March 2013 – Audiofemme

DISPOSABLE HANDS RELEASE CACTUS NO. 9 VIDEO + TOUR DATES

Behold, a beautifully shot, brand new video from one of our favorites here in NYC. Check these guys out as soon as you have the chance to at one of their many shows in the area:

Disposable Hands is an ambient rock band led by writer and singer Charles Pinel, an import from Paris to New York’s West Village, and producer/ keyboardist Sam Raderesht. Their debut EP “The Waiting Room” comes out April 7th. Take a look at their video for the first single “Cactus No.9” also available for download on Bandcamp.

Tour Dates – New York

3.16- Hank’s Saloon w/ Del Water Gap

3.24 Sidewalk Cafe

3.31- Goodbye Blue Monday

4.7 – Pianos w/ Manic Sheep

4.23- Bowery Electric w/ Del Water Gap

4.27- Hanks Saloon

5.10- Parkside Lounge

5.15 Wicked Willy’s

5.23- Trashbar

NEW BIRD COURAGE ALBUM IN THE WORKS

Bird Courage, the BK-based indie folk trio recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund their debut full-length, Maia Manu. Though they are bona fide staples on the live music scene here in NYC, they need a bit of TLC to get the last few songs of their new album recorded, mixed and mastered. They are nearly half way to full funding, and have another month left of their campaign. If interested in donating click here.

ARTIST EXCLUSIVE: DATALOG “Everything Is Essential”

DATALOG (moniker of Brooklyn-based digital artist Conor Heffernan), is garnering momentum and buzz on the NYC indie electronic circuit for his recent live performances, many of which have included stunningly curated videography that rivals any I’ve seen in quite some time. His body of work is immense, and reflects the inclinations of an artist coming into his own, though he has yet to release a full-length album. The genre that he deals in—namely live electronic music that incorporates visual or performance art—is an increasingly compelling medium for performers and audiences alike, and hence includes its fair share of mediocrity. In fact so much mediocrity that you could say its heyday is up. Or needs to die and be reborn I suppose. From what I’ve seen, DATALOG is at the forefront of that rebirth, and people should be taking notice.

His tracks embody an expansive classical and jazz pedigree, often layering self-composed, complex instrumentals and polyrhythmic beats into thoughtfully arranged digital sequences that are at once ominous, chaotic, soothing and purposefully glitchy; they call to mind early Notwist albums (minus vocals) and expand on the style of Four Tet, Underworld and the like. His older work, including 2011 EP Threads as well as his impressively thorough collection of singles tends toward the more formulaic aspects of deep house, with heavy beats underpinning jazz and funk infused melodic motifs. His newer tracks however, showcase a growing confidence in his own capacities as an artist, and perhaps more importantly underscore Heffernan’s exploration into darker, more untapped genres of electronic music. There seems to be more negative space in his compositions, in which silence is equally as important as noise, and through which tension is cultivated—not by an accelerating BPM, but by the inclusion of ambient noise and languid, extensive, drawn out expository themes which are often based on two or three notes of music. When performed live with video the result is as much dark and gripping, as it is accessible and visually gratifying.

AudioFemme was lucky enough to get its hands on an exclusive from him. “Everything Is Essential”, a brand new track from Heffernan, seems to signpost a new era in his creative life. It displays in equal measure his prodigious rhythmic abilities and eye for detail as well as his desire to edit and restrain his compositions to create a more sculpted and deliberate sonic narrative. The first minute or so is quiet for the most part, and plays entirely on three notes of a major scale. Then come just enough hints of bass to keep one guessing whether it might just be a dance track. When the beat finally cuts through, it amps up and resolves this quandary simultaneously. Frantic, like the pulse of an animal in flight, it hovers over the melody for a few minutes until the composition as a whole begins to dissolve into artfully conceived progressive house/trance. By the time it wraps up, right where it started with only a three-note melody, one is left breathless: a rare feat even for those artists who inhabit the upper echelons of electronic music. DATALOG is clearly just getting started.

