The Last Show of the Summer

It has been a truly excellent summer for concerts. I have probably taken more full advantage of the myriad of free shows available to us locals than ever before. It all came to an end this Friday however. On the eve of September The Seaport played host to two of the buzziest bands of the years.

Deerhunter 86% - This show with newly sanded down line up and as a result a newly stoic Bradford Cox was not even close to as engaging or revelatory as their show at Mercury Lounge a few months back. But that is nit picking. The music did the talking here and it was a wash of familiarly disorienting art-pop. Voyeurs might have been disapointed, fans were quietly pleased to say their band was more than a side show.

Battles 54% - If there was ever to be a break through of "math rock" this band is probably it. With good reason their album Mirrored is the finest bit of prog ambition and tight musicianship a fellow can ask for. However, if you know me you'll know complimenting musicianship is as good as complimenting the lighting design of a play. I don't care for flash. I want personality and impact and alas there wasn't a whole lot of that on display during Battles' set Friday.

Yippy! Jay Reatard Is Coming Back To Town!

Revisionist history: Jay Reatard's Blood Visions is my second favorite album of last year. It's more or less the thing I've listened to most since getting a copy (kudos) in February.

Jay Reatard's performance at Asbury Lanes was the best straight rock performance (ie: not Daft Punk's electronic extravaganza and not CSS's rowdy dance set) I've seen all summer. Sadly it was to about 9 people. Also sadly, or perhaps appropriatly, judging from his YouTube videos it was a pretty tame set. This all leads to me being very eager to catch one of his several upcoming local gigs! (Plenty of dates are below the performance clip.)

Oct 10 2007 8:00P Cake Shop New York, NY (with a band called Hunchback)

Oct 11 2007 8:00P Death By Audio Brooklyn, NY (likely a Todd P show.)

Oct 18 2007 8:00P CMJ New York, NY (Probably not getting in without a pass.)

Oct 20 2007 8:00P Maxwell’s Hoboken, NJ (With The Dirtbombs.)

Seinfeld's Children Where Platinum Diapers

Jerry Seinfeld is playing a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom this fall. Isn't that exciting? Yes, is the answer. The fact that he is playing such a high profile show in New York suggests that the new material he's been working on for the last few years has reached a point beyond tiny surprise shows at clubs. I was ready to buy tickets. I had my debit card out. Then I saw that the cheap seats were going for the bargain price of $100!!!!!?!?!?!!! GET OUT!

I'll wait for the HBO special Jerry.

A classic to hold you over.

A Round Up of Two Very Different Live Music Experiences

I had a couple of good times in Brooklyn over the last few days. Thursday was one of my most anticipated shows of the year and for that matter so was Sunday. Of course there was a more profound difference in these shows than genre, venue, and production value. A $50 difference to be exact.

Sebastian/Kavinsky DJ Set (Keyspan Park) 82% - This was a great set mixing in honest to god excellent dance music with suprising crowd pleasing rockier fair like Rage Against the Machine and Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up".

The Rapture (Keyspan Park) 74% - The Rapture sounded super but sitting in the stands of a baseball stadium did not suit the dance punk elder statesmen.

Daft Punk (Keyspan Park) 96% - After thinking the whole summer that I had gotten field tickets I was dismayed to discover I'd be spending my Daft Punk experience in the stands. This however doesn't change the fact that this is one of the best experiences in stadium entertainment I've ever seen. An excellent set and the most impressive lighting design ever (and I saw Pink Floyd at an incredibly young age) makes this one of the best Stadium tours of the decade.

Birds of Avalon (McCarren Park Pool) 67% - This band might be very good but could not break through my usual McCarren opener indifference, sorry fellows.

The Thermals (McCarren Park Pool) 87% - Solid songs and a muscular performance from a three piece who could very easily come off as boring popish punk. They don't through shear force of will. Kudos on the Built to Spill cover.

Ted Leo/Pharmacists (McCarren Park Pool) 91% - Ted Leo may just be the most stubbornly solid live performer of his generation. This show, to a seemingly packed McCarren Pool, was amongst the better I've seen from the Pharmacists. The mid song Daft Punk wink was very satisfying, also the new songs which come off as retreads on album sit very comfortably with the classics. On a sad note it is the last performance from Rx Bassist Dave Lerner, the only Leo bass player I've ever known.

Sweaty Friday Night, 8/3/07 Studio B

Friday night was a landmark evening. It was the sweatiest concert I've ever been to. This is no small feat. In 2004 I found myself jumping up and down and screaming along with ever uterance of Frank Black for the duration of a Pixies reunion show leaving me shivering in a dinner post concert. Last summer Girl Talk came to town and after dancing for hours you could turn the small of my back into a discusting slip and slide. This year alone there was the Silent Barn ventilation free mosh/dance pit for Dan Deacon, there was also the crammed and surprisingly active Deerhunter performance at Mercury Lounge(where most of the heat seemed to spill from the band's amps).

But Studio B and Friday's lineup of Dirty on Purpose, Shout Out Out, and CSS, win the day handily.

Dirty on Purpose - 78% These guys are a solid indie rock machine sitting on the noisier side of the noise pop divide. Surprisingly not harassed in a dance club setting.

Shout Out Out - 75% I'm not gonna lie I thought the Shout Out Louds were playing, I don't know how both of these bands exist in the same world. Great rythim section, excellent energy, not sure if they played a good song though.

CSS - 97% One of the best live shows on the planet, the best performance of the summer so far, it was intense and excellent.