Neon Gold Records set to release a 7″ single for Brooklyn band, Fort Lean, at the beginning of next year. The track “Sunsick” is off their self-titled EP which is out now. The release date for “Sunsick” is set at February 28, 2012.
The band has acquired some noteworthy attention since their performance at CMJ this year. NPR named them as one of the top 12 favorite acts at the CMJ showcase and NME declared Fort Lean the 5th best band, also at CMJ.
Another song off their self-titled, “Beach Holiday,” has a new video out. It was filmed in and around Emily’s Pork Store in Williamsburg with a plot line that shows the band playing music rather than take care of the customers. Of course a beach holiday would be much better than work. You can view the video below!
After getting beaten up in a highly unexpected mosh pit at a small club show on the outskirts of Boston the night before and making a hasty retreat from that mess, I was actually looking forward to seeing a show at the House of Blues the next night. I’d heard mixed reviews for the House of Blues and their many outposts scattered across the U.S. – huge places with overzealous security and little atmosphere was the consensus. So after a fun night at the Philly Trocadero 3 days earlier, I wasn’t expecting much from the WFNX-sponsored Temper Trap show Wednesday night.
Security at the House of Blues was professional and courteous. Maybe it was my photo pass but everyone I encountered at the venue was super nice. And I didn’t get patted down like I was in Philly, so I didn’t feel violated. Once inside on the ground level, I gasped as I looked around. The place is massive (twice as big as the Trocadero, with room for 2,400) but it’s beautiful and breathtaking. Helpful security inside advised, “watch your step, ladies,” as there are several steps to negotiate. Well lit, well stocked bars and clearly marked restrooms on this floor – definite pluses. While I was waiting for the show to start I got to talking to two kids from the local Berklee College of Music; it was really cool to talk to “the young people” and hear their appreciation for the Temper Trap’s music. I also advised them to invest in a good set of earplugs, which turned out to be an excellent suggestion given that this was the House of Blues and the size of the speakers hanging from the ceiling should have immediately told you that the gig that night was going to be loud.
It is really cool to see how bands get more at ease after the first night of a tour. The Hundred in the Hands, while being only two people on an expansive stage, sounded better on the House of Blues’s state of the art sound system than they did in Philly. Lead singer Eleanore Everdell was visibly more confident as well, smiling broadly as the audience not familiar with their music politely clapped between songs. Guitarist Jason Friedman looked like he was having a ball on stage, strumming on one of his two guitars.
Highlights were “Lovesick (Once Again)” and “Young Aren’t Young,” showing me yet again the understated beauty of Everdell’s voice. Unfortunately they didn’t play “Gold Blood,” one of my favorite tracks from their self-titled debut album released on Warp Records last month. By the end of the set, the Brooklyn duo had already won some new fans, as evidenced by the people who shouted in displeasure when Everdell announced their sixth and final song. Great to see people responding to them.
Once the Hundred in the Hands‘ equipment was removed from the stage, it was time for Delphic to set up their gear, which is a lot. Standard drum kit and guitars but a couple synths and electronic drum pad setups as well. This is a band that has played to thousands at Glastonbury so I didn’t think the bigger stage (compared to the Trocadero’s) would faze them. And I don’t think it did, really. Singer/bassistJames Cook looked more poised and his voice sounded better than ever. Multi-instrumentalist Rick Boardman, guitarist Matt Cocksedge, and touring drummer Dan Hadley were completely on.
The problem was the audience. They never really got into the music and generally just looked bored for both support bands, all waiting (impatiently looking at their mobile phones, I might add) for the Temper Trap. There was no fist pumping or rampant dancing like Sunday night in Philly. (It should be noted that the venue was pretty empty at the start of the night and it wasn’t until shortly before the Temper Trap were due on that the floor filled out.) Too bad, their loss. There was one girl who talked to me after the show who said she was going to buy Acolyte in a music shop as soon as she could, so I was pretty happy about that.
