Mon 28 Jun – Thrice, Kevin Devine, Bad Veins (@ The Norva, Norfolk VA)

We caught one of the lesser known openers, Bad Veins halfway through their set.  My first impressions were that they came off as the stereotypical indie band:  obviously influenced by uncolored indie rock like The Strokes and Tokyo Police Club, but with one glaring gimmick:  they throw a telephone microphone into their live set.  

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They’re still a young band, and they weren’t offensive to the ears, so they’ve definitely got potential to grow past the reputation as “that band with the telephone microphone.” 

Kevin Devine, besides being a great singer/songwriter, has a sense of authenticity in person that you can’t fake.  That may be exactly why his music, usually narratives from his personal life, or his personal views on politics, works so well.  He seemed almost too easy-going; in what had to be the quickest soundchecks we’ve ever sat through, Kevin checked his microphone one time and muttered, “Hm.  Alright.”   He played the bulk of his set from his latest album Brother’s Blood (closing with the almost 8-minute centerpiece, “Brother’s Blood,” below), but there were some old songs (“Buried By The Buzz”, “Just Stay”, and fan favorite “Cotton Crush”) thrown in too.  One major advantage of his live sound over the studio sound, is the way that his backing touring band, called The Goddamn Band, fleshes out the songs with spurts of guitar noise jamming.

Thrice were in top form that night.  One of the great challenges of being a band this great is having to curate your live set from a catalog that contains no weak songs from a career spanning over a decade long.  I think at this stage of the game, they are carving out certain staples of their live sets.  You just know they will play songs like “Silhouette” (below), “A Song For Milly Michaelson,” “Image of the Invisible.”  Vocalist Dustin Kensrue joked that one of their most popular songs “Deadbolt” would be “sleeping for a while.” 

To get a feel of Thrice’s live sound, just imagine an uncompromising mix of loud and quiet.  They don’t shy away from playing some of the hardest songs they’ve made, yet they don’t mind playing much of their softer songs either (songs from their 2005 album Vheissu, repeatedly mixed loud and quiet in the same song flawlessly). But their greatest strength is how they grab hold of you.  It is impossible to stand with your arms folded at a Thrice show.

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  • DictatorAverman

Averman’s a pop-punk band that I’m proud to say come from none other than Virginia Beach, VA.  Even though they’re somewhat local “hometown heroes,” they’re gradually gaining some national recognition for making, as their Myspace suggests, “realest pop-punk.”  If you like anything along the lines of throwback pop-punk like The Movielife or Saves The Day, or even a current favorite like Man Overboard, then you’ll like this band.

Oh yeah, you can download everything they’ve released for free, in high quality, over on their Bandcamp page:  http://averman.bandcamp.com

Averman - Dictator

- Ryan

Show Review: Rogue Wave, Gamble House, Bear Crossing

Thanks to my friend Alex, who came through with a free show ticket, I went to a show last night not knowing any of the bands playing.  There was something about the spontaneity of it all, and that it was free, that let me keep an open mind to the music. However, it was apparent that none of these bands should be together in the same venue.

To use a metaphor, this show was like an open invitation house party.  The openers Bear Crossing were like the creepers that you don’t want in your house in the first place, who don’t really belong there and just want to pound beers as they pound their fists in the air.  Their style is like a hard rock Muse — not entirely mindless, but completely devoid of anything really technical or ear-catching.  Their stage presence was pretty lame too:  80’s rock star theatrics such as the frontman lifting his guitar up while he “shredded” just came off as cheesy, his jokes weren’t funny, and every now and again he’d hold a hand to his ear, as if he was expecting any member of the audience to know the lyrics.  That being said, they’re a local band with time to develop and aside from their goofy stage antics, they were pretty tolerable.

Gamble House were like the people that show up from another school that you don’t really know except through a few mutual friends.  As mentioned on this blog before, their Grizzly Bear by-way-of-LA sound was awesome to hear live.  At this early in their career though, it’s obvious that they are far from great.  For starters, for most of their set the songs were aimless—everything sounded nice, but everything was messy and nothing ever stuck with you.  At any random corner they’d throw in some Grizzly Bear style “oh ohs” but they just felt like they stuck them in the song for the fuck of it.  It wasn’t until around the end of the set that they played their best material that really made you groove.  It would be awesome to see them step out of Grizzly Bear’s shadow and stand on their own two as a great band.

Rogue Wave were the veteran partiers, the “old heads.”  Apparently they’ve been around for about 6 years and have a handful of albums under their belts.  They’ve got a tight live sound and played a pretty lengthy set.  But it’s probably worth saying that there’s a reason that tickets to their show was given away for free by The Norva. To be honest I have never had the desire to check them out and for being in the indie game for so long, they should be way bigger than they are.

At the end of the day though, I’m glad I went to the show, if only to see Gamble House and to see what the big deal was about Rogue Wave.

- Ryan

Last night, I sat in on a local band I had previously not heard of, called Digging Up Virgins.  Yet, their sound was one that I had already gotten to love a lot this year.  It’s the sort of 2010 indie rock that’s influenced by classic 90’s bands who were then reaching back to the garage sound of the 60’s.  And of course it’s all lo-fi, but in the sense of actually lo-fi, not like these other bands who spend time in the studio trying to make their music sound lo-fi (Best Coast & Wavves, for example).  Anyway, it’s pretty good stuff and it easily fits right into my current tastes.

Everything they’ve done is available for you to check out at their Bandcamp page.

- Ryan

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Download External Audio

Eternal Summers from Roanoke, VA join the dozens and dozens of bands in 2010 that take the lo-fi approach and make their songs sound like the work of 60’s rock bands.  This male-female duo sound like if Best Coast was led by an Chinese (edit:  Nicole Yun is Korean) girl.   But as most of those bands have proven this year, it doesn’t matter if their songs have little to no variety, if they’re just plain good songs.

Eternal Summers - Pogo

- Ryan

SUFJAN STEVENS at THE NATIONAL, RICHMOND, VA REVIEW (November, 9, 2010)

Where to begin…

Well, 8:00 pm hits and Sufjan Steven’s band pianist and vocal backup, DM Stith, whom I’ve never heard of, begins a finger picking spree under low and warm lights. With a couple of mics, and a guitar, I didn’t know what to expect at first, but I was quickly surprised to find my eyebrows raised and wanting to run out and buy 100 copies of anything this man has created. With wonderful guitar skill and unbelievable folky vocals to match, this man was truly something else. (Makes me wonder if Sufjan’s entire band is this talented.) One of the biggest highlights of DM Stith’s performance was a looping mic in which he would sing wordless vocals and layer them over and over to pretty much blow your mind by the third sound he looped. Playing only four songs did Stith plenty of justice and have definitely put him on my radar for a long time.

After Stith’s set, the time had finally arrived for the man, the myth, the legend, Sufjan Stevens to perform. As he walked out with his band in their unbelievably goofy costumes that would change nearly every song, it was gearing up to be the most intense and amazing show of my life. One of the most exciting things besides it being Sufjan Stevens who was performing, was his gorgeous backup dancers and a huge projector which portrayed images and video in great detail and animation representing each song he played in the background.

Opening with “Seven Swans”, a quiet banjo intro leads into Sufjan’s untouchable vocal stylings and totally blew me away. With the background which looked like stars falling from the sky, I could tell this was just the beginning of a mindblowing experience full of stories about “the beginning of the world, the end of the world, and the middle of the world.” says Sufjan.

Following “Seven Swans”, was “The Age of Adz”. Starting with that strange intro, this song ended up being one of my favorites. I personally love his new album and this song is no exception. The background appeared to be a journey through space and time while the earth was splitting and coming to an end. Right after the first verse, they end up cranking the volume up and blasting instrumentation which felt like an entire orchestra was on stage left me breathless. Next was a song of love and how the word is thrown around so carelessly Sufjan explained. “Too Much” was extremely fun to watch. The dancers and even Sufjan were getting down with what looked like an updated robot dance.

Next in the set was “Heirloom”, a great song to lead into one of my favorite series of songs he played of the night which were all off of Age of Adz, “I Walked”, “Futile Devices”, “Vesuvius”, “Now That I’m Older” and “Get Real Get Right”. Everyone of these songs were nothing less than incredible. “I Walked” was so much fun to be a part of, the soft words of “Futile Devices” definitely woke up anyone who wasn’t fond of the new album and showed them that he can still keep it simple and blow you away.

“Vesuvius” was one of the coolest songs he played simply due to the fact there was a huge volcano in the background and fiery lighting which made it appear as if the venue was ablaze.

After the onslaught of Age of Adzsongs, the mood quickly darkened and ”Enchanting Ghost” off of the EP he released this year followed. This song is so beautiful and only added to a fully stacked deck of cards and showing no one can touch Sufjan. During the song he actually inhaled one of the feathers from the wings he was wearing earlier and cut off mid song which was amusing, and yet he jumped right back in after explaining the situation. (LOL)

So if anyone is familiar with “Impossible Soul”, it is roughly a little over twenty-five minutes long and musically all over the place. I was curious to see just how they would perform the song. I was thinking they were going to be shortening it or stripping it down, and I was wrong. They battled it out for nearly half an hour including auto-tune robot vocals, amazing dance moves, and unbelievable instrumentation. My favorite part of this song, and where the whole venue turned into a gigantic dance party with beach balls included, is right when ”IT’S A LONG LIFE, ONLY ONE LAST CHANCE, COULDN’T GET MUCH BETTER, DO YA’ WANNA’ DANCE?!?!” come into the song. The answer to that question was apparently, “YES WE DO WANT TO DANCE!”, because the The National was rocking.

After nearly all new songs, it was about that time where Sufjan stayed true to his fans, and brought Illinois to the table. Ending the set with none other than “Chicago” where the audience were the just as much a part of the performance as Sufjan’s band. It was definitely one of the most incredible songs to be a part of.

