LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ Music Hall of WIlliamsburg
March 6, 2010 | Nada Surf

It’s safe to say that the Music Hall of Williamsburg and it’s sold out crowd were thoroughly soaked in nostalgia on this particular evening.  At the request of Nada Surf, Sea Wolf front man Alex Brown Church kicked off the night.  Admittedly nervous without his usual backing ensemble, Church strummed through a set of bare bones folk/pop songs.  The droning minor chords and his sublime tenor invoked the feeling of autumns past.  After a few botched chords and false starts, Church met the crowd with a capricious smile that certainly matched the atmosphere.  Things began to pick up a bit when Nada Surf front man Matthew Caws joined Church on stage for the Sea Wolf favorite, “You’re a Wolf”.  Overall it was an enjoyable and intimate performance by an established indie rock front man.

More on Nada Surf, Alex Brown Church (Sea Wolf) @ Music Hall of Williamsburg | 3.27.10

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

Alright, I usually write a little blurb about each show I’m recommending, you know, arguing for why you should check it out. But this week I’m recommending these shows all for the same reason: each of them is a benefit for the relief efforts in Haiti. Hopefully you see something you like here, but if not, why not check out something new? Please help us show these artists and venues some love, but more importantly, let’s show a little love to the world outside our little pocket of the city.

MON, JAN. 25
Amber Rubarth, Ian Axel, Vienna Teng, Wes Hutchinson, Ari Hest and more
City Winery
8:00, $20, 21+

WEDS, JAN. 27
Cold War Kids, Ted Leo, The Wrens, Sondre Lerche, Eugene Mirman, AC Newman
The Bell House
6:00 PM, $50, 21+

El Medio, No Eye Contact, Breakfast in Fur, Drew Citron
Bruar Falls
8:00 PM, $5 with can of food / $6 without, 21+

The Roots, Kaki King, Eric Krasno & Chapter 2 with John Scofield, Matisyahu
Music Hall of Williamsburg
8:00 PM, $35adv/$40do, 18+

THURS, JAN. 28
Flanagan Smith, Matt Jones, Alyson Greenfield, Charlene Kaye, Outernational, Automa
Public Assembly Back Room
8:00 PM, $10, 21+

SAT, JAN. 30
Blag’ard, The Barrens, Sing With Voices,
Fontana’s
7:00 PM, $8, 21+

compiled by Erin Sheehy

LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ MHOW
December 12, 2009 | Kaki King, A Rose Parade

Nobody, not even the musicians, wanted to be at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 12. A Rose Parade singer Shannon Funchess made it clear from the start that she didn’t want to show up. “It was cold and I was sad and tired,” said Funchess, looking like a lumberjack on holiday, right before their set started. She pretty much summed up the rest of my experience. There I was, among hand-holding couples who were intent on making out until Kaki King showed up, wondering when the pain would stop.

At first glance, trance inducing, soulful ARP seems like an appropriate side project for TV on the Radio’s Gerard Smith. It sounds like Beach House, Portishead, and Tracy Chapman are being played at the same time. Smith’s guitar is melancholic, with riffs that verge on the spooky. If I closed my eyes and pretended to not be in Williamsburg, in the midst of a Sapphic sea of pot-smoking couples, I could’ve very well been marching across a sad, foggy meadow. Funchess’s voice is a pleasant surprise – it has all the soul, without the caricature. Her delivery is honest, but at times the heaviness and repetition made it difficult to keep listening. Theough the sound at the Music Hall is fairly good, I couldn’t listen to the lyrics when the lead singer’s voice got particularly raspy.

All in all, the band has a refreshing premise, if you take refreshing to mean somewhat unnerving. It’s one of those cases in which every component works well on its own, but if you put them all together something just doesn’t work.