It’s been over a year since I first heard “Counterpoint” on BBC Radio, and I’ve had Acolyte for a long time now, listening to it constantly, so I know all the words on the album. I like to sing in general and this spills over into shows too, so you can imagine this is potentially embarrassing at gigs. But when I did sing, Cook looked my way a couple times and smiled, as if acknowledging this dubious mastery. Haha. Also, I got my wish for “Submission,” my favorite song from Acolyte, and maybe it was the echoes in the huge venue, but the vocal key sounded a bit off. Maybe they are a little rusty after having a couple weeks off between gigs, but I imagine this will wear off after some more gigs stateside. (As of this writing I’ve already read some great comments about their set from the New York and Montreal shows that followed.) I’m looking forward to seeing them in DC in a few days.
Delphic Set List
Clarion Call
Doubt
Red Lights
This Momentary
Submission
Halcyon
Counterpoint
It is a real joy to watch the Temper Trap at this stage of their career. When the well-oiled Temper Trap machine gets fired up, hold on tight, because you’re in for a wild ride. “Fader” was the first Temper Trap song I learned on bass, so it holds special meaning to me, but wow, when it’s offered up to fans live, it’s like a explosion of energy. With its jangly guitar riffs and emotional lyrics, the Melbourne band’s power ballad “Love Lost” is going ensure their place in popular music history. I’m not one to get emotional at gigs, but I have to say that this song brought me to tears. It’s just perfect.
It was fun to witness the thrill of fans who had waited to see their current favorite band. I was surprised to learn that of everyone I talked to, I seemed to be the only one who’d seen them before. One woman came with her boyfriend and requested that he catch her if she fainted when Dougy Mandagi appeared. (She didn’t faint, I’m happy to report. But she was so animated after the gig, she was practically glowing with excitement, chattering away on how great they were.) The students I mentioned before were waiting for their favorite song, “Down River,” and with its fun chorus that got everyone singing along, they weren’t disappointed.
Part of me wishes that the Temper Trap would mix things up, because Wednesday night in Boston was the fourth time I’ve seen and heard that exact same set list this year. I can’t imagine it being too difficult to change song order, because it’s not like they have complicated synth setups like their two openers. But really, how can you complain when they put on such an amazing show, night after night? Cheers guys.
The Temper Trap Set List
introduction
Rest
Fader
Fools
Down River
Love Lost
Soldier On
Sweet Disposition
Resurrection
Drumming Song
//
Rabbit Hole
Science of Fear
Tour Dates (dates with all three bands except those noted)
Oct 07 – Newport Music Hall / Columbus
Oct 08 – DC9 / Washington, DC^
Oct 09 – Austin City Limits / Austin*
Oct 09 – MOTR Club / Cincinnati%
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit
Oct 12 – Metro / Chicago
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis
Oct 18 – Crocodile / Seattle%
Oct 19 – Woods / Portland%
Oct 21 – Popscene / San Francisco&
Oct 22 – Fox / Pomona, CA
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles
^ Delphic only
* the Temper Trap only (festival appearance)
% the Hundred in the Hands only
& Delphic and the Hundred in the Hands only
The Temper Trap have been touring so much and in so many places in 2010, I’ve lost count. So I consider the Trocadero gig in Philadelphia the start of their “latest and greatest” North American tour, if you will. The Melbourne-based band played to an enthused crowd there Sunday night. It’s pretty uncommon for me to know about all three bands on a tour – usually I’ll know the headliner and probably one of the headliners peripherally, but on this tour, I was stoked beyond belief that two of the best electronic bands of the moment would be support for the Temper Trap.
Brooklyn’s the Hundred in the Hands have just released their self-titled debut album on Warp Records last week, and it’s an amazing effort. Definitely in my top 5 of albums of 2010, I think it would handily beat out LCD Soundsystem’s This is Happening in a head-to-head contest on the dance floor. You always wonder how electronic bands translate (or don’t) in the live environment, and I can say without a doubt the Hundred in the Hands passes with flying colors. The only issue I had was with some of the instrumentation getting muddled, which I think was more of a fault of the venue’s sound system and not a reflection on the duo. Weirdly, the front row of the standing crowd stock still for the entire night, and it was us and my new friends in the second row that were kicking up our heels to the Brooklyn duo (and the rest of the night for that matter).
