A lot of great bands play with their hearts laid out on the stage, and while that much is blatantly obvious in These United States , what's especially true for singer Jesse Elliott, and what I generally find to be rare and unique, is that he seems to stomp all over his own laid-out heart and crush it until its sufficiently crushed-or so it feels like when you see them live; because there's never a doubt that the entire band is attuned to translating of all that self-combustive energy into an unforgivingly awesome performance, even when some of the [...]
Here's a schedule of Secret Garden releases coming in the near future. If you're unfamiliar with this ever-changing, magical garden, it is a video series in which I film bands performing a few songs outside the context of a regular show. Along with the schedule you'll also find some "candid band photos" that, as a tradition of my own, I take after each shoot-though sometimes I forget. If you're a blogger who'd like to write a preview for any of these episodes before they release, just email me at hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com [...]
I'd been wanting to film Team Genius ever since I heard their Hooray EP last year, and thanks to the band's willingness to brave the cold, and drummer Scott Dyer's intention to take his drum kit outdoors, the Winter season of Secret Garden's going just swell. These guys seem to have a knack for writing songs that you sing along, clap and stomp to, so it's only appropriate that they've managed to gather themselves into a unit of eight, even though of one them, Emma Firth, was missing when I went to see them [...]
I'd traded my Animal Collective tickets for tickets to see Beirut at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and as far as live performances with tribal beats and yelps go, I really think I got the better deal out of it. I'm sure people compared Merrill Garbus of Tune Yards (who opened) to Bjork, and I suppose you silly indie listeners will greet any white musician with face paint and African beats with some amount of caution, and you might be right to, but Merrill isn't fooling around, kids. From the moment she started layering tracks [...]
I loved Tune Yard's opening set-but more on that later. Here's Beirut : After covering Serge Gainsburg at last night's show, Zach Condon of Beirut said, "We played that song more for us than for you, sorry." That's probably why it sounded great, and it's probably why their strongest performances of the night were all covers, which included the final closer,"Brazil", and a signature tune from A Hawk and the Hacksaw they were really excited about (Zach said "We will play it forever"). It wasn't that these songs, written by someone else, were necessarily stronger [...]
You know what happens when you have tickets to Beirut and Final Fantasy on the same day (Feb 6), and These United States announces they're also going to play Union Hall on that very day, because everyone obviously loves Feb 6? You cancel all other plans and go see These United States. That's right. I already got rid of my Beirut tickets (that was easy!) and I've decided to give away the Final Fantasy ones here. They're for the 8PM show this Friday. All you have to do is write to me [...]
Download " The Bottom of the River " by Adam Arcuragi | The best time I had during my trip to DC was when These United States played a last minute, unannounced show at IOTA in Arlington, Virginia. It was the eve of President Obama's inauguration, and one of the bands scheduled to play was unable to get into the city because of blocked highways-so they filled in. It turned out to be one of the funnest shows I've ever been to: they got into a highly festive mood, playing with some of their friends before playing [...]
It's a whole new Winter season here at the Secret Garden of 2009! Luke Winslow-King was in town to play slew of shows and was staying in downtown Brooklyn, where there was a gigantic Jay Z billboard looking over us; we were in a warm kitchen way high up, looking out onto the rapidly developing world of Brooklyn. Luke was playing for us as the Luke Winslow-King Trio, with friends Rich Levinson playing his amazing washboard and Jason Jurzak playing the tuba. We attempted a song out on the rooftop even though it was about 15 degrees outside. [...]
I'm pretty sure that Drink Up Buttercup is pretty much everyone's idea of a great live show. The songs were good too, but it didn't matter much what they were playing as long as they were playing, though I was an instant fan of James Harvey, one of the three singers-this one providing operatic voices every now and then. I couldn't even sit still while capturing the footage from my camera. The Lisps played after them, and it was a blast seeing them in a regular show, outside of their musical; without the need to stay [...]