Listen to “Everything Is Essential” here.

Everything Is Essential

INTERVIEW: Prince Rupert’s Drops

There are plenty of bands playing shows these days that borrow heavily from the sounds of decades past, but no one merges garage, psych, and Americana so profoundly as Brooklyn’s own Prince Rupert’s Drops, who also manage to update these sounds just enough for their work to sound wholly new. The band released their debut LP, Run Slow, on Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records last November. It was the first release for the new label, run by East Village Radio’s Mike Newman, and hits all the reference points of a record store clerk’s dreams.

Guitarists Leslie Stein, Bruno Meyrick-Jones, and bassist Chad Laird share vocal duties, sometimes harmonizing and sometimes taking turns track for track. Each member of the band, rounded out by drummer Steve McGuirl and Kirsten Nordine’s synths, bring unique elements to every track, and those tracks in turn take on varied personalities. Leslie’s stoney twang, for instance, lends folksy vibes to tracks like “Lungs”, “The Fortress” and “Like A Knife”, but a few heavy doses of reverb later and you’ve got a raucous, tumbling psych jam like “Pillar to Post”. “Almond Man” has a bit of a groovier feel, but stays alert and snappy with energetic “hey heys” and touches of sitar. No one song follows any formula, from the churning and lysergic “Plague Ride” with its spiraling guitar work, to the scorched haze of “This Evening’s Arms”, giving the album great depth and a texture. Each instrument gets its moment as the tracks unfold, every note imbued with a singular quality, and it never wears thin, even when tracks like album closer “Run Slow” extending over nine minutes.

There are very few bands who can pull sounds like this together, but Prince Rupert’s Drops do it with aplomb both on the album and in a live setting. We’ve been bowled over every time we’ve had the pleasure to see them perform, and were pretty, well… psyched when they agreed to do an interview with us. Their words give us insight as to how the band came together to make the kind of magic we hear all over Run Slow.

AF: Leslie and Bruno, you met while working together at Kim’s Records in NYC. Was there an immediate connection or collaborative spark?

Leslie: I think most people have an immediate connection to Bruno, he’s a popular guy! We were fast friends and spent a lot of time hanging out. He needed a place to live at the same time I needed a roommate so he moved in. After that we would spent many nights in collaborating on drawings and making odd little songs just for fun.

AF: Can you talk about Brad Truax and the role he had in helping to form the band?

Bruno: Brad was really the one who made it a proper band- previously, Leslie & I had played music together a fair bit & made up weird songs with her acoustic guitar and small keyboards, but nothing structured or that was ever played twice. Brad & I had played in the Broke Revue together, as had Steve briefly, and this was also an opportunity to continue playing music with them. He also kindly gave me a guitar on my birthday around then, which has been very helpful. I very much doubt we’d have got our act together had it not been for him.

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AF: Not many people realize that Prince Rupert’s Drops formed in 2005. That’s an incredibly long gestation for a band these days. Was that timing part of a conscious effort to develop a distinct sound and working relationship?

Steve: It wasn’t a conscious effort. We just kept doing it (except for about a year off), having a good time, playing shows (some good, some bad), and just followed the path the band took, curious as to where it would go. The sound has changed a bit over time, but our earliest stuff is still recognizably ours. Leslie once described us years ago as “the least ambitious band in the world!” We didn’t even consider having a Facebook page until late last year. That’s all changed, and now we want a #1 record. Anyway, by playing together for a while, hopefully a distinctive sound has emerged, and we know each other pretty well. Our working relationship is, for the most part, really solid, really relaxed. We are all good friends, which helps.

Leslie: I think we’ve always been ambitious musically… Bruno writes these complicated songs that threaten to implode at any moment, I always try and sing better than I can. In a way we write above the level of our talents.

AF: How was taking that time valuable in launching the band? Is the record’s title a nod to that?

