LIVE: P.S. I Love You/Diamond Rings @ Red Palace 2/22/11 - Part 2



If you read my last post, you'll know that I went to this show to see P.S. I Love You.  That said, I had definitely heard about Diamond Rings (real name John O'Regan). He received quite a bit of love from Pitchfork  last year and was asked to open for Robyn on her recent, large venue tour of North America. I visited his Myspace page once or twice a few months back and categorized him into the generally never revisited "save for later" part of my brain. Nothing about it was bad. I think it just sorta blended in with a lot of the synthy bands that have come out lately. I regret that now.  

Benjamin, the drummer from P.S., told me that I should stick around for what would be a great solo performance. I'm happy I did. What was clear even before he took the stage was that he wasn't going to be a singer with just a laptop stocked with beats and samples. There was a drum machine, a keyboard, and a guitar leaning against an amp. And, yeah, a laptop. I'd already found out he could sing when he took the stage with P.S. to close out their set. Things were promising. 

Then out he comes! Blue leather(ette?) jacket, a red "STAY FIERCE" t-shirt (which were for sale at the merch booth in a rainbow of colors. Alas, no cash on me), and blazing white jeans. So white that if his music career begins to falter, he can do ads for Clorox. Old-school Expos baseball hat and shutter shades. Now, at first I was kind of like, "Seriously?"  But then I thought, "This guy must have the chops to pull this outfit off." And he does. Dude layers up his beats, adds in a heavily strummed guitar, and deep vocals. The music is truly fun but never over the top. By the end of his set, a third of the crowd was drunk and dancing. On a Tuesday. In DC. In winter.

Equally appealing was his stage presence. He came out to "Play by Heart," the lead track from his Special Affections record. The song starts pretty airy; ghostly synth washes, echoing drum beats, and piano. But then he starts singing and the drama heightens. It punches through everything. It really hits you. While he sings, his body twists through  a series of choreographed dance moves that, while not MJ-worthy, are pretty brave for a DC indie club.  Fist pumps, high-kneed steppin', arm-waving, creeping, dancing spectacle. The performance was as much him as it was the music he creates. 

And that's how it went for the next 45 minutes. Alternating between dancey glories and guitar-laced pop songs, you could tell this guy loved it through and through.  He wanted you to love it as much as he did. To help ensure that, he didn't hold anything back. The glitter, the dancing, the sass, it never got old.

From Special Affections (Secret City, 2010)

Play By Heart
Wait and See

From Show Me Your Stuff single (One Big Silence, 2010)
Show Me Your Stuff

Take the jump for an awesomely athletic music video and some really bad photography.

LIVE: P.S. I Love You/Diamond Rings @ Red Palace 2/22/11 - Part 1

P.S. I Love You made my favorite record of 2010. No contest. Meet Me at the Muster Station combines basically everything I love about rock music. Great melodies with awesome J. Mascis-style guitar solos all wrapped in a warm layer of fuzz. I know, right! What could make this better? An unusual instrument! In this case it’s called a Pedal Bass. (Well I've never heard of it!) It's a small, organ-like keyboard that gets played with your feet. I currently believe this to be the best instrument on the planet. I wish my parents had insisted on Pedal Bass lessons instead of piano. Then there are the yelping, frantic vocals that slowly reveal interesting stories and thoughts upon repeated listens. There's a song about a bank robber. Always nice. All of this combines into a fantastic collection of ten essential rock songs. Not one lame duck in the bunch. When I first downloaded it from eMusic, I listened to nothing else for three days, which in today’s no-attention-span, click-your-mouse-for-10-new-records world is a long time. Then I bought the CD. I still do that. It makes it feel more real somehow. (Vinyl collectors are laughing at me right now!)

In a CBC radio interview (they're from Ontario), Paul Saulnier described his guitar playing as really "digging in," playing notes really fast, breaking strings, and turning up the amps. In the same interview, Benjamin Nelson says he likes to drum fast and tight. And that Pedal Bass I mentioned, "gnarly, kinda nasty, and good." Sounds pretty rad, right? It is and they brought all of that to the Red Palace on Tuesday night.

This was my first trip to the Red Palace. Based on this single show, I have to say I'm a fan. Raised stage, great sound, no frills. Just you and the band. I got there ten minutes before the show was supposed start and, to my amazement, I was alone. The bands were there, a couple of their friends, and the bartender. I was worried that the show would get cancelled. Thankfully, more people showed up and the show started about 30 minutes "late."

Despite the smallish crowd, the band put on a great show with plenty of energy. Benjamin told me later on that DC was the first night of their tour. If there was any rust, I couldn’t tell. It's amazing to see these guys in action. With hair in the eyes, Paul never hit a sour note and somehow found the right pedal every time. Benjamin keeps a wicked fast pace, but the two of them were always together. It was loud, but not for the sake of being loud. These songs are meant for volume. Neck hairs stood on end and I turned into a bobble-head. Their ability and creativity come through both in sound and technique on stage. String break? No problem, Paul adapts. Why hit the skins when going to town on the rims would sound so much better? Damn skippy, dudes.

Some people seem surprised I like the record as much as I do. It just hits a sweet spot for me. It pleases both sides of my brain. I can say the same for their live show now. I bought the guys beers after they were finished. It was the least I could do.

Here's a few tracks.  If ya dig, check out their myspace page for more. Then buy the mp3s. Then buy the CD.

From Meet Me at the Muster Station (Paper Bag, 2010)
Breadends
2012
Facelove

Next time, Diamond Rings - a pleasant surprise.  More pictures after the jump.

