WaterCoolerGossip

Electronic rockers The Gaskets are coming to the Mercury Lounge next Tueday on 6/6. These two guys from Richmond, Virginia make music that would mix well with Prince, Michael Jackson, The Scissor Sisters, or Ghostland Observatory. In other words, if you come to this show you are going to dance.

TOP 5 REASONS TO SEE THE GASKETS ON TUESDAY
5. You want to see the singer Ted's tattoo of an Eames chair on his arm.
4. You don't have ticket to Tapes n' Tapes / Cold War Kids / Figurines. They are playing Sunday anyways.
3. You are curious how any band that is good enough to headline the Mercury Lounge could rock a show with only a Yamaha Rm1x sequencer.
2. You are really good at giving/receiving high-fives.
1. You listened to the MP3s below and recognize their awesomeness.

DOWNLOAD
Left Hand (MP3)
Hold Steady [Hot Weather] (MP3)

UPDATE
The Gaskets will be back on 7/30 for a show at The Delancey sponsored by The Music Slut.

There was lots of dancing and high-fives at their last show at Piano's as pictured above.

Posted by 3xWes at 03:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thao Nguyen is singer-songwriter from outside of D.C. She grew up working in her mother's Laundromat and appropriately her first album is call Like the Linen. She also has one of the stand out tracks on the Kill Rock Stars compilation The Sound the Hare Heard. Thao has a relaxed singing style that contrasts nicely with her quick finger plucking on guitar, which is again cooled by the brush percussion. Take a listen.

DOWNLOAD
Tallymarks (from Like the Linen)
Hills (from Like the Linen)
Feet Asleep (from The Sound the Hare Heard)

Dodge at MOKB, Dreams of Horses, and Village Indian also have nice things to say. She is about to go on tour for The Sound the Hare Heard and will be in New York in July. See the full tour dates after the jump.

7/12 North Six - Brooklyn, NY
Essie Jain, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/13 Knitting Factory - New York, NY
Essie Jain, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman

THE SOUND THE HARE HEARD TOUR
6/7 Cafe du Nord - San Francisco, CA
The Moore Brothers, Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers & Thao Nguyen
6/9 Hard 2 Find Showspace - Goleta, CA
Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers & Thao Nguyen
6/10 Knitting Factory - Los Angeles, CA
Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Simone White
6/11 Modified Arts - Phoenix, AZ
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Simone White
6/12 Solar Culture - Tucson, AZ
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Simone White
6/14 Monkey Mania - Denver, CO
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Simone White
6/15 Kilby Court - Salt Lake City, UT
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Simone White
6/16 Neurolux - Boise, ID
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Simone White
6/17 The Artistery - Portland, OR
Laura Veirs, Corrina Repp, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Simone White
6/18 Mars Bar - Seattle, WA
Corrina Repp, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Simone White
6/19 The Shop - Spokane, WA
Southerly, Lovers & Thao Nguyen
6/20 Higgins Alley - Missoula, MT
Southerly, Lovers & Thao Nguyen
6/21 Eleven 11 - Billings, MT
Southerly, Lovers & Thao Nguyen
6/23 Black Sheep - Sioux Falls, SD
Southerly, Lovers & Thao Nguyen
6/24 The Aquarium - Fargo, ND
Southerly, Lovers & Thao Nguyen
6/25 Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN
Jeff Hanson, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen Lauren Hoffman
6/26 Slipper Club - Madison, WI
Jeff Hanson, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
6/27 South Union Arts - Chicago, IL
Jeff Hanson, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
6/28 Gabes Oasis - Iowa City, IA
Jeff Hanson, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
6/29 Vaudeville Mews - Des Moines, IA
Jeff Hanson, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
6/30 Jackpot - Lawrence, KS
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/1 The Setlist - Warrensburg, MO
Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/2 Record Bar - Kansas City, MO
Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/3 Lucas School - St Louis, MO
Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen, Lauren Hoffman
7/4 Schuba's - Chicago, IL
Aliccia BB, Thao Nguyen, Devin Davis
7/5 Big Car Gallery - Indianapolis, IN
Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/6 DAAC - Grand Rapids, MI
Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/7 Lager House - Detroit, MI
Aliccia BB, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/8 Banana Tina - Ypsilanti, MI
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/9 Kitchen Distribution - Buffalo, NY
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/10 Garfield Artworks - Pittsburgh, PA
Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen, Essie Jain & Lauren Hoffman
7/12 North Six - Brooklyn, NY
Essie Jain, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/13 Knitting Factory - New York, NY
Essie Jain, Southerly, Lovers, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/14 Cafe Metropolis - Wilkes Barre, PA
Southerly, Lovers, Essie Jain, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman
7/15 The Red And The Black - Washington, DC
Southerly, Lovers, Essie Jain, Thao Nguyen & Lauren Hoffman

