stupid to figure out how to register the car as "unstolen," it was probable that I would be arrested at gunpoint for DRIVING MY OWN CAR. 

--Apartment was robbed; they grabbed my poor roommate's computer, a pile of unused MetroCards which I had accumulated while volunteering last year, and, um, some of my "saucies" in addition to grabbing my car keys, thus leading to the above automobile thievery.  Motherfuckers. 

--Was informed that if I want to cure my extremely severe case of sleep apnea, I would likely need to undergo a surgical procedure wherein the doctor would basically rip the lower part of my face off, break my jaw, and insert an extension and screws into said jaw before a 7 month healing period characterized by "at times excruciating pain" and "inability to chew [my] own food."  Where do I sign up?!

--Got mugged. 

--Cliff Lee chose the City of Brotherly Love/inhumanly awful, despicably heartless, projectile vomiting white trash over the Big Apple.  God fucking dammit!

--Had over a grand swiped out of my checking account when someone stole my ATM card at my birthday party. 

--Perhaps worst of all, no Cheeseburger album this year, despite the fact that they supposedly have one all recorded and ready to go.  Seriously, have you heard any of the garbage that kids are listening to these days?  Rock and Roll ain't gonna save itself.  GET ON THAT SHIT DUDES!

--Friends came, friends went, and still yet another friend set out on an absurdly improbable (yet also absurdly awesome) journey of self-discovery.  To those that stuck around, I love you all.  To the lousy chickenshit assholes who didn't, please feel free to sit on one of these and rotate. 

    Well now!  List time.  Here's the rules and assorted deets.

• This is not an "all the albums I heard in '10 ordered from best to worst" list.  No way Jose.  These are the cream of the crop from the 90+ new albums I heard this year.
• This list only includes albums and EPs from the calendar year 2010.  I can't stress that enough, people.  Thus, reissues, singles, and compilations of previously-released/widely available stuff are disqualified.
• No, I didn't accidentally leave the Deerhunter album off the list.  The Deerhunter album is, in fact, horrible.
• Oh Don Piano.

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1.) Fang Island - Fang Island -- Ladies and gentlemen, set your serotonin glands to "monsoon!"  For those of us jaded bastards unaccustomed to the unconditional, massive outpouring of joy that's found on Fang Island, it may seem at first like there just has to be a catch somewhere.  The pixie dust has to wear off at some point, no?  I mean, did they spring fully-formed from Rick Nielsen's 5-neck?  Did they collectively make a deal with some sort of bizarro demon that allows them only to create perfect, fizzy, euphoric poppy prog-metal?  Or, alternately, are they *gasp* a Christian rock band? 

Fortunately not.  They are, however, a synthesis of some blue-chip musical acts: the fist-pumpin', arena-ready melodicism of Cheap Trick; the AOR prog arrangements (and sometimes-goofy synths) of Rush; the sheer joy of a Phish "Harry Hood" jam.  Moreover, they're able to transcend the seemingly obligatory navel gazing of most indie acts by unabashedly going for the home run ball where most indie "rockers" are okay with a sac bunt.  As such, if these guys don't have a major label deal by the next few months I will be very, very surprised.     

In closing, if you dislike this Fang Island album, you dislike joy.  That is all.

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2.) Beach House - Teen Dream -- Although I've liked much of Beach House's previous material, this album is the great leap forward that establishes Beach House as one of the world's finest bands.  Seriously.  Admittedly, there's a limited sonic palette that a band can traverse when their instrumentation consists simply of voice, guitar and piano, but there's more at play here thematically and texturally than one might originally notice at first listen.  [And more importantly, what a voice it is.] 

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3.) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach -- As someone with very little interest in/knowledge of all things hip hop, I would imagine that this album has pretty much all the hallmarks of a successful hip hop mixtape.  You have humor ("Superfast Jellyfish" is flat-out hilarious); guest spots both arresting (Bobby Womack on "Stylo") and super cool (Lou Reed's 'luded out turn on "Some Kind of Nature"); and flawless production (everywhere, but probably most notably the synths on "Glitter Freeze" and "Empire Ants").   

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4.) Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern -- On her third full-length, the femme fatale of fingertapping takes such a huge step forward that she nearly renders her previous output totally obsolete.  [Not really, but check it --  this is a really good album.]  The real improvements come not only in the songwriting, but also in the dynamics: would either of her previous albums have ventured into the self-assured stomp of "Her Confidence" or the rich emotional territory of the album-closing "The Things You Notice"?  Prob'ly not.  Of course, this is not to say that this an album of slow jams - in fact far from it - songs like "Cinco de Mayo" and "Gimme" still have the over-caffeinated freaky prog Stern's best known for. 