Steve: No, the record title is just taken from the longest song on the LP. Somehow, that made sense—it sounded like a good record title.

Bruno: It’s probably helped us to solidify our sound a bit- the songs are a lot longer these days too, mainly to accommodate all the soloing that wasn’t there at first.

AF: All of you have played in other bands. How do you approach collective songwriting?

Steve: We all write songs, but the vast majority are by Leslie & Bruno. Some come in practically finished, some take a lot of working with ‘til they sound right played by this band.

Leslie: I used to write parts for the guys for my songs until I wised up and realized they are all better musicians than me. Now I just come in with two or three parts and they help me shape the songs. Bruno’s really good at writing these awesome little leads that accentuate the way I sing, Steve and Chad are really the ones that are good at structuring songs. When Chad writes songs he generally thinks about the strengths of each member and writes around that.

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AF: How did you meet Mike Newman at EVR? Did you feel any pressure putting out the first release on his Beyond Beyond Is Beyond label?

Steve: We met Mike through our mutual pal, Chris Milstein (he plays drums in Psychic Ills and is a longtime friend), who recommended us to BBIB. Mike and his partner Dom saw us live at 285 Kent, and asked for some recordings. They then got us really drunk, outlined a complex, air-tight, 20-point plan for world domination by October 2013, and put a contract under our noses and a pen in our hands. We signed it.

Mike puts a lot of pressure on us—he’s pretty ruthless. He’s a Record Man of the old school, like Syd Nathan or Morris Levy. There are always these hired goons lurking over his shoulders during meetings in his office, giving us the evil eye.

AF: At a time when more artists are bringing electronic elements into their production and stage show, you’ve remained true to a more traditional approach. Do you think that’s given you an advantage or changed the sort of audiences you attract?

Leslie: We’ve never really considered adding any electronic elements. I’m personally not opposed to it, good music is good music and it can be made any which way, but we already have a lot going on with five members, so I think we are sonically set for now.

AF: You have a great reputation as a live act. What’s the best thing about playing live?

Steve: Thanks! I guess seeing friends and strangers both having a good time, looking up and seeing folks nodding along trance-like. That’s all pretty nice, but drink tickets rule! But most venues are so stingy with them these days it’s horrible.

Bruno: I’d say the best thing about playing live, aside from seeing other bands for free, is just the playing itself- if it goes well. It’s obviously good to be in the same room as the audience, though, since you can have some idea of how the songs are being received, and can then hopefully act accordingly.

AF: Do you have favorite venue to play here in Brooklyn (or beyond)? You’ve shared a bill with lots of great acts, especially of late – who would you love to play with next?

Steve: Playing parties at Wild Kingdom is always great. We played Bowery Ballroom recently, and that dee-luxe stage was a nice change of pace from the usual DIY dumps. The act I vote for is ZZ Top!

Leslie: I like playing the Cakeshop because we had our first show there and to me it feels like home. I want to open for Tame Impala, I love them.

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AF: Any plans for a tour?

Steve: We hope/plan to, but lately day jobs keep conspiring against us. If you’re reading this, and are in a popular band looking for an opening act on an American tour this summer, let us know!

AF: What’s next for the band? Will it take another seven years for a sophomore release or are you already working on new material?

Steve: We are always working on new material, and have tons of old stuff that isn’t on “Run Slow.” Our next release should be a boxed set.

Leslie: Yeah, I was talking to Mike about this recently and he was maybe thinking next year for another release which would be great and totally feasible.

AF: I also wanted to mention Leslie’s brilliant comics project, Eye of The Majestic Creature! Do your instruments talk to you? Will you write a comic about your experience in PRD or will the band make an appearance in your graphic work?

Leslie: They just talk to me in my comics, I am quite sane! Actually Bruno, Steve, and Kirsten are already characters in my comic, but the band hasn’t shown up as a whole yet. It’d be fun to do an issue where my imaginary instruments have to deal with real instruments. I bet the band stuff would mostly be boring stuff like us going out to eat after practice and naming movies that have baby bandits in them and talking about making a Ray Milland looped tape to play behind us at shows. Y’know, all the obvious stuff.

