Show Review: Zola Jesus

Every once in a while, Messiah gets an "important" artist to grace our stage for B-sides. For the last show of his two year reign as B-sides maestro, Ryan Faus got us such a show. Zola Jesus is an operatically trained princess of minimalist goth pop whose government name is Nika Danilova. Lady Gaga cites her as an inspiration, and Pitchfork and NME give her rave reviews, comparing her music to Fever Ray and Florence + the Machine. Equal parts music and performance art, her live shows have sold out legendary venues like The Bowery Ballroom, and yet we got to see her for free.

Before we could feast on this audio-visual experience, however, we were subjected to an endurance test: an opening set by Australia's Naked on the Vague. As Pitchfork put it:

Naked on the Vague churn out stripped-down and monotonous post-punk. The rhythms are primitive; the most animated songs rely on little more than the incessant thud of a bass drum. Likewise, any pretense of harmony is chucked out the window.

Somehow Pitchfork turned that into a positive thing, but I've seen noise rock, minimal, and virtually everything else I could construe them as done drastically better. The majority of the audience missed out on Zola Jesus because they were unaware that there was an opener and thought the entire show would be similarly abrasive.

To those who did miss out: I am truly sorry. Danilova and her band took the stage and immediately commanded attention with intricate sound textures emanating from not one but three synthesizers, whose churning was soon joined by pounding drumbeats. After a brief instrumental introduction, she began singing in a kneeling position, face still covered in a flowing red hood. Once the hood was removed, she stalked about the stage, compelling all eyes to follow with vocal power and sheer emotional force. For once, the echoing chamber that is the Student Union seemed suited to the stadium size of an artist's stage presence. Climbing up on trashcans, examining the screen of one student foolish enough to be doing homework, dancing and thrashing about on the floor in front of the stage-nothing is beyond the theatrical performances of Zola Jesus. At show's end, she rushed off the stage, seemingly in anger, only to return moments later to affably interact with all and sundry. In short, Zola Jesus was even better than the hype led me to expect.

photo courtesy of The Guardian

Show Review: Caleb Hawley

Caleb in 2007:
It's not often a former American Idol contestant comes to B-sides, but this week singer-songwriter Caleb Hawley returned to our stage after almost three years, including his stint on Idol and a move to New York. His quirky music-nerd persona still comes through in the revamped act, but in a much more professional package. Constant joking and a winning smile carried Hawley through original music, renditions of the Mario soundtrack, and a jam session with his student doppelganger, Alex Brubaker. As someone who has been in artist management, it was fascinating for me to see such a talented musician attain much greater levels of success through marketing. His new and improved show pulls out all the stops, even bringing his dog on stage for a song about being jealous of the affection his wife shows their canine companion. A graduate of both Berklee College of Music and the Stephen Tyler school of "YES!", Hawley is sure to be a fixture in the industry now that his excellent musicianship is more popularly packaged. Caleb in 2011:

Show Review: O'Death

photo courtesy of Frederick Foxtrott
"Apocalyptic folk metal" act O'Death comes straight outta Brooklyn with gothic lyrics embedded in jammed-out headbanging music played on traditional folk instruments. The apocalyptic themes were more difficult to detect at b-sides this past week, however, as they came even more deeply hidden in a muddy bass- and violin- heavy mix than their indie aesthetic requires. The mix, while poor, was admittedly propulsive, emphasizing the driving bass and spasmodic fiddle more than enough to get me moving several times during the show. If Mumford & Sons did a record consisting entirely of their occasionally spastic breakdowns produced by Trent Reznor circa "Head Like A Hole", that would sound approximately like O'Death. To give them a better listen than I got to, stream their new album Outside at Paste [here].

Show Review: Koji on the Resolve Tour

Local singer-songwriter and social activist Koji dropped by B-sides on The Resolve Tour, raising awareness for an advocacy organization working against the Lord's Resistance Army in Africa. This is the same issue Invisible Children began fighting, but has both a wider and more specific focus: it works beyond Uganda in the other effected nations and works expressly as an advocacy group rather than a charity.

Koji played a selection of his own tunes, developed over the years through many different projects, as well as some covers. The crowd favorite was probably Josh Ritter's "To the Dogs or Whoever", probably because of the excellent show Ritter played here a while back. After the show, he and the volunteers from The Resolve hung out for a 'town meeting' with interested students.

