"[Arrested Development is] kind of the best thing I have going at the moment." - Austin's Manhattan's ("It's so expensive here") Brooklyn's Annie Clark (Libra)
Show's been off the air for a couple years, of course. Almost as long as it's been since I've caught Clark's band (myspace). Then, it was her + Pattern is Movement in the Knitting Factory Old Office. With a lead pipe and looping pedals. Here, it was her + six folks (violin, bass/keys, drums, French horn, sax/clarinet, flute) dressed up as Man Man/Good Humor People. There were white balloons. Big ones.
Clark's adorable. Too flat-out charming to ever come off pretentious, even when the tunes err that way. She can't read music! I really liked her record, then loved it, then just liked it again. Tonight at Castle Clinton she had some new songs, which were okay. One was inspired, she said, by listening to a lot of Prince. One of us (or both of us, or everyone) should probably listen to a little more Prince. Anyway, I guess that means there'll be something on the next record you can fuck to.
"Your Lips Are Red," the encore, was a fuzzed-up rocked-out highlight. More of that, please. Especially when your flautist packs (or so said) an Ian Anderson impersonation in her repertoire, especially when the first song Clark learned to play on guitar was "Aqualung."
You know Ranger Jim was craving some Tull.
Also there: Big Apple Music Scene, Brooklyn Vegan, Guilt Free Pleasures, The Modern Age