Eleanore Everdell (lead vocals / synths) sings, at times, with a yelping howl not unlike Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes but I think Everdell does this better, because her disaffected voice is perfect for dance music. Check out the amazing “Last City,” the opening track on their album, with its “oh oh oh OH ohs” that will make this an earworm for sure, and even better live. “Pigeons,” a single getting a lot of airplay on British radio, is another gem. A fascinating sidenote: Hundred’s guitarist (and also beat master) Jason Friedman has the same model of Rickenbacker as Delphic’s Matt Cocksedge, so I was doubly blown away by equipment prettiness.
So the next two bands of the night I had been lucky enough to have seen last at Roskilde Festival in very sunny Denmark in July. Delphic released two singles, “Counterpoint” and “This Momentary,” in their home country in 2009. While these didn’t race up the UK singles chart, they generated enough interest such that when the Manchester, England band let loose their debut album, Acolyte, early this year on their own Polydor imprint Chimeric, the buzz was enormous. I was already a big fan of theirs after hearing Acolyte in January, and it quickly became the soundtrack to my cardiovascular workouts for the rest of the DC winter (read: shoveling during the second biggest snowfall ever recorded in Washington). The band have no idea of this particular reason for my great affection for their music. Interestingly, it became clear Sunday night that I, along with the aforementioned second row of fans at the Trocadero, were going to use Delphic to soundtrack quite a workout.
I should probably mention that despite it being autumn on the East Coast already, the inside of the Trocadero was hot. Steamy. Boiling. By the time Delphic started their second song, the synthtastic “Doubt”, the shirt of lead singer/bassist James Cook was already soaking wet with sweat. He seemed unperturbed by this, singing his heart out on tunes like “Red Lights,” complete with requisite red lighting and concluding with a monster synth outro – just what you’d expect from three English boys who are self-described “synthesizer geeks.” Keyboards/synths man Rick Boardman surprised me, singing his backing vocals with so much enthusiasm, I was floored. He sings in a higher register than Cook and frankly, you haven’t heard sexier high-pitched male vocals in a dance song since the Bee Gees days. “Halcyon,” the song that cemented my love for the band (used somewhat freakily for a UK mobile phone advert, I can’t be the only one who thinks James Cook singing “give me something I can believe in” has absolutely nothing to do with mobile phones), was fantastic, with guitarist Matt Cocksedge ripping his now famous guitar solo.
Even though it appeared that myself and one other guy next to me (clutching a Delphic press clipping from NME, no less) were the only people in the whole club to even know who they were and what they sounded like, by the time the set closer “Counterpoint”, with the swells of its guitar and synth and Cook’s upbeat yet sad lyrics of “but you don’t come back around / it seems to me that we will never be” and his emphatic declaration that “nothing’s wrong / nothing’s wrong with today,“ everyone was already on their side, pumping their fists in the air. See, Delphic may write songs about love and heartbreak like other bands, but they write and play them in a way you will force you to take notice, because you won’t be able to keep still. This is music that makes you want to dance.
Delphic Set List
Clarion Call
Doubt
Red Lights
This Momentary
Halcyon
Counterpoint
The way things are going for the Temper Trap, I think they could very well be playing stadiums in the near future. They have the swagger, they have the confidence, and they certainly have devoted fans. In Washington, maybe a quarter of the attendees show up before or around doors and the rest amble in at the appointed set time for the headliner. Not so with Sunday’s Temper Trap show. I have never in my life seen such a long line outside a venue before doors, going for what seemed like miles down Arch Street. Thanks to two wonderful openers, the Trocadero crowd was drenched in perspiration and ready for the headliner.