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5.) Mogwai - Special Moves (bonus edition) -- Yes, I know that I tend to like live albums more than most folks do, but if the idea of what basically amounts to a "best-of live" outing doesn't appeal to you, then it's doubtful you're a fan of the band in question.  Of course, I could have lived with a couple more tracks from '06's ridiculously underrated Mr. Beast, but then again that's my solution to everything.  Bonus points because I was actually at one of the three shows (at Music Hall of Williamsburg in April '09) that supplied the material for this release. 

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6.) Melvins - The Bride Screamed Murder -- Although the first two Melvins albums with Big Business' Jared and Coady were lean, mean riffin' machines, some longtime fans didn't really care for the perceived streamlining of the Melvins sound, presumably preferring some more typical Melvins "weirdness" weaved in n' out of the non-stop riffage.  I am not necessarily one of those people.  Personally, I thought (A) Senile Animal and Nude With Boots were the best things they'd done in the new millennium, but what do I know.  Anyway, The Bride Screamed Murder has plenty to satisfy both camps.  If you like experimental stuff, you've got Marine Corps-style marching chants, an impossibly sludgy cover of the Who's "My Generation," weird l'il interludes, and a lengthy sound collage at the end of the album.  And if you just like it when the Melvins rock the fuck out, songs like "Electric Flower" and especially the colossal "Pig House" will peel the paint off your house.

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7.) Liquor Store - Suckin on Mommy's Dick -- No, this album does not exist, since all Liquor Store has to their name release-wise is a 7" of "Trash Sandwich" b/w "Free Pizza."  But if it did exist, it would have likely beaten the everloving fuck out of most of the other namby pamby bullshit that came out this year. 

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8.) Holy Fuck - Latin -- Although this album has nothing as immediately great as LP's "Lovely Allen" or "Royal Gregory" (although "Silva and Grimes" and "Stay Lit" come close), Latin's seamless flow between tracks leads the listener through an intensely hypnotic soundscape.  [A plug for their live show: Holy Fuck are incredible live so get off yer ass and see them live when they come to your neck of the woods.]

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9.) The Austerity Program - Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn EP -- It's pretty rare that a band's live intensity is matched EXACTLY by its recorded output, but these guys' brutal arrangements and Albini-like recording techniques result in an album that practially reeks of blood, sweat and tears.  [No, not the band.]

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10.) Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky -- Embarrassingly, this is my first real exposure to Swans, other than a handful of tracks heard here and there.  Which is inexcusable, because this album to me sounds like a cross between Glenn Branca, Can's weightier stuff, Leonard Cohen and Harvey Milk, with some Tom Waits thrown in.  Terrifying and creepy and cacophonous and very unpleasant.   

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11.) Sleigh Bells - Treats -- You know what?  I like eMusic's review of this album so much that I'm just going to steal it. "The hip-hop beats sputter like someone dropped a boombox in a swimming pool. The gloriously cheeseball riffage could've been dubbed off an old Van Halen cassette. It's cheerleader music for punks. It's punk music for cheerleaders."  Right on. 

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12.) Metallica - Live at Grimey's -- The night before showing up at Bonnaroo, Metallica recorded this l'il tidbit in the basement of a Nashville record store, with the brief setlist comprising mostly songs from Metallica's "Before We Sucked" golden period.  Of course, I love a good live album as much as anyone, and I appreciate that Metallica made this available for purchase only at indie record stores, and all that happy horseshit.  What I think is self-parodyingly retarded was the grassroots campaign by internet Metallifans rabidly imploring people to "support Metallica by buying this limited release!!!11!1"  Yeah, you know what?  It really is about time that a little underdog indie act like Metallica got some support after years of toiling in obscurity.  Jackasses. 

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13.) Torche - Songs for Singles EP -- Superlative Sun State sludge supastahz pick up where '08's ridiculously good Meanderthal left off on this EP that somehow manages to leave a smile on yer fat face at the same time that it's bludgeoning you over the head with super duper riffs galore.  Now, if you're not used to sludgy music that has a sense of humor, fear not: watch the hilariously adorable official video for the song UFO for a quick primer on what makes Torche so great.

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14.) Kylesa - Spiral Shadow -- For all the brainless "hipster metal" crowing that this band endures, you'd think that they'd co-written these songs with Devendra and paid Sufjan to contribute melodica arrangements.  Well, they didn't, and there are moments on this album that straight fucking crush, as well as some much more textural stuff, supposedly influenced by the band's newfound love of Built to Spill.

