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Naked Giants (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, September 18, 2018) [CAR SEAT HEADREST]

September 18, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: September 18, 2018] Naked Giants

I had never heard of Naked Giants before this show.  But apparently I was in the minority, because everyone in the club seemed to know these guys (even though they apparently have never played Philly before?).  The dudes next to me knew every word of every song and slammed and pogoed through the whole set (and I was pretty far back so this was irritatingly out of place–keep the slamming to the pit, dudes).

Naked Giants is a three-piece from Seattle.  Sure they play grunge, but they mix in some pop elements and a full dose of indie rock as well.  Both the guitarist and the bassist sing lead.  The drummer is a maniac and he left his kit several times to walk around–sometimes mid song.

They are one of the most fun bands I’ve seen live in a really long time.

The band came out and they played a huge intro of noise.  It went on for quite a while–noise and flashing lights and everything and then they settled into “Dead/Alien.” Both guitarist Grant Mullen and bassist Gianni Aiello sang lead on.

It was followed by “Regular Guy” which is indeed about a regular guy–but with a wicked guitar solo–because even though they play indie rock, Mullen totally shreds.

They played a new song called “TV” which has a very new waves-sounding staccato guitar line.  It is sung in a detached new wave style until the bass and fuzz guitar kick in and it turns onto a heavy grunge song for a few measures before reverting to the new wave sound.  The middle has a long noisy jam/freakout section which was a lot of fun.

They were jumping around like lunatics during most of the show with Aiello doing a great left/right jump kick through one of the rocking sections.

On one occasion when Henry LaVallee got our from behind his kit, he walked around the drums, hit one cymbal from the other side and sat down.  Another time he got up and engaged with the audience.  I love this picture in which he was showing the audience his phone (no idea why), but it looks like the guy in the crowd is holding a tiny light.

When they announced the song “Everybody Thinks They Know (But No One Really Knows),” a kind of bratty surf punk song, the guys near me went berserk.  They sang along and even added their own call and response to the vocals (which you can hear in this clip).  The band really appreciated it and waves to the guys.

Then they played the title track from their recent album, Sluff.  About this song, Aiello told Billboard

“I just needed a word for the chorus of that song,… I knew I wanted to shout something, but I didn’t know what. I was hanging out with my girlfriend and I said, ‘Hey, what’s a good grunge-sounding word?’ She thought for a minute and then said ‘Sluff!’ I said, ‘That’s perfect!’ It sounds like something Soundgarden might do. It’s just a nonsense word.”

And he is totally right, it is a ton of fun to sing along to “oh oh oh oh oh sluff!”

Toward the end of their set they played a song called “Twist” which was in fact, more or a less a twist (Aiello turned and faced the crowd and shook his butt at us twist-style).  There was a middle part that had a solo or two from each guy.  In Aiello’s solo he did a bass line from Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” which was pretty cool.

It was followed by ta total freak out called “Green Fuzz.”  This song went on for about ten minutes.  There was a middle section that involved all of them making as much noise as possible and Mullen ultimately lying on his back, feet in the air, doing whatever it was he was doing (I couldn’t really see him).  He stayed down there for a good five minutes while Henry LaVallee went bonkers on the drums–it was like a drum solo but without the pretension.  Meanwhile, Aiello was keeping things mostly under control with his bass, although he was also playing behind his head at one point.

They ended with “Ya Ya” an incredibly fun song and perfect set ender with the wonderfully deep chorus of “Oh, ya ya ya ya hey, Whoo hoo!”  It’s basically one more wild jam before the set crashes to a conclusion.

They were fantastic and I’d definitely see them again.

It turns out that Naked Giants are also part of Car Seat Headrest’s live band.  They became friends with Will Toledo several years ago  “I think it’s been pretty fun, though, kind of like a big boost. We get to play way bigger shows than we would by ourselves. We open for them, too, so it’s a lot of hard work. We’re playing two and a half hours a night, but it’s worth it. It’s what we signed up for.”

Setlist

  1. Dead/Alien $
  2. Regular Guy
  3. TV $
  4. Everybody Thinks They Know (But No One Really Knows) $
  5. Sluff $
  6. Slow Dance II $
  7. Twist ¥
  8. Green Fuzz
  9. Ya Ya ¥

 

¥ R.I.P. EP

$ Sluff

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Naked Giants, Philadelphia, PA, Rush, Soundgarden, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Don Babylon (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, September 18, 2018) [CAR SEAT HEADREST]

September 18, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: September 18, 2018] Don Babylon

I rather enjoy when there are two opening bands.  Especially if the first opening band is a local band.  Philly has been producing some great bands in recent years and I like getting exposed to them.

