Went back to Brookyln for more music on Saturday, the 2nd day of the BT fest. Missed the 1st 2 bands (would have liked to see Paul Collins), but caught most of the set of The Sharp Things, a large symphonic pop band, (think Zombies, Love). They were OK--I liked what they were trying to do and you really don't see a 10 piece band with violins, trumpet, & flute everyday. To be fair, it must be complicated to set up & coordinate such a big ensemble, so I think under other circumstances I would have liked them better
Even though a brief set, seeing Don McGlashan ex-Mutton Birds was an event I had been looking forward to for a long time. Envy of Angels, produced by Hugh Jones (who also produced Echo & the Bunnymen's Heaven Up Here!!), is one of the great kiwi albums, unfortunately never released in the US. I don't believe they ever toured here either. He really is a great songwriter, and played songs solo with acoustic guitar & french horn, and with a band of Jack Rabid on drums & the Posies/Big Star Jon Auer on bass. The set was entirely too short, but it was great that he came from New Zealand to join in the celebration. Got to here the poignant "while you sleep" live!
Jon Auer also performed a short set. Love the Posies. Could go on about Big Star for a month. Only 1 original member left now, Jody Stephens. Lost Alex Chilton in March and just recently Andy Hummel. Chris Bell died tragically more than 30 years ago. Anyway the Posies are simply terrific musicians with unbelievable harmonies who sort of fell off the radar after the first few albums. Some power pop purists seemed to scorn them because they alternatized & punked up their sound. I don't have any problem with bands evolving, so I think it is all rather silly. Creative people aren't going to sit still. Solar Sister is one of my favorite songs, & I had never seen the Posies before so I was looking forward to this.
Unfortunately, in between sets, people didn't seem get back to the stage in time, so he started playing to a handful of people. I made sure to get up near the stage, as it seemed a little weird for an act of this pedigree to be ignored. Thankfully it was not long before people came back inside to listen. He gave a solo set, distinguished by a very dark self-deprecating humorous patter between songs. He played some things from his terrific solo album, a song from their upcoming new album & a Chameleons cover. The vibe was very much like his birthday album, where he did a set in the living room of friends. Very enjoyable.
The penultimate band that evening was For Against, a power house of a band who performed live on this coast for the first time in 16 years. They went through a tight ascetically powerful set. Another one of the great american bands that I think a lot of people don't know about. That could be a catchphrase for a lot of the music in this festival. Jangly & dour at the same time, its very easy to think of REM & Joy Division stuck in a blender. Sometimes the interplay betweens the instruments gave off almost an aural strobe effect. The singer reminds me so much of lead singer in my college band (Tom), who was in ROTC and had to down to Camp LaJeune in SC. They really delivered the goods and I again was very happy that I came to Brooklyn.
Jack Rabid's band Springhouse played sets on both evenings. The first thing you would notice about this band is the pretty unique sounding guitar sound, maybe making the guitar sound almost organ like, swirling & full. It looked like an amped up acoustic guitar with vinyl strings. Another thing I noticed is the drumming, a very important part of this band. I don't claim to be an aficionado of drums, but even I notice things sometimes. He is a good creative drummer, not ostentatious, but switching things up and driving the music to better things. It makes a difference. I went to a blues festival in Jersey & the roteness and sameness of the percussion made the music so bland & boring. Contrast that with the jump blues of a Levon Helm & you can see what a difference creative drumming can make. I saw Calexico at Tarrytown Music Hall last year & was blown away by John Convertinos drumming/percussion & realized that he almost looks like he is playing on a childrens drum set. In high school I saw a local band & the drummer had like 80 drums & 102 cymbals in his set. To play the outer reaches of his drum set he would have had to get up & run to the end of his drum kit or maybe if he was part mutant spider he could have utilized what he had at hand. I remember seeing Elliot Smith backed by Quasi at Tramps in NY, with Janet Weiss pounding the holy hell out of the drums, making Baby Britain sound more like London Calling. Anyway digression is my middle name. What I'm trying to say is he helped keep things fresh & energized. I think I enjoyed the 2nd Springhouse set a little more, when they went with a four man combo and played Postcards from The Arctic in its entirety. Very nice indeed. They just put a new album out after being defunct for many years with one of those very interesting letterpress cardboard covers.
Of course the biggest stir was the final act--I've already heard what some people have said--that this set was one of the greatest rock performances they had ever seen. I could go along with this. The Mark Burgess Band, the former lead singer of the Chameleons with a white hot backing band. I thought it would just be Mark Burgess, but this was quite a capper to a great event. They played a long & ferocious, passionate, at times hypnotic set of Chameleons tunes. You would come along through droning psychedelic passages only to be catapulted into hyper aggressive in your face pounding driving bliss. Listening to Burgesses backup band I kept thinking about Nick Cave's birthday party for some reason. I recall someone referring to them more as a gang than a band & I got a little of that vibe here. And Mark Burgess really pulled out the stops himself, putting on a brilliant show, yet on another footing,he performed with a certain joy, knowing on another level that he was at a party, and was celebrating his heart out. What a set !!! I would definitely pay big bucks to see this lineup again!!! I only wish my friend Mr. Baseball had been there, who is a huge fan of the Chameleons and other British Neo-psychedelic bands. He would have freaked.
One more post on this for Sleepover Disaster & Libertines.
No comments:
Post a Comment