Show Review: Miami Horror

This week, B-sides brought us 80's-obsessed Australian act Miami Horror, whose disco stylings and guitar solos were well-received by the student audience. I personally kicked off the dancing, soon to be joined by scads of revelers bouncing around like sober people imitating ravers, which is essentially what we were. "The Hound" even overcame a track-related injury to dance his heart out with the rest of us as synthpop gems floated to our ears and compelled our bodies to move. Not having brought some of their equipment from down under for this tour (they're currently in Canada), Messiah provided the band with a drum kit, instrument stands, and other necessities, which I spent about an hour tearing down after the show. The band members seemed to be affable guys that genuinely enjoy playing their music, joking with each other throughout. Enjoy the above video and check out their remix of Gorillaz' "Empire Ants" below:

Show Review: Kyle Rictor

Former Messiah student Kyle Rictor and his wife Kelsey graced the b-sides stage with their tight harmonies and thoughtful lyrics this Wednesday. Seeing Kyle under lights on a stage in a huge space was a much different vibe from when he played an apartment in the SALT House last semester, but the contrast between his imposing frame and beautifully fragile vocals was just as striking. The two of them had an impressive command of the crowd, with audience chit-chat remarkably subdued for such a laid-back act. Rictor's clever personification of addiction on cigarette sendup "Little Miss Nicotine" was a crowd favorite. Listen to the MP3 on his blog here.

Getting Some Artist Love

Every once in a while an artist is impressed enough by what I've said about them here to link to it or quote it in one of their media outlets. While many might post a link on Facebook or Twitter, a few have paid me the respect of doing so in a more permanent way:

• Will Gray posted my review of his show at b-sides on his blog. [this review]

• Alex Brubaker has a link to one of my show reviews up on his Myspace. [this review]

• MC Psalmist quotes me in his SonicBids EPK under "Press". [this review]

• Kyle Rictor includes me on his website under "Fan Testimonials". [this review]

Photo of Kyle & Kelsey Rictor courtesy of Megan Kelley

• For those interested, you should come see Kyle Rictor at B-sides on Wednesday.

• MC Psalmist recently put out the Friends'n'Family mixtape with some of the artists who also played the show I reviewed at MCPC.

• Alex Brubaker will be playing with Suzi Brown, who has been on The Fox and the Hound, at The Whole Cannoli on Saturday the 26th (I'm missing it for my sentencing in Wilmington, DE).

• Will Gray has a great documentary out about the music business called *Broke. It features interviews with everyone from John Legend to vice presidents of labels like Sony and Columbia.

Show Review: Joe Whyte Band

Whenever a band is advertised as a country act, I get nervous. While I love classic acts like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, and country-skirting genres like bluegrass and folk are among my favorites, the average country radio hit is more likely than almost anything else to elicit a cringe. Joe Whyte Band, therefore, went to work from the bottom of a pretty deep hole.

That said, I enjoyed the show. Turns out NYC country means hipster Americana posturing, something I've been semi-guiltily consuming in mass quantities since the beginning of my collegiate experience. While contrived identification with our parents' or grandparents' era working class is an odd cultural contrivance, someone once said that all art comes from someone loving something so much that they wanted there to be more of it. From that latter, more generous perspective, Joe Whyte's NYC origins are merely an easy liberation from the annoying twang and unconsciously derivative songwriting that makes me despise most country, and for that reason this is a band that I can enjoy, even if only as background music to what turned out to be a better-than-expected evening with friends. By the time the band left the stage for Joe's solo acoustic closer, the hole they'd been working out of had been left far behind.

Show Review: Grandchildren

I might actually be able to dub this my favorite b-sides ever, which is odd because those stories generally involve dancing. For this one, I sat down and had my mind blown... repeatedly. The first thing I noticed on arrival was the unusual setup-two drum kits at the front of the stage, backed by two keyboards and a wall of gear. When the show began, that wall of gear produced an enormous wall of sound to match. That "wall of sound" approach has been tried by hundreds of bands since Phil Spector created it in the 60s, with mixed results. The compelling difference with Grandchildren is their authenticity. In a band playing two of the hippest styles in music right now-polyrhythmic and psych/folk-at the same time, one might expect a hint of tongue-in-cheek pandering, but there is none here. Aleks Martray and friends play completely in earnest; they love this music.Each member is a multi-instrumentalist, contributing to the everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach they seem to take to songwriting. Trombone, trumpet, vocoder, and electronic samples of various kinds all make their way into the percussion-heavy mix of more ordinary drums, guitar, bass, keys, and vocals. Pouring their passion into so many instruments, the band and their audience are rewarded with sweat and a sound so enthralling that my friends and I had to take time to digest before enthusiastically gushing over the band and purchasing merch. Apparently these are some of the guys behind DIY venue Danger Danger Gallery in West Philly, so I look forward to seeing them around when I move back in the fall. I might even make it down for their show at Kung Fu Necktie April 14th.

