Northside Festival, Day Three : The Best Bishop Allen Set I've Seen. Also, Darlings, Motel Motel, April Smith.

So it's a shame I didn't write this about four months ago, because I simply don't remember much anymore. And also because nobody really cares about Northside anymore, do they? Ah, well, that's what I get for being lazy.

In fact, I wouldn't bother to write about day three if I hadn't seen a fantastic set by Bishop Allen that night. The fact that Bishop Allen was going to play Northside was the original reason for my interest in the festival. It was also the one show I wanted to go to terribly, and the one show I risked not being able to attend - because I'm silly and didn't ask off, I was scheduled to work that night. Heh, oops. After some careful cajoling (ie, asking one of my managers, "Can I please have off work on Saturday, pleeeease??"), things worked out and I was free. (I don't work there anymore, so I really don't care who knows about this, either.)

Right, so. First stop was Spike Hill, yet again, to check out The L Magazine's "NYC Bands You Need to Hear" showcase. I got there late, so the first band I caught was Darlings, not to be confused with the punk outfit The Darlings, although there's a bit of a punk spirit alive in an otherwise pop band. Maybe it's a bit more of a "screamy garage" spirit than a "punk" spirit. Anyway, after their set they announced they were opening that night for...Bishop Allen. Oh. Well, that answered my question of "Who's opening for Bishop Allen...?", but also made me think, "Man, I could have checked out another band instead and still not missed this one..."

Don't quit remember what I did after that. I definitely remember wandering over to Public Assembly, where I caught the tail end of Motel Motel's set. Um, I remember having liked them. I guess Paper Mag said they were "better than Cold War Kids," which is actually the best comparison I can think of right now.

Anyway. Back to Studio B, which I got to way too early and therefore had to sit around for a while, reading and drinking free beer. Oh, noes.






Darlings

First up were Darlings, who hadn't changed in the few hours since I'd seen them last. Ta da!


















Bishop Allen

Oh, and of course, Bishop Allen. I'm not exagerrating when I say this was the best performance I've seen them give yet. Maybe that's not super-high praise, as it was only the fourth time I've seen them live. It's probably a lot more impressive when I say something like, "Oh, that was the BEST I've seen OK Go play," because I've seen them a million and three times so if I say "this was the BEST," it really means something. But I digress.

It had a lot do with the fact that it was a hometown show. The last time I'd seen them had been a hometown show, too, but that had a much more relaxed, "We're just playing to our friends and family" feel. Here, Justin pointed out that "we live around the corner from here...a lot of songs were written about places nearby..." That's what spurred them on.

And it wasn't that the band played with unusual enthousiasm, energy, or technical skill. It was the build in the songs and the set that was spot-on. Listen to classic Bishop Allen tracks like "Flight 180" and "The Monitor." There's an emotional build that enhances, or perhaps even creates, the power of those songs. You don't just go from "Once a great ironworks stood at the end of my street..." to "And we're singing la da da da da da da, but what then?" without moving upwards in feeling. The song just wouldn't work without it. And that's what they did so well : balancing and creating the build of emotion within their songs and within the set as a whole. The setlist didn't feature heavily from their recently-released Grrr..., either. I didn't expect that it would, as their set in April was a good mix of new, old, and older stuff, but less than half the setlist was dedicated to their latest record, leaving room for songs like "The Same Fire" (one of my favourite love songs ever), "Like Castanets," "Click" and, of course, "The Monitor" and "Flight 180."

It's hard, after so much time, to really describe what made this such a wonderful performance. Saying, "The build, the build! The build was incredible!" doesn't really point to something concrete that someone who wasn't there might understand. Let's put it this way - you all know that certain Bishop Allen songs ellicit a, um, certain emotional response from me. When I saw them at the Music Hall of Williamsburg last November, I cried through nearly half the set. This time, I figured I was over that, but that didn't stop me from being caught in the gut and tearing up a whole bunch. Lame? Maybe. But when the wave of emotion and power sweeps up and over like that, it's hard not to be caught in the swell.* A performance doesn't need to be particularly enthousiastic, cloying, balls-to-the-wall, contrived, or in-your-face to be remarkable. It just requires the right songs played the right way.

And some local inspiration. That's what we got that night. If you weren't there, that's what you missed.


Later that night, I caught the end of April Smith and the Great Picture Show's set at...well, I don't remember where it was honestly. But she was fantastic and cheeky with an incredible voice. I wish I could do her justice here, but that's for another post.



*(Wow, now that's a lame sentence...sorry for the tired analogy, guys.)

