SO Round 1 is complete, and we have come to the quarterfinals, or, as Friday likes to call it, the Elimination Round.
This week, all four matches will be held at once, with the four winners going on to the semi-finals. Our remaining entries are:
1. Wallenstein - Mother Universe vs. Pulsar - Halloween
Wallenstein
Mother Universe
“This isn’t an album I’ve got a long history with. I’ve only just discovered it actually, but it did have some of those weirder moments I tend to like and seems relatively unknown here, so maybe y’all will like it too.” - bgillesp
YT link 1: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc-3YDl-AaU
YT link 2: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=URX6IC8gdmI
YT link 3: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc-3YDl-AaU
Also on spotify
Pulsar
Halloween
"Pulsar was one of the finest symphonic progressive rock bands from France, 'Halloween' was their masterpiece, and benefited from a much better production than the previous albums. The music was a bit less spacey and instead more symphonic in a more traditional way. It's a concept album divided into two parts, divided into several songs with individual titles. This is one of the best French prog releases in the 70's." - e210013
Youtube (see track listing): https://youtu.be/EmCGdtxA3A8
2. The Mercury Tree - Permutations vs. Unreal City (Italy) - La Crudelta di Aprile
The Mercury Tree
Permutations
"The common narrative among muso's today is that new prog is retro and even regressive, and they act like they're too cool to like prog anymore. The Mercury Tree is just one band proving the narrative is as bunk as ever. Permutations is a transitional album of alt-math-prog influenced by avant-prog, Larks-SBB-Red era King Crimson and Yes with a unique mix of microtonal sounds akin to avant-garde composer Harry Partch. Heavy, complex, melodic, and all the right kinds of dissonant, this is an astounding accomplishment for three dudes from the U.S., worthy of the highest award in truly progressive rock." - Friday13th
Bandcamp: https://themercurytree.bandcamp.com/album/permutations
Unreal City (Italy)
La Crudelta Di Aprile
"Unreal City is a relatively new symphonic prog band coming from Italy. Centered around a keyboardist who masterfully uses piano, organ, moog, mellotron - etc - , the man is also a gifted singer. Rhythm section is tight and guitar complements the keys very well. Band revives some of the Italian prog majesty of the 70's. They incorporate all the classic RPI traditions of clever melodies, artful presentation, impeccable delivery and dramatic touches. They are backed by Fabio Zuffanti, who is compared to an Italian version of Steven Wilson, so the group can have immense future appeal." - Jethro42
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaaGHDhmV84&list=PLyxgENECAaJ-vdx9kE4JflSv2uNO1VIFV
3. Wobbler - From Silence to Somewhere vs. Trettioariga Kriget - Krigssang
Wobbler
From Silence to Somewhere
"Seen by many prog fans as a modern classic of the genre, Wobbler's latest record is one of the few modern album that does justice to the genre's older 70's sound. Great production and excellent instrumentation make for a thrilling, energetic and infectious sound that drags only a little bit in very few parts of the record." - MrSirLordGentleman
Youtube: https://youtu.be/j2W_UAIqwbk
Trettioariga Kriget
Krigssang
"- stellar guitar playing, Mellotron, some acoustic guitars, prominent bass lines etc
- kinda "heavy" and "dark" ( as to be expected from scandinavians)
- sung in swedish for an öhh.... exotic flavor
- they go both ways ...short and long. (usually around 4 min. + a 17 min. track to close it out.
In one sentence: Young (well at the time) swedish prog rock band emulating the sounds of the "foreign greats" like King Crimson, Rush and Yes with some hard rock." - hansoloshotfirst
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VdxeeQjOho
4. Evership - Evership II vs. Tako (YUG) - Tako
Evership
Evership II
"They say you can't judge a book by it's cover, but apparently that doesn't hold true for records. This 2018 release contains the classic 70s inspired prog that you would expect from a cover like that. The production is up to date, but the music is classic (including a seven part, 27 minute long, closing number)... It's a testament to how long Friday's been running this tourney that I find myself rummaging through 2018 releases for obscure prog." - TwigTW
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4FNPi7My6H9mwdlEEt8VY4?si=nuBHjtLQRqCCwXCGI4wb8g
Bandcamp: https://mrmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/evership-ii
Tako (YUG)
Tako
"A favorite of mine from the Yugo-prog scene that has been in regular rotation for quite some time. Don't see a lot of discussion from this particular part of the world when it comes to either progressive rock or jazz fusion so it would most certainly be a worthwhile addition, I think. Perhaps it's not as long as some of the other additions but it makes for a wonderful listen nonetheless." - Casavir
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJsOyRa3rKg&t=677s
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Prog Contest: Round 1, Match 8 Results
I voted early in this one. Here's what I said:
OK, I'm ready to vote. In spite of some of my comments here over the weekend, this was actually a close one.
The Tako album is classic prog rock. I heard things that sounded like ELP, things that sounded like Chick Correa, and flute very much in the style of Ian Anderson. There was also some sweet guitar. The downside is that there were parts that were a little bland. I liked the musicians better than the songs.
The Art Bears was, as expected, pretty out there. I definitely hear the strong Kurt Weill influence. The album had its ups and downs. Being a fan of melodic music, my favorite song was the one that Zig so aptly pointed out in review was modeled somewhat on the music of The Who, from the triumphant guitar to the Keith Moon-like drum parts. On the whole, though, the album was way too atonal for my taste.
The Art Bears album is by no means my least favorite album in the tournament. But I enjoyed the Tako album enough to edge it out slightly.
My vote goes to Tako.
There were a lot of interesting comments here, as the Art Bears album is quite experimental. Some of the contestants were intrigued by this; others not so much. The voting was close for most of the voting, with the winner pulling away in the end.
Final Result: Tako 9 votes, Art Bears 6 votes.
Now it's on to the Quarterfinals
OK, I'm ready to vote. In spite of some of my comments here over the weekend, this was actually a close one.
The Tako album is classic prog rock. I heard things that sounded like ELP, things that sounded like Chick Correa, and flute very much in the style of Ian Anderson. There was also some sweet guitar. The downside is that there were parts that were a little bland. I liked the musicians better than the songs.
The Art Bears was, as expected, pretty out there. I definitely hear the strong Kurt Weill influence. The album had its ups and downs. Being a fan of melodic music, my favorite song was the one that Zig so aptly pointed out in review was modeled somewhat on the music of The Who, from the triumphant guitar to the Keith Moon-like drum parts. On the whole, though, the album was way too atonal for my taste.
The Art Bears album is by no means my least favorite album in the tournament. But I enjoyed the Tako album enough to edge it out slightly.
My vote goes to Tako.
There were a lot of interesting comments here, as the Art Bears album is quite experimental. Some of the contestants were intrigued by this; others not so much. The voting was close for most of the voting, with the winner pulling away in the end.
Final Result: Tako 9 votes, Art Bears 6 votes.
Now it's on to the Quarterfinals
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Arnoldstock
The last couple of days have been a whirlwind. As I wrote about in my last post, Thursday night we were in the city at Radio City Music Hall, and sadly, my body is still recovering from that. On Friday, I spent the day catching up on all of the work I had in my job work folder from Thursday and Friday, which was more than a full day's worth of work. I also did my write-up on the Chvrches/Charly Bliss show, because I knew I had Arnoldstock coming up on Saturday, and I didn't want to let my blog reviews pile up as well. In a perfect universe, Saturday would have been a day of rest, but I knew that that wasn't going to happen.
As I've mentioned from time to time in this blog, the last year/year-and-a-half has been a stressful period for my family, and we all handle the stress in different ways. It's hard on Denise, because the more anxiety there is in the home, the more she wants to go out to free her mind for a while, and the more I feel too overwhelmed to go out a lot. One of the blessings Denise has found is the WLIR Facebook Group. This is an online group of like-minded '80s music fans who all love the new wave '80s music that Denise holds most dear. They meet up at the concerts of the various '80s bands, and at WLIR dance parties at venues such as Aura and Eleanor's as well. This has given Denise the opportunity to go out, make and meet up with new friends, and dance off some of the pressures of our everyday lives.
Unsurprisingly, a few of these new friends are musicians. One couple that Denise met through the group are a couple named Christine and Marcelo Pena, who play out acoustically at venues such as the Babylon Bean under the name of Melic. Denise has gone to see them several times, and I'm hoping to catch up with them at some point.
A couple of months ago, Denise mentioned that they hold a concert in their backyard every summer where they and a bunch of their musical friends get together for an all-day musical event. They call the event Arnoldstock (presumably because their house is on Arnold Avenue.) They sell tickets and donate the money to charity. She asked if I was interested in going, and I told her absolutely.
As it happened, a few weeks ago, we spoke my kids' uncle to set up a week-long visit at our house with my niece from upstate. After checking our calendars, we decided that this week would be the most convenient week for everyone in which to schedule that. Unfortunately, it meant that the day of her arrival was also the day of Arnoldstock. It wasn't that big a deal, as I knew she'd be spending most of her time with my son and/or my daughter anyway. But it was definitely an overlap.