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Prince Rupert’s Drops plays Union Pool on Thursday, March 28th.

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Highlights from Austin: SXSW 2013

The whirlwind is over for another year. South by Southwest, Austin’s prolific music festival, drew to a close this past weekend after an onslaught of performances by close to a thousand acts from all over the globe. AudioFemme was on-hand to witness the spectacle and to attempt to cover as many of these performances as is humanly possible. For us, SXSW represents a chance to catch bands on the rise, to see what they bring to an audience in a live setting, and to chat with them as well as with others in the industry. For those who live, breathe, and love music, there’s nowhere else to be come mid-March.

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But when Zachary Cole Smith, lead singer of Brooklyn band DIIV, drafted a disgruntled tumblr post early in the week about corporate greed running rampant at SXSW, I couldn’t simply dismiss it with a roll of the eyes. SXSW is a thing that exists largely due to corporate sponsorship, as is made evident by the towering Doritos advertisements, free booze, and brand names attached to most any showcase. These are all brands that are geared toward a young, music-loving demographic, from Doc Martens to Dolce Vita, from Spotify to Hipstamatic, from Taco Bell to Tito’s Vodka. There’s no better place to sell wares to a generation that can’t focus on anything for longer than five minutes than to drop a banner behind a stage where Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are jumping around. And there’s no better way to keep the ads coming, straight to the email inboxes of that hip demographic, than to make everyone RSVP to corporate-sponsored events.

So when Smith denounced SXSW as a “glorified corporate networking party” he wasn’t incorrect. Diiv has never been afraid of name-dropping, dating models, or posing for fashion photographers, and later admitted to having a blast at SXSW despite the cynical outburst. Though the post made some waves, there wasn’t a single person who disagreed wholly with the statements therein; if anything, a resounding “DUH” was heard throughout the festival. And we partied anyway.

Avoiding the corporate goons, as it turns out, isn’t all that hard. We recommend taking off the badge and trekking (or pedi-cabbing) over to Austin’s Eastside, where entrance to free shows – night and day – don’t require so much as proof of drinking age. There, the quality of local artisan food trucks is leagues above lukewarm free tacos, and girls sell vintage clothes to help save their dying pit bulls. It was home to some of the most inspiring performances I had the pleasure of seeing at SXSW this year, including a rambunctious 45-minute set from Thee Oh Sees, Impose Magazine’s expertly curated showcases, and several raucous Burger Records’ shindigs to name a few.

Burger Records represents a paradigm in stark contrast to Smith’s blithe assertion that “music comes last” at SXSW. Label founders Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard have spent the last six years putting out limited run cassettes and vinyl to an adoring audience, breaking artists like King Tuff and Ty Segall. If you want to know what’s next in terms of noise punk or kitschy garage or lo-fi pop, you could do much worse than to spend a few hours perusing Burger’s catalogue. At SXSW, Bohrman and Rickard made it extra easy, throwing two large showcases and several satellite parties (including one at Trailer Space Records that had to be shut down by the fire department), giving the sunburned masses at SXSW a rare opportunity to absorb as much Burger in one sitting as their damaged ear drums and short attention spans could allow. Frenzied sets by Audacity, Nobunny, Lovely Bad Things, Useless Eaters and Gap Dream – among many, many others – proved that there’s a lot of diversity and innovation within Burger’s staple sounds, and much to get excited about.

