NYC & CMJ (October 20, 2010)

  The Drums @ Santos Party House, NYC: photo by Michael Ligon

If you look at my photoset for my second day in NYC, you'll see I had a fixation on one aspect of NYC, namely Times Square. As visually spectacular as it was, it's not so much what it was but what it represented for me, namely the diversity and energy that is New York City. I spent a good four hours in the area first taking in a late morning coffee & breakfast at Starbucks and using the free WI-FI there then sauntering around the Square taking photos and absorbing the vibe. Damn, there's a lot of tourists there. If people watching is your thing and your in NYC, you must go to Times Square. Back to the West Village for some exploring, then to the hotel for a late afternoon nap, and later off I was for my second night of CMJ.

One of my favourite new discoveries was Bologna, Italy band A Classic Education playing at Lower East Side venue The Delancey located just shy of the Williamsburg Bridge. Online research has revealed to me that lead vocalist Jonathan Clancy is Canadian born may explain to me why he didn't seem to have an Italian accent when he spoke or sung. There was a sparkling tone to their indie guitar-pop, reminding me a bit of a band like Echo and The Bunnymen. Unfortunatley, I'd only caught about three songs although it was enough for me to make my one and only purchase of the entire festival, their 5-song First EP, in a hand-made cloth CD sleeve.

After a short stop at Other Music, I headed just down the street to get to Ace of Clubs where Canadian electro-act New Look were just about to start. I was impressed by the duo when they played Canadian Musicfest in Toronto this past March, with the irresistibly cool vocals of Sarah Ruba, her subtly effective keyboard arrangements and her cohort Adam Pavao's sumptuous programming and beats. Playing against a white screen backdrop which showed a continual stream of colourful geometric patterns, it was a alot more satisfying visually though harder to photograph, but overall made it a more enjoyable experience. The strapped keyboard slung over Ruba's shoulder while she coyly sung, is one of the sexier things I've seen in a long time. Yes, sometimes music needs to be sexier.

As it turns out, I would spend the rest of the night a bit more Uptown at Santos Party House, a lot of it waiting in line trying to get in to the venue as it was at capacity. As it turns out, I was fortunate enough to get near the front of the CMJ badges line and though they were at that point making even badgeholders pay, I gladly forked over $5[as I'd RSVP before, or else I'd have to pay $10] and got it to catch a few songs of local indie notable Marnie Stern. She definitely had a garage vibe but more often than not expressed a willingness to experiment with vocal phrasing and dynamics. Yes, she is from New York but had I not known that I'd still have thought she felt very NYC - gritty, creative and bursting with energy.

During Marnie's set, she bantered jokingly along the lines about Wild Nothing being up next and hoping for the crowd that they were something rather than nothing. Well, Wild Nothing were definitely something; maybe they should change their name. An unknown entity to me prior, there seemed to be a good number of people in the audience looking forward to them. Wild Nothing, the project of a one Jack Tatum, turned out to be fairly entertaining. They sounded like they came from the same indiepop-school as Brooklynites Pains of Being Pure At Heart, though favouring a slighter cleaner guitar sound most of the time and displaying a slicker level of musicianship. For that latter factor, I sometimes wished the band would loosen up a bit, play rawer, but still they had some great melodies.

For the time I'd been in Santos Party House, I'd never even ventured to the second stage in the basement of the venue, instead sticking it out for the secret headliners of the mainstage who turned out to be buzzy locals The Drums. Caught up in a tremendous amount of press since the beginning of the year, the band had recently played The Mod Club in Toronto which I didn't make it to so to catch them in NYC was a real treat. I'd only previously heard their infectious, though polite-sounding single "Let's Go Surfing" so when the band proceed to turn up the notch during this live set several levels, I was pleasantly surprised. Melodies galore, and tantalizingly succinct guitar lines are the band's main strengths, the band oft compared to The Smiths and Joy Division. As I said, the band really turned it up, seemingly upping the tempos and infusing everything with a good dose of energy. I can't describe lead vocalist Jonathan Pierce's dancing as anything better than prancing; it had a fey quality and felt somewhat affected but hey if that's the way he felt like moving, how can I fault him. At the very least, it expressed how deeply in the moment he was and it really rubbed off on the audience who seemed as energetic as the band were. Excellent way to close off day two of CMJ.