Download " Don't Haunt This Place " | I went to Pianos camera-less last night with the intention of being "off duty" but here I am, posting a few re-colored cellphone pictures and a summary. It was The Loom's last residency show at the venue (new material's sounding great and showing signs of a maturing band); they had invited Rural Alberta Advantage to play with them, which, as it turns out, would make it the first US show for the Canadian band. I've never seen Pianos that packed on a Tuesday night. Even [...]
Download " You Could Be " | Canada's instrumental three-piece Torngat is returning to New York on April 2nd for a Wordless show at Le Poisson Rouge with the International Contemporary Ensemble. I was really taken with them when they opened for Múm's Wordless show at St. Apostle Church in the fall of 2007. I was disappointed with the choices Múm made for their set list in response to the gorgeous venue-they thought it would suit to be pallid and ghastly-but Torngat did something that chilled me completely, and I [...]
If the songs Suckers have been playing live are any indication of their upcoming album, and I'm sure they are, then I already have a top favorite of the year. Watching them live at Webster Hall's The Studio, where the acoustics seems to be of the crappy variety that ruthlessly blends ordinary distinctions into a big fat muddle, I couldn't help noticing how much definition these songs seemed to have, and how easily they overcame that muddle-making machine of a venue. I only have the video of "Horn Song" posted after the jump, but every song they played [...]
Where I take a 10-minute break from everything else and bring you three fine bands. Pictured above is view from my window seat on the way to DC. " As April Is to May " by Luke Winslow-King Last Friday I met with Luke Winslow-King and his friends for another installment of Brutal Winter in the Secret Garden. It was a challenging morning but eventually a lot of fun. The performances will come soon. For now here's a song off Luke's latest, [...]
Download " Rough and Ready " by These United States | Though I didn't catch the entirety of the Songs for Presidents show, it seemed on the whole that none of these 44 songs were particularly amazing-nothing like Sufjan Steven's "Jacksonville" that alludes to the 7th American President, Andrew Jackson. But awakening this series of neutral-sounding songs-built on the repetitive task of celebrating an American President-to a more colorful life seemed easy to some of the artists who played that night: Jukebox the Ghost , Tim Fite , Middle Distance Runner and [...]
The last time I saw Sharon Van Etten was when we filmed our very first Secret Garden show in July . Since then she's been been touring and playing an endless number of local shows. When I saw her at Pianos this past Sunday, she had recently returned from Portland after the making of a music video for "For You", and she said that she was planning to perhaps take it a little slow. I bet not that much slower, though, since there is a new album possibly coming out in May. Unlike the "home recordings" I've [...]
Download " Honor Amongst Thieves " | I'm heading out to DC for the inauguration this weekend, for what's sure to be stressful, cheerful, overwhelming, magical times. The Obamas are walking at the parade even!, which scares the shit out of me, but everything will be fine and Michelle Obama will be divine. What's more, on Saturday night These United States will play their special opening set at the Songs for Presidents show at Six and I Historic Synagogue , and it will be so good because they'll squeeze their hearts out for [...]
Download " Documents " by The Lisps | Friday night was the premiere of The Lisps ' musical, Futurity . By 10pm the bar at the Zipper Factory was filled with people waiting for the doors to the theater to open. Observing the impressive turnout, I overheard a friend of the band say, "I feel happy for them", which I'm pretty sure was a prevalent thought in the room. It's not very often that an indie band from Brooklyn puts a musical on. Jeremy Barnes was there; he was in town [...]
We were supposed to meet somewhere in the woods of Brooklyn, but it was far colder than the day we strolled through the Botanic Garden with These United States . The wind was harsher and entirely inhospitable to the idea of an outdoor performance. Instead, we met at a warm apartment in Park Slope with colorful walls. Part 1 features two performances by Hurray for the Riff Raff inside the bathroom: Aubrey Freeman and his upright bass in the bathtub, Alynda Lee on the sink, Walt McClements on the toilet seat, and Shae Freeman on the ledge [...]
hooves on the turf
Avicii – Two Million
Beck – I Just Started Hating Some People Today
iamamiwhoami: kin - Teaser
