Mount Eerie, No Kids, and Prayer Breakfast at the Banneker Community Center – November 6, 2009

I saw Mount Eerie on Friday night and they were amazing. They put on a great great show and I recommend seeing them if you ever get the chance. I was lucky to see them touring behind Wind’s Poem because it is such an amazing album. My coverage is below and there are images and videos that I couldn’t include in the post (for length’s sake) so you can check them out on my Flickr page and my YouTube channel. This is the first concert I have covered with my new Flip Video MinoHD and I have to say, the quality is amazing considering how small the thing is. My hand was a little shaky, but you get the idea.

Originally published on The Live Buzz, 8 November 2009

On Friday night a crowd of dedicated fans trekked out to the Banneker Community Center to see one of the most prolific independent musicians, Phil Elverum, play with his band, Mount Eerie. I say trekked because the Banneker Community Center is on the west side of Bloomington, and is not a known musical venue. Obviously, I was not the only one who had never been to the center before as some people were hazy as to the rules about alcohol on the premises (in case you’re wondering, they do frown on drinking inside a community center’s gym).

Prayer Breakfast (resident noise guitarist Jared Cheek is out of frame to the left)

Local supergroup Prayer Breakfast was the first band to play. This was not the first time that I have seen them play, but it was certainly my favorite. Most of their songs start out soft and crescendo with the harmony and dual guitars of Mike Adams and Mike Dixon. They played songs off their 12″, Small American, and some new songs that I had never heard before.

This is their self-proclaimed hit single, “Clover Crowns.”

At one point Mike Adams broke a string and Mike Dixon led the crowd in an impromptu “Master of Puppets” singalong, followed by a Cher cover. If you get the chance, make sure you see the greatness that is Prayer Breakfast.

No Kids

Up next was No Kids, an indie pop band from Vancouver. On this tour, No Kids consists of the same personnel as Mount Eerie, except with Phil Elverum playing drums in No Kids. While the album is very poppy, they were more low-key live, and reminded me of British crooner Aqualung.

Here is No Kids playing “Written in the Wind.”

The vocalist and keyboard player, Nick Krgovich, was soft spoken but confident displaying wide vocal range. He explained some of the songs, including an imagined dialogue between a young and old couple from a picture he had seen in Vanity Fair. One of the more interesting songs he wrote was about Rock Hudson looking out a window of his mansion as he died alone of AIDS. This sounds pretty bad, I know, but the song is beautiful and displayed the imaginative narrative style of the rest of Krgovich’s music. Songs like “For Halloween” were more upbeat, but overall the set was fairly soft and intimate.

Mount Eerie

After No Kids finished there was a short break as they switched places and prepped for their transformation to Mount Eerie. Everybody came to their feet as the band assembled and gathered basketballs to use later in the show. The set started with an explosion of sound, as they played “Wind’s Dark Poem,” the first song off their new album, Wind’s Poem. Many in the music press called this album their “black metal album” since it has loud to soft dynamics that are not generally seen in what is generally accepted as “indie” music. “Wind’s Dark Poem” starts with a barrage of guitar noise and hectic drumming, which appears throughout the album, and was present throughout the band’s live set.

Here is Mount Eerie performing “The Hidden Stone” (And Phil Elverum encouraging people to get closer).

The lighting was just a few lamps, which created a creepy atmosphere that fit the music perfectly. So perfectly, that the show had to stop momentarily as somebody in the front row fell to the floor. The acoustics in the gym sounded surprisingly good to me, although I was in the front row being blown away by the massive Sunn O))) amp.

Mount Eerie with basketball percussionists

During the last song of the concert Elverum handed out basketballs to the crowd and told them to bounce the balls along to the beat at a later part of the song. Predictably, people aren’t very good at playing basketball percussion and they came in at the wrong time and lost control of their dribbling. It didn’t really matter though, since they were all having a good time. After the song they thanked the audience and packed up their equipment, not sticking around for an encore. I didn’t feel cheated out of an encore since they put on a show packed with as much sound as a community center’s gym could handle. The concert was a great extension of the lingering Halloween atmosphere, and hopefully Mount Eerie makes their way back to Bloomington on their next tour.

