as tall as lions / mutemath @ house of blues. boston, ma. 11/12/09

i’m so happy to have finally seen mutemath live. they’re a band that has flown way too far under the radar for how talented and awesome they are. their live show only makes me think so even more. the amount of energy that they give to every song was incredible. this was their 2nd to last show on a 40 date tour, but you couldn’t tell. they dug their teeth into each riff, leaving everything they had on the stage for the crowd. speaking of the crowd, was definitely one of the more varied i’ve seen. spanning the caucasian demographic more than any analogy can do justice, moms and dads, teenagers, dudes, bros, chicks, you name it were there. that right there is almost enough evidence to predict them as the ‘next big thing’ even though they already should be. combine that with scorching vocals (the dude sounds like sting in the early police days), incredible drum beats (holy crap – he has to literally tape his headphones to his head so they don’t fall off cause he flails around so much), extremely well organized arrangements (they really do sound like the police for a new time) and a crew that believes in them, and you’ve got yerself a band on the rise. the sound tech i hung with a bit after said he describes the band to friends as if muse ate coldplay and were backed by the police. couldn’t agree more.

after the show, i spoke with mutemath’s drummer, darren, for a bit and he was extremely humble and well mannered. it’s amazing the persona he takes while on stage thrashing through the set and his kit, beating anything around him with his sticks to add to the fury. closing out the show, the band all grab hold of at least a piece of his kit & bash away allowing darren to stand on the keyboards, with bass drum in hand, solo for a bit and then crowd surf both on the bass drum and then on the crowd. it was pretty incredible to watch. again. soooo much energy.

the opening band, as tall as lions, i had heard good things about too and checked out a couple of songs before seeing them. who doesn’t like being pleasantly surprised? and boy was i. apparently, the singer’s got vocal nodes which was definitely noticeable in a few places, but these long island boys (represent) will be a force in their own right soon. already packing venues, you can see they’ve got big places to go. again, their arrangements are well done and they do small things really well to enforce their songs. simple things like hesitating a bit on a beat or jumping to a chord in a typically cliche progression early, tossing an odd time signature in, all of these play together quite nicely in bringing a swell of sound to a climatic punch. they do it a lot and they do it well.

mutemath – ‘typical’ music vid
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mutemath – ‘spotlight’ vid
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as tall as lions – ‘stab city’ live
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the egg & lotus @ paradise. boston, ma. 11/6/09

it was a long week of shows, going out, drinking and fun. i love weeks like this when it feels like your throat is tearing itself out, your kidneys feel like they’re punching themselves and you slap yourself to keep from falling asleep and hitting your head on the keyboard at work, only to do it all over again that night. best weeks to have…

i first heard about the egg from a friend who saw them at camp bisco a couple of summers ago. i got in touch with their drummer maff, and caught up with them for the first time at sxsw last year. they freakin blew me away. i heard the album, it was awesome, but they put on a serious dance party live. this time around, they’ve been playing the opening slot for lotus – a band i’ve seen many a time over the past few years, from tiny nyc bars, to boat cruises and anything in between. both bands draw a pretty good crowd and boston showed them a good time for sure.

the egg were a bit rushed on stage after a drawn out soundcheck, but got the night going quickly. for the people that were there early, they were delighted to hear good music from an opening act. especially on the jam circuit. it’s hit or miss a lot of times, but these guys definitely hit and damn well too. mixing electro, house, jam, trance and rock, they pull from samples, synths, instruments, vocals and more to convey the feeling of music. the room started to fill in just in time for the crescendo of the set bringing the crowd, now filling the paradise, to an all on fury of groove. it may have been the drugs, but everyone in there had a smile on their faces. they closed out with a straight up house tune that apparently is topping charts in the uk dance scene, rightfully so.

lotus hit the stage for the first of their 2 sets fairly quickly after the egg exited the stage. we were having a drink with maff and i didn’t even realize they were on. i recently realized that they had released 2 full albums of tracks after their hammerstrike album that came out last year. the songs on these discs are more organized and stray away from their jam days focusing more on the beat and electronic feel and direction the band seems to be heading. it’s working. i really dig the new stuff on oil on glass/feather on wood and pressure. check them out.

