Out the Other

Ghostland Observatory @ Cannery Ballroom 3/27

It's kind of startling when a band you thought was vaguely unheard-of sells out a rather large Nashville venue twice in a row.  But that's what happened with Ghostland Observatory, and Friday night's Cannery show was packed from wall to wall with a wide variety of concert-goers, the likes of which don't usually fall under the "usual suspects" category around town. 

I initially set out to attend the show because I had never managed to see Ghostland live (aside from catching a few songs at ACL a few years back) despite the fact that I've been aware of them for about five years. And I knew that they've been playing festivals for a few years now, but I didn't realize just how epic their live show had become.  And how much their audience had grown - two sold out shows at the Cannery Ballroom just a few months apart is nothing to laugh at in this town.  But where were the ticket buyers coming from?  Who were they, if none of my indie-rock cohorts seemed to be going to the show? How did these people find out about Ghostland?  I kinda wanted to find out.

Favorite Shows of '07

Okay, now that I've FINALLY wrapped up my list of favorite songs of 2007, it's time to talk about my favorite shows.  I thought for a little bit about not doing this, but then I looked over the list of things I saw in 2007, and I realized that going to shows was pretty much my life last year.  So I might as well write about it.

In 2006, I saw a lot of shows too - without doing a good job keeping track, I think I ended up seeing 120 different bands and artists at 60-70 shows and one festival (Austin City Limits).  But for 2007, I decided to keep an actual list of what I saw, and I definitely exceeded my 2006 numbers.  Attending both SXSW and Next Big Nashville accounted for a bunch of the bands, but what really made the difference was the fact that I made a big effort to get out in 2007 and see more local Nashville acts.

So what did I see, and which shows were my favorites?

Weekend recap - Fionn Regan, Liars, Interpol and Pico vs Island Trees

I thought this past weekend was going to be a quiet one (and in the grand scheme of things it probably was) but I actually ended up going to three different shows on Saturday, only one of which was on the original agenda.  Here's a rundown of what I saw:


Friday night I went to the Basement and caught Fionn Regan's early show at 7 p.m.  It was way more packed than I expected it to be that early on a Friday, but after noting the white plastic bands on 90% of the wrists in the room, I deduced that the crowd mostly consisted of peeps from Fionn's Nashville-based US label Lost Highway.  Kinda weird, plus it was weird to see roadies setting up at the minuscule Basement. No matter - it was still a nice show, and I'm glad I got to check it out. Fionn played a lovely and relatively subdued set of tunes from The End of History, with his acoustic guitar nicely complemented by a drummer and a female back-up vocalist.  I would recommend checking him out on one of his upcoming dates. This was my favorite tune in the set, hearing it in person made me realize how beautiful it really is:

Fionn Regan - "Hey Rabbit"

On Saturday afternoon after the radio show I scooted over to Grimey's to see Liars play an in-store at the record shop.  The band played a short, super-intense set to an absolutely packed house - in fact I didn't even see that lead singer Angus Andrew was wearing shorts until my friend John Brassil sent the pic above (check out another great one below), because I was wedged into the back of the second room.  I could still see Angus pogo-ing around his tiny performance space though, flailing around and generally creating "a ruckus," which he apologized for late in the set when he broke a light fixture during a pretty enthusiastic rendition of "Plaster Casts Of Everything."  The band drew pretty heavily from the new album for the in-store; the gritty, more straightforward rock songs on Liars were more than appropriate for the setting and they just generally rocked out. 

Liars - "Plaster Casts of Everything"

Then a few hours later I found myself seeing Liars yet again, in a completely different setting - and I have to say they almost felt like a completely different band.  On stage at the Ryman, the group decided to take complete advantage of the huge stage and cavernous acoustics of the room and definitely drew from the artier, crazier, more challenging parts of their catalog (admittedly, the parts that kept me away from Liars until the newest album came out).  This time around Angus had ditched the shorts and visor in favor of a white three-piece suit, which accentuated both his height and his dance moves, and that in combination with the layered, echo-ey and slightly droning songs that started the set kinda brought Deerhunter to mind.  It was a completely different experience than at Grimey's - a completely different energy, all industrial buzzing and wailing with chest-shuddering drum explosions and dizzying amounts of reverb.  Even when they shifted to new stuff from Liars - they played a handful of the same songs from the in-store - things still felt and sounded different, like the ruckus-creating, gritty band from that afternoon had plugged into this massive towering machine that chugged and growled and amplified every drumbeat and guitar lick.  It was weird - I kinda liked it and it kinda gave me a headache, but here I sit listening to Drum's Not Dead for the first time since I heard and dismissed the album, so I guess the show did its job.  The drums are certainly giving me goosebumps, like I can still feel them in my solar plexus.  (You should check Liars out for yourself - they're on tour with Interpol for a while and should be doing a smaller, headlining thing toward the end of this year/beginning of next.)

