Friday. 7.13. Pier 17. South Street Seaport:Beat the Devil & Menomena Friday. 7.13. Mercury Lounge:The Jealous Girlfriends & The Besnard Lakes Saturday. 7.14:Citysol Festival: Land of Talk I need a good pair of earplugs. Between the iPod and alot of live, loud music, I think I'm going deaf. And with all the awesome music I heard this weekend, that would seriously suck. Friday evening started at the free weekly River to River Festival show at the South Street Seaport with Beat the Devil and Menomena. Beat the Devil was surprisingly very good. However, I don't think Pier 17 at sunset is the right venue for them. Even with all the tourists and Abercrombie & Fitch shoppers and kids with balloon animals walking around, they still delivered a loud, dark and powerful set. Beat the Devil's live act is simple: guitar, drum kit, harmonium and frontwoman Shilpa Ray's magnificent voice (think Siouxsie Sioux doing a Kate Bush impersonation). See them live, it's certainly what they're all about.
Beat the Devil: "Plea Bargain" [mp3 here] [buy it here] Beat the Devil: "Shine in Exile" [mp3 here]
After about 5 songs into Menemena's set, lead singer (although all three members share singing duties) Justin Harris proclaimed that, "This is the biggest crowd we've ever played for." Watching them perform, you would've never known it. The three piece (+ laptop) from Portland put on a fun, pop-rock set that had the crowd moving, grooving and singing along. Most of the songs they played were from their latest and finest release, "Friend and Foe" [buy it here]. Catchy tunes and a solid live show mean these guys are going to be around a while.
Menomena: "Muscle 'N Flo" [mp3 here] [buy it here] Menomena: "Wet and Rusting" [mp3 here]
Being that it was a relatively cool July evening, having had a couple of beers and with a fully charged iPod, I decided to troop it up to Mercury Lounge.
As I got to the Merc, The Jealous Girlfriends were setting up. There's been a lot of buzz in the city about this Brooklyn band and from the few tight tracks that I heard online I was curious to see them live. Unfortunately, I wasn't blown away. The tracks aren't bad, most are just very formulaic guitar rock songs that remind me of a band my friend had in high school. If I was still 17 and listening to Pearl Jam, I would be impressed. One standout song, however, is "Hieroglyphics".
The Jealous Girlfriends: "Hieroglyphics" [mp3 here] [buy it here]
By the time The Besnard Lakes from Montreal took the stage, I was tired, hungry and frankly a little drunk. By the second song, the rocking "Devastation", I forgot all about it . I've been listening to their masterpiece, "The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse" [buy it here] a lot lately. The album is a multi-layered, psychedelic rock opus that would make Brian Wilson start doing acid again. The live set from this brilliant six-piece (three! guitars, bass, keyboards and drums) did not disappoint. It's difficult to reproduce such a lavishly produced album such as "...are the Dark Horse" live, but they did a great job.
The Besnard Lakes: "Disaster" [mp3 here] [buy it here] The Besnard Lakes: "And You Lied to Me" [mp3 here]
UPDATE: (High Quality) Video of Besnard Lakes @ Mercury Lounge 7.13.07 [Courtesy of NYCMUSICFAN]
Saturday it was off to the Citysol Festivalon the East River described as "a clean-energy-powered festival that aims to inspire interest and support for local sustainability initiatives through, music, interactive art installations, games and workshops, and numerous other elements meant to both entertain and educate." I went to check out the solar powered stage and to see Land of Talk. This Montreal three-piece craft some catchy tunes. Think Sonic Youth meets PJ Harvey. Their big EP/mini CD, "Applause, Cheer, Boo, Hiss" [buy it here], is a post-post punk gem with some really great tracks which they recreated perfectly live with a loud and rowdy set on the East River.
I'm looking forward to seeing them again on Monday [7.16.07] when they open for The Decemberists and Grizzly Bear at the sold out Summerstage show in Central Park.
Land of Talk: "All My Friends" [mp3 here] [buy it here] Land of Talk: "Sea Foam" [mp3 here]
thanks for the credit. your blog looks good too, although we obviously disagree about the besnard lakes. feel free to borrow as much as you'd like...mr. mammoth would love more readers! i hope the show tomorrow is good...ive seen the decemberists too many times to make the ticket price worthwhile. i will, however, be listening outside.
Man! I missed Citysol last night since I already had another commitment. Would've loved to see Besnard Lakes and Land of Talk again...I've haven't seen Les Savy Fav yet either.
MyBigMouthStrikesAgain™ NYC
"Another music snob with another music blog"®
Disclaimer: The mp3s posted here are available for a limited time and are for sampling purposes only in order to expose others to [mostly new] music that I think is worthwhile.If you are the artist or their representation and would like the mp3(s) removed, contact me and it will be done.
Support the artists:
Buy the album. See them live.
Being that it was a relatively cool July evening, having had a couple of beers and with a fully charged iPod, I decided to troop it up to Mercury Lounge.
Posts
2 comments:
hey chris -
thanks for the credit. your blog looks good too, although we obviously disagree about the besnard lakes. feel free to borrow as much as you'd like...mr. mammoth would love more readers! i hope the show tomorrow is good...ive seen the decemberists too many times to make the ticket price worthwhile. i will, however, be listening outside.
enjoy,
will (codename: bentrup)
Man! I missed Citysol last night since I already had another commitment. Would've loved to see Besnard Lakes and Land of Talk again...I've haven't seen Les Savy Fav yet either.
Post a Comment