Don Babylon are a Philly-based band who I’d never heard of before.  They play loud songs.  Or as they describe their music:

“Drunk, sad rock’n’roll in between kitchen shifts and last call.”

They were terrific. Continue Reading »

Posted in Don Babylon, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Edwidge Danticat–”Sunrise, Sunset” (New Yorker, September 18, 2017)

September 18, 2018 by Paul Debraski

 SOUNDTRACK: AJ DAVILA-“Es Verano Ya” (Field Recordings, September 24, 2014). 

AJ Davila is part of the “unhinged Puerto Rican garage-rock band” Davila 666. For this Field Recording [Garage-Rocker AJ Davila Unplugs In A Hair Salon] he plays an acoustic song in a hair salon.

Davila says that New York is like another town of Puerto Rico.  That people from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have made their homes and communities here.

There’s a joke that says the biggest town in Puerto Rico is called New York. Several waves of diaspora have created a deep and complex relationship between Puerto Ricans and the city. Boricuas have had an immense influence on the Big Apple — its music, its literature, its landscape, and even its cuisine.

He says that a small place like a barbershop (or beauty salon) can feel like you’re in your house.  “This is a song about hanging out with your friends.  It’s a summer song.”

We asked Davila to delight a Spanish Harlem beauty salon with a summer song. It’s appropriate: He’s one of the warmest souls I know — someone with whom it’s a pleasure to discuss art and music, argue about politics or tell silly jokes. He’s also a uniquely talented musician, with a style that combines garage-rock, punk and even elements of hip-hop.

This song probably rocks, but this acoustic version is lighter, with some bouncy chords from the other guitarist Daniel Ortiz and delightful backing vocals from Lola Pistola.  It’s somehow even better when they laugh off a tiny mistake.

[READ: September 14, 2017] ”Sunrise, Sunset”

This is a story of three generations of a Haitain family.

Carole is elderly and is slowly forgetting a lot–a blank look comes over her face and she forgets that she put her keys in the fridge or that her daughter is related to her.

Her daughter, Jeanne, and son-in-law James (they were known as JJ) just had a son, Jude (now known as Triple J).  But Jeanne has been in the throes of post-partum depression. James is a saint about it but Carole is furious that her daughter is lying around.  Back in Haiti, Carole did not have the luxury of depression.

Carole lived under a dictator.  She watched her neighbors get dragged out of their houses by the dictator’s henchmen.  Carole’s father fled the country and she never saw him again. Continue Reading »

Posted in Babies, Dominican Republic, Edwidge Danticat, Field Recordings, Haiti, New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Old Age, Parenting, Puerto Rico, Short Story, Threats | Leave a Comment »

The The: Comeback Special (Beacon Theatre, New York, NY, September 17, 2018)

September 17, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: September 17, 2018] The The

I feel like I have always loved The The.  I’d never say they were my favorite band, but they’ve always been a part of my playlists and lyrics from the songs are constantly running through my head.

From the dancey early stuff off of Infected (the first album I’d heard), to the cool “band” stuff with Johnny Marr on guitar (The The was always and forever shall be the project of Matt Johnson with a rotating cast of others) and finally to the beautiful Dusk, which I couldn’t stop playing all through college.   There were other albums, but these three (and, strangely enough the Hank Williams cover album) were staples for me.

Matt Johnson has this voice, the deep resonating voice, that gets right into my head.  Especially with headphones, especially on the beginning of Dusk.  That album is so pristinely recorded it feels like the guitars are in whatever room you are currently in.

I had the fortune of seeing them in May of 2000, the last time The The played the States (and almost anywhere else).  The setlist below I found online.  They apparently played almost all of the then new album and nearly nothing else.  That seems incomplete (and short).

When he (they) announced that The The had released a new song and were doing some shows in England and Europe, I held out hope that they would come across the pond.  I wondered if they’d play Philly, but they didn’t (and that was probably wise as even the Beacon didn’t sell out).  So I got tickets as soon as I could and scored 11th row.  For yes, I was willing to brave the Lincoln Tunnel and an expensive parking garage to see this show.  And having it only in a few locations made it that much more special. Continue Reading »

Posted in Andy Dog Johnson, Beacon Theatre, Hank Williams Sr., Matt Johnson, New York City, Salman Rushdie, The The | Leave a Comment »

Xordox (Beacon Theatre, New York, NY, September 17, 2018) [THE THE]

September 17, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: September 17, 2018] Xordox

When The The announced that they were touring for the first time in 18 years, I knew I was going to go, even if it meant dragging myself through the $15 Lincoln Tunnel.  (How do people afford that every day?).

