Morrissey at the Hammerstein

Morrissey; Girl in a Coma
@ Hammerstein Ballroom
New York, NY - October 26, 2007

Everyone's second favorite Manc (behind Karl Pilkington of course) was light on the Smiths, heavy on his own material, and as he put it, can take "poetic license" with all of it as he sees fit. And the crowd let him do as he pleased. As a Morrissey concert novice, this writer was a bit worried that the old Mancunian warhorse would be a bit icy and distant but on the contrary, Our Man Morrissey was warm, interactive, and insistently charming. He even had macho frat boys going "Dude, I wish I could hug Morrissey right now, bruh" (true story). The genius of the whole thing was the brevity. Most of the man's songs would suffer if they went on too long, but only 1 seemed to go past 4 minutes. A rock n' roll spirit to English pop never hurts. No "Everyday is like Sunday" but "First of the Gang to Die" sufficed. And he's a decent looking bloke too.
Piss-poor mini-clip of Moz
Girl in a Coma were a replacement for Kristeen Young (who was dismissed from the tour) and with all due respect, Morrissey would have been better off going it alone. The San Antonio trio of girls seem to think they are playing some kind of authentic punk rock - and god bless 'em for their spirit - but they sound like nothing more than the suburban pimple rock that has plagued rock n' roll for a decade now. They need a little bit of soul, or maybe even a dash of Texican spice, to make it work.

Gig Review Archive

CMJ 2007, Night 4: Dirtbombs, Intelligence, Sahara Hotnights, 1900's, Drug Rug

Sahara Hotnights; 1900s; Drug Rug
@ Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY - October 19, 2007

Sweden's Sahara Hotnights were once a punk band then popped it up in subsequent years and they sounded fine either way. The new songs continue the pop trend and while it is unclear if this band will ever have another hurrah, it's good to have these ladies around.

Mini-clip

The 1900s are really inspired by a host of 70's country-rock and pop bands, from America to the Eagles (ugh) to Marshall Tucker Band to John Denver and so on and so forth. It may not be the most exciting brand of rock to draw from, but they pull it off with finesse and legitimacy. And for a pretty serious band, they seem to be having fun. Just don't venture into Fleetwood Mac territory kids (ahem, Rilo Kiley, ahem) and you'll do just fine. For the money, nothing beats "Georgia".



Drug Rug, as the name may suggest, is a hippie-ish jam band. As a general rule nowadays, this is kind of a bad thing. But unlike other jam band acts, Drug Rug doesn't squander good songs on boring long jams. The band takes mediocre to half-decent tunes and turns them into into solid, fun, foot stompin' jams. The jams are actually the best part, maybe because it's based in a general band-wide country freakout rather than a series of show-offy solos. And for the record, the girl in this band, may just be about the most cutest thing on the face of this planet. Seriously. So cute that it needed to be mentioned in serious consideration of this review. Cute shouldn't be this beautiful. It's almost scary.

Mini-clip

The Dirtbombs; The Intelligence
@ Southpaw
Brooklyn, NY - October 19, 2007

Tonight's show is noteworthy in that Mick and the gang attracted both a legion (hehe) of new fans and found some old ones not seen in awhile. It was good times all around, up front, in the back, and all over. Tonight's version of "Candy Ass" wasn't as sexed up as the night before, but it was still the Dirtbombs at their best.


A second helping of the Intelligence left a satiated but not entirely satisfactory feeling. There's got to be something untapped that needs to bust out to make this one work 100%.

SPTV: CMJ Music Marathon 2007
Photos
Great Dirtbombs photos here

A Weekend of Old Friends: Mondo Topless and the Hard Lessons

The Hard Lessons; VLA
@ Union Hall
Brooklyn, NY - October 6, 2007

There aren't harder working kids touring the USA today than the 3 from Detroit affectionately known as the Hard Lessons. They just don't stop, they don't compromise, and most importantly, they are having fun making everyone have fun. You can't beat that. You just can't.
Exclusive to SPTV on Blip, "Milk and Sugar".
And here is "Carey Says (Alright)":

VLA are a Los Angeles trio sounding very Cure-inspired, which is a broad definition, but you know it when you hear it. Better suited for a dance-rock night, they still satisfied. Mini-Clip.
Photos of all the festivities.

The Ugly Beats; Mondo Topless
@ Magnetic Field
Brooklyn, NY - October 5, 2007

Austin-based Ugly Beats are a satisfactory if not immediately wowing 60's inspired garage band. Very much influenced by Roky Erickson and co., they know what they are doing, have great direction, and should go places. And their lefty guitarist looks just like the Japanese actor in Babel. No foolin'.
Then there's Mondo. The boys from Philly have a very new drummer in tow and they are sounding great. Not a misstep in the proceedings, the Philly 4 proved once again why they are the best Northeast garage rock band going. They just never screw up. Ever. Seriously.
"One, Two, Three, Me":

Photos galore!