After a short intermission, it was time for the encore! Which might I add was definitely something I never thought I would witness. The encore consisted of FOUR, yes, FOUR Illinois songs!!! Beginning with “Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois”, where Sufjan was alone on stage with only the lovely piano keys hitting and the vocals to match.

Next, was what I felt like was everyone’s favorite song of the night, “Casmir Pulaski Day”. Everyone sang along and made it one of the most memorable songs of the night. Following Casmir “…leads me right to Jackson.”, with “Jacksonville”, which sealed the deal on this being the absolute best show I’ve attended and probably will forever be.

Closing the performance was “John Wayne Gacy Jr”. If you know the song, you know the tone it sets just hearing the words. Multiply that feeling times a billion and you will still only get a taste of what it was to witness this. The only word I can think to describe seeing this performed is CHILLS.

“And in my best behavior I am really just like him. Look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid.”

If you ever get a chance to see a Sufjan Stevens show, I highly recommend you attend. It is a life changing experience.

-Trey

Bison @ Campus Chaos 2011

Every year near the end of April, Old Dominion will host Campus Chaos.  Now my third year attending, I have had the pleasure of seeing such bands as Blonde Redhead, The Love Language, Maps & Atlases, No Age, and Ra Ra Riot without having to stray any farther than my college campus.  This year was not the best, with Anberlin and New Boyz headlining as opposed to some of the large names in indie that I have mentioned.  Yet I still had an amazing time reuniting with my old friend Aria, who led me outside to the Tonelson Garden where we caught an up and coming local act Bison.

Bison’s sound, not really indicative by the video I took, fits somewhere between the indie folk of Mumford & Sons and Bowerbirds. This is a slower, more stripped down song but other videos on their Facebook page show off their layers of instruments and harmonies.  The most shocking thing is that they have been together for just four or five months, but play with the precision of a band that’s been in the game for much longer.  

Bison have not yet recorded a CD.

- Ryan

Show Review: Beirut @ The Norva, May 10 2011

What a night. 

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper was the virtually unknown opener of the night.  As an artist, she’s as independent as the word “indie” suggests.  Armed with just an electric guitar— no fancy loops or pedals— and her booming, gravelly voice, she set the night off in direct contrast to Beirut’s multi-layered sound.  She’s got a few tricks up her sleeve; she can hold a note for a while and then abruptly cut it off, or throw out a line like, “My hair grew long so I fucking cut it!” At just 21, I believe she’s got some definite room for improvement later on.  But you get a sense that she knows her limitations and boldly oversteps them anyway.  I respect her courage.

Tonight was a night of firsts for Beirut:  first stop on the tour, first time playing new songs, and apparently, the first time Zach has played piano in front of an audience.  The band was super tight: they play amazingly off each other and you can just feel the chemistry.  Given the range of instruments—they use accordion, French horn, trumpets, tuba, piano, bass, ukulele, and more—it’s quite important, or should I say, it’s quite essential to get a clear separation of instruments.  It’s not just about the accordion’s lines, or Zach’s ukuleke, it’s about how they all synchronize to deliver an intense signature groove.  Beirut is amazing at that.    

Beirut played a varied setlist, cherrypicking from all over the catalog.  We were treated with “Postcards from Italy,” “Mount Wroclai,” the jazzed up version of “Scenic World” released on the Lon Gisland EP, and an absolutely stunning performance of the title track of The Gulag Orkestar. I was hoping for a little more stuff from The Gulag Orkestar, but that’s okay, as most of the stuff recorded on Gulag was the work of a 19 year old Zach still finding his musical footing (In fact, some of Gulag’s songs don’t even have decipherable lyrics.).  The Flying Cup Club’s stuff sounded great too, such as Nantes and A Sunday Smile, and we got some gems from the March of the Zapotec/Realpeople Holland EPs.  I was sold on the new songs too; they were a lot less Balkan folk but still kept the brass section and the accordion integrated into the sound.

Cliquot didn’t get played; which is disappointing because it sports one of the best climaxes in indie music period, but that’s a small gripe given the wealth of great songs played.  The set seemed to breeze by, but that was only due to the songs being so tightly written so that most of them hover around three minutes or so.  All in all, I have no complaints with the show at all, and well really, it was simply flawless.  I can easily slide this show into my top 5 of all time. 

Setlist:
 

- Ryan

Say Anything at The National Wednesday, April 18th

Even better than when I saw them two years ago in Norfolk. They had a solid setlist, although it yet again didn’t include my favorite song, The Futile (Ryan & Trey will argue up and down this shouldn’t be my favorite, but, haters gonna hate). The ended with “Alive With The Glory Of Love”, which really brought everyone together. They came back out with Admit It! and we all left wanting to see them again very soon, at least I did anyway. Max Bemis’ is like a Energizer Bunny, with endless energy I can’t even fathom. Even if you’re not a super huge fan, i suggest you see them you’re next go around. The video above is their opener, “Spidersong”

-Shannon