Live Review: mr. Gnome, Knitting Factory, June 6
Last modified on 2008-08-14 02:24:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
 Lawn and Garden Refugees: mr. Gnome at the Knitting Factory photo by the author |
Despite online coverage in Rolling Stone and Spin, being one of LA Weekly’s picks of the week and having their set pushed back to the 11:00 pm prime-time slot, Cleveland-based duo mr. Gnome was greeted by an anemic crowd of eight as they took the stage in the Knitting Factory’s small room last Friday.
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Regardless of the turnout, the near-empty space was overwhelmed within moments by an unlikely marriage of tenebrous sonority and frenetic noise, fueled by blog-darling rock power couple Nicole Brielle (guitar, vocals) and Sam Meister (drums, keys and random off-mic vocals).
If you took that aborted fetus that PJ Harvey was whining about in “Down By The Water,” resuscitated it, then had it raised by wolves who listened to nothing but Tool, Black Sabbath and Lisa Germano, you’d be on the right track to understanding something about what mr. Gnome is up to, made all the more impressive when you factor that these two perform with all the proficiency ascribed by those artists despite purportedly taking up their respective instruments just a few years ago.
Touring in support of their recent release, Deliver This Creature, mr. Gnome ripped through “Pirates,” “Rabbit” and “Deliver This Creature,” addressing the material with the kind of subconscious insouciance that comes only from artists who have been touring and playing the same songs every night for weeks. A warren of tight twists, turns and investigations of dialectics, their music revved from whimper to cheese grater in zero seconds flat, never in danger of losing its full effect at any point during the night.
mr. Gnome is further a visual punch line, with the hulking Meister nearly dwarfing his kit and Brielle’s petite frame in constant danger of being overcome by her guitars. To this end, she utilized a step stool to great effect, teetering on its highest peak to careen like an errant willow over her larger half’s drum set, granting the couple as much possible proximity while providing an additional unbalanced tableau that matched in physical terms the music they created.
By the time they arrived at “Night Of The Crickets” — the closest thing mr. Gnome has to a hit in this post-broadcast age — their crowd had doubled in size to 16 (including people they were traveling with and members of other bands), none of whom seemed less than impressed with the performance, and rightly so.
The only thing mr. Gnome seems to be lacking is a booking agent who can get them into the correct venue on Los Angeles’ east side, where an undoubtedly larger, more receptive audience awaits. Until then, they remain one of the most intriguing new acts in music and one to watch.
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Live Review: The Cure, Shrine Auditorium, June 1
Last modified on 2008-08-14 05:18:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
I had a girlfriend once, P_______, whose favorite band was The Cure. She listened to them incessantly in her car and on her little boombox, finding in them the perfect soundtrack for everything from getting groceries and doing pilates to cleaning the bathroom and yes – having a good cry by candlelight.
She also used to leave her apartment door unlocked and ask me to sneak in “sometime between three and four” in the morning and join her in bed, er, unexpectedly.
In a word, she was weird.
As a Cure fan, she made an indelible impression on me. Though I was an enthusiast long before and long after I met her, I always conjured a live event of theirs to be attended by a coven of similar-minded individuals, sort of a combination of Columbine High students with the suicide hotline on speed dial alongside generally disenfranchised people who found solace in Rimbaud, Wim Wenders films, wearing black and participating in live-action vampire role-playing scenarios. So even though I would frequently blast Mixed Up at top volume while cruising around in my scarred Mazda, making every effort to scare cops, jocks and small animals, I had no designs on actually joining other Cure fans for a communal experience.
Stupid me.
Taking advantage of a friend’s unusable tickets Sunday night, I finally was able to bear witness to what critics, associates and weird girlfriends have testified for years was one of the best live acts in rock. Far from the dour “I-hate-my-parents” population of 40-year-olds I was expecting, the audience was as diverse as a Saturday morning line at the DMV. While those clinging to their Goth stylings were not absent from the affair, they were by far the minority. More surprising was the young Hispanic population - perhaps taking a cue from their culture’s relatively recent Morrissey obsession – that gathered in large numbers for the proceedings.