Show Review: Colour Revolt

Though their name is spelled in the King's English, Colour Revolt hail from Oxford, Mississippi-the name is a reference to 19th-century English schoolteacher Edwin Abbott's satirical novel Flatland. Their literary name is the first indication of the intelligence that enabled the mixture of huge portions of post-rock and punk in their distinctive Southern gumbo. Having opened for both mewithoutYou [show review here] and Brand New [show review here], it is perhaps unsurprising that lead vocalist Jesse Coppenbarger brings a howl not unlike that of Aaron Weiss with a deadpan delivery Jesse Lacey would be proud of.
The Southern rock that no doubt permeated their upbringing comes through most clearly in their guitar tones, Coppenbarger's a crunchy blues rhythm with Sean Kirkpatrick adding psychedelic accents. An impressive array of gear ensures their compelling riffs and complex rhythms move the crowd both physically and emotionally. Colour Revolt puts on a great live show, to the point that many of us on SAB were discussing hopefully the possibility of their imminent return with Brand New on April 30th (an eventuality that has not materialized).

Show Review: Atlantic/Pacific

I missed Jarrod Gorbel, the first b-sides of the semester, because of a house meeting at my new residence in Harrisburg. Apparently Alex Brubaker did not deign to cover the show, so suffice to say that he is the frontman from The Honorary Title and my little sister felt the need to text me that To Write Love On Her Arms is on tour with him.

The next band to grace the Larsen Student Union with its presence was Atlantic/Pacific, fronted by a pair of music industry veterans. Garret Klahn most prominently played guitar and sang in influential '90s emo/hardcore outfit Texas Is The Reason, bookended with stints in Copper and New Rising Sons. John Herguth has played in House & Parish and The Love Scene before the two hooked up to form their current project. Billed as "psychedelic indie/folk", among other things, the duo plays live with the addition of a basic rhythm section.

To be fair, apparently a substantial portion of their equipment crapped out just before the show, surely a hard blow to any band that can be even tangentially linked to shoegaze. However, the show was simply uninteresting. The most positive comments I heard involved soundtracking mediocre movies, and quite a few students left early. The sound reminded me of a generic Guster by way of emo, and a lackluster performance gave me the impression these men are simply in a band because they don't know how to do anything else. In this era of television placements, however, perhaps all they need is to sculpt their niche sound and wait for commercial dollars to keep them afloat. A mildly catchy closing number offered a glimpse of hope, and Alex gave them the benefit of the doubt, so don't be surprised if these veteran rockers pull a great album out one of these days, but one thing is certain: Meet Your New Love is not it. This video captures the vibe pretty accurately:

If you'd like to make up your own mind, they are headed west with Gorbel at the moment-interesting coincidence-but they will return to the area without him at Kung Fu Necktie on March 4th. Hopefully they'll have some new gear.

Catching Up With Alex Brubaker

You may remember Alex Brubaker from previous posts. He plays percussive fingerstyle guitar, runs the monthly First Fridays that Messiah started up this year, and has done quite a few guest blogs reviewing various shows.

He is still playing shows, even doing some weddings now, and liked blogging so much he decided to start his own - http://alexbrubakerguitar.blogspot.com - where you will find information about his own musical efforts and his consumption of others' musical efforts, like his review of the most recent b-sides, featuring Cloud Nothings and Oberhofer.

Show Reviews: December B-sides

Due to Christmas break, there were only two shows in Messiah's b-sides series this month, but lack of quantity was made up by quality. The first of these two trios was The Wiyos, a nostalgic-folk act that made me feel like I was seeing all the best bits of my grandparents' record collection performed live. Fresh off a national tour with Bob Dylan, who handpicked them to open, the tightly harmonizing multi-instrumentalists enthralled us with a ridiculously wide variety of original compositions ranging from bluegrass to polka, including a soon-to-be recorded suite based on The Wizard of Oz. Their impressive array of instrumentation included everything from upright bass to kazoo, the latter even managing not to come off kitschy; kitsch could hardly come from such impeccably dressed, consummate professionals.
As John Cleese was fond of saying, "And now for something completely different..." The Andreas Kapsalis Trio is an instrumental group centered on guitarist Andreas Kapsalis, who plays a percussive fingerstyle not far removed from that of Alex Brubaker, a friend of mine who has been covered here before and was influential in bringing him to Messiah. Not content to play solo, Kapsalis spices things up with a pair of percussionists, adding propulsive polyrhythms to his original film scores and interpretations of other improvisation-oriented musicians' work. A perfect close to the semester, the trio provided excellent background music for those studying for finals while captivating those who needed a break with an intense and technical performance.