lotus – ‘simian (big gigantic remix)’
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10/28/08 egg playing ‘walking away’ live at the middle east in boston.
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televandals & dragonette @ great scott. allston, ma. 11/5/09

i heard about this show as it was one of the last for local band’s televandals shows of a crazy few weeks seeing them open for matt & kim, releasing a new video, covering the clash and more. unfortunately, i missed all of them. i was determined to see them once & for all, so decided i’d be heading to great scott on a wednesday night. from the posters, i saw they were playing with dragonette. it sounded kinda of familiar, but never heard them. after first listen, i fell so hard in love. this music perfectly fuses so many types of music i enjoy. pop, electro-synth, trancefusion, straight up rock, the list keeps going. i was so eager for this show to start that i started second guessing myself and questioning whether they’d be as good live as my ears wanted them to be. once we saw the stage though, i knew they were going to throw down, and hard. in such a small bar, the usual stage lights & gels are more lighting than needed, but these guys came stock with floor to ceiling lcd light bars straight off radiohead’s hail to the thief tour. no joke.

so televandals took the stage and i was impressed with the energy the keep burning all set taking cues from a lot of the synth rock out there. i think of muse almost right away as a comparison, but hesitate when i think why. the set had a few hiccups, but they stayed strong, powered through, gained a few fans along the way and got the crowd ready to hear some straight up dancey shit from canadia.

as soon as dragonette took the stage, the energy shifted. everyone knew it was gonna be an experience. the synths cranked up, the lights blared and the pure and spot-on voice of front woman, Martina Sorbara, soared. the sex appeal isn’t just burning off her, but even more so through their songs. with songs like ‘competition’ and ‘fixin to thrill’ every booty in that place was shaking harder than it had in a long time. the bass/keys player looked really familiar and after a while, i thought i recognized him from the new deal. after the show, talking to a friend later in the week, i was confirmed in my thoughts and it’s dan from tnd. i remembered that darren (tnd’s drummer) had told me a while back when they did their tour as the join that dan & his wife’s band had been getting pretty big over in europe…never thought it would be like this.

annnnyway, i digress. this show was straight up fucking awesome. if you’ve been keeping up with this blog so far, you know a few things already. 1, i see a lot of shows and try to see even more. 2, i like music. a lot. and rarely do i speak negatively about it (unless it’s about the smiths, morissey, or nickelback). 3, i like live music even more so (maybe, maaaybe even the smiths). therefore, i mean this with all seriousness, that out of all the shows i’ve seen so far this year, i think i’d have to put this in my top 3. just the energy and awesomeness that was produced in front of a crowd of maybe 40 people was so raw and pure and just incredible. coupled with the lights, the dancing, man. it was just good. plain and simple. if you ever have the chance to see them, see them now before they’re playing huge arenas. cause it’s going to happen. i’ll still be there dancing my ass off.

dragonette – ‘fixin to thrill’
http://www.discoworkout.com/uploads/Dragonette_FixintoThrill.mp3″

dragonette – ‘competition’

dragonette – ‘gone to far’
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televandals – ‘good for nothing’
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thao with the get down stay down @ mid east downstairs. cambridge, ma. 11/3/09

with a twist of inauspicious lyrics dredging through relationships both past and present, the vocal stylings and enthralling guitar lines, thao and her band, the get down stay down, thrilled the crowd at the mideast. taking what could definitely be labeled as ‘indie/acoustic/folk rock’ (and on first glance, many would probably label it as such a thing), thao throws down hard breathing bad-ass life into each and every note that’s played. through her songs and her melodies, the crowd is drawn in, falling slowly in love with her and everything she appears to stand for.

