Buzz Rant & Rave

The thing that distinguishes Country Club and the Porn Horns from most other bands in the NYC music scene is front and center in their live show-- a three-person horn section. Matt Kelly (tenor sax), Will Hoffman (trumpet), Scott Zillitto (alto & bari sax) give Country Club and the Porn Horns an enormous sound that brings to mind Tower of Power, Fishbone, Frank Zappa and the Blues Brothers Band. The band's sound draws on classic rock, ska, and funk to sound unique and fun. And LOUD. Don't forget loud.

Last month, the band released a new 7", 2 Under Par.

Tonight, Country Club and the Porn Horns play at Sin-e.

Download songs from 2 Under Par, Friends Don't Make Forearms and The Station Wagon Revolution in The Country Club Media Room.
Stream music at myspace.

When I first saw Balkan Beat Box last year at Irving Plaza, I was amazed to see a band that got a New York crowd dancing. BBB combines jazz and electronic beats with klezmer, balkan and near eastern influences in a way that is fun and danceable.

Founded by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan, Balkan Beat Box is joined on stage with a variety of singers, horn players, guitarists and percussionist to create something that is very unique and all kinds of awesome.

Balkan Beat Box plays Southpaw tomorrow night (Saturday Sept. 15)

Stream tracks from their self-titled debut album on JDUB records at the Balkan Beat Box website or buy at iTunes.

Logjam has a new video for "The South Will Rise Again":

Thanks to La La, WOXY returns to the net today and is once again a free service. More details at the Digital Music Weblog: La La aquires WOXY, streaming radio gets kick in the pants. WOXY mk.III is set to become not just a streaming radio station, but to become more of a recommendation community. As WOXY already hosted a popular set of music discussion message boards, this could become very interesting.

At the very least, it is one more outlet that is devoted to introducing listeners to new music. Upcoming Lounge Acts will include Headlights (today!), The Purrs, Asobi Seksu and The Wrens.

More people are buying their music online, rather than on CD. According to the IFPI, "18 per cent of recorded music sales [are] now being made through digital channels. Digital music sales in the US increased by 84 per cent to US$ 513 million in the first six months of 2006."

Earl Greyhound may have the best combination of stage presence and performance of any band in NYC. Seriously, they're that good. The power trio, with Matt Whyte (guitar/vocals), Kamara Thomas (bass/vocals) and Ricc Sheridan (drums) powers through their songs with vigor and volume in a throwback to bands like Zeppelin and T.Rex.

As much as I dug Earl Greyhound the first couple of times I saw them play this year (with the Walk Ons opening at Mercury in January and at a Deli show at Asterix in May), not many of their songs stood out. In both of those sets, the performances were notable, but I didn't walk out humming any songs. Of course, the Asterix show was a veritable sonic assault from every angle.

But Saturday's CD release show at The Annex was a revelation. While some of the EG catalog is still searching for a hook, the band played a couple of stand out songs ("All Better Now," and "S.O.S.") After listening to Soft Targets a few times, there are enough hooks and style variations. In particular, "It's Over" and "Yeah I Love You" are lighter and poppier, but don't forget how to rock.

But, Earl Greyhound are just such great performers that they could play a set of only "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and it would still rock.

Earl Greyhound S.O.S. [Some Records]
Earl Greyhound [Myspace]

Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker, Off to the Races: "Whether or not Earl Greyhound are the Next Big Thing is irrelevant—watching them will convince you that they are.

Kevin O'Donnell, The Village Voice: Hard Targets: The rockneck-inducing splendor of Earl Greyhound.

Tomorrow night, The Bamboo Kids are having a CD release show at Magnetic Field. The new album, "Feel Like Hell," will be on Empty Records.

The Bamboo Kids are on the most consistently fun local acts. They're just playing straightforward top quality garage rock with some edge.

