New Electric Six Video: "Randy's Hot Tonight"

Sonic Parthenon's The Year In Music 2007: Part 1

With a new blog name, new pen name, new everything this year, it makes sense to tackle the year in review a little differently from the last few years. Scrapping the traditional awards-style listing, and ignoring the countdown listings that everyone else does, here is just an all-things-equal review of a LOT of the music heard in 2007, broken over several parts this week. And only 1 mention of Amy Winehouse, promise!

Action Painters

• Live Show
  
• Record: Chubby Dancer
• Songs: “Absolutely Clear”, “Sooner or Later”
  

Well it never worked out that a second Action Painters live review took place in 2007, but the random drunken entry on an August Thursday, just a few songs worth made a big impact. The Chubby Dancer EP justified what was heard, especially the lead off tracks, “Absolutely Clear” and “Sooner or Later”. The former could have been a hit single in the last 25 years and the latter is a modern rock power pop bit of heaven. If the band likes this kind of attention, they should personally thank ol’ Pennypacker’s crazy Latina ladyfriend, whose bootyshaking and drink pouring antics drove the old man out of the yuppie bar and in a cab to the Merc.




Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

• Live Show
  
• Record: Easy Tiger
• Song: “Halloweenhead”
  

Quite a year for Ry. He limited himself to just one record and solidified his bond with the Cardinals. Neal Casal, Jon Graboff, Chris Feinstein, and Brad Pemberton, helped steer Ryan through his new, aware sense of the world around of him. “Halloweenhead” showed off the project’s ability to bust out a single so smoothly made that the rough edged vulgarity almost slips by entirely. The small show at the Hiro Ballroom was one of the highlights of the year, with a funny Ryan sounding excellent and the acoustics of the small room matching the band’s fluidity. The Halloween night mega-show was too long for its own good but the band still sounded in fine form. Here’s hoping Ryan has an even better 2008 and if not, there’s always DJ Reggie to fall back on.
"Halloweenhead" live at the Hiro:


Apples in Stereo

• Live Show
  
• Record: New Magnetic Wonder
• Song: “Energy”
  

Sweet, syrupy, but nevertheless 3-chord bad ass fun, Robert Schneider’s Apples in Stereo is the most accessible spin-off of Elephant Six. Their LP was a treasure chest of single-friendly anthems, led by the begging-to-be-commercialized (in a good way) “Energy” and their live show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg was every bit as fun as it should have been. Hey! This summation was completed without using the word “Psychedelic”. Yes!

SPTV

Art Brut

• Live Show
  
• Songs: “Direct Hit”, “People In Love”
  

Yeah, It’s A Bit Complicated was all right and “Direct Hit” and “People In Love” were the best tracks on it. “Direct Hit” in particular was a solid single. But let’s not kid ourselves. Art Brut is all about the live experience. Whether it was the headlining spot at the Highline Ballroom or opening for the Hold Steady at Terminal 5, it was proved that Art Brut’s songs are nothing without Eddie Argos’ spoken word engineering.
Direct Hit
SPTV:


“Atlas” by Battles
Seven-minute singles are really unheard of, now and pretty much ever, but New York math rockers Battles did just that. A song straight from Munchkinland in Hell, “Atlas” is a stomp-filled, metal-inspired opus that actually says something good about prog rock.


Band of Horses

• Live Show
  
• Record: Cease To Begin
• Song: “Is There A Ghost”
  

They look like they should be a jam band but instead Band of Horses crafts an ethereal mix of Indie pop. Making South Carolina a respectable place to be, Ben Bridwell and company look past their “Weed Party” shenanigans for the magnificence of a single like “Is There A Ghost”. Admittedly it’s so simple as to be annoying, but Indie pop should always be this simple. Punk sensibilities never heart good pop music. Their Terminal 5 show was more than decent and kudos to Ben for actually mapping out the plan for everyone there: (Paraphrasing) “Ok so 2 more to go, and then we’ll come back out for four more, so six songs total and then you guys can go, OK?)
Video

“Because I’m Awesome” by the Dollyrots
This is a really dumb song on a really terrible album by a pretty bad band. That being said, the song can be played on repeat for hours. It’s so good and so bad at the same time, it makes you want to listen to Little Steven’s Underground Garage all over again…and then turn it off forever.
Video

