I WAS THERE: Noah and the Whale Get All Gloomy On Opening Night of Mercury Lounge Residency
Posted on November 9, 2009
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Words and Photos by Laura Leebove
On the first of three consecutive nights at Mercury Lounge, Noah and the Whale quickly rewrote their reputation as a bunch of lovey-dovey Brits. Which shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, the band’s latest LP (The First Days of Spring, out now on Cherrytree/Interscope) is brimming with heartbreak, related to the flatlining relationship of frontman Charlie Fink and fellow folkie Laura Marling. (Marling sang on Noah’s first record, and had her Alas I Cannot Swim album produced by Fink.) Songs like “Stranger,” the story of a one-night stand after their breakup, which unfolded in front of a capacity crowd as follows: “I’m a fox trapped in the headlights/And I’m waiting for the tires to spin over me.” Read more
I WAS THERE: Sufjan Stevens Beckons Us To Come On and Feel The Ill Noise At Bowery Ballroom
Posted on October 6, 2009
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[Photos by Andrew Parks]
By Arye Dworken
Five years ago, Sufjan Stevens promised to press one LP for every state in the union, as backed by his banjo and towering orchestral pop pieces. As he’d soon admit, the plan was both preposterous and inspiring.
“I may regret that,” Stevens told The Washington Post in 2005, “but it was probably necessary for me to acknowledge and put into words my intentions and my propositions. I think sometimes it’s better for us to do that, even if it’s detrimental.”
I WAS THERE: Fever Ray Freaks Out Webster Hall With Laser Canons, Smoke Monsters, and Satanic Jim Henson Costumes
Posted on September 29, 2009
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Words and Photos by Andrew Parks
“See this 2 right here?” a security guard said at Monday night’s Fever Ray show. “If you move past it, you’re out of here.” Read more
I WAS THERE: ‘That Moody Guy From Interpol’ Delivers a Decent Guggenheim Set, Makes Us Reach For His Julian Plenti Record
Posted on September 27, 2009
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Words and Photos by Andrew Parks
It all started with animals copulating on an album cover—the front of Interpol’s third full-length, if you must know. Ever since then, it’s as if the band’s divergent ideas and apparent love/hate relationship (see also: The Strokes, who announced rehearsals for a ‘new record’ at nearly the same time as Interpol this past spring) were leading to a serious case of writer’s block. Not to mention the inability to top the pitch-black perfection of Turn On the Bright Lights. And that’s okay. Let Carlos D explore his film school inclinations while Sam Fogarino indulges his Swervediver fantasies. Meanwhile Paul Banks can return to his roots as…Julian Plenti? What is this, his mild-mannered singer-songwriter phase, complete with string arrangements and lots of laptop programming?
Yes and no. Assuming a long-dormant alias hasn’t relegated Banks’ career to a realm of self-indulgence so much as brought him back down to earth. Maybe we should have assumed this based on Plenti’s playful press photos, but the guy’s clearly happier than he’s been in years; finally free of the deadly serious stance that made Interpol shows appear stilted and joyless. Which isn’t that surprising. Unlike Carlos D or Daniel Kessler, Banks was never the type to assume a steely suit-and-tie guise in public. In fact, the last time we saw Banks wandering the Lower East Side, he was clad in a baseball cap and a classy but casual getup that screamed I’m really trying to be incognito here.
I WAS THERE: Jamie Lidell Switches to Mad Scientist Mode At Le Poisson Rouge’s Warp Anniversary Party, His First Solo Show In Forever
Posted on September 6, 2009
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Words and photos by Andrew Parks
Pure camp. That’s the path Jamie Lidell embraced last year—intentional or not—as he turned the robust R&B tracks of Jim into his very own Saturday Night at the Apollo. It was as if Lidell heard the criticisms of his blue-eyed soul side and decided to drop Multiply’s diabolical “Dock of the Bay” nods for something even simpler: soulful shower songs, best paired with tall Bloody Marys and bleary-eyed Sunday mornings. Read more
I WAS THERE: Animal Collective Test the Patience of Recent Converts and Longterm Fans At Second Prospect Park Show
Posted on August 17, 2009
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Words and Photos by Andrew Parks
A simple question to set things off: When did Animal Collective become indie rock’s greatest cockteases? No, really; we’ve seen them at least 10 times since the fall of 2004—a truly bizarre appearance at a semi-legal art space in Philly—and still couldn’t believe how much this past weekend’s second Prospect Park show hinted at fully-formed hooks and harmonies, yet delivered nothing but, well, a masturbatory mess. Read more
I WAS THERE: Deerhunter, Dan Deacon and No Age Nail Round Robin Performance At Brooklyn Bowl
Posted on August 3, 2009
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Dean Spunt of No Age
Words and photos by Andrew Parks
“Can everyone be quiet please?” asked Bradford Cox, as he struggled to lead Deerhunter through a quick song at Brooklyn Bowl. “This is soundcheck, not showtime.”
And so began the No Age/Deerhunter/Dan Deacon show that went from a simple, open-air Pool Party to a pair of free 600 cap performances at the area’s first-ever bowling alley/concert venue combo. A disaster waiting to happen, in other words, made all the more real by the rushed looks on everyone’s faces before the doors officially opened. Especially in Deacon’s case. While the guy’s usually a life-sized teddy bear cloaked in vintage T-shirts and chunky glasses, he didn’t look too happy when a stage manager said they needed to start letting people in and cut Deacon’s soundcheck short. Deacon’s response, in essence: “Um, what the fuck?”
In the end, it didn’t make a difference. Read more
I WAS THERE: The Big Pink Unveil Live Show At Mercury Lounge Alongside Patrick Wolf’s Sister and Members of Sunn O))), Guapo and Pre
Posted on June 16, 2009
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[Text/Photos by Andrew Parks]
“They sound off,” s/t’s managing editor wrote in a text message, “they” meaning the Big Pink. “You don’t agree? I’m ready to leave. This is Jesu with bad vocals.”
Um, not quite. Read more
I WAS THERE: Wolves in the Throne Room Bring Smoke Machines, Cartons of Candles and Corpsepaint-Free Black Metal To Webster Hall
Posted on May 27, 2009
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[Text/Photos by Andrew Parks]
When it comes to Wolves in the Throne Room, we could care less about how ‘true’ the band is to black metal’s 101 Unholy Commandments. (Our personal favorites: [58] When referring to sex with a Metal Chick use only the terminology “sticking my clouded frost-spire into her gates of attrition”and [101] You mean to tell me you read this whole thing when you could have been prancing about in the forest with an axe? For shame! For shaaaaame!)
Let’s be real here: the BM scene’s collective corpsepainted head is stuck so far up its own ass it makes aging hardcore addicts—guys who still get excited about new Madball albums—look civil. Thankfully for us, the Brothers Weaver (drummer Aaron and frontman Nathan, as backed by guitarist Will Lindsay and bassist Ross Sewage) have always distanced themselves from gross assumptions and unfair expectations in interviews and on record, including the poignant one-two punch of this year’s Malevolent Grain EP and the recently-released/wholly recommended Black Cascade. Read more
I WAS THERE: Green Day Sticks To New Songs At Webster Hall Show, Still Slings Enough ‘Dookie’ To Make Us Feel Really, Really Old
Posted on May 20, 2009
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[Text/Photos by Andrew Parks]
It’s official: self-titled’s staff—a rat pack born between the late ’70s and early ’80s—is ‘getting old.’ Not “I saw Sabbath in ‘73″ old; more like “I watched Green Day and blink-182 play a Six Flags back in the day.” Lame, you say? If only; frat-boy fans aside, pop-punk’s most familiar faces have moved millions of albums due to a lot more than luck. Namely their mastery of melodies and pogo stick rhythms that can keep a crowd moving for 90 minutes no matter how monotonous the songs really are. Read more
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