In between sets, more couples started to show up. Those who ventured into the night alone were falling asleep or eating sandwiches in corners.
More on Kaki King, A Rose Parade @ Music Hall of Williamsburg | 12.12.09

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

MON, DEC. 14

Keren Ann, Clare and the Reasons
Knitting Factory Brooklyn
8:00 PM, $15, ALL AGES

Funny, compared to 2009’s wave of bedroom pop with a melancholy undertow, artists like Keren Ann and Clare and the Reasons sound like such sparkling romantics. But let’s not forget that we need these, too – songs you can imagine slowdancing to, like Clare and the Reasons’ weepy “Pluton,” or classic pieces of seduction like Keren Ann’s “It Ain’t No Crime.” Maybe Monday at the Knitting Factory won’t push the limits of pop music to any new ground, but it should be a good showcase of tight bands with serious vocal talent.

TUES, DEC. 15

Cold Cave, Small Black
Music Hall of Williamsburg
10:00 PM, FREE, 21+

Go 18 Dummy at the FREE VBS.tv holiday party this Tuesday. Talk about a good end-of-the-aughts set; Cold Cave and Small Black have had a persistent presence in both the blog world and the real live world of shows this year, and they’ve really proved their meddle. Small Black’s more like the other sandy lo-fi bedroom stuff that the internet’s been hemorraghing lately, and Cold Cave is more of a crispy ’80s throwback, but they both exude a foggy longing that we can’t get enough of. The show’s sponsored by 1800 Tequila, which isn’t important really, but you should check out this cool special edition bottle Vice produced for the party. RSVP REQUIRED! If you wanna go, click here.
More on This Week In Shows

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

At first I was thinking that this week would be a real bust for shows, but the few I’m looking forward to look like they’ll be all-consuming events. Chinese indie rock marathon, electronic music gods, and a ramshackle rock ’n roll supergroup? Perhaps we haven’t hit a post-CMJ, post-Halloween slump after all!

THURS, NOV. 5

Fucked Up, Andrew W.K. (keyboards), Vivian Girls (backup vocals), Titus Andronicus, Katie Stelmanis
Brooklyn Masonic Temple
7:00 PM, $18, All Ages
Toronto hardcore band Fucked Up performs their 2008 album The Chemistry Of Common Life with Andrew W.K. and Vivian Girls as their backing band. Sounds noisy and weird, and sounds like a party

FRI, NOV.  6

The Chinese Underground Invasion Tour:
BEIJING vs. BROOKLYN edition
These Are Powers, Soft Circle, Carsick Cars, PK 14, Xiao He, & DJ Zachary Mexico
Glasslands
9:00 PM, $TBD, 21+
Honestly, I don’t know anything about the Beijing indie scene. I first thought to list this because the concept – a couple of Brooklyn bands playing with a bunch of indie bands from Beijing –  sounded cool. I figured that These Are Powers might’ve played with these bands on their recent trip to China, and if These Are Powers approves, I’m game. After listening to these bands further, I’ve decided I have to see this show. This’ll be a great opportunity to hear some sounds that could never come out of Brooklyn. From the more mainstream P.K. 14, whose immodest Myspace bio reads: “P.K.14 occupies a space in Chinese music that might be analogous to that of Talking Heads or Television in the New York of the 1970s” – pretty lofty statement, but you can hear the influence anyway – to Xiao He, whose songs range from the sweet, unusually instrumented indie rocker “mama,” to the airy 49-second minimalist “Rain” to the ten-minute long “macerata,” which sounds like the score to a barnyard spy-movie, complete with torture scene.
More on This Week In Shows

LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
October 3, 2009 | Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Sightings, Talk Normal, Drunkdriver

The final performance of the WFMU Fest, featuring seminal 1970s No Wave ensemble Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, took place last Saturday in the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Opening duo Talk Normal cloaked the cacophony of antisocial Jerks-style noise in their velvety effects and drones, while Drunkdriver chose feedback over musicianship and Sightings gave an earnest but disappointing recital of squeaks, squeals, and grunts. Teenage Jesus and the Jerks then took the stage, lashing out with a fury that has lost no intensity over the last 30 years.