Cramming all the best bits of video and lighting from their current arena tour into the tiny Shrine Auditorium, The Cure took the stage to mass adoration as a projection of an interstellar starscape slowly trawled behind them. Striking into the aptly coordinated “Out of this World,” Robert Smith & Co. started what would be a nearly three-hour journey through past and present creations lamentably synonymous with hairspray, mascara, lipstick and Anne Rice since the 1980s.
The Cure: Too Much For A Mere Camera Phone
Smith, looking older but less bloated than in recent years, led his similarly stripped-down band (longtime mate Porl Thompson (guitar), Simon Gallup (bass) and Jason Cooper (drums)) into invigorated versions of “Pictures of You” and “Fascination Street” to remind The People exactly why they were there before setting off into less familiar territory. However, far from a “this is where we sit down during the new songs” concert, new Cure concoctions such as “Sleep When I’m Dead” played easily side-by-side with more established offerings – a true testament to the continued creative relevance and longevity of this band.
Having more in common with Led Zeppelin than Bauhaus, the rhythm section of Gallup and Cooper simply killed it all night, providing grit and bombast to songs formerly fit for pet funerals. The facelifts didn’t stop there; sans the dated the keyboards that helped make these songs famous, Smith and Thompson set flame to old numbers by covering most of those parts on their guitars. A ridiculous version of “In Between Days” served as more of a guitar clinic in case anyone was mistaken those simple one-note guitar lines Smith fancies most of the time meant he couldn’t shred.
Smith invoked his trademark feline yowl on occasion and generally seemed to have a good time, including giving the boot to an overzealous fan at the edge of the stage at one point, then commenting “that was even better than I dreamt” afterward.
After 30 + songs and two encores (the second of which included “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Jumping Someone Else’s Train” and “Killing an Arab,” among others), The Cure sans Thompson returned to the stage one last time for “Faith,” into which Smith incorporated a happy birthday sentiment for Gallup before disappearing for good, leaving the audience tired but moony eyed with satisfaction.
As for that girlfriend of mine - well, things didn’t quite work out. Though we both liked The Cure, we didn’t have much else in common - I didn’t have daddy issues or think I was a reincarnated 18th century French aristocrat, for example. I came home one day to find she had vacated my apartment, emptying her drawer and leaving my roommate to sniff some discarded underwear of hers that didn’t make it into the plastic shopping bag of belongings she took when she left my life forever.
Come to think of it, he was a big Cure fan, too.
LIVE REVIEW: Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s, The Echo, May 24
Last modified on 2008-06-21 05:38:23 GMT. 5 comments. Top.
 King Richard: Richard Edwards of Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s photo by the author |
It was just a few years ago that Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s performed at Spaceland to a partially filled room with an even smaller attentive audience. Perhaps it was weariness from their dogged touring schedule, but though emphatically delivered, their set was a strained and awkward affair at best. After the show, dour and scruffy bandleader Richard Edwards was seen standing alone on a dark corner outside the club, looking more than a little lost. |
How times have changed.
After rolling up to the Echo in a converted school bus painted Death Black, the group found themselves playing to a devoted, packed room Saturday night. Though the business of music might be damned, the internet in its unbridled glory has allowed vital groups like Margot to develop and be discovered by an audience they deserve, even in a haven for the jaded like L.A.
The octet (an anchor of guitars, bass, drums and keyboards supplemented by a troika of multi-instrumentalists adding violin, lap steel guitar, trumpet, trombone, French horn, miscellaneous percussion and other weirdness) delivered on all expectations, running through the bulk of their full-length debut, The Dust of Retreat, as well as several vinyl-only sides, internet favorites and songs from their upcoming (and hard-earned) Epic Records offering.
Starting the set with a haunting and immediately essential affair we can only assume is called “Carnival,” Edwards and company won the crowd instantly. After Edwards apologized for doing so, they played through two additional unfamiliar but equally compelling numbers before launching into “Vampires in Blue Dresses” for what would be the first of several crowd sing-a-longs. Other highlights included the one-two punch of “Skeleton Key” and “Quiet as a Mouse” as well as a mini-acoustic set featuring just Edwards and keyboardist/merch-bait Emily Watkins, performing the Indianapolis-specific-yet-oddly universal “Broadripple is Burning,” among others. Whether in the midst of cacophony or intimacy, Edwards and Watkins demonstrated proof of the best boy/girl vocals this side of the Pixies and Broken Social Scene throughout the night.
