Heart on a Stick
Very Close to, if not actually in, the CD player:
seen/heard ° stream album ° buy
seen/heard ° stream album ° buy
seen/heard ° stream album ° buy
seen/heard ° listen ° preorder
seen/heard ° listen ° preorder
“It’s Harder Waking Up Next to Someone You Don’t Know” (CMJ Day 2, Part 1: BVFest at Pianos)
posted 11/02/2006
I’m not totally pooh-poohing the pu pu platter that’s CMJ, just going in without much of a game plan. Not chasing buzz, not looking to fall in love; just hoping for a bit of a good time and to avoid too much meh. Pleasant surprises welcome.
That’s why the first afternoon showcase Brooklyn Vegan put together was so attractive: I’d already seen four of the seven bands on the bill, wanted to check out a couple of the others... and if I got bored, there was a whole second line-up going on upstairs.
*
“We must be the unluckiest band in the world.”
The band I most wanted to see – and was most worried about – was Glassboro, NJ’s Sure Juror. Their self-titled first album (still available for free download) was one of the few really rewarding surprises I’ve run into this year. The palette’s broad, the delivery consistent. I wrote plenty of gushy stuff a while ago, but there was a huge caveat: I’d never seen them live. The music was – and can feel – basement built. They seemed the sort of band that could either get buried trying to seamlessly recreate their record, or a band that could come apart at its seams. They’ve never played New York City, before, and I don’t care how far south in Jersey you get, this city’s just not that far away. They haven’t had any recent gigs.
And how’s this for an introduction: The band’s car got towed early Tuesday morning, they showed up after their start time, hastily and apologetically threw their equipment together and...
...almost totally impressed. The six of them (drums/bass/keys and three guitarists, one or two of whom sometimes went idle) had confidence and chemistry. There was enough sloppiness to made it real, only occasionally enough to make it feel random. Lead singer/guitarist/writer Jonathan was often short of breath, but when the band had to harmonize, they did.
It’s possible their tardiness accidentally helped things out: The set had a frantic urgency that really kick-started what could have been a lazy, mid-afternoon show. They also only had four whole songs – two from their forthcoming second full-length, Smut (“Making Friends...” and “Once-Great Gender Debate,” which you can hear at their myspace) – leaving folks wanting more. And isn’t that what a good short set should do?
Maybe they are the unluckiest band in the world. Now that they’re one of the ones I most want to tell people to check out at CMJ, they have no more gigs scheduled. And: This was their final show with this drummer. And: Jonathan says he’s already added two more members to the live band, neither of them drummers. Here’s hoping they regroup quickly.
*
When I saw Loney, Dear back at a post-SXSW Swedish showcase, I said that “if I had to predict one [of the show’s acts] that’d find its way into the clingy confines of Indie Kids’ hearts, it’d be this one.” And now, what do you know, they’re on SubPop.
Whether Dear-head Emil Svanängen has permanently truncated the band – back at CB’s I was told there were usually nine pieces in the group, and here there were still five – I don’t know. They’re still not an act I love, though occasionally they do some lovely things. Mostly I find them pleasant, and that’s not enough.
*
(more to come)
*
Thunderbirds Are Now! (myspace!) should be a Pretty Sure Thing!. Both their sweatbox basement set at the Knitting Factory and their B&D Bowery coronation at the hands of Les Savy Fav were among my favorite shows of last year; Justamustache post-pranked its way on to my list of 2005’s top ten albums.
I’m having some trouble, though, with their new record. Making History awkwardly alternates between Justa-remakes – this genre burns out its welcome quickly, anyway, but how much chutzpah does it take to give your familiar-sounding new single a refrain like “We have heard this one before,” and a title like “We Win (Ha Ha)?” – and stabs at seriousness. Who buys serious from these guys?
Yet those are the tracks that stick. “Shit Gold” is a broken music box fable; instead of suffering the inevitable cathartic meltdown, the band just lets the tune die, makes it bump uglies with a separate, different-keyed track. “Panthers in Crime” opens the CD with thoughtful finger-picking, Beach Boys harmonics, jingle bells, before suffering a videogame f/x meltdown; when the mandatory angularity kicks in, it’s slower, it’s sadder; redemption comes in the form of a slight pop anthem. If the band’s ADD is going to grow up, instead of get old, this is how they should do it.
(A little parallel weirdness: “Sound Issues, Smart Ideas” sounds like it belongs with We Are Scientists. That’s not necessarily a knock. But c’mon. And “Panthers” has a line, “Nobody moves and nobody gets paid” – not too far removed from “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt.”)
Live: No worries. All Systems Go!, though the vocals rasped with this-set-is-too-early roughness. Thought I’d read somewhere they’d lost Scott Allen, their spazztastic keyboard player, but no, it was their drummer (and, after this tour, their bassist). For the most part, same ‘birds. Tambourines in the air, both Allens in the crowd, exclamation point at the ready. And – with three unidentified friends, pulled up from the crowd – “(The Making of...) Making History” made for a killer closer.
*
YES? YOU THERE IN THE BACK?