Posted by 3xWes at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sunset Rubdown was at the Mercury Lounge last week. I really enjoyed the show on Wednesday. Review over at Product Shop. Check out Stadiums and Shrines II (MP3) if you have not heard anything from their recent album Shut Up I Am Dreaming.

Posted by 3xWes at 01:45 PM | Permalink

A band runs a huge risk by only singing one phrase in a song. If this phrase is cliché or just dumb then the song automatically sucks. Oh No! Oh My! has some really great one liners. Here are two from their self titled album that came out recently. You should get it to hear the more in-depth lyrical juicyness. The album has a few of those too.

I Love You All the Time (MP3) is a cracked-out dance tune with lasers that transition to acoustic guitars. You must hear this.

Women Are Born In Love (MP3) goes in the opposite direction of of hand claps and group choruses. It is still infectious.

Also their cover art is one of my favs for the year so far.

Posted by 3xWes at 08:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's opened up for Film School yesterday at the Mercury Lounge. Their live show packed a punch. Theses guys are getting a lot of love on the internet lately probably because their album The Dust of the Retreat has also been rereleased and remastered this year with more snap and shimmer. The band is definately worth you time if you like elaborate midwestern indie tunes. The heater tracks have also been moved to the beginning of the album. Check out my review of the show at Product Shop. Also check this track Skeleton Key (MP3).

Posted by 3xWes at 08:17 PM | Permalink

Film School came back to New York. It was ok. A lot of their songs are mush. A full review at Product Shop. They were signed to Beggars Banquet on the spot after a supposedly killer show at the 2005 SXSW, which was partially due to the song 11:11 (MP3), it has a catch baseline but a lot of their songs don't really have anything to grab onto. Garrison is also a good song. It has some My Bloody Valentine influenced sampling and looping. They are by no means a bad band.

Posted by 3xWes at 07:53 PM | Permalink

ART BRUT


ART BRUT 47

Art Brut is still here in New York. They have played 10 shows here in the past eight months. Plus they have another show tonight at the Blender Music Party and are scheduled to play The Siren Music Fest. Who can top those pops numbers?

There is a review of the first of two Knitting Factory Takeover Shows at Product Shop. We Are Scientists were also there as Art Brut 47 but unfortunately did not play Art Brut covers. Some of their lyrics are below me but also catchy because I somehow have them memorized: "My body is your body, I won't tell anybody, if you want use my body, go for it, yeah!"

The Chalets were also fun and oh so stylish. Everybody wants to Feel the Machine (MP3). This is the only song on the album they did not play but should have.

UPDATE
Notice the mustache synergy in the two bands. I only saw this after looking at those photos side by side.

Posted by 3xWes at 08:08 PM | Permalink

I saw Goldfrapp at Irving Plaza last night. At one point there were two werewolves in bikinis dancing on stage flanked by two band mates playing keytars. I kid you not. The dancers were essential. Goldfrapp also had a gust of wind blowing her hair back the entire show that was a cool effect. However, I am told last night was essentially the same show from Nokia Theatre a few months ago. She lost me on some of the slow songs where she subtracted the droning bass, which left the strings a little bare. Those songs had a baroque (more like broke) sound that made me think I was at a rock opera. The obvious hits from her latest two albums were good and fun to dance to: "Ride a White Horse" (with mirror-mosaic horse dancers this time), "Ooh La La," "Train," and "Number 1." "Strick Machine," the second encore (I had no idea it would come to this but she seemed flattered), had a lot of zap live and "Ooh La La" really got the crowd jumping. Alison Goldfrapp and the band put on a tight show but I have no use for her slow songs.