Northside Festival, Day Two : EarFarm at Spike Hill, PTST at Public Assembly (pow wow!, Shilpa Ray, Palomar, and more)

Day two of Northside featured some show-hopping – well, a little bit of show-hopping. My main focus that evening was EarFarm's showcase at Spike Hill, although I had my eye on a few other shows, too. Unfortunately, my notes on this night are rather meager, so you're going to have to enjoy all the pretty pictures instead.

Before the festival started, members of Coyote Eyes contacted me and sent along some songs, which is a generally lovely thing to do, and so I looked forward to seeing them live. Alas, we got to Spike Hill in time to hear the last three of their set (that commute is a bitch), although I liked what I heard, and Jonathan was enthused – after the all-girl, all alt-folk show the night before, he was happy to hear something rock-oriented.












pow wow! All photos by Jonathan Costa.

pow wow!, who played a whole mess of shows during the festival thereby making themselves the unofficial Northside Fest poster band, were up next, and I really enjoyed their set. After the night before (it had started to wear on me, too), pow wow!'s sunshiney pop sensibilities layered over dancey rock was wholly welcome. I don't have much to say beyond that, but I wish that I'd caught one of their gazillion other shows so that I could.

















The Secret Life of Sofia mellowed things out a bit. A lot. The music felt sparser and yet...it didn't. That doesn't tell you much about them, but I definitely liked the last song of their set, "Gone."

After saying "hi" to Matt of EarFarm (hi, Matt!), we headed over to Public Assembly for Pop Tarts Suck Toasted's showcase in hopes of catching Palomar. We were early enough to catch Murder Mystery, and my notes literally read : "<3 Pretty much. Hard to say much beyond that." So I won't.























Anyway, I only have one song from Palomar (their cover of Brian Eno's "I'll Come Running"), which I adore, but I've also enjoyed everything else from them that I've heard online and not bothered to download onto my iPod. It was pretty much based on this one song that I decided to go to this show, and I was actually pretty excited.

I'm not sure it was worth it, though. Vocally, frontwoman Rachel Warren sounded rougher than she does on record – I'm not sure if she had some sort of cold or if her voice differs that much between real life and record. Also, I was put off by the fact that seemed a little...short. Not height-wise. Short to the point of almost being abrasive. It was off-putting. I only found myself enjoying about every other song as well. I hate giving bad reviews (what if it was just a bad night? What if I just didn't know enough of their songs to fully enjoy the set? Is it necessary to know a band's catalogue to enjoy them live, though?), I think, in the end, Palomar is a band I enjoy thoroughly more in mp3 form than onstage. Or maybe I just need to see them again, I don't know.

We wandered back to Spike Hill to catch some of closers Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers' set before heading some. Wow! I love a woman who screams like that, who puts that sort of raw energy into her performance, and it carried over to the rest of the band. I heard later that this band played one of several "impromptu" street shows throughout the festival, and I'm kind of bummed I didn't catch that, or get to stay for more of their set. Jonathan, however, was wearing sandals and sulky that everyone was stepping on his toes and besides, we were tired. So homeward we went.

Coyote Eyes - "Kahlen"
pow wow! - "23 19"
The Secret Life of Sofia - "Moon on the Sea's Gate"
Murder Mystery - "Love Astronaut"
Palomar - "I'll Come Running" (Brian Eno cover)
Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers - "Coward Cracked The Dawn [radio edit]"

Also, can I say that Spike Hill, despite its somewhat inconvenient set-up, is my new favourite venue? Any place that bothers to put out a pitcher of water and cups for its patrons get the thumbs-up. Really, it's the little, tiny things that count.

Northside Festival, Day One : Uncensored Interview at Union Pool (Ivana XL, Sharon van Etten, Lisa Li-lund, Emilyn Brodsky)

All right, so, this is a little late. About two weeks late. Okay, maybe a week and a half late. Still. Sometimes it takes me a while to get my shit together, ya' know? Also, I'm lazy.chrome://foxytunes-public/content/signatures/signature-button.png

ANYway, even though most have moved on and the debates about the interesting debacles of the weekend have more or less ended, here's my coverage of Day One at L Magazine's inaugural Northside Festival.

After hitting the press lounge, getting shoes, and eating pricey-but-tasty burgers (note to schedule-writing staff : burgers =/= barbeque. For future reference.) at Studio B (which is supposedly shutting down for the millionth time – I'm amazed by the propensity of city folk to be like, "OMG NOISE COMPLAINT." YOU MOVED IN NEAR A ROCK CLUB. BUY SOME EAR PLUGS AND DEAL. Obviously things should be reasonable, but really.), Jonathan, my brother who willingly accompanied me to take pictures, and I headed down to Union Pool to catch Uncensored Interview's night of alt-folk.