spanning 3 albums, the set ran from songs you couldn’t help but jump up and down to, closing your eyes tight and throwing your fist in the air to others you just wanted to grab your lady and hold her tight and sing together. the music on the albums are mere examples of the talent thao and her band have, but live, they take on another life form. they will be getting bigger. with the success of her tune ‘bag of hamers’ (you just may have heard it without knowing (listen below)) and the recent release of her latest album know better learn faster (amaaaaazing title track below), they’re set to take on your college radio station and then some. enjoy a few songs below:

‘bag of hammers‘

http://www.toolshed-media.com/ts/thao-nguyen-bag-of-hammers.mp3″

‘know better learn faster‘

http://loudfeed.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/19744/04_Know_Better_Learn_Faster.mp3″

‘when we swam‘

http://loudfeed.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/20007/03_When_We_Swam.mp3″

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girl talk @ house of blues, boston, ma. 11/02/09

party.

that’s it. party.
he may not be a dj. he may just “press play” and dance all a fool, but holy crap. non-stop party. the crowd mixture alone tells you he’s doing something right. from the depths of bu & emerson’s hipster bowels to the after work music snobs letting go and everything in between, you and whatever you are were well represented. did it get a little old – yea. was it really fucking loud – yea. was it lame – definitely not.

it would have been awesome to see him at paradise to get the real feel of the party atmosphere girl talk definitely puts off and thrives on. this felt almost forced to a point, but still pulled off the feel of being in a basement with people filling every last inch of space all jumping, dancing, convulsing in unison.

party on wayne.

get more photos from the show at this dude’s flickr album.

the temper trap with freelance whales @ great scott. boston, ma. 10/29/09

i always get excited when a new uk act that i haven’t heard of yet, or that isn’t that big in the states yet, gets signed with zildjian. especially when they’re really, really good. such is the case with temper trap. toby dundas was recently brought on board and rightfully so as he adds a great beat to well written songs, flowing melodies and just good shit that temper trap have put out on their latest album conditions. epic songs fill this album from start to finish. the highlight is definitely their single “sweet disposition,” which was featured on a 500 days of summer preview and the soundtrack, countless commercials worldwide and more. it’s bad ass and even more so live. the band bring a touch and feel of an up and coming radiohead with their full on assault to every note that’s plucked and played. few bands are on the same page as radiohead, let alone the same book, but these guys just had a feel of it, playing live at least, especially when the band jams the fuck out and rages on “drum song” to close out their set. definitely worth listening to, you won’t be sorry.

the opener, freelance whales, were a huge surprise and grew on me instantly. they could be seen as gimicky at first glance, with banjo, mandolin, squeeze box, chick bass player, etc etc, but their songs were very well crafted and a feel of arcade fire-lite. i really dig ’em and after listening to their album weathervanes, i’m officially hooked. they’ll be coming back through boston opening for the similarly-sounding fanfarlo which is sure to be a good show. check it.

the mars volta @ house of blues, boston. 10/7/2009

this photo i took from above the stage can barely do thomas pridgen justice. that dude is pure animal. not only in the scientific sense, but exactly like the crazy little fucker from the muppets. when we were talking before the show back stage, he was saying something about being at namm and seeing all the crazy decorated, flashy kits everyone was displaying. and all he could think was “that’s not what i picture when i think about a drummer. when i close my eyes and think of a drummer, i think of that little animal, john bonham, flailing around, huge-ass cymbals…” and that’s exactly what he looks and sounds like.

the day before the gig, thomas, his tech timmy & marcel (omar’s brother & multi-instrumentalist for the band) came down to the factory for a visit. we sat there in absolute awe for an hour as thomas absolutely destroyed on the kit in the drummers lounge. i had the luck of sitting directly in front of, under and near the kit filming this bombardment of sound. not only does he play with such high energy, but his shit is loud. most drummers play a 13-15 inch hihat, 16 being very large. thomas uses 2 18 crashes on top of each other as his. everything else is pretty much a 24″ cymbal (the biggest we make) and he makes them things his bitches like whoa. i had buzzing in my ear for a while after that. oh yea, he also has the 36″ gong that you see above, which is pretty much center stage. hello free advertising, how are you?