Brooklyn’s Talk Normal began mysteriously, launching straight into a cacophonous dirge, not bothering to turn the stage lights up, introduce themselves, or indulge in any other formalities. The twinned noise of guitar and effects writhed against a chugging motor of a beat, overlaid with what sounded like the cries of small mechanical creatures caught in the gears. Hypnotic rhythms lured listeners into a sluggish sonic whirlpool enveloped by vocals that channeled early Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, husky and pleading. Both Andrya Ambro and Sarah Register of Talk Normal share vocal duties, and their voices settle seamlessly into the sea of effects, half-atmospheric screaming and wailing harmonies alternating with chanted bits to give the wall of sound an almost silvery lining. Later songs upped the suspense, each pause piling apprehension around the dizzyingly repetitive churning of the noise.

Suggesting variously the ominous creep of an oncoming train, the disorienting circling of vultures, and calming, surprisingly melodic nighttime lullabies, the trance-inducing loops of Talk Normal were at once soothing and disturbing. When the girls thanked the soundman and audience, listeners were jolted awake from a dark hallucination that, in retrospect, did not nearly last long enough.
More on WFMU Fest @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg | 10.3.09

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

TUES, SEPT. 15

Deerhoof, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Serengeti & Polyphonic
(le) poisson rouge
8:00 PM, $15, 18+
Deerhoof have been confusing audiences for over a decade now, but their brand of noise-infused indie-prog has only become more potent with time.  The combination of Greg Saunier’s seemingly ‘roid-rage-induced drumming with singer/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki’s infectiously cute (albeit often nonsensical) vocal hooks consistently make for a captivating, if not bewildering, live show. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see Satomi belting out lines like “choo choo choo choo beep beep” while performing improvisational pseudo-Tai Chi?
- Sean Hallarman

FRI, SEPT. 18

Ty Segall, The Mantles, The Holy Experiment, Dome Theater
Death By Audio
8:00 PM, $8, all ages
Uh, the maze at Death By Audio is a little nuts. You may feel like you’re being corralled and you might have a hard time seeing the bands, but just squish to the front or find yourself a little corridor or dead-end to rock out in, and enjoy the San Francisco treat that is Ty Segall. He’s mastered that brutally distorted garage punk better than most, because the personality of his songs doesn’t get lost beneath all that noise. And he kicked ass last time he played Death By Audio. If you want a more traditional show format and a sexy, disorienting, frenzy of a double bill, check out Ty at Mercury Lounge with Golden Triangle on Sunday.
- Erin Sheehy

BM Linx, Township, Sorceress
Union Pool
9:00 PM, $8, 21+
If you’re looking for some bluesy glam played by guys with excellent hair, check out Sorceress on Friday at Union Pool. That twangy sound and those fancy boots may hearken back to early seventies glitter, but this isn’t just some retro shtick – seriously, these guys dress like this every day, and a variety of other influences sneak into songs like “Suffer Childe” and “Cum In My Kitchen.” You can read JM.com’s Local Spotlight on Sorceress tomorrow.
- Erin Sheehy

SAT, SEPT. 19

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, The Secret Machines, Freshkills, Sleigh Bells
Music Hall Of Williamsburg
9:00 PM, $20, 18+
I don’t know what to say about this one. It’s …Trail Of Dead. And this time you/they won’t have to contend with an electrical storm.
- Erin Sheehy

Weekly Review
To be frank, I am less concerned at the moment with what happened in music this past week, across the land, than what is happening today (right now actually!), right here in Brooklyn. The Northside Festival goes out with a kick-drum-boom bang today with a whole bunch of awesome shows – including, my pick, a daytime fiesta at Studio B with Phil and the Osophers, Laura Gibson, and The Dodos, which will then transform into darktime fiesta with more evening-centric bands Cool Dads, Thank You, Ponytail, and Crystal Stilts. There’s an afternoon show going on at Bruar Falls with Browns, Air Waves, and The Sundelles, which should also be pretty great and a slew of other evening bills that are going to be difficult to choose between (though for many, the Callahan choice – playing at 10:40pm at Music Hall of Williamsburg – will be clear). Anyway, I’m late (or right on time given the requisite 20-minute-late start time for these shows), so gotta get going. And so do you.

by Elana Jacobs