“Been There All The Time” by Dinosaur Jr

One of the absolute singles of the year. Dinosaur Jr. has been through a lot over these many years and this ode to early 90’s-style fun-rock is a reminder that there’s been a lot of crap out there on the radio, and the old guard still do it better than anyone else. What a song.
Video

Scott H. Biram

• Live Show
  
• Record: Graveyard Shift
  

Graveyard Shift is more than fine but it was the live show at the Luna Lounge, which has matasticized into a sprawling, experimental thing, that keeps Biram relevant and, more importantly, damn good.
Live in Texas:


Black Tie Revue

• Live Show
  

Eh, take Code Fun for what you will. It grows on you but none of this matters as Pittsburgh’s BTR is one of the best live rock n’ roll bands around. A little power punk, a little garage, a little bar band-y, they cover all the bases equally without falling off the cliffs. Solid, solid, solid sets at the Cake Shop and Southpaw this year.
SPTV at CMJ

Cake Shop
The neatest little idea on Ludlow Street (and the Lower East Side and lower Manhattan for that matter), the Cake Shop really came into its own this year with a host of reviewed gigs (some great, some not) and a ton of other shows that didn’t make the Sonic Parthenon calendar but nevertheless assuredly tore the house down (The Clean, Jay Reatard, King Khan & BBQ Show, etc).

Camera Obscura

• Live Show
  
• Record: Let’s Get Out of This Country
  

Let’s Get Out of This Country came out in 2006 but was not heard by Pennypacker ears until this year. In retrospect, it was the Best Album of 2006 and will make a big claim on the Album of the Decade title in a few years. The band made two trips to New York this year, the second of which fell into the Sonic Parthenon purview. A beautiful, intimate set at Sound Fix Records in Williamsburg was one of the most singularly enjoyable moments possible (even with the ultra-packed crowd and a stomach ache). And the little stage banter between Obscura leader Traceyanne Campbell and this writer was as cute as it was sudden. It was so thoroughly a great gig, it inspired the birth of Sonic Parthenon TV. And the next night’s spectacle at the South Street Seaport should be wrapped up in a little box and held tightly forever. One of the best bands in the world, period.
SPTV at South Street Seaport:

SPTV at Sound Fix
Let's Get Out of This Country
If Looks Could Kill
Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken

Chicago (the city)
City-based scenes will come and go but take note of this one right now as it begins its ascent up. The Changes, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, and the 1990’s, are the vanguard in the Windy City’s more pop-infused efforts. The Changes were last year’s best new act and the latter two are duking it out for this year’s title (good thing the old award process was scrapped). And to top it all off, the garage rock sound is still being served well, namely by the continuing presence of the charmingly feisty Miss Alex White and the arrival of the Yolks. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa bands.
1900's at CMJ, SPTV:

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir at the Empty Bottle

The Changes' "When I Wake", video released this year:

The Yolks

Miss Alex White at CMJ, SPTV


CMJ Music Marathon
In accordance with the revamped spirit of this blog, this year’s CMJ was the first to be reviewed on all five nights. Wormburner and Looker owned night 1 but Mixtapes and Cellmates, by a razor thin margain, were the previously unknown act that became the find of the night and the marathon. Black Tie Revue kept things going on night 2 and then the Dirtbombs anchored the In The Red label show at the Mercury Lounge on night 3, with Jay Reatard, Miss Alex White, and Turbo Fruits helping out and then some. Night 4 started off with the sweet sounds of the 1990’s and Sahara Hotnights (and Drug Rug too for that matter) before the Dirtbombs brought it home at Southpaw. And Saturday night was a little return to the old Detroit days with the Hard Lessons in Brooklyn and the Dirtbombs in Hoboken. CMJ Personal Highlight: Chicks. CMJ Lowlight: Missing out on Looker’s house party down the block from the Dirtbombs gig. Drag.
SPTV at CMJ


Elvis Costello

• Live Show
  

The May show at the Nokia was a lesson in legend. Dapper in a suit, with sparkly slippers to keep himself comfortable, Costello dished out “High Fidelity”, “Alison”, “Watching The Detectives”/”Let Him Dangle”, and “Welcome to the Working Week” among other chestnuts. Always independent minded, no one tells Elvis what to do and no one wants to.