All too predictably, “Sweet Disposition,” the song on the “500 Days of Summer” soundtrack that made the Temper Trap a household name in America, got the loudest crowd reaction. But my buddies and I in second row standing had a good time pogo-ing to “Fader,” “Love Lost,” and even “Down River,” the latter with its unusually plodding verses but endearing, shoutable chorus of “Down river! Down river!” and odd spoken lyrics from bassist Jonathan Aherne. I think a lot of people went to this show knowing nothing but “Sweet Disposition” and maybe “Fader,” but they all came away with a feeling of euphoria, seeing a band close to or at its peak in performance terms. Dougy Mandagi grinned through the entire set, later reaching out to the crowd at the end to shake as many hands as he could.
The light show for their final song, “Science of Fear,” was a war between strobes and blue spotlights. This is the level of light show Muse uses on tour. So it’s not a far stretch of the imagination to imagine envision the Temper Trap playing Madison Square Garden or the Meadowlands sometime soon. They won’t be playing clubs for much longer. Watch this space.
The Temper Trap Set List
introduction
Rest
Fader
Fools
Down River
Love Lost
Soldier On
Sweet Disposition
Resurrection
Drumming Song
//
Rabbit Hole
Science of Fear
Tour Dates (dates with all three bands except those noted)
Sept 29 – House of Blues/ Boston
Sept 30 – Wellmont / Montclair, NJ
Oct 01 – Terminal 5 / New York City
Oct 02 – Le National / Montreal
Oct 03 – Capital Music Hall / Ottawa
Oct 05 – Phoenix / Toronto
Oct 07 – Newport Music Hall / Columbus
Oct 08 – DC9 / Washington, DC^
Oct 09 – Austin City Limits / Austin*
Oct 09 – MOTR Club / Cincinnati%
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit
Oct 12 – Metro / Chicago
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis
Oct 18 – Crocodile / Seattle%
Oct 19 – Woods / Portland%
Oct 21 – Popscene / San Francisco&
Oct 22 – Fox / Pomona, CA
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles
^ Delphic only
* the Temper Trap only (festival appearance)
% the Hundred in the Hands only
& Delphic and the Hundred in the Hands only
Coming from the musical Mecca that is Brooklyn, Beach Fossils came to play a stellar set at the Replay Lounge Sunday night. The band is consisted of Dustin Peyseur (lead singer and guitarist), John Pena (bass), Tommy Lucas (drummer) and their extremely new guitarist that JUST learned their songs in 24 hours named CJ.
This quartet carries a lo-fi, fleeting, blissed out sound. Filled with hazy vocals, jangle guitars and steady percussion, this band gives you a sense of nostalgia and simpler times.
Amanda Palmer is a force of nature. She’s inexhaustible, intense, and pretty fucking unstoppable. She just finished up a whirlwind east coast tour with Brooklyn’s Nervous Cabaret, and she allowed me behind-the-scenes access before her New York show to make some portraits and peep her soundcheck, which included old school favorites, a danceable cover of the Ting Tings‘s “That’s Not My Name,” and an off-the-cuff first verse/chorus of St. Vincent‘s “Marry Me.” All of this when the woman had been in a car accident a mere hour beforehand. See what I mean? Force of nature. Board up your windows.
I didn’t get into The Mountain Goats until about two years ago. In fact, I used to hate them. John Darnielle‘s voice would grate on me. My friends flocked to his set at the Pitchfork Music Festival three years ago, so I was forced to watch it, not really understanding what the big deal about him was. But then I heard “Palmcorder Yajna” in my friend’s car. This song single-handedly opened me up to what The Mountain Goats were all about: simple pop songs with fantastic lyrics. I had to see him live.
Of course I had to get through Kaki King first on Saturday night. A year ago, I would’ve been all about the technical wizardry (one of my favorite bands is Joan of Arc), but I’m less impressed by it now. This girl certainly is talented, I must admit. My biggest qualm with her set was the schizophrenic nature of it. She would play a really techy song on the acoustic, then go into a shoegaze song, and then a “hardcore” song, as she puts it (Ray Cappo is shaking his head somewhere).
