“My Mom’s Very Internet-Friendly” (Art Brut/Art Brut 47/Think About Life, Knitting Factory)

It’s a Gn’R sort of week in New York, whether you indie kids wanna ‘dmit it or no, and I’d like to think that – had Axl and his gang not been wrapping up their four-night stint at Hammerstein last night WITH IZZY STRADLIN' (and, er, Kid Rock) (via) – Rose would have been up in the Knitting Factory balcony, just as Eddie Argos said he was. (The next night, Axl would be busy at a secret acoustic gig, BV found some pics.)

Art Brut was back in this city for its third go-round (and eighth show) in seven months, launching a two-night, two-room “Knitting Factory Takeover” to the tune of “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”  Unlike the first two times I’d seen them, there were no questions left:  They’re one of the more consistently entertaining live acts out there.

Which means that, yes, there was more of the same.  But the routines vary.  Argos is smart, he doesn’t want to do the again, again, and he slips in subtle changes that make you listen while you jump about.  He changed “Bad Weekend’s” main line to “popular culture never applied to me,” “there’s nothing on the television” has morphed into Springsteen’s “57 channels and nothing on.”  He longed to sip vino with Brian Eno, managed to slip Kim Wilde into his “Good Weekend.”  He divulged a secret behind “My Little Brother” and begged us not to blog about it; my own little brother was in the audience, I covered his ears.

Sure, there was pointing, but even that turned into a bit of  a moment.  Before “Moving to L.A.” (“hang around with Axl Rose, buy myself some brand new clothes”) he asked “Which direction is Los Angeles?” finger at the ready.

“West!” someone screamed.

Rose, according to Argos’ running fantasy, walked out during a particularly sappy re-interpretation of “Emily Kane” (it’s now about the hope ex-girlfriends/boyfriends have moved on to something happier); “he wanted something a bit more metal.”

As long as Argos can keep making his bandmates laugh (which he did by introducing one their headbanging guitarist as Ian “Vulgar Display of Power” Catskilkin, and by renaming a new song “Nag nag nag nag” (ryspace has a live mp3)) how can I hope to resist?  I’ll be back when they’re next here, on a beach within reach... and the time after that.  And the time after that.  And...

Right, Art Brut, let’s hear us some music:

• Guns n’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine (mp3) (buy)


• Art Brut – Moving to L.A. (live) (mp3) (via) (buy)


• AB’s myspace


• More at The Hype Machine


• No excuses, now, buy their CD:  Bang Bang Rock & Roll

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Not-so-secret openers We Are Scientists (myspace) had been billed as franchisees “Art Brut 47;” unfortunately there were no cross-over attempts between WAS (not WAS) and the band they called “Überbrut.”  Both bands made jokes about covering each other’s songs, but I’d been hoping for something a little more special from the special guests than a standard short set.  Didn’t get there for the earlier acts on the bill – The Chalets and The Robocop Kraus – but there didn’t seem to be anything to this “Takeover” that would earn it event status.  Some co-mingling of peoples and playlists would have been nice.

I could have used a little less madness from the Scientists.  I stand by what I said about them before.  The band did a better job keeping together, I suppose, but there’s a whiplash that sets in because Keith Murray seems to have trouble walking and chewing gum.  Instrumental bits race ahead recklessly, every time he opens his mouth things drag.

And I don’t see why the drum parts have to be so complicated; Michael Tapper should be renamed M. Taptaptapriggadiggadatapper.  Choose your own rocket-scientist joke, but this isn’t math-punk, it’s pop, and it should be more easily enjoyed.  They have some good songs, and I enjoy With Love and Squalor (buy) more than I should probably admit.  “Callbacks” is a great little rocker.  “The Great Escape” has one of the better-applied “fucks” in recent listening.  But I find them frantic and sluggish and frustrating, live.

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The real surprise of the night was Think About Life, who played to an audience of perhaps 35 people (including Art Brut’s Freddy Feedback and Jasper Future) in the KF Tap Bar at 1:45 in morning.

A bastardized version of the band opened for Wolf Parade last October; without their lead singer (who couldn’t get off work) and some key equipment (stolen, natch) they were a heaving, screeching nightmare.  I don’t generally warm to groups that perform to preprogrammed synthstuff, anyway – there’s something so very Mr. Microphone about it – and the band’s Afterschool Special name certainly didn’t win it any points.  Their myspace page describes them as Disco-House/Thrash/Pop, and while I didn’t really know what that is, I was sure I wouldn’t like it when I found out.

But I've been wrong before.  I sort of enjoy being wrong.

Think About Life is synths and beats and voices, and it is a bit Mr. Microphone.  Warm chords, shakers, open-throated whole notes – the foundations of the more popular Montreal groups (your Arcade Fires and Wolf Parades) -- are enthusiastically splattered with all kids of hyper weirdness (the band is on The Unicorns’ old label, Alien8).  On record, at least for the first several listens (I bought their self-titled CD after the show – you can buy it here), the oddness can cause some of their songs (?) to slide right past; live, the energy is what sticks.

A couple songs into their set, lead singer Martin Cesar produced a thick wad of toilet paper from his pocket, tore tufts off and offered them to his audience.  “It’s going to be loud,” he explained.  Even though hitting the notes isn’t really a priority, here, he can sing; he’s got a good soulful voice, but he’s got an equally good angry bark, and tosses it in every direction.  There were, at least for a little while, two microphones set up; as Cesar paced the little stage he’d bark into the unused mic whenever he passed it.  Like, “Oh, yeah, that’s there, too.”

They looked a bit like overgrown kids at recess.  It was the energy, and the shorts.  Cesar wore a bright yellow baseball cap, a sleeveless baby-blue tuxedo shirt, denim cut-offs.  His socks were mismatched.  Matt Shane, hunched over a baby drum kit, had a Raptors jersey, bright pink shorts, bright white legs.  When carrot-topped Graham van Pelt didn’t need both hands on his keyboard, he held up a tiny, twirly lit thing that... well, I’m sure it added something, for someone.

Like the tree branches.  They pulled out a bunch of leaved branches, at one point, and fanned them towards the crowd.  Sure, why not?  Most of the room watched from a safe distance, cradling drinks and leaning against columns; Cesar did his darndest to get them to move, stepping forward and methodically bumping into everyone on the front lines.  And again.  He had enough energy to dance for everyone in the room, but he was lonely.

Thank goodness some apeshit nutzoid fan found his way into the room [UPDATE:  It was this guy, and you can see him in action (briefly); see below] , dancing and singing and just generally going berzerk.  Cesar saluted him, he saluted back.  Somehow he wound up with the second mic; when the band took too long a dramatic pause during one song, Nutzoid Guy started without them.  He was fantastic, and before long he wasn’t going nuts by himself, up there.  At the end of the night, when the band launched into its “Stay in School” rap, there was even some girl breakdancing on the floor.

I’m honestly not sure how well this would translate to a larger venue, but at that hour of the night, in a room with next-to-no stage and a handful of game people it was a bit of sloppy, punky bliss.

• Think About Life - Paul Cries (mp3) (buy)


• Think About Life - Money (mp3) (buy)


• More at The Hype Machine

UPDATE:  22 seconds of YouTube footage, for everyone who missed the show.

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tags: axl rose  guns n roses  think about life  izzy stradlin  concert reviews  art brut  we are scientists  

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