LCD Soundsytem at Koolhaus, Toronto ON, 5-25-10

Dance music. It’s the best way most people can think to describe LCD Soundsytem. The songs are bouncy, and it is quite difficult to remain still while listening to them, but there’s so much more to it than that. James Murphy’s combination of rapid punk and elongated beats makes his version of dance music seem stable, less fleeting than most, like the songs became classics with the first thump of the beat. This feeling came with 2007’s already worshiped Sound of Silver, on which Murphy shouts refrains that roll quickly off the tongue, they are affirmations as well as questions. In one such case, on the piano leaden epic All My Friends, Murphy asserts, “You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan, and the next five years trying to be with your friends again.” It’s his ode to aging, to the cycle of life as he sees it, and it’s hard to argue with him. Sound of Silver was full of Murphy’s more ambiguous declarations while 2010’s This is Happening, is less muddled and more emotional. One of the albums early tracks is entitled I Can Change, and involves one of Murphy’s most heart-breaking lines. “I can change, I can change, I can change if it helps you fall in love,” it’s pure humanity, sad, and unabashedly truthful. The rest of the album follows suit, Drunk Girls doesn’t seem like it would provide much in the way of lyrical brilliance but along with it’s quips comes lines like “I believe in waking up together, so that means making eyes across the room.” Somehow Murphy’s version of drunken hook-ups seem almost romantic. This is Happening is another notch in Murphy’s belt, an almost perfect collection of songs that are not only danceable but also questionable and memorable. This was my first time seeing LCD and I don’t think I was exactly prepared for what was to come. I took my usual spot up front, and quickly became swallowed up in a sea of moving bodies. Nobody was still, at least as far as I could see. The crowd was frantic, rhythmic and sweaty. Murphy and co opened with Us vs. Them, which pumped even more adrenaline into the already hyper crowd. Everyone seemed to know what was coming, and when the audience joined Murphy in a refrain of “us and them, over and over again,” it was clear that the night was going to be special. The rest of the set-list featured much of This is Happening as well as a substantial amount of LCD classics like Get Innocuous, Someone Great and All My Friends along side earlier gems like Tribulations and the crowd favorite Daft Punk is Playing at my House. The four-song encore featured oldie Losing My Edge as well as a New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down/ Empire State of Mind combo. Throughout the night the energy of the crowd as well as the band never ceased and I left with a permanent smile, my heart pumping, and my clothes soaked in sweat, there is no way this was just plain dance music.

Cruel and unusual punishment.

In regards to their new material, The Arcade Fire are shirking the law and inflicting torture upon their loyal fans. Ok, so I'm being a bit harsh, it has been an impossibly long wait since the release of Neon Bible and any new material is welcome, even if it is only a 30 second clip. I posted before about the new Arcade Fire single that is being released on June 1st and now you can get a (very small) preview of each of the new songs on the band's website.

In other June release news, American Slang, The Gaslight Anthem's follow up to their incredible The 59' Sound will hit stores on June 15th. However, if you're like me and can't possibly wait that long, you can hear a couple tracks from the album now. The band posted the title track quite some time ago, but now they've released another entitled Boxer, both are available for stream on their Myspace.

Also, if you picked up the new Dead Weather album, Sea of Cowards, on vinyl you have quite the surprise coming to you. It seems that there are two short tracks carved into the label of the album, pretty cool if you ask me. If you didn't grab the vinyl version you can listen to the tracks via youtube video here.

New Panda Bear/Arcade Fire!

This weekend brought some rather surprising news on the status of new music from some of my favorite artists. Panda Bear (of Animal Collective) is releasing his first single from the upcoming Tomboy LP sometime in mid July. The release date for the LP itself is just as ambiguous, but it's rumored to be out by September. The Tomboy single will be the first Panda Bear track released since 2007's fantastic Person Pitch, and the first in a series of singles proceeding the release of the new album. Sounds like I'm going to be purchasing a lot of 7ins this summer!
As if new Panda Bear material wasn't enough to get me through the weekend, we also got some rather cryptic news regarding The Arcade Fire. A banner appeared on the band's website touting the rlease of something entitled The Suburbs, but was quickly removed once the web buzz began. After some denials and shirking of attention, it was finally confirmed that the band would be releasing a new single containing The Suburbs as well as another new tune entitled Month of May. The single is being released on June 1st, so we only have about two weeks to wait!