Show Reviews: November B-sides

The month of November was packed with goodness here at Messiah. First up was Chicago reggae outfit The Drastics with frequent collaborator Fada Dougou. They began the set with a short instrumental set before Dougou joined them onstage to add vocals to the guitars, horns, and electronics that got the party started. The diversity of reggae-based styles the band is able to play is amazing-from dub to ska and everything in between. Fada's lyrics, both written and improvised, kept a positive vibe going throughout as we danced late into the night. The track they are performing in this video has become a regular on The Fox and the Hound Show and in our live sets:
Reminding us that b-sides is not just a weekly dance party, singer-songwriter Griffin House brought his smoldering bluesy folk to us the following week. The ladies were enthralled and the gentlemen sufficiently entertained as well. Enough description from me-this tune is sure to find its way onto a mixtape for my girlfriend Ashley soon enough, and captures the atmosphere fairly well:


The party was not to be stopped, however, and Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang were the next act to charm both eyes and ears in Larsen Student Union. Complex polyrhythms kept all but the hardcore few from the dancefloor, but rewarded those of us that persisted with a virtually unstoppably energetic interactive performance from the aging patriarch of Bubu music. Janka Nabay was a star in war-torn Sierra Leone before run-ins with both rebel and government forces forced him to emigrate to the United States, where he hooked up with Ohio-by-way-of-NYC Afrobeat collective Skeletons, lending them some African street cred and appropriating their instruments into his "Bubu Gang". Attempting to replicate the sounds of an ancient Ramadan processional with Western instrumentation cannot be easy, but the Gang seems to do fairly well judging by the exuberance of their semi-traditionalist frontman. Nabay's enthusiasm is infectious, and hopefully he will continue sharing his beloved Bubu instead of my beloved Crown fried chicken as he did in Philly before finding his way into the Brooklyn music scene.

Show Reviews: October B-sides

B-sides this past month was quite the mixed bag. Clare and the Reasons led off on October 6th with soothing chamber pop. To be honest, it provided a pleasant background to socializing more than anything else, mostly due to a lack of rhythm. I would highly recommend them as homework listening. I almost they would return, rather than some of the more interactive acts that have been performing when I need to get work done.

Next up was local outfit Captain of Compliments, who apparently had broken up for months and chose this as their first show back. They evidently didn't think they needed much practice, and it showed. Their supposedly genre-defying sound just sounded like a disorganized collection of songs that didn't know what they were trying to be, an impression only increased by their spastic stage presence. I think it was the 5th b-sides I've walked out of in 3 years on campus.
If the first two shows of October weren't my cup of tea, the final one made up for it in spades. Not one but two up-and-coming hardcore acts graced the stage in Larsen Student Union on the 27th. New Jersey openers Where the Ocean Meets the Sky were the more impressive act from my perspective, with virtually flawless vocals, even while soloing and singing clean vocal simultaneously, showing the benefits of maturity. An Early Ending was definitely the crowd favorite, however, with a much bigger group getting on their feet and moving around a little (to the extent that pacifists mosh) when they hit the stage. A more youthful group, they are supposedly poised to be the next Texas in July (who are supposed to be the next August Burns Red), and evidently the local kids agree. I spent some time talking to both bands afterward, and they all seemed like genuinely nice guys.They were much less dissatisfied than I with the stillness of the crowd, swapping horror stories about various venues out on tour. And for the record, the frontman of WTOMTS is not Zach Galifianakis.

Show Reviews: September B-sides

Judging by the lack of feedback on the last show post, it isn't worth the effort to get back into that until I get some content back up to promote readership. In the interest of catching up on lost time, I will lump some posts together.

On September 8, atmospheric piano rockers Deas Vail provided one of the rare shows that completely fills the cavernous space of Larsen Student Union with sound. Their music can almost be described as an indie/emo stadium rock, and had many Messiah students rocking out in their best shoegaze poses, singing along with every lyric to well-beloved songs. Tiny frontman Wes Blaylock captivated the audience with his vocal ability and onstage theatrics, bringing a more popular focus to otherwise technical and spacious arrangements.