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15.) Melvins - Melvins EP -- Gotta love the "quality material-to-crap" ratio on this one.  Includes three tracks.  The first: 8+ minute of the Wipers "Youth of America"/AWESOME.  The second: extended version of the ubercreepy "Dies Iraea" (a/k/a cover of the theme from The Shining) from Nude With Boots/AWESOME.  And the third: remix of "It Tastes Better Than the Truth" from the same album/MEH.  Well, you know what The Single Greatest Musical Artist In the History of Recorded Music has to say about that: .66666666666 repeating is none too shabby.

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16.) Bad Religion - 30 Years Live -- There are a few old chestnuts (think pre-All Ages) on this one, but I for one am impressed that the inventors of "melodic hardcore" managed to cobble together a decent live set like this one that so heavily features a lot of newer stuff.  If you're one of those people that thinks Bad Religion has been just releasing the same album for the last 16 years, it's doubtful this will do much to sway your opinion, but if you're not an asshole you should enjoy this. 

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17.) Harvey Milk - A Small Turn of Human Kindness -- For a band that's so distinctly steeped in creating artfully disturbing sludge, this album can be considered a bit of a career highlight (or lowlight).  Yes, here we have huge, steaming pile of unpleasantness, completely inappropriate for anyone who spends less than half their day plotting the deaths of themselves/others. 

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18.) Jonsi - Go --  If you favored the fruity felicity of the last Sigur Ros album, feel free to felch yourself with this frilly, fanciful, frolicy fudge-factory. 

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19.) The Thermals - Personal Life -- The most humorless and blatantly emo album that the Thermals have ever put out is also *SURPRISE* the worst album the Thermals have ever put out.  But it's still decent.  It's really to the band's credit that they're able to take a group of songs which aren't among their best, which are essentially about loathing/distrusting your significant other, and make it at least somewhat listenable. 

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20.) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs -- So, let me get this straight: in order to show how dreary, dull, and stifled suburban life is, Arcade Fire actually managed to write an album that is, for the most part, dreary, dull and stifled-sounding?  Huh.  Although this is pretty damn far from being a great album (and not even in the same species as Funeral or Neon Bible), you still have two legitimately great songs ("Sprawl II" and "Half Light II"), a few damn good ones ("We Used to Wait," "Rococo" and "Suburban War") and some near misses.  While Arcade Fire's first two full-lengths used depressing topics as the springboard for some of the best music of the millennium, Win n' Regine may need to mix it up a little.  Y'know, maybe write happy songs about happier stuff.  Hey, I got it!  Maybe Arcade Fire's next release should be written about this year's Fang Island album!  Yeah!  [crickets]

Albums I've Heard So Far in 2010, From Best to Worst, With Exactly One Sentence Written About Each, Sorta [part 1]

    Bored; pissed off that I missed Crocodiles last night because I fucked my foot up by stepping on a bunch of pins and other sharp shit that had been left on the floor inexpicably (don't ask).  And there's little chance I'm going to brave the throngs of brainwashed AnCo worshippers at the Avey Tare-DJ'd Crocs show this Friday at Glasslands.  Frickity frack, y'all. 

    Anyhow, here's my favorite 20 albums I've heard so far this year, with a sentence written about each.  Keep in mind that there's all kinds of shit I haven't yet heard (just off the top of my head Zoroaster, Helmet, Swans, The Sword, Deerhunter, Grinderman, Kylesa, etc.), so expect this list to change size, shape and odor by the time I get around to pinching off my year-end lists.  We'll see how motivated I get to finish this off with another couple lists of ~20 albums in order of descending goodness, but for now sink your teef into this loaf. 

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1.) Fang Island - Fang Island -- How rare is it that the indie blogosphere actually embraces a band that goes "widdly widdly widdly" on lead guitar, and it's not this chick performing said widdly widdly?

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2.) Beach House - Teen Dream -- Stylistic limitations be damned, the melodies are just sooooooo damn sweet, delivered by means of the year's finest vocal performance.

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3.) Gorillaz - Plastic Beach -- Normally I hate anything even remotely hip-hop tinged, but this album has 4 important characteristics not present on many other hip hop recordings: 1.) humor; 2.) brains; 3.) guest appearances by legendary musicians; 4.) great, lush 80's-ish synth lines.

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4.) Mogwai - Special Moves -- Moggy live; I was at this show (as evidenced by the several times I'm visible in the accompanying "Burning" film); yippee!

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5.) The Austerity Program - Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn - Simply put, one of the most intense recordings you'll ever hear. 

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6.) Melvins - Melvins EP -- I talked some shit about this release earlier in the year, but two important facts need to be considered: 1.) "Dies Iraea" is fucking awesome, and 2.) since Electroretard is out of print, you need this for the fucking insane 8+ minute cover of The Wipers' Youth of America.