“D.A.N.C.E.” by Justice
THE Hipster dance song of the year and giving Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” a run for its money. The child-turned-melisma drenched singing voice was disturbing but the beats brought it home. The Terminal 5 shows were missed but that’s probably the best way to treat that venue: as a dance club with DJ’s.


The Dirtbombs

• Live Show

No new record, no matter. Five New York area shows by one of the best live bands in the world, and what do you expect? The end of the revolving door really seems to have meant something. This is the only Dirtbombs line-up this blog has ever known and it may as well stay that way. Great people, great band, great times. Next year, a new record (which already sounds great, by the way) and a return to the Bowery Ballroom. 2008 could very well be the Dirtbombs’ year.
SPTV at CMJ:


“Don’t Let Him Change Your Mind” by Jarvis Cocker
One of the nicer, sweeter singles this year, from the Pulp helmsman. A likeable fellow with a loveable track.
Video

Electric Six

• Live Show
  
• Song: “Dance Pattern”
  

This was the year that Electric Six was supposed to go away. Enough was enough. How much longer can someone parlay the Disco-Metal thing? And sure enough, a large chunk of the egregiously named I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master was D.O.A., how it was with Switzerland. But something happened: “Dance Pattern” was one of the best songs of the year, and the live show actually not only remained good, and not only improved from 2006’s mid-year funk, but the last outing was their best yet. And credit has to go to Dick Valentine for potentially making a serious impact on the culture with the phrase “put a little mustard on it”.
"Dance Pattern" live at Southpaw:


“The Equestrian” by Les Savy Fav
One of the more rollickin’ punk songs of the year, from an eclectic band whose live show is hyped to death but has yet to be reviewed here.
Hear it with this video

Dave Raven; No E6 Review; So Long Ike

• Dave Raven, the fabulously voiced host of the Raven n' the Blues on BFBS Radio 2, heard here as a podcast, suffered a stroke last week. But this week he got on the netwaves and sent a notice out to everyone. With slurred speech, and a weak state of mind, he still managed to get on the air, if only to let us all know what happened and that he'll be back in short order. Send your thoughts and well wishes to Dave via his website.
  
• It's terrible how sudden these things can be...and sudden family medical developments at the Pennypacker ranch have led to changes in schedule and the result is that there will be no review of tonight's Electric Six free show at Southpaw.
• Ike Turner was an abusive, nasty bit of shit. But he also wrote and recorded one of the songs that lays claim to the First Ever Rock n' Roll song title, "Rocket 88":
  

More Public Radio Rock N' Roll: Ween, Electric Six, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, and the 1900's

NPR's All Things Considered Sunday had Ween (Gener has a voice and temperment made for hosting on public radio, let alone being a guest on it - successor to Ira anyone?)

Electric 6, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, and the 1900's were heralded on this week's Sound Opinions as part of their "Buried Treasures" of the year episode.

Return of Double Giggage: Electric Six, Uncle Monk, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir

Electric Six; The Willowz
@ Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY - November 16, 2007

It could not be resisted. With the previous gig being so early, and the Bowery Ballroom so close, how could a seventh Electric Six show be passed up? Sure, Horton Heat was in town, sure VHS or Beta were doing their own dance-rock thing, sure there were a ton of great gigs in the night but there is only one (or six, rather, or actually when you really think about it, nine or ten) Electric Six. It was well worth going. For possibly the first time in seven reviews, not counting any possible drunken blackouts, Valentine and the gang did "Electric Demons in Love". From the first record, the second track, the one that truly establishes the band as Disco Metal and arguably remains their finest song. Forget "Danger! High Voltage!". This is the track that should have been the hit and should have made this band as big in the U.S.A. as it is in Europe, if not bigger. But speaking of bigness, for the first time in about four or five reviews, the show was not sold out and packed to the gills, and the mosh pit (featuring only some of the regulars) was more subdued for larger portions of the show than previously. Could the U.S.A. Six Success have peaked? Or was everyone home because of the news Valentine broke? That Larry King had died? (Dick did seem actually serious about it but of course as we know now, Larry is alive and well. Cleveland, Hello!) Anyway, this is one of the best, if not the best, Electric Six performance ever reviewed and not just for "Demons". Exuberant, extra saucy highlights also include the new "Dance Pattern", the classic "Dance Epidemic", "I Buy The Drugs", "Future is in the Future", "Improper Dancing", and "Rock n Roll Evacuation", which had Valentine's latest political ramblings, that while New York will have to (probably) pick between its current senator and its former mayor for President, that as poor as that choice is, it's all better than Bush. And finally, after years of ranting by D.V., we got one good, fist-shaking wail of "Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuush!" Loved it.

