Very Close to, if not actually in, the CD player:
stream full album ° seen/heard ° buy
seen/heard ° listen ° preorder
seen/heard ° listen ° preorder
stream full album ° seen/heard ° buy
You Can’t Fall Down ‘Cause Everyone’s Watching You (Cloud Cult/Doveman, Tonic) [EDIT]
Everyone seems to like photos of concerts.
How about a painting of one?
Above is artist Connie Minowa and her interpretation of Tuesday night’s Cloud Cult concert at Tonic. The band has an artist do a painting at each of their shows.
If that sounds even the least bit pretentious, know that Cloud Cult is loose, sloppy, and good-natured. The Minneapolis group, led by singer/songwriter Craig Minowa, has put out what will probably wind up being the best CD of 2005, Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus. You should buy it from them when you go see them at their CMJ showcase, this Thursday night at midnight at 169 Bar. I will try to be there for that one, too (and hopefully they’ll play some of my favorites that didn’t make the set list, tonight... like “Rockwell” and “You Got Your Bones to Make a Beat,” hint-hint). The band will also be doing an in-studio at KEXP this Thursday at 2PM.
I’ve mentioned them before, and will talk about them again, later. But this was Brooklyn Vegan’s first showcase... so I thought it would be appropriate to bring my camera along and litter this entry with photos. Not good photos, mind you. I haven’t been able to take a decent picture since I saw Jandek. Cursed!
Cloud Cult:
Okay, am back; later is now. So:
Cloud Cult, Cloud Cult, Cloud Cult.
I know, I’ve said it plenty, before, but I have a feeling you folks ain’t listening. Since June – since I first got Hippopotamus after reading More in the Monitor’s review of the band’s first NYC-area show (in the band’s decade-long existence!) – I’ve been saying that this it’s the best of the year. Well, now I’m SCREAMING it. I’m comfortable putting it right up there with the Best-Ofs from the last few years, and for the well-trod record those would be: 2004 – Local H, Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?*/Arcade Fire, Funeral; 2003 – Broken Social Scene, You Forgot it in People; 2002 – Bright Eyes, Lifted. So, there.
Live, last night, I can’t lie: I was just a little disappointed, at first. Cult-leader Minowa has crafted such a tight piece of work with that record, underscoring (and sometimes overwhelming) his multi-textured chamber-pop with techno-swoons and beat-box bangs; that album has [so resolutely ingrained itself into my head] that any variation just seems... wrong. Which isn’t right: Live music is a different beast, and the band – the guitarist/keyboardist is joined by a violinist (who had a sunny smile and a blue violin), a cellist, a bassist and a drummer – doesn’t seem to feel any discomfort taking their inner-Hippo out. Minowa spends a lot of time working with his feet; bare-footed, he used his toes to twist knobs, start samples, and make his acoustic guitar go electric mid-song. Beeps sometimes seemed to boop out of place, and the band re-started one song (“Transistor Radio,” I think) three times, and almost gave up on it.
...But the audience wouldn’t let them. Cloud Cult makes music that sounds perfect in-between your ears, so it’s almost perfect that it comes out so sloppy, live. Minowa sings about sailing “through hurricanes with just a wooden plank and a smiley face,” and that’s a little what the live show is like. They’re such a scruffy, lovable bunch that you want to go up and hug every last one of them. Minowa even announced, embarrassed, that he’d come out with his fly down.
The proof that it worked, was: Each number I didn’t recognize from Hippo bowled me over (...other than their cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” but I’ve never liked that song). My only real complaint is that their songs are too short. It’s not something you notice on Hippo –22 tracks running 64 minutes, there – but most of their ditty-ditties don’t even hit the three-minute mark, and every last one of them would weather extension.
That’s just my way of saying: I want more.
And opening act Doveman:
They played a lengthy introductory set, and I enjoyed them a lot more than I’d thought I would. It helped that vocalist/keyboardist Thomas Bartlett stuck primarily to Tonic’s piano. The more acoustic this ensemble of accomplished musicians stays, the more welcoming their music is. Piano, banjo, accordion, trumpet (the trumpet player used something like five different kinds of mutes), drums. Only Shahzad Ismaily’s guitarwork was intensely electric, but his fill-ins managed to underline how down-home and intimate everything else was. It’s dreamy, beautiful stuff, and Bartlett’s voice is so soft and fey you get the feeling he’d actually lose an arm-wrestling match with Ben Gibbard. The band offered the prettiest damned cover of “Free Fallin’” – which I’ve also seen DCFC play; unfortunately, band co-founder Sam Amidion took over vocals on the chorus and turned it into a big joke.
Folk singer Dave Deporis opened the show, also with a lengthy set. He has a lovely falsetto, and some captivating mannerisms – dropping his guitar to flail his arms, bouncing in his chair, kicking his bare feet around – but some distracting, lame lyrics. “Donald Trump, your building is big and shiny... but can it fly? And if it could – where the fuck would you take it?” He did admit that he was trying out new material, and abandoned at least one song halfway through; his set should have ended with an utterly charming, playful song that may have been called “I’m an Adult.”
Aziz Ansari looks like the nerdy guy you went to high school with. Well, according to Gothamist, he does; you can tell that’s a direct Gothamist quote because the phrase ends with a preposition.
The comedian performed sets between bands and completely won over the crowd. There’s a lot of Mitch Hedberg’s drawl in his delivery, but Ansari’s jokes are more story-oriented; he does do the lovable loser bit well.
BV’s first show ran long – it ended more than four hours after the first act took the stage – and was a bit exhausting. So: Probably a perfect prep for CMJ. True to form, I missed the KEXP show I meant to catch this morning.
*
CMJ is stupid. And yeah, I’m going about it stupidly.
Trying to do a mix of big and small. Will be seeing Arcade Fire, Doves, Cursive. But also plan on catching The Plastic Constellations, The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, Giant Drag, Voxtrot (like half the universe, I’ll be trying to squeeze into Pianos on Friday afternoon), and The Morning After Girls (who I’ll probably have to catch at Rothko the following Monday night). And whoever’s on before and after them; I’m old, and don’t crave running around like a mad dog. Friday night is just impossible, with the French Kiss, Merge and Saddle Creek showcases happening allatonce; I’ve already missed Feist, and will miss The Comas (again) and The Rakes... and maybe half the bands I’ve listed above.
Such is life.
Still, I’m making it a point to see The Cloud Cult a second time this week. Buy the damned CD, people; buy the damned CD.
*Thaaaat’s right. I’m a total fanboy. And Local H is playing Tribeca Rock Club on 10/21. Tix are here.
**Originally I misidentified her as Kjersten DeGaia, who has also painted for CC. Apologies to Ms. Minowa.