Category Archives: Live Review

10.20.11
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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Hurricane Through Ace Hotel

 

Kicking off CMJ with their adroit-charged energy, the Brooklyn-based voyagers Clap Your Hand Say Yeah packed the walls of Ace Hotel on Wednesday afternoon hours before their performance. The band chewed out a compressed thirty-minute set,feeding their fans a combination of pieces from their most recent release Hysterical, as well as transcending back to “ In This Home On Ice” from their debut album and of course, a hit from Some Loud Thunder. CYHSY finished their set with “Satan Said Dance”, where the keyboardist, Robbie Guertin switched gears and teamed up with the drummer to spit out turbulent beats to end the show.

 

***Set List***

Same Mistake

Maniac

 

Misspent Youth

Hysterical

Ketamine and Ecstasy

In This Home On Ice

Said Said Dance

 

Viktorsha Uliyanova

07.25.11
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Tom Vek @ Union Pool, July 13th 2011

It was Tom Vek’s second night playing in New York City and even though I was not at his Mercury Lounge concert, I can assure you the vibe at Union Pool had to be drastically different. It had rained that day, the temperature had cooled down a little… A nice evening outside sipping drinks in the bar’s outdoor courtyard right by the BQE must have given the audience a better disposition to rock out. I like to think so.
But before we could see Mr. Vek, we heard Cookies, “a band from New York City specializing in popular music” as they say on their website. A trio of multi-tasking musicians, they played a short set of danceable electro-pop songs, under the watchful eye of the headliner himself. Audience was a bit shy during the set, leaving a wide safety distance between the small stage and the first row. Still, the way the band mixed electronics with their instruments seemed like a fitting match and an appropriate lead-in for Vek. The set only got better as it went along; by the end, ears were warmed up, necks were a bit looser and the room was packed.

When Tom Vek steps out onto the stage, it’s hard to imagine he is actually as animated a performer as he is. With his new perfectly combed and sculpted hair, thick-rimmed black glasses, white t-shirt, jeans and tan lace-up boots, he seems very unassuming and calm. But once the music starts, the shift is immediate; he’s in it.

The set opened with “Hold Your Hand” off his new record, Leisure Seizure. The bass could have burst your chest open and the music immediately filled up the entirety of the cozy venue. As he plays, Vek sways and swings with the music, marking every drum break, every moment a new electronic sample is introduced with some part of his body, even moving his hand next to the microphone according to the tune he is singing.

Performing a nice balance of songs from his new album and songs from his first LP We Have Sound, Vek switched between playing bass and guitar. Hearing the song “C-C (You Set The Fire In Me)” showed just how powerful the marriage of two bass guitars and sharp drumming can be. “World of Doubt,” off his new release, took on even more grit and toughness live than on the recorded version.

The band was having fun on stage and so was the crowd. The audience’s appreciative head-bobbing quickly escalated to full-on dancing, with some concert goers up by the stage almost looking like they were in a trance. Vek isn’t too much into funny banter between songs but he did stop to thank everyone present for coming out several times and even complimented the venue (which was indeed very cute).

The set was tight and never felt like it was dying down, even during the slower songs. The last two songs were the first single off the new album, “A Chore” and the harsh “A.P.O.L.O.G.Y,” before which he thanked the opening band Cookies and his band mates. Sadly, there was no encore, but after such an electrifying set, our ears were bound to be ringing with the sound of his beat rock tunes for a while.

Setlist:

1. Hold Your Hand

2. We Do Nothing

3. C-C (You Set The Fire In Me)

4. World of Doubt

5. If You Want

6. Someone Loves You

7. Nothing But Green Lights

8. Aroused

9. I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes

10. Seizemic

11. A Chore

12. A.P.O.L.O.G.Y.

07.25.11
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PICTURES: Sloan @ the Bowery Ballroom, June 29th, 2011


Our favorite indie rockers, Sloan, did double duty in New York a few week ago and we were there to catch all of the action at their Bowery Ballroom show. Check out the photos below and stay tuned for an exclusive Modern Mystery interview with Jay Ferguson!

Check out MORE PHOTOS HERE and HERE!

07.18.11
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Girls Rock For A Cause

Founded only two short years ago, Girls Who Rock is an annual concert in NYC that aims to bring together the strongest voices in technology, entertainment, and design to advocate and fund-raise for girls’ education worldwide. On Friday night, the group staged said concert at the Gramercy Theatre with proceeds from this year’s event benefiting She’s the First, a not-for-profit that focuses specifically on educating girls in the developing world.

Among the artists who performed were up-and-comers KimberlyNichole, Nikki Jean, and Eddy. Of the three newcomers, I was most impressed by KimberlyNichole, who opened with a rousing cover of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and closed with inspiring take on Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana.” Still, Jean showed a certain penchant for songwriting that has pique my interest for her debut record, which is set for released on July 12th, and Eddy was like a ball of energy up on stage.

More seasoned performers Nina Sky and JoJo rounded out the lineup. I spoke with Nina Sky before the show and the sisters revealed that they had only first heard about the event a mere week before it was scheduled to take place, but they made a point of signing up. JoJo, however, has been involved with the organization for a while now, which was evident from her effusive praise for the event and its organizers. Both artists’ sets were great but, the night belonged to JoJo, who blew the roof off with her four song set. Down below I’ve embedded video footage of the 20-year old performing her new single “Jumping Trains” and a PSA she recorded for She’s the First. Anyone interested in donating to the charity can do so by visiting THIS LINK.

 

http://vimeo.com/13083615

05.17.11
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Oberhofer @ Coco66, Brooklyn, NY – May 15, 2011

Coco66, which is just a blinking neon sign blaring BAR in big red letters, is a non-descript venue with a secret performance space hidden by a big velvet curtain. The show starts at 9:45, but for all good things one must wait. Vacation kicked off the show with their synth guitar, dreamy sound. Lead singer Paul Daily has a velvety voice (he sounds like Matt Berninger from The National) and wraps you in his own world when he sings “Penny Pincher.” From here the crowd kept dreaming with the next opener Windowpeak. A female-led slow grind, dreary rock band that sounds like Mazzy Star. This band is simply incredible and it’s clear that they will be going far. You have to listen to “Harsh Realm” and “Burnout.” You will not be disappointed.And finally, Oberhofer. It was as if all the air had gone out of the room and was replaced with this fucking incredible sound. Their set was way, way too short in my opinion. I could have listened for hours. They closed with “I Could Go,” my favorite Oberhofer song. Something about the light show, Brad’s sincerity in his voice and the yearning sound of both guitar and drum completed the show in the most perfect way. I had a brief chance to talk with Brad Oberhofer backstage who told me of his passion for orchestral music and plans on one day scoring films. Which seems to be new indie scene phenomenon, with Broken Social Scene scoring “Half Nelson” in 2006 and Phoenix scoring the new Sofia Coppola film. All in all the show sounded like three bands, all good friends from Tacoma, Washington, having a good time. They each amped up the energy of the crowd as much as the last band, all their sets were super tight and the light show perfectly complimented the music but didn’t distract from it. Oberhofer will be recording new material after their tour. Next stop, Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee, WI tomorrow night (May 18) with Neon Indian.

05.03.11
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of Montreal @ Webster Hall, NYC – April 30, 2011


More Photos HERE.
For those who know of Montreal might know them as a super flamboyant troupe that can round up a crowd of sweet smelling pretty girls and boys who lust after lead singer Kevin Barnes’ sexual copiousness. It wasn’t always this way, but as time went by members disbanded, got married, rehabilitated, and regrouped. In between, I guess you could say they found the voice they were looking for all those years. With over a decades worth of albums, of Montreal have traveled a lengthy journey to where they are now. Ten years ago you could listen to Kevin sing about fairies living life through an unconscious slumber (see album Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse) and before that of Montreal was part of The Gay Parade. (The album is a personal favorite of mine, but it’s narrative style seems to be a bit much for newer of Montreal fans. I still say it would make for a great play). It wasn’t until their 2004 release “Satanic Panic in the Attic” that the pieces started to stay glued together, and the songs became more like a journal for Kevin Barnes’ personal afflictions and affections . Now, of Montreal are an unstoppable traveling circus, and you’d better hope you have tickets to the greatest show on earth when they come to your town, because it is a show not to be missed!

The show featured opening band Painted Palms, a dreamy synth-pop collective that started the night amidst yellow, green and blue lights. Their psychedelic bass thumping tunes from their current release Canopy will get you lost in the woods on a breezy summer afternoon right by a water fall, even in a hot stuffy music venue in New York City.

The follow up to this scene was quite the opposite. It began with the entrance of of Montreal aficionado and Kevin’s brother David Barnes revving up the crowd in a suit. This was followed by some scantily clad ladies in flesh-tone unitards, and men baring capes and colors of the American flag. The set started with the tune “L’age D’or” off their latest E.P. thecontrollersphere. “For Our Elegant Caste” followed as Kevin sang the first line “We can do it softcore if you want/but you should know I take it both ways”. It’s actually Kevin’s alter ego “Georgie Fruit” who is the protagonist in the story, not Kevin himself, but that doesn’t stop the girls and guys from screaming their heads off.

The theatrics continued through out the night as they performed songs mostly from Skeletal Lamping, and “False Priest”, with an interlude of “My Bloody Valentine” performed by drummer Clayton Rychlik. You name it, it was on the stage, Painted Palms even joined in for a few songs and skits. Some of the stagecraft includes lucha-libre stylized mask and wrestling matches, a reenacted wedding, men in nude big breasted costumes, pig faces, booty shaking girls (and boys), balloons, streamers, and that’s not even everything!

Even with all antics on the stage, they performed an unyielding set without missing a beat.
Towards the end of the encore Kevin threw on a mask and pinned down some opponents which was followed by members of the band crowd surfing. Finally, at the end of the show, multi-instrumentalist K Ishibashi performed “America the Beautiful” solo on the violin while the audience sang only to have it turn into an official hoedown on the stage moments later. Though the photos capture a play by play of the show, it is nothing compared to the spectacle everyone witnessed. Wherever this journey continues to take of Montreal, I will be right there with them, and from the looks of it they are going to continue to flourish no matter where it is the freak train drops them off. Perhaps I should invest in a feathered boa and some glitter huh?

Words and photos by Cienna Wills