The Mega-Update of Show Reviews, Part IV
This is part four in a series of posts about shows I have seen in the past two months. Don't forget parts one, two, and three.
THE BLACK ANGELS • VIETNAM • APRIL 7
I love The Black Angels album but they were off at their last Mercury show. Mainly I blame this on the poor mixing of the vocals. Some reverb is necessary but the singer's voice was drowned in the noise and I kept thinking he was singing from the bottom of a well. Vietnam opened and actually had a bit more stage presence (and more beards!) but I don't think that comes across on their recordings.
THE WORLD EXPLAINED • APRIL 10
The World Explained was a benefit for 826NYC & 826LA in the form of four presentations. David Rakoff, from This American Life, compared his life in New York with life of the characters in RENT. Rodney Rothman divulged his experience in creating a mock boy band called Fresh Step as writer on The Late Show with David Letterman. For the band, fresh was a verb, a noun, and an adjective. A lot of this event was unscripted. Eugene Mirman made the most of it, especially playing with a weird echo on his voice that he could not control. The musical interludes of Final Fantasy Online aka Internet, which was comprised of members from Wolf Parade, Islands, Les Savvy Fav, and Black Mountain, were pretty haphazard but still sounded good.
KLAXONS • APRIL 13
The crowd at Studio B was ecstatic to see The Klaxons, who said it was the best show they had in America. I guess they struck a nerve with Brooklyn. Bonde do Role opened and were full of energy. Apparently their lyrics are really raunchy.
CLOUD CULT • APRIL 14
Cloud Cult put on a good show at Mercury complete with live painters and projector visuals. They can get away with that sort of thing because they are from Minnesota. Young Galaxy was kind of a let down live. I still think they have a few good songs. Maybe I should have skipped this show to go to the Of Montreal karaoke, especially after watching those videos at Stereogum.