LOCAL SPOTLIGHT NYC

Three cheers for Kleenex Girl Wonder, one of my all time favorite bands. Singer and writer Graham Smith has a deep, primordial grasp of the whole fuzz folk lo-fi thing that seems to constantly elude the other guys and lead them astray. With eleven full-length albums under his belt and an arsenal of untold melodies he probably just keeps to himself, Graham embodies what musicians can usually only achieve during some hideous, drug-addled tornado between the piano and a straitjacket. Except for Mr. Smith, the approach is obvious and logical; music is less an anecdote to everyday life, but integrated and related to what’s happening, a mid-afternoon snack. I suppose it’s easy to be prolific if you don’t take it all so seriously. And he’s a really nice guy. Come to the Jezebel Music Feature Show June 3rd at Cameo Gallery. Epic!

JM.com: Having booked you for the Feature Show, it’s been interesting to see that pretty much one in five people I talk to about you are super stoked.

Graham Smith: That’s a lot. It’s probably one in five hundred, maybe. But the people who like it like it a lot, that’s the trick. The people who like it aren’t just like “oh yeah, I’ll throw it on”… either you dig it or you don’t. That could explain it also, because the people who are into it are passionate about it for the most part.

JM.com: That’s true, there is an aura about your music, where the fandom can reach a very intense level.

GS: And I have no idea why that is, honestly. I don’t know if that’s about the content, or because I used to try to cultivate a persona like that. Not that I tried to cultivate something that people would dislike, but I think I tried to cultivate something that would be remarkable. I don’t think I really do that as much any more. I think i try to do some online brand management type things, but I’m not saying insulting things anymore, or not showing up to gigs, or being irresponsible. Whatever I used to do. I just thought it was funny, I mean, I still do think it’s funny; I just don’t think it would be as funny to do it now. Because it’s more appealing to be earnest I guess. If there’s a fair amount of depth – depth in the lyrics – people tend to get more attached to it. I think that most people who like my stuff don’t think of it as deeply personal necessarily. It’s personally affecting to the listener, but it’s not necessarily that it’s my personal reflection on my feelings, it’s more observational. It’s still the same sort of thing that people would have for, say Dashboard Confessional, it’s the same basic thing. You have a different reaction to music like that than you do to, say, The Hives… these are all very old references.

More on Kleenex Girl Wonder

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

TUES, NOV. 10

Free Energy, Diehard, Small Black
The Bell House
7:30 PM, $8, 18+
I don’t know how I feel when, on their self-titled track, the lead singer of Free Energy says that he’s “making out with the wind,” but they’ve got a great, if sometimes corny, teenage ’70s power-pop feel, especially on the glammy “Dream City.” But the reason I first got excited about this show is that I somehow managed to miss Small Black during CMJ, and after reading our writer Tricia Patterson’s interview, I got all amped up to go see them this time round. (Shameless plug, yes, but also totally true.)

THURS, NOV. 12

Home Video, Dead Heart Bloom, Heads Up Display
Public Assembly
9:00 PM, $8, 21+
Yes, it’s the JezebelMusic.com Monthly Feature Show. It’s also a great chance to check out the gorgeous haunt of Home Video’s electro rock. Their song “Every Love That Ever Was” always makes me picture a montage sequence of some film where a couple has broken up but is still in love; maybe someone shuts a door, then slides down it in tears. Or a Tuesday night when you’re home alone, and you feel alone, and you realize tomorrow will be the same. Not to say this band is oversteeped in depression – their beats tread too swiftly and the keyboards soar too high to wallow – but Home Video has a way of cutting deep, to something structural, a basic human longing.
More on This Week In Shows

SEE IT LIVE
JezebelMusic.com @ Cameo Gallery
July 24, 2009 | Asa Ransom, Hank and Cupcakes

[All images copyright 2009 Jessi Bautista]