I noted the opening acts: Agnes Obel will appear on all dates as a special guest, except the September 16 show at Brooklyn Steel where Elsyian Fields will open and the September 17 gig at the Beacon Theater where XORDOX (aka JG Thirlwell/Foetus), a frequent THE THE collaborator, will open.

I really like Agnes Obel and I put her on my list of people I wanted to see live.  So I was a little bummed that she didn’t play for my show.  But at the same time, Xordox is the creation of the legendary JG Thirwell, whom I have never seen before either.  Thirwell is probably best know for his group Foetus, but is more recently known as the guy who scores the new Archer seasons.  And that’s pretty great.

Every incarnation of Thirwell sounds different from the previous one (with a different pseudonym: Clint Ruin, Frank Want, and Foetus), so who knew what Xordox would sound like.

For this incarnation, Thirwell is Manorexia. Continue Reading »

Posted in Agnes Obel, Archer, Beacon Theatre, JG Thirwell, Jim Thirwell, Manorexia, New York City, The The, Xordox | Leave a Comment »

Tessa Hadley–“Cecilia Awakened” (New Yorker, September 17, 2018)

September 17, 2018 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: JAZMINE SULLIVAN-“Stupid Girls” (Field Recordings, August 12, 2014).

NPR and Jazmine Sullivan were in New Orleans’for the Essence Music Festival.

I’m intrigued that this Field Recording [Jazmine Sullivan Fades A New Orleans Barber Shop] is the second one set in a barbershop (technically, this is the first one as I have been watching them in backwards order).

This barbershop, Claer-Vue, is just a few blocks from the Superdome, just off Canal Street. It has been in business since 1948.  It is a men’s barbership and I know that a barbershop is part of the culture but nearly every man waiting to get their hair cut has really short hair already–like closely buzzed.  Are they hanging out or do they get it cut daily?

I had never heard of Jazmine, but she was apparently known to at least some of the patrons

When she walked in, patrons and barbers alike were wary. But they knew who she was, from hit songs like “Bust Your Windows” and “Holding You Down (Goin’ in Circles).” And when she began to sing, wearing her powerhouse instrument lightly, everyone ceded her a floor that had been previously occupied by a heated debate about college football.

With just an acoustic guitar accompanying her, she sings her beautiful song.  Her voice is clear and pretty and devoid of all the trills and filigree of pop singers.

To a roomful of captivated men, she sang a brand new song, “Stupid Girls,” that warns women to be careful with their hearts.

You can see most of the men nodding along. Most are deferential, with side-eyed glances.   There’s polite applause at the end, but Jazmine is pretty pleased with herself–as she should be.

[READ: September 14, 2018] “Cecilia Awakened”

Tessa Hadley continues to make wonderful stories where nothing seems to happen, but there is a lot going on internally.

Like the way this one starts:

Cecilia awakened from her childhood while she was on holiday in Italy, the summer she turned fifteen.  It was not a sexual awakening, or not exactly–rather, an intellectual or imaginative one.

Cecilia is described as an odd child, but one who fit in perfectly with the oddity of her parents.  Her father worked at a university library and her mother, Angela, wrote historical novels.  Most of all they both loved the past.  When they had Cecilia–late in their lives–they did not feel any need to conform to society any more than they already did.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Art, Artists, Barbershop, Charles Dickens, Churches, Field Recordings, George Eliot, Italy, Jazmine Sullivan, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Short Story, Teenagers, Tessa Hadley, Vacation | Leave a Comment »

Steven Millhauser–“A Report on Our Recent Troubles” (Harper’s, November 2007)

September 16, 2018 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: WILD BEASTS-A Simple Beautiful Truth” (Field Recordings, October 23, 2014).

I don’t know if there was an initial mission statement for Field Recordings, but I feel like this one fits my model of Field Recordings perfectly.  For this Field Recording [A ‘Beautiful Truth’ In A Beautiful Bar], NPR brought a band into Grand Central Station to play a song.

Of course, they can’t have the band play in the middle of Grand Central Station (well they could and that would be awesome–but not if they want a lush version of the song, which they do).  So they had them play in The Cambell Apartment, a bar tucked into Grand Central Station. What?

You can be 10 feet from The Campbell Apartment, a bar tucked into the corner of New York’s Grand Central Station, and not have any idea it’s there. The office of a member of the New York Central Railroad’s Board Of Directors in the 1920s (and later a storage closet and a jail), the room is intimate in spite of its 25-foot ceilings and the enormous leaded-glass window that faces Vanderbilt Avenue.

