Music Snobbery

Top 5 Gigs of 2011

I would say a down year on my concert calendar -- probably due to the lack of quality acts touring. In any event, have a great New Year and I will see you on the flip side.

5. Anna Calvi / She Keeps Bees @ Johnny Brenda's

(what I said then) That mystery behind her voice and performance is what made this U.S. debut show spectacular. After those two songs, I said to myself, "Where does she come from? How did she do that?" There were certain points during the show where she created tension with moments of quiet interrupted with a single guitar note or vocal injection. When she was done with a song, I finally got to breathe. She is that captivating. Usually, I'm blown away by acts who get you dancing or throw massive amounts of sonic intensity at you. With A.C., I'm blown away by her ability to grab a hold your of soul and squeeze the emotion out of it.

4. tUnE-yArDs / Austra @ Pier 54, Hudson River Rocks

(what I said then) With her multi-colored warpaint and multi-dimensional music, Garbus is this little force of nature. As you can see in these photos, she screams and chants her way through her set. Her banshee calls and speaking in tongues is all part of her eccentric nature. Her music is sort of controlled chaos. You have her with her loop pedals and her backing band playing screeching their way through songs. It will come together eventually to make beautiful, fun music. The whole crowd jumped around when she jumped around, which shows the spell she can put upon a crowd.

3. Friendly Fires / The Naked & Famous / Cults @ Central Park SummerStage

(what I said then) Their performance on Sunday afternoon was a huge, invigorating dance fest where you forgot how uncomfortable and packed it was, and just let yourself go. The band has definitely become better performers with more live instruments like horns on stage. I think Friendly Fires should be placed above bands like Cut Copy or Hot Chip for their quality of dance music and pay-off at the end. Their just a much more satisfying band then those two.

2. Girls @ Duo Music Exchange, Tokyo

(what I said then)

Anytime I've seen an American act in a foreign country, they've played like their life depended on it. Isn't it the reason these people started a band to begin with -- to make music and play to fans around the world? Thus, Chris Owens and company were jacked-up for the show. Well, as jacked-up a band like Girls can be. The group are low-key personalities, but they play with strength and conviction. Owens is not a chatty-fellow, but he certainly portrays the heartbreak and angst in tunes like Jamie Marie, Laura, Alex and Heartbreaker. His face tightens up and his eyes are shut tight as he hides behind his hair. As a whole, they might be playing sad-sack songs of whoa, but they look like they are having fun out there. Plenty of smiles and flowers for everyone.

1. Portishead @ All Tomorrow's Parties Asbury Park

(what I said then) Their performances were nothing short of extraordinary. What makes the veteran UK band pioneers at their craft is the intense mood they create, expert compositions and willingness to bend genres. Above all, their music is cinematic, heart-felt and deeply emotional. We go to shows either to drink and have a good time, jump around, be part of the scene, etc. With Portishead, they take you on a journey that is both stimulating to the mind, body and ears.

Top 10 Albums of 2011

Here you go, nation. The only Top 10 list you need to read. It's free of any Bon Iver, Adele or Beyonce, thus it is safe for public consumption.

10. Tom Vek, Leisure Seizure -- Lost, but not forgotten, Tom Vek returned to music after five long years with a doozy. Leisure Seizure is a hard-hitting electro-pop album with as many crazy beats and off-kilter vocals as you can ask for. His voice is not for everybody, lacking in depth, but when you have some majorly infectious beats, you overlook such things. Could it be that he was toiling away on this little gem for five years? What I want to know is if he's going to disappear into his computer world again. Please don't.

9. Mara Carlyle, Floreat -- I'm a weird guy. I champion acts, bands, singers from an early stage, then abandon them when they become mainstream. Thus, we have Miss Mara Carlyle, who's replacing Florence Welsh in my need for big voiced, spiritually minded UK singers. It's criminal how this singer-songwriter is overlooked on both sides of the Atlantic. This album is a journey through her ambitions, jazzy, poppy, angelic and mostly just beautiful.

8. Wild Flag, Wild Flag -- The best rock album of the year comes a supergroup of talent. Mary Timony from Helium, Rebecca Cole of The Minders and Carrie Brownstein & Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney. This outfit makes Audioslave and Velvet Revolver look like Tin Machine. The result feels like a bunch of women knocking over the speakers and yelling, "Fuck this!" Their shit is tiiiiiiggght, a wounded-up ball of energy that explodes in your brain with every hard guitar lick.