All photos are by Jonathan Costa. Sorry they're so tiny.

First up was Ivana XL, whom I'd heard of a week or two prior to the show, the main impetus for having gone. She was nervous, charming, apologetic. She talked about how it was her first time playing at Union Pool and how nerve-wracked she was, and then later talked about her planned outfit for the night that had to be nixed on account of the rain and gloom : "I had an awesome outfit planned...it was like, booty shorts." Apparently booty shorts inspire confidence.

Even sans assurance-sparking booty shorts, her raspy vocals, oddly-pronounced vowels à la Regina Spektor, and driven acoustic ditties were enchanting. Yeah, she messed up once or twice, but I like when that happens. Some of the songs started to sound alike after a while, but her lyrics are constantly stellar – in "The King," she declares, "So fuck having babies and staying at home / I'm going to the movies and drinking martinis," sentiments I can get behind. At the end of the night, Jonathan declared her his favourite, and I agreed – shame that she couldn't have performed later in the night.





Between sets, I mentioned to my brother how I was glad to be at a show where I didn't have to wear ear plugs. And then along came Sharon van Etten, with her electric guitar big enough to overwhelm her petite frame and stronger voice. Reluctantly, the ear plugs went it. (That's what you get for being half-deaf in one ear already.) I guess I wasn't inspired to note too much about her performance. I liked her; Jonathan found a lot of her songs to sound the same. Inspired journalism, ta da!



After her first or second song, Lisa Li-lund explained to the audience, "I just finished a record where there's a lot of noise, so now I'm trying to turn them into songs," a task I didn't envy her having to do all by herself onstage.

But what an odd child. Switching between her acoustic and a keyboard, she would be angelic at times, get the audience shouting at other, and then say awkward things like, "You're all like 'blood blood blood!'" at others. Which, um. I don't remember any of us being like, "Blood blood blood!" It was an...interesting insight into her mind. The bizarrerie didn't change the strength of her work, with lines like, "I'm tired of guys who cry before I've even held them once."



The handwritten bill at the door said that François Virot was to be up fourth (I think...), but instead was Emilyn Brodsky. We contemplated leaving before her set (I had to be at work, in Jersey, at 9 am), but I'm glad we stayed, even despite the crazy. She was emotive, manic, and, frankly, weird, declaring early on, "Everyone who's interesting is a little batshit crazy." (She calls herself Emilyn "cupcake punk" Brodsky on her MySpace, if that says anything.) She's the first artist I've ever seen tell off – REALLY tell off, like, "Okay, well, you all just keep talking with your friends while I sing this song...I love playing in loud bars..." – her audience for talking mid-set, which others (read : my brother) found obnoxious and off-putting, but I respected her sentiments. (She had a point – if you want to chat with your friends, go in the other bar. There's two of them.) She talked about getting her period the night before and signing contracts in menstrual blood. Oh, and she burped into the microphone mid-song at one point. So make that emotive, manic, odd, brazen and unashamed, all of which make for an interesting performance, in the very least. But beyond that, I genuinely liked a good portion of her songs, played out on a ukulele (apparently she "couldn't bring herself to learn how to play the guitar"), especially "Ebony (Bread Helps)," a song about a woman whose life is falling apart ("Bread helps with anxiety /...Bread helps when men leave"). Like Mama says, "You can always bake a cake."


Ivana XL - "Happy Birthday"
Sharon van Etten - "For You"

We unfortunately did not stay for Olof Arnalds' set - we decided to head out "early," only to have to sit on the train back home for a million hours. Stupid Amtrak signaling problems. *shakes fist*

You're What We Came For : Franz Ferdinand at the Roseland, 5/7/09

It's been two weeks since I saw Franz Ferdinand play at the Roseland in New York. It's been four months since their third LP, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, dropped. Nine months since the radio edit of the first single, "Lucid Dreams," was released. And more than three years since last I'd seen them live at the Hammerstein with Death Cab for Cutie (what odd bedfellows!) and the Cribs. This review is nothing if not a labour of time and space, if not a study in contradictions.

When Tonight dropped, I couldn't find the words to express my own opinions of it. I could regurgitate what the band has said about the record. (That it's the soundtrack to a night out, filled with dance beats and synths and ending with the acoustic fadeout as the morning comes.) I could regurgitate what Pitchfork has to say on the matter. ("More so than stoking the band's current commercial prospects, Tonight is an exciting record for what it could potentially spell for Franz Ferdinand's future...as it turns out, their return is perfectly timed to remind us that, in a world where UK rock is so uninspired the Brits were forced to make superstars out of Kings of Leon, you really can have it so much better.") Or what my brother had to say on the matter. ("There are no guitars! Where'd the guitars go! I miss their post-punk revival sound.") I agree with all of it.

At the end of the day, while the record has grown on me – I can't stop listening to "No You Girls" at the moment, "What She Came For" makes me shout-along happy, the fat bass of "Can't Stop Feeling" no longer feels like a betrayal of the original version – I still find myself feeling ambivalent. Or perhaps apathetic. Franz Ferdinand and You Could Have It So Much Better were chock-full of singles-ready tunes that may not have created a cohesive whole but could certainly stand on their own. This collection seems to run into each other in a blurry, alcohol-fueled rush. But maybe that's what the band was going for.

So it was with equal parts anticipation and ambivalence that I approached my first Franz Ferdinand concert in three years. Nostalgia reigns in memories of April 2006. I was in high-fangirl mode at that time in my life, but had spent so much time and energy fangirling about other bands that, upon seeing Franz Ferdinand play not once but twice in the same day, I felt I was slapped in the face and promptly reminded of how much I fucking love this band. At the most, I was hoping that would happen again; at the worst, I was eager to see how the new electronic-based tunes would be played out live.




Born Ruffians. Warning that these photos are not my best. ie, pretty terrible.

I thoroughly enjoyed openers Born Ruffians' set. My brother, who has seen them several times before, said they were more sedate than usual. I still thought there was a great vibrancy to their set, even without their being balls-to-the-wall. The vocals caught my attention – as if someone’s gone and placed a wailing folk rock singer’s voice, something you might expect coming out of John McCauley of Deer Tick, in a skinny boy in a garage band and let them have at it. Possibly an odd combination, but given my recent reenchantment with vocals à la Deer Tick, I liked it. Point being, would I pay to see them again? Definitely.








Franz Ferdinand

And then, of course, Franz Ferdinand. The show got a bit fancy this time, adding a keyboard / synth set-up right in center stage and a huge light screen behind them, playing trippy video sequences and projected images of the boys, in lieu of the usual banners of themselves. Nick hobbled onstage in crutches to sit at the keys because apparently he’d gone and broken his foot somehow.

The setlist (as seen in that really dark photo above, if you can read it – "Jacqueline" was not played) was a good mix of old and new, not too heavy on any one record if with a slight (and understandable) predilection for the tracks off Tonight. The songs from their self-titled and So Much Better got their post-punk revivalist searing guitar treatment, and the tracks from Tonight were layered with electronics, and so the band bounced back and forth between the two. (Slightly to my chagrin – I wanted to see the new songs played on guitar, too.) My brother pointed out the emphasis placed on Nick McCarthy, who had plenty of time in his own limelight, versus the other times I've seen them – at the end of "Tell Her Tonight," he declared, "That's the first time I've sang that by myself!" Tempo was obviously, and interestingly, played with – songs that are already slow ("Walk Away") got drawn out into near-dirge territory, others that were already fast ("The Fallen") were sped up to the point of rendering it nearly impossible to sing along. "40 Feet" and "Outsiders," at the end of the main set, were tweaked, drawn out, messed with, filled up with sound as Alex Kapranos (still, I maintain, the sexiest rockstar I can think of) had the crowd chanting back to him in call-and-response. And at the end, good old "This Fire," never one of my favourite tracks on record, but a captivating song when played live.

Speaking of the crowd, quelle horreur. I honestly cannot remember a crowd that made me more unhappy than this one, except maybe for that time I saw We Are Scientists at Irving Plaza and the 15-year-olds decided it was time to mosh into me the whole time. Seriously. At one point, I turned to the screaming girls behind me and demanded, "What are you, fourteen?" The guy behind me took upon himself to (unintelligibly) shouting the lyrics. A fight broke out during "Michael." Really. I'm all for enthusiasm, but that was a bit much. Does that make me a stick in the mud?

At the end of the show, I wound up walking away feeling more ambivalent than I had before. It's difficult to determine if I really didn't enjoy the show because I was too bothered by the people around me, or if I simply didn't enjoy the show that much. Maybe it would help to see it again. Maybe I should follow Franz Ferdinand around on tour instead, just to see. Maybe I was just expecting too much of one performance. Maybe it’ll be better next time.

In that case, I should probably get on shelling out the $52 for their November show in Paris.