- Words, photos, and videos by David Ray

PS – Bonus video!
Mount Eerie performing “Ancient Questions”

Neon Indian at The Bishop – 29 October 2009

About a year or so ago a friend of mine directed me to the MySpace of a band I had never heard of. I listened to a few of the songs and I thought it was pretty good. Nothing to write home about, but it sounded like it had potential. Well, I guess they did because lately they have been getting a lot of coverage from Pitchfork and around the blogosphere. The band is Neon Indian and they just released their debut LP, Psychic Chasms. I like the album and I saw them here in Bloomington at The Bishop. I covered the show and what follows is my review.

Originally published on The Live Buzz, 2 November 2009:

Last Thursday evening, chill wave giant and Pitchfork buzz band Neon Indian performed at The Bishop with local artist Spirit Spine. There was also an appearance by DJ Phenom, who spun tracks between performances.

Spirit Spine

I showed up near the beginning of Spirit Spine’s performance and noticed a few things right away. The crowd was unusually young and were arranged in a bizarre horseshoe shape away from the stage. Things like this often happen at concerts, although it usually takes one brave person to stand up front and persuade the rest of the people to follow suit. Eventually the William Wallace-type came in and the issue was resolved. Spirit Spine stood at his podium twisting knobs, triggering samples, and singing about who knows what. He sounded like Panda Bear and that got some of the kids dancing, although his alternative take on “I Want Candy” just creeped me out.

Spirit Spine finished and there was a mass exodus of youth towards the outside for air and cigarettes. Opting to stay inside, I was pelted almost immediately by some sort of amalgamation of house and techno music from DJ Phenom. Having seen Dinosaur Jr three times, I realize what loud is. This was way too loud. There is good loud (Dinosaur Jr.) and there is bad loud (house/techno/dance music blasted in a room with 10 people). It seemed like an odd choice.

I stepped outside for a while then came back in. It took Neon Indian a while to take the stage, then some more time to sound check and adjust their levels. The drummer and guitarist played along with some of DJ Phenom’s songs while the rest of the band got ready, which got a lot of the crowd dancing before the show even began. The guitarist was using a pedal that produced an effect similar to Peter Frampton’s TalkBox, but luckily he never asked us how we felt through it.

Neon Indian started the set with one of their catchier tunes, “Terminally Chill.” The group’s mastermind, Alan Palomo, danced in place between his keyboard and effects equipment, setting the poppy direction that the rest of the concert would take. Though their album and genre tag (chillwave) might not suggest it, the band was upbeat and even a little funky live. They combined the dance-pop sensibility of post-Hissing Fauna Of Montreal with the New York swagger of The Strokes.

The crowd was dancing the whole time and went especially wild when the opening notes to “Deadbeat Summer” came on. They played one song after that and then walked off stage to fairly loud applause. The applause lasted a little while and then stopped. Crowds nowadays expect an encore and don’t always seem enthusiastic enough to merit one. Nevertheless Neon Indian came back out (sans keyboardist) and played a funky new VEGA song that had a driving guitar riff. There was a lot of dancing and sweating, and when it was over I saw a lot of satisfied young faces. Like MGMT before them, Neon Indian has tapped into a youthful vein that wants to escape from the monotony of every day life, even if it is only for a few sweaty dance numbers.

-Photos and story by David Ray

Kurt Vile and The Violators at The Vid – 12 October 2009

Another one I have been meaning to post but just got around to, here is my coverage of the Kurt Vile show at The Vid. It was a little disappointing because I love The War on Drugs so much and they were amazing when I saw them. This is my coverage from The Live Buzz, reproduced here (Photographs and text by me).

Originally published on The Live Buzz, 14 October 2009:

Kurt Vile and The Violators doing what they do best

I went to The Vid last night to see some hazy bedroom pop and what I got was four long-haired dudes playing rock ‘n’ roll.

Not too bad.

I arrived right at the end of Normanoak’s set (who knew a show at The Vid would start on time?) when Kurt Vile and company stepped out to grab a smoke and some of their merch. Vile had only good things to say about Normanoak, which is great to hear from an up and coming artist. It bums me out when I hear artists talk shit about openers just because they are often not well known.

After hanging around outside, I secured my place at a front table. It turns out this wasn’t really necessary because the lighting was terrible and I couldn’t take pictures anyway. In terms of photography, I follow a strict anti-flash policy.

