Sunday, March 25, 2007

September 2006

Bloody Panda w/Child Abuse , Silentist, Archeopteryx @ cake shop 9/30/07
What a fucking killer noise show. Archeopteryx fucking slayed. My first time seeing them and they were fucking great. Drums & Guitar nailing it.

Silentist had some crazy noise machines and thunderous drums and the dude screaming his head off almost made my head explode.

Child Abuse killed it as usual i like how casual these guys are and then they just get up on stage and melt your face.

Bloody Panda destroyed, i really thought i might be volunteered for some kind of ritualistic sacrifice during the set, and great backing band and a crazy japanese singer, which makes me scared like those horror movies, did you see the Audition, they will kill you!



The Mountain Goats @ Europa 9/?/06
John Darnielle is your god. The man can do no harm and all he wants to do is save your soul. when i hear that mans voice i can mistake it for no other and as soon as i recognize it i hang on every sylable. This night we got to hear him run through a good portion of Get Lonely. A great record, not his best, but killer jams, all pretty sad ones. Thank god i saw this show a week before my girlfriend broke up with me because my god i wouldve been rolling around on the floor in agony.



You Say Party! We Say Die! w/ The Blow @ Sin-e 9/?/06
The Blow has seemed to have taken the world by storm and this little lady deserves it. Shes got some great lyrics that are laid over some great dance pop beats, not stock kinda stuff either, very intricate sounds crafted by Yacht, he wasnt there for this show and so she was a bit nervous, but we all made her feel alot better by getting into the set. Which was impossible to resist shes just so fun and she just seems like a normal girl you would walk by on the street a million times and never know but of course its all about the surprise.

YSPWSD have been royally screwed, they reminded me of an early days version of pretty girls make graves, but now they are going to have some trouble, they have been banned from the united states for sneaking over the border for this tour, and just before any one could really discover them and get a bit of money behind them, now no one is going to want to touch them here, sadly, because it would be completely worth it, they are really fun and really tight.


Sam Champion & Ra Ra Riot @ the annex
Ra Ra Riot have changed thier line up a bit and they have lost one of their singers and tried to take themselves a bit more seriously and its really working for them, they seemed to have been able to streamline the act some one and brought the powerful songwriting to the forefront. Every one seems to be concentrating a lot more while still trying to have fun. a must see band.

It had been some time since i last saw Sam Champion, march i think, they continue to amaze me with that country rock twang, the new material is great because they original stuff was written before the edition of the second guitar and while it stills goes well it seems this material incorporates it right in and makes it a much fuller sound, i have heard they are done recording and just shopping for a label.


Sono Oto @ merc lounge 9/?/06
Sono Oto play beatles-esque pop tunes, from the early days before all the drugs, funniest part was that the frontman who composed everything is very obsessed with apples so the first 6 songs he wrote are based on different kinds of apples. its an interesting limitation, this was them in full ensemble orchestra and it sounded great.



The Ballet @ the knit 9/?/06
The Ballet are one of nyc pop communities best kept secrets, i dont think they have played more than 20 shows, but they keep getting better with thier lush sound, they just added some cello. And the toungue in cheek lyrical styles are not to be listened to lightly. really beautiful stuff.


Gossip w/ Erase Errata + Mika Miko @ irving 9/?/06
A great night for the ladies.
Mika Miko blew me away, i had heard the album and was really into it, but they come together live and have a really fun party. New ep coming out any time now.
Erase Errata, in my opinion, are better than they ever were, i seem to be in the minority of that idea, but shit nightlife is a killer album with some great guitar work. This was the best i have ever seen them perform. They are finally comfortable as a three-piece and thats just what they needed.

I heart Goxxip, and i apologize that i am a large white male in a sea of tiny girls, but dance with me instead of calling me a mysoginisy im watching out for you more than youll ever know, a pretty standard goxxip performance until the encore when Jenny from EE came out and they did the cover of "tell me are you that some body" it was just enough to send us over the edge.



Joe Lally @ the knit 09/?/06
Its great to see all of the members of Fugazi continuing to do amazing stuff. Joes solo work is very much the more somber side of Fugazi and his voice is very haunting, its good for him to be able to step out from behind the shadow of ian and show that hes a musical force on his own, really great songs about introspections and of course the sad state of the goverment which culminated in a completely vocal performance of "if i only had brain" which was so beautiful and haunting ill never watch wizard of oz the same way again.