As it happened, I was so busy with the Radio City show on Thursday and my work on Friday that I wasn't able to get hold of her Dad ahead of time for an ETA. I figured from past experience they'd be at my house at the crack of dawn, as it's much easier to make the trip from upstate during the overnight hours when there's no real traffic. So after getting our house/disaster area as ready as we could, I forced myself to go to bed by 1AM on Friday night (several hours earlier than usual), and dragged my sorry ass up at 5AM. (Which is really an obscene hour, by the way -- to all of you morning people, what is wrong with you guys?!)
After I got up, I learned that the party from upstate wasn't going to be arriving until 9:30 or so. This wasn't the worst thing, as there's a couple I've been working with at my job whose adoption is just about coming to completion. So being up by myself in the very quiet hours gave me the chance to catch up on some details I needed to attend to to prepare for their adoption. But I also knew that I was going to have to try to grab some more sleep sometime during the day before attending Arnoldstock at 5PM or so that night.
My niece and her parents showed up at about 10. Denise woke up shortly thereafter. After exchanging pleasantries with my niece's parents for about an hour, they got themselves together and headed back upstate. (And they must have hit a ton of traffic, because I understand they didn't get back up to the Rome area until 7:30PM.) Denise left the house for our usual Saturday Weight Watcher's meeting (and don't try telling me they call themselves "WW" now because they're WEIGHT WATCHER'S and they always will be, OK? WW! Phooey!). I skipped the meeting this week to take my son and my niece out to breakfast. Well, for me, second breakfast. I'm part hobbit.
Breakfast was vaguely traumatic. It's bad enough that my own kids have grown up so fast, but my niece, who is, in fact, their little sister, has suddenly become a young woman, making plans for college, getting her own place, etc. The Rolling Stones really nailed it -- Time really does wait for no one.
While we were getting breakfast, I got a text from our friend, Rich Da Drummer, who was coming with us to Arnoldstock today, telling me his car had broken down and asking us to pick him up at the Babylon train station instead. I also got a text from one of the parents I'm working with, to coordinate when we could talk about the upcoming adoption Covenant Ceremony. So by the time I got home and worked all of this out, I was fried. Luckily, because the kids are big enough to amuse themselves now, I was able to grab a few hours sleep at this point, so I'd e fresher for the show.
(If you haven't noticed, this is a typical write-up for me -- I've been writing for an hour now, and we still haven't gotten anywhere near showtime.)
Denise and I headed out at a little after 4:30. Then we got up to the corner and realized we didn't have the tickets. So after a quick turnaround, Denise and I headed out a little after 4:40. We picked Rich up at the Babylon railroad station, and headed to the event, which was blessedly nearby.
Unfortunately, we'd been warned ahead of time that parking in the area was scarce, and they weren't kidding. This wouldn't have been so bad, except that D. and I are that point in life where you're only as happy as your ability to find the next bathroom. We drove around in an increased state of panic, until we thankfully located a nearby Dunkin' Donuts. We used their facilities (I'd give them about a 7.9 -- nothing fancy, but reasonably clean and functional, at least). We bought some ice coffees, in gratitude for the use of their bathroom, and Rich marveled at Denise's Dunkin' Donuts app -- she's a Dunkin' Donuts frequent flyer! We then started our quest for parking for real.
Happily by this time, a spot had opened up right up the block from the show. I volunteered to carry the blue bag, which was a huge mistake on my part, as it was filled with bottles of hard cider, and weighed about four hundred pounds. (At least, that's what it felt like!)
We walked up the block, carrying our chairs and bags of goodies. We could hear the music as we walked. As we entered, Denise met about four hundred or so friends (OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a little), some of whom I knew and some of whom I didn't. As we said our hellos, the frickin' blue bag was exhausting me, as I had to hold it all the way up because I was carrying my Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee in the same hand. (I'm thinking it might be time to think about getting some exercise once in awhile, huh?) We walked around the yard for a little, playing a game of "Here? No, how about here?" until I was ready to collapse. Then, blessedly, we picked a spot and settled in for some music.
So, finally, let me tell you a little about Arnoldstock. This was the fifth consecutive year for the event. It's held every summer in Christine and Marcello's spacious backyard. People buy tickets, with the money going to charity. This year's event was raising money for Camp Loyaltown (I think I've got that right -- I thought they said "Camp Royaltown", but I'm looking around online, because I do some very professional research for this blog, and it looks like Camp Loyaltown is actually the right place.) This is a summer sleep-away camp for special needs kids, which apparently do a really nice job for them. The event was also raising money for the Brookville Center for Children's Services. Christine told us from the stage that both of these organizations have been very helpful to she and Marcelo and their young son.
There were a bunch of nice prizes on display that were donated to raise more money for the charities in question, which were being raffled off at a Chinese Auction. The event supplied free sodas, as well as barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs and sausages. (This warmed my heart. I don't need any of the fancy stuff -- you can keep your ribs, steaks, chicken, etc. -- if you've got hamburgers and hot dogs, I'm a happy camper. The sausages and salads were just a bonus.)
The couple had two separate stages set up in their backyard -- a smaller one (The "Diamond" stage) for duos and solo artists, and a larger one for fuller bands. The flyers advertised six main stage acts and six side stage acts.
I can only imagine how much work went into this event. Happily, the couple has a large group of friends who helped set up for it the day before, and who worked it all day, cooking, doing sound, working the admissions table, etc. It was really nicely done.
They couldn't have had a nicer day. It was sunny, but the trees provided shade for a large portion of the yard, and for most of the evening, there was a lovely, cooling breeze.
The show had started at about four, but by the time we parked and were settling in, it was about six PM.
The band that was playing as we were saying our hellos was called Lost & Found. (I think. There was a huge chalk board with a list of bands, but the show didn't seem to be consistently following the order on the board.) Unfortunately, we were too busy saying our hellos and carrying around that six thousand pound blue bag for me to tell you too much about them. I can tell you that they sounded really good, and that they were covering songs like Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" and Madonna's "Borderline". This was just fine for me.
The first act to play once I was settled and was able to concentrate was an excellent 5-piece called Sons of Sanford (as in the old Redd Foxx show -- "I'm coming, Elizabeth!"). They played an energetic brand of funk rock. A few of the songs that they covered which I jotted down included the old Sam & Dean (and Blues Brothers!) tune "Soul Man", Sublime's "Santeria", Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Superstition", and Blur's "The Woo Hoo Song". (Well that's what I call it! I guess technically it's called "Song 2", but that's a stupid name.) I don't know much about all of the covers that this band can play, but something about them makes me think they could totally do justice to a really raucous version of "Mississippi Queen".
As we sat enjoying the evening, various friends from the Facebook group popped over, including Tina Zito, who was doing her photography thing all over the event, and Linda, who was back here this summer all the way from Israel. I also saw Patti Morrone, an old friend (and a damned fine singer) from my LIMC days.
In between sets, I texted back and forth with my son, checking in that things were going OK with him, my niece and his friends. He chose this occasion to causally mention he needed a Triple A card, causing my heart to jump up to my throat as I envisioned that he and my niece had had a car accident. (They hadn't.) I also mentioned that I'd loved to have invited him and my niece to the event, but that I knew that he'd have hated it. (He mostly listens to gangsta hip-hop). I told him my niece might have enjoyed it, as the music was similar to the classic rock that her father plays in his band upstate. My son's one-word response: "Ew."
The next act up on the diamond stage was a fine solo artist named James Gallagher. He played electric acoustic, and ran through a setlist that included Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" (as opposed to CCR's "Who'll Stop the Rain," which I originally jotted down in my notebook and then had to cross out -- those guys really liked rain songs); Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic"; The Doobie Brothers' (who I'm seeing at Jones Beach this summer) "Listen to the Music"; and the old Leiber and Stoller standard, "Stand By Me".
I think it was around this time that I went for some burgers and a dog, which elevated my blood sugar level, and made me very happy. I also encouraged Rich to keep giving away those Apple Cider bottles, so the damned blue bag would be lighter when we left.
(When I look at the stuff that my brain focuses on sometimes for these reviews, I can see it's really sad. I totally identified during the Beavis and Butt-head feature film when they went to the Grand Canyon, but the feature that they were most impressed by were the auto-flush toilets -- "Whoa! This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!).
Next up on the main stage were the heroes of the day, Melic. As I mentioned, normally they play out as an acoustic duo. For this occasion, however, they celebrated by having a couple of their friends join them to play as what was billed as "Electric Melic". They had a nice, smooth sound right from the get-go. Their set included what I will always think of as a Patti Smith song (even though Bruce Springsteen wrote it), "Because the Night"; an earthy version of Elle King's "X's and O's"; Alice Merton's "No Roots"; and a bunch of covers of various 10,000 Maniacs songs, who of course, also recorded "Because the Night". 10,000 Maniacs is obviously a favorite artist of theirs -- I even suggested to Denise that in the future, they should consider changing their name to 10,000 Melics.