Vile took the stage with The Violators around 10:30, starting with an extended psychedelic jam. Obviously inebriated, Vile played the next song “for the ladies.” The set included most of the songs from his newest album, Childish Prodigy, as well as old favorites like his self-proclaimed “smash hit,” “Freeway.” Not having prepared a set list, he fielded audience requests multiple times. Nobody requested “Free Bird,” but there were a surprising number of people requesting “Benny and the Jets” (although he did not abide).

I have a feeling I was too close to the amps to be able to hear everything clearly, so feel free to disagree with my assessment of the sound. The vocals were pretty garbled and it was hard to distinguish the three individual guitar parts. On the albums this haziness seems to work and it adds to the ambiance, but it was more of an annoyance live. I liked that it was loud and it definitely rocked, but the pop elements that were present on the record were virtually nonexistent live.

Kurt Vile

Most of the time when you say, “This is our last song,” you do it into the microphone so people know. Well, when you are inebriated and prone to knock your microphone stand over, these things escape you. Luckily, Vile played two one-song encores, mostly solo. He played “Dead Alive” and then “Peeping Tom.” I was particularly surprised when he played “Peeping Tom” by himself, since it requires decent finger-picking skills, which not everybody possesses when they are drunk. But Vile is a rock star. They rock and roll all night and part of every day! He played it like a champ and it was probably my favorite tune of the night since I could actually hear what he was singing.

Packing up after the show I overheard many people talking about how much it rocked, and even though I didn’t entirely share their enthusiasm I had a good time. Vile and his ragtag team of frizzy-locked guitar players didn’t rock my world, but they gave my ears a good thrashing and isn’t that what live music is all about?

Woven Hand at Russian Recording – 10 October 2009

It’s taken me a while to post these pictures, but I saw Woven Hand at Russian Recording last Saturday evening and it was awesome. Every bit as scary and epic as the last time I saw him. I saw Woven Hand at South By Southwest this year, and my pictures from that concert are up as part of my coverage here. Katie and I covered this concert for The Live Buzz in this post.

Originally published on The Live Buzz, October 11, 2009:

Those who attended the Woven Hand show on Saturday night at Russian Recording were kicked in the face by a set that was both terrifying and entrancing.

Always at the peak of intensity when performing live, the brainchild of Woven Hand, David Eugene Edwards, showed why he is known for putting on intense concerts. It was hard to believe that the music being played was Christian. Unlike most “Christian music,” Edwards seems to be obsessed with the power that god wields, and less concerned with his penchant for forgiveness. People forget that the Old Testament has plenty of war, murder, and contains a god that enjoys punishing those who cross him. Woven Hand likes to remind people.

Edwards is also known for his use of antique instruments

Despite his frightening demeanor, it was impossible to take my eyes off of Edwards. His intense eyes and bulging veins commanded the attention of the audience. I can’t recall the last time I went to a concert that was so dark and serious, and honestly it was a great change of pace from the indie pop that Bloomington is known for. The bass lines provided the undercurrent for Edwards’ folk melodies and slide guitar. Leaning heavily on his whammy bar, he pushed the bridge of his Gretsch Tennessee Rose to the limit.

Woven Hand cemented the dark gloom that had fallen over the concert by ending the night with a cover of “Heart and Soul” by Joy Division. Let me just say, my life was exponentially better afterward.

This is the picture Katie took and she told me to include it (I also dig his boots)

Nurses at The Bishop – 7 October 2009

Last Wednesday night I went to The Bishop to see Nurses play. husband&wife was the opener, and as always they were great. It wasn’t the best concert I have ever seen, but it was good and I had a lot of fun. I won’t post the preview that I wrote, but you can check it out on The Live Buzz. Katie’s print coverage of the show is also up on The Live Buzz. The lighting at The Bishop is pretty crummy but here is a taste of the show:

husband&wife opened

I’d recommend giving them a listen. Here is their song “Technicolor”

Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy Review

Hello all,

Kurt Vile is coming to Bloomington on Monday and I will be covering the concert for The Live Buzz. Here is a review I wrote of his new album, posted originally on the Live Buzz. As a general rule, most of the things I do now will appear there first and then I will post them here. Should be a kickass show!

One part Nick Drake fingerpicking and another part Rolling Stones rock ‘n’ roll swagger, Kurt Vile’s Childish Prodigy is a psychedelic pop album that hearkens back to drug-addled days of yore. Maybe better known for playing lead guitar in indie rock outfit The War on Drugs, Vile also put out a few solo albums on smaller indie labels before signing to Matador this year.