When the band started to wander off stage, clearly leaving the crowd wanting more, Edwards stopped and wryly offered: “I’m not going to leave and then come back on stage. That would make me feel ridiculous,” before leading the charge into a finale wherein he managed to spontaneously smile in spite of himself, as if were possible that he might actually be having fun.
If there was previously any doubt, an overrun merch table and fans lingering after the show must have signaled to Edwards and company that from now on, they have a home in Los Angeles.
Artist Profile: Crocodile
Last modified on 2008-06-24 01:19:31 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
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Dear Mr./Ms. band named Crocodile: |
You don’t know me, and I don’t know you - I am not a stalker, but I am really a fan of your music. It reminds me of when I was a teenager and it was the beginning of the 90’s and I listened to the Vaselines (who are going to play their first-ever US show this year) and Spin Magazine actually mattered because it was subversive and daring in its taste, and I liked Stereolab and early Ween, and I liked getting high and I played around with my Korg Analogue sequencer and we had BBQ’s and sometimes I would stay up all night thinking about things like who I would wanted to hook up with, what God might be and where all of this was going.
I had two massive wooden speakers with huge 20″ cones on either side of my bed and I would fall asleep to Ministry, The Dark Side of the Moon or Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock and sometimes I would listen to mix-tapes someone at the rival high-school made for me and left in my locker anonymously and the sound of the hiss shutting off meant I could finally turn off my mind and go to sleep.
Thank you for your new record “The Great Depression” - it was really fun to listen to, and for a second I felt like it was then again, and I could go play with the willow tree at my grandparent’s yard and your CD sounds more crystal clear than those mix-tapes sounded and the music is good. I know you are “just” an indie, but I hope that lots of people get to hear your music, because you rock in a really good way.
(Music Zeitgeist) Who?
We are Crocodile from Oklahoma City, OK.
What?
We are a three-piece band that makes a mean pop cocktail and we’re not afraid to sing songs about unicorns and sex. But we don’t really. Synthcore, essentially - you dig? There are approximately 200 plastic & wooden “ivory” keys on our stage. We play them all.
Why?
Because Ace Frehley isn’t looking so hot these days and someone’s gotta carry that torch to the finish line.
Until when?
Until we’re 30. That’s the pact we’ve made.
But we’ve also been known to not acknowledge the concept of time. We’re often late to every show we play. Sometimes we show up before we’ve even been booked. So who knows really…
And then?
We’ll become responsible adults and ride off into the sunset on our donkeys.
Instrumentation
Raechel Brown - vocals, synths, guitars, theremin
Derek Brown - vocals, synths, guitars
Dusty Nelson - drums
Discography
The Great Depression - EP (2008), self released
Listen to Crocodile’s track “August Is Over” at Musiczeitgeist.com
Artist Profile: Midori/Audioclique
Last modified on 2008-06-24 01:31:14 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
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Fronted by comely siren Midori Longo, Midori/Audioclique is a West Coast outfit that straddles the narrowing line between long-tail Jessica Simpson bands like Paramore->Be Your Own Pet and the wild wild world of self-produced ever-more widely available independent releases that take chances in the production room and sometimes crank out something that intertextually (so not a real word) leans on the wide-open sound of Zeppelin and what No Doubt must have sounded like before their first major label (read gated toms) outing. This project rides the wave in both directions, promising a fresh voice and one that is institutionally sanctioned by the payola powers that be. |
It is in this very dichotomy that the interest lies.
Midori’s voice has all the making of mainstream stardom and the band that she rides understands the gravity of letting the moment ride, calling on vintage recording techniques and broad sounding mixes that remind us that there is a life in all this, not just an agenda to cut through the clamor. It will be interesting to see how they proceed, for indeed they will either blow open a door or walk through another where the party is well attended and they will scan the room in fear that someone may already be wearing the same dress.
Let’s give ‘em an A. Cuz the sound, when it’s sound, is sexy and so is she.
