Day one of CMJ started off with some buzzy indie rock and ended with some lighter folk fare. With nothing but a few tacos in between, it all added up to a slow start to what many are already considering a lighter CMJ week than usual. After catching up with friends on Ludlow Street (the unofficial center of the post-Fader Lounge CMJ world) it was time to catch Holiday Shores and Small Black at Cake Shop during Pop Tarts Suck Toasted Day Party.

Holiday Shores played a few songs that I thought were great, but there were also many which didn’t grab my attention. They certainly do have great energy and I hope they develop more songs like those that ended the set, which had creative melodies and interesting harmonic progressions. I don’t mean to single them out here, but I am really over the whole shout-a-couple-words-in-unison thing. Unless you’re the Beastie Boys, don’t be afraid to spilt up and sing some harmonies once in a while.

The praise surrounding Small Black’s music is deserved. They combine electronics (drum machine, keyboards, sampler) and more traditional elements (live drums, bass guitar, vocals) to create a lush soundscape which is packed with musical ideas and propulsive, but not overbearing. Having been a fan of lead-singer Josh’s previous band Slowlands, it was nice to hear his ideas executed using a new sound. His voice – treated with copious amounts of delay and reverb – is subservient to the dense musical landscape that envelopes it. Although, for this reason, I do think the vocals translate better on record then they do live. When there’s a human in front of you, standing downstage-center, opening his mouth and emitting noise, you can’t help but focus the bulk of your attention there. Worth special mention is Small Black’s bassist, who had great stage presence and sound. As soon as I started to think he was being made redundant by the synths and drum machine, he would stop playing bass to bang out some percussion parts and it became obvious how much he contributed to the low end of their sound. More bass players need to stop playing during a song just so that people can miss them while they’re gone.

The evening turned out to be a laid-back affair at The Living Room with two bands who defy grammatical convention – papercranes and KaiserCartel. This version of papercranes was quite different than the one who played an electric set at last year’s After The Jump Fest. Here, they were stripped down to acoustic guitar, bass, piano and a snare drum which allowed the vocals, all four of them, to take center stage. Highlights of the set included a cover of Big Star’s “Thirteen” and the beautiful wordless chorus of “Synapses” which you can hear on their myspace page.

Courtney Kaiser and Benjamin Cartel are fantastic musicians with strong, confident voices and precise musicianship who execute their relatively simple and catchy songs with ease. If you have heard their most popular song “Oh, No” (video here) then you would know what to expect from their songwriting, but their performance exceeded my expectations. Few artists connect with the audience as well as they do. Courtney tried her best to sing a bit of their final song to each and every audience member as they performed while wandering through the crowd, but that level of intimacy was achieved during the entire set. Dressed in red and black it was hard to keep from thinking of them as the folk version of the White Stripes and I wouldn’t be surprised if their career begins to approach such popularity in the coming year.

The only thing that bothered me about KaiserCartel was that they were described in their CMJ blurb as a “Minimal, lo-fi indie folk duo creating wistfully pleasant music”. The Lo-Fi term certainly seems to have been overused and abused in the past year. As I have come to understand it, elements of Lo-Fi include vocals that sound like they were recorded using microphones that have been dropped a few hundred times (or purchased at radio shack), amplifiers with vacuum tubes just barely clinging to life, digital bit crushing, tape noise, reduced intelligibility of lyrics, etc. KaiserCartel’s music may be simplistic, but it is polished, shiny and very much high fidelity as far as I’m concerned. There are some great current bands who I certainly would consider low fidelity such as The Beets and Times New Viking, but alas, Lo-Fi is losing its edge as it’s reduced to the newest buzz word.

The more bands I see this week, the less I’ll probably write about them, so enjoy this update.

Land Of Talk’s show at Mercury Lounge was split evenly between songs from their 2006 EP “Applause, Cheer, Boo, Hiss” and songs from the brand new “Some Are Lakes” (buy: LP, CD) released by Saddle Creek.

On all of Land Of Talk’s recordings, Liz Powell’s voice is doubled in a very obvious way. It leads to an effect which I personally love. At the live shows there’s only one of her, but she’s still amazing. The vocals were a little low on the first few songs, but the sound was great after that.

Three-piece bands are my favorite because everyone needs to pull their weight at all times and there is little room for error. Even though Liz’s vocals are the most pronounced element of Land Of Talk’s sound, each instrument plays a unique role. Eric’s transitions to the off-beat hi-hat are seamless and he is always in sync with Chris’s bass playing which carries as many melodies as the lead vocals. The chords that Liz chooses to play on her guitar are perfectly dissonant and she knows just when to pluck out arpeggios and when to strum away.

Land Of Talk are currently on tour with Broken Social Scene. Liz often joins them on stage for 7/4 Shoreline and other songs that Feist and Emily Haines are too busy to sing.

Land Of Talk live at Mercury Lounge – September 11, 2008

01 Yuppy Flu
02 Summer Special
03 Some Are Lakes
04 Give Me Back My Heart Attack
05 Sea Foam
06 Speak To Me Bones
07 Death By Fire
08 Young Bridge
09 Street Wheels
10 Breaxxbaxx

Yay! I posted something besides an After The Jump announcement!

Cafe Campus/Petit Campus
57 rue Prince-Arthur est
Near bd. St-Laurent, Plateau Mont-Royal
Métro: Sherbrooke
www.cafecampus.com

Mother Mother sound promising. They’ll be down for CMJ later this month, playing Mercury Lounge on the 24th. By the way, I just realized that the myspace music player has been revamped. The sound quality of the music still leaves something to be desired, but at least the moving EQ bars are actually reacting to the music and are not completely random. Audio dorks care about this stuff.

Jukebox The Ghost hail from Washington D.C. and their first full-length album “Let Live and Let Ghosts” hits stores on April 22nd. They are touring quite a bit this spring and I recommend that you catch them live. I had trouble believing this sound came from only three people until I saw it with my own eyes. All tour dates are listed here.

photo by irockiroll

01 Hold It In
02 Beady Eyes On The Horizon
03 Victoria
04 My Heart’s The Same / Lighting Myself On Fire
05 Under My Skin
06 End Of The World Trilogy
[Fire in the Sky -> Where Are All Your Scientists Now? -> A Matter of Time]
07 Good Day

During this Sunday night show she played a little banjo, shared stories of her quiltmaking adventures (with samples) and debuted a brand new song for the attentive crowd at Union Hall. Though it hadn’t been named at the time, her new song has been listed as “To Be Held” on her recent setlists.

Laura Veirs – To Be Held (live at Union Hall 1/27/08)

Aside from the dull thump of bocce balls coming from the bar above, the atmosphere was just about perfect for this solo show. It was the first time I had seen folding chairs (about four rows deep) set up in front of the stage at Union Hall, allowing for everyone to have a great view.

Below is the setlist along with some highlights from the show.

[photo by David Trawin]

01 Pink Light
02 Ether Sings
03 Wandering Kind
04 Song My Friends Taught Me
05 Magnetized
06 Cast A Hook
07 Rialto
08 To Be Held
09 Through December
10 Cluck Old Hen
11 One Thin Dime
12 Nightingale
13 Ocean Night Song
14 Riptide
—-
15 Black-Eyed Susan
16 Wrecking

“It’s so fucked, eh? The Internet, eh? We perform and you go off and you blog that shit.”
- Adrian Jewett, 12/14/07

I agree that the internet is fucked (we have a love/hate relationship), but I wouldn’t be blogging this shit if I didn’t think it was fantastic. Since I first heard them play live at CMJ two years ago, The Most Serene Republic have only gotten more and more exciting. Their latest album Population is simultaneously overwhelming, enveloping and infectious, and their live show is no different. You may wonder how a person with only four appendages can play such complicated drumbeats, or how three guitars can be so tastefully combined into such a cohesive sound, or how music so progressive can still be so catchy. Or you could just stop thinking about it and get lost in the music.

Almost invariably, it seems that my favorite time to see a band is between their second and third albums. The catalog is deep enough that you don’t know exactly what they will play, but you’re sure to hear most of your favorite songs. It’s not that I don’t enjoy going to see… let’s say Radiohead, these days. But at this point they have so many songs I love that I know I won’t get to hear all of my favorites. I can only wish that I’d seen them touring The Bends while trying out songs from OK Computer.

Last Friday, The most Serene Republic played mostly songs from their new album along with 3 selections each from their first record and their EP Phages, which is still my favorite of their recordings. I especially enjoyed the three-part vocals on “(Oh) God”, the pots and pans opening up “Humble Peasants” and all of the keyboard and drum segues between songs, which sounded partially improvised and partially born of sections from various songs.

The Most Serene Republic at Mercury Lounge

December 14th 2007

full show (65 MB).zip

01 Humble Peasants
02 You’re Not An Astronaut
03 Anhoi Polloi
04 The Men Who Live Upstairs
05 Phages
06 (Oh) God
07 banter
08 Sherry And Her Butterfly Net
09 Why So Looking Back
10 banter-intro
11 Compliance
12 Career In Shaping Clay
13 You’re A Loose Cannon McArthur… But You Get The Job Done
14 Content Was Always My Favorite Color
15 Present Of Future End

P.S. Though it was hinted at, there was no encore. I was happy to get such a nice long set considering they needed to clear the hall for the late show that night.

Eastern Conference Champions – The Box (live at Union Hall)

Eastern Conference Champions – Noah (live at Union Hall)

Eastern Conference Champions – To The Wind (live at Union Hall)

Eastern Conference Champions – Yuppie Hipster Fuck (live at Union Hall)

The additional instrumentalists don’t sound like they’re completely comfortable with the group yet or maybe I’m just not used to the sound of a french horn or flute in a New Pornographers song. With a little more practice I’m sure they’ll be killing these new songs. Kudos to their sound man. It has to be difficult mixing acoustic instruments against a rock band, especially with all those vocal parts.

Here are five from the new album:

All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth (live at Battery Park)

All The Old Showstoppers (live at Battery Park)

Challengers (live at Battery Park)

My Rights Versus Yours (live at Battery Park)

The Spirit Of Giving (live at Battery Park)

And two older songs:

Jackie, Dressed In Cobras (live at Battery Park)

The Laws Have Changed (live at Battery Park)

Part of the reason I haven’t been posting as many shows is because I got fed up with the quality of my bootleg recordings after doing a few “professional” gigs with better equipment. The automatic compression on my minidisc player is absolutely driving me nuts. I’ll still continue to post things like this if I think that people will be interested in it despite the quality, but aside from the occasional bootlegs this may become more of a portfolio site for some of my other work, for example recent recordings I made of up-and-coming New York bands Wakey Wakey and Man In Grey. Stay tuned. (But for your own sake, I hope you’re staying tuned through an RSS feed and not checking this site for updates every day.

[http://ryspace.com/blog/feed/]
I’ve been using Google Reader lately, but there are plenty of other slick RSS compilers out there.

The survey comprises of 15 musical clips (selected from a bank of 60) and takes about 10 minutes to complete. I will be collecting data until Friday, April 27th. Feel free to pass it on to your friends. Without going into too much detail, the goal is to design a computer algorithm that will analyze musical clips and correlate their objective features with more abstract characteristics such as mood. Similar experiments have been done with classical music, but to my knowledge not with indie rock. The questions are purposely vague so you music nerds can interpret them any way you like.

Lest I ask for your help without posting any good live music in return, here is the encore from Pela’s last New York show at Mercury Lounge. They’ll be playing the Merc again this Tuesday, April 24th to celebrate the release of their new album Anytown Graffiti. I think I’ll drag myself away from the library to check it out. The second song was new to me, and I hate posting songs without titles (especially since The Hype Machine is now posting my tracks) but it’s 6 in the morning and I’m too sleepy to figure it out. If you happen to know the title please post it in the comments. I’m thinking it might be a Pixies cover? I should know this. But I am le tired. [Update: Indeed, it is. Yes, the "apologies to Frank Black" should have confirmed my suspicions. But my indie cred is inversely proportional to the amount of hours I've been awake.]

Pela – No Doves Just Pigeons [live at Mercury Lounge]

Pela – The Holiday Song (Pixies) [live at Mercury Lounge]

P.S. I’m loving the new Laura Veirs album. It’s just what I need to get me through the homestretch of my academic career. I promise I won’t complain about school on here anymore, though at least I’m not begging you all to find me a job. That will come soon enough…

P.P.S. April 14th marked the one-year anniversary of ryspace. Hooray blog. Ok, time for bed.

Bonus Comic Link!
Indie Physics 101: Music + Science = Sexy [Questionable Content]

Thursday

The Pipettes are a lot of fun and a great band to kick off a sunny Texas afternoon. They have a backing band, so all they really do is look pretty and sing. They do both very well, but their sound and aesthetic is so overly contrived that I have trouble taking them seriously.

The Pipettes – Dirty Mind (live at Fader Fort)

I’ve recorded Land of Talk a few times now and they were as good as ever in Austin. They’re on the verge of becoming your new favorite rock band, which should occur when they release their first full-length later this year. Then I can be upset that everyone and their mother wants a ticket to their show. If you’re in the New York area try to catch them at Union Hall, Maxwell’s or Mercury Lounge next week (April 3-5).

Land of Talk – Speak To Me Bones (live at Emo’s Jr.)

In the live setting, Davey von Bohlen’s new band Maritime sounds a little more like his old band The Promise Ring. “We, The Vehicles” was one of my favorite albums last year and the songs they played live at SXSW sounded much more energetic than they do on record.

Maritime – Tearing Up The Oxygen (live at Emo’s Jr.)

Cloud Cult were one of the first bands I posted on this site almost a year ago. Around that time the band had just started playing some of the songs which would make up their newest album “The Meaning of 8″. Here is the full-band version of “Chemicals Collide” as well as the solo version of the song in it’s infancy.

Cloud Cult – Chemicals Collide (live at Red’s Scoot Inn)
[flashback] Chemicals Collide (Moveable Hype @ Knitting Factory April 17, 2006)

Fujiya & Miyagi were one of my favorite acts at SXSW. This song sums up their whole set very well. It starts off simple and is quite repetitive, almost hypnotic. Before you know it your head starts bobbing, your toes start tapping and you and the crowd around you become completely absorbed in the music.

Fujiya & Miyagi – Electro Karaoke (live at Karma Lounge)

I can’t stop listening to this one. Normally I don’t like songs that use the same melody over and over again in the chorus, but Josh Ostrander’s voice delivers “The Box” so perfectly that I don’t mind having it stuck in my head. This particular Eastern Conference Champions song sounds larger than you might expect from a three-piece band thanks to the sampled tracks that they play along with. I’d much rather see a band playing their instruments well and using recorded material to bolster that sound than trying to do too many things at once and sounding sloppy. Catch them in New York on April 12th [Union Hall] with The Films or May 1st [Bowery Ballroom] and 2nd [Luna Lounge] with The View (cancelled, again).

Eastern Conference Champions – The Box (live at Red 7 Patio)

Friday

Speaking of bands who use recorded material to acheive a huge sound… I fell in love with Oppehheimer at CMJ and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them again in Austin, this time at an Irish pub at 1:30 in the afternoon. I recorded one new song and two of my favorite from their self-titled album.

Oppenheimer – Time Loss/Gain (live at B.D. Riley’s)
Oppenheimer – Look Up (live at B.D. Riley’s)
Oppenheimer – Saturday Looks Bad To Me (live at B.D. Riley’s)

Saturday

Although The Fratellis played an acoustic set at the LeTigre/BrooklynVegan/NY2LON day party, their spot-on delivery showed everyone why they’ve been dubed the UK’s next big export. The music’s nothing out of the ordinary, but they are rock-solid performers.

The Fratellis – Got Ma Nuts From A Hippy (live at Habana Calle)

The first time I saw Malajube was at Mercury Lounge about a month ago. They were good enough that I wanted to see them again despite having plenty of other choices and they didn’t disappoint. A bit of chatter in this recording, but it was still the best recording I had from their set.

Malajube – Pâte filo (live at Habana Calle)

The Yoko Casionos weren’t the last band I saw at SXSW (that honor goes to Cursive), but this was the last time I had enough energy to care about recording a show. Although this tune seems to go on forever, it is a catchy and well written pop song. You can check out more from this Canadian power-pop band at their myspace page.

The Yoko Casionos – Nice To Meet You (live at Molotov Lounge)