Concert review: The Raveonettes at the Paradise Rock Club, Boston, 10/20/09

In an uncertain world, there’s something to be said for consistency. I’ve seen the Raveonettes at the Paradise three or four times over the last few years, and I always know exactly what I’m in for: noisy, gorgeously dark rock and roll, performed with energy and an irresistible coolness. Though a lot of songs from the brand-new In and Out of Control made it into the set list, last night the Raveonettes sounded basically unchanged from the last time I saw them, their sound as sleek and timelessly classic as a vintage black leather jacket.

It’s no coincidence, in fact, that the Danish band has always cultivated a distinct visual style. Last night, singer/guitarist Sharin Foo epitomized rock-star glamour with her sparkly black heels, one-shoulder dress, and chopped blond bangs; while singer/guitarist/songwriter Sune Rose Wagner radiated an elfin sexiness in tight black skinny jeans. Clearly, the Raveonettes are aware of the power of their personas as a selling point—at the merch table, you could find mugs, stickers, and bags emblazoned with a cartoon of the two band members, starkly drawn in perfect lines of black and white.

Which isn’t to say, though, that the band is all style and no substance. Accompanied by a drummer and bassist, they sounded great last night despite some early technical difficulties, drenching their trademark 50s-style girl-group hooks with fuzzed-out guitars and sweet yet affectless vocals. Many highlights came from 2008’s amazing Lust Lust Lust, with “Blush,” “Dead Sound,” and the eerie, Twin-Peaks-esque “The Beat Dies” sounding especially powerful. They slowed down for a spare, almost acapella take on new song “Oh I Buried You Today” and a hushed version of “Little Animal” that sounded almost like a lullabye—until you heard the lyrics.

The new song that probably left the biggest impression was “Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed).” With its addictive chorus and sweetly harmonious coda, I guarantee this is the catchiest song about sexual assault that you’ll hear this year (or maybe ever). Definitely worth a listen.

And in the meantime, here’s the Raveonettes’ video for “Black/White”—one that perfectly sums up their musical and visual style:


--Anna K

Blondie Makes Tour Stop in Morristown Monday Night

Whoa! How did we miss this one?

Blondie will be playing the beautiful Community Theatre of Morristown (biking distance from extrawack! HQ in Union County), this Monday night.

It's not only a rare opportunity to see Rock & Roll Hall of Famers out here in Suburban Jersey, but a chance to see real rock royalty with roots in NJ as well. Debbie Harry grew up in Hawthorne, and went to college at Centenary College in Hackettstown. Drummer Clem Burke was born in Bayonne, and was a staple in the Jersey '80s new wave rock scene even at the height of Blondie's career.

The Community Theatre is a treat, featuring great sound and sight-lines, and actually nice staff. It's a great change from NYC venues with none of those attributes, plus a commute and crazy parking fees. It's a great place to spend a hot August night.

For tickets, click here.

For more info on The Community Theatre, click here.

And for kicks, here's Blondie performing "Heart Of Glass" on The Midnight Special in 1979!:

Concert review: Grizzly Bear at Berklee, Boston 6/3

Concert review: Grizzly Bear at Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA June 3, 2009

The first time I saw Grizzly Bear live—at a crowded, stiflingly hot club in Northampton, Massachusetts—was the moment I went from being a casual fan to a mildly obsessed one. These four sweaty, slightly goofy guys put on a dazzling, energetic, virtuosic show, one that transformed the cramped space into a collective religious experience.

Nearly two years later at the Berklee Performance Center, I realized Grizzly Bear are on their way up in the world. Last night’s venue was five times bigger, the audience was sitting down, and the band members were cool and collected under a light show in shifting tones of red, blue, and green.

Other than that, though, you’d never know that Veckatimest, one of the most (deservedly) hyped albums of the year, just made #8 on the US Billboard charts. Grizzly Bear’s unclassifiable live sound—a blend of four-part harmonies and folky strumming, fifties-style pop hooks and dramatic climaxes—remains as astonishing as ever.