As the lights went dim, The Four Season‘s “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” played on the P.A. Once the drummer and the bassist swaggered out, John Darnielle entered the stage as The Four Season’s Frankie Valli sang “Oh I-I-I, get that funny feeling when she walks in the room.”
He kicked the set off with an exciting three-banger: “Have to Explode”; “Heretic Pride”; and “Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph Of”. Of course, the evening wouldn’t be the same without Darnielle’s classic banter (this show’s highlight was his Mario story as he segues into “Thank You Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Castle”).
He played some solo songs, some songs with Kaki King from their new Black Pear Tree EP, a Morrissey cover (“Suedehead”!), and a song that sounded nothing like Mountain Goats (“Super Genesis”). After that lull in the set, enter crowd pleasers! “This Year” jump-started the energy and the end of the set. A mellow rendition of the classic “Dance Music” got the audience pepped as the drums stopped and everyone bellowed “And I don’t want to die alone!”
After “The Mess Inside”, the band walked off the stage. . . without playing “Palmcorder Yajna”. The very song that introduced me to the wonders of The Mountain Goats, and a popular one from his repertoire, was nowhere to be found! Thankfully, after the security guards back stage teased us by kicking the side door open, The Mountain Goats came out again and played the song I was waiting all night to hear.
Though the middle of the set was lacking a little, the beginning and end of the set more than made up for it.
Emily Haines, lead singer of Canadian band Metric, played three back to back shows (the latter of which was simply a guest slot with Tall Firs) at Union Pool in Brooklyn on Sunday. I caught the second show.
The original plan, as I understood it, was for Emily to play some of her solo material, which is quite the departure from the up-tempo beats Metric’s known for. As she and Jimmy Shaw (Metric’s guitarist) took the stage, however, they announced that they’d be playing the entirety of the new album, which they’d just finished recording that day. Surprise!
Emily Haines
Jimmy Shaw
The crowd was packed comfortably in the small room and composed of many of the same people who were at the Metric show at the Highline Ballroom last month. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about a pared-down version of the band, just the piano and guitar combo (no synthesizers!), but as the set went on, I found I was really enjoying it. There’s just something about Emily’s lyrics that resonates, bloops and bleeps aside.
As I surveyed the room, it seemed I definitely wasn’t alone with this feeling. I was particularly fond of “Front Row†and “Twilight Galaxies,†the latter of which the band has been performing for awhile, but has yet to make it onto an album.
There was quite a bit of stage banter, even though Haines was initially hesitant. She pointed out that her mouth got her into a lot of trouble, then relayed an anecdote from a show in Portland she claimed was disastrous (my word, not hers) because of it. She also mentioned that the album was as-yet untitled and that suggestions were welcome.
The pair closed out the set with “Live It Out,†which I think is even better acoustic than its better known incarnation. On my way out of the venue, listening to the chatter and overall excitement about the new album, I noticed bassist Josh Winstead descending from the balcony. Overall, it was an amazing performance. Setlist as follows:
Gold
Help
Fantasies
Sympathy
Front Row
Satellite*
Twilight Galaxies
Collect Call
Blindness
Live It Out
* Things got switched up at some point. According to my notes, they played “Front Row†and then “Twilight Galaxies.†I don’t know remember where “Satellite†came in.
Solo artist and Metricfrontwoman Emily Haines will perform 3 acoustic shows at Brooklyn’s Union Pool on Sunday, September 7th to preview the new forthcoming Metric album. The first show at 7:30 PM will be Emily solo, the second show at 9PM will feature accompaniment by Metric guitaristJames Shaw, and the third show at 10:30 Emily will be a guest of the Tall Firs.
Emily will be playing new solo work and Metric songs in a most intimate setting. The set list will also include acoustic versions of never performed songs from the upcoming Metric album. The band recently finished mixing their fourth album in New York.
Brooklyn-based power trio Fiascowill be touring (dates below) and ripping up the East Coast with their roaring spaz noise rock in support of forthcoming release Native Canadians on Impose Records, following the selling out of two pressings of their full length debut, God Loves Fiasco, on their own imprint Beautiful Records.