Magnetic Field is one of my favorite venues. They don't have live music every night, but when they do, it's usually someone worthwhile seeing. And, it doesn't hurt that it's in the neighborhood.

So, CMJ is next week. We're not playing this year, and without some other source of a badge ("hi, I blog at a site that has a readership of, um, me"), I won't hit all that many shows. But going through the schedule, here are a few that look promising, in no particular order:

Tuesday
(There are only a few names I recognize on the Tuesday schedule and even fewer that I've heard. This may be the night to just pick a venue at random):

• Medeski Martin and Wood (Hammerstein, 9:00)
• Golem (Mo Pitkins, 10:00)
• The Eames Era (Knitting Factory Tap Bar, 9:30)

Wednesday

• The Mugs (Magnetic Field, 9:00)
• Tigers and Monkeys (Fontanas, midnight)
• Man In Gray, The Unsacred Hearts, The Octagon, Kickstart, Dracula Zombie USA (Knitting Factory Old Office)
  A rare entire lineup that is NYC-centric (since it is the showcase for local label Serious Business)
• Laura Cantrell, Steve Earle and Allison Moorer (Southpaw)
  For the alt-country set
• Other Passengers, The Gritty Midi Gang (Union Pool)
  Other Passengers are loud. Very loud. In a good way.
• Dr. Dog, Cold War Kids, Tapes n' Tapes (The Bowery Ballroom)
  It's the blog-buzz show of the night. None of these bands are super-amazing, but they are what's hot with the kids these days. It's sold out, so does that mean that CMJ resurrected the bands the blogs killed?

Thursday

• John Medeski meets Kid Koala (Merkin Hall)
  This could be all kinds of awesome, or all kinds of awful-- no middle ground
• The Wrens, The Walkmen (NYU)
• Charles Bissell (The Slipper Room)
  This is scheduled for the same time as The Wrens show at NYU? How is that possible?
• Goes Cube (The Delancey, 11:00)
  None of their songs have titles. All are simply "Goes Cube Song #X." Playing songs by the number would confuse the crap out of me. Fortunately, they've saved the creativity for the music.
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (Europa)
  I have no idea if they are any good, but they have the best band name ever
• Bling Kong (Fontanas, 11:30)
• Nicole Atkins and the Sea (Mercury Lounge, 8:00)
• Jonny Lives! (Crash Mansion, 10:00)
• Proton Proton (Trash, 8:00)

Friday

• The Decemberists (Hammerstein Ballroom)
• Longwave, Albert Hammond, Jr., Tokyo Police Club (Mercury Lounge)
• Thunderbirds Are Now! (Pianos, midnight)


• The Teeth (The Delancey, 11:30)
• George Clinton & the 420 Funk Mob (Crash Mansion, 11:30)
  Yes, THE George Clinton
• Goat Explosion (Fontanas, 9:00)
  Formerly Elkland. No idea if they're any good, but it's the best band name that doesn't reference Boris Yeltsin

Saturday

• The Mooney Suzuki, The Dansettes (Rebel)
• Earl Greyhound (The Delancey, midnight)
• Logjam (Pussycat Lounge, 10:00)
• The Head Set (Trash, 8:00)

This doesn't include any concurrent non-CMJ shows. Is there anything I've missed?

The NY Times looks at the state of the rock music club ecosystem in the city: Where the Beat Goes On: "For every Bottom Line or Fez or Continental that has shut down or quit live music in the last couple of years, a Rockwood Music Hall, Union Hall or Studio B has opened up — and maybe a Fontana’s or Club Midway as well. And in the next few months, at least five major spaces are set to open, giving the city’s rock infrastructure its most substantial expansion in years."

The most interesting part of the article is the development of the "vertically integrated" booking chain and the competition between Live Nation (ClearChannel) and The Bowery Presents. The Bowery group did secure the lease on Northsix and will renovate it, add upstairs balconies, and convert it into the "Music Hall of Williamsburg."

Further east, the Times reveals that Live Nation will have a hand in booking the new ~300 person capacity Luna Lounge. Live Nation is also adding Rebel (formerly Downtime on W.30th St, cap. 325) and the Gramercy Theater on 23rd St. (cap. 600) to its venue roster.

Are there enough acts able fill these medium/large rooms?

Previously: Williamsburg Mega-Venue Coming?

Goes Cube and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin at Union Hall

Goes Cube Photo #1

Goes Cube Photo #2

Goes Cube is loud, intense and dark. They have hooks amidst the sonic assault, so the takeaway is more than just distortion and double-bass pedal polyrhythms. Even though the songs are all titled "Goes Cube Song #X," each has its own character.

Goes Cube is playing at Guero? on Thursday afternoon and at The Delancey Thursday night (11 pm).

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

Another person was taking a photo of a band with blog buzz? That's a real shock. But at the exact same instant? Well, that is different. And yes, this probably would have been a good venue to experiment with flash photography for a change. Even at ISO 800, the F30 can't get good photos with this little light sans flash.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is the best band name EVAR! No, seriously, it's brilliant. It got me to get to this show early despite never having heard anything from this band. The closest point of reference is probably The Shins, with perhaps a bit more edge.

They're in town for the week, playing tonight at Pianos, tomorrow afternoon at the CMJ daystage at Avery Fisher Hall, tomorrow night at Europa (in Greenpoint) and Saturday afternoon out at Asbury Lanes.

Jon Pareles rounds up CMJ in the Times: The CMJ Big Break? Not Such a Big Deal: "Bands aren’t waiting for their big break anymore. Or if they are, they’re keeping mighty busy in the meantime. That was the gist of this year’s CMJ Music Marathon, the showcase for independent music that expanded to five days this year, presenting music day and night from last Tuesday through Saturday."

This is more of a broader overview of the trends and implications of the entire festival than the detailed micro-level reviews in the blogs.

Also in the Times today, The Bowery Presents is showing that they have a good PR person, with another article about their purchase of Northsix and the club's impending transformation into the Williamsburg Music Hall: Polishing the Grunge: "Williamsburg is not losing a rock club, then, but gaining one that may be more suited to its current state of gentrification, to the 40-story condos being planned along the East River nearby. Where Northsix has distressed, paint-caked wood floors and rudimentary high-school-style risers, the Music Hall will have balconies and a big-city gloss."

I've never heard anything from Ra Ra Riot, but Heart on a Stick posted the definitive bad review of the band: I Wouldn’t Like Death If Death Were Good, Not Even if Death Were Good: "Ra Ra Riot makes the sort of music that would cause entire villages in Africa to machete themselves to death."

Devin Davis released one of my favorite albums of 2005 with "Lonely People of the World, Unite!"
I can't say how much I enjoy this album. Some of the high points include the badass squonky sax solo on "Iron Woman," the sheer joy of glam-stomper "Moon Over Shark City," the swagger of riff heavy "Transcendental Sports Anthem," and the twisted tale of driving down the road with Willie Nelson in "Cannons at the Courthouse." It's hard to resist the charms of "Giant Spiders," when the song shifts from the catchy chorus to screaming with reckless abandon "we'll be fine if we can survive the giant spiders!" (You can hear the exclamation point in the singing.) With quirky lyrics, solid songwriting chops, and everything but the kitchen sink instrumentation, this album is just a lot of fun.

Iron Woman
Turtle and the Flightless Bird

No, it's not a new album, but it's still a heck of a lot of fun. Davis is in the midst of recording his follow-up for a 2007 release.

Buy Lonely People of the World, Unite!

Sixeyes: Devin Davis Interview

While they're not quite in their heyday, it's still pretty damn cool to see John Fogerty play "Fortunate Son" with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:

Time Out NY rates this town's music critics. They give the top nod to The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones, followed closely by the Times' Kelefa Sanneh.

