Music Snobbery

Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra @ Momenta Art

Yeah, suck it record labels. America's favorite Dresden Doll has reason to feel like she was crowned the prom queen. Her Kickstarter campaign to fund her new solo album exceeded her expectations to the tune of $1,000,000. You see, if you get yelled at by 13-year olds on a school bus or are a talented artist, you will get donations. Her and Louis CK should team-up and lead a discussion of how to bypass corporations in order to have a career.

The new album funded by listeners like you is called Theatre Is Evil and it will be out September 11.

1. Meow Meow Introduces The Grand Theft Orchestra
2. Smile (Pictures or It Didn't Happen)
3. The Killing Type
4. Do It With A Rockstar
5. Want It Back
6. Grown Man Cry
7. Trout Heart Replica
8. A Grand Theft Intermission
9. Lost
10. Bottomfeeder
11. The Bed Song
12. Massachusetts Avenue
13. Melody Dean (featuring David)
14. Berlin
15. Olly Olly Oxen Free

One of the Kickstarter gifts for a donation was an art gallery performance. Since I did not donated, but do have a winning smile and personality, I attended the show at the Momenta Art space in Bushwick. I only go to Bushwick for art galleries and Roberta's Pizza, which is a block away.

Anyway, there was Amanda inspired art and photography (from husband Neil Geiman) on the walls. They pictured Amanda is various warped stages, shapes, dressed and undressed. You go to any art gallery in the city and you'll something to do with vaginas. I went to one in Tribeca last month, and artists have a lot say about vaginas. Also part of the fun tonight was you got a random book from Housing Works. Mine was perfect -- Mind Over Matter volumn of Mysteries of the Unknown. For you younglings, Mysteries of the Unknown was a Time Life series of books about the paranormal, occult and various unexplained phenomenon. It was like an early form of the X-Files. You always saw the ad during daytime TV in the 80s.

The night consisted of conversations with strangers who will forget who I am because I'm from Jersey and I have a blog, performance art of woman a saying weird phrases while sucking on helium and Amanda and her backing band, The Grand Theft Orchestra. Everybody loves A.P., she's just pure creativity. I do admire her because she calls the shots and doesn't limit her music and artistic powers. I think her success with the Dresden Dolls affords her a lot of creative freedom. Better yet, she's inspiration to many around her and has a great relationship with her fanbase.

Here's a little preview of the album, this is the tune, "Do It With a Rockstar"

Toy's Left Myself Behind is the Jam of the Summer; Debut Album Out Sept. 11

My definition of "jam" is different from others. By "jam" I mean song that I've been listening to on repeat because it works on many levels. It's a jam the same way Love Will Tear Us Apart is jam and you get excited when it comes on at just the right moment.

Thus, Toy's latest single, "Left Myself Behind," is just about the best song I've heard this year. I've mentioned this new UK band before. It's made of members of the defunct Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, who were hot, fizzled out, ended up scrapping their debum album and called it quits. Tom Dougall (sister of Eleanor Rose) leads the five piece, who announced that their self-titled debut will come out on Sept. 11 on Heavenly Recordings / Cooperative Music.

1.  Colour's Running Out
2.  The Reasons Why 
3.  Dead & Gone 
4.  Lose My Way 
5.  Drifting Deeper 
6.  Motoring 
7.  My Heart Skips A Beat 
8.  Strange 
9.  Make It Mine 
10. Omni 
11. Walk Up To Me 
12. Kopter

Left Myself Behind is available now as a download or 7". It has major dark tones with lyrics about not fitting into society. Musically, at 7 minutes, it's a major spaced out, psyched out and wild out sonic wave of warped electronics, jangly guitars and gloomy vocals that would make Peter Murphy jealous. The last half is far out and it will make you feel empowered. Give it a try and tell me what you think. It's gotten 100K+ views already, so they must be doing something right.

Fiona Apple @ Governors Ball

Well you ain't Fiona Apple, and if you ain't Fiona Apple I don't give a rat's ass.

If you haven't seen the banner ads on your favorite music website,s then you don't know Fiona Apple is back. If you're like me, you don't give a rat's ass. When her first album came out during my college years, it meant guys were doomed if a girl was into her. You ain't gettin' no where. You had better chances if she was into Sarah McLachlan.

Anyway, I recognize she's a talented songwriter with a tremendous soulful voice, I just don't identify with her tortured personality and can't catch onto her minimalist experimental jazz mixed with production tricks. It's been 15 years and she still rehashing her demons.

Then there's Fiona Apple the person. She's a little goofy with stage meltdowns and rants making her a legend. She even got a little snippy recently during a private performance where she scolded the crowd for talking during her set. She really is back. She's also the fractured artist who hangs out with celebs, goes to red carpet fashion events and dates famous directors, magicians and writers.

Her set on Sunday reinforced my thoughts. She didn't look like she wanted to be there, neither did I. So I left to get some tacos and ice cream.

If you care, she's playing a block from MS.com HQ at the Wellmont on October 12 and Terminal 5 the 16th and 17th.

Beck @ Governors Ball

As previously declared, Beck is back. This time as an elder statesman of pop. I would even go as far as say an institution. He put awkward looking folkie buskers on the map with patented brand of kitchen sink pop. Hating Beck is like hating your mother -- unacceptable.

The setlist:

• Black Tambourine
• Gamma Ray
• Soul of a Man
• Hotwax
• Girl
• Sissyneck
• Modern Guilt
• Soldier Jane
• The Golden Age
• Lost Cause
• Sunday Sun
• Jack-Ass
• Devils Haircut
• Loser
• Novacane
• Minus
• Where It's At
• E-Pro

Let's just talk about the man from a live perspective. Some of my favorite concert going memories is seeing Beck on the Odelay and Midnite Vultures tours. He transformed himself from potential, oddball one hit wonder to superstar performer. His live shows were joyous affairs that were often silly, but always fun and funky. I remember seeing him at Philadelphia Y100 radio festival in the 90s just own the joint. This was after Oasis brought the roof down with one of the loudest sets I've ever experienced. Beck came on danced up storm like he was James Brown and had the whole place getting down and laughing. He would end the show with the band members hanging their instruments off him as he walked off stage. Even in more recent years, he had hype men, puppets, staged skits and all sorts of innovative stages shows.

So after a four-year break, he returned to NYC to replay the hits. We're not sure if it means anything, but we'll take it. As I said before, he looks the same in his 40s and he did back in day. Those Scientology youth classes must work. He wasn't a dancing machine or jokester. I guess when your kids are sitting on the side of the stage, you've got keep some sort of normalcy. He kept to his guitar for all his hits like Where It At, Loser, E-Pro, Golden Age and Black Tambourine. No New Pollution, it's old pollution now. I didn't expect his set to be some sort of stadium roof raisin. It was more like an easing back into the swing of things.

I think Beck is at the stage of his career where he can do what he wants or nothing at all. What's most astonishing about his career is the high level of creativity he's kept up over eight albums with odds and ends thrown in there. Even something as somber at Sea Change holds up a decade later. Even if his future music isn't as memborable as his past hits, his body of work will still hold up over time.

Blur Debuting New Songs Today on Twitter, Hey Puritan and Under the Westway

It's a lunchtime tweet. Get it. Tweet. Treat. Ahhhhh, life.

The details below, but the important stuff -- 1:15pm our time on the East Coast, Blur will perform live two new songs, Hey Puritan and Under the Westway. You can download it after that or waiting for a vinyl copy on August 6th.

For the first time, Blur will debut new material live on their Twitter channel @blurofficial when they perform two new songs via a worldwide live video stream at 6:15pm BST on Monday 2nd July.

Filmed and streamed completely live from a secret UK location, the two new songs – which the band have never publicly performed – are Under The Westway and The Puritan, written for the upcoming sold-out Hyde Park concert.

Damon said -“I wrote these songs for Hyde Park and I’m really excited about getting out there and playing them for people.”

Go to @blurofficial at 6:15pm to hear the first track. Immediately afterwards Blur will take part in an exclusive band interview. Simply tweet them @blurofficial or tag your questions #blur on the night to be included. At 7:15pm BST Blur will play the 2nd track.

Following the live stream, both songs will be available to download. A limited edition double-A 7-inch single will be released by Parlophone on 6th August.

Mynabirds / Sean Bones @ Mercury Lounge

A quick post and shout out to Laura Burhenn and her pack of lovelies The Mynabirds, who are on tour to support their uplifting, beautiful new album for Saddle Creek, Generals. They breezed through Mercury Lounge last Friday. I caught a couple of songs before I had to split, then ended up accidentally deleting the photos on my camera from the night's activites. Yeah, old age is fun. You'll love it.

The new is album called Generals for a reason -- it's a call to arms. The songs march along with powerful vocals, foot stomps and lush orchestrations. It makes a good compliment to her debut album from 2010, the Richard Swift-produced What We Lose in the Fire We Gain. That had an antiqued quality where you can sense the history and nostalgia. Generals is an album for the here and now.

As for L.B. (friend of the site and all-around cool chick), she's a great live performer, hitting all those southern soulful grooves while looking groovy in her animal head dress and flowing cape-like white dress. She's bringing the goodness through August with Sean Bones to your area. Here are the rest of the dates and long with the title track from the new album:

June 25: Local 506 -- Chapel Hill, NC
June 27: The Bottletree -- Birmingham, AL
June 28: The Earl -- Atlanta
June 29: The High Watt -- Nashville
June 30: Mojo's -- Columbia, MO
July 1: Firebird -- St. Louis
July 2: Jackpot Music Hall -- Lawrence, KS
July 20: Fridays on the Promenade -- Sioux City, IA
July 25: Hi-Tone Cafe -- Memphis
July 26: Circle Bar -- New Orleans
July 27: Rudyard's -- Houston
July 28: The Mohawk -- Austin, TX
July 30: The Crescent Ballroom -- Phoenix
July 31: Satellite Club -- Los Angeles
August 1: Cafe du Nord -- San Francisco
August 3: Barboza -- Seattle
August 4-5: Pickathon -- Happy Valley, OR
August 7: Neurolux -- Boise, ID
August 8: Kilby Court -- Salt Lake City
August 9: Hi Dive -- Denver
August 11: MAHA Music Festival -- Omaha

  

Previously:

• The Mynabirds @ The Delancey

Governors Ball -- Sunday @ Randall's Island

Pulling out chives and gymboree handouts, two end tables and a microscope. Bubbles and cams, just clap your hams, just clap your hams. Where's my hat?

It's been a while, but I still remember the lyrics.

Governors Ball 2012 is in the books. I passed on the dance-themed Saturday and went with Sundays line-up of mostly rock or pop white people bands. For me, it's all about the Beck, returning to the live stage after a extended break and playing a melody of his greatest hits. The rest of the line-up were acts I had already seen multiple times under festivals and small club circumstances. Although, it was my first time seeing Explosions in the Sky, who seemingly play one 45-minute song.

Besides Beck breaking out the jams and looking like he hasn't aged a bit, the other acts were perfectly serviceable. Phantogram had a exciting set for an act that's a guy on guitar and girl on a computer. Fiona Apple, I'm sorry, I recognize she's a talented singer, but damn she's bores me. Always has. Modest Mouse was Modest Mouse, all the stoners were happy with them. I've seen Cults so many times I think can step in, play guitar and know how to play the songs.

Maybe I've gone to too many festivals in the NorthEast and UK, but they are starting to feel the same. Especially around these parts since we don't have camping festivals and all the acts play here multiple times throughout the year. Governors Ball felt we were going through the motions and that it never reached heights of excitement. It was downright civil. The weather was normal -- sunny most of the day with clouds toward sunset. At 11 when Beck ended, the rains started up. There'sno  overwhelming praise. I guess the no overlapping sets was nice. Maybe less is more when doing these festivals in NYC. On the other hand, nothing to complain about. Getting to Randall's Island is still a pain. Cheapest is walking over the bridge which takes 30 minutes and taking the boats will set up back and force you to wait in a long ass line. I parachuted in.

More in pictures and thoughts in the day's to come. Here's a few select shot from the day:

Beck

Modest Mouse

Explosions in the Sky

Fiona Apple

Devendra Banhart

Built to Spill

Phantogram

Cults

Freelances Whales

 

Los Campesinos! / Yellow Ostrich @ Maxwell's: Hello Shorts

I have to start by saying, "Dayum!" When Los Campesinos left the stage and the whole room smelled of body funk, it was a "I said Gawd-Dayum!" moment. Then I walked outside into the unsavory heat and humidity, Dayum!

The pride of Cardiff University made their triumphant third visit to Maxwell's. If you remember last time, they were delayed by that Icelandic volcano in 2010. They ended up playing on a Saturday afternoon. This was a more proper situation for Los Campesinos! feverish band of mega-pop.

I do have to say that since I've been doing this site, LC has been one of my favorite bands that have formed in my seven year history -- one of like 20 I would my favorites. It's a two-tier appreciation. First, they've released four quality albums that you love for their unabashed exuberance and their sweet melancholia. Second, they are just a damn fine live band. It's not like they are jumping off the walls and lighting themselves on fire. They play tight without being showy, and generally seem like good people.

Their latest album, Hello Sadness, is sort of a funny title. Since they started in 2006, they've had to shake the Twee As Fuck title. By now, being called a twee band is an insult. With the new album, it's not that they matured (all bands do that), they are more clear. When I first got to know the band and interviewed Gareth, they major influence was Broken Social Scene. So much so that they got BSS's David Neufeld to produce their work. On the new album, they've create more space between the goofy keyboard parts, brass, glockenspiel, the OOhhhhs and Whoa Ohhs and Gareth ruminations on awkward moments in life. I think they'll always have those elements in their songs, and a youthful confusion in their lyrics.

With a great catalogue to choose from, tonight's show featured fan favorites and crowd pleasures to get pussies in the crowd jumping and knocking into each other. Hey, Gareth called them all pussies. This is coming from a man who kept on talking about the shorts he was wearing.

Area heroes Yellow Ostrich are tagging along on the LC tour. They stepped up their sound with the second album, Strange Lands, with some grinding, heavy duty guitar licks. They also landed on the veteran indie label Barsuk, having released their debut, The Mistress for free-ish. Now, founder Alex Schaaf filled out his big idea with some familiar faces, former We Are Scientists drummer Michael Tapper and sometimes Beirut member Jon Natchez. The result is a massive putout of volume, importance and weight. It's always a good sign when a three-piece band sounds like a 10-piece band.

 

South Street Seaport Friday Shows Start Tomorrow with Miracles Club -- Veronica Falls, Patrick Watson, Loney Dear Also On Tap

My go-to free NYC concert series kicks into gear with River To River's showcase on Fridays. That means you can put on your best summer gear and let the donkey out of its playpen. Portland's top disco outfit The Miracles Club will kick off the fun tomorrow at 8. You get can get there early and answer all the tourists' questions as to what's going on. "Who's playing?" and then you answer and then they walk away puzzled.

Next Friday is a must-attend when Veronica Falls and The People's Temple. Yup, just like the Jim Jones cult. Likewise, that's the title of a single from the PT's, it's all drone-y and Brian Jonestown Massacre like. Listen to it below.

Patrick Watson, Loney Dear, Eleanor Friedberger and Ex Cops rounded out the rest of the series on the Fridays. Check out their website for all the days and locations.

June 22 - 8:00pm - The Miracles Club
June 29 - 7:00pm - Veronica Falls with The People's Temple
July 6 - 7:00pm - Patrick Watson with Loney Dear
July 13 - 7:00pm - Eleanor Friedberger with Ex Cops

Kate Nash Goes Punk on Under-Estimate The Girl

It's a little jarring to see The Nash with blonde steaks and screaming in riot grrl fashion. She does have a deep love for Bikini Girl and Sleater-Kinney as she told me in our chat a few years ago.

So Kate is offering this new tune for free, "Under-Estimate The Girl" if you sign up for all things Nash.

My verdict. It's hit and miss. The screaming parts are a little unnerving and almost cringe worthy. I do love the parts of the song where things slow down and you get this mellow bassline over a more pleasing vocal. The beginning build-up works as well. I do give her props for breaking out of her comfort zone. Artists have to explore, evolve and screw around with their own boundaries, even if it might not work out.