(This reminded me of when I grew up in Flushing and used to rent horror movie videos from this little mom and pop video store. One day, I rented out the Herschel Gordon Lewis splatter classic Two Thousand Maniacs! The little Greek man who owned the store looked at the box ponderingly for a moment. Then he looked at me, and softly affirmed, "That's a lot of maniacs.")
Anyway, I'm looking forward to catching Melic in their more typical acoustic form. They have a very pleasant sound.
Now one phenomenon that several of the artists noted from the stage that I haven't mentioned so far is this: for some reason, maybe because the yard was so big, the crowd of people that were there (which was probably in the range of 75 to 100 at any one time) had chosen to set up their lawn chairs relatively far away from the area where the two stages were. I didn't think anything about it when we entered -- I certainly wasn't going to drag the damned blue bag all the way up by the stages if I didn't have to -- but it did make it a little harder to understand some of the artists when they were talking.
By this time, it had gotten dark. The next artist up on the Diamond Stage was a solo artist named Matthew Ponsot. The sound system really wasn't cranked up for him, and there was a lot of socializing and crowd noise going on. This was OK, in that it was fun to talk with friends. But it was also unfortunate, in that it distracted a little from the music. It was doubly unfortunate because what I could hear of this man's music, I really liked. I think he was playing mostly originals, which, of course, is my passion. He opened with something called "Don't Say You Love Him," and followed it with something called "Tell Me What You Know". (I'm guessing on these titles. They were the main lyrics from the choruses.) He soon went into something moody and quiet that I could hear just enough of to be able to tell that it was right up my alley.
By this point, though, between the stresses of the last few days and the lack of sleep, my body was starting to shut down. It was probably about 9:30. Denise and Rich looked tired too, although I'm sure if she'd been on her own, Denise would have chosen to stay for awhile longer. But as Mr. Ponsot's set ended, she asked me if I wanted to go, and I had to tell her yes.
I'm going to definitely have to catch Matthew Ponsot again, when I'm in a livelier state of mind. I just checked his Facebook page, and I know more half of the musicians he has listed in his friends section, including Todd Evans, Robin Eve, Toby Tobias, Lori Llyn, Rick Eberle of Iridesense and Liz Smith, so it shouldn't be too hard to track him down again. (Namedrop much? Nah!)
Denise, Rich and I packed up and started saying our goodnights. This time, Rich took the blue bag, which we'd probably reduced to a more manageable two thousand pounds by now. We trudged back to the car, dropped Rich off at the train station and headed home. I was in bed, and fast asleep by 11.
Anyway, kudos to Christine and Marcelo Pena of Melic and their many helpers for pulling off a fun and impressive event. Next year, I hope to attend with a little more energy.
As I've mentioned from time to time in this blog, the last year/year-and-a-half has been a stressful period for my family, and we all handle the stress in different ways. It's hard on Denise, because the more anxiety there is in the home, the more she wants to go out to free her mind for a while, and the more I feel too overwhelmed to go out a lot. One of the blessings Denise has found is the WLIR Facebook Group. This is an online group of like-minded '80s music fans who all love the new wave '80s music that Denise holds most dear. They meet up at the concerts of the various '80s bands, and at WLIR dance parties at venues such as Aura and Eleanor's as well. This has given Denise the opportunity to go out, make and meet up with new friends, and dance off some of the pressures of our everyday lives.
Unsurprisingly, a few of these new friends are musicians. One couple that Denise met through the group are a couple named Christine and Marcelo Pena, who play out acoustically at venues such as the Babylon Bean under the name of Melic. Denise has gone to see them several times, and I'm hoping to catch up with them at some point.
A couple of months ago, Denise mentioned that they hold a concert in their backyard every summer where they and a bunch of their musical friends get together for an all-day musical event. They call the event Arnoldstock (presumably because their house is on Arnold Avenue.) They sell tickets and donate the money to charity. She asked if I was interested in going, and I told her absolutely.
As it happened, a few weeks ago, we spoke my kids' uncle to set up a week-long visit at our house with my niece from upstate. After checking our calendars, we decided that this week would be the most convenient week for everyone in which to schedule that. Unfortunately, it meant that the day of her arrival was also the day of Arnoldstock. It wasn't that big a deal, as I knew she'd be spending most of her time with my son and/or my daughter anyway. But it was definitely an overlap.
As it happened, I was so busy with the Radio City show on Thursday and my work on Friday that I wasn't able to get hold of her Dad ahead of time for an ETA. I figured from past experience they'd be at my house at the crack of dawn, as it's much easier to make the trip from upstate during the overnight hours when there's no real traffic. So after getting our house/disaster area as ready as we could, I forced myself to go to bed by 1AM on Friday night (several hours earlier than usual), and dragged my sorry ass up at 5AM. (Which is really an obscene hour, by the way -- to all of you morning people, what is wrong with you guys?!)
After I got up, I learned that the party from upstate wasn't going to be arriving until 9:30 or so. This wasn't the worst thing, as there's a couple I've been working with at my job whose adoption is just about coming to completion. So being up by myself in the very quiet hours gave me the chance to catch up on some details I needed to attend to to prepare for their adoption. But I also knew that I was going to have to try to grab some more sleep sometime during the day before attending Arnoldstock at 5PM or so that night.
My niece and her parents showed up at about 10. Denise woke up shortly thereafter. After exchanging pleasantries with my niece's parents for about an hour, they got themselves together and headed back upstate. (And they must have hit a ton of traffic, because I understand they didn't get back up to the Rome area until 7:30PM.) Denise left the house for our usual Saturday Weight Watcher's meeting (and don't try telling me they call themselves "WW" now because they're WEIGHT WATCHER'S and they always will be, OK? WW! Phooey!). I skipped the meeting this week to take my son and my niece out to breakfast. Well, for me, second breakfast. I'm part hobbit.
Breakfast was vaguely traumatic. It's bad enough that my own kids have grown up so fast, but my niece, who is, in fact, their little sister, has suddenly become a young woman, making plans for college, getting her own place, etc. The Rolling Stones really nailed it -- Time really does wait for no one.
While we were getting breakfast, I got a text from our friend, Rich Da Drummer, who was coming with us to Arnoldstock today, telling me his car had broken down and asking us to pick him up at the Babylon train station instead. I also got a text from one of the parents I'm working with, to coordinate when we could talk about the upcoming adoption Covenant Ceremony. So by the time I got home and worked all of this out, I was fried. Luckily, because the kids are big enough to amuse themselves now, I was able to grab a few hours sleep at this point, so I'd e fresher for the show.
(If you haven't noticed, this is a typical write-up for me -- I've been writing for an hour now, and we still haven't gotten anywhere near showtime.)
Denise and I headed out at a little after 4:30. Then we got up to the corner and realized we didn't have the tickets. So after a quick turnaround, Denise and I headed out a little after 4:40. We picked Rich up at the Babylon railroad station, and headed to the event, which was blessedly nearby.
Unfortunately, we'd been warned ahead of time that parking in the area was scarce, and they weren't kidding. This wouldn't have been so bad, except that D. and I are that point in life where you're only as happy as your ability to find the next bathroom. We drove around in an increased state of panic, until we thankfully located a nearby Dunkin' Donuts. We used their facilities (I'd give them about a 7.9 -- nothing fancy, but reasonably clean and functional, at least). We bought some ice coffees, in gratitude for the use of their bathroom, and Rich marveled at Denise's Dunkin' Donuts app -- she's a Dunkin' Donuts frequent flyer! We then started our quest for parking for real.
Happily by this time, a spot had opened up right up the block from the show. I volunteered to carry the blue bag, which was a huge mistake on my part, as it was filled with bottles of hard cider, and weighed about four hundred pounds. (At least, that's what it felt like!)
We walked up the block, carrying our chairs and bags of goodies. We could hear the music as we walked. As we entered, Denise met about four hundred or so friends (OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a little), some of whom I knew and some of whom I didn't. As we said our hellos, the frickin' blue bag was exhausting me, as I had to hold it all the way up because I was carrying my Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee in the same hand. (I'm thinking it might be time to think about getting some exercise once in awhile, huh?) We walked around the yard for a little, playing a game of "Here? No, how about here?" until I was ready to collapse. Then, blessedly, we picked a spot and settled in for some music.
So, finally, let me tell you a little about Arnoldstock. This was the fifth consecutive year for the event. It's held every summer in Christine and Marcello's spacious backyard. People buy tickets, with the money going to charity. This year's event was raising money for Camp Loyaltown (I think I've got that right -- I thought they said "Camp Royaltown", but I'm looking around online, because I do some very professional research for this blog, and it looks like Camp Loyaltown is actually the right place.) This is a summer sleep-away camp for special needs kids, which apparently do a really nice job for them. The event was also raising money for the Brookville Center for Children's Services. Christine told us from the stage that both of these organizations have been very helpful to she and Marcelo and their young son.
