Yo La Tengo; Titus Andronicus @ McCarren Park Pool

Yo La Tengo; Titus Andronicus; Ebony Bones
@ McCarren Park Pool
Brooklyn, NY - August 24, 2008

The last ever JELLYNYC free show at the McCarren Park Pool (after 3 summers worth) featured New Jersey's legendary Yo La Tengo who weaved in and out of the short and sweet stuff like their recent classic "Hey Mr. Tough" to long, distorted jams, all the while playing a tribute to the summer time (this is a band that likes to sing about the seasons).
Titus Andronicus continues to play everywhere this summer and in the confines of the wide open pool, they sounded sloppy and amateurish except for their fantastic little ditty about themselves.
I heard Ebony Bones whilst waiting on the long line into the Pool, and they started off impressively with some thunderous drumming and bass-heavy winding works. But it very quickly seem to turn droll and weak. But that may have been because of the acoustics affected by the big walls around the Pool.

The Dirtbombs; The Fleshtones; Titus Andronicus @ Maxwell's

The Dirtbombs; The Fleshtones; Titus Andronicus
@ Maxwell's
Hoboken, NJ - July 11, 2008

Back from their fantabulous tour of Europe, the Dirtbombs returned to their NYC-area stomping grounds only to have a Frenchman bum rush the show twice. Other than that, it was an all-Hoboken affair, with lots of sauciness up front and great sound in the back. With the use of "Leopard Man" as their opening number this tour, the Dirtbombs may not have just perfected their own way of opening a show, they may have instituted the best show opener in rock history. The goosebumps that arise when Ben starts the pounding and the crescendo to the opening chord is about as thrilling as this band has ever been. Going through this tour's standard set list, the band settled on sticking around on stage for the encore and unleashing a 35-minute version of "Kung Fu" that included a couple of extra songs thrown in and Ben's best monologue on the mic in his career. He even handled the moshers well.

The Fleshtones - the only Brooklyn band to actually be from Brooklyn - make their Sonic Parthenon debut by doing what they've been doing for the last 25 years - fun, friendly garage rock. The look of the band is, as one friend of mine put it last night, a "bit long in the tooth", but the spirit is there, the songs are fine, and any band that walks off stage and goes right to the bar is alright by me. Also, they are the second opening band I've seen in a month have their own encore. But of course that was going to happen. They're the Fleshtones.

Titus Andronicus is the next big thing in the garage rock/punk world. They play everywhere and their fan base is rabid and growing by the day. Pop music has never sounded so vociferous. The keyboards are other worldly, and the style of the band's sound transcends the hardcore genre they would seem to revel in. This could very easily be very bad but the guys make it work. Also, they come off a bit evil, which kind of helps for some reason.

Dream Ticket: The Dirtbombs; The Fleshtones; Titus Andronicus; The Mighty Fine

Maxwell's on July 11th went from your typical mostly annual Dirtbombs thing to a full blown major event with the addition of the Fleshtones and the late breaking add of Titus Andronicus and the Mighty Fine.

The Dirtbombs are in Europe now and returning to play the NYC area that weekend (Fort Greene Park the day after Hoboken, and Asbury Lanes the day after that). Then they are off on that tour with Spiritualized (which includes New York and Philly dates).
Titus Andronicus is about to kick off a ton of shows in the area with their show at at the Knitting Factory tomorrow night. They are also going on a big cross-country tour.

Three Bands I Like as of Today That I Probably Won't Be Seeing: The Heavy, The Blacks, and Titus Andronicus

Soul-thing known as the Heavy are in town this week for three dates.
The Blacks are in the middle of a four night swing through New York - 3 nights at Pianos, described on their site as an audience participation extravaganza, and the fourth night at Union Pool opening for...the Heavy.
Also you gotta give it to the Blacks - the most used color/adjective in rock music today and they just decided they would just take it on its own. There. Eat that all you Keys, Angels, Lips, Hollies, Rebel Motorcycle Club, Halos, Mountain, etc etc etc. Eat it!

Titus Andronicus will be playing this coming Saturday at Silent Barn and will be opening for Los Campesinos! (themselves a not too shabby work-up of poppy rock n' roll).