THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

TUES, JAN 12

Led Er Est, Light Asylum
Glasslands
9:00 PM, $7, 21+
Todd Pendu’s throwing a new Tuesday Nite Disco party at Glasslands, but it’s not so much disco as “dark-electro-synth-pop.” If this lineup is any indication, these parties are going to be pretty cool. Both bands are super synthy, but Led Er Est is colder, darker, more elemental (more weird?) whereas Light Asylum plays more throwback romantic synth pop.

WED, JAN 13

The Drums, Surfer Blood, The Depreciation Guild
Bowery Ballroom
7:30 PM, $12a/$15d, 18+
Okay, another post about the weather. I’ve been thinking of this show as something like Wii surfing or like… O’Doul’s for summer? You sure won’t be capturing the real thing, but the feeling’s there. Total beach party.
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THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

WEDS, DEC. 2

Jaguar Love, The King Left, Yes Giantess, Violent Soho
Mercury Lounge
8:00 PM, $10 adv/$12 do, 21+
People have said that Johnny Whitney of Jaguar Love sounds like “Robert Plant on steroids.” I was gonna say he sort of reminds me of Jay Reatard in a higher register. Either way, we’re talking shrieky, jolting energy. These guys make some catchy, noisy, uptempo pop with y’know, canned beats. Enjoy!

Werewolves, Strange Rivals, Heliotropes
Glasslands
8:00, $5, 21+
Never underestimate the power of the keys to take something dramatic and make it cinematic. I’m using the term “cinematic” very liberally to mean that you might find yourself playing out long scenes in your head while listening to Werewolves. Or maybe it’s their sneering vocals that do it, I don’t know yet. What I do know is that they’re dynamic performers and they’re playing Glasslands this Wedsnesday…

SAT, DEC. 5

Bowerbirds
Union Pool
8:00, $10, 21+
Did you know that the male bowerbird hops around with a flower in his beak in an attempt to woo a mate? How sweet! On the other hand, the male angler fish sniffs out the female, bites her, releases an enzyme that fuses the two at the blood-vessel level, and then atrophies until he is no more than a pair of parasitic gonads. The world is ugly, but if you want to linger on the more poignant aspects of life, why not get all acoustic and snuggly with Bowerbirds for the night? They’re also playing Bowery Ballroom with Elvis Perkins on Thursday, but I like to promote the more intimate, boozier, cheaper shows…

Or you can just head towards Kent Ave. and then decide…
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THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

The most noteworthy concert this week is Sonic Youth with Dinosaur Jr. and Cold Cave, one of the few lineups that’d get me to Terminal 5, but that’s been sold out, so let us non-ticket holders lick our wounds at some of these other, very worthwhile shows.

MON, NOV. 16

The Jesus Lizard, Skeleton Key
Irving Plaza
9:00 PM, $25, 16+
In case you haven’t heard, The Jesus Lizard have been kicking ass all over the place this year, crowd surfing and stage diving like its 1989. It’s Monday night, and who knows how long this reunion thing will last. Get in front, put your arms up, and get ready for a handful of David Yow.

TUES, NOV. 17

Kurt Vile, Wild Yaks, Home Blitz, Pink Reason
Europa
7:00 PM,  $10, 18+
I think it would be really fun to book a show with either Kurt Vile or Wild Yaks, because both mesh well with any number of bands on a lineup, but you can’t automatically pair them with anybody in particular. There’s something more “classic rock” – I almost want to say masculine – about Kurt Vile than a lot of other “woozy” psychedelic pop acts, and there’s a poignancy to Wild Yaks’ songs that’s lacking in other bands who’re equally rowdy and debauched. Maybe they go perfectly together? Maybe not, but I feel like you can’t go wrong with this one. (For something completely different, check out Kurt Vile on Wednesday with Big Star.)
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LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ Mercury Lounge
October 4, 2009 | Chain and the Gang, Silk Flowers, Julianna Barwick

