Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens at The Bell House

I don't think you will be shocked to learn that Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens perform gospel music. You might however be surprised at how much of a show they can put on without being ostentatious. All it takes is heartfelt singing, a fine backing band who can take the lead every now and then, a good mix of tunes, and a band leader who knows how to exault without talking down to the audience.

That last part is important. This is actual gospel music with explicit Christian themes and no intention of sugar-coating them. Don't worry if that's not your thing, they don't ram religion your throat. They do however make glorious music which any music lover is sure to enjoy.

Posted: 4/25/2013 at 7:37pm     Tags: Brooklyn Folk Festival  Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens  The Bell House 

Las Ardillas at Trash Bar

I rarely go to Trash Bar because I don't know enough of the bands who play there and let's be honest, a lousy punk show is a truly unpleasant experience. Las Ardillas are why I should go there more often. They are the Latin Dead Boys. How did I almost miss this show?

Not to be confused with Alvin y Las Ardillas, these guys are the kind of snotty punk band who sound like 1984 to the present just did not happen. So few fucks were given at this show it's not even funny. The band is from Puerto Rico and sing entirely in Spanish, I think. Or maybe I was too busy dodging flying beer to notice the few lyrics in English. Seriously, this is what all punk bands should sound like: tons of attitude, rough-edged without being distractingly sloppy, and full of energy.

Posted: 4/24/2013 at 6:43pm     Tags: Las Ardillas  Trash Bar 

Quintron and Miss Pussycat at Secret Project Robot

I hate to post photos of Quinton and Miss Pussycat taken in natural light. They are a total party band and as such their true habitat is the poorly but colorfully lit club, bar, or discothèque. These photos are okay, but on some level they are like pictures of polar bears sunning on the beach in Acapulco: interesting but not quite right. I also wish I could have shot them from a higher angle. Quintron has a lot of neat stuff on his dashboard like a slide guitar and cymbals and some sort of rotating night light thing which I think also plays music somehow.

Quinton and Miss Pussycat have a simple formula: organ + electronics + dual vocalists = catchy dance music. Personally I like to compare them to The B-52s: two total party bands with an experimental side and just a bit of an edge. They play light, bubbly dance numbers and darker, heavier songs (which you can still dance to, of course) and sometimes stuff that's just totally out there. Anything as long as it's crazy and fun. Quintron actually covered the Pink Panther theme song (as a solo instrumental) during the set, while Miss Pussycat put on a puppet show before the music started. Because why not?

Posted: 4/23/2013 at 6:36pm     Tags: Quintron and Miss Pussycat  Secret Project Robot 

K-Holes at Secret Project Robot

When you get a bunch of veteran musicians together strange things can happen. K-Holes started out doing everything from really messy punk to moody psychedelia to jazzy Mothers of Invention-esque freakouts. Some of it worked, some of it really didn't, but it definitely felt like more like individual musicians writing individual songs which suited them. Bands which work like that tend to fall apart.

Given that K-Holes have survived and put out two albums they obviously achieved some level of stylistic integration. These days if you don't listen too closely K-Holes could even pass for a rock band. They're loud and energetic enough and do have a bit of that rock attitude on stage. Yet their music is so moody. Now moody normally implies mopey or gothic, and they do go there once in a while on songs like "Window in the Wall", but normally the mood is more panicky and paranoid. It's a nervy, high-energy moodiness. In particular the sax adds a little bit of chaos, not enough to throw things out of whack, just enough to make things feel a little bit off. And if some of those lyrics seem a bit disturbing... I think that's probably the idea. It is quite intense and works so much better than when they started out, which is probably true of every band ever but moreso than usual in this case.

The stage in the garden of Secret Project Robot didn't look that small but dang it sure was crowded with band members. Every time I tried to isolate one person there would be an elbow, a leg, some part of someone else in each shot. And the smoke! Yes, it was a sunny Spring day in Bushwick and yet somehow I was reminded of a small club atmosphere. Great sound though.

Posted: 4/22/2013 at 6:01pm     Tags: K-Holes  Secret Project Robot 

LODRO at The Knitting Factory

Back when they were Royal Baths one of the members of LODRO told me the band preferred the stage to be nice and dark. Somewhere along the line they must have decided that they preferred their music to be nice and dark as well. That plus a partial lineup change and now we have LODRO, a band whose name I can never spell correctly. I keep wanting to type "LORDO", though the all-caps spelling makes me think of "MORBO" too.

LORDO have labeled themselves neo-noir punk. The first half of that label is indisputable. Their music has a strong flavor of Western noir, of inspiration from the chords and distortions and underlying sense of menace of Morricone's soundtracks. I assume that is why their electric guitar sounds like a slide guitar so often. On the other hand the sheer edginess of their sound, the incorporation of more modern psych elements like dissonant guitar solos, and song titles like "Big Sleep for Alice" suggest a more urban noir flavor. The singing is cool and in control like a classic anti-hero. The instruments tell a more sinister story, with guitar twangs which pierce like bullets and drumbeats like cars colliding, the sounds of a threatening world. It's a compelling contrast.

I'm not so sure that LODRO are "punk". Their music is aggressive in a sense but that alone doesn't make it punk. They certainly aren't sloppy or political or anti-anything. So what's with the "punk" label? I get the feeling that they're trying to avoid the "psych-rock" label. Yes, that is the same label applied to 13-minute heavy drones with four lines of lyrics and similar bores of that nature. Trust me, noone is going to confuse LODRO's vicious sonic attack with a snoozer like that. Plus their songs are relatively short and I can prove it... their SoundCloud site is here.

Posted: 4/21/2013 at 3:19pm     Tags: LODRO  The Knitting Factory