The Oblivians at Beekman Beer Garden

Do I really need to review The Oblivians? They still sound great and that is pretty much all I needed to know (aside from when and where is their next gig).

Posted: 6/8/2013 at 9:39pm     Tags: Beekman Beer Garden  Seaport Music Festival  The Oblivians 

Ex-Cult at Beekman Beer Garden

I had no idea the lighting at Beekman was this good. Aside from Ex-Cult's guitarist on stage right, the one who looks like my brother-in-law with sideburns (true story), these folks really looked like they were at a major venue. The sound was great too. The torrential rains tearing apart the tend which was the only thing protecting us all from death by electrocution? Just keepin' it real.

Jokes aside, I completely forgot about the rain once Ex-Cult started playing. They're a total blast. Garage-rock which isn't too sloppy but still has lots of rock-n-roll energy. Great stuff!

Posted: 6/8/2013 at 5:11pm     Tags: Beekman Beer Garden  Ex-Cult  Seaport Music Festival 

Total Slacker at Mercury Lounge

Total Slacker is often compared to Sonic Youth, possibly because of lead singer Tucker Roundtree's hair, but surely also because of their oblique take on punk rock. I believe they actually started as a standard punk band but then got more creative and wandered into unexplored territory. If you can imagine a band which was inspired by the songwriting of Talking Heads, The Minutemen and Ween but looked to Fugazi and a bunch of grunge bands for their sound then you can get a good sense of what this band is like. Or you can just watch this video because technology.

Posted: 6/5/2013 at 6:42pm     Tags: Mercury Lounge  Total Slacker 

French Films at Mercury Lounge

Now this is the kind of pop band I like. Contrary to what their name might suggest, French Films play songs which are not overlong and pretentious (though they certainly are smokin'). It is as though they edited out the unnecessary solos and repetitions and instead played just the catchy core of the songs which most bands would have played. Everything is either buildup or release so the energy level stays high. That's the right way to do it.

I admit that I only caught the second half of their set but that second half was a blast! These guys aren't afraid to have a little fun on stage, or out there with the audience for that matter. Nice.

Posted: 6/5/2013 at 4:17pm     Tags: French Films  Mercury Lounge 

LODRO at Shea Stadium

Here are some more photos from my recent black and white experiment. Although I have photographed LODRO recently and hate to keep shooting the same bands over and over, their musical style (and those projections!) are such a good match to black and white photography that I just had to do include them.

Posted: 6/1/2013 at 11:15pm     Tags: black and white  Bushwick Open Studios  LODRO  Shea Stadium