The band Wild Beasts does not in any way live up to their name.  There’s hardly anything wild or beastly about them.  They play a kind of new wave, almost old-time music (Roxy Music-ish): “The band’s sound — from the street-urchin-inspired lyrics of its early songs to the new-wave synths woven through its latest album, Present Tense — arrived fully intact via time machine.”

“A Simple Beautiful Truth” has a delicate synth line and loud electronic drums.  It wouldn’t make sense in Grand Central Station.  I’m not entirely sure it make seen here, but the band’s overall vibe does make sense in this old-timey bar.

[READ: October 10, 2017] “A Report on Our Recent Troubles”

This story is indeed written as a report.  The recent troubles are a euphemism for the rampant suicide that has struck a village.

But because the story is written as a report, it has a formal, detached tone that really allows for much thinking about suicide.  The suicide is so rampant that families have moved away, leaving those who remain to deal with their shattered existence.

The town was once pleasant–connected to the city and culture and yet with a rural sensibility.

They the undersigned are reluctant to look for one thing that changed everything but they can’t help but note that when Richard And Suzanne Lory killed themselves, things seemed to change.  Each in their early fifties, happily married and with lots of friends.  They killed themselves and left no note. An investigation turned up no scandal.

Two weeks later a 74-year-old retired high school math teacher killed himself.  He had been diagnosed with cancer of the liver.  This was less scandalous and almost understandable. Continue Reading »

Posted in Field Recordings, Harper's, Newport Jazz Festival, NPR/PRI/PBS, Roxy Music, Short Story, Steven Millhauser, Suicide, Wild Beasts | Leave a Comment »

David Bezmozgis–“The Proposition” (Harper’s, September 2007)

September 15, 2018 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: JON BATISTE AND STAY HUMAN-“Believe in Love” (Field Recordings, November 6, 2014).

I had never heard of Jon Batiste and Stay Human until he became the bandleader and sidekick on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

It’s always fun to read about a famous person from before they were famous.  But this blurb doesn’t say much about him (that’s him in the yellow suit and melodica).  But the story about this Field Recording [Jon Batiste Leads A Private Street Parade Atop A Fort] was too good not lead the whole thing in.

Jon Batiste is from New Orleans, where a street parade might assemble around the corner on any given day. Evidently, he likes a good walkabout: He’s liable to lead his band at a guerrilla concert in the New York City subway, or out of a venue, or — as he did at the Newport Jazz Festival — off stage and into the audience.

After playing a set at Newport, he and the Stay Human band kept walking. They walked past the backstage trailers, through the quad stage and up onto an overgrown rampart of Fort Adams — the 190-year-old edifice that houses the festival. After a long day of travel, interviews and a headlining performance, they were there to give us a special and private encore.

The song they played, “Believe in Love” which is upbeat and pleasant.   It is a pretty New Orleans-inflected  (must be the sousaphone bass) poppy/jazzy song.  It’s a lovely understated song, with simple instrumentation: Jon Batiste, voice/melodica; Eddie Barbash, alto saxophone; Barry Stephenson, bass; Ibanda Ruhumbika, tuba; Joe Saylor, tambourine; Jamison Ross, cowbell/backing vocals.

The keyboardist and bandleader calls his portable performances “love riots”: attempts to generate instant community through music.

I love at the end, before they finish, they simply turn around and walk off (even the upright bass), still paying as the music fades from the microphone.

[READ: October 9, 2017] “The Proposition”

This story is about a successful immigrant to Toronto.  His success is more or less everything he hoped for himself, but he wishes he had just a bit more.

Roman Berman had, like many Jews, migrated to this area of Toronto and because he was successful, he was always asked for various avenues of help.  He wanted to sell his old car, but before he could, a friend called and asked if he would sell this car to Svirsky.  So he waited in his office, but of course Svirksy (who bought a lemon of a car previously) did not show at the appointed time.

Berman was sympathetic to his plight but still angered about the delay.  But he knew that when he first arrived he was also looking for help from anywhere.  He worked very hard to get hat he had–and still worked very hard–to the point of irritating the people he relied on for referrals.  But it was necessary if he wanted to provide a good life. Continue Reading »

Posted in Communists, David Bezmozgis, Field Recordings, Harper's, Jon Batiste and Stay Human, NPR/PRI/PBS, Prostitution, Russia, Sex, Stephen Colbert, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Leave a Comment »

Paul Theroux–“The Lower River” (New Yorker, September 14, 2009)

September 14, 2018 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: JOYCE DIDONATO-“When I am Laid in Earth’ (Dido’s Lament)” (Field Recordings, February 4, 2015).

