Wye Oak @ Union Hall: Archaic Smiles

I've been meaning to catch Wye Oak ever since the first time I gushed about them (back in January). For one reason or another, I've failed on many attempts but was fortunate enough to catch the Baltimore based duo last night. Over the course of their 45 minute set, the genre crossing act focused primarily on their debut LP, If Children. While Wye Oak's recorded material brings to mind Rilo Kiley, Beach House and even (at times) Yo La Tengo, their live show reminds me a lot more of Chan Marshall fronting a futuristic interpretation of The Secret Machines. The amalgamation of Jenn Wasner's alarming vocals and Andy Stack's mesmerizing mutli instrumentation (simultaneous keys & drums) is not only engaging but also awe inspiring. The band will embark on a trek with Dr. Dog this fall. View all of those dates & learn more about Wye Oak at their MySpace page. MP3 at bottom.





MP3: Wye Oak - Warning

The Lisps @ Union Hall: Stretch Out & Wait

Over the last eighteen months, I've made it a habit to catch The Lisps at least once every few weeks. You could imagine my initial dismay at the band's spring announcement declaring a brief pause while they began work on new material. Fast forward four months later and The Lisps have returned to Brooklyn's intimate hot spot to debut some of these aforementioned tracks (interspersed with selections from their brilliant debut LP, Country Doctor Museum). One particular highlight amongst the four new ditties performed last night was 'Try'. 'Try' is as quirky, kitschy & endearing as nearly everything in The Lisps' catalog. Another fantastic moment of the evening came in the closing chaos that was 'The Familiar Drunk', complete with Wye Oak joining in on the dazzling mayhem. Lastly, their mid-set take on fan fave, 'Heaven', was playful, luminous & downright joyous. Keep up with The Lisps at their official MySpace page. View the full setlist & download an MP3 below.



(Setlist) Movies. Creek. Documents. Typewriter. Heaven. Try. Ann Marie. Familiar Drunk.

MP3: The Lisps - I'm Sorry

Metronomy @ Union Hall: Lights Camera Action

Sometimes an electro gig can be mystifying (see The Presets). Sometimes an electro gig can be phantasmagorical (see Simian Mobile Disco). Yet, sometimes an electro gig can be sheer fun. Such was the case with last night's performance from spry British trio, Metronomy. Fronted by Joseph Mount, the threesome was energetic, amusing & downright triumphant all evening long. Donning all black with matching tap lights on their shirt fronts, the act's shtick (which could've easily come off as ridiculous) was tremendously charming.

Visit Metronomy at the band's official site. Download an MP3 at bottom of post.

MP3: Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone (Metronomy Mix)

White Williams @ Union Hall: A Pleasant Surprise

Last night's secret guest opener for Metronomy was none other than New York (via Cleveland)'s synth prince, White Williams. For roughly a half hour, WW debuted a handful of laptop centric tracks likely to be featured on his forthcoming sophomore effort due out in early 2009. The demo selections sound a bit fiercer & more schizophrenic than anything on his debut LP (Smoke). However, the performance was ultimately a divisive one. It was painfully obvious to see that half the crowd was loving every last beat of the fresh tunes while the other half was seemingly unimpressed. I happened to fall into the former group.

Visit White Williams at his MySpace page. Download a WW MP3 at bottom of post.

MP3: White Williams - New Violence

Jeremy Jay @ Union Hall: Beautiful Rebel

There's something about Jeremy Jay that I just can't get enough of. I'm not sure if it's his Mozzer esque swagger, his remarkably vintage melodies or his prowess at constructing perfect pop songs. Perhaps it's a combination of all of those factors. Last night's forty minute set showcased new tunes, a host of B-sides and a few selections from his debut LP, A Place Where We Could Go (review). Throughout the gig, the towering crooner flailed about the stage and serenaded the venue's attendees as if he were reciting lines straight out of a Shakespeare sonnet. Magnificent, indeed. Enjoy his latest video here.

Visit Jeremy Jay at his official MySpace page. Download a JJ MP3 at bottom of post.