Dude, I don't know what it is about the Willowz man. They look like they should be doing some country bumpkins from hell thing, some Little House on the Prairie meets Black Sabbath type deal, but they really just do garage. Maybe it's the singer's voice? Maybe it's a lack of substantive follow through on the opening licks? I don't know. They aren't that bad, but there is something definitely missing. But kudos to them, they were fun to laugh and dance with in the balcony during the Six set. But word of caution guys: When people in the audience heckle you, do not taunt them and threaten to fight them. It is unbecoming. Especially when you have a charming gal in the band.

Uncle Monk; Scotland Yard Gospel Choir; Used To Be Women; Alec Scott
@ Knitting Factory Old Office
New York, NY - November 16, 2007

So yeah this is the first review of a living, breathing Ramone. The last original Ramone no less. Tommy Erdelyi performed his sincere, fun, and frankly, good, bluegrass duo material. There's not much to wax on about it. It was straight forward mandolin and acoustic bluegrass. By Tommy Ramone. You can't beat that.
Scotland Yard Gospel Choir are a great Chicago bar band that do it in a folky and stompy fashion. Lots of Indie pop sensibilities but with a nod to the more basic elements of good live rock. It's official by the way, Chicago has arrived. The city is now teeming with great bands and its an eclectic brew. The next few years ought to be a lot of fun.
Used to be Women seem to want to be an alt-country, contemporary hard rock mix but they sound more like the latter and it's a little unorganized and not in that good, punk way. It's kind of hollow.
Oh, Alec Scott. Alec, Alec, Alec. You are true to your soul, I'll give you that. It was something to hear this young acoustic soft pop-folk performer talk in length to the audience about his songs, especially when he lectured the crowd about the merits of Michael Moore and how he was inspired to write "The White House Is Corrupt" because of the big man. Now, political debates about Moore aside, the point here is that Mr. Scott talked to the crowd as if the crowd had no idea who Michael Moore is. This was the first clue that young Alec has a lot to learn. Later, he feebly tried to get the crowd to sing along. And then finally, he nervously rambled on about the sound guy, his two bandmates on bass and sax respectively, and himself. And that's just it. He was nervous. I hope. Anyway, this Dave Matthews thing he's going for needs more metaphor and poetry if it's going to work. If you're going for a Woody Guthrie, tell-it-like-it-is approach, just do that. Pick and choose, young friend. Pick and choose.

November 2007 Concert Calendar Highlights

-Four nights in a row at Terminal 5 put the new venue into the big time starting tonight: 2 nights of the Decemberists, then Gogol Bordello, then Band of Horses.

-Josh Rouse lights up the Blender this Friday and Saturday while Josh Ritter does it at Webster Hall a week from Friday.

-Carina Round has a month-long Wed residency at the Living Room for most of the month but she makes a stop over at Zebulon on Sat 11/17.

-Talk about contrasts: The Pipettes on Mon the 12th at Blender and Reverend Horton Heat with Hank 3 the next night at Highline.

-The Hold Steady and Art Brut and 1990's all together at Terminal 5 on Wed the 21st. Could be the show of the year...

-Some guys named Gene and Dean Ween. Last day of the month. Again, Terminal 5. Fiesta!!!!

-Also this month: The Sonics, Sea Wolf, VHS or Beta, Electric Six, the Woggles, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Battles.

Muischeads Rules This Week: Ween, Electric Six, Band of Horses

It's like they made a special episode just for Sonic Parthenon. Download here.
In the meantime, check out a bit of each of what they're talking about:

Ween does "Fiesta" live in Madison last week:


The new "Down at McDonnelz" video by Valentine and company:


"Is There A Ghost" by Band of Horses:

I've Run Out of Snappy Titles for Electric Six

Electric Six; Mobile
@ Maxwell's
Hoboken, NJ - July 20, 2007

The crowds get crazier and crazier all the time at Electric Six shows, even at Maxwell's. Packed to the last possible person, the mosh pit was intense, and I saw crowd surfing for the first time at Maxwell's. I may be wrong but I think even Dick Valentine said "Put him down" as a means to control the crowd but in a subtle, "let me make it sound like it's part of the song so this crowd doesn't think I'm a square" kind of way. Poor Dick, it seems for the first time he's overwhelmed by the audience. My question is, if they are this popular, where are the radio hits? Why didn't this band explode like I predicted back in 2003? It ain't right, I tells ya. There isn't a better party band around, even if they never really mix it up musically, and even with Valentine's increasingly long-winded political monologues (though this night's affair was nowhere near as serious as New Year's Eve, but it was way longer). What sending all the girls in the crowd down Frank Sinatra Blvd and putting them in a giant microwave and zapping them to have sex with an old W. Bush in the future has to do with anything, I don't know.
Highlights included: "I Buy The Drugs", "Devil Nights", "Future Boys", "Danger High Voltage", "Jimmy Carter", and "Improper Dancing", and "Germans in Mexico". Lowlights include "Slice of You", a terrible song from the last album that I wish Valentine would bury. I also condemn his random "anyone here from Florida" moment and letting some guy come on stage and talk, just to have the guy turn out to be some frat boy jock asshole who brings a woman on stage and, for no reason, starts calling her a whore. And she said something stupid too. Way to go, Dick.

Mobile is some anglo-american pop rock kinda deal from Quebec. But more than sounding like contemporary pop rock bands, they also sound a lot like the Cult and I was vindicated in this regard when after someone shouted out for "Freebird" (what a crowd huh?), the lead singer asked if anyone liked the Cult.

The "Williamsburg" Confession

First a link to the piece that got me started on writing this - the toxic brew that it is there is something I haven't given much thought about, even after remembering this Lopate show about the decades-old oil leak in Greenpoint. But anyway...

This is the story of Williamsburg. Actually it isn't. It's the story of "Williamsburg". It's the story of me and my relation to this Brooklyn neighborhood not just as a location but as a concept, in the context of what I knew growing up, what my experience has been in the last few years, and what it all means now. So it's a story of my life with Rock N Roll and another city - Detroit - but it's really best to just call it the story of "Williamsburg".

When I first planned on writing this story, I thought the moment I would talk about happened in 2001 or 2002. But I was wrong. According to this, it happened in 2003 which means I must have known about it sooner. That link is good because it brings up the other city in this story.

But there I was - apparently in 2003 - sitting on the can, as I usually am, reading Maxim's Blender magazine when I discover that Williamsburg is the "Most Rock N Roll City" in the USA. What? I must have thought one of two things, depending on what I knew at that point. It was probably "A bunch of trendy hipsters have made a notorious Brooklyn neighborhood the Most Rock N Roll City in the USA?". But initially I thought this was the moment I discovered Williamsburg to not be a slum at all, let alone that the hipsters made it number 1. Let's backtrack:

Growing up on the complete opposite end of Brooklyn, I had always been told by my paranoid, enclosed, and hateful family that Williamsburg and Greenpoint were two of the many bad neighborhoods in Brooklyn and we would never ever go there for any reason ever. But I recall going once in the 80's or early 90's, and it did live up to those characterizations. As self-hating Jews, we felt uncomfortable around the Hasidim that lived up there, and as a bunch of racists, my family hated the dark skinned half of the population there even more. And that's talking specifically about Williamsburg. We never ventured to Greenpoint but we thought of it as the same.

Plow ahead to the early 2000's. Very early. I helped chaperon a trip for my old high school to Greenpoint. I was stunned. It was a nice, safe, clean long time Polish neighborhood. The irony of this was that my family comes from Poland. But since this wasn't Jewish Polish, it didn't count. For all my family knew, it was a ghetto. So this was the first stunning moment.

Now let's enlarge the story. It's 2002. After doing some reading, I learn over a short period of time that there is some sort of rock revival going on in the independent music scene. I see the same bands mentioned over and over - The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, The Vines. Reads cool. So I checked 'em out and except for the Vines, I got into it. Suddenly I was - music wise but never in dress or attitude - Hipster Numero Uno. This was in college down in Philadelphia where most of my friends were peaking in their rock interests, primarily stopping at the mid-70's. Some moved on to other things, some of which I latched on to (Ween) and some things I did not (thrash metal). So my thing was the new garage rock.

