Tonight was one of those wonderful occasions at Mercury Lounge when they book a bunch of bands who are playing for first time in the U.S. At the same time, there were four distinctively different styles of music. As I've been saying, who needs to deal with all that scenester crap at SXSW when all the great bands who are going there are here now. Screw you Austin!
I'm starting off with the act I came to see, the Guillemots, who will definitely be on my Top 5 list of Best New Artists. The London foursome defy categorization. Ask any ten people who were there tonight to describe the band and you'll get 10 different interpretations. Mine is that they are like a traveling band of gypsies, they go from town to town with their little odd instruments to entertain the masses. They're a music menagerie of keyboards, upright bass, guitars, and drums who play revivalist pop music. While you can hear a theremin, brass horns, vocals samples and keyboards, tonight's performance was just the four of them. It was nice that they sang the horn parts of "Trains to Brazil."
They started tonight's performance off-stage with a drum beat playing over the PA system. The band blew into kazoos and banged on finger cymbals when they made their way through the crowd. Thus, I thought of the Guillemots as a traveling band of gypsies. The four members dressed in different styles -- a suit, a traditional middle eastern outfit, an elaborate, yet sexy skirt and top ensemble and a typical jeans and t-shirt combo. It was kind of symbolic of the different styles clashing in their music.
While the band has an odd name (it's a type of bird), strange stage names and unusual quirks in their music, they come off as normal people on stage. The lead singer, Fyfe Dangerfield, explained how excited they were about playing overseas for the first time. His earnestness was cute and engaging, even while fumbling to find the right sounds on his keyboards.
Their performance as a whole was jaw-droppingly amazing. It's just four people up there and they look like their having a great time putting on a show. Their first single, the life-affirming "Trains to Brazil," surged ahead with gusto with Fyfe shaking his head back-in-forth while singing. Every song they played was impeccable. "Made Up Lovesong #43" is a sweet love song full of fantastic imagery with great singing by Fyfe, "I love you but I don't think you care." "Who Left the Lights on Baby" is another rollicking love song done fantastically by Fyfe.
There were so many little surprises in their performance. The guitarist used a hand drill against his guitar to add sound effects to a song, then finished the night by banging away on an antique typewriter. The amazing part of the set was when Fyfe stood up, got out a cheap battery operated keyboard and just sang a sad love song without a microphone. The whole place went silent at that point. You know that he must have had a Lloyd Dobler moment like in his past and wrote a song about it.
It was obvious that the majority of the crowd was there to see the Guillemots, because the placed cleared out afterwards. In any event, if I was asked to name one band to recommend, it would be the Guillemots. I don't know if they'll make a big impression in America, one would hope that as many people could listen to them.
Starting off the evening was the Australian trio The Grates, a power pop/garage rock good time band. Lead singer Patience Hodgson is a juvenile version of Karen O, jumping and dancing around like a little girl lip-syncing to her favorite song while jumping around her bed. In fact, one of their songs is exactly about that, jumping on beds.
She sings like she's about to bust out laughing at anytime. It was an infectious performance. How often do you see a band smile through their whole set? While they come off as an innocent version of a grade-school rock band, the lyrics are full of foul language.
One song she dedicated to me. Little did you people know that I get around. Me and Patience have a history I must confess. As it turns out, we were really into each other but we couldn't work it out. In the end, it was the best for both of us. It was the distance -- her in Oz, me in Jersey. At least she turned it into a rocking song. I don't know the name of the song, but that's not important.
Afterwards, she came over, gave me a big hug and we talked about her recent tour with The Go! Team and Smoosh. She shared a room with the Smoosh girls and they would play games of combining different beverages to see what it would taste like. One of them being lemon and Coke. Just thought I'd pass that along. They'll be opening for my buddies, We Are Scientists, when they return to the U.S.
The other buzzed about act was British R&B singer Corinne Bailey Rae, who's voice is just like ... "Wow!" She's like a better-adjusted version of Sade, smooth, jazzy and effortless. While her music will definitely appeal to the VH1 crowd who think Natasha Bedingfield is the shit (I think Nat is just shit), I found it soothing and her voice flawless. I can imagine the record executives and A&R dudes typing away on their Blackberries, "I found the next Jill Scott, must set up meeting. NOW!" I don't know where she went after her performance, but I guarantee she was bombarded by people praising her. It is well-deserved. The crowded loved her so much that they encouraged her to do an encore, and she did. Heck, she had the No. 1 Album in the U.K.
My man Vegan stopped by to snap some pics.
My apologies to Danish shoe-gazers EPO-555, I only stayed for one song then I had to catch my transport home.
On the way out, I caught Sune Rose Wagner of the Raveonettes making out with some chick. I couldn't tell who it was because he was practically engulfing her face with his mouth. More power to him.
Wish me luck tomorrow with the James Blunt show.
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