Liars - "Drum and the Uncomfortable Can"

So Interpol were the main act of the night, and forgive me for after all that Liars rambling, but I enjoyed it - just don't have much to say about it.  The band played a pretty good set - it sounded great in the Ryman, of course, and the lights and projected backdrop were pretty impressive, but I guess it didn't do much to get me more excited about the band (and this was my first time seeing Interpol).  I think that by spending all my time in little clubs around town, I've been spoiled by the intimacy and interaction with the crowd that smaller venues afford, and by the endearing dose of messiness that comes with new-ish bands who are trying a little harder to keep you from putting down your PBR and walking out the door.  To me Interpol's performance came off as being kind of sterile - granted they have a polished sound and the dark introspective moodiness that doesn't really lead to chatting in between songs or dicking around on stage, but still it was too polished, too perfect, and as my friend Michael said after the show, a little uninspired.  Michael also pointed out that things probably could have been different had the crowd been able to dance (doesn't really work in the Ryman) and I think I agree - when a band like Interpol plays I think all the energy needs to come from the audience.  And it's hard to drum up too much excitement in a room full of wooden pews.  Let it be said that I felt pretty much the exact same way after I saw Oasis at the Ryman last year - so it may have had more to do with the setting and the crowd than the band.

Interpol - "The Heinrich Maneuver"

I actually bailed on Interpol during the second song of the encore to beat the crowd, and scooted on over to the Basement to see Pico vs Island Trees.   I wasn't able to catch the band at Next Big Nashville after I ran an interview with them here on the site, so I didn't want to miss the opportunity to check them out at the Basement.  And I'm certainly glad that I did - the band is phenomenal live.   The whole thing brought to mind a quote from the interview, where the band said "going to a show should be fun, and we definitely keep that in mind when we play."  It was certainly fun - the kind of fun that keeps you grinning and gets the audience dancing and then in the middle of all the fun you realize, damn, this band sounds amazing too.  I loved absolutely every song they played (and can't wait to hear recorded versions) and they even were a blast to watch - lead singer Bryan Carter is like a cross between Nate Ruess from The Format and Jon Rogers from Hotpipes - when he's not playing guitar he bounces frenetically around the stage with an energy that's contagious.  The band capped off the evening with a legitimate encore and treated us to a cover of "Rock the Casbah" - after warning us that they're still learning the tune, but since they didn't expect an encore we get a basement rehearsal version (it is the Basement, after all).  And while Bryan implored me not to blog about it, I loved every second of the cover - the band nailed it and Bryan only consulted his hand-written lyrics sheet for one verse, while making up for his crib sheet with microphone-tipping enthusiasm.  Who actually knows all the words to that song anyway?

Pico vs Island Trees has a pair of upcoming out-of-town dates - I will absolutely let you know when they play in Nashville again.

Pico vs Island Trees - "Open Doors"

(photos by John Brassil)

Stream Jared Micah and Hats - TCHTOB

On Tuesday I finally got a chance to see Jared Micah and Hats - the band played a free in-store at Grimey's to celebrate their freshly released album, TCHTOB, which just came out on this week.  Sadly, I missed both their performance at Next Big Nashville on Saturday night and then at 8 off 8th on Monday (with corpse paint!), but I was happy to see that despite a certain lead-singer's (completely empty) threats, they didn't break up before Tuesday's in-store.

I've been listening to the album quite a bit over the past few weeks and seeing parts of it performed live cemented my love for the record - it's alternately quirky, spooky, hypnotizing and completely enchanting, while constantly changing and always, always keeping you on your toes.  It can be a challenging listen, for sure (and like I said two weeks ago it's certainly more experimental than most of what I tend to listen to), but there's something about it that's just captivating.  I think part of it is Jared's voice, which is gorgeous and reminds me a bit of Air Picker from Lost in the Trees; his vocals are the most straightforward thing about the album and god knows I'm a sucker for a great voice.

The performance at Grimey's was "fully orchestrated" and included cello and violin players, which was a definite treat.  Grimey's shows are always a fun experience and this show was no exception - the full band crammed in amongst the vinyl with their giant cardboard castle and huge rainbow was a sight to behold and definitely added a visual aspect to the music that is still floating around in my head as I listen to the album.

"Giddy Up"
"Precious Needs a Spoon In Her Mouth"

And speaking of the album, I was thrilled to hear that the band is streaming the entire thing over on their site (just be careful if you head to the actual site, cause it is totally NSFW).  They also included a handy little thingie so I can embed the player so you can listen to it right here:

 

TCHTOB is available now - you can pick it up at Grimey's here in Nashville or Grand Palace down in Murfreesboro; it's also available online at DiscRevolt and should be on iTunes soon too.  And check the band's myspace page for dates - they have a few coming up (mostly house parties, I think).