Agents of Good Roots, my favorite underappreciated band of the late 90's, is playing a couple of their occassional reunion shows this week in DC and Richmond:

Thursday, 12/21/06
Iota Club
2832 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201

Friday, 12/22/06
Alley Katz
10 Walnut Alley
Richmond, VA 23223

I've been alerted that if I don't post one of these before the end of the year, the music blogger community will shun me. Even more.

Eh, what the heck. Here are 7:

• Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
  They're not as good as the hype would make them out to be, but this album is still excellent. And it's their debut album?


• The Bamboo Kids - Feel Like Hell
  Is this a cheat? Most of these songs were released on "This Ain't No Revolution" in Europe last year. Whatever. It's still a lot of fun.


• The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
  Prog-rock sea shanties. Put that way, it sounds really unappealing, but it's actually all kinds of awesome


• Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
  "Crazy" is this year's "Hey Ya!" How can you not like it?


• Earl Greyhound - Soft Targets
  Have I mentioned how Earl Greyhound is all kinds of awesome?


• The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
  They don't sound alike, but thematically, this is the cool uncle to the Arctic Monkeys album


• The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
  Straight-up straight-forward fun

And the "It was released last year, but I didn't get it and listen obsessively until this year" album of the year is Devin Davis - Lonely People of the World, Unite!

Elsewhere; 2006 Music Bloggregate

Van Halen, the Ronettes, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, R.E.M. and Patti Smith will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. The Times reports that both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar will be inducted with the Halen, but that there will be no love for interim sub Gary Cherone: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Backs New Members.

Mancino is yet another band from Brooklyn. The three piece is set to release their new full-length, Manners Matter next week, preceded by a CD release party at the Mercury Lounge on Saturday, Jan. 27.

Here's the fun and clever video for the catchy (if hard to spell) song "Hetchie Hutchie Footchie."

A high-energy performance from The Walk Ons at Southpaw:

I've been enjoying the latest album from The Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder. The songs are densely-layered poppy and catchy. And while I'm not a fan of the songlets-- short transition pieces between the songs, the core songs are well-done-- Energy and Same Old Drag jump out as two of the stronger tracks.

This video for Same Old Drag is fun, too:

While at Magnetic Field last night to see Goes Cube count up some of their new songs (the debuted Goes Cube songs numbered 47, 48 and 49), I realized that I've seen some excellent bands play the Field recently that I've been meaning to write about.

Low Red Land trekked out from San Francisco to play some shows in their old east coast stomping grounds. They've become very excellent, conjuring the sounds of country-tinged Americana twisted through distortion. I'm not quite sure how to classify their music-- maybe the alcoholic bastard offspring of Neil Young, Sonic Youth and Wilco?

Modern Skirts have strong pop sensibilities and bring fun. With a lot of piano, their music is lighter than most of the indie rock. There's a good bit of Ben Folds and REM informing the Skirts' sound. Strikes me a lot like Voxtrot-- who I saw at the Field thinking that they are going to be moving up in the music world (and have since). But I think the Modern Skirts have a higher potential upside-- they're more of a pure pop band.

And Goes Cube continues to sound unique. And loud. Did I mention loud? Beckon the Dagger God was released this past week on Cordless Records (Warner):

Ear Farm Matt has a higher resolution download of the New Music Video for Goes Cube Song 34

The Boss has a new album, "Magic," coming out on October 2.

The lead single, Radio Nowhere is available as a free download on iTunes. It's no Born to Run, but a solid song.

More exciting is the news that Bruce and the E Street Band will be going on tour this fall, with four dates in the area:

• October 9-10 East Rutherford, N.J., Continental Airlines Arena


• October 17-18 New York, N.Y., Madison Square Garden

Both the MSG and CAA shows go on sale September 10

Farther afield, Albany, Hartford and Philadelphia are also stops on the tour, for when NYC and East Rutherford sell out instantly.

Backstreets interviewed Bruce

Rolling Stone talks with producer Brendan O'Brien

Chico Fellini plays flamboyant dance rock. They're from Kentucky. We joined them for a show here in NYC at the Mercury and one in their hometown of Lexington. Since I'm thrilled to have my camera back from Fuji repair, here are some photos in lieu of words.

The Two Man Gentlemen Band bring their old-timey song style to video, with this snappy song about the only person to serve as both President of the US and Chief Justice of the US. And the only President whose girth enabled him to get stuck in the White House bathtub.

The culinary highlight of day 3 was lunch down at Polvos south of downtown. If nothing else, SXSW is a great excuse to eat a diet consisting exclusively of BBQ and Tex-Mex.

As far as music, the most notable day party was the Mercury Records one where I went to meet up with Mr. F and caught a couple of bands. The first, whose name I didn't catch, is worth noting for no other reason than they do have a sax player in the band. Represent! And while I never caught up to Vampire Weekend (with a stake), the buzziest act I saw at the festival was probably Duffy. Pitched as the next Amy Winehouse, Duffy has the vocal chops to fill that role, but her backing band didn't have anywhere near the soul of the Dap Kings.

Went over to catch up with Brooklynites Gold Streets who were sounding good, despite some equipment troubles and a venue that didn't seem to host rock bands outside of SXSW week.

Ran from there over to the WFMU show to see The Homosexuals (the touring lineup includes members of NYC's Apache Beat and the Unsacred Hearts.) This was a great energetic set that felt like it was in fact time-shifted from decades ago.

After having to consult iPhone's maps a bit too much, ended the night over at the After the Jump house party to see These United States again -- in a yard in a residential Austin neighrborhood. Outside on a Friday night, this was amplified music going on with other houses nearby and it wasn't shut down by the police just after starting. Wow. Here, saw Salt & Samovar, Oliver Future, These United States and The Lisps.

And that was it for BRR at SXSW 2008. Because of waiting too long to book flights, the only reasonably priced flights I found required returning to NYC on Saturday morning. On a connecting flight, through Chicago.

The NY Times reports on a rare occurrence at the Met-- an encore of an aria, Ban on Solo Encores at the Met? Ban, What Ban?: "After the tenor Juan Diego Flórez popped out his nine shining high C’s in “La Fille du Régiment” at the Metropolitan Opera on Monday night, the crowd rose and cheered. Mr. Flórez obliged with something not heard on the Met stage since 1994: a solo encore. He sang the aria “Ah! Mes Amis” again, nailing the difficult note — a kind of tenor’s macho proving ground — nine more times. It was one of those thrilling moments that opera impresarios live for."

The Journal goes behind the stage to explore the rarely-seen world of opera prompters-- which aren't screens scrolling libretti, but people prompting the singers, It's Not Over (Yet) for Those Who Cue Divas: "The prompter's job combines the skills of a conductor, musicologist and linguist, with an unusual ability to listen to the orchestra, keep time with the hands and deliver the singers' lines a moment before the downbeat."

Over at Ear Farm, Goes Cube gives up on From the Inside Looking Out: Goes Cube (premiere of “Clenching Jaws”) : EAR FARM :: music information helps grow ears: "Not long ago, we decided that 'Goes Cube Song 58' should be called 'Sorry, Were You Sleeping?', 'Goes Cube Song 59' should be called 'Read Right,' 'Goes Cube Song 61' should be called 'Loose Ends,' 'Goes Cube Song 62' should be called 'Gravestones Like Chess Pieces' and 'Goes Cube Song 63' should be called 'Clenching Jaws.' 'Goes Cube Song 60' will change, too, but it’s an instrumental and not recorded, so we’re taking our time picking out a real interesting title for that one."

I will be horribly disappointed if they never get around to writing and recording "Goes Cube Song #√-1" (square root of -1, in other words, the imaginary number i)