One Louder and Fluxblog were also there. Sorry no pics.

SET LIST (VIA FLUXBLOG)
Utopia / Lovely Head / Tip Toe / Train / Koko / Slide In / U Never Know / Deer Stop / Fly Me Away / Satin Chic / Beautiful / Ride A White Horse / Ooh La La // Black Cherry / Number 1 /// Strict Machine

Posted by 3xWes at 01:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I went to the White Rose Movement at Bowery Ballroom Friday. It was pretty lame live. They are too serious. The sound just was not crisp like the album. They have a few good songs that could possibly translate to the dance floor but they flopped live. They made a bad move skipping Mercury Lounge.

Posted by 3xWes at 12:52 AM | Permalink

AOL Music has a video of Franz Ferdinand live in Chicago. From those back shots, the Aragon Ballroom looks gigantic but probably not bigger than the Hammerstein Ballroom. I caught them twice there when they were in New York, once on their mega-tour with Death Cab For Cutie and then the following afternoon for a myspace "secret" show in the same place. It was good but not amazing. But that is old news, check out the video. It has some nice close-up shots you just don't get live in a venue that size.

Posted by 3xWes at 04:41 PM | Permalink

Friday was Hockey Night at the Mercury Lounge. Nothing else is saying summer louder than these guys right now. Read a review of the show and other thoughts on the weekend at Product Shop. Indie-licious caught them at Cake Shop. Check out Dark Trance (MP3).

Posted by 3xWes at 03:00 PM | Permalink

Blog sensation Beirut played their first show in New York yesterday. My thoughts are over at Product Shop. First you must check out Jerry Yeti's annotation of BrooklynVegan's photo of the band and bloggers, i mean crowd.

Posted by 3xWes at 03:39 PM | Permalink

I saw The Concretes over at Bowery. Ah Sweden. Read about the show over at Product Shop NYC.

Posted by 3xWes at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I went to the Rolling Stone 1000th Issue Party yesterday at Hammerstein Ballroom with Jason Product Shop. We met up with Ms Modern Age there. The whole thing felt more like a wedding or a Bar Mitzvah than a party for a music magazine. We walked in and there were puffy white couches on the floor because honestly who wants to stand at a rock show. Laura called the decadent set up a combination of Bed (a bar in NY with beds instead of tables) and My Super Sweet 16. There was a DJ and projections of assorted RS covers. There was also a giant blank Rolling Stone cover where you could pose for your picture. I did this twice because it was right next to the bar. Anyway, Paul Schafer opened up by bringing out random people to play cover songs. It was very boring. Paul said something about the 1000th cover and then "Don't worry, we aren't going to do a 1000 covers." Thanks Paul.

However, last night had its moments. “King” Solomon Burke sang a few soulful songs sitting on a giant throne. But the Strokes did not go on until after 11 so there was lots of time to kill. Thankfully, there was an open bar. While hanging out outside I saw Mike D, who came through the regular line instead of the red carpet entrance. Brooklyn, What?! David Carr of the New York Times was smoking outside. He is an old timer but still cool. Lee of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was coming in and David said, "Hey have you seen that guy's band." Then David said he was also blown away by their much-improved live show as seen at Bowery. Lots of other celebs were there too. The lights were on most of the time except for The Strokes so you could easily spot people. Marilyn Manson and Dita von Teese showed up early, maybe to claim a prime spot on those couches. I also spotted Nick Zinner from the balcony. Nas was there too. But my question is: Where was David Cross?

When The Strokes finally came on, the crowd sort of paid attention but really all that happened was the music in the room got better. There were special guests and Julian tried to introduce them enthusiastically but I think he is incapable of sounding excited about anything. Eddie Vedder sang the hook on "Juicebox," which made the song ten times better. Lou Reed came out to sing "Wildside," which was definitely the highlight of the entire set. Jason has some better or at least closer pics because he snuck up front after a smoke. On the way out we got a bag with stuff in it, including the 1000th issue with the million dollar 3D cover and a RS compilation of cover songs—not featuring Paul Schafer. Sorry Paul. Laura had a set list but lost it, she has tried to reconstruct it here.