In addition to seeing and hearing these bands, I learn about their friends and associates and I see that there are actual little scenes going on. Scandinavia seemed the biggest scene outside the USA (England was surprisingly lacking - having only produced The Libertines and later on the gimmicky but fun band The Darkness). In the USA, two cities seemed to be popping up again and again as scenes. New York and Detroit. And specifically in New York, the Lower East Side and Williamsburg.
Hold the phone. Detroit? That run down little Rustbelt relic? There are white people still living in Detroit? And they play rock n roll? I thought Eminem and Kid Rock were all that came out of the Motor City at that point. But nope, there was a whole cadre of garage bands that the Rock World was spying on after the impressive start of the White Stripes.
Hold the phone again. Williamsburg? What the....Williamsburg? Ok, I knew Greenpoint, right next door, was not what I thought it was but Williamsburg? Hasidim and ghetto thugs? Abandoned industrial factories (perhaps not surprisingly, it's own little Rustbelt Riviera)? A band called the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were "from Brooklyn". There are rock bands from Brooklyn? Since when? Certainly not while I was there. Right...? Right...? I thought all the artists and hip people were still in Soho and Chelsea. Holy cow!

So that's how it started. Before moving back from Philadelphia (which itself has/had a small but very immobile garage rock scene), I reacquainted myself with my hometown (and if you're wondering why Detroit matters in this story at all, just hold on). I learned about a lot of these good New York bands - the Strokes, YYY, the Mooney Suzuki - and I learned that not only was the Williamsburg/Greenpoint section of Brooklyn all the trendy rage, the Lower East Side was the twin city on the other side of the river. So I guess by the time I read that Blender article, I had known but was still stunned. And for the record, I still object to the designation of "city". It's a neighborhood.

I have a love and hate affair with these current crop of hipsters. I like a lot of the look (especially on the girls, and I myself am a sucker for a good blazer with slacks and a messenger bag) but it feels forced. The exorbitant amount of money flowing underneath felt obscene and made the scene feel false. But alas this is how many scenes happen. Someone has to have the money. Back over in Detroit, no one had the money, and that's why people left - to go to places like New York.

So back to Detroit. By late 2002, early 2003 - before I even moved back to New York to have more time experiencing this music scene - I fell in love with the White Stripes. More so than any other band. This was THE band. And it was only 2 people. The ability to change the sound and style without changing the aesthetic really appealed to me. But obviously it was the ability to sound good and write good songs in each different style that really made it work. I annoyed my friends with constant talk about them. On the day Elephant came out in 2003, I made a biiiiig stink about it. I was like a little fanboy. I was a little fanboy. Sue me. It felt good to be into something like that. And I had nothing to be ashamed of. Instead of being derided by my rock snob friends, I had done them one better. Now I was the snob. But I digress.

After moving back to New York that summer, I really got into the scene. And I started making trips up to Williamsburg. I had ONE friend who liked to go up there but not for live music. He did it just to feel trendy and get drunk, and he introduced me to some good bars there and on the Lower East Side and East Village. Live music was another matter. My first gig back in NYC was actually The Sounds at Club Luxx in Williamsburg. It couldn't get any more garage hipster than that folks. I even had an Ac/Dc shirt on (remember a couple years ago when all those bastards started wearing Ac/Dc shirts? I STARTED it. Ok I probably didn't - but as an actual fan of Ac/Dc for several years running by that point, it felt like I did).
I was totally blown away by the idea of the Village Voice doing an annual festival in Coney Island. Who would have thunk it? Coney Island was (and still mostly is) dreck. But there it was. A festival just a few stops down. What a time to be alive.

So that was almost four full years ago now. A lot has happened. As per New York, the scene never died. But it shifted and changed. The Strokes' rock n roll gave way to the Yeah Yeah Yeah's art rock. Art rock gave way to dance rock (and that went national and international - and this time, the Brits DID show up to the party, Franz Ferdinand and all their sub-par peers). For a brief period, the hipsters tried to engineer a new sound "electroclash" but it failed. After dance rock, came the return of indie pop. And nowadays, it appears what would have passed for mainstream bar band rock in the 90's is now the current hipster flavor (The Hold Steady). I like some of it. I don't like some of it. That's how it is and always will be. We're almost at the point of this story, let me just switch back to Detroit for a moment because things will start to come together now.

