Pampers at The Knitting Factory

Pampers are new they don't even have a Facebook page. No that's not a baby joke. Actually, now that I think about it the last band I shot (Las Rosas) also doesn't have a Facebook page. Facebook is dying folks, you heard it here first eventually.

So who are these guys? They're a particularly kick-ass local punk band. They are yet more evidence that the punks who have been around the block a few times are the best at it (even if they haven't figured out social media). One of them appears to be Emilio Estevez. But the main thing is that their music is awesome. As far as I'm concerned any band which stands on their instruments (or tries to play the keyboard with their feet?) is doing punk right.

Posted: 5/22/2013 at 5:01pm     Tags: Pampers  the band not the brand  The Knitting Factory 

Las Rosas at Mercury Lounge

Here we have something which is kind of rare in NYC: a garage band who sound like an early rock-n-roll band instead of a punk band. Las Rosas are more doo-wop than punk rock, more Troggs than TSOL. Considering that the lead singer is Jose Boyer of Harlem and The Gondoliers that makes perfect sense.

Las Rosas can and do rock, but they also take the time to express some actual emotion. Some songs are effused with sweetness and longing, others are more funny or at least just fun. This is rock with depth instead of just volume. It's especially nice when a band which has only been playing out for a few months has that kind of depth. It means they actually put some thought into the band instead of just saying "Hey let's be in a band!" They sound much better than the average newbie band too. I for one am going to keep an eye on these guys.

Posted: 5/20/2013 at 8:05pm     Tags: Las Rosas  Mercury Lounge 

Marissa Nadler at Saint Vitus

Well now, apparently our local heavy metal mecca has a mellow side. Marissa Nadler's music is melancholy and gothick and fits quite nicely with the overall theme of the bar. Still, I'm so used to seeing metal guys rocking out on that stage (didn't LA Guns just play there?) that this was a bit of an odd experience.

Marissa Nadler is sort of the opposite of a metal guy. They both sing about love, but she sings about love which has passed, love which she wanted to last. Metal guys sing about love in the future, that evening specifically, and how long it's going to last. Some of those metal guys are silly and implausible people (see LA Guns), Marissa Nadler is neither of those things. She sounds honest when she sings about things which are just a little too painful to address directly. Despite the distancing veneer of poetry the feelings she sings about seem authentic. Her guitar and other instruments stay int he background, rarely taking the focus off those words. She adds just enough music to give her songs a heartbeat but the lyrics are the heart. Surely she is a poet as much as a musician, and she's quite good at it too.

Posted: 5/13/2013 at 8:36pm     Tags: Marissa Nadler  Saint Vitus 

Lady Lamb The Beekeeper at Glasslands Gallery

Silly me, I just wrote something about how how hard it is to take photos at Glasslands, then I took some photos at Glasslands. Silly me. I guess they turned the lights up a bit this time? Not much, but a bit.

I was introduced to Lady Lamb the Beekeeper during her time as a solo artist. She's this little lady with a really big voice. When she sings with soul she just blows people away, and she has decent guitar chops too. Obviously quite a few people aside from me have become quite impressed with her over the years since she is now headlining at venues like Glasslands.

Seeing her with a band is a little different than catching her solo show. The fellows in the rhythm section don't sing (probably just as well) and only play on some songs. When they do join in they add a sense of urgency to the music, making it a bit less like folk and a bit more like rock. This makes the pacing is more predictable, which also makes the music less personal. You know she isn't going to draw out one particularly noteworthy lyric or stop the song to crack a joke or anything like that. With the band it becomes less of a performance and more of a show.

Perhaps that is what happens when an artist goes from playing small rooms to headlining at medium-sized venues and touring Europe. Artists have to change and grow, such is life and all that. And as a side note I don't recall seeing her play banjo before either. Of course changes like that can alienate lazy old fans who still want to see the exact thing they're used to seeing. Perhaps aware of this, Lady Lamb The Beekeeper does some songs in the old solo style, some of the new accompanied style, and occasionally does something totally different like playing that banjo. That's probably the right compromise.

Posted: 5/12/2013 at 1:16am     Tags: blue  Glasslands Gallery  Lady Lamb  Lady Lamb The Beekeeper 

Dead Leaf Echo at Union Pool

About the only type of band I would try to shoot at Union Pool is a psychedelic band. The venue isn't exactly known for its lighting, but these psych bands are pretty reliable about bringing their own. It is as though they realize that however evocative the music may be, staring at four people who are mostly just standing there tends to kill the mood. And since you can't rock out all the time... fancy lighting is a very good idea.

Dead Leaf Echo call themselves an art collective, which I guess in practice means that there is an extended cast of part-time band members. I know that a fellow named Christo (ex-Vandelles) has played guitar with the group and that they have had a few drummers.

Their sound is in the introspective, MBV-influenced school of psychedelia in which the goal seems to be taking emotions like passion and despair and presenting them in an intellectualized manner. It makes sense then that the latest Dead Leaf Echo album is based on a psychology textbook. The thing is, the tension between the rawness of those emotions and the coolness of the presentation bursts out every once in a while. You can rock out some of the time, and they do. I imagine that shoegaze fans will happily bliss out to the coolness. Personally I prefer the moments of tension, but to each his own.

Posted: 5/11/2013 at 7:13pm     Tags: Dead Leaf Echo  Union Pool