7. Metronomy, The English Riviera -- The third album from the British electro-pop band gained them a Mercury Prize nomination. Previously, their music was garishly dance pop, but they went more musical on this album. The synths are still there, but instead of creating a pulsating beat, they relax and sooth. The whole album is a Phoenix meets Steely Dan mash-up of romantic pop tunes, sweetness and smooth sailing. "The Look" is easily one of the best songs of the year, with those lo-fi organs and catchy vocals.

6. Real Estate, Days -- Now that The Shins suck, Real Estate has come to save indie pop. As a representative of New Jersey, you're welcome America. The second album from the Domino Records band is a lush, evocative lament on escapes and dreaming. It's a perfect road trip album with its echoing guitars and lazy afternoon vocals. It's the perfect travel companion.

5. Battles, Gloss Drop -- Their debut album provided the scorching single, Atlas. Now take that song's energy and creativity and spread out over a whole album with some unlikely guests. Math rock is the genre they sort belong to, but really it's just progressive rock music with the kitchen sink thrown in. Gloss Drop is a hard-driving piece of art rock prowess that throws you off with every inventive rhythm and oddball sound. My vote for song of the year has to be "Ice Cream" with Chilean pop star Matias Aguayo. Anybody heard of him before this song? Me neither.

4. Anna Calvi, Anna Calvi -- The best debut album of the year goes to the UK songstress who recreates the modern American West. What strikes you most is her guitar skills, which runs the gamut of styles from Clapton to Prince. Let's not forget her wide-ranging voice, where her softness comes off as sinister and her loudness makes her sound possessed. The album is one of the most atmospheric I've heard in years. Anna managed to tame the wild beast that is modern rock.

3. Girls, Father Son Holy Ghost -- The San Francisco band's second album cements them as one of the premiere bands in American music. They also displayed that they won't be pigeoned holed into one genre. We can expect many more different sounding album in the future. On Father Son Holy Ghost, Chris Owens brings you a classic 50s rock ditty, "Honey Bunny", a rollicking 60s psych rock jam, "Die" and a 70s singer-songwriter throwback, "Saying I Love You."

2. Kurt Vile, Smoke Ring for My Halo -- Here, you have one of America's best songwriters working at the height of his talent. He's not reinventing the genre, but his voice and message is clear. On his big hit, "Jesus Fever", he plays the preacher heading out on the road. Many of the songs on "Smoke Ring for My Halo" have a strong down home quality with his expert guitar playing and his laconic voice.

1. PJ Harvey, Let England Shake -- It's about time we elevate PJ Harvey as one of the modern masters, worthy of being names in the same breathe as Patti Smith. You have to look at her career in two parts. The first you have the rocking riotgirl of Rid of Me and Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. The sexually charged, tortured, angry songstress who blazed a trailer for others women to rock out with reckless abandon. Then she retreated from the style of Uh Huh Her. It took her a while to find her new voice and she did it on Let England Shake. It's a protest record that's not a call to arms, but more of "Where are we and how did we get here?"

Previous Top 10 albums:

• Top 10 Albums of 2010
• Top 10 Albums of 2009
• Top 10 Albums of 2008
• Top 10 Albums of 2007
• Top 10 Albums of 2006

Listen to Me on XPN2 Today from 5-7pm for my Top 10 Albums of 2011

There's nothing better you can do for two hours today than listen to me paying a visit to the XPN2 studios. I'll be on John Vettese's show from 5pm-7 where we'll play our top 10 albums of the year. Well, we're not playing the whole album, just a song from each one.

So head over to XPN2.org or your HD radio for some quality internet radio.

Yo La Tengo / Chris Elliott / The Trypes @ Maxwell's: The Last Night of Hanukkah

It's a Hanukkah miracle! Ira lives, he walks, he still rocks. As you might already know, an undisclosed illness might have sidelined the traditional eight nights of Hanukkah celebration at Maxwell's. The Yo La Tengo frontman was well enough to keep the tradition alive. He sat for most of the show, with a rotation of guitarists filling in. It was still another great night from Hoboken's finest. Let's face it, YLT is just an ingrained in the fabric of Hoboken as Sinatra, Elysian Fields, On the Waterfront, Carlo's, Fiore's Deli and drunken frat boys.

This is my sixth time I've been to one of these shows, so I'm four way to filling my punch card. My 11th show is free. One of the many reasons to go are the surprise openers and guests. In the past I've seen  Jim James, db's, Lambcomp, Glen Mercer, Mission of Burma and David Mansfield. If you were lucky enough, you could have seen Jeff Tweedy, David Byrne, The National, The Magnetic Fields or The New Pornographers in the past. This year saw The Sea & Cake, Kurt Vile, Lee Ranaldo, Dump and Pussy Galore. I wouldn't have mind seeing Pussy Galore. The last night was The Trypes, who I admit I had never heard of. It's basically a Feelies off-shoot that's a chamber music-ish in nature.

By far, the biggest thrill (and letdown) was finding out the comedy portion would be provided by Chris Elliott. The let down was that he was on stage for 10 minutes, four minutes of which was him showing a clip from his Adult Swim show, Eagleheart. The other six minutes was him joking about not knowing who Yo La Tengo was and then a rousing rendition of Jewish legend Neil Diamond's "I Am ... I Said." After that, he left the stage, and probably into his limo where he can count his millions in private. When you think about it, he's not a stand-up or live performer, so I don't know what else he could have done. Maybe a Q&A:

• You talk to Letterman?
• Handsome Boy Modeling School, you get paid for that?
• Was James Cameron a dick on The Abyss?
• Do you want to punch Fred Armison for dumping your daughter or you thankful he did?

Alas, we shall never know.

That's all I got on the night. More details on the eight nights on Yo La Tengo website.

 

Top 5 Worst New Acts of 2011

When this year is over in a few days, I'm hoping one of the Men in Black comes over and zaps my memory. 2011, the most annoying year in modern history. Look at any year in review from any news source. You see one common denominator? Maybe one person that keeps cropping up? Yeah, that Rebecca Black kid. Is that what we've come to as a society? I kind of feel bad for the kid, because she's a punchline to a joke not of her making. An innocent birthday gift turned into a symbol of our culture. A few decades ago, kids dreamed of being astronauts, athletes, movie/ rockstars, captains of industry. Now, they dream of being famous, but not actually doing any work.

By far, that kid isn't the worst act of 2011. I turn to the professional musicians who worked at their craft, and in my estimation failed. The bad news is that these acts turned out to be popular and somewhat successful -- albums sales, big tours, TV appearances. We all know that general populous has pretty horrible taste in music. The good news is that these acts won't make much of a dent in the future. They have one hit or no hit wonders written all over them.

5. Grouplove -- In 2010, some good acts came from Los Angeles. We're talking Warpaint, Local Natives, Fitz & The Tantrums, Funeral Party, Dum Dum Girls. That's not shabby for a city where its major export is famous people. L.A. a great place to visit, but you have to come back home ... then take a good shower. Thus, we have Grouplove, the winners in the Apple Ad sweepstakes, where good looking multi-culturalal models are passed off as fun-loving, hip consumers. The ad featured "Tongue Tied" from Grouplove. When I first heard the song over the summer, I said to myself, "Why are they screaming at me?" Plus, it's the dumbest chorus, "TAKE ME TO YOUR BEST FRIEND'S HOUSE!!! I loved you then and I love you now" Right, makes perfect sense. The rest of the debut album is all bombast, no substance.

4. Lou Reed & Metallica -- Yes, not a new band, per se, but let's face it, this was a travisty. Universally hailed as one of the worst albums of the year, Lulu is a whole lot of WTF. Who let Grandpa Simpson sit in with Metallica? It's an album so inept that you would hope somebody was fired or demoted for releasing it. Every song sounds it was recorded in one take. The vocals don't match the music, Lou Reed sounds delusional and Metallica seems to making it up as they go along. It's an album so bad that it might morph into something spectacular like Plan 9 From Outer Space.

3. Jessie J -- It's your cookie-cutter, generic, inter-changeable pop star of the year. If you don't follow mainstream pop music, and I hope that you don't, you wouldn't be able to tell Jessie J from all the other pop stars like Ke$ha, Katy Perry or Nicole Scherzinger. What makes this chick an insult is that her atrocious hit song, "Price Tag", questions the pursuit of money. I like to know how much Universal Republic paid Dr. Luke to produce that song. How much she gets paid to be on UK version of The Voice? How much her outfits costs when she tours? Complete bullshit that song.