The White Stripes began to disassociate with their hometown sometime between Elephant and 2005's Get Behind Me Satan. Artistically, aesthetically, personally - the association that Jack White had with his hometown was draining away and eventually snapped completely. Why does this matter?
Because the whole time I was reveling in the New York scene, I had increasingly become obsessed with the Detroit bands. I liked other bands and other styles - but the Motor City garage thing was tops for me. A good dozen to two dozen (maybe even more, I hope not) bands were my biggest interests. It was obscene. And the perk of being in New York was that this was the one town that most of these bands would eventually come to.
Though while I was still in Philadelphia, I went to two shows at the little venue called the Balcony that had some significance in the long run: First was Mondo Topless, Philadelphia's own garage band. I loved them and still do. But the headliner that night was an Ohio group called the Greenhornes. Now, as I was an arrgoant jerk (and still am) but knew even less then, I said to myself "who are these White Stripes ripoffs?"). But I would come to know the Greenhornes better later on. The second gig was Electric Six. I went to see this band purely on a White Stripes-related reason. Jack had sung on one of their songs. It was a great damn show and the beginning of a mostly-love affair with the Six that still goes on to this day. And to help bring in some kind of full circle story, while the band is technically still based out of Detroit, the lead singer who essentially IS Electric Six, lives in Brooklyn (or at least he did the last time I heard).

So let's bring in some context now (thank you for sticking with me this far - YOU are crazier than I am for reading this, so take heart!). The Greenhornes would play important roles later on - particularly their bass player, Jack Lawrence. The Greenhornes were openers or playing on the bills at a LOT of shows that came to the Northeast that almost always featured Detroit bands. Two of these bands were the Dirtbombs and Blanche (the aforementioned Jack Lawrence became a member of Blanche right before I got into them). About a year after the Philly shows, I got into both bands heavily, far surpassing the other Detroit bands and rivaling if not even surpassing at many times, the White Stripes.

So there was my life. A New York scenester mostly interested in bands from Detroit. But particularly those 2 bands. Over the course of 2005, I started up MySpace pages for the bands on their behalf after I schoomzed 'em at gigs. This was my hobby, my break from my work life, and I enjoyed it. And I still enjoy it.

Ironically, Williamsburg played less and less a role. It was out of the way for me, and I only had 1 friend who lived in the neighborhood (not the same friend mentioned above, that one actually became a born again Hasidic Jew). So I focused on the Lower East Side, the bigger venues in the city, and Hoboken - if only for Maxwell's, the best venue in the metro area. But this is still the story of Williamsburg.

So let me quickly dispense with something I alluded to in a previous post. For the last four years I have spent a good deal on a White Stripes messageboard. Decreasingly talking about the band (which is natural) I became friendly with many people but also stirred lots of conflict due to my combative nature as I got into other topics.

The board matters for a few reasons: It held the nexus of the Stripes fan community together, it served as a hub for fans of other bands (including the Dirtbombs and Blanche), and it also resulted in affecting my actual physical real world social life in major ways (I.E. a relationship with someone I met from the board). As per the pathetic-ness of the internet, there was lots of needless drama, and a lot of unhealthy things going on. As the Detroit "scene" fell away, I was able to look at things with a fresh perspective. People were waaaaay too obsessed with the Stripes and anything related to Jack White. And I mean anything. Thankfully, the contingent of Detroit obsessives faded and shrunk (that included me as my interests expanded again and I moved on from a lot of the growing musical inadequacy and stupid gossipy drama coming out of that town onto the board) but those that remained gave me a wake up call. People have to move on. People have to expand their lives.

As I also mentioned in that previous post things got hairy for me at the time the Raconteurs opened shop (and once again there was Jack Lawrence in the band). I had some choice, hasty words for some "band policy" regarding wristbands and a free gig. Little did I know at that moment the reality that multi-millionaire rock star Jack White spent some portion of his free time on his fans' messageboard and fought with them (namely me) over multiple things. The wristbands were apparently the last straw and I raised the ire of his nephew, who is also the damn drummer for the damn Dirtbombs, which by that point was (and still is) my favorite band. AWKWARD CITY. I alienated everyone who already had tired of my confrontational attitude and I even lost some friends along the way.

Now people move on - or at least they should, but as pointed out in that previous post, said nephew drummer hasn't let it go (either in jest or seriousness, I can't tell).