There were a bunch of nice prizes on display that were donated to raise more money for the charities in question, which were being raffled off at a Chinese Auction. The event supplied free sodas, as well as barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs and sausages. (This warmed my heart. I don't need any of the fancy stuff -- you can keep your ribs, steaks, chicken, etc. -- if you've got hamburgers and hot dogs, I'm a happy camper. The sausages and salads were just a bonus.)
The couple had two separate stages set up in their backyard -- a smaller one (The "Diamond" stage) for duos and solo artists, and a larger one for fuller bands. The flyers advertised six main stage acts and six side stage acts.
I can only imagine how much work went into this event. Happily, the couple has a large group of friends who helped set up for it the day before, and who worked it all day, cooking, doing sound, working the admissions table, etc. It was really nicely done.
They couldn't have had a nicer day. It was sunny, but the trees provided shade for a large portion of the yard, and for most of the evening, there was a lovely, cooling breeze.
The show had started at about four, but by the time we parked and were settling in, it was about six PM.
The band that was playing as we were saying our hellos was called Lost & Found. (I think. There was a huge chalk board with a list of bands, but the show didn't seem to be consistently following the order on the board.) Unfortunately, we were too busy saying our hellos and carrying around that six thousand pound blue bag for me to tell you too much about them. I can tell you that they sounded really good, and that they were covering songs like Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" and Madonna's "Borderline". This was just fine for me.
The first act to play once I was settled and was able to concentrate was an excellent 5-piece called Sons of Sanford (as in the old Redd Foxx show -- "I'm coming, Elizabeth!"). They played an energetic brand of funk rock. A few of the songs that they covered which I jotted down included the old Sam & Dean (and Blues Brothers!) tune "Soul Man", Sublime's "Santeria", Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Superstition", and Blur's "The Woo Hoo Song". (Well that's what I call it! I guess technically it's called "Song 2", but that's a stupid name.) I don't know much about all of the covers that this band can play, but something about them makes me think they could totally do justice to a really raucous version of "Mississippi Queen".
As we sat enjoying the evening, various friends from the Facebook group popped over, including Tina Zito, who was doing her photography thing all over the event, and Linda, who was back here this summer all the way from Israel. I also saw Patti Morrone, an old friend (and a damned fine singer) from my LIMC days.
In between sets, I texted back and forth with my son, checking in that things were going OK with him, my niece and his friends. He chose this occasion to causally mention he needed a Triple A card, causing my heart to jump up to my throat as I envisioned that he and my niece had had a car accident. (They hadn't.) I also mentioned that I'd loved to have invited him and my niece to the event, but that I knew that he'd have hated it. (He mostly listens to gangsta hip-hop). I told him my niece might have enjoyed it, as the music was similar to the classic rock that her father plays in his band upstate. My son's one-word response: "Ew."
The next act up on the diamond stage was a fine solo artist named James Gallagher. He played electric acoustic, and ran through a setlist that included Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" (as opposed to CCR's "Who'll Stop the Rain," which I originally jotted down in my notebook and then had to cross out -- those guys really liked rain songs); Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic"; The Doobie Brothers' (who I'm seeing at Jones Beach this summer) "Listen to the Music"; and the old Leiber and Stoller standard, "Stand By Me".
I think it was around this time that I went for some burgers and a dog, which elevated my blood sugar level, and made me very happy. I also encouraged Rich to keep giving away those Apple Cider bottles, so the damned blue bag would be lighter when we left.
(When I look at the stuff that my brain focuses on sometimes for these reviews, I can see it's really sad. I totally identified during the Beavis and Butt-head feature film when they went to the Grand Canyon, but the feature that they were most impressed by were the auto-flush toilets -- "Whoa! This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!).
Next up on the main stage were the heroes of the day, Melic. As I mentioned, normally they play out as an acoustic duo. For this occasion, however, they celebrated by having a couple of their friends join them to play as what was billed as "Electric Melic". They had a nice, smooth sound right from the get-go. Their set included what I will always think of as a Patti Smith song (even though Bruce Springsteen wrote it), "Because the Night"; an earthy version of Elle King's "X's and O's"; Alice Merton's "No Roots"; and a bunch of covers of various 10,000 Maniacs songs, who of course, also recorded "Because the Night". 10,000 Maniacs is obviously a favorite artist of theirs -- I even suggested to Denise that in the future, they should consider changing their name to 10,000 Melics.
(This reminded me of when I grew up in Flushing and used to rent horror movie videos from this little mom and pop video store. One day, I rented out the Herschel Gordon Lewis splatter classic Two Thousand Maniacs! The little Greek man who owned the store looked at the box ponderingly for a moment. Then he looked at me, and softly affirmed, "That's a lot of maniacs.")
Anyway, I'm looking forward to catching Melic in their more typical acoustic form. They have a very pleasant sound.
Now one phenomenon that several of the artists noted from the stage that I haven't mentioned so far is this: for some reason, maybe because the yard was so big, the crowd of people that were there (which was probably in the range of 75 to 100 at any one time) had chosen to set up their lawn chairs relatively far away from the area where the two stages were. I didn't think anything about it when we entered -- I certainly wasn't going to drag the damned blue bag all the way up by the stages if I didn't have to -- but it did make it a little harder to understand some of the artists when they were talking.
By this time, it had gotten dark. The next artist up on the Diamond Stage was a solo artist named Matthew Ponsot. The sound system really wasn't cranked up for him, and there was a lot of socializing and crowd noise going on. This was OK, in that it was fun to talk with friends. But it was also unfortunate, in that it distracted a little from the music. It was doubly unfortunate because what I could hear of this man's music, I really liked. I think he was playing mostly originals, which, of course, is my passion. He opened with something called "Don't Say You Love Him," and followed it with something called "Tell Me What You Know". (I'm guessing on these titles. They were the main lyrics from the choruses.) He soon went into something moody and quiet that I could hear just enough of to be able to tell that it was right up my alley.
By this point, though, between the stresses of the last few days and the lack of sleep, my body was starting to shut down. It was probably about 9:30. Denise and Rich looked tired too, although I'm sure if she'd been on her own, Denise would have chosen to stay for awhile longer. But as Mr. Ponsot's set ended, she asked me if I wanted to go, and I had to tell her yes.
I'm going to definitely have to catch Matthew Ponsot again, when I'm in a livelier state of mind. I just checked his Facebook page, and I know more half of the musicians he has listed in his friends section, including Todd Evans, Robin Eve, Toby Tobias, Lori Llyn, Rick Eberle of Iridesense and Liz Smith, so it shouldn't be too hard to track him down again. (Namedrop much? Nah!)
Denise, Rich and I packed up and started saying our goodnights. This time, Rich took the blue bag, which we'd probably reduced to a more manageable two thousand pounds by now. We trudged back to the car, dropped Rich off at the train station and headed home. I was in bed, and fast asleep by 11.
Anyway, kudos to Christine and Marcelo Pena of Melic and their many helpers for pulling off a fun and impressive event. Next year, I hope to attend with a little more energy.
Friday, July 12, 2019
Charly Bliss, Chvrches
If you follow this blog at all, you see that most of the live music shows I attend these days tend to be by older artists. I see a lot of '70s artists (usually by myself), and a lot of '80s artists (mostly with Denise). Occasionally, though, I feel the need to go out and catch some younger bands (bands who started in the current decade), just to remind myself I'm alive. It's nice to go to a show where all of the heads in the crowd aren't as gray as mine, and where the audience feels free to dance a little without the fear of breaking a hip.
Both Denise and I have been fans of the Chvrches, a young electro-pop band from Scotland, for awhile now. (Most people spell their name as CHVRCHES, but you know how I feel about that all-caps stuff.) I liked them when they first came out, and last year, with their Love Is Dead LP, I felt that they really fully realized their potential. (Mind you, I might be in the minority opinion there. The album didn't sell quite as well as their two previous efforts.) In fact, when I did my Best Of lists for 2018, I named Love Is Dead as my favorite album of the year.
Denise saw them do a mini-set last December at The Barclay Center, as part of the Alt 92.3 Not So Silent Night show, along with five other bands, and she enjoyed them a lot. I missed that show with great regret, as there were a number of bands I'd like to have seen that night, chief among them Chvrches and Foster the People. So when Denise saw that Chvrches was playing at Radio City Music Hall this summer, I swallowed my usual reluctance to deal with Manhattan and asked her to get tickets.
Then one of those happy coincidences happened. I recently picked up the new album by the Brooklyn-based band Charly Bliss, and I've been loving it. (In fact, Young Enough will be a serious contender for my favorite album of this year.) And then, a few weeks ago, I learned that Charly Bliss would be opening for Chvrches at the Radio City show. For me this is like winning the lottery -- buying tickets for a band you want to see, and learning after the fact that another band you want to see will also be playing the show.