Toddps 2nd big outdoor show of the summer (non-acoustic) @ scholes loft 9/?/06
Another mega rager at some dilapidated old building in bushwick, fucking killer line up. i missed antanker convoy, but i got there just in time to see roxy pain perform a 20 minute version of that wham song about never falling in love again that the sickest sax riff ever.

Stars like Fleas assemblage is starting to win me over, its just not my fav, but they sure do put on a show.

High Places when they were still fresh from the incubation period.

I love child abuse, both the act and the band, so its no wonder i was loving the shit out of this set because these retards thought it would be a good idea to get super agro about the show it was to early and they were to rough, i mean im all for freaking the fuck out but be nice to your fellow showgoer and dont fucking knock down equipment unless you are in the band.

A sun drenched Vaz were next, i have their record and i could go either way, but after this performance i am a fan, just some great post rock no bullshit and at the end of the set the guy chucked his guitar over the van that was behind the stage. then some kid came up with it and was like "did some one drop this"

I think this was the last time i saw this amazing line up of Aa, as the sun set. This performance is actually on the dvd portion of their new album, gAame, which drops on 4/26.

Exceptor was crazy loud. It was good, but i feel there may have been to much going on, musical masturbation kind of thing. i will give him one thing, he started to get heckled by some douche and he wasnt having any of it so he grabbed a megaphone and knocked the kid to the ground and totally partied in his face.

Matt and Kim rocked the house so hard the people who owned wanted them to stop playing because the floor was gonna gave in, but kim unleashed that potty mouth of hers and put em in their place and then they finished a sweet ass set, oh and if you like, here's is that set in its entirety. who loves you most?

fucking Ex-Models, they have gone through many stages of existence but this one is by far the best, they have got noise down to a science and with two amazing drummers to compliment thier guitar molestation they cant fail even if they tried shit is crazy amazing.

But the band that stole the fuck out of that show was Comets on Fire, those guys just do it right, just like this hard rock that channels the great of the genre, throw in some psyched out noise for good measure and then practice for about 500 years and you just might get it down. Highlight of the set was when the power went out for about 8 minutes and meanwhile the drummer never skips a beat and as soon as the power comes back the energy surged into every member of the band and they picked up right where they left off, sometimes its those little mistakes that let you know how good af a performance you are actually seeing, no premadonnas and no deli spreads. just killer talent.


Growing was able to calm every one down afterwards and it was a very pleasent cool down, thier guitarwork is so intricate and so heavy and yet its still soothing to the soul.

And just when i thought it couldnt get any better, todd announced that in the backyard dirty projectors was going to play a solo acoustic set and i raced down there to get a front row seat, total darkness and 200 kids hanging on daves every word. he really gave a great performance that night, his voice is just so engaging, i dont even know who to compare it to its so distinctly his, and his guitar work is really good to, he just so effortlessly makes his way across the strings and delivers such an impact, it was way to dark to see but you knew he was there.

Japanther @ the arm 9/?/06
What made this performance special was that japanther set up behind a huge sheet of white paper and there was a shadow puppet show that went on before them, pix didnt really come out. but it was really well done, i think they do it around the city, ill look into it. so then japanther played their first song in silhouette which was killer, then they tore through it and rocked the fuck out.

August 2006

Rancid @ bb kings 8/?/06
Rancid is definately another one of those punk bands that is to much a part of my younger years to let go, they got some crap coming out these days, but it aint all bad. The point is the live show is never gonna be bad, the fans are always in a frenzy and the band knows excatly what the crowd wants to hear, they stick with lets go and and out come the wolves... and its perfect, this time around they even did fucking opiv covers, who the fuck can say no to that.


Yeah Yeah Yeahs & Sonic Youth @ mccarren park pool 08/?/06
My only chance to get into the pool last summer and it was great, my first time seeing sonic youth and i wasnt even close to disappointed. They ran through a lot of new material which is great because rather ripped is a phenomenal record. they got some classics in there to. and can i say this, why does marc ibald get to be in pavement and then strangers with candy and now sonic youth. shit isnt fair.


YYYs killed it, i know they have a shit ton of hype, but they deliver the goods. they are all so great at what they do, and karen o is one hell of a front woman even if she did move out of nyc.