2. Foster the People -- There was a one-off line in The Hangover, Part II where Alan says something about the Jonas Brothers being an indie rock band. Well, that disinction goes to Foster the People, because I don't see much difference between the two bands. We all know one hit wonder of the year "Pumped Up Kids." There are others just as egregious. Let's take the album's first song, "Helena Beat," which sounds like a lost Starship song. It's the type song where you picture a bunch of record label dudes hi-fiving each other in the recording booth as the band plays. Cut to a scene with screaming fans and the album climbing up the Billboard chart. Foster the People, like Grouplove, are those major label bands that think they are an indie band.

1. Kreayshawn -- Once in a while, the mainstream music critics and us music snobs can agree on one thing, Kreayshawn was wrong from the get-go. She seemed to be over before she even began. Yes, 28 million hits on YouTube, but I want to know the statistic that shows how many got through the whole video without rolling their eyes or throwing up. The reason for the attention is that she's a novelty -- a young, white, short, lesbian who raps about high-end luxury goods --- SHE MUST BE HEARD! I guess nobody learned from Lady Sovereign. If only she had a full album of tunes to draw from. What got me laughing this year was her joint college tour with indie chillwave darling, Neon Indian. The rejects from Bushwick poured their PBR out in mourning, "Our bands are being corrupted ... again."

Oh, Kreayshawn. What can we do? We have failed as a society. The 12-year old who downloaded you're single can't tell good music from shit.

Christmas Music Recap

Overheard today at the American Apparal Warehouse Sale in NYC: "Look at all this 80s hipster shit," said the white girl in dreadlocks, nose ring, lip ring, leather hoodie jacket and Joan Jett t-shirt.

Moving on, Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, all the good stuff. If you're like me, you're packing up and ready to meet up with your family for awkward gift exchanges and too much eating. You need music for these. Here's a recap of the new tunes.

-- Summer Fiction -- Christmas Eve for Two

-- Caitlin Rose and Keegan Dewitt -- "You Never Come Home For Christmas"

 

 

-- Fitz & The Tantrums - Santa Stole My Lady

-- Crocodiles & Dum Dum Girls -- "Merry Christmas, Baby (Please Don't Die)"

-- Summer Camp -- All I Wonderful Christmas Is You

-- Tristen -- Frosty the Snowman

-- Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler -- Home For the Holidays

-- Smith & Burrows -- When the Thames Froze

Top 5 Weird Band Names of 2011

Whenever I feel sad, I think of weird and stupid bad names. Then, all is well with the world. Here are the best of the weird. Unfortunately, no new panda bands.

5. The Golden Awesome

4. My!Gay!Husband!

3. Just Handshakes, (We’re British)

2. B L A C K I E All Caps, With Spaces

1. Say "No!" To Architecture

Top 5 New Acts of 2011

Hazzah! It's time to recap the year was ... and it was ... alright. As I gather my thoughts on 2011, There wasn't an overall theme that comes to mind. I mostly think of the crap that was unleashed upon us, but it's holiday. Let's be positive, starting with the new music from debut artists.

All U.K.-based bands for this year's Top 5. The U.S. just wasn't churning out the quality bands and artists in 2011. As you'll see in my upcoming "Worst of2011" post, we got some explaining to do.

My definition of new acts is that the band released an EP or debut album this year. Acts like Dry the River and The Good Natured will have to wait until next year. In any event, here's a quality crop of new sounds that I hope will be making us rock for years to come.

5. Still Corners -- I first heard of the band back in 2008 when they release an song called "History of Love". It was straight-up early 60s nostaliga right from Twin Peaks. They did Cults before Cults were Cults. What struck me about the song was that wicked theramin sound underneath that would rear its ugly head between choruses. It would be very sweet, then in comes this harsh melody. It worked. Fast forward to 2011, and they've evolved into a beautiful, beat-driven outift that molds the drive of Stereolab and the shoe-gazing of Jesus & Mary Chain. Creatures Of An Hour, their debut album on Sub Pop, makes you feel like a cooler person for listening to it. They had to back out of their U.S. tour with The War on Drugs, but they should be back next Spring.