Now in fairness, I should say that I know Denise well enough to know she'd be less enthused about Charly Bliss than I am. I tend to love female lead vocals in general, and some of the alternative bands that I like feature female lead singers with quirky and unusual voices. A couple of these include Mariel Loveland of Best Ex (formerly Candy Hearts), and Jessica Knight of Looming. I find myself drawn to unique female voices. Denise, not so much. She's very picky about her vocalists, and I can usually tell when one will turn her off. She wasn't even all that crazy about Hayley Williams of Paramore in the beginning, although I think Williams grew on Denise eventually. (And if they have some kind of a minor speech impediment, forget it! I can't even listen to The Sounds anymore without hearing Maja Ivarsson's lisp, thanks to Denise pointing it out to me. Although interestingly enough, Cyndi Lauper doesn't seem to bother her, in spite of "Twue Cowors." But I digress.)
Charly Bliss's frontperson is a young woman named Eva Hendricks. She's a charismatic, passionate singer. However, she also has voice kind of like a kewpie doll. A tough kewpie doll, but a kewpie doll nonetheless. I like her, because she's not a mean kewpie doll, or a psychotic one, or even a hard one. Just a tough one. Like she wouldn't bother you just walking around the streets, but if you tried to steal her purse, she'd put up a pretty good fight. I also like the band, because they have real talent for crafting well-written pop rock songs, songs that take unexpected turns, but still sound melodic. But I knew that Denise would be less enthused about this band than I am.
In any event, I met Denise at her Mom's house, and we headed into the city together. Our trip reminded me of why I'm not so fond of Manhattan these days, and especially of why I'll never drive there again. (Denise drove.) It was the usual trip uptown, with cars, cabs and bikers darting in and out in front of us, and the occasional pedestrian popping up from out of nowhere to casually walk in front of moving cars, heedless of the fact that human bodies are soft and squishy while cars are hard and very heavy. And as you're trying to avoid all of these fun-filled fellow New Yorkers, you're trying to do the mental math in your head to navigate all of the one-way streets in such a way as to be able to make it onto the block where your pre-paid parking garage is situated. It's a laugh a minute.
We actually timed it pretty well this time, and made it to our rather comfortable aisle seats about ten minutes before show time. We were in the orchestra, maybe ten rows from the stage -- very nice, especially for the opening band's set, while people were still seated.
Charly Bliss took the stage. Now mind you, this is a New York band playing at Radio City Music Hall for the first time. Do you think they were fired up? Oh hell yeah! These guys were psyched out of their gourds. They burst into sound, and from the get-go, they were firing on all cylinders. The room was maybe half full, but remember, this is Radio City Music Hall -- half full is still a lot of people. (At one point between songs, Hendricks admitted that they were so happy to be playing this show, they had cried during the sound check).
Hendricks came out in some of a tutu-like skirt, which I had seen her wear before in a YouTube video of a live performance. I'm pretty sure she wears it because she likes the way it bounces. Because she was bouncing up and down like the Tasmanian Devil on a trampoline. The band played a full set that included all of my favorite songs from the new album -- "Hard to Believe," "Camera," "Young Enough," "Chat Room," "Under You," and "Blown to Bits."
There were also a lot of little things going on that I liked. The band plays as a four-piece, and while they don't have a regular keyboard player, three of the four band members took turns playing the keyboard on the stage (including the drummer, who I think is Hendrick's brother.) Also, each of the three men in the band provided Hendricks with some vocal harmonies, sometimes separately, sometimes combined. (They weren't complicated, but they were nice.) And near the end of the set, Hendricks had her own drum at the front of the stage, which she banged for emphasis when needed -- it turns out, she's a trained drummer herself.
In any event, I enjoyed their set a lot. Their enthusiasm was infectious -- they were so obviously filled with joy about playing this gig that you couldn't help but be happy for them. (I think it was even more of a special occasion for them because it's not like they've been out on tour with Chvrches -- this show was a one-off them. It's just about the end of their own headlining tour, where they've been promoting the new album, but at smaller venues. In fact, they're playing the Bowery Ballroom tonight). Overall, I'd say they went over pretty well with the rest of the crowd as well. They didn't fully win over Denise, but she did admit they had a dynamic stage presence, and that they write really good songs (she liked the lyrics, too). I'm thinking that's about the best I'm going to get out her.
What followed was a very long break between bands. And whoever programmed the canned music playlist was deranged. It alternated between eighties artists like Cyndi Lauper and 'Til Tuesday, and some of the most god-awful female-voiced hip-hop you've ever heard, complete with very liberal use of the n-word, mixed with a copious amount of "mf-ers!" And at various points, the sound would move from one of the huge overhead speakers to the other and back again, as if there was a bored 9-year-old at the sound board, chewing gum and absentmindedly moving the switch back and forth while they gaped around the room.
As Chvrches later made clear, the reason for the over-long break between sets was that the venue was having trouble with the PA system. Apparently, the band was waiting nervously in the wings, feeling guilty about going on late. This might have been the reason for ... well, we'll get to that in a moment.
Now some of what I'm going to say will make it sound as if I didn't enjoy Chvrches' set, and I want to make it clear from the outset that that isn't so. I liked their set, and I was glad to have caught them live. But I did have some critiques.
First off, though, I'll give you something I was concerned about beforehand that I was pleased about. From a couple of things I've seen, I know that Chvrches sees themselves as a politically progressive band, and I was hoping they weren't going to be pushing that at the show in an obnoxious way.
They recently got themselves into a controversy with, of all people, the hip-hop singer Chris Brown due to this "progressivism." As it happens, they recently cut a song with someone who calls himself "Marshmello", a DJ/electronic artist. I'm not familiar with the song, but apparently all went well with this collaboration. Shortly thereafter, Marshmello decided to record with both Chris Brown and Tyga, each of whom has been accused of physically abusing women. For whatever reason, Chvches decided that it would be a great idea to issue a public statement expressing their "disappointment" with Marshmellow's decision to work with "predators and abusers." (Marshmellow probably didn't realize that by recording with them, it meant that he would need to submit all of his potential future collaborations to them for their approval.)
What happened next (somewhat predictably, if you've followed Brown's career), was that Brown replied by saying that he hoped they walked in front of a speeding bus filled with mental patients. His fan base then upped the ante by issuing death threats against the band, and rape threats against lead singer Lauren Mayberry, forcing Chvrches to lay out for a lot of extra security to protect themselves. Now I obviously don't endorse this kind of behavior by Brown's fans, but it makes me want to ask this band in a gentle, fatherly fashion, "What the HELL were you dumbasses thinking?" It would be one thing if he'd attacked them first. But I guarantee that this man didn't even know they existed until they decided that their sense of social justice necessitated their publicly scolding him. If they were a sports team, this would be called an "unforced error."
In any event, maybe they've learned not to go out of their way looking for a fight, because they were very pleasant and well-behaved throughout the concert. Their between-song patter was uncontroversial and actually quite amusing. They did what I hoped they would do -- just played their music.
There were two negatives to their set, though. Over the years, I've discovered that sometimes, seeing a band live can bring songs that you might not have previously been impressed with to life. This happened to me a number of times with Aimee Mann, and songs such as "King of the Jailhouse" and "Little Tornado." It even happened seeing The Good Rats do the live version of "Geno." In this case, though, I almost felt as though Chvrches' songs shrunk a little while hearing them in person. They were still nice, but I liked them live more than I loved them.
There were two possible reasons for this. The first is that as much as I appreciate Love Is Dead, I noted when I reviewed it that the album consisted almost entirely of slow-to-mid-tempo songs. Having one or two slower sings sprinkled throughout a concert can spice it up. Having a full set of slower songs can sap the energy out of a crowd.
The second possible reason for this phenomenon at the show has to do with my second negative. For some reason, the sound for Chvrches was muddy throughout the night. This might well have been because of the problems with the PA. However, the sound for Charly Bliss was pretty crisp. So maybe it was because some sound guys have trouble doing sound for bands that use multiple synthesizers.
Denise had another explanation, though, and as usual, she's probably right. It might be just that they were turned up too damned loud. The music for much of the set was what I'd describe as a "wall of sound." It was distorting all over the place. It might be that if they'd turned down just a little, the sound would have been much clearer.
This was a shame, because many other aspects of the show were excellent. They played all of the songs that I'd hoped they would play. And Mayberry was in excellent voice throughout the night. I've seen video clips of her where her voice was a little uncontrolled. Last night, her singing was both powerful and accurate.
Again, don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the show, and the crowd obviously did too -- they stood up when the band took the stage, and they never sat down again. Denise really couldn't see the show at all, because she was sitting behind taller people. I mostly sat (as usual), but for most of the show, I could see Mayberry through a spot under the elbow of the guy in front of me. (Denise said that the venue actually had video screens, but they weren't turned on. Go figure.)
In any event, Denise said that because of the volume, she thought Chvrches had actually sounded better during the brief set she saw them do last December. But she still enjoyed last night's show, and was glad we'd gone. I actually might have enjoyed Charly Bliss a little more than Chvrches, but I found Chvrches entertaining as well.
In closing off, here are two contrasts I noted between the two bands.
1. While both Eva Hendricks and Lauren Mayberry are energetic front women, they're a contrast in styles. Hendricks likes to jump up and down even more than my blood sugar. Mayberry, on the other hand, likes to glide across the stage and spin -- I don't know how she doesn't make herself dizzy. She reminds me a little of Shirley Manson of Garbage in that respect, another famed Scottish singer (and maybe Mayberry's role model? Who knows?)
