Crotales, and zither, and cell phones – Oh my!

The Low Anthem + Timber Timbre – The Bell House – April 16

Friday night’s show at the Bell House may have been ‘sold out,’ but the large floor space was only sparsely populated at the beginning of Timber Timbre’s (pronounced Timber Tamber) set. The evening got off to a slow, melodic start. With hardly an introduction, Timber Timbre began playing “No Bold Villain.” First, just the violin, guitar, and pedal steel (played with a bow) quietly came together, but eventually the bass drum came in and established a slow, pulsating beat. “No Bold Villain” was  a bit of an odd choice to open the show. It is a slow, ambling song, and the final track on the group’s self-titled album.

Timber Timbre

Timber Timbre played a few songs in succession without so much as a pause between them, but they seemed to flow together. Eventually the audience took advantage of a beat, and a round of applause quickly erupted, causing the band to pause and introduce themselves. But unfortunately, this pause also prompted the crowd to lose interest, and many people began to talk unabashedly by the time the band launched into “Demon Host.”

Front man Taylor Kirk may sing about haunting topics like ghosts,séances, graves, and decomposition, but the band could not keep the audience under their spell. The music was rather subdued – and not just because of the subject matter. The levity that seems to mark their self-titled album was absent from their performance, and the dark lighting on stage  (Kirk especially was hidden in shadows) seemed to create a wall between the band and the audience. Timber Timbre may have a delightfully spooky album, but sadly their live show was rather lackluster on Friday night.

Feeding off the spooky vibe created Timber Timbre, The Low Anthem kicked off their set with a song that prominently featured ghosts.

Throughout The Low Anthem’s set, the four (sometimes five) performers ran around on stage between songs, each juggling multiple instruments. In addition to having a solid voice, Jocie Adams in particular seemed to play everything: the clarinet, crotales, drums, saw, bass, and more. (1)

The Low Anthem

Unlike Timber Timbre, The Low Anthem seemed to effortlessly hold the audience at attention and often broke down the third wall to interact with the crowd. For “This God Damn House,” they elicited the audience to directly contribute. Before the song, we were instructed to whip out our cell phones near the song’s conclusion, call the person we had come to the show with, put the phones on speakerphone, and hold them up close to each other. The noise made by the phones – a quiet kind of feedback – sounded like ghost crickets, and the effect made me giddy.

Check out a video of the song “This God Damn House” here (complete with the cell phone trick):

The Low Anthem played a mix of traditional and original songs. Another highlight of the show was “Sally, Where’d You Get Your Liquor From” (listen). Their music covers a range of sounds and genres, including Americana and folk, but there is also a fair amount of soul – especially in “Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around.” Their quieter songs may be sleepy, but they still manage to be engaging.

After a solid set, the group bowed (those with hats on briefly removed them in keeping with good Southern manners), and they walked off stage, only to be welcomed back for a three-song encore that wrapped up with the raucous and upbeat number “The Horizon is a Beltway.”

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(1) It turns out Adams also “spent summers working an infrared spectrometer at NASA.” Wow. (For more info, go here.)

Catching up with The National

The National – The Bell House – March 13

Sometimes, it’s nice to plan for shows in advance so as to avoid last minute conflicts, but other times, it’s best to make plans as you go. Three days ago, I didn’t know that the National were playing a couple of shows at the Bell House (conveniently located 7 blocks away from my apartment). Last night, I found myself not at Union Pool seeing Scout Niblett as I had initially planned, but sitting outside the Bell House in the rain, hoping to find a way into the sold-out show. Luckily, I was approached almost right away by a well-dressed man who asked me for my name and phone number. Ten minutes later, I got the call that my name had made it onto the guest list. Success.

I admit I hadn’t heard a thing about the opening band, Buke and Gass. Part of me was worried that they’d be terrible. That happens sometimes. Someone owes someone a favor, someone’s friend wants to play. It gets messy. That said, I was pleasantly surprised. Buke and Gass is just two people – Arone Dyer on vocals and ukulele and Aron Sanchez on bass and percussion.

Buke and Gass

Despite their modest appearance, their sound is surprisingly big and heavier than you might expect from a woman who exudes little kid charm. Arone wore her hair in two messy buns and seemed positively elated to be playing – to the extent that she giggled between nearly every song. If all this is sounding a bit too twee for you, you’ve got the wrong impression. Buke and Gass exert just the right amount of sass, thanks largely to Arone assertive vocals and the duo’s carefully texturized sound. Suffice it to say that I’m looking forward to hearing more from these guys.

As you probably already know, The National’s previous album, Boxer, garnered a considerable amount of praise when it was released in 2007. It made the coveted number one spot on many end-of-the-year lists. Just knowing that the National were about to release a new album had me excited, but an intimate show at the Bell House? How fortuitous.

The National (Photo: Keith Klenowski)

As promised, The National played a number of songs from their upcoming album, High Violet, which officially drops May 11th.

alleged High Violet cover

Though it was the first time I heard any of their new songs, many of the themes expressed in earlier albums (madness, brains, melancholia) seem to crop up in their new material as well, as was evidenced by the very first song.

This is the happiest song on our new record. It’s called “Sorrow,” joked singer Matt Berninger. In between sips of his chilled white wine, Berninger continued, Last night we were nervous, so we came out and had an awesome show. Tonight we’re confident and usually when that happens we take a dive, so we’ll see…

The band followed up “Sorrow” with two additional new songs before breaking into a string of older songs, including “Mistaken For Strangers” and “Secret Meeting, which elicited enthusiastic responses from the crowd.

Compared to the older songs (especially those on Alligator), the newer songs seem more toned down, which is probably for the best – at least for the time being. Though he was able to conceal it for the most part, Berninger is in the process of finding his voice again following his recent decision to give up smoking.  I quit smoking a couple of months ago, so if I coughed on you, it’s not a disease. It’s my lungs regenerating. Sorry.

Despite Matt’s difficulty nailing some of the more aggressive parts of the songs, he certainly did not lack energy. He frenetically paced around the stage and certainly made the encore memorable by rushing into the audience during “Mr. November” and singing the desperate chorus with anyone and everyone he could grab with a good pair of lungs. As he stood on top of first an amp and then a dividing wall, towering over everybody, it was clear that he certainly had the rock star act down. But the thing I love about Matt is that he still manages to be self-deprecating and soft-spoken when he speaks between the songs. I love this discrepancy between his softer side and his sheer recklessness. It’s as if he takes on another persona once he starts singing – especially with songs like “Mr. November,” “Abel,” and the end of “Secret Meeting.”

With as many as ten people playing along at times, the sheer sound produced on stage was impressive, and the addition of the trumpet and trombone pack a special punch.

With a playtime that clocked in at around an hour and forty minutes, this is what a concert should be, and hopefully more will be in the works. After all, they do live in Brooklyn.

Set List
*Sorrow
*Anyone’s Ghost
*Little Faith (Chrome Horse)
Mistaken for Strangers
Secret Meeting
*Afraid of Everyone
*Bloodbuzz Ohio
*Lemonworld
Brainy
All The Wine
Apartment Story
*Runaway
*Conversation 16
Abel
Daughters of the Soho Riots
*England
Fake Empire

Encore:
*Vanderlye Crybaby Geeks
Mr. November
*Terrible Love

*asterisks designate new tracks to the best of my knowledge.

For a great set of photos from the first night’s show, go here.

Also, check out a recent live performance of the new song “Terrible Love:”

One-woman wonder

tUnE-yArDs – The Bell House – February 5th 

Merrill Garbus, the driving force behind the ambitious project tUnE-yArDs, may not have been on the radar for long, but she is quickly making up for lost time. tUnE-yArDs has opened for a number of prominent acts, including Atlas Sound and Dirty Projectors back in November. (1) Her show at the Bell House last night was one of the first she has headlined. I’m used to playing shorter sets – 30 or 45 minutes max, so I had to write some more songs. 

Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs photo: Chrissy Piper

Garbus has a real knack for getting people’s attention. It probably didn’t hurt that she studied theater at Smith College. In a fascinating interview with the Rob Harvilla of the Village Voice, she says: 

I definitely honed the ability to demand attention [...] When I first started doing open mics, which were a similar kind of thing, like, “Get people’s attention in the first five minutes – or 30 seconds – or be ignored. 

From the first crazed beats of her drums, Merrill Garbus was captivating. The sheer energy encapsulated in her music is impressive, and her persona is intriguing… to say the least. She sings through two microphones and carefully loops her vocals, drums, and ukulele, gradually building up each song before your eyes. There’s no laptop. Not here, anyway. Aside from the minimal contributions of the accompanying bass player in the background, she is a one-woman show. 

The music of tUnE-yArDs is a frenetic combination of DIY folk and tribal-like beats. But don’t group her with Vampire Weekend just yet. Merrill Garbus reportedly spent some time in Africa and even speaks Swahili. Her music is more than just a re-working of African beats. It expresses her feelings with her strange experience abroad. In the same Voice  interview, she references her time in Africa and the song “Hatari”: 

I grew an obsession with African music, before I was in Africa and afterward. It’s more my feeling of being an American and experiencing Africa as an American [...] I really thought that I was going to be dancing half-naked to Paul Simon’s ‘I Know What I Know’ on the savannah. So the song is grappling with what actually happened. 

As she sang – or more accurately at times, bellowed - into her two mics, Garbus looked out into the crowd with the intensity of an animal in the Sahara. Her gaze was simultaneously poised, confused, frightened, observant, and fierce. Her incongruous mix of vulnerability and confidence was a winning combination. People in the audience began to dance and chant along to the songs. 

Near the end of her rousing set, Garbus confessed: I’m super embarrassed. I’ve never played before so many people who know they’re here to see me. I’m blushing under my zebra stripes. Sure, her shtick (and her voice) may not be for everyone, but there’s no denying that her performance was stunning. 

Check out tUnE-yArDs playing “Fiya” live at the Museum of Natural History in LA last month:

 
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(1) Regarding the MHOW show, Village Voice reported that she “rendered the Dirty Projects a mere afterthought.” Yikes. 

“This is what you call experimental music“

Atlas Sound – February 3rd – Bell House

I’ve seen Deerhunter perform a few times now, so I thought I knew what to expect from Bradford Cox’s other project, Atlas Sound. But from the time I bought my ticket and heard Cox soundchecking in the room next door, I knew I was in for a bit of a surprise – in a good way.

Upon entering the room later that night, one of the first things I noticed was that Cox was wearing a toboggan – kind of as if he had simply stepped out of nearly every picture I’ve seen him in.

The music made under the Atlas Sound banner quickly proved to be far more than just a watered down Deerhunter show. It was slower, more melodic, dreamier, and somehow – both tidier and less structured.  Sure, there is still a bit of the distortion and haze, but Cox’s voice came through loud and clear… and surprisingly intelligible.

As far as I can tell, a show starring Bradford Cox is always a good one – even when there are glaring technical issues like there were at the Bell House. Cox hadn’t even gotten through a single song when the looper messed up and the drum beat cut out. In between the songs, he disappeared from sight as he started rooting around, trying to fix the problem. Man. I had this all worked out. This was going to be the second mind-blowing song, he sheepishly confessed. Now pretend that never happened.

The sounds were mesmerizing and cerebral. Being that I’m not too familiar with the catalogue of Atlas Sound, I was never sure when they would end – each one a swirling snowstorm unto itself. They were both dreamy and decisive. Though they are hardly comprable, the Atlas Sound show was probably the closest thing I’ve had to a Phil Elverum  experience in quite a while. (1)

I know it’s probably not what you expected, Cox admitted. Well no, maybe not, but I was absolutely taken by the performance. Cox, too, seemed to be pretty enthused about playing. I love playing in New York. Every time I play here, it’s like the first time. I hope the songs weren’t too dark. It’s a magic city! And with that, he threw his long arms up in the air in a charmingly child-like wave, and walked off stage.

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(1) The Microphones / Mount Eerie is my absolute favorite artist. One particular show in Greenpoint in the fall of 2008 when I finally got around to seeing Phil left me with such feelings of camaraderie and euphoria that I almost wanted to die so I wouldn’t ever have to come back down.

You heard right, Brooklyn is hot

New York Magazine recently published an extensive article about the merits of the music scene in Brooklyn. Though they are a bit biased (and so am I), I have to agree. (1) For a while, I thought it was all about Portland, but for the past few years, Brooklyn has churned out quite an impressive roster to the extent that I find myself assuming that every new band I encounter is holed up somewhere in Greenpoint or ‘East’ Williamsburg practicing.

Dan Deacon playing at a loft party in Ridgewood (Photo: Michael Falco)

Of course, there’s the obvious: The Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, MGMT, The National, Sufjan Stevens, Mos Def, Yeasayer, Jay-Z, The Antlers, Vivian Girls, Talib Kweli… and the bit more obscure: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Drums, Crystal Stilts, Bishop Allen, Jeffrey Lewis, Here We Go Magic, Suckers. Artists don’t just get their start in Brooklyn. Often they move here to continue their work after they have already made a name for themselves and to just partake in the Brooklyn community.

a scene from Williamsburg's Death by Audio

Recently, I have noticed that often the audience members at New York shows comprise a number of talented musicians and artists. One of my favorite games to play at a crowded show is trying to pick out people who are in bands. In North Carolina where I went to school, this was an easy task. Look for the slightly older guys with impressive beards, skinny jeans, plaid shirts, slightly more attractive than the average guy. Bingo! In New York, this can be more challenging, but I’ve stood beside members from The National, Jeffrey Lewis, Matt and Nan of Schwervon!, Sufjan Stevens, and more. (The Bell House is especially good for these sightings). It’s pretty delightful.

Even my dad saw the article in New York Magazine and wrote me an email, saying:  “So, maybe the economy is struggling to get out of the recession but the Brooklyn music scene is already in a bull market.  Rachel, this may be the best time to be in Brooklyn in years.  Timing is everything.” And if my sixty-one-year-old father in rural South Carolina is praising the Brooklyn Music scene, there must be something to it.

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(1) And they’re not the only ones who are sighting Brooklyn as a hot spot. There’s also The Guardian.