4. Veronica Falls -- From the ashes of Glasgow's The Royal We sprung Veronica Falls. With their boy/girl vocals, they swoon with their the surf rock via shoegaze music. Their debut album sneaks up on you, and it's a reason why in this digital age that you listen to an album from front to back in the order the artist chooses. It starts off sweet and melodic. Once you settle in, you get punched in the nuts with the full-blown rock out tune, "Sleepy Head". While Scotland is known as the land of Twee with Belle & Sebastian, Veronica Falls gives the scene a new kick in the ass.

3. The Vaccines -- As fast as you can say, "Hey, have you heard this new band?" The Vaccines had signed to a major before even releasing a proper single. It didn't even give the band a chance for tastemakers to declare them the best thing ever and over-hyped them to annoying levels. Leaving all that aside, Justin Young and Co. delivered a firecrack of an album, full of hitmaking songs that clock in at only two or three minutes. Catchy tunes + a sense of urgency = instant fun.

2. Yuck -- As with Veronica Falls, Yuck members came from another band, the teenage post-punk London outfit, Cajun Dance Party. They were a great discovery this year with their throwback sound to early 90s alt-rock made popular by Dinosaur Jr., Yo La Tengo, Pavement and Teenage Fanclub. They might have broken into a musical vault, because they've discovered the secret formula for creating that sound. You listen to The Wall and you think it was a lost relic of that time.

1. Anna Calvi -- A new brainer for the year's best new artist. After seeing her debut U.S. show at Johnny Brenda's, she was the clear-cut most talented singer-songwriter I've seen in recent memory. Underneath her small stature and striking face lies a lioness. Her guitar skills are impressive to say the least. She reminds me of Annie Clark, both unassuming personalities who can shred and unleash some serious guitar licks. Her debut album played like the sountrack to a modern Spaghetti Western. Leave it to a Brit to do American rock better than the Americans can.

And now for the rest ...

The runner-up goes to another foreign band, Wu Lyf. The Manchester band started out as a mystery, no press photos or website. You could say that it was a reaction to the over-hyped nature of modern music, or maybe a bit of showmanship. Eventually, the band revealed themselves with a series of underground shows. Today, they do the radio sessions, photo shoots and interviews. More importantly, Go Tell Fire To the Mountain was a gut-wrenching, stick a knife in your heart album filled with bombastic and emotional rock tunes. Their live shows were just as dramatic as their music, with Evans Kati belting out the tunes as if his life depended on it.

The best of the rest (in alphabetical order)

Cults -- The local duo made darkly sweet retro 60s girl group pop that made you want to join their ... urrrr ... cult.

Dirty Beaches -- Just a man (Alex Zhang Hungtai) with a guitar, microphone, loop pedals and an attitude.

Frankie and the Heartstrings -- My boys never came back to the U.S. this year, but they create insanely fun indie pop for the extrovert in all of us.

The Head and The Heart -- If I had to pin a best new American band of the year on somebody, It would be on this Seattle six-piece who make chilling folk music with a lot of richness.

Lanterns on the Lake -- LIke The Head and The Heart, UK's Lanterns on the Lake rely on strength in numbers. While you can pinpoint all the inspiration of H&H, Lanterns take notes from all genres (avant-garde and traditional) to create their take on Americana.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra -- The headiest new band of the year has many tricks up their sleeves. If it was weird and sounded like a drug-trip, they put on their debut album.

 

The War On Drugs / Sun Airway / Ape School @ Union Transfer

Saturday night at Union Transfer is what could have been called The Best of Philly in 2011. Hometown heroes The War On Drugs with sometimes member Kurt Vile sitting in played tunes from their well received sophomore LP, Slave Amibient. Both entities have been popping-up on Best of 2011 lists.

Adam Granduciel and Vile bow at the alter of Tom Petty with their Americana musing and troubador style. While Vile is more stripped down and lyrically poetic, A.G. loves to install a a rapid pulse and drive like a steadily-paced engine. You can hear that chug-a-chug-a in tracks like "Your Love Is Calling My Name", "Baby Missiles" and "Taking the Farm" off their 2009 album, Wagonwheel Blues. On these spirited tracks you have organs, dueling drummers and plenty of twangy guitars creating a enjoyable groove. Almost makes you want to bring a tamborine and join in the fun. Your "just for kicks" cover on the night was The Grateful Dead's "Touch of Gray".