MP3: Jeremy Jay - Beautiful Rebel [alt link]

Foals @ Union Hall: This Fuel Called Love

Thursday evening marked the final and smallest (venue capacity: 125) gig on Foals' North American spring tour. The 50-minute set included a majority of tunes from their debut LP, Antidotes, alongside non-album favorites such as 'Hummer' & the majestic show closer, 'Mathletics'. Excessively loud, rowdy and feral, the entire production was easily the most intense experience I've ever had at Brooklyn's hotspot, Union Hall. If their first-ever US gig was electrifying & their Bowery premiere was brilliant, then my third episode with Foals could simply be described as tremendous. Watch Sup Mag's videos from the show here.

Visit Foals at their official MySpace page. Enjoy 'Balloons' + another photo below.

MP3: Foals - Balloons

South @ Union Hall: Soul Receivers

Last night marked South's first stop on their 2008 North American trek. The British trio is touring in support of their forthcoming senior release, You Are Here. While the evening focused on the aforementioned LP, South found time to integrate a slew of favorites from earlier efforts (most notably 'Colours In Waves' & 'Shallow') throughout their 60 minute set.

It's rather daunting to realize that I've been adoring South for close to a decade. While similar artists that emerged around the same time frame (Coldplay, Doves, Travis) have experimented greatly with their core sound, South has managed to stay true to their original framework. Each album since South's debut record, From Here On In, has been more captivating & gripping than its preceding release. Visit South at the band's official MySpace page. Enjoy a handful of photos, the setlist & an MP3 of 'Better Things' below.





Setlist: Up Close & Personal. The Pain. Tell Me. Paint The Silence. Opened Up. Loosen Your Hold. Wasted. Better Things. Colours In Waves. Motiveless Crime. You Are One. Shallow.

Encore: Dolphins.

MP3: South - Better Things

Drink Up Buttercup @ Union Hall: Love In A Trashcan

Last night The Music Slut was treated to all of the following: a rousing homecoming set from our beloved Lisps, an official album release party for Spanish Prisoners & a proper introduction to the outrageously talented troupe known as Drink Up Buttercup. The Pennsylvania natives completely floored us with their Man Man meets Beatles meets O'Death meets Pink Floyd soundscapes. Drink Up Buttercup's live show incorporates ample shouting, rich harmonies, chaotic skedaddling and garbage pale demolition into one hypnotic and otherworldly conglomerate. Witnessing the collective's engaging performance was more than just a breath of fresh air. It somehow managed to lift all jadedness from our respective souls (a truly difficult feat, indeed). Visit Drink Up Buttercup at their MySpace page. All photos courtesy of Maryanne Ventrice. Enjoy a DUB tune at bottom.









MP3: Drink Up Buttercup - Gods & Gentlemen [alt link]

Georgie James Covers The Zombies

The duo performed 'This Will Be Our Year' at a recent tour stop in Brooklyn.


MP3: Georgie James - Cake Parade

Sharon Jones Duets With The Sweet Divines

Music Snobbery captured the following clip from her surprise performance on Saturday evening at Brooklyn's Union Hall. Read my review of Sharon's spectacular headlining gig at Manhattan's Beacon Theater here. Download a fabulous remixed MP3 at bottom of post.


MP3: Sharon Jones - Keep On Looking (DK Remix)

Jukebox The Ghost & A Brief Smile & Hymns @ Union Hall

It was just under a year ago that I first saw Jukebox The Ghost in the flesh at NYC's Pianos. On that evening, they performed to roughly two dozen ardent attendees with poise, precision and passion. Fast-forward to last night's sold out gig at Brooklyn's Union Hall and it's painfully obvious to see that JTG's journey has translated into a bona fide indie success story. The DC-based trio has garnered a healthy (and spry) fanbase thanks to a bevy of blog love, repeated plays on WOXY and ridiculously positive word of mouth. It's rare that I make bold predictions, but if Jukebox The Ghost isn't on the tip of everybody's tongues by Independence Day, then there is simply no justice in this world. Learn all about the band's forthcoming debut LP, Let Live & Let Ghosts, here. Visit JTG at their MySpace page.

MP3: Jukebox The Ghost - Fire In The Sky [alt link]

Last night marked my fifth time experiencing the magic that is A Brief Smile's live show. As intense, immediate and feral as ever, the quintet put on a damn near perfect set highlighting tracks from their full-length, Now We All Have Horns. Read my extensive interview with A Brief Smile (circa 2006) here. Visit the band at their official site.

MP3: A Brief Smile - Never Have The Time

I was first introduced to Hymns sometime late last week. The band's sound can be summarized as a grand amalgamation of indie pop, alt country & neo folk, with an unambiguous Southern tinge. Highly enjoyable. Learn more about Hymns on MySpace.

MP3: Hymns - Brother/Sister

Brooklyn Next Festival Arrives In February

BAM presents the following gigs at Union Hall:

2/21: Favourite Sons + The Mugs
2/22: Laura Cantrell + Mia Riddle
2/23: Travis Morrison + A Sunny Day In Glasgow + Scarce

Purchase tickets to all shows at Ticketweb.

MP3: Laura Cantrell - Bees

The Postmarks @ Union Hall: Dream A Little Dream

If you're a fan of female-fronted, soothing dream-pop, and you weren't at Union Hall last night, you simply were at the wrong gig.

Miami's The Postmarks headlined their first Brooklyn show yesterday evening and performed a stunning 40-minute set. The 5-piece's sound is most reminiscent of The Sundays, Cat Power's The Greatest LP, Camera Obscura and The Cardigans. In spite of frontwoman Tim Yelezkely's uncanny resemblance to a young Patti Smith, or maybe it's a 20-something Cher, her voice sounds nothing like either of the chanteuses.

Tim's vocals are sweet as candy, light as a feather and as soft as a newborn puppy. The gentle nature of The Postmarks' tunes plus the aforementioned airy vocals give the songs a surreal effect. It literally felt as if there was magic in the air last night.

While the band did a fine job highlighting most of their self-titled debut album, the closing 'Dreamer', as originally performed by Astrud Gilberto, may have been the strongest tune of the evening. With just the guitarist and Tim on stage, the cover was a beautiful way to end the night.



The quintet is in the middle of a full North American tour, which ends on May 12th. Check out all those dates here at the band's MySpace page.

MP3: The Postmarks - Goodbye

The Lisps @ Union Hall 3/14: Love At First Sight

Matt: Ahh, The Lisps. Wednesday night marked the third time I've seen the band in just as many months. However, at this show, for the first time out of the 3, they played their 'YouTube living room megahit', 'I'm Sorry'. I couldn't have been more thrilled to finally hear it live!

There's someting irresistably charming about The Lisps. Maybe it's the lyrics, maybe it's the stage banter, maybe it's the overall quirkiness, but I just can't get enough of it. The gig on Wednesday included the usual shtick, such as waltzing fans, perfectly executed 'dooh dooh doohs' & 'dums dum dums', and a series of running dialogs throughout the evening (highlighted by the consistent badgering of bassist Jeremy's Monkees-esque top).

The band embarks on their first national tour next month, check out all the dates HERE!

Jen: Hey Stereogum, I have an idea for next year’s readers poll: cutest indie rock couple, Sammy and César Lisps. I want to babysit them, they are so cute.

The Lisps’ music has an organic and easy feel to it. Their songs are extremely well thought out and artistic yet able to hold onto their folk roots, making them seem effortless and natural. They beg you to think “of course I should be waltzing to an indie rock song, why haven’t I been all along?” A perfect blend of 50’s country slightly tinged with a latin feel is updated and modern and beautifully executed with grace and joy at each of The Lisps’ shows. For those about to see them on tour all across America, congratulations and come prepared to dance.

MP3: The Lisps - The Winter That I Missed

Ian Love @ Union Hall: Electric Mainline

Tonight was the first time I've seen Ian perform an electric set with a full band, and it was undeniably phenomenal. Unfortunately, I forgot my handy digicam so rather than including a crappy cellphone pic with this post, I've decided to instead give you a homemade video of the acoustic version of 'The Only Night', as performed on Domestic Disturbance Radio about 5 months ago.


For those who still haven't taken our advice and checked out Ian's heartwarming live show (have we geared you incorrectly before?), you have another chance next week! He'll be at the brand new Williamsburg White Rooom on Saturday the 27th, and will delight the crowd somewhere around midnight. Read more about the intriguing exhibit at the gallery that evening, here!

Union Hall: Love & Death

IAN Love and O'DEATH, of course!

Here's Union Hall's official, highly entertaining, January calendar. Park Slope never sounded so good. Our personal picks in bold.