Last Sunday night at Mercury Lounge, Brooklyn-based solo artist Julianna Barwick played the eye of the world’s sweetest, mellowest hurricane, standing almost perfectly still in front of an effects pedal with her own voice expanding and mutating around her, drifting over lilting beach-house ukulele and a warm bed of soft-plucked harp. She fed the machine her vocals and layered them, one loop stacked neatly atop another, angelic harmonies growing to tower over the human figure on stage, with a sweetness that wobbled a bit, but to its credit did not fall over the edge into the realm of the saccharine. It was at times a difficult act to watch, mostly because there was so little happening visually that the slightest audience movement or commotion looked explosive in comparison, but Barwick provided a pleasant ethereal soundtrack to whatever utopia listeners were able to project on the inside of their own eyelids.

More on Chain and the Gang, Silk Flowers, Julianna Barwick @ Mercury Lounge | 10.4.09

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Citysol 2009 @ Stuyvesant Cove Features Shilpa Ray, Love Like Deloreans, Shwervon!, and More [Brooklyn Vegan]

Stream Byrne’s Benefit EP and See Him at Bonnaroo [Stereogum]

The Antlers Sign to Frenchkiss [Pitchfork]

Radiohead Post-In Rainbows Recording Studio Rendezvous [Prefix]

Black Eyed Peas Buzz – “Imma Be” [Idolator]

Strokes Members Playing Tribute to Dylan at Mercury Lounge [The Tripwire]

Celebrate Brooklyn with Bikes! [Brooklyn Vegan]

Yoko Ono Will Judge Your Haiku [NME]

Thinkindie.com is Your Local Record Store, Online [Pitchfork]

compiled by Elana Jacobs

SEE IT LIVE
JezebelMusic.com @ Mercury Lounge
April 30, 2009 | Wakey! Wakey! w/ Casey Shea and Bryan Dunn

[All images copyright 2009 Jen McManus]

Wakey! Wakey!

Casey Shea

Bryan Dunn

LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ Mercury Lounge
April 27, 2009 | Bowerbirds w/ Bell and La Strada

Photo by Jen McManus

Rejoice, we did, rejoice, at Bowerbirds’ sold out show last Monday night at Mercury Lounge - as did the rest of those in attendance, feeding off lead singer Phil Moore’s pleasure at performing in front of such a packed room. “Thanks so much to all of you for coming out tonight,” he said at one point. “This is awesome, but unexpected.” Unexpected? To whom? Certainly not anyone who’s heard their, to quote Mr. Kiehne from the last post, “perfect” Hymns For a Dark Horse.

Talk about a band with no pretensions. Moore, together with Tacular, new drummer Matt Damron, and guest bassist Joe Westerlund of Megafun, put on such a convivial, casual performance, I nearly expected them to take off their shoes, pull up a few stools, and invite members of the audience to come up and sing with them around the stagefire. They played a pretty long set, a bunch of stuff from the new album, and quite a few songs from Hymns, but not a chipper body budged - not even as they began their second encore number. “I didn’t think people had patience for this kind of stuff…you know, music,” Moore remarked. “You’re wrong!” yelled one or two members of the audience. And wrong he was. Nobody seemed to be in much of a rush that night. We were all too damn caught up in the sweet sounds filling the North Carolina country air. Wait a minute, I thought I said this show was at Mercury…

Anyway, check out some shots of the Bowerbirds set here, as well as a few from opener Bell’s, whose strangely enchanting, somewhat Bjorkian creations captivated the crowd. Also playing that night was JezebelMusic.com past Feature Artist, La Strada, who gave an, as expected, inspiring performance. Our photographer wasn’t there to catch them, but you can SEE THEM LIVE from back at their show in April .

by Elana Jacobs

SEE IT LIVE
JezebelMusic.com @ Mercury Lounge
April 27, 2009 | Bowerbirds & Bell

[All images copyright 2009 Jen McManus]

Bell

Bowerbirds