Posted by 3xWes at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Cold War Kids have been in New York for a few days. I missed them at Two Gallants knowing that they would play three shows at Piano’s this week. Every blogger and their webmaster was out to see them. David Cross was there Monday too. There are lots of MP3s floating around if you are not familiar with this fast-rising California band. Tuesday’s show was more rowdy and they built momentum with their set list. The band was moving all over the stage taunting and slapping one another like you would your little brother. Sometimes the singer did not have a guitar, instead his hands would dance along to the thuds of the beat.

Their performance that night said to me, “We like to bang on shit.” A lot of the their rhythms breakdown to bass and tom, the kind of stuff you could play with one hand. They used maracas, tambourines, handclaps, and even an empty liquor bottle. On “Hospital Bed,” one of the guitarists put a symbol on a crate and bashed away at the climax of the song. It fell to the floor and he continued to bash the symbol into ground, disregarding time or measure. On “Hang Me Out To Dry,” the singer harnessed that same chaotic energy mashing chords together as he pounded them out on his vintage keyboard. Unfortunately, this piano was set up at the end of the stage facing the wall, ironically cast to the side in a bar called Piano’s. The unruliness is also present on their EPs but I did not notice it until Tuesday evening.

Cold War Kids short stint at Piano's illustrated why these guys are the next buzz band. They will be back in June to open for Tapes n’ Tapes. Some say Cold War Kids could just be another blip on the hype radar. "This will all be over in time," they sing. Doubtful, if they continue on the same trajectory.

COLD WAR KIDS MP3S

Hospital Beds (MP3)
Tell Me In The Morning (MP3)

Posted by 3xWes at 05:44 PM | Permalink

The Black Hollies will put you in a time warp. Seeing them live at the Mercury Lounge on Tuesday took me back to the sixties, a time that I can't even remember, but I felt like I was at psychedelic party possibly somewhere in Britain. But this New Jersey band, with three members from Rye Coalition, plays some good ol' fashion rock "n" roll. Their best "numbers" are upbeat, have a simple chord progression, and a hopping bass line that gets you moving. Their set started with a song about the "sweet, sweet lovin'" of the ladies and then next song explained, "Baby, I'm no fool." The Black Hollies latch onto a phrase a squeeze it for everything its worth. There were some slow spots in the show, especially when they overdid the warble on the lead guitar, making this unrelenting shimmer. I could have done without those songs. But when they're rockin', simplicity is their strength. You get it after one listen, which makes The Black Hollies instant fun.

FULL DISCLOSURE
Pete, who runs their label Earnest Jenning, is a friend but that is not why I am telling you about the band.

Posted by 3xWes at 05:27 PM | Permalink

Steven from Schedule Two tipped us off to some new video of Voxtrot and Tapes n' Tapes they uploaded. The two bands played the same show at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis back in February. After watching a few, it is crazy how many cameras they brought to the venue. Take a look. The videos are even iPod ready.

VOXTROT (MORE AT SCHEDULE TWO)

• Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives
• Fast Asleep

• Insistor
• Cowbell

Posted by 3xWes at 01:50 PM | Permalink

Elvis Perkins in Deerland played the last show of their residency at Rockwood Musichall. I could not stay the entire show but they did play “Ash Wednesday” and it was really good. They also played some other requests that they had neglected during the other three shows.

Elvis Perkins will be at the Mercury Lounge this Saturday with Clem Snide.

MP3s here. Check out “Ash Wednesday” and “While You Were Sleeping.”

Posted by 3xWes at 01:31 AM | Permalink

I went to A-Trak with The Rub (this monthly party normally happens at Southpaw) at the Knitting Factory Friday. It was ok. It was kind of like The Rub Jr. except A-Trak, Cuizinier, and GLC performed. A-Trak is an ill DJ but he was an ill DJ in 1999 too. Not much innovation in DJing has happened since so the performance becomes more about rocking the party. However, I think the people at the Knitting Factory came to see a show because they were faced toward the stage the entire time, even after the rappers were finished, and even after DJ Ayres got on the mic and said something like “This is a party, you don’t have to look at us.”