Joyce DiDonato is an opera singer with a wonderful voice.  She is also an outspoken LGBT+ advocate.

DiDonato, 45, straight and a native Kansan, is outspoken on LGBT issues and one of today’s most sought-after opera stars. At London’s popular Proms concerts she capped off the 2013 festival with “Over the Rainbow,” saying it was devoted to LGBT voices silenced by Russia’s anti-gay laws. At the Santa Fe Opera, she dedicated a performance to a gay New Mexican teen who took his life after being bullied.

For this particular performance, she was drawing attention to Mark Carson, a gay man fatally shot almost two years prior. The city’s police commissioner stated Carson’s death was clearly a hate crime.

The murder happened just blocks away from the famous Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar.  And that is where she chose to perform this piece [Joyce DiDonato Takes A Stand At Stonewall].

“The idea of a murder happening blocks away from the Stonewall Inn is incomprehensible to me,” DiDonato says. “It shouldn’t happen anywhere. It tells me that we’re not done talking, and we are not done working for people to comprehend what equality is about and why it is important.”

On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village. A riot broke out, sparking successive nights of protest and, many say, the emergence of the modern gay rights movement.

LGBT rights have come a long way since that summer night 46 years ago, when there were still laws criminalizing homosexuality. But mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato believes there’s still work to be done, so she chose the Stonewall to gather a few friends, talk about equality and sing a centuries-old song that still resonates.

For this memorial she chose to perform a piece from Henry Purcell’s 17th-century opera Dido and Aeneas. The piece is called “When I am Laid in Earth” also known as “Dido’s Lament.”  She explains the piece: “‘Dido’s Lament’ is about a woman who is dying and she asks for absolution.  When I am in the earth, I hope that I haven’t created any trouble.  Remember me but don’t remember my fate.”

The aria unfolds slowly yet purposefully, with a refrain that seems to predict the mournful strains of an African-American spiritual.

The piece is beautiful and mournful.  And the musical accompaniment (students from Juilliard415) is understated and lovely.  The inclusion of the viola de gamba and the therobo is inspired.  Musicians:  Francis Liu and Tatiana Daubek, violins; Bryony Gibson-Cornish, viola; Arnie Tanimoto, viola da gamba; Paul Morton, theorbo.

[READ: April 15, 2016] “The Lower River”

This story looks at a man from Medford.  As the story opens its says the man, whose names is Altman, always imagined he’d one day return to Africa, to the Lower River.  He had loved it there when he volunteered in a village called Malabo.  He stayed for four years (longer than anybody else had).  He helped to build a school and taught at it.  He felt a real connection with the people there.

And now, some forty years later, as he was getting tired of Medford, as his clothing store was failing, as his marriage was failing, as he had very little left for himself in Medford, he decided, why not.  Why not go back to Africa and see if people remembered him at all.

The Lower River is the southernmost region of the southern province of Malawi, the poorest part of a poor country.  It is also the home of the Sen people.  They were a neglected tribe and rather despised by those who didn’t know them.  They were associated with squalor, credulity and incompetence.  And indeed, when he went there the first time people, were afraid to take him as far as the Lower River.

Now, Malawai is something of a vacation destination where rich people are pampered by the poor locals.  But when Altman arrives and asks for transport to the Lower River, people are hesitant to take him, there, making sure he knows where he is going.    Even after his driver drops him off he speeds away without any concern for formalities. Continue Reading »

Posted in Africa, Field Recordings, Henry Purcell, Joyce DiDonato, LGBTQ, New Yorker, Nostalgia, NPR/PRI/PBS, Paul Theroux, Short Story, Superstitions, Travel | Leave a Comment »

Superorganism (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, September 13, 2018)

September 13, 2018 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: September 13, 2018] Superorganism

When I first heard Superorganism, I found “Something for your M.I.N.D.” to be kind of annoying.  Then it grew on me a bit. But I was intrigued by this band whose origin story was really fascinating.

The band began as a casual recording project in 2017 (last year) with members based in multiple countries, across the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.  Most of the band had met online in music forums or via mutual friends over a number of years.  By he time of Superorganism’s formation, the majority of the members had been living in London since 2015 and they decided to embark on a musical project together based on their mutual interest in internet memes.

So that’s interesting, as is this musical breakdown: Continue Reading »

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Superorganism, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

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