Photos: NYC & CMJ (October 20, 2010)
MySpace: A Classic Education
MySpace: New Look
MySpace: Marnie Stern
MySpace: Wild Nothing
MySpace: The Drums

Canadian Musicfest w/ New Look, Speech Debelle, Neon Indian, Hey Marseilles (March 11, 2010)

  Hey Marseilles: photo by Michael Ligon

New Look (March 11, 9 pm, Lee's Palace): It was a thin crowd onhand for Mississauga/Dundas electro-soul-pop duo New Look. The duo, who are also married, were comprised of lead vocalist/keyboardist Sarah Ruba (who started her career out as a fashion model) and Adam Pavao who handled the programming and beats. They strolled onto the stage to a quiet audience, myself overhearing Sarah utter the word 'silence'. It was a barebones setup with Sarah playing a keyboard strapped around her shoulder and Adam handling the technoligical side but the duo soon won over the small crowd with Sarah's strong, soulful, demure vocals and Adam's electronic wizadry. They were musically reminisicent of Junior Boys combining creative electronic noodling with a song-based approach. During their last song, Sarah sang "He doesn't even know that I'm alive" and as the song neared it's conclusion, Sarah's soulful vocal prowess was on full display. The duo released a 4-song e.p. entitled "How's My Hair?" for free on their website in 2008 - it's no longer available for download but with a little intersurfing, I guarantee you'll find it. The duo are expected to release their debut album this year.

Photos: New Look @ Lee's Palace (March 11, 2010)

Speech Debelle [MySpace] (March 11, 10 pm, Lee's Palace): UK 2009 Mercury Prize winner Speech Debelle showed herself to be a versatle artist and while her forte is rapping(in an attractive British accent), she's integrated that into a musical mix that combines, hip-hop, pop, and r n'b flavours. Dressed in a black leather jacket, black sunglasses, and black jeans, her flow was superb as she seemed to utter a continuous stream of words without so much as a stumble. Her band, featuring acoustic guitar, stand-up bass, and drums, had provided a short instrumental interlude prior to Speech strolling onto the stage, and for the remainder of the set they provided subtle melodic accoutrements to her lyrical zest. The crowd at Lee's had filled in a little more at this point, and there were definite fans in the audience with one audience member even requesting a song, and ACTUALLY having it fulfilled. Her 2009 Mercury Prize-winning debut album "Speech Therapy" is out now. So far for the night, I was batting two for two.

Photos: Speech Debelle @ Lee's Palace (March 11, 2010)

Neon Indian (March 11, 11 pm, Lee's Palace): The Pitchfork-hyped, Denton, Texas band Neon Indian led by bushy-haired main composer/songwriter Alan Palomo were up next. Having released their debut album "Psychic Chasms" in October 2009, the band have been riding a wave of buzz within a short amount of time. The electro-psychedelic-pop of their song "Deadbeat Summer" had caught many persons attention, with Pitchfork declaring it the thirteen best song of 2009. Not exactly a stunner, but it is a fun-filled track. Alan rounded out the live band with a drummer, keyboardist and guitarist and while of course the keyboard setup between him and keyboardist is of course sedantary, Alan made up for it with a vibrant vocal stage presence which also extended to his guitarist and drummer. Melodic, hummable but also danceable, it was quite obvious that the crowd were there to see Neon Indian, some a little to vocal at times (buy hey, I'm sure the band appreciated it).

Photos: Neon Indian @ Lee's Palace (March 11, 2010)

Hey Marseilles [MySpace] (March 11, 12 am, Clinton's): I skipped out on Sweden electro-pop outfit Little Dragon[who'll fortunately be back in Toronto on March 30 for a show at Wrongbar; tickets $13.50] and decided to head down the street to cap off the night with Seattle indie-folk, chamber-pop outfit Hey Marseilles who were playing a midnight set at Clinton's. I'd liked what I heard on their MySpace and live they displayed a competence beyond their youthful appearance. The Decemberists seemed to be a strong influence, with vocalist Matt Bishop sounding a little like Colin Meloy at times, and the varied musical instrumentation which included violin, viola, accordion, guitar, trumpet, drums, and percussion displayed similar folk-pop qualities though less of The Decemberists sea shanty-isms. It's a shame first of all that everyone was sitting down, but secondly it was even worse that a chatty 40 % of the patrons had to ruin it for the rest of us. Matt even tried playing up to our Canadian pride by mentioning our recent hockey win, which for all intensive purposes, didn't get any response. Oh well, he tried. That was my first, and perhaps the last time, I'll ever go to Clinton's. The net result ended up being that I enjoyed Hey Marseilles on their musical merits but the sit-down crowd and the chatty atmosphere, entirely ruined the experience for me. Hopefully, they'll come back up here again. The band's 2008 independently released debut album "To Travels & Trunks" is planned for re-release and national distribution this year.


Photos: Hey Marseilles @ Lee's Palace (March 11, 2010)