Cuizinier, whose name sounds like a fancy kitchen appliance, raps in french. I have no idea what the hell he was talking about but he wears t-shirts big enough for a grizzly bear and shorts made for people 9ft and taller.



Dave 1 (white jacket) from Chromeo was there, probably because he is A-Trak’s older brother. Jon Caramanica, a rap critic who got a shout out from Chamillionaire at the show at BB Kings, was also there.

Ryspace recently posted on the use of the vocoder/talk box and I don’t think you can talk about bands today using the crazy instruments without mentioning Chromeo. They will be at Intonation in Chicago.

Check out Needy Girl (MP3) if you have not heard it.

Posted by 3xWes at 01:05 AM | Permalink

Two Gallants played the Bowery Ballroom last Monday. They did not wow me at the show but I have heard they knock some people's socks off at SXSW and elsewhere. Two Gallants make this western blues with explosive moments of punk rock. Adam Stephens has a raspy voice that walks the line between shouting and singing. He plays these endless melodies on his guitar that sometimes mirror his vocal inflections. Combine that with Tyson Vogel smashing out dense rhythm patterns with overlapping symbol crashes and this wall of sound is as thick as two instruments could make it. Most of their songs are slow and somber—the type of music you won't find me dancing too—but that did stop some people from starting a pit. I got checked a few times, which was annoying and distracting from the music. One guy got really violent toward the end and started high kicking, seemed right he left with a blood nose.

Read the rest of this review, see more photos, and get an MP3 after the jump.

Also check out Jerry Yeti’s review of Sam Champion (with MP3s!). Jeff at Central Village was also impressed. After seeing them Friday at the Loose Record party and then opening for Two Gallants, these guys are poised to make some big moves.

Two Gallants played “Long Summer Day” and I wished they hadn’t. The song is a story about a black man being pushed to violence, going “crazy” from all the racial inequalities in America, while the white man sits on his porch and feels “lazy.” Here is what Stephen has to say about it in a PopMatters interview:

“I got the first line of the chorus — ‘Well a summer day make a white man crazy’ — from an old work song that many consider goes back to the days of slavery. The version I have is sung by a man named Moses ‘Clear Rock’ Platt, although the rest of that song has nothing to do with what ‘Long Summer Day’ ended up being about. I guess it all just came from history books and public television, and I wrote it in the first person because otherwise it would have just felt like me sermonizing on something that happened long ago... and what good would that do?”

After bashing that song, you should check out Las Cruces Jail (MP3). The narrative voice is more consistent and Two Gallants actually do make some good music.

Posted by 3xWes at 01:17 AM | Permalink

I saw Chamillionaire and Lil’ Flip a while back at BB King’s. Here are the top 5 things that happened there but I have yet to see happen at a rock show:

1. Cham rapped most of his show over a DAT tape with his voice, although filtered, still present in the recording. I guess he could not track down the instrumentals. So with the recording, the hype man, and Cham all rapping at the same time, the lyrics were garbled in the more intricate lines.

2. There were a bunch of dudes and a girl who just stood on stage and didn’t do anything. Swing a towel, mess with their phone, or mouth the lyrics maybe. Bringing your crew along on tour is nothing new but it has to be expensive.

3. Cham threw out a fat wad of cash into the crowd. The bills were new and stuck together. My buddy caught a stack, which paid for his ticket, and the bills were in sequence.

4. Because Cham and Flip wanted to play all their hits, we heard few songs from their album. Instead, we heard their singles and all their guest verses on other people’s hit songs. The beat would drop and you would be like oh right they’re on this song.

5. Have you ever been at a concert and said, “Damn, I wish I could hear that again.” Well because they both rap on a few of the same songs, we heard some songs twice. “Ridin’ Dirty” was the hit of the night. Cham finished his set with it and so did Lil’ Flip, but the second time around Cham came back out for his verse.

All in all it was pretty crazy but I have seen better rap shows. Check out Just Sayin for some more thoughts on the show.

Posted by 3xWes at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)