the show was pretty killer as well. i saw mars volta back in like 2006 @ roseland and they put on a good show. went with good friends, met a few good future friends and had a good time. their new stuff, built around thomas’ playing is a lot more worked out and not as far out as some of the earlier stuff. still crazy as shit, don’t get me wrong, but it’s more listenable. i was soooo happy i had my ear plugs. they’re definitely one of the loudest bands i’ve ever seen live.

i’ll throw up some good video of his solo when i have it.

yeah yeah yeahs @ orpheum theatre. boston, ma. 9/28/09

after a long day of atonement and not eating, off we went to sin some more. this was one of the more anticipated shows i had gotten tickets for in a while. it kept feeling like it was so far away and when it finally got here, the excitement really set in. i’ve heard a bunch about their live shows and the unbelievable amount of energy from the one & only karen o. these guys had been on rotation on my ipod for years now and with the addition of their latest disc, it’s blitz!, it’s easy to see why an exclamation point was needed, cause that album f’n rocks. if you haven’t heard it yet, stop reading this, click the link, crank up the speakers & continue reading.

anyway, as k.o. walked on stage in what looked like a native american wall hanging and an egg beater/alien antenna hat or some shit, i knew we were in for a good time. they blasted through all of their recent hits with standouts on ‘zero’ and ‘heads will roll,’ but also threw down with a lot of their older goodies too like ‘black tongue’ and of course ‘maps.’ through all of her outfit changes, karen o. kept up with such a ridiculous amount of energy that i felt like i was watching that scene from bill & teds when joan of arc takes over that exercise class in the mall (you know what i’m talking about)…basically it was awesome. the addition of confetti cannons, chock full with confetti “y’s” got the crowd going even more and the confetti snow was a good touch too. feel bad for the orpheum’s clean up crew, but whatever. the giant eyeball was pretty sweet too, but after seeing a video from their hometown show a few days prior @ radio city, it didn’t seem as cool…watch the video below.

but yeah (yeah yeah), this was one of the top shows of the year so far for all of us that were there. if you ever get the chance, seeeee them. like now. go. and listen to that album again & again too while you’re at it.

(thanks emilia for the photo)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Heads Will Roll Live @ Radio City Music Hall NYC 9.23.09

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yo la tengo @ wilbur theatre. boston, ma. 9/16/09

after listening to their new album popular songs on repeat for a bit, i was real excited to see these guys live. that, coupled with the fact that i hadn’t yet been to the wilbur, had the makings for a great show. if you haven’t heard the album yet, definitely listen to it. if you haven’t seen them yet, hold off.

we pretty much were sitting in the last row, but that didn’t matter in the small theater. the sound of the band was pretty crisp, but the vocals were lost amid the layers of keys, bass and looping guitars. the arrangements of their tunes are great and dance all over the genre floor from folky love songs to straight up blow-your-ear-drum garage rock. for me though, the spacey and turbulent guitar solos from ira kaplan got too far out there for their own good. the disjointed, drawn out, broken noted solo played once were pretty cool and fit well when placed right. the second time, i just found myself thinking ‘really? again?’ after the third and fourth time, i caught myself before fully thinking that maybe he just really couldn’t solo.

like i said, their songs, at least most of them, are great, but, this show for whatever reason was not a good example of that at all. we ended up leaving rather early on in the set, not so early that we looked like assholes, but early enough to escape before hearing another solo.

the night man cometh. house of blues. boston, ma. 9/15

ooooh man. this was amazing. aside from the awfully long line to get in (which we didn’t even have to stand on), aside from the awful opening “band” and aside from the super packed house, the show totally came through for every fan in the audience. we were treated to a screening of a clip from the upcoming xmas special and then were given the special treat of sneak peaking an entire episode from the new season. and holy was it hysterical.

for the actual production, it went off pretty flawlessly and was basically an exact reproduction of the on-air episode recapping all the craziness that is that show. the entire cast was there including the waitress & artemis. the only complaint i have is that the house of blues probably wasn’t the best venue for it. would probably have been better at the orpheum or something along those lines. was one of the cooler things i’d been to though and we got to see danny freakin devito…