Troubador Update

My friends in Troubador are celebrating the release of their "Between the Truth and the Lies" EP at the Auction House in Audubon, NJ on March 19th, joined by Dinner and a Suit, my friends in Swie Back, and Color House. The show is at 7 pm and tickets are $10.

Here's a video of the recording process (ongoing since summer) with Matt Trowbridge of Swie Back at Gradwell House in Haddon Heights:

They also released this b-side for free download via their Twitter:

The House - Troubador

For more information, check out my previous posts on them by clicking [here], go to the show, and pick up a copy of their CD. Support good local music!

Show Review: Vivian Girls, Veronica Falls

My first Oxford concert experience was completely unplanned. I was out with friends one night at the Jericho Tavern (which evidently hosted Radiohead's first public show) when I realized the upstairs music venue was hosting blog-buzz magnets Vivian Girls that evening. Never one to turn down an opportunity to see the opening act from M. Ward's last tour, but a bit poor for purchasing tickets, I snuck in, got thrown out, then marked my hand with a friend's sharpie in the same way the people inside had theirs marked.

Soon after the accomplishment of this ingenious plan, the last 'local' opener came on: London's Veronica Falls. Fitting right in with the indie-rock girl-group vibe of the evening, their lineup was evenly split between males and females. Walking basslines, jangly surf-rock riffs overdriven to approximate shoegaze walls of sound, and propulsive drumming supported tight vocal harmonies that would have been reminiscent of the Beach Boys if not for the female lead. This is indie rock, but with a pop sensibility: short, catchy numbers that leave the listener wanting more rather than wondering when it will end.

Straight outta Brooklyn, Vivian Girls is one of those bands that is great because Pitchfork said so. With the amount of blog hype around this 3-piece girl group, perhaps I just expected too much, but that is more a criticism of the hype than my judgment. Indistinguishable churning riffs, lackadaisical drumming, and "harmonies" that sounded more like drunken singalongs did not contribute to my otherwise pleasant show-going experience, so I left about halfway through the set and wandered off to find my misplaced friends. Evoking Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" is all well and good as long as it is constructed out of music, and shoegaze can lead to greatness for technically proficient musicians, but Vivian Girls accomplish neither.

Show Review: Switchfoot

I arrived at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza at about four in the evening, the sky was cloudy, the sun was going down, and the temperature was freezing - so why was there a line of people outside three hours before doors? I was about to find out. Switchfoot is a multi platinum, Grammy nominated band from San Diego, California, but despite their mainstream success, they did something very independent and risky for this tour. The gigs were titled "An Evening with Switchfoot" - no opening acts, long meet and greets with their hardcore fans, and a band playing every song in order off of their latest album before playing one hit.

Although I saw a few kids, the show was a 16 plus show in a not-so-nice section of New York City on a Tuesday night. Despite these setbacks, the show was sold out, just like every other show of the tour. The Fillmore is a small concert room inside a large venue above a better known venue: Irving Plaza, which is in the basement of the building. Because of the size of the room, the bass was relatively louder than most shows. Bass can be tricky to work with in small rooms due to the fact that it easily overpowers the other instruments with more treble such as electric guitar and vocals, but that was not the case at The Fillmore. The band came out on time about an hour after doors, as stated before, the band played the entirety of their latest release "Hello Hurricane" in order. Even though the album was just released, a large part of the crowd seemed to know the words to every song.

The five members of Switchfoot proved they had a great ear for blending their instruments. Guitarist Andrew Shirley played more high end parts on his vintage Fender Telecaster while singer Jon Foreman made use of his PRS guitars endorsement by playing quieter, more low end parts on songs like "Meant to Live" and "Stars", which were both played that night as a bonus after the album was played through. Bassist Tim Foreman played with what appeared to be complete accuracy with drummer Chad Foreman holding down the beat in perfect timing. Jerome Fontamillas, who was staged more towards the back of the crowd, made a wide array of sounds by use of his keyboard, which sounded excellent in contrast to everything else.

By the end of the show, I found myself saying to myself "this was the best Switchfoot show I have ever seen". That means a lot figuring that it was my 16th Switchfoot show as of then.

-Phil Smith

[click here for video of him & his brother playing w/ Switchfoot @ the TLA]

Explanation of Situation

Here's the deal: I've been busy.

I realize that not posting from November to February essentially kills a blog if the author isn't otherwise famous (which I'm not). I got caught up in finals and end-of-semester stuff at Temple and preparations for a trip to California and then a semester in Oxford (where I am now).

I have now posted all my show reviews from November, and will hopefully be posting more often since I have little to no scheduled obligations while I'm here. As a sidenote, show schedules will be on hiatus until I return to the US of A, because I honestly don't want to know what I'm missing out on. Here's a list of the websites I check if you'd like to keep up with that yourself:

R5 Productions, The Troc, Electric Factory, TLA, Khyber, Champion Ship, B-sides, SAB, Chameleon, Croc Rock, SBC, Merriweather, Ram's Head, Sonar, Ottobar, 9:30 Club, Hangar 84

I'll be going to some shows in England, as well as passing on friends' reviews of shows elsewhere. When I get back (in April), I'll be kicking into high gear with a new promotions company, initially focusing on my friend Marc Seeley, aka Letters from the Prom (who you might remember from here). In the meantime, let me know of any shows, venues, artists, etc. you think I should cover, and check out this video from blogger favorites The Soft Pack (formerly known as The Muslims):

Show Review: Alex Brubaker

Back in November, I booked Alex Brubaker for a show at Messiah's Philadelphia campus. For those who don't know or don't remember, Alex plays instrumental guitar, integrating diverse techniques such as percussive fingerstyle into his various experimental pieces [see here and here]. The show in Philly was accompanied by a cooking contest, during which Alex played a long set, followed by a short break and finishing with a few fan favorites.

apologies for the talking in the middle

Show Review: Zee Avi, The Backroad

Imagine that you're in college. You're stereotypically broke and trying to balance your time between studying for exams, playing Halo or playing ultimate frisbee. Your college thinks it best to bring options to you, in the form of a relatively unknown singer-songwriter, whose music sounds nice on the iTunes previews and who is at the level of popularity where you can pay $5 for a ticket. If you need a study break, or if it's too dark for disc golf, you go to the show. No problem. Imagine that you're an upcoming artist, who is getting paid to play gigs at a college. You are trying to establish a fan base, you are trying to perfect your musical abilities - you want the audience to leave and go buy a CD. The stage was set for such an experience on Saturday in Brubaker Auditorium at Messiah College, who hosted Zee Avi, a fledgling musician from Malaysia who, thanks to the world wide web, garnered some attention in the United States via YouTube. The show opened with opening act "The Backroad", an entertaining act of some college dudes who are skilled at their instruments and got the crowd involved [Edit: The Backroad is Kyle Morgan's band]. After wrapping up their set, the band cleared the stage for the headliner. Avi, joined by a drummer and a comatose bass player, opened her set with an a cappella number. The audience smiled and snapped along, totally into Avi's sound. That's when the proverbial shit hit the fan.

A monitor was rumbling, causing Avi to quit mid-song and ask for a new monitor. The sounds were driving her, and a few audience members, crazy. Fine. Weird, ill-timed, a bit bitchy, but fine. Some jokes from a Malaysian audience member eased the tension, but this ice breaker, as we would soon find out, was only temporary. As Avi began to play her first single, the audience scratched their heads, trying to figure out where this single had been played. Halfway through the song, the audience was taken off guard when we were put in the spotlight and asked to sing the chorus. We fumbled, we laughed nervously, we whispered rhymes that we thought might fill in the blanks. After closing her song, Avi stared at the audience and asked, blankly, "So how many of you out here actually know my songs?" Of course, most of us hadn't, so it was silent. Some girl and some guy probably whistled or cheered, but the rest of us sat stunned. A song or two later, some more technical problems arose, but this time it was the fault of the musician, not the tech crew. Avi gave a death glare to the sound booth throughout the rest of the number, determined to win the staring contest. She played a cover song, then addressed the audience abruptly by informing us she was about to end the show. The drummer left the stage and she crooned her final number, eyes-a-rollin, and then left the stage. There was hope for humanity when we thought she apologized for being bitchy; to our dismay, though, she just apologized for being pitchy - evidently, she couldn't hear herself for the last fifteen minutes.

[evidently she's always like that]

I realize that not much has been said about Avi's music, and this noticeable omission is no oversight. It's difficult to review the music of the show, because music took a backseat to her stage antics. Technically speaking though, Avi sounds brilliant. While her songwriting and guitar-picking skills are average, her voice is smooth and smoky, compensating for any other musical deficiencies she may have. The type of performance that Avi displayed was the type you would expect from a diva, someone not having anything to lose or prove, someone who could afford to be, for lack of a better word, rude. But Avi is quite the opposite - the crowd didn't sing along with her because we don't know her songs. She isn't familiar. We are looking for a good impression. Whether we know it or not, we are looking for an artist who can sail through a technical glitch without letting it ruin her evening. Her poor showmanship and eyerolls took center stage - not her music. Such a reality turned what could have otherwise been a pleasant, enjoyable concert into a painful, awkward spectacle that simultaneously alienated any pre-existing fans and snatched the possibility of any of us wanting to go buy her music. That's a mistake no musician can really afford these days, and Avi is no exception.

-Jeff Waters (music)

Show Review: Zappa Plays Zappa

Let’s go back in time between the late 50s through the early 90s. Through this time we see the influential works of bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and many others who have helped to shape today’s music. Our younger generation, not being around for most of that time, has missed one of the most potentially influential artists of that time. You won’t hear Frank Zappa’s name commonly throughout much of the under 30 crowd, but if you look a bit later, your parents probably listened to Zappa’s music or at least had heard of him.

So Frank was this crazy crazy guy. He and Captain Beefheart worked together on occasion, just to give you an idea. Anyway, so from the 50s through when he died, he was a guitarist and composer. His music basically takes the idea of experimental rock and adds another “experimental” to it, or something like that. Back in the day, this was one of the first bands Steve Vai was in (also, another testament to his craziness) And if you can get a hold of any of his orchestral works, they’re pretty nuts as well.

How is this a show review, though? I mean, the guy has been dead for 17 years and I would’ve been 4 at that time! This show was actually only in mid-January, this year. Turns out Frank’s son, Dweezil, (Yeah, Dweezil. His sister’s name: Moon Unit… Told ya’ he was crazy…) made a tribute band to his father in ’05, appropriately name: Zappa Plays Zappa. Since then, ZPZ has been on tour a few times, playing old Zappa songs, nearly note-for-note. Last summer I got the chance to see them 5th row, opening for Dream Theater. It was the best live show I’ve ever seen, so when I saw ZPZ was going to be in Baltimore, at Ram’s Head Live, I had to go.

As I said before, this is some crazy experimental rock. ZPZ is a 7 piece: guitar, guiar, bass, drums, percussion, keyboard/sax/flute, and vocals. In addition, everyone else also does vocal things and Dweezil actually plays his dad’s old Gibson SG – the same one Frank played at his shows. Since it was just ZPZ, with no openers, they played a nearly 3 hour set. It featured a wide variety of Frank’s work, including a few pieces from the Joe’s Garage album that they’ve just started to play on this tour. I’d say my favorite songs of the night were probably “Catholic Girl” and “Crew Slut.” Yes, moderately offensive, but in a rather comical way.

Now on to how this show was mind-blowing. First, I think the instrumentation is amazing. Not only is there an extreme variety between songs because of this, but then they throw in these crazy instrumental interludes. These are a little beyond just “solos” because it’s not just one feature at a time (most of the time). There is also a lot of call and response between instruments, which is pretty awesome.

So in addition to the instrumentals, there’s also these crazy vocal things they do. With everyone capable of singing and whatnot, the possibilities are endless. Quite a few of Zappa’s songs tell stories. In that instance, usually everyone will have a character and dialogue within the song. There are even times when multiple conversations are going on at once, so you have to listen to bits and pieces of each to get the idea of what’s going around. That’s probably the craziest it gets vocally. A handful of weird vocal sound effects are used throughout the performance as well.
Basically, this is the sort of show that everyone should be required to go to at some point in their life. There’s a little bit of everything thrown in, so if you are even remotely musically inclined, you should be able to appreciate it. Those of us who fancy more experimental sounds, music that keeps you guessing, will likely be able to appreciate ZPZ the most. For me, this completely changes my outlook on music. I have no idea what that means for the future of my own writing/listening/etc, but for now I’m sorta just left scratching my head and wondering how it’s possible to do what they do.

-Alex Brubaker

Rave Review: Mad Division

If you ever get the chance to hit up a party at the Mad Decent Mausoleum, do it.

My roommates and I hit up Mad Division there (Subdivision's planned party at the 941 Theater was moved because of the demise of that venue-RIP), which was amazing. We showed up as Flufftronix came on around 9:30 pm, and watched DJ Sega, Kingdom, Bok-Bok & L-vis 1990, and finally Joker literally bring the roof down. The bass was so loud the ancient ceiling of the Mausoleum was falling apart, with flakes "snowing" down on the crowds dancing below. The crowd was a really diverse mix for such an up-to-the-minute lineup, with hipsters, ravers, and fratboys all thrown in the mix. It went til 3 or 4 AM. Though Sega played my favorite set, it was nice jamming to some quality dubstep for the second time in my life (a skill that has come in handy since I've been in the UK).

Show Review: Brand New, Glassjaw, Crime in Stereo

Apologies for the lateness (and associated brevity) of this post.

When my friend Alejandro hooked me up with a ticket to the second night of Brand New's sold-out stay at the Electric Factory, I wasn't expecting an old-school hardcore show. The all Long Island lineup drew fans of the differing styles of each of Brand New's diverse albums, along with a huge contingent of Glassjaw fans eager to see a band coming off a long hiatus.

Openers Crime in Stereo got things started without being particularly impressive, setting the tone with a hard-hitting set delivered nonchalantly beneath dim lighting.

Glassjaw took the stage in a unique semi-circular formation occasionally completed by frontman Daryl Palumbo as he drunkenly stalked around the stage. The setup made the entire show seem as if they were practicing onstage, understandable for a band that hadn't played publicly since 2004. The crowd was slightly older than usual for a hardcore show, and the mosh pit jammed full of drinkers who rushed down from the balcony bar when Glassjaw took the stage. Technical flawlessness coupled with their bizarre formation made for a mesmerizing stage presence.

Each successive album from Brand New has evolved their style, and their latest effort "Daisy" is no exception. Far from their pop-punk roots, and even further from the indie ethos of "The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me", the new record is significantly more hardcore, filled with heavy riffs supporting Jesse Lacey's screaming vocal. Even the older material was played in this style, with a couple exceptions involving Jesse alone onstage, minus the extra drumkit and instrumentation involved in the rest of the show. The new songs were accompanied by background video clips and flashing images projected on the wall behind the band, which seemed to mollify an audience with little knowledge of the new material. Unlike other bands of similar age, Brand New hasn't lost a thing.