At last night’s show, the band turned much of their older material inside out, giving “Colorado” and the rhythmic “Fix It” an added depth and expansiveness. They’ve probably played “Knife” a billion times by now (as shown by the loud applause that flared up on the first notes) but somehow they made it new.

The band played actual newer stuff, too, including the pretty, piano-driven “Two Weeks,” and my favorites “Ready, Able” and “While You Wait for the Others.”  The new material was a bit more faithful to the album versions, but I’m sure that eventually these songs, too, will sound completely different in a live setting. The only letdown was the relative lack of lead vocals by guitarist Dan Rossen, whose rough-edged voice provides the perfect counterpart to singer Ed Droste’s sweeter, more soaring tones.

That’s a minor disappointment, though, from what was a truly stellar live show. If you’re a fan, try to catch Grizzly Bear in concert as soon as you can; at the rate they’re going, two years from now they’ll be headlining their first world stadium tour.  -Anna Kramer

photo of Ed & Dan by Kate Vacanti

Hear Grizzly Bear's recent full set performed in-studio for NPR at WNYC here.

Spank Rock, Japandroids, Bear Hands, Future Of The Left Added To Siren Festival

More good news coming from the Siren Festival camp...

Spank Rock, Japandroids, Bear Hands, and Future Of The Left have been added to Siren's bill. Already announced are Built To Spill, The Raveonettes, Frightened Rabbit, Grand Duchy, Monotonix, Micachu, and The Shapes.

Sounds like there's still a few more acts to be announced...we'll let you know when we find out, natch.

In case you missed the original announcement, Siren will be held again on Coney Island on Saturday, July 18. More info on the Village Voice Siren Festival at: http://www.villagevoice.com/siren.

Photo above of Ra Ra Riot at last year's Siren by Stefano Giovannini

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Black Moth Super Rainbow For Free At The Seaport!

Although they've not officially announced their summer free show line-up, The Seaport Music Festival apparently already has some great shows lined up.

According to the good folks at Oh My Rockness, here are some of the shows they've confirmed:

Fri 7/03
6:00 PM
Here We Go Magic, Bachelorette

Fri 7/10
6:00 PM
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Fri 7/24
6:00 PM
Black Moth Super Rainbow

Fri 8/07
6:00 PM
Casiokids, The Wave Pictures, Slow Club

Those are some seriously good shows...

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Come Saturday" mp3

Skate at the Seaport with Neckbeard Telecaster Friday Night

Brooklyn's most hirsute band, Neckbeard Telecaster, kicks off the South Street Seaport Ice series of concerts this Friday night at the skating rink there.  Shows are free to watch, and you can even skate during the shows for a reasonable skate-rental fee.  The rifftastic Grand Mal opens.  

Gig poster of the year so far?:

Neckbeard Telecaster - "Near Quitting Time" mp3

Concert Review: My Brightest Diamond in Birmingham

I'm typically of the opinion that a live show should be more vigorous and dynamic than what one puts down on record. Just because it's desirable though doesn't mean it's an easy transition to acheive. Joanna Newsom's orchestral Ys album was full of potential to fall flat on its face live with only five performers on stage. A dramatic change of instrumentation though allowed that already fresh sounding album to come to life in new and exciting ways.

Shara Worden, though, has turned convention on its ear and managed to make her frequently quiet and subtle albums even more quiet and subtle on stage. Gone are the drums/percussion (save the occasional touch of drum machine), gone are the bass and keyboards. This tour finds Worden and her guitar backed by a trio of violin, viola and cello and the occasional bit of electronics. This lineup is more conducive to material from the new album A Thousand Shark's Teeth than it is to the material on its predecessor Bring Me The Workhorse. That makes sense though as A Thousand Shark's Teeth was conceived as a series of miniatures for string quartet.