Fiasco, all Brooklyn natives, formed when they were barely teenagers in 2005. Since then, they have self-released a wildly successful album, received lots of critical praise and have shared the stage with the likes of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Parts & Labor, Kimya Dawson, Yacht and more.
Play “Oh You Horny Monster”
[audio http://www.impose-records.com/OhYouHornyMonster.mp3]
These kids are sure to blow up.
Look for Native Canadians set to drop on October 14, 2008.
Tour Dates:
Aug 02 – The Bodega / Brooklyn (My Open Bar) [w/ MONOTONIX]
Aug 05 – Market Hotel / Brooklyn [w/ Ninjasonik, The Homosexuals, Pony Pants]
Aug 06 – International Waters / Philadelphia [w/ Pony Pants]
Aug 07 – The Talking Head / Baltimore [w/Eyeball Skeleton, Smarts]
Aug 08 – Comet Pizza and Ping Pong [w/ The Apes, Double Dagger!]- DC, Washington DC
Aug 09 – AD Lib / Lancaster, Pa. [w/ DEERHUNTER, Times New Viking, Hot Guts]
Aug 10 – John Boyle O’Reilly Club Parking Lot / Springfield, MA [w/ Bat Attack & American Business Machines!]
Aug 11 – AS220 / Providence, RI [w/ The Brown Book & Bat Attack]
Aug 12 – House party / Boston, MA
Aug 13 - The Bakery / Burlington, VT [w/ Bat Attack + more tba!]
Aug 14 - Daniel St Club / Milford, CT [w/ PANTHER & Digital Leather]
Aug 15 – Silent Barn / Brooklyn [w/ Future Islands, EAR PWR, more]
Brooklyn’s unassuming 80′s-influenced three-piece Chairlift (recommended to us months ago by Violensfront man Jorge Elbrecht) is excited to announce the release of its forthcoming debut full-length, Does You Inspire You on Kanine Records on Oct. 28th. The band is currently in the midst of a US tour (dates below) with ever-endearing, psych-weirdo Ariel Pink in support of its new release-to-be.
Intent on making music for haunted houses, Caroline Polachek, Aaron Pfenning, and Patrick Wimberly formed Chairlift in the summer of 2006. Frequenting late-night jazz shows at the strange Broker Inn on the outskirts of Boulder, Co., Chairlift were mystified by its 1980′s faux-gothic architecture. The oak-cabinet aquariums, vacant dancefloors, fake trees, and muffled velveteen booths provided the ideal hypothetical setting for a new breed of pop music. With their backgrounds in fine arts, film and jazz, coupled with a move to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2007, the trio was in danger of succumbing to art-snobbery and pretension.
Instead, they started playing shows with fun and thriving experimental pop magicians, like MGMT, Ponytail, Yeasayer and Mixel Pixel. Merging their Colorado roots with their new urban surroundings, Chairlift’s sound developed into a hypnotic, tongue-in-cheek yet uniquely compelling brand of synth-pop. After much trial and error of experimentation, their newest effort has resulted in something more akin to a John Hughes/80′s film soundtrack, though the band is surprisingly unfamiliar with several of the artists thought to be their very influences.
Tour Dates:
Jul 29 – TT The Bears / Boston
Jul 30 – Knitting Factory / New York City (w/ Mixel Pixel)
Jul 31 – People’s Center / New Haven, Ct.
Aug 01 - M Room / Philadelphia
Aug 02 – Sonar / Baltimore
Aug 03 – Nightlight / Chapel Hill, NC
Aug 04 – Eyedrum / Atlanta
Aug 05 – Ali Baba’s / Tallahassee, Fl.
Aug 06 – Spanish Moon / Baton Rouge, La.
Aug 07 – Walter’s On Washington / Houston
Aug 08 – Hailey’s / Denton, Tx.
Aug 09 – Mohawk / Austin
Aug 11 – Plush / Tucson, Az.
Aug 12 – The Echo / Los Angeles
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
Of course I had to get through 
He played some solo songs, some songs with Kaki King from their new Black Pear Tree 