Local Natives at The Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland OH. 5-11-10

In some circles, Local Natives' have been referred to as “the west coast Grizzly Bear (!),” and the more time I spend with their debut album Gorilla Manor, the more apt I am to agree to the comparison. Upon first listen, Local Natives couldn’t seem further removed from the hushed harmonies and sonic melodies of the already worshiped Yellow House or Veckatimest. The comparisons start to make sense given Gorilla Manor’s soaring four part harmonies, multi-instrumentation and excellent production. Local Native’s uses all of the same elements as Grizzly Bear (!), just in an entirely new way. What first struck me about Gorilla Manor was how incredibly fresh it sounded. The band’s use of percussion clatter, feel-good chants, rough guitar lines and evident garage rock influences (including a Talking Heads cover), makes Gorilla Manor completely unforgettable. Local Natives has easily become my favorite new band, so making the decision to drive the three hours to Cleveland wasn’t exactly tough. I rarely write about opening bands, but I’ll make an exception for Suckers. A couple of the Brooklyn band’s songs have been floating around the internet, so I had the chance to check them out prior to the show. Their debut album Wild Smile has a release date of June 8^th, and after seeing them, I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s very rare that an opening band is able to hold the audience’s attention for very long, but Suckers managed to do just that. Their high energy, sometimes quirky music was the perfect lead-in to Local Natives' equally energetic set. I’ll admit I once again scored quite the spot and thus had an excellent view of the show. Local Native’s started with “Wide Eyes”, an addictively melodic tale of discovery and a personal favorite. I could tell right away that this would be an incredible show, everyone around me was beyond enamored. The audience, at least those up front, followed the bands every move and it was obvious that they had fallen just as in love with Gorilla Manor as I did. The band played almost everything off of their debut, shirking only “Sticky Thread”. Though the set was short it was enthralling. Despite already being moderately up-tempo, Local Natives seemed to breathe new life and energy to the now so familiar songs. If I had gotten sick of them by now, I would have fallen for them all over again. The percussion seemed to clatter more, the guitar lines seemed even bouncier and the lyrics seemed even more assertive. Lines like “And even if I can’t be sure, memory tells me these times are worth working for,” originally seen as the mark of a young band in search of affirmation, sounded more matter of fact. That’s not to say that Local Native’s comes off older live, in fact quite the opposite. The band clearly loves to play, and their vigor and excitement was impossible to ignore. The highlight of the show came when Sucker’s bassist joined Local Natives on stage to add trumpet to “Who Knows, Who Cares”, the song that became my favorite on my first Gorilla Manor listen. "Who Knows, Who Cares" was already gorgeous, and the trumpet only added to that, not to mention that Pan (Sucker’s bassist) is incredibly talented and a joy to watch. Local Natives closed the show with the triumphant “Sun Hands”, backed by an audience screaming every word right along with them. Whenever I get to see new bands like Local Natives I can always feel something happening. It’s a kind of anticipation that you can’t find in veteran bands, a feeling of the beginning of something big. I like to think that no matter how practiced a band is, they still get the same enjoyment from playing, but the truth is nothing can ever replicate the anticipation that looms in the early part of a band's career. Local Natives is the kind of band that one can easily see having a long career. I'm sure a few albums from now I’ll be looking back on this show and remembering Local Natives at the beginning, when they still sat at their own merch both and seemed stunned whenever someone told them that they were incredible.

Jeff Mangum plays Chris Knox benefit!

If any piece of information would send me to my computer with as much (perhaps more?) fervor as new Iron & Wine material, it's news on Jeff Mangum. The man has been in relative obscurity since the release of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, thus any Mangum sighting is a precious commodity. Even more so, any word of Mangum actually playing live would cause heart palpitations amongst NMH's devotees. When I received word this morning that VIDEOS of Mangum's long anticipated gig existed, well let's just say my key board was in danger once again, perhaps even my entire computer this time. Pitchfork has the videos here. Breathe people.

Iron & Wine plays two new songs live.

Whenever I talk about Iron & Wine I have to edit myself. If I allowed myself to talk freely about Sam Beam's gorgeous acoustic folksy melodies and perfectly poignant, southern influenced lyrics I would surely sound insane. I have a incredibly deep love for Iron & Wine, perhaps more than is acceptable, but I think the songs warrant such adoration. That being said, I don't think I have ever raced to my computer so fast as when I heard that videos of Sam beam playing two new songs live were available. I almost broke my keyboard. The songs are entitled Half Moon and Mary Ann and they seem to bit of a return to form for Beam who stretched his sound dramatically with his last album The Shepherd's Dog. You can watch the videos over at Pitchfork. Also, according to some in attendance, Beam told the audience that a new album would be released "Sometime in the near future." Let's hope my keyboard survives the day the official announcement is made.