When the set opened up with a stripped down version of "Golden Star," I wasn't sure how the rest of the evening was going to turn out. It's not because it wasn't a beautiful rendition, but because there was something "wrong" about the whole thing. It took me a few songs to figure it out, but I finally decided what was wrong...and it wasn't the music. The problem is this that this music is too damn beautiful and intricate to watch while surrounded by people sipping on PBR tallboys. That's not an indictment of the crowd or the venue at all (especially seeing as I'm there all the time and many of my favorite people hang out there.) The venue did all in its power to encourage people to not talk during the show (including posting signs at the entrance) and by and large, the crowd obliged giving the music and musicians due respect. Still, in all honesty, a small recital hall would be the optimal place to see them perform in my opinion.

I couldn't help but wonder throughout the course of the evening how many people know who she's singing about when referencing modernist French composer Pierre Boulez or if the subtleties of the mbira can truly be appreciated in a rock club setting. I must say that the Javanese shadow puppets during the final song were really cool and one can only hope that people will learn a bit more about these often obscure influences that help make her one of a kind performances what they are. She's clearly one of the brightest (no pun intended), most cultured people working the indie rock circuit, but one has to wonder where exactly she'd best fit in, though I doubt fitting in is her goal (and to her credit she is forging her own path.) Her stuff is probably too cultured for widespread acceptance among the rock set, but too peculiar and "too rock and roll" for the fine arts crowd. I do know this though, she deserves every bit of success she gets and probably a whole lot more.

Tour dates:
12/06 - Knoxville, TN - Square Room
12/07 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
12/09 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
12/10 - Charlottesville, VA - Gravity Lounge
12/11 - Washington, DC - Rock n' Roll Hotel
12/12 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
12/13 - New York, NY - (Le) Poisson Rouge

My Brightest Diamond - "Inside A Boy" MP3

Concert Review: Nick Cave in Thessaloniki

(photo courtesy of yavan)
Nick Cave rocking the Moni Lazariston in Thessaloniki, Greece

Note: This is three weeks overdue, so I'm not going to do a full review. I did want to mention it though since he's doing a North American tour soon.

I saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in while on vacation in Thessaloniki, Greece on June 6th. It was my first time seeing them live so I can't really compare it to other recent tours based on anything other than live recordings and DVDs I've seen. Compared to the footage I saw from the grandiose Abattoir Blues tour, the Dig Lazarus Dig tour is stripped down and a lot more raw (no doubt under influence from the Grinderman album.)

They played a bunch of material from the new record, opening the show with "Night of the Lotus Eaters." I like that song on record, but it came off a thousand times better live (it was much heavier in concert.) Other stand out performances from the new record included "Midnight Man" (my favorite song on the new album), "Today's Lesson" and "Dig Lazarus Dig." He played a lot of the back catalog stuff you'd want (and expect) to hear like "Weeping Song," "Red Right Hand," "Deanna," "The Mercy Seat," and "Stagger Lee." He was in high spirits that night and even took some requests. He seemed particularly thrilled about the name of the venue: Moni Lazariston...which was certainly appropriate for the new record.

As I mentioned earlier, last year's Grinderman record seems to have greatly influenced this tour. Cave only played piano on one song, opting instead to play a rawer, funkier organ which breathed new life into old classics. I know a bunch of the US dates are already sold out, but hopefully you can secure tickets to a show near you. It was the best show I've been to so far this year and I imagine it's going to be difficult to top.

Concert Review: DeVotchKa in Atlanta

Nick Urata rocking the theremin (photo courtesy of Wes Cummings)


Note: Normally I won't wait nearly a week to publish a concert review, but real life rudely intruded and delayed me considerably in writing it. My faulty memory and the leaving of my notebook in the car contributed greatly to the lack of songs mentioned in this review.


DeVotchKa (with opener Basia Bulat)
13 May 2008
Variety Playhouse
Atlanta, Georgia

Admittedly, I didn't know a lot about DeVotchKa going into this show. I was quite familiar with the Curse Your Little Heart EP and purchased their latest album A Mad and Faithful Telling just days before the show. Besides that my only exposure was having seen the movie Little Miss Sunshine and having heard How It Ends a few times at a friend's house.