[jwplayer config=”AF01 YT” mediaid=”2420″]Lovely Bad Things

If there’s anyone more genuinely stoked about repping their local scene than Californians it’s probably Canadians. I finally got to see Young Galaxy perform during Pop Montreal’s day party at The Liberty and my high expectations were met in every way. This is a band who make songs about loving music wholeheartedly; on the b-side for the lead single from Young Galaxy’s newest album, Ultramarine (out April 23rd on Paper Bag Records) lead vocalist Catherine McCandless sings “I wouldn’t mind dying at all / If it weren’t for the songs I’d miss”. Though they didn’t play it during the six song set at The Liberty, they closed out with newest single “New Summer”, an anthem to warm-weather flings and driving in cars with the “windows down and the stereo loud”. Most poignant of all was the band’s affirming rendition of “Pretty Boy” (also on the forthcoming record). Maybe it’s the fact that the band’s drummer is out as a lesbian, that I have friends struggling with gender identity, or the current political climate toward trans and gender queer folks, but it felt huge to hear McCandless singing “I felt your pain when you changed your name / We were each other’s only family” and then follow that up with “I know you feel isolated / and I hear what you won’t say / Who cares if they disbelieve us, don’t understand / You’re my pretty boy, always”. That’s some pretty heavy shit to mask with upbeat synths and pop rhythms, but that’s Young Galaxy’s bread and butter. Tackling those epic sorts of feelings and making people dance to it is what they do best. And after playing six shows in four days, those emotions still felt authentic.

[jwplayer config=”AF01 YT” mediaid=”2411″]Young Galaxy “New Summer”

Playing zillions of shows in one week has got to be taxing, which probably contributes to the jaded attitudes that some bands have in their approach to SXSW, but there are just as many artists who embrace it. Captured Tracks wunderkind Mac DeMarco (also from Canada, go figure) claims to have played seventeen shows over the course of the week and that probably wasn’t an exaggeration; his name popped up on more bills than any other. I caught his last set on Saturday night at The Parish, where he started the evening by watching labelmates Naomi Punk from the side of the stage. He mentioned several times that he was getting sick, but that didn’t stop him from delivering an energetic performance. While he wasn’t swinging from the rafters as he had literally done at some shows a few days prior and didn’t put up much of a fight when then sound guy told him he was out of time, he retained the air of bratty whimsy for which he’s known as he mashed up favorites “Freaking Out The Neighborhood” “My Kind Of Woman” and “Rock and Roll Night Club” with the Beatles’ “Blackbird” and Rammstein’s “Du Hast” (no, really).

[jwplayer config=”AF01 YT” mediaid=”2416″]Mac DeMarco “Du Hast/Freaking Out The Neighborhood”

Zac Pennington from Parenthetical Girls is yet another performer who proves that attitude and persona are everything. Before his band’s set, he got into a bitchy spat with Valhalla’s sound man. During the set, he paraded around an audience mostly filled with bros in attendance to see Maserati, draping himself over staircases and belting it out from the top of the circular bar like a cabaret version of Coyote Ugly. Similar bravado appeared elsewhere as well – Mykki Blanco’s ferocious party jams transformed the mermaid grotto behind Easy Tiger into vogue-fest, followed by Angel Haze’s provocative mile-a-minute raps. During “New York” Angel Haze descended from the stage, moving through an awed audience, and danced with yours truly while Edinburgh-based rappers Young Fathers looked on. Young Fathers brought slick production, badass style, and sick dance moves to their SXSW performances, and was the one act that hands-down truly blew me away this year when I saw them Tuesday night at The North Door (look for an interview on AudioFemme soon).

[jwplayer config=”AF01 YT” mediaid=”2413″] Parenthetical Girls “Curtains” [jwplayer config=”AF01 YT” mediaid=”2417″] Mykki Blanco

Not that there wasn’t plenty to be blown away by. Waiting in line to see Phosphorescent, Metz and Youth Lagoon at Red-Eyed Fly, I ran into Ahmed Gallab, better known these days as Sinkane. Ahmed and I go way back, having known each other from our years in Ohio where we met over a decade ago. I’ve seen every band he’s ever played in, from the Unwound-esque Sweetheart to Pompeii This Morning (in which he played bedroom-produced dream pop before that was even a thing) and then, after he was asked to stand in for Caribou’s drummer through two tours, in Of Montreal and Yeasayer. His Sinkane project is different in that it is wholly his endeavor, and his personal signature is always apparent. He uniquely marries funk and psychedelica and Afrobeat and through consistently stellar live performances is finally starting to get the attention he deserves – even, it seems, from R&B megastar Usher. Usher invited Ahmed on stage and performed Sinkane’s “Runnin'” to a packed Fader Fort, with Afghan Whigs as the backing band. Watching this from backstage was one of my favorite moments of SXSW, not just because Ahmed got to play with such heavyweights but because they were singing his song. And it could only have happened at SXSW, in part because of the corporate sponsorship Diiv railed against. The fact of the matter is that bigwigs bring in big acts, allowing smaller bands who are trying to make it big the opportunity to meet those that inspired them and, dare I say it, connect, network, and collaborate.

That goes, too, for folks like myself who might easily be lumped into the “industry vampire” designation Zachary Cole Smith’s tumblr post pointed out. Not only do I get to spend a week basking in the sun (or, you know, burning to a crisp) and drinking free bourbon that tastes like maple-syrup infused cake frosting, it’s an opportunity for me to meet other people who actually really do care about music, to trade notes, recommend bands, invade pedestrian bridges at 2am because Merchandise is playing a show on one. Sure, it’s disappointing when bands have technical difficulties due to the strain of quick set-ups or shortened sets thanks to lightning-fast turn over, but just as often it’s inspiring to see a band make it work despite those constraints. It’s also exhilarating to walk down a bustling street and actually hear music coming out of every bar, flowing together, washing over the crowd. With any huge event like this, there are bound to be positives and negatives. It would be nice if all this was just a random grouping of DIY efforts and corporations didn’t have any hand in it, but that’s not the case. Even so, it manages to fulfill many of my music-loving fantasies, and that’s what keeps me going back over and over again.

[jwplayer config=”AF01 YT” mediaid=”2421″]SXSW Vine Compilation. In order of appearance: Avan Lava, Young Fathers, Nicholas Jaar, Radiation City, The Coathangers, Colleen Green, Psychic Twin, Parenthetical Girls, The Soft Moon, Marnie Stern, Palma Violets, Destruction Unit, a breif tour of 6th St., Bleeding Rainbow, Thee Oh Sees, Mykki Blanco, Angel Haze, Bridge Party feat. Merchandise/Parquet Courts, Metz, T.I. / Pharrell / B.O.B. etc., Sinkane / Usher / Afghan Whigs, Usher encore, Young Galaxy, Sam Flax, Lovely Bad Things, Audacity, Nobunny, Chris Cohen, Mac DeMarco, Conner Youngblood, Brooke Candy, and a night ride in a pedi-cab.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

LIVE REVIEW: Chvrches @ Mercury Lounge 3-18-13

Imagine being an unassuming electropop band from Scotland. You get together with your mates and nonchalantly make a few tracks, posting them on soundcloud because it seems to go well. But then the Guardian notices. BBC notices. Pitchfork notices. Sirius XMU starts playing your songs, to your delight and surprise. On the strength of that, you book your first brief US tour, playing a handful of shows in Austin, which SXSW-goers rave about, and then head for New York to play a show that sold out so quickly more were immediately booked. Those shows also sell out, almost instantly. You make radio appearances. You’re featured on every other music blog or blogging outlet. Your first EP has yet to see release but Glassnote can barely put it out fast enough and the truth is, you have a whole album’s worth of smash-hit material for which your newfound fans are absolutely rabid.

Chvrches at Mercury Lounge Monday night.

All of this is not so hard to imagine for Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty of Chvrches. The band has done everything right, remaining humble in interviews and onstage when it would be easy to gloat about their “overnight” success. The reality is that each musician has put in considerable time playing with other bands (the most successful of which being Doherty’s stint as touring keyboardist with The Twilight Sad), and although Chvrches as a project hasn’t been that long in the making, they’ve tapped into something worthy of all the buzz. Most importantly, they’re not shy about working hard, willing to headline twice a night at Mercury Lounge and then play a show at 285 Kent the next day. Rather than complain, they seem grateful for the opportunity, incredulous that anyone has noticed let alone given a damn.