1/6 Tim Fite + O'Death + Graham Smith (Kleenex Girl Wonder)
1/9+10 Dayna Kurtz + Kris Delmhorst
1/15 Tracy Bonham + friends
1/17 Cold War Kids (sold out, very limited tix at door night of show)
1/18 Fionn Regan + Ian Love + John Southworth
1/19 Mark Eitzel (American Music Club)
1/20 Mexican Institute Of Sound
1/25 Dean & Britta (of Luna)
1/26 The Early Years + Daylights For The Birds
1/27 The Jealous Girlfriends + The Films + Man In Gray
1/30 Jonathan Coulton + David Rees

Advance tix for most of these shows up at Ticketweb.

Check out Union Hall's MySpace page here!

The Gaskets: Let The Whities Dance (Mercury Lounge & Union Hall Review)!

It was a Gaskets-filled weekend.


It started innocently enough at The Mercury Lounge for a 10pm slot on an otherwise tepid Friday evening. The band was both playful and energetic as ever. I think Friday's take on 'Hold Steady (Hot Weather)' was probably the best I've ever heard them perform it.


The boys rounded out the set with crowd-fave 'High Five Club' and setlist-staples 'Left Hand' and 'Earthquake'. Not a booty was left unshaken by the time the set was complete.

Saturday in Brooklyn, The Gaskets mixed it up a bit.


For starters, they opened with 'Eiffel Tower' which was absent from the previous night's set. And it sounded great! Union Hall's downstairs area sort of reminds me of Cake Shop in size and also height of stage (about 10 inches off the ground). But the sound is better, by far. Anyway, back to The Gaskets. I think they really won everybody over on Saturday.

All Bling Kong fans (incidentally, what are you people thinking?) were on their feet with a smile from ear to ear shouting along to Teddy and Ross.

MP3: 'The Easy Life'

Venue Scouting: Union Hall and Sweet Carolines

Last night, Matt and I made our way over to the newly opened Union Hall in Park Slope. I had to review the place for Newsday and Oppenheimer was playing so it worked out rather perfectly. In the hall, outside of the music space, was sitting Rocky of Oppenheimer. We being the music sluts we are, couldn't help but introduce ourselves. It ended up it was Rocky's birthday. "21?" asked Matt (honestly, I thought he could be 19). "No, 24, everyone thinks I look younger." confessed Rocky.

As previously noted, the Irish love to talk and are generally an outgoing and congenial bunch. Rocky was no exception. We talked all about his tour, how they djed at Don Hill's the night before and it took them 3 hours to get back to NJ, about his mates waking him only an hour after he had gotten to bed at 5am with a birthday pizza and where the name Oppenheimer comes from (they just liked how it looked and Shaun wanted something German sounding since they originally wanted to be a bit more like Kraftwerk). I also got a staggering bit of information, Edie from Art Brut is engaged to one of the girls from The Chalets. My dreams of marrying him myself have been crushed.


Due to a member of staff at Union Hall being rather daft and instead of just telling Matt on the phone when the bands would go on, asked Matt when he wanted the bands to go on and then ended the conversation with "Well you know bands!" click. We couldn't stay for Oppenheimer. The 9pm set time was actually 11pm when we got there and we were set to meet up with members of Band of York in Times Square at 10pm.

Before hopping the train to midtown, Matt and I sat in the Union Hall bar and had a drink whilst watching people play bocce ball. First off, none of these people knew how to play (obviously not Italian) and second, they were all preppie wall street types obviously transplanted from Long Island/Northern Jersey/Westchester. About half of the crowd wore wedding rings and there was even a pregnant woman sitting up front. Though the drinks were fairly cheap and the setting was really rather beautiful, this was not our scene (please note picture above).


The escape to the newly opened Sweet Caroline's in Times Square was no less of a culture shock. Full of tourists requesting Elton John and paying for over-priced drinks, it was a bit dingy but fun. Since we knew the piano player, Paul, we had some fairly good tracks thrown our way "This one goes out to The Music Slut.org" he yelled before launching into 'Take Me Out.' I drank one very large LI Ice tea and sat there for three hours singing my voice away to Guns n Roses and the Beatles. The best was knowing that all the tourists there left thinking that they got a real, NYC experience. Bless.