I was told I could I have could a free ticket for this show by said friend if I did the driving to Atlanta, an arrangement to which I gladly obliged. All of that goes to say that I was somewhat familiar with their music going in - really digging what I'd heard and well into the process of becoming a fan.

Though their music evokes Spainish, Eastern Europen and a host of other "foreign" sounds, it is also somehow distinctly American. I can't imagine many locales around the world where it would be possible for this music to spring up. At one point singer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Urata was playing guitar and theremin along with a supporting cast of musicians on tuba and drums accompanied by what was essentially a string quartet. To make something simultaneously exotic and familiar is quite a task, but one that appears to be DeVotchKa's hallmark.

Urata effortlessly commanded the crowd's attention with what my friend described a "combination of Morrissey's charisma and George Clooney's quiet confidence." If the four women I attended the show with were any indication, he seemed to have a particularly strong effect on the female portion of the audience.

DeVotchKa managed to leave me thoroughly satisfied at the end of the performance, but still wanting more. Assuming they stick together, this was but the first of many times I will see them in concert. I've been to 23 concerts this year already and this show has a solid grip on the second spot. Other bands will have a tough time unseating them from this position.

As an aside, after seeing this show I decided there needs to be a quadruple bill of DeVotchKa, Beirut, Calexico and Gogol Bordello. That would be an unstoppable tour of genre-bending genius.

Download "Along the Way" via Pitchfork.

DeVotchKa - "Somethin' Stupid" mp3 (Frank Sinatra cover)

Concert Review: Radiohead in Atlanta

Photo courtesy of Maria Carullo

Despite barely being able to see the actual band members from my seat, Radiohead's performance was absolutely enthralling. This was my first time seeing them live since 1997 and I was glad to see they could impress in a 19,000 seat venue like they could in the 1,000 seat venue I saw them perform in 11 years ago. They could've been playing under one bare 40 watt light bulb and blown everyone away, but their light show on this tour was mesmerizing. Long, thin vertical tubes dominated the stage and bathed the band in a variety of spectral colors throughout the evening to match the wide palette of aural colors coming through the speakers. They opened with "All I Need," which has been the opening song for every show of the tour so far. Opening with a slow song like that is against typical rock convention (especially when the new album contains a real rocker like "Bodysnatchers") but Radiohead have never been one for convention.

They played all of In Rainbows except for "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and even included "Bangers and Mash" from the In Rainbows box set bonus disc. "15 Step," "Nude," and "Videotape" were other standout performances from In Rainbows. "Videotape" included an interesting view of Thom Yorke via a camera mounted on the piano that seemed to find him being semi-playful with the audience. I was happy to hear songs from the tours I missed between OK Computer and In Rainbows like "Pyramid Song," "Idiotheque," "The National Anthem" and "Everything In It's Right Place."

Despite my love of The Bends, "Just" actually struck me as a bit out of place in the setlist. It's a song I adore (and my favorite music video of all time), but something like "Street Spirit" or "Bullet Proof" would've fit the overall mood of the evening a bit better. That being said, they rocked it though. The inclusion of "Paranoid Android" was nice and it made its first appearance on the tour in Atlanta. To their credit, they're a band that has put out so much quality material now that you couldn't possibly hope to hear all that you want to hear. Even the "surely they'll play ______" songs are too numerous to all be performed, so I can forgive them for passing on personal favorites of mine like "Climbing Up the Walls" for something like "Lucky."

My only real complaint about the evening was that the P.A. wasn't loud enough. I could easily hear those around me talking in a normal speaking voice. Maybe it was because I was in the 46th row, but I would've liked a bit more volume. If that's the only complaint one has during a 24 song set though, then you've seen a pretty amazing evening of music.

