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 

EULA at Shea Stadium

Doesn't black and white just make sense for a show at a DIY warehouse venue? It's not like we went there to see the fancy lighting. Noisy, high contrast monochrome photos have the right sort of punk feel. Also, I wanted to try something a little different photographically.

Posted: 6/1/2013 at 11:53am     Tags: black and white  Bushwick Open Studios  EULA  Shea Stadium 

Dinowalrus at The Knitting Factory

This is a good example of a show which should have had different lighting. Dinowalrus would have gone nicely with more a flashy light show. Their sound is that 80's alternative-rock sound, similar to local bands such as Beach Fossils or DIIV but just a bit more trippy, more ephemeral. It's still a big sound though, the kind which goes well with big venues and flashy light shows. Instead most of the time there was this weird marquee thing where one spotlight flashed for a moment, then the one next to it flashed for a moment, then the next and so on around the stage. In my opinion at least my best shots were taken when lots of lights were on. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Posted: 5/27/2013 at 8:55pm     Tags: Dinowalrus  The Knitting Factory  WHCS Benefit