With all the great music I've seen this year, I have to remind myself that straight-forward, unfussy rock music is what's going to make me a consistantly happy music snob. Sure, The War like to throw in an odd electronic flourish and jazzy sax, but they're just an awesome rock band. They find a wonderful rythem like the one on It's Your Destiny and ride it along. Both Adam and Kurt captured lightening in a bottle this year, and Saturday night, together they unleashed upon the Philly faithful.

I can't seem to shake Sun Airway. It's my third outing seeing the Philly band, but this around they brought a cosmic back projection to the preceding. It's a little cliche to say, but it was maaaagicall, man. The whole floor and back wall had images of stars, colors and cute chicks on bikes projected over them. Since they are a dream pop band worthy of M83 comparisons, you need a little visual stimulus to that floating feeling.

This was a welcome home set for the group, as they just spent a month touring Europe with Architecture in Helsinki and Saint Etienne. That's a good deal.

Ape School is the Philly music powerhouse project of Mike Johnson, formally of The Lilys and Holopaw. The guy sure knows how to get his friends to help out. His backing band had all sorts of guitars, keyboards and programmers re-creating his Flaming Lip-style, marching pop music. I really enjoyed them, they throw a interesting sounds on tracks like "Be a Encore" and "My Intention". More importantly, they were never boring, and that's all I can ask for an opening band.

My Morning Jacket / Band of Horses @ Madison Square Garden

As I tweeted to my whopping 616 twitter followers last night, I got the Craigslist $40 cheap seat special on tickets for the My Morning Jacket show on Wednesday night. I've got your Groupon right here!

It was time I stop denying myself the MMJ arena experience. You'll have to go back to 2002 during the At Dawn album for my last live My Morning Jacket show. It would be appropriate to say that a lot has happened since then. Since I am the foremost authority of music snobbery, that scores me major snobbery points in the whole concert going world. Seeing a band before they become popular is one of the basis of my music snobbery lifestyle. In the end, it doesn't do much good in life. In fact, I think my friends find it annoying.

Thus, a quick e-mail to a seller, an awkward exchange and seats in the 200 scrub section. I could still make out Jim James's huge mass of hair. All of the band members had impressive stacks of hair back in the day. They would spent about five minutes at the end of the set just banging their head in unison. That's the main different between 2002 and 2011 -- they were a lot hairier back then.

Music wise, they have evolved into one of America's greatest rock bands. Those first two albums were just southern folk rock, a little slow, easy-going -- drawing on The Band, Neil Young and Skynard to get their mood across. Now, they are so far away from away that simpleness, but what remains in James's floating vocals. Their next two albums, It Still Moves and Z, was a giant leap into larger stratospheres. They've earned their arena stature and legions of fans.

So Wednesday's show was just damn crazy -- a band at their height of their power. Evil Urges was a little bit of step back sonically from Z -- a little moodier, straight-forward and introspective. Circuital is just large, brash and freaky. It's top loaded with feel good sing-alongs, orchestral passages of great grandeur and beautiful arrangements. Jim James can sing a phone book and it would be a wonder to behold.

In general, I'm not a fan of arena show. I keep it to one a year. Here's a quick list of pains:

• cost of ticket
• expensive beers
• pain in the ass to get decent seats or general admission floor
• small/crowded seats
• confusing seat layouts
• impersonal experience
• audiences filled with every style of annoying persons

I can write you 2,000 words on the shit I overheard during the show. I'll just give you a few. Some young chick, screaming, "If I had a dick, I would fuck my boss in the ass. I swear to God." Yeah, I would like to see you try, babe. Then I had the couple going to the bar, bathroom, whatever like 10 times. My whole section checked out during the softer songs. Then there was the arguing couple, where the girl clearly did not want to be there and the boyfriend was being a dick about it. Very entertaining.

Most of this crap goes away once the band takes the stage and it's 2.5 hours of ear-splitting rock prowess. The highlights -- all of them. I was most looking forward to Holdin' On to Black Metal from the new album and anything for Z. They covered it all.

As for Band of Horses, another band I haven't since they become popular. I would have to go back to Maxwell's in 2006. They seemed like the obvious choice for opener on this tours. You could have exchanged any other similar sounding, shaggy bearded band in there -- Fleet Foxes, Deer Tick, Dawes. The two bands got together for a little Christmas finale of "I'll Be Home For Christmas."