In their words:
(Music Zeitgeist) Who:
Midori/Audioclique
What:
We are a young Bay Area band with a mix of influences that creates a unique sound. Our songs have been featured on slicethepie, pulse radio, and Garageband.com. Our sound can be described as organic, classic rock fused with a modern presence a lá Beatles meets Avril meets Zepplin meets Sheryl Crow meets Matchbox [20]. Four of our songs won several awards on garageband[.com], including track of the day, track of the week, and several number one spots in the Bay Area music category.
In January 2007, our song ‘Dangerous Side’ was featured on the UK radio show The Rock Show with Wyatt Wendels (SKY 0155 UK).
We also made it to the Showcase Round for slicethepie.com - AllGenres 4 Arena, and placed 3rd out of 1000 entrants (we were the top ranked U.S. band).
Recently, Midori won Singer Universe’s Best Vocalist of the Month competition for her song ‘Close Your Eyes,’ and will be featured on their home page from 5/8/2008-6/8/2008.
Why:
We LOVE to play and we want to be heard and to build a strong fan base. We want to share our music, and there’s no better rush than playing for people that are totally into your music 
!!!
Until when:
Until we die, of course.
And then:
…we will decompose instead of compose.
Instrumentation:
Midori Longo- lead vocals
Kevin McCammon-bass
Ron Longo- guitar, vox
Conor McCammon- keyboards
Dylan Garrison- Drums
Discography:
Debut CD to be released June 2008.
Listen to Midori/audioclique’s track “Go” at Musiczeitgeist.com
Artist Profile: Joseph A. Peragine
Last modified on 2008-05-18 02:00:46 GMT. 1 comment. Top.
Artist Profile: Joseph A. Peragine
Music Zeitgeist recently discovered the music of Ohio artist Joseph A. Peragine. The self-produced multi-instrumentalist creates gorgeous and urgent evolving songs that summon up the best that the first wave of early 90’s independent alternative music had to offer. This is not a slight - it was a golden age for musical experimentation and the music landscape would do well to remember the undercurrents that have slowly become annexed by the bands that claimed the game prize.
His angelic and beautifully rendered vocals aside, Peragine evokes everything from Jesus Lizard, His Name Is Alive and King Crimson to Smashing Pumpkins and Fred Frith. But it isn’t limited to post-prog innovators; his track “Perspectives of Then and Now Saved… Metamorphosis Engraved/Rewind” from his album The Acoustic Diaries is a holographic dream of amazing sampling, tape-playback, acoustic/vocal singing and songwriting that instantly bypasses all your defense mechanisms and leaves you staring a thousand yards beyond the twilight out the grimy window of whatever little box you live in and contemplating those seemingly significant moments of your life that you can still manage to surrender from fading memory.
Music Zeitgeist had an opportunity to ask the artist some personal questions:
Music Zeitgeist: Who?
My name Is Joseph A. Peragine
What?
I am an Indie/Experimental Solo artist who writes my music about my personal struggles with paranoid Schizophrenia.
Why?
I want to eliminate all of the negative stigmas associated with my illness and show the world that there is recovery.
Until when?
As long as I am mentally and physically able to create music and spread my positive message I will do so.
And then?
Hopefully I can leave some type of positive impact in the world of music and mental health.
Instrumentation
Joseph A. Peragine: Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Sampling
Discography
“The Acoustic Diaries” (Oct. 2004)
“Self Medication…Poems of Alienation” (Nov. 2006)
http://www.josephaperagine.com
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Ambient electronic music that blows my dress up
Last modified on 2008-06-21 05:35:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Burial -”Shell of Light” - Album: Untrue
Why: cuz it sounds like the beat from Orbital’s “Wish I Had Duck Feet” with Beth Gibbons melting like a birth candle over top
fizzarum - “exivyd” - Album: monochrome plural
Why: obviously made by a brain jettisoned into space after the biomech upgrades went wrong. But in a really zen way. In other words - just the real deal.
Jack Wall, Sam Hulick, Richard Jacques, David Kates - Album: Mass Effect Original Game Soundtrack
Why: Because it often leans towards Richard James Selected Ambient Works 2, and it does it right. Made finishing this massive RPG a lot more satisfying. More of this in games please.
Santana - “Mantra’ - Album: Lotus (disc 2)
Why: This rare import of Santana live in Japan back in the mid 70’s is just the lick. Insane percussion, stream of consciousness, fat analog synths and psychotropics. At about 180bpms. Amazing.