2. In general, the two bands seem to favor a different style of song structure. Chvrches seems to like regular-length verses and simple choruses, ones with few words that are simple to sing along with. Charly Bliss, on the other hand, makes use of regular-sized verses, then speeds up some of their choruses and allows Hendricks to stuff them full of words. For example, here's the chorus for "Camera". Sing along if you dare.
Everything is coming
Not sure what I should be learning from it
How can I convince you not to stay?
Always either running or I'm always overflowing from it
If you think it's bad today, just wait.
Hope you took a few deep breaths before you started.
Anyway, it was nice to get out and see a couple of newer bands, one of whom is up-and-coming, and the other of whom is probably just now hitting their prime.
Manhattan still sucks, though.
Both Denise and I have been fans of the Chvrches, a young electro-pop band from Scotland, for awhile now. (Most people spell their name as CHVRCHES, but you know how I feel about that all-caps stuff.) I liked them when they first came out, and last year, with their Love Is Dead LP, I felt that they really fully realized their potential. (Mind you, I might be in the minority opinion there. The album didn't sell quite as well as their two previous efforts.) In fact, when I did my Best Of lists for 2018, I named Love Is Dead as my favorite album of the year.
Denise saw them do a mini-set last December at The Barclay Center, as part of the Alt 92.3 Not So Silent Night show, along with five other bands, and she enjoyed them a lot. I missed that show with great regret, as there were a number of bands I'd like to have seen that night, chief among them Chvrches and Foster the People. So when Denise saw that Chvrches was playing at Radio City Music Hall this summer, I swallowed my usual reluctance to deal with Manhattan and asked her to get tickets.
Then one of those happy coincidences happened. I recently picked up the new album by the Brooklyn-based band Charly Bliss, and I've been loving it. (In fact, Young Enough will be a serious contender for my favorite album of this year.) And then, a few weeks ago, I learned that Charly Bliss would be opening for Chvrches at the Radio City show. For me this is like winning the lottery -- buying tickets for a band you want to see, and learning after the fact that another band you want to see will also be playing the show.
Now in fairness, I should say that I know Denise well enough to know she'd be less enthused about Charly Bliss than I am. I tend to love female lead vocals in general, and some of the alternative bands that I like feature female lead singers with quirky and unusual voices. A couple of these include Mariel Loveland of Best Ex (formerly Candy Hearts), and Jessica Knight of Looming. I find myself drawn to unique female voices. Denise, not so much. She's very picky about her vocalists, and I can usually tell when one will turn her off. She wasn't even all that crazy about Hayley Williams of Paramore in the beginning, although I think Williams grew on Denise eventually. (And if they have some kind of a minor speech impediment, forget it! I can't even listen to The Sounds anymore without hearing Maja Ivarsson's lisp, thanks to Denise pointing it out to me. Although interestingly enough, Cyndi Lauper doesn't seem to bother her, in spite of "Twue Cowors." But I digress.)
Charly Bliss's frontperson is a young woman named Eva Hendricks. She's a charismatic, passionate singer. However, she also has voice kind of like a kewpie doll. A tough kewpie doll, but a kewpie doll nonetheless. I like her, because she's not a mean kewpie doll, or a psychotic one, or even a hard one. Just a tough one. Like she wouldn't bother you just walking around the streets, but if you tried to steal her purse, she'd put up a pretty good fight. I also like the band, because they have real talent for crafting well-written pop rock songs, songs that take unexpected turns, but still sound melodic. But I knew that Denise would be less enthused about this band than I am.
In any event, I met Denise at her Mom's house, and we headed into the city together. Our trip reminded me of why I'm not so fond of Manhattan these days, and especially of why I'll never drive there again. (Denise drove.) It was the usual trip uptown, with cars, cabs and bikers darting in and out in front of us, and the occasional pedestrian popping up from out of nowhere to casually walk in front of moving cars, heedless of the fact that human bodies are soft and squishy while cars are hard and very heavy. And as you're trying to avoid all of these fun-filled fellow New Yorkers, you're trying to do the mental math in your head to navigate all of the one-way streets in such a way as to be able to make it onto the block where your pre-paid parking garage is situated. It's a laugh a minute.
We actually timed it pretty well this time, and made it to our rather comfortable aisle seats about ten minutes before show time. We were in the orchestra, maybe ten rows from the stage -- very nice, especially for the opening band's set, while people were still seated.
Charly Bliss took the stage. Now mind you, this is a New York band playing at Radio City Music Hall for the first time. Do you think they were fired up? Oh hell yeah! These guys were psyched out of their gourds. They burst into sound, and from the get-go, they were firing on all cylinders. The room was maybe half full, but remember, this is Radio City Music Hall -- half full is still a lot of people. (At one point between songs, Hendricks admitted that they were so happy to be playing this show, they had cried during the sound check).
Hendricks came out in some of a tutu-like skirt, which I had seen her wear before in a YouTube video of a live performance. I'm pretty sure she wears it because she likes the way it bounces. Because she was bouncing up and down like the Tasmanian Devil on a trampoline. The band played a full set that included all of my favorite songs from the new album -- "Hard to Believe," "Camera," "Young Enough," "Chat Room," "Under You," and "Blown to Bits."
There were also a lot of little things going on that I liked. The band plays as a four-piece, and while they don't have a regular keyboard player, three of the four band members took turns playing the keyboard on the stage (including the drummer, who I think is Hendrick's brother.) Also, each of the three men in the band provided Hendricks with some vocal harmonies, sometimes separately, sometimes combined. (They weren't complicated, but they were nice.) And near the end of the set, Hendricks had her own drum at the front of the stage, which she banged for emphasis when needed -- it turns out, she's a trained drummer herself.
In any event, I enjoyed their set a lot. Their enthusiasm was infectious -- they were so obviously filled with joy about playing this gig that you couldn't help but be happy for them. (I think it was even more of a special occasion for them because it's not like they've been out on tour with Chvrches -- this show was a one-off them. It's just about the end of their own headlining tour, where they've been promoting the new album, but at smaller venues. In fact, they're playing the Bowery Ballroom tonight). Overall, I'd say they went over pretty well with the rest of the crowd as well. They didn't fully win over Denise, but she did admit they had a dynamic stage presence, and that they write really good songs (she liked the lyrics, too). I'm thinking that's about the best I'm going to get out her.
What followed was a very long break between bands. And whoever programmed the canned music playlist was deranged. It alternated between eighties artists like Cyndi Lauper and 'Til Tuesday, and some of the most god-awful female-voiced hip-hop you've ever heard, complete with very liberal use of the n-word, mixed with a copious amount of "mf-ers!" And at various points, the sound would move from one of the huge overhead speakers to the other and back again, as if there was a bored 9-year-old at the sound board, chewing gum and absentmindedly moving the switch back and forth while they gaped around the room.
As Chvrches later made clear, the reason for the over-long break between sets was that the venue was having trouble with the PA system. Apparently, the band was waiting nervously in the wings, feeling guilty about going on late. This might have been the reason for ... well, we'll get to that in a moment.
Now some of what I'm going to say will make it sound as if I didn't enjoy Chvrches' set, and I want to make it clear from the outset that that isn't so. I liked their set, and I was glad to have caught them live. But I did have some critiques.
First off, though, I'll give you something I was concerned about beforehand that I was pleased about. From a couple of things I've seen, I know that Chvrches sees themselves as a politically progressive band, and I was hoping they weren't going to be pushing that at the show in an obnoxious way.
They recently got themselves into a controversy with, of all people, the hip-hop singer Chris Brown due to this "progressivism." As it happens, they recently cut a song with someone who calls himself "Marshmello", a DJ/electronic artist. I'm not familiar with the song, but apparently all went well with this collaboration. Shortly thereafter, Marshmello decided to record with both Chris Brown and Tyga, each of whom has been accused of physically abusing women. For whatever reason, Chvches decided that it would be a great idea to issue a public statement expressing their "disappointment" with Marshmellow's decision to work with "predators and abusers." (Marshmellow probably didn't realize that by recording with them, it meant that he would need to submit all of his potential future collaborations to them for their approval.)
What happened next (somewhat predictably, if you've followed Brown's career), was that Brown replied by saying that he hoped they walked in front of a speeding bus filled with mental patients. His fan base then upped the ante by issuing death threats against the band, and rape threats against lead singer Lauren Mayberry, forcing Chvrches to lay out for a lot of extra security to protect themselves. Now I obviously don't endorse this kind of behavior by Brown's fans, but it makes me want to ask this band in a gentle, fatherly fashion, "What the HELL were you dumbasses thinking?" It would be one thing if he'd attacked them first. But I guarantee that this man didn't even know they existed until they decided that their sense of social justice necessitated their publicly scolding him. If they were a sports team, this would be called an "unforced error."