Cookin' With Metric: Live at Webster Hall

Metric; Crystal Castles
@ Webster Hall
New York, NY - September 21, 2007

When Emily Haines wasn't talking about giving up the music life to do cooking shows, she was leading her ferocious dance-rock band Metric in a blazing performance at Webster Hall. The half-Canadian, half-American quartet have a few albums that, while good, suffer from filler. Live-wise, the filler becomes substance and the quality becomes the stuff of pure excellence. The band's 3 best songs - "Monster Hospital", "Combat Baby", and "Dead Disco" - shook the club. I mean it. The club literally shook. The crowd would have been dancing all performance long too if it wasn't for the hypnotic light show (it cannot be underplayed how perfect the lighting was) and the presence of Ms. Haines. To sum up Emily in a sentence: She's Madonna if Madonna was a talented musician. In her little cave woman white tiger outfit, she held the audience in the vice-grip of her aura. The masterful bridge between the main set and the encore consisted of Emily making the crowd sing and clap the beat to one song. Who can do that?!
Below is one of a few SPTV mini-clips from the Pennypacker Mobile, a snippet of "Dead Disco" that captures what the lighting and scene felt like from above the fray:


Crystal Castles are a true club-rock trio: dark, a little scary, neo-party monsters. The jumpy lead singer, for whatever reasons, gave off the following vibe: a child, Anime, lesbian. All in one. Who can do that?!

Another Night of Double Giggage: Apples in Stereo; Carina Round

Apples in Stereo; Aqueduct; The Old Soul
@ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY - September 16, 2007

Robert Schneider is one of the most likable men in rock, a verbose goof ball who combines psychedelic stylings with power-chord rock n' roll. His band, the Apples in Stereo, are truly in the vein of the Flaming Lips and other neo-psychedelic bands, but it is that consistent yearn for anthemic rock that helps the Apples stand apart. Live-wise, the power really shines and, at least on this night, Robert kept the talking to a minimum, focusing instead on bringing the house (pretty crowded but far from sold out) down, which he more or less succeeded at.
"Energy":

Both Aqueduct and the Old Soul were complimentary power-pop bands. The former, from Seattle, sounded, at times, more 80's - especially when using some electronic gizmo. Also led by a likable (and notably unglamorous) frontman, Aqueduct would sometimes lose their way but they managed to bring it back to where it had to be time and again. The fun, rollicking cover of R. Kelly's "I'm a Flirt" was a high note. The Old Soul, from Toronto, are a more eclectic brand of power-pop rock. The one unifying theme in all their songs seems to be a subtle ragtime-ish swoon. All 3 bands had a good time but these guys really seemed to be having a good time. Also, a little anthemic but again, with a twist.
Pictures here.

Carina Round
@ Sound Fix
Brooklyn, NY - September 16, 2007

There are two ways to think of Carina Round and the two ways do not contradict each other: Joni Mitchell and PJ Harvey defied science and had a baby and out popped Carina Round. That's one way. Another way is to ask you if you remember the mid-90's when a flock of female singer-songwriters seemed to really come into their own. On the one end were alternative rebels like the aforementioned Harvey and Ani DiFranco, and on the other were the more mainstream, pop-oriented acts like Sarah Mclachlan and her Lilith Fair cohorts. In the middle of that wide chasm, lies Carina Round. Think of Sarah Mclachlan's best work, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, dirtied up a bit by Polly Jean, and this is the music put forward - strikingly and successfully - by Carina. Carina's vocal talents are fascinating - she can sing pop songs dearly but she can thrown her voice around like a punching bag, creating effective alternative sounds. Her ability to scream a note without really moving her lips is a bit hypnotic to watch.
This night, in a stripped down set of acoustic guitar and one electric guitar, Carina's music did not have the full register that it does on her records but it offered a simple, basic examination of the pop-craft she's weaving. It is this kind of pop-music with a knife edge that needs to be pushed and played and popular.
Here's an SPTV Mini-clip of "Come To You":

Photos here.

Sonic Parthenon TV Insta-Clips

Ta Da!

Presenting a series of short clips, taken mostly from Mr. Pennypacker's mobile cellular device. These clips are, for the most part, utterly horrible - not because of the bands obviously, but because of the nature of the device used to take them. But nevertheless, they stand as a record of Sonic Parthenon giggage, and also they stand because Mr. Pennypacker does not know how to use Bluetooth.
As a sample, here is a little of Camera Obscura (yes, I know, I can't stop writing about them!) from their intimate performance at Sound Fix:

Also, the DirtBlanche clips have been moved to this playlist.