Upcoming major artist releases worth checking out - Spring 2008 Edition
Last modified on 2008-05-11 15:48:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Let’s leave the l33t indie world for a minute and see what’s going on with the Blue Plate releases out there:
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
* Why it’s Noteworthy: Christ almighty, this guy just puts out one goodie after another. One of his finest yet.
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
* Why it’s Noteworthy: Because their last record was a beat poet tour-de-force set to music that would make GVSB blush.
Santogold - Santogold
* Why it’s Noteworthy: This record is the business. Gonna blow up something large. Thank you, Santogold, for the injection.
Billy Bragg - Mr. Love & Justice
* Why it’s Noteworthy: Billy’s not only a great songwriter, but his onstage banter reminds us he’s been out there pumping his fist long before Che Guevarra just a toy you got in a Happy Meal.
Cyndi Lauper - Bring Ya To The Brink
* Why it’s Noteworthy: This was the first stadium concert this author ever attended. She may have lost the pop-queen war to Madonna back in 1984, but Lauper was and is still the better singer/artist.
Willie Nelson - One Hell of a Ride
* Why it’s Noteworthy: Still love him for stepping way out to make Teatro with Dan Lanois a few years back.
Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head
* Why it’s Noteworthy: She is attempting an album of Tom Waits covers and she has that raspy voice. Could be brill could be offensive. Worth finding out. See also: Keram covers Blue Valentines on his 2008 release “Box.”
Teyana Taylor - From a Planet Called Harlem
* Why it’s Noteworthy: Her lead-off track is titled “Google Me”
Phantom Planet - Raise the Dead
* Why it’s Noteworthy: This band just keeps getting better. When their last album hit it was harder to discern whether they were just hopping on the Strokes bandwagon, or riding the celeb slant, but it was neither. This one delivers and it cites Charles Manson and David Koresh music as an influence. Not that that is a plus, but at least its a novel source. Also - not produced by fucking Timbaland or Neptunes.
N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds
* Why it’s Noteworthy: They already produce any club-worthy hit on the planet, so if you’re gonna - might as well go right to the source.
Alanis Morissette - Flavors of Entanglement
* Why it’s Noteworthy: she is wonderfully raw in her sentiments, rarely repeats herself, is a culture-jammer, collaborated on this one with half of team Frou Frou.
Martha Wainwright - I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings, Too
* Why it’s Noteworthy: The seemingly demure songstress and elder sister of Rufus is more fiery than one might at first suspect. Check out her disc at CDBaby: Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole
Portishead - Third
* Why it’s Noteworthy: You know all those “trip-hop” sample collections you love leeching off piratebay? If you have to ask…
Rattle and Hum HD-DVD
Last modified on 2008-06-25 04:59:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
I was too young to recognize when I saw U2’s Rattle and Hum in theaters back in the early 90’s that it is shot by Jordan Cronenweth (the DP of Blade Runner fame), but revisiting it on HD-DVD - it is an amazing thing to behold. I consider this to be U2’s golden period - when they immersed themselves in roots American music and produced amazing tracks like Angel of Harlem, recorded at Sun Studios or employed a gospel choir to revisit With or Without You. A landmark music doc that merits at least one more look.
Oh btw, HD-DVD R.I.P.
Top Ten Spins For Week of March 3rd, 2008
Last modified on 2008-05-11 15:50:12 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
- Keram - “Forget It, Kid” - Album: Box
- Joanna Newsom - “The Book of Right On” - Album: Milk-Eyed Mender
- Universal Hall Pass - “Dragonfly”
- Jeremy Enigk - “Return of the Frog Queen” - Album: Return of the Frog Queen
- Joseph Arthur - “Speed of Light” - Album: Come To Where I’m From
- PJ Harvey - “Taut” - Album: dance hall At Louise Point
- Black Moth Super Rainbow - “Sun Lips” - Album: Dandelion Gum
- Rogue Wave - “Publish My Love” - Album: Descended Like Vultures
- Milla Jovovich - “Gentlemen Who Fell” - Album: The Divine Comedy
- Swell - “Something to Do” - Album: For All the Beautiful People
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