Trying to review Childish Prodigy without mentioning a myriad of artistic influences is nearly impossible, but it is an ode to Vile’s creativity that he can incorporate so many small shreds from numerous sources and craft something if not entirely unique, then at least something that is genuine and entertaining. It is hard to hone in on the lyrics through the haze of reverb, but they sink in after a few listens. Foot-stompers like “Freak Train” recall The War on Drugs, and the opening track, “Hunchback,” sounds like Mick Jagger auditioning for T. Rex.

The album is a dreamy, lo-fi ride that has its ups and downs, but mostly stays in the clouds. Not bad for a kid from Philly who dropped out of community college to record in his bedroom.

Take a free listen:

Hunchback MP3

Overnite Religion MP3

Here’s the show info:
Kurt Vile and The Violators
Monday, October 12
@ The Video Saloon
9pm
$8 adv/$10 door
21+

Pygmalion Music Festival 2009

The Antlers perform at the Canopy Club on Friday evening, the third day of the Pygmalion Music Festival

Last weekend I went to the Pygmalion Music Festival which is held every year in Urbana, Illinois. The festival was four days long, but I was only there for the weekend shows. Still, I caught some amazing stuff. On another note, I have started photographing (and maybe writing) for the Indiana Daily Student’s music blog, The Live Buzz. That’s how I got the press hookup for the festival. Hopefully I can help them cover more of the great shows that go on in Bloomington, since it is tough for me to do it all myself. They have some great writers and I look forward to doing more work for them. You can check out Katie’s post about the festival and my slideshow (since free wordpress won’t let me embed slideshows on here). The Antlers and Iron & Wine were the highlights of the weekend for me. Here are some of the pictures I took, and the rest are up on my Flickr.

Peter Silberman of The Antlers

Peter Silberman and drummer Michael Lerner share a special moment Friday evening at The Canopy Club

Sam Beam of Iron & Wine talks to the audience before his performance Saturday night

Sam Beam of Iron & Wine played a solo acoustic set Saturday evening at the Krannert Center in Urbana, Illinois.

Sam Beam plays to a sold-out audience Saturday evening at the Krannert Center

Jona Bechtolt of YACHT likes to make triangles at the audience.

The Hood Internet performing Saturday night at The Canopy Club

A sweaty crowd dancing to The Hood Internet at The Canopy Club Saturday night

30 seconds of The Canopy Club on Saturday night, the last night of the festival

No Deachunter Tour in Bloomington

I went to the show, but I did not buy this butt-ugly shirt

So…………this happened a while ago (August 5). Now, I didn’t forget about it, I just forgot that I had the pictures. They were used in Katie’s show review on the Live Buzz Blog, then I sort of forgot that I had not posted them on my blog.

Sincerest apologies.

The show was awesome and I since I didn’t know I was going to be taking pictures I didn’t have a great position for most of the time, but I think they still turned out pretty well. Guitars and bodies were flying through the air. Yes, there was a tribal dance circle. Yes, we did run around outside the building. And yes, it was sweaty and awesome. Here you go:

Dan Deacon

No Age

Deerhunter

As always, the rest are up on my Flickr.

Black Metal: More of an Influence than You Know

Last Thursday I traveled five hours to see Explosions in the Sky perform at the Congress Theater in Chicago. Katie and I arrived just in time to hear the crowd roar in applause as Explosions took the stage. Good timing. The band was great, and although there were plenty of distractions, the show was enjoyable (thankfully somebody told the bar off to the side of the theater that we knew they served Miller, so they could turn off their extremely vibrant neon sign). The crowd really got into the parts where Explosions started to rock out, making lots of noise while performing synchronized guitar bashing. I loved these parts too and although I appreciated some of the slow stuff I just wanted them to bash until they were bloody or their guitars broke. I looked around and saw that the crowd was pretty diverse and contained mostly young hipster kids, but also some older people and the occasional preteen.

This got me thinking.

Explosions in the Sky play a brand of music that is loud and atmospheric. It relies on buildup and letdown as well as precise timing. This made me think of another genre of music that contains those same qualities, yet almost none of these people would be caught dead at one of these concerts. What is this mysterious musical genre (that you can probably guess from the title of this article)?

Black metal.