I survived Next Big Nashville '07

Seriously, we need to make some t-shirts that say that.  I say "we," because if your Next Big Nashville experience was anything like mine, you earned a shirt too.  Frankly, after the ridiculous fun I've had for the past four nights, I'm pretty surprised I still have a pulse. 

And I'm going to absolutely, positively, hands-down declare Next Big Nashville an amazing success.  The crowds were huge, the beers were cheap, the bands were FANTASTIC and if there wasn't a bunch of great stuff going on this week I'd be using the next five days to recover.  Actually, I'm missing the final night of the festival, which is going on right now at 3rd and Lindsley, because I'm going to sleep as soon as I finish typing. 

First, a quick rundown of the last four days:

Wednesday - the kick-off at the Belcourt wasn't exactly packed, but those of us who started our weekend early were rewarded with an amazing performance by Lylas, who were absolutely made to play that room (Kyle actually told me before the show that it was his dream venue).   Their subdued set was followed by Be Your Own Pet rockers Turbo Fruits, who I enjoyed much more the second time around (probably because this time I knew what to expect).  And the film that started off the evening?  Most of it was hysterical and the ending... well let's just say it made us all as uncomfortable as an art film should.

Thursday - I bounced back and forth between the two venues on Elliston.  Hotpipes were my first band of the night, and though I was running late I got there in time to hear a few excellent new tunes from one of my favorite local bands.  Next it was across the street to the End for Kindergarten Circus, who ROCKED the room like they didn't have a curfew (though clearly they did - at 14, 15 and 16 they had to go to school the next morning!).  Their set kicked all kinds of ass and drew shouts from the crowd - "Sign 'em now!  While they're still cheap!"  The next hour was spent bouncing back and forth between The Clutters and Those Darlin's, before it was time to settle back in at the End for Turncoats. They always deliver and this show was absolutely no exception - and I think they may be Beatle Bob's new favorite band.  Then I caught a bit of both SJ & The Props and Wax Fang before wrapping up the night with Glossary at the End.  Grand Palace rocks.

Friday - after a pretty late night on Thursday I was happy to get a quiet start at the Cannery with Katie Herzig.  Caught part of Emily DeLoach's set next before Tyler James took the stage at Mercy Lounge - you can expect to hear a LOT about that boy soon.  Satellite City was next, and I spent the set thinking how well the tunes would have fit in on my international cafe show.  Then Kyle Andrews perked things up and played an excellent, excellent set with his full band - if you missed it make sure you catch him next weekend at Exit/In.  I caught part of both Brooke Waggoner and Landon Pigg before being wowed by the number of people who know all the words to American Bang's songs.  They've come a LONG way since their turkey day-eve visit to WRVU where we chilled and begged people to come see them on Thanksgiving at Exit/In.  Caught the tail-end of Paper Route's set and I definitely want to try to catch a full show soon - they only thing more massive than their sound was the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd watching them play. 

Saturday - wasn't sure I could do it for another night after Friday's after party antics, but I popped over to Grimey's at 5 to catch Jennifer Niceley's in-store.  God she has an amazing voice.  Seriously go see her at ACL if you're headed to Austin next weekend.  I kicked off the official showcases at Mercy Lounge two hours later with Aaron Robinson, whose live show definitely lived up to the promise of the new tracks he had sent me.  The it was onto the criminally-underused free shuttle bus and over to the End, where I caught And the Relatives, who may be my new favorite local band.  No really, their set kicked some ass.  And they're playing at Springwater on Wednesday night, and you need to go.  I'll remind you later.  The rest of the End lineup rocked too - Heypenny had the most insanely ancient drum machine I've ever heard, plus some new tunes I'm looking forward to hearing with their real drummer around (he was out of town for the night).  All We Seabees (currently holding the my-new-favorite-local-band title) put on the best show I've seen them play yet - no pyrotechnics but some crazy rock-outs, beautiful harmonies and a pretty substantial crowd considering the fact that The Features had just wrapped up their set across town. The Comfies finished off the showcase before we scooted back to Mercy Lounge for the "new new wave after party."  Which was pretty much the most ridiculous show I've ever attended - imagine pretty much all your friends and all of the bands from the festival, drunk off their asses and lit by the afterglow of four nights of back-to-back shows, crammed into one sweaty dance party.  The insanity escalated from Glitter Dragon to Jensen Sportag to the complete and utter awesome absurdity that is Plastic Clap, capped off by Spring Hill Spider Party - who were shut down after three songs cause the party was running so late already.  Seriously, I think I'm still drunk.