But take a listen to “Lies” or “The Mother We Share” or newest cut “Recover” and it’s easy to hear why everyone’s losing it over Chvrches: glossy production, shimmering synths, dance-ready beats with sometimes whimsical flourishes, and aggressively sweet vocals that bounce along casually but deliver more weighty lyrical content than such glistening pop usually provides. Oftentimes, those lyrics focus on the emotional rift between two people and the sadness therein, but there’s always a suggestion of hope that things can be repaired. Bright percussion, playful loops, and keys alternating between airy and surging only help to emphasize that mission statement.

In a live setting, these elements are amplified tenfold, and the band as a whole has charisma that somehow manages to go beyond Mayberry’s apt persona as front woman. She is tiny and adorable and chicly stylish – sometimes wearing extravagant makeup but otherwise keeping it simple – but it seems dismissive to admit these things when you consider that she’s a brilliant pop songwriter, has a law degree and a master in journalism, and helps run the feminist collective TYCI. At the late Mercury Lounge show, she sipped tea and invited the audience to pretend it was a “huge beer” and in the next breath voiced concern that someone might put something in it, with the ominous warning “roofies are real”. She also expressed disgust over Michelle Shocked’s recent gay-bashing outburst, and befuddlement as to why there is peanut butter in everything the band has eaten stateside. Her intelligence and wit, and how those threads appear in Chvrches’ songs are what make her truly captivating.

At the same time, Cook and Doherty demand equal focus, providing back-up vocals on several tracks. Cook shifts impressively between guitar-weilding and manning the fortress of synths that surround him, while Doherty lays down drum-machine beats that he himself can’t help but dance to. During the band’s second-to-last song, an unreleased track called “Tide”, Doherty and Mayberry switched rolls, Doherty taking front-and-center with his own yearning vocals. It was a nice shift that left me longing for the band to do a track where the two alternate from verse-to-verse. There are just so many places for this band to take their sound, all of them promising, that it’s impossible not to be excited by the prospect of a proper LP.

Chvrches haven’t been around long but their set proves they’re more than ready for a full-length release. They covered Prince during the encore but the rest of the set was heavy with original pop masterpieces, any glittering gem of which could be single material. I particularly liked “If We Sink”, the refrain promising “I’ll be on your side ’til you die / I’ll be on your side for all time”, the rhythms kinetic and the energy reminiscent of M83 (and yes, of The Knife’s early work, oft cited in direct comparison).

Immediately after the show ended, I wanted more. I wanted to put on headphones and spend my train ride home listening again and again to songs that haven’t yet seen the light of day (unless you count the outside stages of SXSW, but I’m not speaking so literally here). I saw my whole summer unfold and in it, I was dancing to Chvrches, unable to get enough. If the sold-out crowds and legions of fans waiting patiently for Chvrches to make their next move are an indication, Chvrches will humbly provide for our cravings and I won’t be dancing alone.

SHOW REVIEW: Bosnian Rainbows @ Highline Ballroom

Longstanding The Mars Volta fans packed into Highline Ballroom this February 19th in anticipation of guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López‘s new music project. The performance marked the band’s fifth show under the Bosnian Rainbows billing. Rodríguez-López surprised fans throughout the night with his embrace of new ideas and fresh performance approach. The night’s first twist was the presence of an opening band, which Rodríguez-López is usually known to forgo.

Opening band Marriages is most accurately described as mood-rock. Singer Emma Ruth Rundle’s haunting, smoldering vocals are lulling yet carry weight. Her voice floats amidst power driven drum beats and an undertow of guitar slides, pitch bends, and rock guitar distortion. The band is comprised of Greg Burns, Andrew Clinco, and Emma Ruth Rundle, who previously performed together in the post-rock collective Red Sparowes. The group signed to Sargent House label in 2011 and released the album Kitsune in May 2012.