In any event, maybe they've learned not to go out of their way looking for a fight, because they were very pleasant and well-behaved throughout the concert. Their between-song patter was uncontroversial and actually quite amusing. They did what I hoped they would do -- just played their music.
There were two negatives to their set, though. Over the years, I've discovered that sometimes, seeing a band live can bring songs that you might not have previously been impressed with to life. This happened to me a number of times with Aimee Mann, and songs such as "King of the Jailhouse" and "Little Tornado." It even happened seeing The Good Rats do the live version of "Geno." In this case, though, I almost felt as though Chvrches' songs shrunk a little while hearing them in person. They were still nice, but I liked them live more than I loved them.
There were two possible reasons for this. The first is that as much as I appreciate Love Is Dead, I noted when I reviewed it that the album consisted almost entirely of slow-to-mid-tempo songs. Having one or two slower sings sprinkled throughout a concert can spice it up. Having a full set of slower songs can sap the energy out of a crowd.
The second possible reason for this phenomenon at the show has to do with my second negative. For some reason, the sound for Chvrches was muddy throughout the night. This might well have been because of the problems with the PA. However, the sound for Charly Bliss was pretty crisp. So maybe it was because some sound guys have trouble doing sound for bands that use multiple synthesizers.
Denise had another explanation, though, and as usual, she's probably right. It might be just that they were turned up too damned loud. The music for much of the set was what I'd describe as a "wall of sound." It was distorting all over the place. It might be that if they'd turned down just a little, the sound would have been much clearer.
This was a shame, because many other aspects of the show were excellent. They played all of the songs that I'd hoped they would play. And Mayberry was in excellent voice throughout the night. I've seen video clips of her where her voice was a little uncontrolled. Last night, her singing was both powerful and accurate.
Again, don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the show, and the crowd obviously did too -- they stood up when the band took the stage, and they never sat down again. Denise really couldn't see the show at all, because she was sitting behind taller people. I mostly sat (as usual), but for most of the show, I could see Mayberry through a spot under the elbow of the guy in front of me. (Denise said that the venue actually had video screens, but they weren't turned on. Go figure.)
In any event, Denise said that because of the volume, she thought Chvrches had actually sounded better during the brief set she saw them do last December. But she still enjoyed last night's show, and was glad we'd gone. I actually might have enjoyed Charly Bliss a little more than Chvrches, but I found Chvrches entertaining as well.
In closing off, here are two contrasts I noted between the two bands.
1. While both Eva Hendricks and Lauren Mayberry are energetic front women, they're a contrast in styles. Hendricks likes to jump up and down even more than my blood sugar. Mayberry, on the other hand, likes to glide across the stage and spin -- I don't know how she doesn't make herself dizzy. She reminds me a little of Shirley Manson of Garbage in that respect, another famed Scottish singer (and maybe Mayberry's role model? Who knows?)
2. In general, the two bands seem to favor a different style of song structure. Chvrches seems to like regular-length verses and simple choruses, ones with few words that are simple to sing along with. Charly Bliss, on the other hand, makes use of regular-sized verses, then speeds up some of their choruses and allows Hendricks to stuff them full of words. For example, here's the chorus for "Camera". Sing along if you dare.
Everything is coming
Not sure what I should be learning from it
How can I convince you not to stay?
Always either running or I'm always overflowing from it
If you think it's bad today, just wait.
Hope you took a few deep breaths before you started.
Anyway, it was nice to get out and see a couple of newer bands, one of whom is up-and-coming, and the other of whom is probably just now hitting their prime.
Manhattan still sucks, though.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Prog Contest: Round 1, Match 8
This will be the final match of the first round. Here are our contestants:
Tako (YUG)
Tako
"A favorite of mine from the Yugo-prog scene that has been in regular rotation for quite some time. Don't see a lot of discussion from this particular part of the world when it comes to either progressive rock or jazz fusion so it would most certainly be a worthwhile addition, I think. Perhaps it's not as long as some of the other additions but it makes for a wonderful listen nonetheless." - Casavir
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJsOyRa3rKg&t=677s
vs.
Art Bears
Hopes and Fears
"There are obviously a lot of common points between the music of Henry Cow and Art Bears, the political-philosophical lyrics, the abstract compositions mixed with jazz or free improvisations, but on the whole album is a more stripped down affair, the songs are shorter and more focused. Cutler's lyrics were indebted to Bertolt Brecht and informed by an interest in the middle ages, mythology and left wing politics; Frith's music reflected his interest in assorted arcane folk traditions and rock music, which would also influence his solo career; and Dagmar interpreted their vision like an updated version of Lotte Lenya." - Zig
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jf8w4Zb2iY
This one matches up two extremely different albums from 1978.
Tako is a more traditional prog band, although the and is from a country not usually associated with progressive rock, Yugoslavia (which ceased to be a country in 1992. Instead, it broke up into what is currently six nations: Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Kosovo. (Who says this blog isn't educational.)
Art Bears, on the other hand, is way more experimental and avant-garde. They're a British band with a German female singer who sounds a little like the noted sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
So strap in. This one could be a bumpy ride.
Tako (YUG)
Tako
"A favorite of mine from the Yugo-prog scene that has been in regular rotation for quite some time. Don't see a lot of discussion from this particular part of the world when it comes to either progressive rock or jazz fusion so it would most certainly be a worthwhile addition, I think. Perhaps it's not as long as some of the other additions but it makes for a wonderful listen nonetheless." - Casavir
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJsOyRa3rKg&t=677s
vs.
Art Bears
Hopes and Fears
"There are obviously a lot of common points between the music of Henry Cow and Art Bears, the political-philosophical lyrics, the abstract compositions mixed with jazz or free improvisations, but on the whole album is a more stripped down affair, the songs are shorter and more focused. Cutler's lyrics were indebted to Bertolt Brecht and informed by an interest in the middle ages, mythology and left wing politics; Frith's music reflected his interest in assorted arcane folk traditions and rock music, which would also influence his solo career; and Dagmar interpreted their vision like an updated version of Lotte Lenya." - Zig
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jf8w4Zb2iY
This one matches up two extremely different albums from 1978.
Tako is a more traditional prog band, although the and is from a country not usually associated with progressive rock, Yugoslavia (which ceased to be a country in 1992. Instead, it broke up into what is currently six nations: Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Kosovo. (Who says this blog isn't educational.)
Art Bears, on the other hand, is way more experimental and avant-garde. They're a British band with a German female singer who sounds a little like the noted sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
So strap in. This one could be a bumpy ride.
Prog Contest: Round 1 Match 7 Results
This one was tied briefly, until the eventual winner pulled away.
Here's what I had to say:
I'm ready to vote.
I liked the Evership album overall, although I found that I liked "The Serious Room" and the first half of "Island of the Broken Tree" much more than I liked the rest of the album. Like Friday, I also feel that it's a little dull in some of the other spots.
I found that the Spettri album sounded varied and colorful throughout. At times it rocks out. At other times it's slow and lovely. I also liked the obvious Keith Emerson influence evident in the keyboards. There are parts of the album that feel like they could have been missing cuts from Tarkus. And that last instrumental track is exquisite.
I'll probably buy the Evership track "The Serious Room" for download. However, my vote goes to Spettri.
However, as has been par for the course this year, my view didn't prevail. Evership pulled out to an early lead, then Spettri caught up. All of the late votes went to Evership, though.
Final Result: Evership 8 votes, Spettri 4 votes.
One more match to go in the first round.
Here's what I had to say:
I'm ready to vote.
I liked the Evership album overall, although I found that I liked "The Serious Room" and the first half of "Island of the Broken Tree" much more than I liked the rest of the album. Like Friday, I also feel that it's a little dull in some of the other spots.
I found that the Spettri album sounded varied and colorful throughout. At times it rocks out. At other times it's slow and lovely. I also liked the obvious Keith Emerson influence evident in the keyboards. There are parts of the album that feel like they could have been missing cuts from Tarkus. And that last instrumental track is exquisite.
I'll probably buy the Evership track "The Serious Room" for download. However, my vote goes to Spettri.
However, as has been par for the course this year, my view didn't prevail. Evership pulled out to an early lead, then Spettri caught up. All of the late votes went to Evership, though.
Final Result: Evership 8 votes, Spettri 4 votes.
One more match to go in the first round.
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The Grumpy Old Men
From time to time, you've heard me drop a mention on this page of what I refer to as "The Grumpy Old Men" of YouTube. I have to admit, I call them that somewhat ironically, as 1. For the most part, they're not that Grumpy. I'm probably grumpier; and 2. I'm 99% sure that I'm older than all three of them.
The three gentlemen I'm mostly referring to when I use this term are: 1. Pete Pardo from the YouTube channel Sea of Tranquility (seaoftranquility.org); 2. Ant (that's the only name I was able to find for him) from the YouTube channel RushTrader (rushtrader.com); 3. David Spuria - from the YouTube channel The Real Music Observer (therealmusicobserver.blogspot.com).