At this point, I am done with the board. Just as well. My life has changed and moved on in other ways, including related ways. Whatever anyone wanted to think of Detroit in 2002, 2003, 2004 - is long over. Only Williamsburg remains. And by that, I mean only New York City remains. And that's where I remain, hipsters and all, god bless 'em and their Chuck Taylors.

I never got to my point. I just wanted an excuse to babble an odd personal and insanely written post on this blog. Forget politics and rock reviews for once (or twice now). But if I did have a point, it would be to say that I always feel like I missed out and then I feel like I don't move on. Though the scene in New York always changes but also never really dies, I feel like I missed out on it. I should have been here before the Strokes pissed off all the old fashioned purists out there who hated anything scenester. I should have been here when the Yeah Yeah Yeah's opened up for the Dirtbombs (years before it became the other way around). I should have been here when the Dirtbombs played the Siren fest. I should have been here when the White Stripes and the Strokes played the Bowery. I should have been where the Stripes headlined four nights at the Bowery. I should have been here when the Stripes played with Loretta Lynn at the Hammerstein and in the process, introduced Blanche to the world.
I came in at just the right moment and it peaked early. The apex night was not a Dirtbombs show funny enough - and it was not DirtBlanche back in 2005). It was October 2004, a CMJ show - Blanche, Greenhornes, The Sights, the Paybacks, Holly Golightly (aha! There's some England for ya!), Mr Airplane Man, and the Shout Out Louds at the Mercury Lounge. It was a host of great bands and it was everything. It was the Lower East Side hosting Detroit, the USA at large, and Europe. That was the only period of time where I felt I was actually with it, and not still learning and not living in the past. It was perfect. And I guess I just felt like reliving that moment one last time at the end of a long, pointless post.

So yeah that was it. I rarely felt like I was with it. I didn't quite get that I hadn't figured out all of New York, or other parts of America. And I still don't quite get it right now. I feel like I am always playing catch-up when I am not getting off the closed playground. Except for that one night at least.

And oh yeah, I will most likely be at the Hard Lessons show tomorrow night. That's the band who's style, quality, and performance were at the genesis of the nephew drummer's blog that included the swipe at me that caused me to post my post then, and in some ways is why we're here now. The Hard Lessons are a Detroit band that is young, and late to the "scene". They are good kids who work hard, love what they do, and don't take no guff. At the should-have-been-over period of my schmoozing days, I met them and they are great people but we have lost touch as these things happen. I hope to go tomorrow night and cheer 'em on. Someone still has to have a good time out there, even if it means we're a little late or a little too long at the party. "Williamsburg" will still be there.

New Year's Eve with the Six and the 'Settes

Electric Six; The Dansettes
@ Maxwell's
Hoboken, NJ – December 31, 2006

The year 2006 went out in a rollicking good fashion as I saw two very different for the third time each this year, on the same bill. The Dansettes were helped out on bass by the leader of the Black Hollies and the soulful Motown revival sounds kept the crowd joyous and happy. Electric Six seemed revitalized after the sluggish performance in September and despite the same jerkoff moshers causing trouble, Valentine and the boys proved to be the best kind of New Year’s Eve party band you could wish for (as was suspected all along). Though as a hardened political junkie and passionate member of the Rational and Reasoned People of the World, I have message for Dick Valentine: Try to get over the last 6 years. Yes, we still have two more to go but you can’t go bringing down the New Year’s Eve crowd by lamenting how stupid the American electorate were in 2000 and 2004. Oh heck…go right ahead.

Pictures and video here.

As Sure As Death and Taxes: Electric Six at the Bowery Ballroom on a Saturday Night

Electric Six; Aberdeen City)
@Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY - September 16, 2006

Except for the jerks in the mosh pit down below, it was a decent night for E6. Unfortunately, some of the new songs lack any compelling sizzle. They're not so much run of the mill as they are squandered opportunities. Then again, I didn't like most of Senor Smoke when I first heard it but it quickly grew on me. One song off the new album is fantastic, as good as anything Dick Valentine and co. have ever done - "I Buy The Drugs" so here's the video:



Openers Aberdeen City are a Boston band that mix a previous E6 opener, She Wants Revenge, with The Smiths. And they aren't as good as either of those bands, especially of course the latter. So eh.