Frightened Rabbit at The Opera House, Toronto ON. 5-4-10

I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed with The Winter of Mixed Drinks. I think part of my disappointment stemmed from my relationship with The Midnight Organ Flight. I really love that album, it’s intensely charming, raw and dynamic. On that album, Scott Hutchison’s lyrics are honest, so much so that it almost gets uncomfortable, almost. Lines like “If we had a hormone race I’m bound to finish first”, “It takes more than fucking someone you don’t know to keep yourself warm” and “You’re the shit and I’m knee deep in it" pin down Organ Flight’s key sentiments. This album is about sex, and the end of a relationship. It’s both heartbreaking and powerful, defiant and devastating. The above lines I pulled from memory, and I’ll admit that I couldn’t do so with lyrics from Mixed Drinks, it’s just not the same for me. So much of Frightened Rabbit’s charm comes from lyrical honesty as well as their relatively unadorned music. A lot of that is lost on The Winter of Mixed Drinks, not in all cases but just enough to make the album a bit of a disappointment. Mixed Drinks has more production, it’s less clear, more about sonics than story. It’s not that it's is a bad album, it’s not at all actually, it’s just not the Frightened Rabbit that I fell in love with. Luckily, that band still exists, as proved by the incredible show I took in on Tuesday night. Much to my delight, the band played almost everything off of Organ Flight, and of course a lot of Mixed Drinks as well. The set list couldn’t have been better in my opinion. Every song felt powerful and climactic, and the band’s prowess never wavered. The show began with Skip the Youth, the longest song off of Mixed Drinks and continued to include such gems as The Twist, Old Old Fashioned, Good Arms vs. Bad Arms, and The Modern Leper as well as the band’s most recent singles Swim Until You Can’t See Land and Nothing Like You. The show’s defining moment, for me at least came with the encore. My hopes of hearing Poke, my favorite Frightened Rabbit song, had arisen with every hand off of an acoustic guitar, and once the band left the stage (pre-encore), I was afraid I would be leaving without hearing it. My fears were unfounded thankfully and I was able to see an even better performance of the song then I could have imagined. Scott came out solo for the first song of the encore, an acoustic, mic-less, crowd hushed version of Poke. To say I was enthralled would be an understatement, it was perfect. I couldn’t possibly review this show without touching on how unbelievably talented each member of this band is. Though the band began as a threesome featuring brothers Scott and Grant Hutchison along with Billy Kennedy, the band has grown into a quintet, which could be the reason behind the relative sound change. The band's dynamic was an incredible thing to watch, the guys constantly switched instruments, even crossing the stage to play keys on certain songs. Three of the bands five members played the keys at least once, alongside their respective instruments. There was acoustic/electric switches, a stand up drum, and perfect vocals. I would be remiss not to point out how absolutely greatful and happy the band seemed to be. Scott constantly thanked the crowd for their attentiveness and excitement, and the whole band seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. I know I talk a lot about stage presence in my reviews but it really is such an important aspect of a show. Maybe I’m naive, but I like to think that bands enjoy the experience as much as I do. I know it’s probably hard to be on the road, playing shows every night and it’s impossible to be in a good mood all the time. But I just think that music should have the ability to fix all that. In-band tension, poor dynamics or a lack of interest leads me to think that a band is less than invested in their songs, and since I am so invested in them and their music it seems like a slap in the face. That being said, I have yet to have such an experience at a show and this show was no exception. Despite my disappointment with their newest album, Frightened Rabbit’s Toronto show was a perfect combination of dynamic, galloping folk songs and hushed heartbreaking acoustics, they were exactly the band I was hoping to see.

It's a good day to be a Wolf Parade fan.

Wolf Parade's Expo 86 finally has a release date, and it's June 29th! Which is much closer than I had anticipated and since I am a long standing Wolf fan, I'm undoubtedly excited. The band also released TWO tracks off the new album this morning! I'm pretty sure I recognize at least one of them from the show I went to earlier this month, but to listen for yourself head on over to Pitchfork now. They also provide a mini interview with Spencer Krug along with the rest of the story. Read up Wolf fans.