September 15 brought La Alianza Latina's Mexican Independence Day celebration, featuring dance lessons beforehand that did not fail to pay off when Jose Conde took the stage with his Afro-Latin jazz-funk combo. Propulsive beats and sexy guitar fills kept the dancefloor packed despite a late start and even later ending. Stuck in traffic on the way from NYC, Conde arrived late but insisted on playing a full set, concluding by bringing his dog out on stage for a song written about him, a Messiah College first to my knowledge.
The last b-sides of the month featured Greta Salpeter of The Hush Sound's new band, Gold Motel. Though often described as Californians (even by b-sides maestro Ryan Faus), the band actually hails from Chicago, and simply wrote much of their album Summer House in Southern California. That summery SoCal sound makes for a pleasant evening, and the band's sunny dispositions made for great conversation afterward as well.

Show Review: Bess Rogers & Allie Moss

I was just reading a great article on a busy musician in Citypaper, which reminded me of a little tour that dropped by Messiah for our first B-sides this semester. A couple years back, indie-pop singer-songwriter (oh hyphens) Ingrid Michaelson played a big show here, and evidently the band enjoyed it. Last spring, Bess Rogers and Allie Moss, both members of Ingrid's touring band, were scheduled to play at B-sides when one of the Snowpocalypses hit and blocked all roads from NYC to central PA. As you may remember, I was managing Marc Seeley (aka Letters from the Prom) at the time, and he graciously played a second b-sides gig as a substitute.

Undaunted, the ladies rescheduled and joined us for the opening show of the fall semester on September 1st. Moss warmed the crowd up with intimate folk ballads, then Rogers batted clean-up with bouncier kernels of indie-pop goodness. Worth the wait? Probably.

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Show Review: Margot and the Nuclear So and So's (by Alex Brubaker)

Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s first appeared in at the V sometime in the spring of ’08. They were in with the new music and had some neat little description for themselves, so I gave them a try. Instantly I was blown away by a whimsical soundscape of awesome. They reminded me of a slightly less timid, more folksy Anathallo, whom I had seen around that time at a B-Sides.
Needless to say, when I heard that they were going to be playing B-Sides this spring, I was ecstatic. When the day finally arrived, I showed up early and further put off studying for a rather important final. They were a little slow to get to the stage, but it was well worth the wait once they walked on.
Not doing my research prior to seeing them, I was rather surprised to see that they were an 8 piece including a separate guy on percussion, a brass player, and a guy who played both lap steel guitar and violin. Many times you see these sorts of additions as gimmicks, but these were extremely talented musicians who tastefully added to the songs with every note both played and omitted. Despite having so many members, it’s not like there was so much going on in the music that it was hard to follow.
Afterwards I got the pleasure of talking to the brass player for a little bit. We discussed the band’s sound and imaginative writing as well as touching on a few of the oddities of the band’s sound. For instance, the suitcase used by the percussion guy. Inside the suitcase is a trigger. The trigger goes to the percussion guy’s drum pad. When triggered, the drum pad samples a recording of the suitcase… A rather round-about way of getting things done, but if it’s more reliable, why not?
This was an extremely strong ending to an excellent year of B-Sides provided by Margeaux. Ryan will definitely have a lot to live up to as next years B-Sides director, but I’ve got faith in him. Anyone who missed the B-Sides this year, especially Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, definitely missed out.
Here's a video of them performing on Conan:


Interesting Side Note: In their contract, the band states that they can be paid in alcohol if money is a problem. Messiah just opted for the cash…
-Alex Brubaker

Show Review: Reilly

Last night's b-sides featured Reilly, a Christian rock band from Philly with a good sound and a great live show. Dueling violins provide the most immediate standout, but are not over-used or gimmicky. Frontman John Reilly's vocals are augmented by up to 4 part harmonies throughout, resting easily on top of a soulful, pop-rock instrumental that is familiar without being trite. Covers of everything from the "Once" soundtrack to Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth", along with the band's original material, had the audience singing and clapping along, especially during the more interactive portions of the show. Here's a video of them doing their closing instrumental jam:

Show Review: Floor Plan

B-sides this week at Messiah was Floor Plan, a live trip-hop band that provided exactly what one would expect from something described as trip-hop: trippy hip-hop. It was chill, it was synthy and weird, the lyrics were frequently abstract, occasionally hilarious, and delivered in a haze that evoked every drug-addled alternate reality I've ever heard of. The band's fairly unique style and fascinating stage presence-including semichoreographed dance moves and colorful jumpsuits-made for an interesting show. Here's a video of them performing "Lemon" at Indiana Wesleyan to give you a clue: