The millions of worthless demos circulating the interweb are deafening. It is not often I come across a singer songwriter whose demos make it to the 3 1/2 minute marker on my mp3 player. This morning I found Galapaghost, aka Casey Chandler, in my inbox and completely agree that he is worth a listen. So here he is….with music ranging from a rural Americana milkshake to the diffuse and excruciatingly tender tunes that are played in the minds of New York’s daydreaming romantics. Chandler is is unpolished, but he has a natural talent that will get him as far as he lets himself to go. He seems to have began his work on somewhat of a mainstream trajectory, but much of his work is pushing the melodies and song structures outside of the expected and outside of the mundane.
CMJ Saddle Creek Showcase
The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn
Thursday October 22nd 2009
9:00 Beep Beep
10:00 UUVVWWZ
11:00 Old Canes
12:00 Orenda Fink
1:00 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
So I suppose this is going to be a partial review, I got entirely too bombed to intelligently talk about the entire showcase. First I was happy to be on the guest list. I had just come from a bar in loathed Manhattan and had only few bucks to spend. So I spent it on Jameson…Then I broke out the plastic…I think…I should probably check my credit card balance. Anyhoo…
I want to thank Beep Beep for putting on such a great show. They were energetic and really exuded chemistry amongst one another. It is such a pleasant surprise to hear their genre of music without the band’s chaps and chest hair distracting me…although now that I imagine the band in chaps and with exposed chest hair, I think it might work for them….but only if they had drawn on pencil thin mustachios.
UUVVWWZ made some friends last week. Teal Gardner has really exploded as an exceptional stage personality. While it is still true that what they have to offer is somewhat inscrutable, they have mastered the art of their making. I mean to say that they are a unique, experimental sound factory that specializes in making people move. People simply don’t stand still at their shows. They have so much room to grow, but they are certainly an act to catch. I think they would compliment These Are Powers greatly. I mean it Teal, give them a call. Review of These Are Powers click here.
Old Canes…well what else is there to say, Chris Crisci and company played more of their fast paced numbers, but it was beautiful. They slung that Midwest Americana like mud at a tractor pull. After their set I cornered Chris to drink some Jameson. He imbibed…so did I…and it turned out to be one of the nicest conversations with a local hero I’ve had in a while.
As mentioned prior, Jameson was pickling my liver…Orenda and the dude with a long ass name had already played past my attention…although I did say hello to him in the hallway earlier…nice guy…
Good video for the season…although as I am sure everyone would agree, the whole concept of a band playing in a field, with the camera circling around is a bit played out. The cynics like me can’t help but think about how much they’re faking…I mean they are being filmed pretending to sing and play their instruments. It’s kinda weird….contrived…But the band is good and it’s seasonal so it plays on Foxtrott. I like the pumpkins…nice touch…
9:00 Beep Beep
10:00 UUVVWWZ
11:00 Old Canes
12:00 Orenda Fink
1:00 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
This Thursday, October 22nd, Beep Beepkicks off Saddle Creek’s showcase in the appropriately placed Knitting Factory; appropriate, because it is in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and a hop, skip, and a jump from my front fucking door! Beep Beep is an eclectic 5 piece with band members ranging from Darren Keen, one man beat dropper of The Show Is the Rainbow, to Ian Francis, lacerating drummer from The Machete Archive, a progressive postrock bud of a band making noise in Nebraska (check out Keen’s newest release Wet Fist, definitely worth a listen, and The Machete Archive’s debut Tempus Omnia Vorat).
Beep Beep is textured with threads of comfortable androgyny. Their music is a soft velveteen seduction, punctuated by the jarring insertion of an almost violent outburst of guitar and drums. Come prepared to swallow the groove, to ogle the hot one in the crowd, to watch Beep Beep set the cool and smooth in motion only to knock each other off center, exposing the slightest tension in an otherwise graceful fusion of romance and erotic emanations. It is like listening to Sade, Morrissey, and the Rapture at the same time. YUM!
Other bands gracing the stage are UUVVWWZ, a band that has come a long way from their humble beginnings. This band personified all that was musically confected in 2007; I knew it was only a matter time before someone caught on. Jim Schroder still plays his masterful guitar. These guys are quite the fucking experiment so it should be interesting to some and lost to others.
Old Canes, fronted by Chris Crisci of The Apple Seed Cast, is an amazing acoustic oriented Americana act that keeps its home in Lawrence, Kansas. This will be an great addition to the lineup. I know that Mr. Crisci and I share a love for Sunny Day Real Estate.
Next is Orenda Fink, wife of Todd Fink of The Faint, is an excellent folk singer armed with an arsenal of talent. Her bucolic lyrics and melodies are simply gorgeous. She could have been the Muse that possessed 27 year old James Agee to write Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
The night ends withMiles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, a surprisingly young dude with a very strong voice and a unique approach to making pop music, which seems to be his forte. This man’s emotions may get the better of him, but as he explodes on stage, it will be a powerful unraveling.
Here we have a great recording of a show that took place back in March. I was fortunate enough to get to see Cursive on their spring tour and is was beyond expectations. These guys have only gotten better with age. Mama, I’m Swollen is a masterpiece. Check out my show review Tim and Damien are a Spectrum.
