Brooklyn Vegan CMJ Showcase @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg, 10-22-2008

The Sammies
A screaming-power-chord rockfest with sharp solos that punches you in the gut? Why did I miss the beginning of their set? They may not have had the most original sound of the night, but they executed with perfection.

Shearwater
I'm still not sure what I think of this group. Meiburg's vocals were spot on, but the quality of his voice reminded me of Ren Fest (Don't ask why.) Plus they had Thor who (given the audience's response) accidentally stole the show. Was that a dulcimer he played? In the end, their troubadour sound didn't fit the excitement of the night.

Ponytail
This felt a bit goofy. The heavy use of noise just made the sound more hazy and masked otherwise interesting guitar work. The yelling also felt pointlessly cathartic, but the drumming was powerful. These guys seemed one step away from a standard math core group which is a good thing, but there was so little thought put into their sound as a whole that I had a hard time watching them.

Passion Pit
Passion Pit was much more comfortable on stage than when I last saw them. Angelakos most of all seemed to have hit a stride. Instead of spending his whole set sitting behind his massive keyboard, he jumped up, danced around, and yelled with all the power he could muster. Songs like Better Things and Smile Upon Me were revamped to add more energy, and we were treated to two new ones that I assume will be on the 2009 album. I liked the first, but the second lost me. All in all, Passion Pit kicked ass, and friends that had seen them for the first time agreed. They're skyrocketing.

Singing DJ Jens Lekman
Up front were the intense Lekman fans who seemed disappointed by the lack of actual singing on his part and weren't expecting to see what the crowd behind found so fun. This was Lekman's opportunity to be a DJ and play what he thought would best get the audience dancing. It worked for the most part--especially on me. I'd love it if more of my favorite artists took the time to share their favorite dance music with me every time I went out. Lekman crashed a few time early on, but his choice of music made up for it.

The sum of it all was a great show.

Ponytail

Shearwater

Passion Pit



Jens Lekman

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

I'm not sure why I missed this song. I adored her debut more than I cared to admit at the time, but I guess the Rilo Kiley fame shook her from my radar.

At any rate, seeing her perform on Late Night got me officially addicted to Acid Tongue (the song and the album). Lewis does we she does best in this piece -- emphasizes her lush voice with simple, standard open chords. Still, it's a little different this time around. The choral harmony (or indie collective as my friend put it) adds more than the Watson Twins did in the past, and though she's once again talking about the futility and childishness of the pursuit of happiness, there's something extremely uplifting about it all.

Maybe it's their choral take of the inverted minor 2nd.


via pinkrudy

Fleet Foxes - Oliver James Tab

Edit: I'm hosting this tab as a file and a few of my other sheets on my new site.

There wasn't a tab I could find for this so after an hour of fun times, here it is. I used the Ultimate-Guitar (where it's also being hosted) template for this. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oliver James - Fleet Foxes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

tabbed by: kyle AT escsounds.com

t = tremelo
b = bend

Tuning: standard

Intro/Chorus

e|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------1--p0---0-----------3---3---3---1---1---1---0-----|
G|-2p0---0-------------2-----0-------------------------------------|
D|-----2-----0-------------------0---------------------------------|
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|

e|---------------------------------|
B|-1p0---0---------------0---------|
G|-----2-----0-------0-------0-----|
D|---------------0-----------------|
A|---------------------------------|
E|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|

Verse

e|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------------0---4---0-------0-------------------0---0---4---|
D|---------0---4---------------4---------4-0-------0---------------|
A|-2-----3-------------------------------------2-------------------|
E|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|

Bridge

e|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-------0-1---0-------0---1---0---------0-1---0-------------------|
G|-----------------2---------------2---------------2---------------|
D|-----------------------------------------------------3-------3---|
A|---------------------------------------------------------3-------|
E|-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-|

e|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------0---------------0---1---1---3---1---0-------|
G|-0---------------0-------0-----------0---0---0---0---0---0---0---|
D|-------4-2---4---------------4-----------------------------------|
A|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3---------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|


| / slide up
| \ slide down
| h hammer-on
| p pull-off
| ~ vibrato
| + harmonic
| x Mute note
===============================================================================

Fleet Foxes @ The Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center, 10-5-2008

Brilliant.

I spent most of May listening to Sun Giant and then Fleet Foxes, and I thus had all the recorded songs stuck in my head before the concert even started. It's great to go to a show and be so familiar with the material that you can know the names right off and then be surprised at the subtle changes. What really made the experience was it's personable nature. Take it, I was right up in front, but the crowd was so respectful that when Robin decided to play two solo bits completely acoustically you could have and didn't hear a single cell phone in the audience. It was as if, despite their fame, I was watching them play for a group of my friends at a bar around the corner.

The vocals were pretty much perfect even during the few times when a band member decided to improvise a harmony, and without the reverb (during Robin's two solo songs) that has almost defined their style, nothing was lost. This all resounded during the a-capella sections which had me drifting off to whatever fanciful location they were mentioning at the time. The banter also had me literally laughing between songs; I'd almost forgotten how friendly a band could be. Fleet Foxes are more than suited to play live shows given their whole nature. I'll keep listening to their recordings, but I'm not sure I'll ever get the same musical bliss that I got from seeing them live.

Setlist
Sun Giant/Sun Rises
Drops in the River
English House
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged Wood
Your Protector
Crayon Angels (Judee Sill Cover)
Oliver James
Quiet Houses
He Doesn't Know Why
Mykonos
Katie Cruel (Traditional) - unplugged!
Tiger Mountain Peasant Song - unplugged!
Silver City - new song!
Blue Ridge Mountains
via madeablog

Here's my glowy picture of Robin.

And Skye played with a bow.

Psych Rock @ The Cake Shop, 10-2-2008

I came to the Cake Shop taking Free Williamsburg's suggesstion to see Evangelicals, but first I had to to see two surprisingly fun bands.

The first was Mysteries of Modern Science which uses string instrumentation to realize pop chords and themes classically. Altogether they are a bassist, mandolinist, violinist, two cellists, and a drummer. Minus the mandolin, every instrument plays a single line so there is much more of an emphasis on counterpoint rather than simple chords. It's as if each plays it's own melody. MoMS claims post rock as an influence which doesn't shock, but unlike most groups of the genre, they add lyrics. Still, though the vocals don't drown out the instruments, they are a bit of a weak point.

Second was Parenthetical Girls. The vocalist, Zac Pennington, liked banter and theatrics. He spent a bit of the time walking through the crowd and laying down beats on the floor, bar, and wall. The others stayed put and chimed in with percussion (was it a xylophone?). The major melodies lent themselves to goofy rock akin to Evangelicals but came out sounding more dreamy.

Evangelicals on the other hand were much noisier in concert than in their recordings. The overall sound was much less pure, and it came off more destructive than anything. Still, they put on a good show even if it wasn't what I expected.