Setlist
=====
08 June 2008
Lakewood Amphitheatre
Atlanta, Georgia
=====

All I Need
There There
Lucky
15 Step
Where I End and You Begin
Nude
Pyramid Song
Optimistic
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The National Anthem
Idiotheque
You and Whose Army
Reckoner
Everything in Its Right Place
Bangers and Mash
Bodysnatchers
Videotape

Encore:
The Gloaming
Talk Show Host
Just
Faust Arp
How to Disappear Completely

Encore 2:
Paranoid Android
House of Cards

Concert Review: White Denim at Bottletree in Birmingham, Alabama

Editor's Note:
With this review, extrawack! welcomes Birmingham, AL scenester and new contributor Joel Gamble:


Photo courtesy of hstoutzenberger

There are few joys for a music fan that can compare with discovering a new band in a live setting. It's one thing to peruse mp3 blogs until the sun comes up, but it's quite another to have an unknown entity unleash some fine on-stage rocking into your unsuspecting ears. It's a such a rare opportunity because not many people go see a band having no idea what to expect. That's just what I did though for White Denim's performance at Bottletree in Birmingham, Alabama on April 30th. Perhaps it's an unorthodox approach, but I sometimes like going into a show as a tabula rasa with no expectations and no preconceived notions, especially after a band starts picking up a lot of buzz like they did after SXSW.

The opening chords of the instrumental "Migration Wind" perked my ears up immediately and I knew I was in for a night of music well beyond the typical ho-hum "next big thing" that always seems to be on tour. One thing that struck me immediately was that the band really seemed to be enjoying playing live music. They were occasionally smiling on stage and noticeably devoid of irony. Isn't that some sort of indie rock sin?

White Denim sounds immediately familiar, but not derivative or forced. It sounds as if these guys grew up on equal parts blues, rock and punk. After a driving, energetic and sweat-soaked set that I can't tell you much more about because I didn't know any song titles (and had to ask what the first song was called) I managed to pull guitarist and singer James Petralli aside for a brief chat.

Asked about their approach to music making, Petralli said, "There is an exuberance in what we do. We leave room in the songs for improvisation and input from everyone." He went on to mention that this was their first major tour and though they were playing to bigger crowds opening for Tapes n' Tapes than they would on their own and that crowds had been receptive so far. I certainly felt like I could sense the tide turn in the room when the majority of folks shifted immediately from indifference to nodding along to drummer Josh Block's infectious beats.

The interview nature of our conversation quickly fell away though (I'm such a bad blogger at times) and it wound up being two guys discussing various experiences touring (I used to road manage a band) and talking about everyone from Austin bands like Explosions in the Sky and Stars of the Lid to others like Deerhunter and The Dirty Projectors. We eventually realized we'd been outside talking during the majority of Tapes n Tapes' set and went our separate ways to go watch them. I left with that satisfied feeling of discovering a new band in concert, but quite upset with myself that I didn't bring any cash to buy their records....

http://www.whitedenimmusic.com/

Grab White Denim's "Goldie Locks" and a couple other tracks for free at RCRDLBL.

concert review: Van Halen, Opening Night Of Tour, Charlotte, NC

In the encyclopedia, the definition of the term "Rock Show" should read: "See: Van Halen".

I was fortunate enough last night to catch the debut performance of the newly reunited, David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen at Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, and it was pretty incredible.

The staging was pretty minimal for such a show, with only a ramp twisting from the stage up and abobe the drum riser, and a U2-style "ring" into the front of the audience, and thankfully VH let the music be the show, rather than corny visual props. A huge screen above the stage allowed fans to watch Eddie Van Halen's insane fingering technique up-close, and showed the fans in the back David Lee Roth's enormous grin that was there from the opener of "You Really Got Me" through the encore finale of "Jump".

Eddie's son Wolfgang was a nice surprise as a wholly competent replacement on bass for Michael Anthony, fitting in fine on the trademark background harmonies, but looked a little unsure of himself when moving around the stage. The kid is only sixteen, though...I'd have wet my pants walking out on that stage. It was fun to watch him play and sing on "Hot For Teacher", a song written by Roth from a sixteen-year-old's perspective. Let's hope his old man has the smarts to steer him clear from the all the well-documented excesses that gave Van Halen the reputation as the "Kings of Backstage Shenanigans" during their '80's heyday.

Eddie and Dave both looked like they were in amazing shape, and Dave wisely kept the gymnastics to a few high kicks and martial-arts manoevers. Alex Van Halen still kept it all rock-steady, and played one of his patented drum solos that had hardcore fans staring with mouths agape. There are not a lot of drummers in rock these days that can keep an arena full of fans from using a drum solo as an opportinity to run out to the corridors for more beer, but watching Alex wail on that giant six-bass-drummed kit on the big screen was every bit as compelling as watching a good magician to learn the secret of his tricks.

And Dave was...well, Dave. He's funny, sexy, corny, and he remarkably hit every high note he attempted. His intro-story to "Ice Cream Man", in which he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar out on the ring in the middle of the audience, was hilarious and told in a way that only a master storyteller could pull off in such a setting.

And thankfully, no songs from the Sammy era.

All-in-all, a really fun and satisfying night...well worth the price of the ticket. These shows truly are your opportunity to see the world's greatest guitar player and the world's best frontman on the same stage together. I literally had goosebumps more than a few times during show...which in my book is the ultimate barometer of a great show.

Set list (courtesy Blabbermouth.net):
01. You Really Got Me
02. I'm the One
03. Runnin' With the Devil
04. Romeo Delight
05. Somebody Get Me a Doctor
06. Beautiful Girls
07. Dance the Night Away
08. Atomic Punk
09. Everybody Wants Some
10. So This Is Love?
11. Mean Street
12. Pretty Woman
13. Drum Solo
14. Unchained
15. I'll Wait
16. And the Cradle Will Rock
17. Hot for Teacher
18. Little Dreamer
19. Little Guitars
20. Jamie's Cryin'
21. Ice Cream Man
22. Panama
23. Guitar Solo (incl. "Women in Love" intro, "Cathedral", "Eruption")
24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
------------------------
25. 1984
26. Jump

(photo courtesy charlotte.com)

concert review: Placebo @ PNC Arts Center

As a fan of Placebo from the first time I heard the clanging chord intro to "Pure Morning" from their 1998 album Without You I'm Nothing, and having been unable, for whatever reason, to catch them on one of their many stops in NYC, I jumped at the chance when offered to catch them in Jersey last week at the PNC Arts Center.

Remarkably, the band were in the area as part of Linkin Park's touring "Projekt Revolution" festival, and had the unenviable second-from-the-bottom-of-the-bill-5pm slot on the main stage. Considering the fact that the rest of the show was loaded with emo-giant bands like Taking Back Sunday and local heroes My Chemical Romance and their goofy and very young fans, and noting the earliness and daylight setting of their set time, I wondered whether it would even be worth a trip down the Garden State parkway to see them...but they played like they were on the main stage at Reading and made a bunch of new fans along the way. I loved 'em.

Based on previous live tracks from the band that I've heard (including those on the excellent new US-release-only EP Extended Play '07), it sounds like Molko & Co. turned up the rawk-quotient a bit to fit more squarely in the festival's mix, but definitely to good effect.

As is expected at a show like that, the amphitheater was less than full during Placebo's early set, but the cheering from a crowd that probably had never heard of the band before was pretty inspiring. The band wisely played a set full of the loudest and most rocking of their superb catalog, and by the end of the show they had pulled a pretty impressive cadre of Jersey Rock Girls to the front of the stage to do that strange shimmy dance only Jersey Girls can do.

At a meet & greet after the show, the band really seemed to be enjoying itself on the tour, and said they were enjoying the challenge of making new fans at this late career stage. Based on the gangs of kids trying to get to the band to say hello and get newly purchased cd's and shirts signed, I'm guessing they've picked up a bunch of new followers on this tour.

And at the risk of revocation of my hipster card, though I didn't stick around for too long after Placebo's set, that crowd was one of the nicest and best-behaved concert crowds I've ever seen.

Here's some of the action:












Placebo - "20th Century Boy" mp3 buy

mp3 courtesy of i wake up late