Marnie Stern

Marnie Stern is one of the best things that ever happend to my music collection. If my CDs came to life in the middle of the night a la the Toy Story movies, she would smoke Camel Lights, tell outlandish stories of the road, and spin her music until just before I awoke, making all the other discs very nervous. She would make a racket. Edgy but totally sweet. Slightly unpredictable and ready to kick you in the face with a designer shoe if you deserve it. All the guy discs (even a very confident, post-Grammy The Suburbs) would be intimidated but drawn in by her.

I love that Stern has a blog called The Vagina Monoblog. I love her videos. I love that she named her second record This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That and then says she doesn't know the name of the album. She interviews well and is cute as hell. Sorry, but she is. It doesn't matter or anything. But its true.

Much ink has been spilled about Stern's guitar-playing abilities. Does finger-tapping equal guitar mastery? Does she, in fact, "shred" or does she just repeat little guitar lines over and over again? Where's the improvisation during live performances?

I don't give a shit.

Stern makes music of which anyone should be proud. No one says you need to be indie-rock Clapton to be a great rock song-writer. No one should ever say that... that would just be awful. Seriously. You heard what that guy tried to do to reggae, right? I digress. In short, Stern kills it on guitar. It's fast and has bounce thanks to her preferred tapping technique. It provides melody and rhythm simultaneously. It's insane and catchy and I don't care if it is difficult or ground-breaking. It makes me walk faster and makes me smile every time.

A more understandable debate concerns the merits of her singing. A lot of people don't dig on her high-pitched vocals. I get that, but I like her voice nearly all of the time. Truth be told, I'm not a huge appreciator of great singers. Even still, there is something kind of awesomely quirky about her delivery that is spot on for her music. Also, Stern's vocals totally soar for choruses which makes these songs exciting rather than just cool sounding guitar runs. One last, huge point; the rhythm section is awesome. Zach Hill, known for his crazy Hella beats, is a perfect foil to Stern.

Here are a few songs from Stern's records that just scratch the surface. Enjoy.

From Marnie Stern (Kill Rock Stars, 2010)
For Ash
Transparency Is the New Mystery

From This Is It... (Kill Rock Stars, 2008)
Shea Stadium

From In Advance of the Broken Arm (Kill Rock Stars, 2007)
Every Single Line Means Something

Stern will be appearing at the Red Palace on March 2 with Tera Melos.

Bottomless Pit - Blood Under the Bridge (Comedy Minus One; 2010)

First post. Here we go.

I think I heard about Bottomless Pit on a music blog a couple of years back when they realeased their first record. What caught my interest was that it features members of two great bands from the 90's: Silkworm and Seam. Both put out some seriously great guitar-driven, rock records on Touch and Go and Matador.  Thanks to Napster (gasp!), I got into both of them in college and have since purchased (wha?) many of their CDs (double wha?). Unfortunately, Silkworm met a tragic end when their drummer was killed by a suicidal motorist in 2005. Thankfully, Bottomless Pit formed and the brilliance of these musicians continues in a new form.

So, yeah, this record has a kinda depressed vibe at times. But there is an important distinction between this and the whiny, "life's so cruel" music churned out by a lot of other bands. A maturity comes through in its delivery, tone, and lyrics. In the opener, "Winterwind," we're told that "waiting on deliverance is just like waiting on a tree you can't get out from under." That ain't emo. It sounds like something that guy's thought over and over again when the bed is spinning in the middle of the night. And now, after several drinks at the Black Cat, he's dropping some science on you just because you happen to be there. I don't know what it means, but I want to think about it. The record has a lot of these moments.

These songs aren't funeral dirges, either. The record has a pretty constant momentum and its songs build but never go over the top. The volume and density vary between quiet, slow-burning, relatively sparse meditations (“Rhinelander”, "Kiss Them All”) to driving, countrified rockers with thick chords and pounding drums (“Summerwind,” “Is It a Ditch”). Guitars bob and weave around each other but never get in the way; solos (check the end of “38 Souls”) and fills abound, adding and releasing tension. The band's precision and restraint keep it from ever sounding muddled even though there is a lot going on at times. The record seems to know exactly when I've had enough, tells me I'm wrong, proves it, and I'm all the happier for it. Below are the first and last songs on the record.  See if you agree.


Bottomless Pit - Winterwind

Bottomless Pit - 38 Souls

Mission Statement

As much as I hate it, this mission statement is about to get sappy and sentimental.  I can accept that.  I mean, who starts a blog in his thirties who doesn't have some deep-seated, though often carefully veiled, emotion-based motive. So tough; here's my agenda.

Music has been my prime interest for about 22 years. In August 1988, my brother bought me the Top Gun soundtrack for my birthday and the rest is history. What started on that tape with Kenny Loggins and Cheap Trick expanded to varying degrees in all musical directions. I wore a wallet chain for a time. I bought band t-shirts that were (and, unfortunately, still are) slightly too small. I memorized lyrics without trying and it all meant something. Conversation centered around music with friends, family, strangers on planes. 

The conversation continues today at happy hour.  It was here where a colleague recently asked me to make a mix CD  (yeah I still do that) for her.  The catch was that rather than compile songs I was into, as was the custom, she specifically asked for songs that she would like.  Rather than shove my taste down someone else's throat, this upstart made me listen to my music through her ears. There was unexpected challenge in this. It took weeks (okay, months, but I had a lot going on, alright). What I realized was that somewhere along the way I had kind of stopped listening. I know the names of new bands--even though they are often not as new as I think--and I can kind of tell you what they sound like. However, I got the feeling that, unwittingly, what was once a passion had become a pastime.

So, as you can guess, this is my attempt to connect again with my music collection.  I warn you; I'm not a great writer or speller.  My posts will be irregular and take different forms. Be patient with me. Comment if ya like.

I get at least 90 minutes each day during rush hour, and the Washington Post sucks anyway.  Let the listening commence.