On Sunday, October 27th I went to see a show that I have been anticipating for a very very long time. Sunny Day Real Estate is reunited and touring prompting well a founded rumor that they will record new material. I can confirm that they played a new song during the set that Jeremy Enigk said they wrote together for the tour. Now this is the full band folks. What It Feels Like to Be Something On and Rising Tide were recorded without Nate Mendel. They have not really functioned like this together in 14 years. The band was soulful and beautiful; energetic and monolithic in stature.
These guys are true heroes to some, including me, and they did not let their admirers down. I truly wish my good friend and musical partner Mike could have been there. This band was so influential on the music we made together. I wish that my little brother, Josh, who missed out on 2003’s Fire Theft show because the bouncer kicked him out for puking. Seeing Sunny Day with him would have made my conscience feel a little better for loading him up on dirty martinis and then ditching him…on his 21st birthday. I saw this band not simply as a reunion of great musicians, but as a collapsing of time. On Sunday, I stood in Terminal 5 with my wife, but also with my friends from home, my brother, and everyone else in my life who has ever been inspired by this excruciatingly unique and gracious band. It was perfection.
Now I am going to steal an idea from another online site called Prefixmag.com. I have no problem stealing from the blog because of their awful fucking writing as evidenced by this quote:
“The band performed “Seven” from its classic eponymous debut, Diary, which is now 15 years old.”
So this is a double knock on the online magazine. I steal from them, and then I say don’t use the word eponymous when you don’t know what it means. If the band’s name was Diary or the song was named Diary, then the debut would be eponymous. Prefix, stick to 15 cent words or less. If you want to hire someone to review music you have my email.
Sunny Day Real Estate, Seven on Jimmy Fallon 2009
Sunny Day Real Estate, Seven on The Jon Stewart Show 1994
Go to Brooklyn Vegan for an amazing collection of photos and live footage like this:
1. Friday
2. Seven
3. Shadows
4. Song About An Angel
5. Grendel
6. Guitars & Video Games
7. Iscarabaid
8. Theo B
9. New Song
10. 47
11. J’Nuh
12. Sometimes
Encore:
13. In Circles
14. Spade And Parade
15. 48
Music As Sunny Day Real Estate
Diary- 1994
LP2- 1995
How It Feels to Be Something On- 1998
Rising Tide- 2000
As The Fire Theft
The Fire Theft- 2003
As Jeremy Enigk
Return of the Frog Queen- 1996
The End Sessions- 1996
World Waits- 2006
The Missing Link- 2007
OK Bear- 2009
Tour
09/30/09 7:00 Washington, DC 930 Club
10/01/09 7:00 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
10/03/09 9:00 Atlanta, GA Center Stage Theater
10/05/09 7:00 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
10/06/09 7:00 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
10/07/09 8:00 Austin, TX La Zona Rosa
10/09/09 7:00 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre
10/10/09 7:00 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
10/11/09 8:00 Hollywood, CA Music Box
10/13/09 8:00 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
10/15/09 8:30 Spokane, WA The Knitting Factory
10/16/09 8:00 Seattle, WA The Paramount Theater
02/20/10 Brisbane, Australia
02/21/10 Sydney, Australia
02/26/10 Melbourne, Australia
02/27/10 Adelaide, Australia
03/01/10 Perth, Australia
The bluesy musings of Jeff Shelton of Louisville, Kentucky combine the heritage developed in folk narrative story telling and a groundling’s attitude toward art. Shelton underscores this dynamism with his juxtaposition of Prisoner’s Lake, the fourth track on his latest CD titled Lazy Bones, and the subsequent track Oldest Memory. Prisoner’s Lake is a lamentful ballad with a slow and tender melody backed by a beautiful vocal track that stresses a frightful innocence. You can hear the room space and brushes as they hit the snare, creating a sense of intimacy and emotional inundation. In Oldest Memory, Shelton performs singsong poetry, highlighting erectile functions and spread eagle positions. The Mack performs more often than not at a base level. However, throughout the record, strands of warmth and artistic sincerity emanate. At these junctures, Shelton’s most tenable road to greatness is revealed.
Around the corner from my house a new venue has opened and is making quite an impression on the better half of Williamsburg (South of Bedford and Metropolitan).The Knitting Factory, having moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, is but one outpost among many Knitting Factories across America, including Hollywood, Spokane, and Boise. I’m not sure what baggage is brought to the neighborhood from the fact that it is a “chain” venue. Indeed we all hope it is not a fast food outlet. I have been assuaged of this possibility by reading the venue’s history which you should do here. It is quite the story, one that compels you to take a look. The following is their near term schedule as released to the press; it looks incredibly promising, worth at least a try:
Tuesday, September 15th Helado Negro, Jason Ajemian, Julianna Barwick
7:00 PM
Wednesday, September 16th
ZXL
CD release party presented by roc-elle records The Chosen, Zemi17, Nikki Borodi, special guest: Imani Uzuri
7:00 PM
Friday, September 18th and Saturday, September 19th
Brooklyn Fashion Festival: Fashion and Arts Premiere
8:00 PM