(Photos from Peter Beste’s great photography book True Norwegian Black Metal)

Black metal is a heavy metal subgenre that is best known for its sonically abrasive nature, Scandinavian church burnings, and ridiculous photoshoots. Even within the black metal subgenre there are subgenres (industrial, folk, Viking), but the one I am concerned with is atmospheric black metal.

Atmospheric black metal relies heavily on the creation of a dark ambience. Norwegian band Burzum is generally considered the architect of the first atmospheric black metal albums. Burzum is actually a one-man black metal outfit started by Varg Vikernes in the early 1990s. He was in prison from 1993-2009 for murdering one of the guitarists for black metal band Mayhem, and even released two albums from prison. There are plenty of bands that are following in the footsteps of Burzum and expanding the horizons of atmospheric black metal, creating beautifully dark masterpieces (Blut aus Nord from France and Wolves in the Throne Room from the United States are some of my new favorites).

So why does all this matter?

It matters because a lot of people have a stigma associated with all types of extreme heavy metal. I know because I used to have the same stigma, and I have spent the last three years trying to lead others past their initial reaction to death growls/screams and low-tuned guitars.

It matters because the same people that rock out when Explosions in the Sky starts mercilessly beating their instruments will generally not go anywhere near bands that dress up in corpse paint and play loud music for a full eight minutes instead of for a minute and a half of those eight minutes.

Luckily, not everybody in the American independent music scene ignores or discounts extreme metal. Phil Elverum of The Microphones/Mount Eerie, released an EP entitled Black Wooden Ceiling which sounds a lot like black metal to me (or maybe black two-by-fours and asbestos), and is planning on releasing a full black metal album this August, entitled Wind’s Poem. Elverum is more in line with the Burzum tradition of lo-fi ambience rather than a band like Blut aus Nord, who have slicker production values and create an atmosphere comparable, albeit darker, to post-rock bands like Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai. Elverum foregoes the abrasive vocals and a lot of the loud guitar work, but it still feels like black metal.

The genius behind the Mountain Goats, John Darnielle, is also a metal fan.

Also, Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett) wore a Mayhem t-shirt during his performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival last weekend. Maybe this was some sort of ironic “indie” move but I would hope that it was done in sincerity.

(Photos by Nolan Wells)

The American independent music scene is slowly incorporating elements from every genre of music, and metal is one of the walls that has not been completely torn down. Hopefully, more artists will find inspiration in these bands and expand on the musical legacy.

Explosions in the Sky put on a great show and seeing their brand of harnessed chaos live was a spectacular aural experience. The show left me with an itch that desperately needed scratching. Luckily, black metal could be my proverbial bamboo backscratcher.

P.S. Black metal is not as scary as it looks/seems. If you need proof just go over to Wikipedia’s black metal page and have some (dark) laughs.

Radio Show Recap 6 July 2009

In anticipation of tonight’s show, here is the list from last week’s radio show.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – 666 Conducer
Jarvis Cocker - I Never Said I Was Deep
Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves – Take My Love with You
St. Vincent- Actor Out Of Work
Obits – Back and Forth
The National -Wasp Nest
Elliott Smith – Angel in the Snow
The Tallest Man on Earth -The Gardener
Maps & Atlases – Songs for Ghosts to Haunt To
Heartless Bastards -New Resolution
Colonies – Sleep Patterns
Death from Above 1979 – Blood on Our Hands
Wilco – Solitaire
The Decemberists -Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)
Jonah Malarsky – Bones
Radiohead – Thinking About You
Jason Lytle – Brand New Sun
Grizzly Bear – Ready, Able
The Twilight Sad – Cold Days from the Birdhouse
The Butthole Surfers -Jingle of a Dog’s Collar
Kings of Leon – Talihina Sky
The Butthole Surfers – Pepper
The New Pornographers -The Bleeding Heart Show
The Explorers Club – Last Kiss
Elvis Perkins -Chains, Chains, Chains
Frightened Rabbit – The Twist
Wolf Parade – Call It a Ritual
Big Black – L Dopa
Dinosaur Jr – Whenever You’re Ready – The link is not to Whenever You’re Ready because I couldn’t find anywhere that had it. But it is them playing Forget the Swan, which is close to Imagine the Swan, which is a Zombies song (like Whenever You’re Ready). My mind is in rare form today

I’ve been working on a few new posts about music from around the world you might not know about and I am in the process of applying the finishing touches so look for that soon.