All three cover a significant amount of classic and/or progressive rock, and all three are definitely opinionated. What I mean by this is that all three are veteran music fans who have reached a point in life where they're not afraid to say what they think, whether people agree with them not. They tend to talk about new and classic albums, current tours, and whatever other music topics pop into their heads.
I'll be honest -- I tend to enjoy Pardo and Ant more than Spuria -- I find him to be the most sarcastic of the three. And I often disagree with all of them. But I do like to keep up with them and check in with what they have to say from time to time.
Topics where I've disagreed with them have included:
1. Styx. Both Ant and Spuria love Dennis DeYoung, and have a real problem with the fact that Tommy Shaw and J.Y. Young not only threw DeYoung (the primary songwriter) out of the band a number of years back, but that they are emphatic about not wanting to reunite with him, even though they concede it would be a big payday. Consequently, they both endorse seeing Dennis DeYoung and his current band over seeing Shaw and Young's version of the band (which has the legal right to the name "Styx".)
I saw both versions of the band last year, and honestly, I felt that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other music-wise -- both versions of Styx are fun, neither version is earth-shaking. Let's face it -- Styx ain't Yes.
As for the DeYoung controversy, I get the argument that DeYoung is the guy who wrote all the hits, and it's a shame he's being blackballed from joining his old band. But on the other hand, if you saw the Mike Wallace interview with Shaw and Young, it's obvious that both of them find DeYoung endlessly annoying, and that they'd pretty much rather hang themselves than have to be in a band with him again. And watching DeYoung, I can sort see that he'd be an irritating person to have to be in close quarters with. Although in his defense, he's been married to the same woman for almost 50 years now, so I guess he's not that aggravating to her. But to me, you get to choose who you want to play with. And if just the thought of playing with a given person gives you hives, then you've got a right to pass, and live a happier life.
2. Fleetwood Mac. I think all of them were very down on Fleetwood Mac after they dumped Lindsey Buckingham (although I could be mistaken about that in Pardo's case). I didn't have a problem with it. There have been renditions of the band without Stevie Nicks over the years, and renditions without Christine McVie. (And it's not even the first time since joining that they've gone out without Buckingham in the band). Again, I get that Buckingham was hugely important for many years as the musical leader of the band who did all of the arranging, etc. But to me, there's a reason why Stevie Nicks is the only FM member who's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both as a member of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. She's the star. And in terms of the songs I love the best, Buckingham was the band's third best songwriter, after Ms. Nicks and Ms. McVie.
Plus, I have to admit that I was curious to see what Mike Campbell and Neil Finn would bring to the table in the most recent FM lineup. I saw them live, and I enjoyed the show. It was kind of cool to hear "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Free Fallin'" thrown into a Fleetwood Mac set. And as it unfortunately turned out, if they'd have waited for Buckingham to go out on tour with them, they'd have had to cancel the tour anyway. This past February, Buckingham had open heart surgery that injured his throat. So you wouldn't have had Buckingham out for a full tour no matter what. These guys are all pretty long in the tooth these days, so who knows if there will be another tour after this one. But if they go out again, and if Buckingham recovers his voice (or even if he just plays guitar), and if everyone involved was amenable to a reunion, would I be up for it? Hell yeah! But I'm still glad I didn't skip this year's tour.
3. Yes. (Are you sensing a theme here?) This is another band that had two different versions of it out on tour last year -- the version with Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, and the version with Steve Howe, Alan White and Geoff Downes, among others. This was another case where I think all three were all-in on the ARW version of the band, although there were also some suggestions that Yes should just hang it up. I only saw the Howe version of the band, both last year and this year. I missed ARW when they came around the first time, and now it looks like they won't be coming back -- both Anderson and Wakeman are touring solo this year. (I'll be seeing Anderson, although it looks like I'll unfortunately miss Wakeman.) There was a unanimous consensus between the three (as I remember) that the ARW version was the more legitimate version. I think both versions were equally legitimate. I think you can just as easily say "It's not Yes without Howe" (I'm not a huge Trevor Rabin fan) and you can "It's not Yes without Anderson". (Wakeman has been in and out so often that while he's clearly -- and deservedly -- the most popular Yes keyboard player, you could never stake the legitimacy of the band on his presence or absence.)
Anyway, if you're a fan of classic and/or progressive rock, it might be worth your while to give one or all of these guys a watch. But don't be afraid to disagree with the grumpy old bastards. Unlike me, they're not always right. :)
The three gentlemen I'm mostly referring to when I use this term are: 1. Pete Pardo from the YouTube channel Sea of Tranquility (seaoftranquility.org); 2. Ant (that's the only name I was able to find for him) from the YouTube channel RushTrader (rushtrader.com); 3. David Spuria - from the YouTube channel The Real Music Observer (therealmusicobserver.blogspot.com).
All three cover a significant amount of classic and/or progressive rock, and all three are definitely opinionated. What I mean by this is that all three are veteran music fans who have reached a point in life where they're not afraid to say what they think, whether people agree with them not. They tend to talk about new and classic albums, current tours, and whatever other music topics pop into their heads.
I'll be honest -- I tend to enjoy Pardo and Ant more than Spuria -- I find him to be the most sarcastic of the three. And I often disagree with all of them. But I do like to keep up with them and check in with what they have to say from time to time.
Topics where I've disagreed with them have included:
1. Styx. Both Ant and Spuria love Dennis DeYoung, and have a real problem with the fact that Tommy Shaw and J.Y. Young not only threw DeYoung (the primary songwriter) out of the band a number of years back, but that they are emphatic about not wanting to reunite with him, even though they concede it would be a big payday. Consequently, they both endorse seeing Dennis DeYoung and his current band over seeing Shaw and Young's version of the band (which has the legal right to the name "Styx".)
I saw both versions of the band last year, and honestly, I felt that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other music-wise -- both versions of Styx are fun, neither version is earth-shaking. Let's face it -- Styx ain't Yes.
As for the DeYoung controversy, I get the argument that DeYoung is the guy who wrote all the hits, and it's a shame he's being blackballed from joining his old band. But on the other hand, if you saw the Mike Wallace interview with Shaw and Young, it's obvious that both of them find DeYoung endlessly annoying, and that they'd pretty much rather hang themselves than have to be in a band with him again. And watching DeYoung, I can sort see that he'd be an irritating person to have to be in close quarters with. Although in his defense, he's been married to the same woman for almost 50 years now, so I guess he's not that aggravating to her. But to me, you get to choose who you want to play with. And if just the thought of playing with a given person gives you hives, then you've got a right to pass, and live a happier life.
2. Fleetwood Mac. I think all of them were very down on Fleetwood Mac after they dumped Lindsey Buckingham (although I could be mistaken about that in Pardo's case). I didn't have a problem with it. There have been renditions of the band without Stevie Nicks over the years, and renditions without Christine McVie. (And it's not even the first time since joining that they've gone out without Buckingham in the band). Again, I get that Buckingham was hugely important for many years as the musical leader of the band who did all of the arranging, etc. But to me, there's a reason why Stevie Nicks is the only FM member who's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both as a member of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. She's the star. And in terms of the songs I love the best, Buckingham was the band's third best songwriter, after Ms. Nicks and Ms. McVie.
Plus, I have to admit that I was curious to see what Mike Campbell and Neil Finn would bring to the table in the most recent FM lineup. I saw them live, and I enjoyed the show. It was kind of cool to hear "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Free Fallin'" thrown into a Fleetwood Mac set. And as it unfortunately turned out, if they'd have waited for Buckingham to go out on tour with them, they'd have had to cancel the tour anyway. This past February, Buckingham had open heart surgery that injured his throat. So you wouldn't have had Buckingham out for a full tour no matter what. These guys are all pretty long in the tooth these days, so who knows if there will be another tour after this one. But if they go out again, and if Buckingham recovers his voice (or even if he just plays guitar), and if everyone involved was amenable to a reunion, would I be up for it? Hell yeah! But I'm still glad I didn't skip this year's tour.
3. Yes. (Are you sensing a theme here?) This is another band that had two different versions of it out on tour last year -- the version with Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, and the version with Steve Howe, Alan White and Geoff Downes, among others. This was another case where I think all three were all-in on the ARW version of the band, although there were also some suggestions that Yes should just hang it up. I only saw the Howe version of the band, both last year and this year. I missed ARW when they came around the first time, and now it looks like they won't be coming back -- both Anderson and Wakeman are touring solo this year. (I'll be seeing Anderson, although it looks like I'll unfortunately miss Wakeman.) There was a unanimous consensus between the three (as I remember) that the ARW version was the more legitimate version. I think both versions were equally legitimate. I think you can just as easily say "It's not Yes without Howe" (I'm not a huge Trevor Rabin fan) and you can "It's not Yes without Anderson". (Wakeman has been in and out so often that while he's clearly -- and deservedly -- the most popular Yes keyboard player, you could never stake the legitimacy of the band on his presence or absence.)
Anyway, if you're a fan of classic and/or progressive rock, it might be worth your while to give one or all of these guys a watch. But don't be afraid to disagree with the grumpy old bastards. Unlike me, they're not always right. :)
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