I definitely didn't get to see everyone I wanted to but the nicest thing about this festival is that chances are these bands have another show coming up soon.  Tomorrow morning I'm going to point you in the direction of a few great things coming up this week, so check back for that.  But right now I'm totally going to bed.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ City Hall - June 6

Sorry for the delay on getting this posted - it was a busier week and weekend that I expected.  This past Wednesday I got a chance to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at City Hall, and despite a few technical problems that threatened to derail the show at one point, the band powered through one of the most professional-looking and sounding shows I've seen in quite some time.

As I mentioned in my preview post on Tuesday, I haven't been listening to BRMC for very long; it was really the release of Baby 81 that got my attention, although I had heard some of the band's music prior to that.  I didn't even think I was incredibly familiar with the new album, but Wednesday's show proved me wrong - apparently by repeatedly playing the CD in the background at work I became pretty familiar with it, because with each song they played, I felt myself thinking "ooh, I love this one!"  And it did seem like the set drew pretty heavily on the new songs, "Not What You Wanted" was absolutely a highlight (being my favorite song on the album), as well as "Weapon of Choice," "Berlin" and "Window."  Surprisingly, one of my favorite songs that night was the drawn-out droning rocker "666 Conducer," which I never really enjoyed as much in its recorded state, but a foggy stage drenched in red light and an amp-climbing rock-out moment brought a completely different angle and attitude to the song.

Overall, the show was more of a performance than I'm used to - listening to the type of music I favor and going to the types of shows I attend, I tend to see "new" bands that don't exactly have fog machines and strobes and the attitude that comes with being a bit further down the road of experience and success.  And while initially the fake smoke seemed like overkill (the giant warehouse of City Hall was just pumped full of it before the band took the stage), I was of course immediately enthralled by the spectacle of the whole thing.  I think I tend to forget that the visual aspect can lend a lot to the experience of a show.  A huge piece of it was just how fantastic the band sounded as well - polished and well-practiced and like they've been doing this for a while, and I mean that in the best way possible.

That's why it was a little tough to watch when the band started experiencing technical difficulties - I think when you're on the level that BRMC is, it's a lot harder to laugh off problems, and the frustration of the whole thing was pretty evident.  Fortunately the show went on though, with a few apologetic comments from the band and a lot of encouragement from the audience.  I had to call it a night during the acoustic part of the show since it was an hour and a half in and drawing close to midnight already, but I hear they didn't stop playing until the curfew was enforced, and I'm sad I couldn't stick around.

And I don't want to forget to mention The Cobbs as well, who opened up the show and played a great set.  They hooked me up with a copy of their album, so hopefully you'll be hearing more about them soon.

The phenomenal picture above is courtesy of my friend Jordan Wankel, who did me a huge favor at the show and did my photo pass justice.  He will hopefully be uploading his full set of pictures from the show to his Flickr soon; in the meantime, more pictures after the jump.

Playing catch-up pt. 4 - Elvis Perkins, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Harlem Shakes and Tapes 'n Tapes

And I'm FINALLY wrapping up my wrap-up of those crazy two weeks of shows.  I'll try to refrain from saying "better late than never," but I WILL recommend (very, very strongly) that you head out to see both Elvis Perkins and Harlem Shakes if you ever, ever get the chance.  Along with Spoon, they were absolutely the highlight of my crazy show-going April.  Details and a few pictures after the jump:

Playing catch-up pt. 3 - TV on the Radio, Andrew Bird and Junior Boys

Being sick sure sucks, but it does make a girl glad she took advantage of all the fun a few weeks earlier.  I still can't really believe I managed to see Andrew Bird AND Junior Boys in the same night... let alone on a Monday.  Those two shows plus TV on the Radio in the next part of my long-overdue recap:

Playing catch-up pt. 2 - 120 Days, Ratatat, Spoon and Willy Mason

I am still criminally behind when it comes to recapping my live music adventures this month - but I have to admit I've been enjoying a brief lull in the concert calendar for the past week.  The April concert tally is up to twenty-four different performances and in this edition I'm going to talk about one of the highlights - Spoon @ City Hall.  That was only two weeks ago but it feels like it has been two months.  Pictures and stories after the jump:

Playing catch-up pt. 1 - Catfish Haven, The Black Lips, The Decemberists and All Smiles

Since once again my weekend was decidedly not spent in front of the computer, I am way, way behind when it comes to talking about shows that I've seen here in Nashville lately.  In fact, the last thing that got a respectable review was MSTRKRFT at Play, and even though that was less than three weeks ago, I've seen 18 bands since then.  Sheesh.  No wonder I haven't been blogging, I've been playing too hard.  After the jump part one of my recap of what I've been up to: