Battles & Gnarls Barkley Join Forces For NYC MySpace Gig

Details are as follows:

June 8th
The Fillmore
8pm

Ticket info can be found here.

MP3: Battles - Atlas

Joey Ramone B-Day Bash 2008 Details Revealed

May 19th @ NYC's Fillmore - Irving Plaza.

This year's roster includes:

Mary Weiss (The Shangri-La's)
Richard Lloyd (Television)
Jesse Malin
Cheetah Chrome
Walter Lure
Tish & Snooky
Jean Beauvior
Andy Shernoff
Joe McGinty
JP Thunderbolt
Al Maddy
Ivan Julian
Bobby Steele & Mickey Leigh
Charm School
Semi-Precious Weapons
The Independents
Local H
L.E.S. Stitches
Rachel Newman

For further updates, head here.

MP3: The Ramones - Merry Xmas

Mew & Oh No! Oh My! @ Irving Plaza 3/22: Comforting Sounds

Matt: After the teases Jen and I both received while witnessing the live spectacle that is Mew for their brief half-hour set with Bloc Party last summer, and their succinct 45-minute set with Kasabian this past September, it was beyond exciting to hear the band was headlining their first US tour and actually playing a complete show. The Irving Plaza gig last night highlighted tracks from both of their releases, Frengers & And The Glass Handed Kites and was 80 minutes of sheer euphoria.

Mew's unique blend of post/prog/straightforward and every other genre of rock give the Danes a distinctly recognizable sound as well as a galaxy of authenticity. It was reassuring to see that despite three trips to North America over the last nine months, frontman/guitarist Jonas Bjerre is still as shy and stoical as the band's first visit. The juxtaposition between the band's soaring melodies and Jonas' introverted stage presence is magical, I must say. I can almost picture Jonas, with his captivating voice, auditioning for Danish Idol (yes, it really exists) and having that modest grin on his face upon the judges telling him he is amazing. Although, I'm sure his good looks alone would take him into the finals.

Mew's usual shtick (a la their backdrop featuring all sorts of creepy images) was in full effect last night. Cats, giraffes, intense neon light beams, line drawings, you name it and it was probably on the screen behind Mew. Probably the most well-received tracks of the night were 'The Zookeeper's Boy' and the set-closing 'Comforting Sounds'. The latter of which swelled into one of the best live tracks I may have ever seen live before. 'Comforting Sounds' is an epic 9-minute tune that only increases in perfection as the end nears. A fantastic song to close the show!

Still want to learn more about Mew, or are just curious as to what Jonas is like in an interview? Check out Jen's '8 Questions With' Mew from August. I may be a tad bit biased, but Jen conducted a fabulous Q & A with Copenhagen's finest vocalist.

Setlist: Circuitry Of The Wolf/Chinaberry Tree/Am I Wry? No/156/White Lips Kissed/Behind The Drapes/She-Spider/Apocalypso/Saviors Of Jazz Ballet/The Zookeeper's Boy/Snow Brigade/Louise Louisa//Special/Comforting Sounds

Jen: Oh No, Oh My are really funny. No seriously they are, like, hilarious. The first time Matt and I saw them over CMJ, they were a riot. Not so much last night though. I chalk it up to them being a wee bit nervous in front of the expansive crowd. There was a small group up front of well-wishers and fist-pumpers that continuously shouted out songs, which was nice.

ONOM are...innocuous. A band more fun to see in a small space than a large venue. Their music is twee and some songs, especially drummer Joel's 'I am not a monster' would fit well along side any Boy Least Likely To track.

Their one shining, standout track is the lovely summertime tune, 'Walk in the park.' It's happy, lovely and invokes great imagery of walking barefoot through your lawn on a hot day. It again has that skippy, airy, folk BLLT sound, but with the advantage of a catchy melody.

Irving has the problem of a generational gap. The crowd tends to part the sea with 16-20 year olds on one side and 30 plusers on the other. With the relatively high ticket prices and the low admittance age, many struggling twenty-somethings tend to avoid Irving, always making for an odd mix of people at the venue.

Therefore last night saw a great divide of hardcore high schoolers up front singing all the words and the older crowd hovering around the fringes, nodding their heads. We were somewhere inbetween.