Gravy Train @ the knit 8/?/06
Well ok so i didnt get any pix of the gravy train show, they played great as usual. i definately have a place in my heart for unadulterated queer-core. so i asked if i could share a cab with them to the after party and they said sure and i snapped this.


ToddPs 1st big summer outdoor show (non-acoustic) @ a parking lot 8/?/06
Some crazy parking lot brought out a bunch of kids for some awesome bands.
Necking were first up, and they kicked it off in style, this is actually the strongest performance i have seen them give. I think it had to do with the keyboard player, hes not usually present.

Parts + Labor were next and as usual they blew it up, to bad it was so early i didnt have it in me to rock so hard before 4.

Dan Deacon tickled me, little did i know that this man would quickly become one of my favorite one man acts of any genre ever. The man is a crazy amazing modern day classical music artist, and if that description is misleading then my bad.

High places were next, they played on an empty staircase and they played it great.

Spank rock played next and he was amazing, thats why everyone came out and you know it the man is a wizard with a microphone, shake it til my dick turn racist is right.

he even got juiceboxxx to throw down at that bitch.

Japanther played crazy good.

This Bike is a Pipe Bomb finally graced the city with thier presence after an unsuccessful attempt last summer due to the flue. but they came back and they rocked us. fuck yeah florida.

a pleasent afternoon for rocking.


The Rentals @ irving plaza 8/4/06
I had been waiting for this show for so damn long and it was so good to finally be there, the rentals have returned and they played to a sold out audience of fans that had all waited just as long as i had.



July 2006

Hightower @ cake shop 7/?/06
Hightower play heavy ass skate rock from SF, by the end of this show there were so many shattered beer bottles on the floor and it was so slippery the guitarist cut his face open in like three places


Kims art show @ cinders gallery 7/15ish/06
No music here but i just wanted to give it up for kims big art show, these silkscreened superheroes were really great, makes me wish i had money and/or space.



Japanther & Aa @ europa 7/10/06
This is one of the last times i saw Aa in its form right before the current one, this was very much my favorite of thier many incarnations, it was a bit looser, now they are a tight machine and that aint bad.

Oh look at me i saw japanther for once.


Dragging an ox through water @ some art place in chelsea 7/9/06
i went to see this benefit art show for that armada thing and just when i was about to leave this guy just started to play these sweet songs, i really wish i could find out more about him. the only reason i found out his name was because i ran into some one the very next night who i recognized and luckily he knew. if you know anything please contact me.


Finally Punk w/ Kiosk & fucking lion @ rad pad 7/7/06
Great little space over in greenpoint a nice sweaty basement. Kiosk kicked off like crazy really great girl fronted punky junk. the girl was going off, i love the energy.

Finally Punk blew me away, not a single song over two minutes, they switch all instruments every song, and they are fucking beautiful. Great little girly anthems about wanting boys back, hating on some one named missle and thier love of cable tv and johnny depp flicks, where could they go wrong?

fucking lion was basically the fugue, i dont know why they used a different name on this night but they did and in no way was that a bad thing, they fucked that place up just for good measure.



Japanther, Pixeltan & No Age @ tonic 7/6/06
Fucking killer show, my first taste of No Age. They were great. used to be Wives, now they have widdled down to the essentials drums and guitar and they fucking rock it. no good pics though sorry.
Pixeltan was new for me too, i had been hearing a fair amount about them, you wouldnt know it to look at them, but they rock it out hard, soft circle on drums goin nuts, crazy gangley painfully white bass player with megatight riffs, and a kooky japanese front woman, of course it brings to mind deerhoof, but its not the same, a bit more direct maybe.

OK PARTIES OVER! Japanther! this performance was especially amazing because a fan of theirs had made some two screen video art and the band played along to the film. the film was pretty intense and amazing, the director seemed a bit full of himself (surprise!) but i mean shit it was really good so lets move on.



Harry & the Potters @ the knit 7/5/06
Harry and the potters are another one of those ageless bands that just appeals to so much that is good for kids that you cant stand not to support them. This show was packed out the door, seriously i saw kids in costume that had to be turned away because it was such a mad house, meanwhile the main space had sold 20 tickets. This show was new because they finally got a drummer, and he looks somewhat like ron weasly kids were going crazy, notice the homemade shirt and bubbles. it was the reading and rocking tour.