Hank and Cupcakes

More on Asa Ransom, Hank and Cupcakes @ Cameo Gallery | 7.24.09

LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ Cameo Gallery
July 19, 2009 | Spanish Prisoners

photo by Drew Citron

We’ve all got a lot going on in our day to day, and we’ve all got a lot to worry about. Music, rather than augmenting the madness, should abate our moments of chaos and help us attain some semblance of harmony. Contrary to the ever-broadening detours of, say, Built to Spill, or the acute punk onslaught of a band like Black Flag, Spanish Prisoners has ADHD. And their ramblings are at times undue. Quite glaringly the brainchild of lead singer and guitarist Leo Maymind, the songs’ progressions seem forced and awkward; and despite impeccable musicianship, the group’s disparate elements have a hard time coming together. The more airy tracks lean towards ambient tropicalia, and the more crowded ones hearken, dare I say it, to a schlocky B-52s. The band played their residency’s second installment on Sunday at Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg, although by the looks of them, one would think it was one of their first times onstage.

To their credit, Spanish Prisoners is, through and through, a studio band. The lead guitarist, whose tone and gentle timing are spectacular, often takes an underappreciated backseat to Maymind’s “thoughtful songs and intricate lyrics” (Paste Magazine) and a barrage of inexplicable four-part unison singing. Their electronic influence is much more apparent upon listening to the recording, as live, Amberly Hungerford’s keys became lost, literally, in the mix. Overall, the recorded versions are much more approachable and well-blended, even danceable at times. However, I am a daughter of the “less is more” camp, and if it’s unnecessary onstage, it’s ultimately going to detract from the live experience. In other words, if you don’t need it, get rid of it.

On record, the acid-washed seascape of “Los Angeles Guitar Dream” unpretentiously discloses itself as a dream of guitars on the beach; its tempo changes and melodic transitions capture the band’s experimental leanings without leaving you jarred.  However, the Cameo Gallery proved a bit austere to house such attempts, and, thus, the subtlety evaporated into a vacuum of gray concrete. Perhaps if the Prisoners’ stage presence were a bit livelier, then Maymind’s delicate creations would have remained afloat.

You can see Spanish Prisoners finish up at Cameo July 26th, accompanied by We are Country Mice, Coyote Eyes, and Georgiana Starlington.

by Drew Citron

LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ Cameo Gallery
July 7, 2009 | Das Racist, Spanish Prisoners, Soft Black

photo by Jeffrey Lenowitz

Sunday night’s show at Cameo Gallery, featuring Soft Black and Das Racist, placed me in Williamsburg during the first true weekend of summer. Brooklynites were swarming on Bedford Avenue, thick with the smell of charcoal and beer. I was reluctant to leave the sunlight for the cement austere of Cameo’s space, but I had primarily come to see if Das Racist was all they are – or aren’t – hyped up to be. Yes, that Das Racist: the geniuses and jackasses behind the noxiously infectious “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.” (Admittedly, I also came for the happy hour $5 PBR/Bourbon shot combo).

The night kicked off with Soft Black, a Brooklyn-based trio whose opening two numbers reminded me of what an unearthed mix-tape of early Kings of Leon might sound like – a wavering trip of self-discovery that can’t decide if the vocals or the music are driving.  From then on, the boys completely off-roaded, one moment channeling the rolling guitars of early America, the next moment throwing the words “I’m an animal” violently into the microphone. Like most bands in their infancy, Soft Black is in the throes of a musical identity crisis, but at least they play with enough energy to make you believe they could find their way eventually.
More on Das Racist, Spanish Prisoners, Soft Black @ Cameo Gallery | 7.12.09

SEE IT LIVE
JezebelMusic.com @ Cameo Gallery
July 10, 2009 | Japandroids, Little Girls, Dinowalrus

[All images copyright 2009 Rachel Oakes]

Japandroids

More on Japandroids, Little Girls, Dinowalrus @ Cameo Gallery | 7.10.09