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7.) Melvins - The Bride Screamed Murder -- Not as lean and mean as the first two Big Business-augmented Melvins albums (for example, this album's final two tracks are beyond useless), but "Pig House" and "Electric Flower" fucking shred. 

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8.) Holy Fuck - Latin -- Not as melodically monolithic as their last one, although the unrelenting beats and flawless pacing make this the best workout album of the year (always a good idea to take your workout soundtrack advice from someone who's morbidly obese).

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9.) Arcade Fire - Suburbs -- Yes, there are several great songs on here, but plenty of skippable stuffs too. 

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10.) Sleigh Bells - Treats -- Yup, so I'm pretty much obsessed with Alexis Krauss and that's all there is to it.

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11.) The Thermals - Personal Life -- If you only like their faster stuff, you're going to want to skip this, but although the music is toned down, the caustic self-examination remains. 

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12.) Bad Religion - 30 Years Live -- Every live concert EVER BY ANYBODY should start with the song "Fuck Armageddon, This Is Hell."

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13.) Harvey Milk - Harvey Milk -- Don't worry, these guys hate themselves as much as you do.

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14.) Harvey Milk - A Small Turn of Human Kindness -- Bleak, bleak, bleak; like early-Swans bleak, man.

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15.) Surfer Blood - Astro Coast -- It's easy to dismiss this as just "Swim" plus a bunch of lesser crap, but this is a deceptively smart li'l record via "yay Beafi."

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16.) Lost in the Trees - All Alone in an Empty House -- Despite never having heard the Bon Iver album (and having no intention of ever doing so), I'm prepared to McConfirm that this album is way way better.

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17.) Torche - Songs for Singles EP -- Tasty stopgap tidbits (6 of the 8 songs are under 2:20) by the happiest, least straight sludge metal band that I know of.

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18.) Jonsi - Go -- If you liked the fruity optimism of the last Sigur Ros album, feel free to felch yourself with this frilly, fanciful, frolicy fudge-factory.

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19.) Crocodiles - Sleep Forever -- As spotty as it is bratty (like last year's Summer of Hate), but hot sandwich fuckin' damn is "Mirrors" incredible.

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[^in lieu of an actual album cover, which apparently doesn't exist on said intarwebz]

20.) The Netherlands - Fantasmatic -- Sick metal riffs, bull-in-a-china-shop rhythms, and plenty of goofiness.

Good shows in NYC, June 8th -12th, 2008

It's been awhile since I did one of these, and since today's too hot for me to consider actually accomplishing much of anything, why not fire one of these bad boys back up.

By the way, Friday night's Holy Fuck show at Music Hall of Williamsburg was probably the best show I've seen so far this year, only rivaled by the first time I saw them in March and the incredibly awesome Pelican/Priestbird/Austerity Program at MHOW last month.

As always, thanks goes out to Oh My Rockness, without whom I'd have to spend a shitload more time researching venues/show times than I already do. So, let's get started, shall we?

Sunday, June 8th

Jamie Lidell at Bowery Ballroom:

why I'm not going: It's just too hot to listen to some dude crooning. There's no way I'd be able to make it through the whole show without petulantly storming out.

These New Puritans with School of Seven Bells and Effi Briest at Music Hall of Williamsburg:

why I'm going: I know nothing about These New Puritans, but I've seen School of Seven Bells twice (once at Mercury Lounge opening up for Sam Fogarino's side project and once at Terminal 5 on the Blonde Redhead/Raveonettes bill) and I dig 'em. Their electronic jungly thickness really is well suited to smaller rooms so we'll see how their shit holds up. I saw Effi Briest open up for the Kills at Southpaw a couple of years ago and they kind of reminded me of a more gothy Sugarcubes.

Gnarls Barkley with Battles at Fillmore/Irving Plaza:

why I'm not going: this is a MySpace Secret Show, and apparently you have to jump through some hoops to get tix to this. I saw Battles twice last year and got a full aerobic workout each time, so yeah, I'm on record as absolutely adoring Battles' live show. Gnarls Barkley I just don't get.

Monday, June 9th

The Young Knives at Mercury Lounge:

why I'm probably going: These guys are often compared to The Futureheads, whose boisterously energetic debut album I loved -- it was my 4th favorite record of '04. Of course, 2006's embarassing News and Tributes saw The Futureheads trying to shoehorn themselves into more pensive, mature, and ultimately boring territory. Having not heard The Futureheads' new record yet (or, for that matter, anything The Young Knives have ever done), I'm obviously hoping things wind up more "Carnival Kids" than "Thursday."

Tuesday, June 10th

The Breeders at Webster Hall:

why I'm going: well, I bought tix to this show before I heard Mountain Battles, which, truth be told, is a pretty crappy album. I'm pretty indifferent to Pod and like everyone else in the world I think Last Splash is fuckin' awesome, but the new one just sounds burned out and exhausted. Not terribly psyched about this.

XYZ Affair at Music Hall of Williamsburg:

why I wish I was going to this instead of the Breeders show: Oh My Rockness describes these guys as "Weezer meets Queen meets Ben Folds (but, you know, better). Sounds right up my alley. Sigh.

Wednesday, June 11th

Swervedriver with Dirty on Purpose at Bowery Ballroom:

why I might go: Swervedriver's on their reunion tour and although my knowledge of them is based pretty much solely on their MySpace page, I'll probably check them out. Dirty on Purpose is another local band that has the word "dirty" in their name ("Dirty" is the new "Crystal" is the new "Wolf" is the new "Black"!) who I've been meaning to check out, so that's a plus.

Thursday, June 12th

Bang Camaro with The Giraffes at Bowery Ballroom:

why I might go: I saw part of Bang Camaro's set earlier this year at Music Hall of Williamsburg, at this show although because they made the fatal mistake of following the mighty Cheeseburger's set I drunkenly stumbled out without getting much of a feel for Bang Camaro, so maybe I should give them a second chance. And as far as The Giraffes, I caught them at Bowery Ballroom sometime last year, and they kind of reminded me of Faith No More meets Les Savy Fav, with a lot of beer-throwing, which was kinda neat. From what I could tell these guys have a pretty insane local following.

Swervedriver at Music Hall of Williamsburg:

already wrote about these guys. Move on.

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I'll try to complete this week's show some time when I can figure out what the fuck is wrong with my HTML skills, and why the new TypePad compose screen is such a piece of dogshit. Till then, Tuddd out.

Raveonettes at Bowery Ballroom, March 27th, 2008

    As it turned out, I missed Sunday night's Raveonettes show at Maxwell's in Hoboken because... well, basically because I'm a fucking idiot.  Let's just leave it at that, k?  However, my idiot-ness just wound up making the Bowery show that much more important of a go, because the Raveonettes have announced over and over again on MySpace that this will be their only US tour in 2008.  Catch 'em while you can, folks.

    My first exposure to the Raveonettes came when by chance I caught their performance of "That Great Love Sound" on Letterman back in '03.  (Watching that clip I realize just how much my memory tends to skew and exaggerate stuff; I distinctly remember there being dramatic spotlighting and grand, swooping camera angles, neither of which ever actually occurred.  Fuck me!).  At the time, I was listening to mostly classic rock/metal-derived stuff and my descent into indie geekdom hadn't yet begun, and although I thought "That Great Love Sound" was indeed great -- kind of a '50s bubblegum/girl group vibe but with amps turned up to eleven, but I was really more struck by how hot Sharin Foo was, thinking "damn, I have to start listening to more bands with hot chicks in them." 

    About 5 months later, I was in Ithaca visiting friends who were still in school, making a showing for "Varsity A," a yearly 21 bar/21 beer barcrawl/disaster extending through the town's downtown bars, into outlying hicktastic shitholes, and eventually back up through the Collegetown bars just off of Cornell's campus.  The night prior to the planned pubcrawl, I met up with a bunch of friends at Collegetown Bagels for a carafe of sangria before splitting off to do blow with a friend back at the "bachelor pad" of another couple of female friends that lived nearby.  (My stash consisted of some crap that I had bought in suburban Chicago, which my well-nasally-traveled friend promptly identified as being "glass," AKA some sort of high-powered meth that I'd never heard of.  After brief deliberation, my reaction was "meh, whatever... the shit ain't gonna snort itself."  Honestly she could have told me it was crystallized rat poison and face it, it still would have found its way up my nostrils somehow).  Anyway, we wound up crushing up whatever the fuck it was on a CD case of The Raveonettes' Chain Gang of Love, and she responded very favorably when I asked her what she thought of the CD.  (Again, not that impromptu amphetamine-fueled music reviews are always necessarily that accurate; everything is always either "fucking awesome" or "it fucking sucks."  Nonetheless, most of my best decisions have come as a result of massive drug intake, so...)

     Anywho.  When I returned back to the Chicago area after the weekend, I found my way to Rainbow Records on Northwest Highway, coming across and buying a used copy of The Raveonettes debut EP, Whip It On.  It wasn't as poppy as what I'd remembered from their Letterman appearance and was decidedly more dark and gritty, so after bong hits I went on Amazon and bought Chain Gang of Love as well as Guided by Voices' career-spanning compilation Human Amusements at Hourly Rates, MBV's Loveless and J Mascis' Martin and Me all in one shot, in what was (in hindsight) probably the single most "influential" CD purchase I've ever made.  To this day, Chain Gang of Love resides somewhere in the top half of my all-time Top 6 albums ever, amongst a rotating cast including NMH's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, OK Computer, GbV's Bee Thousand, The Who's Live at Leeds and, of course, Appetite for Destruction. 

    My first time seeing them live was in April '05 at Mercury Lounge about a year after I'd moved back to NY, and I caught them at Warsaw the following October the night after they'd had all their gear stolen.  For that show, they played on borrowed acoustics and borrowed some of Radio 4's gear still managing to exude great spirit in spite of the shitty circumstances.  In '07 I was lucky enough to catch them four times, with the March Sune/Sharin Duo show at Southpaw being really memorable.  And I've had their newest outing, Lust Lust Lust, on heavy rotation in my car/iPod/computer since it came out last month and it's pretty safe to say that it's my favorite record so far of '08.  Yes, I realize that this list states otherwise, but I'll have an update of said list posted within the next few days which'll set that shit straight.  (Note: I realize that this extended self-indulgent trip down memory lane may have been tiresome for you, the reader, but I hope I've at least established that I'm not a casual Raveonettes fan -- I consider them one of the very best bands in the world.)

    So, yeah.  I got to NYC a little after 8 and called a friend who would be seeing the show with me.  We met up shortly thereafter and took a quick walk around Chrystie/Bowery/Rivington so I could gossip a bit about mutual acquaintances and get some weed in my system before the show, entering Bowery Ballroom minutes after opener Black Acid took the stage.  Now, normally I'm pretty receptive to opening bands, but these guys were just so cliched and unoriginal that I feared they'd harsh my buzz.  Not as bad as Louis XIV, but not as hilarious, either.  So, a few seconds into their third consecutive rote Stones-by-way-of-Alphabet City knockoff, we departed for about a half hour, coming back just in time to catch their closing number, which must have had like 3 separate false endings before mercifully dying out.  (While we were downstairs I briefly spotted Oliver from A Place to Bury Strangers and shook his hand, mentioning that I was a fan and that I'd enjoyed their most recent show.  Seemed like a good dude.) As the house lights rose, we took the opportunity to scoot up front practically right against the left (Sune side) of the stage.  Let the show begin.

    Sune, Sharin, and their hot drummer chick, Leah, took the stage a little before quarter to 11, rolling right into Lust Lust Lust's "Hallucinations," a standout on an album full of 'em.  First single from Lust, "Dead Sound," was next, followed by "That Great Love Sound" and "Let's Rave On," both from Chain Gang, all played at a breakneck pace.  The trio then brought it down a few notches with some slower material, including "Here Comes Mary" and "Love in a Trashcan" from the underappreciated Pretty in Black LP before taking three Whip it On gems ("Attack of the Ghost Riders," "My Tornado" and "Bowels of the Beast") out for a spin, pausing only long enough for drummer chick to cue up the backing tracks.

    [Which leads to my only real complaint with The Raveonettes' live experience: these backing tracks.  Sune and Sharin choose to adorn many of the songs with pre-taped bass, percussion, distortion and assorted song-specific sound effects: the bing-bong noises throughout "Love in a Trashcan;" the steady beep-beep-beep beep-beep-beep waltz of "Love Can Destroy Everything," the persistent dinging that begins each measure of "Aly Walk With Me."  Which to me is unnecessary.  As I mentioned earlier, my favorite Raveonettes tour was last March when they toured as a duo, Sharin and Sune switching off song-by-song with each spending time at the guitar, bass and drum.  Seriously, guys, drop the piped-in stuff.  Rant over.]

    Tuneful raveup "You Want the Candy" followed, in a gracious tribute/tip-of-the-cap to former Raves' producer (and frequent '60s girl group contributor) Richard Gottehrer, also the composer of classic songs like "I Want Candy" and "My Boyfriend's Back."  After running through a few more new songs, including "Blush," "Black Satin" and "Lust," they ended the proper set with Lynchian Lust album opener "Aly, Walk With Me" (no "Red Tan" tonight, unfortunately) before closing out the evening with an encore of "Love Can Destroy Everything" into "Twilight."  And not a moment too soon, as I had completely thrown out my back at this point.  Whew, what a great fucking show.

     To be sure, the Raveonettes are a band that proudly wear their influences on their sleeves.  After all, the band's very name is half-Buddy Holly reference, half-nod to the Ronettes.  Yes, their sound draws heavily on Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy and surf guitar tones and drumbeats and film noir imagery.  But those who dismiss them as mimics are missing the point entirely: if you can't enjoy The Raveonettes, I'd recommend an armada of Q-tips be dispensed to your ear area forthwith!

    As we walked out Bowery's street-level exit onto Delancey, it was impossible not to overhear the post-show excitement in everyone's voices, easily audible in English and Danish -- it's always fun to see a great show and then hear people giddily discussing about what a great show it was afterwards.  Plus I saw a girl who was shaped like Grimace before I hobbled into a cab towards Penn Station, so that was cool.

   

   

   

Holy Fuck with A Place to Bury Strangers and Beat the Devil at Music Hall of Williamsburg, March 23rd, 2008

    If had actually heard Holy Fuck's LP before the end of '07, it would probably have ranked about #9 or so on my 2007 best-of albums list -- it's that good.  With the possible exception of the new Times New Viking album, it's been my most-listened-to record so far of '08 (due partly to the fact that it's probably the best workout CD I've ever heard).  I'm usually very skeptical when it comes to electronic music (because most of it is useless) but LP somehow manages to exhibit pretty much exactly what I do like about the genre while managing to avoid the pitfalls of many popular groups (more on this later).  And on a bill with A Place to Bury Strangers?  No brainer.

    Truth be told, I wasn't really feeling it before the show; I fell off the wagon with a resounding thud on Friday, drinking heavily with Tuddd's Muddd reader Jake (aka Beefy D) while watching tournament games, and I was still super hung over all Saturday morning, complete with BNTs, "jelly-legs" and an aching back.  So I smoked some dope and headed in to Yuppie Northsix at about 8, getting in the door by quarter to nine.  Opening band Beat the Devil was shockingly good: kind of a bluesy/punky pastiche courtesy of their super-charismatic frontwoman, with fuzz bass, some harmonium (!) and occasional theremin type thingy on some songs.  Who to compare them to... maybe a way more cooler and passionate Rosebuds?  I dunno.

    Personal fave A Place to Bury Strangers was up next.  This being at least the fourth time I've caught these guys live over the past year, I was shocked to see that I hadn't done a concert write-up for this (shitty) blog yet when I did an article search.  So here goes.  Self-billed as "NYC's loudest band," these guys throw MBV, Jesus and Mary Chain 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 (courtesy frontman Oliver Ackerman's homemade distortion pedals) 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 unreleased 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.

    By this point, I was sweaty, exhausted, and wondering if making it through another set would even be possible-- as Holy Fuck set up their gear I was regretting smoking so much weed before the show.  But shortly after they started playing, it was pretty obvious why they have one up on every other electronic act out there today.  They take Battles' energy, live drumming and (occasional) distorted vocals, while avoiding Battles' allergy to hooks.  They take !!!'s (again, occasional) devotion to grooves and do away with the shitty, generic R+B vocals and annoying frontman.  They emulate Ratatat's devotion to melody while leaving behind the repetition and sameyness.  They take the Fuck Buttons' uncanny ability to incorporate distortion while leaving behind the lengthy stretches of uselessness.  And so on.

    At the end of the set they called A Place to Bury Strangers back onstage for a noisy run-through of "Lovely Allen."  So far, the musical highlight of the year for me, and of the 20 or so shows I've seen so far, #1 with a bullet.

    Tonight: Raveonettes at Maxwell's.  Gotta go. 

   

More good shows, Oct 14-21

    If yer lookin' for my listings for Oct 14-16, go here.  Below are shows for the 17th and 18th -- I'll finish the weekly roundup when I get a chance tomorrow.  Goddamn it I'm starting to wish my friends had chosen a different weekend to come up because there's no way I'm going to drag them to all the CMJ shit I want to see.  Boo fucking hoo. 

October 17th

Show: Deerhunter with Dan Deacon at Bowery Ballroom
Why I'm going: Deerhunter's live show is fantastic-- to date their show at Mercury Lounge in April rates as the third best concert I've seen this year (out of 60+).  Of course, a few bizarre non-music-related incidents at that show really makes it stick out in my memory: 1.) Karen O spitting beer all over me from behind (I was standing against the stage at the very front row).  Eventually she elbowed her way in front of me and briefly guest-sang on a song or two.  My halfhearted attempts at grinding with her were nonchalantly rebuffed.  2.) Deerhunter's bass player reached down and gently removed my glasses from my face, donning them for awhile during the set.  Eventually he returned them saying that "they're too big for me, I don't want to break them" which of course is an extremely polite way of saying "dude, your head is fucking huge."  3.) Shook hands with David Cross after the show.  He was visibly blown away by the powerful performance we'd both just beheld.  Or maybe he was on drugs.  Yeah, that's it, on drugs!  (Come to Tuddd's Muddd for all your marginal celebrity dish!) Saw them in July at Bowery, too, and even though it wasn't as absurdly transcendent as the first time, it was easily worth the price of admission.  Believe the hype; Cryptograms is one of the year's top three albums. 

Show: Thurston Moore at Apple Store SoHo (free!)
Why I'm not going: Hate to admit it, but I'm really not too interested in hearing Thurston Moore's acoustic jams.  Plus I've always told myself that I'd avoid going to a "show" at an Apple store, so I'm'a keep that going. 

Show: A Place to Bury Strangers at Death By Audio
Why I'm not going: ARRRGH!  The one shitty thing about living in New York is that because shows sell out so quickly I always wind up buying tickets way in advance, for example today's Deerhunter show.  Who knew that Deerhunter would be playing a ton of other shows in NYC in the coming weeks?!  ARRRRGH!  (Note: A Place to Bury Strangers is also playing a show at Yuppie Northsix later in the day so check that shit out.)

Show: Mannequin Men at Don Pedro's
Why I'm not going: again, Deerhunter same day.  I've heard good things about Mannequin Men but I'm really anxious to get back to Don Pedro's -- great tiny, grungy non-venue.  Saw Baroness there a couple of weeks ago and it was great, yada yada.

Show: Holy Fuck with many others (including Turbo Fruits) at Galapagos
Why I'm not going: too many great shows today.  Don't know much about Holy Fuck other than that they toured with Pissed Jeans (who are fookin' awesome) and that the singer sometimes shoves a drumstick up his own ass onstage.  Neat-o!  Turbo Fruits are cool, too.  Garagey teenagers.

Show: Hull with Goes Cube at Matchless
Why I'm not going: DOUBLE ARRRRRGH!!! Love love love Deerhunter, but had I known this show was going down I would have planned differently.  Hull are either the best or second-best NYC metal band (possibly behind Early Man).  Seen 'em twice, and I've been spinning (and recommending) their debut CD, entitled Viking Funeral constantly.  And Goes Cube are phenomenal as well.  Loud and crunchy and groove-tastic.  Go over to their myspace page here and listen to "Goes Cube song 46."  If you don't absolutely love this song you can go fuck yourself. 

Show: Serj Tankian and Tom Morello at Irving Plaza.
Why I'm not going: forgot to get tickets.  I've heard parts of the single from Serj's new joint and it sounds pretty much exactly how you'd expect, which is fine.  Tom Morello will be performing in his "The Nightwatchman" persona, playing gritty, nondescript acoustic protest songs while a bunch of overprivileged, drunk white kids shout Rage Against the Machine requests at him.  "C'mon!  Play the 'fuck you I won't do what you tell me' one!  COME ONNNNN!"

October 18

Show: Holy Fuck at Glasslands
Why I'm not going: friend coming in from DC.  But, unlike the dude in Holy Fuck, I seriously doubt my friend will stick a drumstick up her own ass.  Hmmm.  Suddenly, I feel cheated.

Show: And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and a ton of other bands at Highline Ballroom. 
Why I'm not going: aforementioned friend.  But everyone seems to hate these guys and I'd like to check 'em out sometime. 

Show: A Place to Bury Strangers at Loisada (?)
Why I'm not going: goddamn it, I wish I was going, and I'd love to catch them in a presumably tiny place I've never heard of (like Loisada).  Fuck.  I realize that I've recommended these guys several times on the site without giving any real idea of what they sound like, but I plan on doing a relatively lengthy entry on APtBS sometime soon.

Show: Jay Reatard and Turbo Fruits at Mercury Lounge
Why I'm not going: FUCKSHITGODDAMNIT!  It's shows like this one that are supposed to make CMJ so fun... I saw Jay Reatard opening up for The Ponys at Bowery a few months ago, and these guys busted out fifteen lean, mean, tight-as-a-drum punk songs in 18 minutes.  I seriously thought I'd given myself whiplash trying to keep up with them by the end of the set.  Truth be told I was a bit underwhelmed by Blood Visions but these are songs that are meant to be seen in the live setting.  GO IF YOU CAN.   (And be sure to rub it in how awesome they were and what a dickhole I am for missing it.) 

Show: The Big Sleep at Pianos
Why I'm not going: I'm a pussy.  But supposedly, these guys are great.  I was psyched to see them at the closing of the real Northsix back in January but Con Ed managed to fuck that one up. 

Show: Deerhunter at Rebel
Why I'm not going: seeing them on the 17th.  But if you have a CMJ pass and you haven't yet seen Deerhunter live, you should make sure you do so at least once before the weekend's up.