Marriages sound is uptempo yet darkly crafted and slightly unhinged. The band is subdued in comparison to the following act, yet embodies similar emotional content. The overall structure of the songs did not vary greatly, and I would have loved to hear the musicians step out into more experimental or unconventional instrumentation and delivery. “Ten Tiny Fingers” was a stand out song in the set, with catchy guitar riffs and stark, punchy lyrics. Other times the guitar effects create a wash of sound that carries over from song to song, and leaves less room for contrast. At times the music delves into a sort of hypnotizing soundscape that results in some beautifully vulnerable moments. Marriages has a strong sense of identity that will continue to carry the music into deep, richly mood-driven territory.

Bosnian Rainbows is the new incarnation of Omar Rodríguez-López’s music project following the break up of his band The Mars Volta. The group consists of former TMV member Deantoni Parks on drums and keyboard, along with new members Nicci Kasper on keyboards and Teri Gender Bender on vocals. Bosnian Rainbows holds on to Rodríguez-López’s past musical influences, but performs shorter, more stripped down songs with hooks and refrains geared more towards mainstream radio play.

Rodríguez-López considers Bosnian Rainbows to be a break away from the pattern in which he’s approached music over the last ten years. In a 2012 interview with Australian Musician magazine, he states “My first hurdle that I need to jump over is collaborating with my own band members, because for the last ten years it hasn’t been that way.” Rodríguez-López goes on to say he’s held the reins as “dictator” of The Mars Volta, and he now seeks to harness the spirit of collaboration in his music writing process. Bosnian Rainbows is the result of this new creative freedom.

Hardcore TMV fans may be inclined to size Teri Gender Bender up before hearing and seeing her, and I admit I found it hard to imagine another lead singer taking the place of larger than life Cedric Bixler-Zavala. Cedric’s distinct vocal contributions to The Mars Volta branded the music with raw emotional intensity, and a tortured, pressurized narrative. Listeners can undeniably pick his voice out in mere seconds. Yet when Teri Gender Bender took the stage at Highline Ballroom, I was won over by her wildly expressive voice and dangerous abandon, all within the course of the opening song.

Teri’s performance is exhilarating to watch as she becomes so absorbed in the music that at times she looks as though she’s forgotten the limitations of her own body. She dances as though possessed by the music. She throws herself out into the crowd without a moments notice. At one point she became so worked up that she punched herself in the throat while singing. People in the crowd glanced at each other in shock and awe at witnessing such “rock n’ roll” conviction. She’s a powerhouse. Previously the lead singer in the punk rock duo Le Butcherettes, she is no stranger to the stage. Her vocals employ frankness and strength, and a beautiful depth of vulnerability, anger and theatricality. She shines on songs “Torn Maps” and “Turtle Neck”, which give her more of a pop format to follow, and she is versatile enough to transition into effect heavy songs that wind on in Rodríguez-López’s expansive tradition.

The most thrilling aspect of Bosnian Rainbows’ performance is the excitement and passion these seasoned musicians imbue into their performance. The signature guitar stylings of Rodríguez-López were ever present, yet the songs had fresh influences contributed by Parks, Casper, and Teri. Each band member has a dynamic personality that brings character to the performance, but audience members will find it hard to take their eyes off Teri Gender Bender. She exudes endless energy throughout the the show, and steals the spotlight with her intense conviction to the music.

This new project seems destined to make a mark in the commercial world, as well as among TMV’s mainstream-defying, dedicated fans. It’s too early to tell if Bosnian Rainbows will be the first in a series of Rodríguez-López collaborations, or if the band will solidify and compete with TMV’s long track record. Either way, Bosnian Rainbows embodies the rawness and excitement of an underground show, and the musicianship of seasoned performers. The combination is a promise of many more surprises to come.

Month: March 2013