Mew's music is dense (like plum pudding not George Bush). What comes at the audience is a wall of sound with ominous drums and layers of singing over crescendo guitars. Throughout last night's set, I tried to put my finger on what the sound of Mew actually reminded me of. For an hour I alternated with 80's hair band ballad, Guns and Roses 'November Rain,' Sigur Ros and 90's grunge. What I came up with was that Mew is all of the above. They combine the best of these efforts together to make a sound completely all their own- the 'November Rain' guitar solo with the vocals of Sigur Ros over it, White Snake mixed in with Kurt Cobain. But mostly, what you find is that it is all Mew, a shy boy from Copenhagen leading a band of punky Danes playing music with a passion.

MP3: Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy

TV on the Radio @ Irving 10/17: Yeah...No

I tried people, I really tried. After listening to TVotR's first album I though, meh. But everyone else was so into them. I got Return to Cookie Mountain and still thought, what the hell?


But sometimes, a band is just so much better in person (see Editors) so I went to see them at Irving. And you know what? This just really ain't my thing. It's psychedelic jam rock. Their music is so layered with noise that it's hard to distinguish the tune of the song. I felt that if they just pared down the layers of noise and add some hooks, they could actually have something good. Though I do think that 'Wolves Like Me' is pretty good.


The best part of the show? The two HUGE guys behind us who lit two joints and said only my friend and I could have. The smaller of the two got so excited at the encore that he bulldozed his way to the front, scattering hipsters as he ran, and started moshing with whomever he could bump into.


But mostly, this was my view of the night. I never noticed how pretty the chandelier at Irving is.

Though I did have some excitement. Before the show, I saw Randy Harrison from the American Queer as Folk. I am a huge fan, so that was pretty awesome. Rounds out me seeing his on screen boyfriend, Gale Harold, at the Dallas Museum of Art a couple of years ago.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts @ Irving 10/15: Put Another Dime in the Jukebox Baby

It's time for me to play catch up with all the shows I've seen these past two weeks. I have been busy running around the city with a friend visiting the city. We've been organising an art exhibition that is going to blow your socks off, so watch out.

Last Sunday night, I had the immense privilege of seeing Joan Jett and the Blackhearts perform at Irving Plaza. When I heard confirmation that I was on the Blackhearts list I jumped up from my chair with glee. Now this was something exciting. Joan Jett has been a favourite of mine since high school when I first saw her perform at the Vanderbilt in Plainview, Long Island. It was the first concert I had ever been to and I just couldn't believe how awesome the experience was. I went with my younger sister and we both jumped into the crowd, pumped our fists in the air and screamed along to 'Cherry Bomb' amongst a sea of black leather and tattoos.

Now eight years later, there I was at Irving Plaza with a pass stuck on my jeans allowing me access to the after show party where I could meet the legendary woman who first drew me into the world of music.

Before I get ahead of myself though, first up were opening acts Valient Thorr and Eagles of Death Metal. We aren't all indie rock here at The Music Slut. Every once in a while, we like to thrash our heads to a little punk metal. Valient Thorr's music was good, fun and well done but the presentation was a bit off. What ran through my head was: this is exactly what Jack Black's metal band would be like. I couldn't tell whether the leader singer was taking the piss or was actually earnest in the way he was acting.


Next up was Eagles of Death Metal. I've been a fan of their brand of music since the summer of 2005 when they played T in the Park. After a confusing performance by Valient Thorr, EODM got the crowd back on track with a rousing set. The charismatic Jesse Hughes may just be the perfect front man with an impeccable combination of male bravado and humility. He made the girls swoon and the guys shout. Their latest single, 'I want you so hard' from the album Death by Sexy, was the highlight of their set.


And now the amazing Joan Jett. While waiting upstairs for the the Eagles to go on, the crowd suddenly parted as space was made for Ms. Jett, accompanied by Carmen Electra, as she made her way to the VIP section. Electra is very pretty in person and was wearing a lovely cream dress with black polka dots. She's shorter than you would imagine as well. Earlier this year, Electra admitted that since the age of eight, she's had a lesbian crush on Jett and is featured in the video for the first single, a cover of Sweet's 'A.C.D.C.', from Jett's new album, Sinner. The term ACDC is used in place of bisexual.


When I first saw Jett 8 years ago, she barely filled the small Vanderbilt. I was surprised to see the house completely packed for Sunday's performance. The show was such a successful book, that Jett is set to perform again on December 2nd.


Jett is undeniably a great front woman, performer and is the all time queen of covers. When you buy a ticket to her show, you know you are in for an amazing night. She performed a lot of songs from her new album. 'Fetish' and 'Riddles' were the stand out tracks. Though not the typical all out rock songs, they have a bit of a quirky pop beat. Like many entertainment folks out there, Jett too has her opinion on the war and 'Riddles' is her anthem, it samples the infamous speech by President Bush in which he fumbles the age old adage, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."


When the show ended and the venue emptied, I was left on my own in the balcony watching the Blackhearts come out. Jett was taking a long time to emerge and time was slowly creeping into the early morning hours. I'm not much of a star fucker anyway, so I didn't stick around to take a picture with her. Too bad, it was going to my new MySpace photo.

The Secret Machines @ Irving Plaza: Three Is A Magic Number

Last night was The Secret Machines' opening night of their US tour in support of this year's thrilling, Ten Silver Drops. Josh, Ben and Brandon collectively decided to have this tour in-the-round.


While I was under the assumption that each band member would be in an opposite side of the room, the show actually featured a circular stage directly in the center of Irving Plaza (just like the Hiro Ballroom show earlier this year). The stage dymanic was intense, just like the music the band produces.


I was rather surprised to hear 2 pre-Now Here Is Nowhere tracks in the set, particularly one opening the show. That said, they sounded great and fresh in spite of their age. The band see-sawed for most of their set with songs from NHIN and TSD with a cover of 'Money' thrown in for good measure.


'The Road Leads Where It'd Led' was breathtaking and powerful. 'All At Once', which isn't necessarily one of my favorites on TSD, sounded glorious and was one of the most well-received tracks of the night.


The band hopped off stage briefly after 'Now Here Is Nowhere', only to return with a 4-song blustering encore that closed with a glowing version of 'First Wave Intact'. 120 minutes of sheer bliss!


I'm Just Sayin' has live versions of 'The Road Leads Where It's Led' and 'Alone Jealous & Stoned' for download!

And because I love you, here's the setlist:


Once again, the band plays Irving Plaza again tonight and Warsaw in Brooklyn in a month. That show will end the US tour; the boys head to Europe immediately afterwards!

Gogol Bordello @ Irving 6/9: Gypsyficatzia

Do you remember that scene in Along Came Polly where Ben Stiller plays basketball with that big, fat, hairy, sweaty, guy and ends up with his face rubbing up against the guy's stomach? That was me Friday night at Gogol Bordello.

If you have ever been to a club in a former Soviet bloc country, you might recognise the types of girls at this show. I don't know whether they were dressing that way ironically or not, but I thought it was brilliant. I can describe the style as, um, makeshift, slightly depressing looking slut. The crowd consisted of the Eastern European club girls, slightly sketchy guys, the shirtless moshing gents up front and a smattering of hipsters. A combination which makes for total chaos and an all out riotous party.


I meant to see Gogol last month at Warsaw, but I dragged my heels buying a ticket and was shut out. This was my redemption show and it ended up being one of the top concerts I've ever seen. I've got to pause for a moment and give huge props to my mate Gretchen for telling me about this group. CHEERS!


Gogol is basically me in a nut shell: anti-globalization, anarchtic, punk with an ethnic flair. If you have ever seen the film Everything Is Illuminated, Liev Schreiber uses their music throughout. In fact, Schreiber first approached Gogol founder Eugene Hutz to do the music for the film but then liked him so much he just cast him as the lead.

For most of the show, my crew and I stood in the middle back, away from the chaos up front. We were dancing, sweating, getting beer spilt all over us and having an all out fantastic time so it was decided that for the encore we would get right in the thick of things and mosh. I can't recall ever moshing before at a show, so it was an experience- this is where the sweaty guys with no shirts come in.

Before the encore began, my two friends and I made our way up to the front and settled in but once the music started, we were quick shoved to the side. Our moshing skills were evidently not up to par. (And here's my second shout out) thank goodness for my 6 foot tall, gentlemanly friend JP. He saved Gretchen and I more than once from being tossed to the floor. After he would get through making sure we were alright, he would help a group of guys throw someone in the air to crowd surf. He wanted Gretchen to go but for girls the experience can be a bit too friendly, if you know what I mean. I did however see a kid no more than 10 or 11 and wearing a Gogol shirt get bounced around in the air twice. It was awesome.



You can listen to an interview with Eugene and some live music from the band on Here and Now (Boston's NPR). You can also download the infectious 'Start wearing purple' from the Gogol site here.

The Sounds @ Irving Plaza: Loud, Sweaty and Beautiful!

I worship the Sounds after last night's show. Worship, I say!



I didn't think it was possible but this one blew away the last 2 shows they've done in NYC.



By the end of the night, I could barely speak from all the singing.. or rather, screaming along. One of the best shows I've seen this year, easily.

The set was a perfect combo (8 from each!) of the debut, Living In America and the latest release (which, if you are reading this site and don't know, slap yourself on the wrist), Dying To Say This To You.


It went:

Queen Of Apology
24 Hours
Hit Me!
Song With A Mission
Much Too Long Now
Night After Night
Living In America
Mine For Life
Tony The Beat
Painted By Numbers
7 Days A Week
Rock N Roll
Hope You're Happy Now
--
Dance With Me
Fire
Ego


Maja is such a star. Who else could rock out with that dress and a pair of stilettos for virtually, the entire show?

She commented how other bands say that NYC is a tough crowd to play for, but the Sounds have never had any problems; which as you could guess, fueled the already overzealous crowd even more!



Wouldn't it be fantastic if they came to New York once a month?

I need that rush more often.



If you miss the opportunity to see them, particularly on this tour, you are a grade-A-classified fool!!

Morningwood Gives Irving Plaza A Hard-On

I must say, I was pretty impressed by Morningwood last night.

Having seen them open for one of those secret Scissor Sisters shows over the summer, I wasn't thrilled in the slightest. The vocals were shotty, as were the songs and I wasn't feeling the general statement the band was trying to make.



Understanding that they will probably wind up being an MTV flash-in-the-pan (all the tweens were in the front row with fists raised), and they are super silly, I can appreciate Morningwood in a different light.

Last night they put on a really fun show and even I was rooting for them.



The closing trio of Nth Degree-Take Off Your Clothes-Jetsetmusicletter was fantastic.

The band sounded tight throughout their 40-minute set, and the teasing/taunting of the crowd actually worked this time.



Apparently there are 3 kinds of audiences, according to Morningwood... 'the tittie', 'the tittie's nipple' and 'the bead of sweat on the titties nipple'.

Last night Morningwood declared us the bead, and I declare them not as shitty as I originally thought.

Astra Heights/Nightmare of You/She Wants Revenge @ Irving 4/4: Sausage Fest

Upon hearing Astra Heights’ first single, ’Burning’, what immediately came to mind was Thin Lizzy’s ’The boys are back in town’- it has the same energy and full out happiness which makes that song so great. It had me intrigued and looking forward to going to their show Tuesday, where they would be opening for She Wants Revenge and Nightmare of You.


Live, my seventies inspired suspicions were confirmed. Surprisingly though, most of the songs tended much more towards Glam Rock. In fact, swap AH’s punk leather for a pair of sparkly boots and a silver unitard and they could be The Darkness’s less dramatic cousin. The influence of Bowie and the vocals of T.Rex runs strong through many of their songs- a little too much so at times. I kept thinking during the set, ’they would have been great as openers for Mott the Hoople.’ My opinion here is going to be slightly biased as my all time favourite music comes from the seventies, I worship at the altar of Queen, The Jam and T. Rex, so consequently, I dug AH. I wish that I didn’t hear ‘Space Oddity’ SO strongly but nonetheless, it was enjoyable for me. What I do find odd about the band is that on their MySpace, they only list Queen as their glam rock inspiration. Jeff Buckley, however, makes the top of the list. Go to their MySpace, check it out and tell me what you think. For me, this is a good band to see when you are looking for a fun concert at which to go and dance. Besides The Darkness, I can’t think of someone else out there that sounds anything remotely like this so I definitely recommend checking it out.

Next up on the bill at Irving last night was Nightmare of You. During their performance, I was reminded that I actually do think they are alright. ‘Dear Scene, I wish I were deaf’ is a good song with the great lyric “You lazy hipsters, you make me sick” though, it is a little too close to comfort to the Libertine’s ‘Likely lads.’ ‘My name is trouble’ is also an enjoyable song, though nothing so different as to remind me that in June I wrote how much I liked the tune. I concurred with Miss Mod about the too heavy Morrissey influence.


When the band came on last night, I nudged Laura asking her if this was really Nightmare of You. Their name conjures images of My Chemical Romance and not lovely boys in suits. No matter how much I love the juxtaposition of dirty/pretty things, it is perhaps not the greatest of ideas to pick an ironic band name when you are serious about music. It makes it very confusing. During one of the last songs, lead singer Brandon took a long and meaningful look into the balcony. I followed his gaze upward and there was Sarah Ultragrrrl. It was revolting/cute.

The headliners, She Wants Revenge came on at about 11pm. My group stood at the back and listened/cringed as Justin Warfield droned. About a minute into the second song, it was decided it was time to go. Let me ask you, what is the point exactly of She Wants Revenge when I can listen to Joy Division? Completely derivative.

Last night was definitely the night of heavily influenced bands. No one was doing anything terribly original, but at least some were doing it better than others. The quality seemed to diminish as the night went on and we stomped through faux T. Rex, faux Morrissey and faux Interpol doing faux Joy Division. I would also like to note the high level of testosterone at the show. 80% of the audience were males in their upper twenties/low thirties. It was so perplexing. Who knew that this demographic was so into Nightmare of You and She Wants Revenge?

Go see what Laura has to say of at The Modern Age about the evening as well.

The Pretenders, April 1: XM Artist Confidential

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to be invited to see the Pretenders do a very special, intimate gig at Irving Plaza where later that night they'd be playing to a sold out crowd. The show was for XM Radio's Artist Confidential series. The format was a question and answer session led by a dj with audience members allowed to walk up to the front of the stage and ask questions as well. In between questions, the band would take shouted requests for songs. It was sort of like VH1 Storytellers but with cursing. Before the band came out, the audience was told to 'go crazy' and to not hold back since it was satellite radio. The audience, by the way, consisted of mostly middle aged people, contest winners supposedly, some of whom sported MULLETS.

It was an interesting experience. I wasn't allowed to take pictures, unfortunately, but I did take plenty of notes.

During the entire event, Chrissy Hines looked bored as shit. I wish the dj didn't come off as such a suck up, I think it would have been more relaxed. The band has a new guy on bass named Nick. He's British (from the sound of it from London), freaking cute and has been with the group for only a month. Bit old for me at 35...

At Chrissy's prompting, the audience shouted out song requests. The band ended up picking a couple of well practiced songs though, 'Precious' and 'Tatooed Love Boys.' Both were fucking awesome. After seeing so many indie bands the past few weeks, I had sort of forgotten about how down and dirty old school rock is. It was refreshing to hear.

After the songs, Chrissy confessed that she is a big fan of the Kings of Leon. Apparently, they helped her back into what music is really all about. Interesting.

To end the show, the group played 'Day after Day' and 'Cuban Slide.'

I found it odd that Chrissy kept going on about how XM satellite is the new pirate radio. When Chrissy was first getting started, she was heavily influenced by European pirate radio and somehow her and the XM people kept comparing themselves to that. I wonder if that is how XM got the Pretenders to do this, because they sure didn't seem very happy to be there. Sure, XM can play what music they want and don't have to follow playlists but forgive me if I am wrong, wasn't pirate radio free?




The band is on a short tour promoting a new box set, not a new cd. Chrissy says there are no future plans at all for a new album. Anyone out there go to the Irving show that night?