Concert review: Portugal. The Man (with the Lonely Forest and Union Tree Review) psych out the Pageant, Sunday, April 29

Portugal. The Man at the Pageant. St. Louis. April 29, 2012.

Abby Gillardi

Last night, St. Louis hosted Portugal. The Man on its first major headlining tour. But this was no normal tour. Its sponsor, Jägermeister, was everywhere, complete with a DJ spinning for the set-changes and the all-important Jäger girls strutting about the Pageant in tight leather, handing out freebies and other swag.

St. Louis’s own Union Tree Review opened the evening with a studied set that featured muted trumpet, violin and a post-rock, indie feel, like Cursive with a spritz of Cymbals Eat Guitars. Union Tree Review’s interest in sweeping dynamic shifts and bombastic drops worked well with lead-singer Tawaine Noah’s vocals, which, even though a bit strained, reminded me of younger, more angsty Ben Gibbard.

From Anacortes, Wash., the Lonely Forest churned out poppy, shoe-gaze rock. Their care and precision was impressive and lent their set a certain professional feel that Union Tree Review’s performance lacked. I noted a light tinge of Jimmy Eat World during “Turn Off This Song and Go Outside,” from 2011′s “Arrows.”

Portugal. The Man appeared on a stage full of atomic-like lighting elements that were also strung up and anchored from the center of the ceiling above the pit. The strings of lights with a bobble housing LEDs looked like swimming lane buoys ripper from a J Crew advert. As the first chords of “All Your Light (Times Like These),” from 2011′s “In the Mountain in the Cloud,” the buoy-looking lights glowed with psychedelic greens and blues. John Gourley’s vocals rang out, clear and high-pitched, as they elegantly drifted from a falsetto to a chanted chorus.

“The Woods,” from 2009′s “The Satanic Santanist,” featured lilting guitar and spaced-out keys. Sadly, the stage remained dark for the majority of the set — the only light illuminating the band came from the trippy, glowing installations, which caused a bit of a disconnect, as they obscured the audience’s sightlines preventing a clear look at the band.

“Work All Day” had the audience dancing and jiving throughout venue. The tempo ran fast compared to the album version, but the song did not suffer from the faster treatment, instead, it allowed the annunciation of the rapid-fire chorus lyrics to stand out.

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Posted by | April 30, 2012 | Concerts | 1 Comment 

Concert review and set list: Florence + the Machine (with Blood Orange) fills the Peabody Opera House with high drama, Sunday, April 29

Florence + the Machine at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, April 29, 2012

Jarred Gastreich

Louder than sirens, louder than bells: An enthralled crowd worshipped at the altar of Florence + the Machine in the drizzly Sunday twilight.

The crowd trickled in to the sounds of Blood Orange (although many of us didn’t know that; the artist didn’t introduce himself until the last song), an unlikely opening act: a single human being surrounded by scads of machines (Mac-generated beats, effects pedals and a projector screen upon which cut-and-pasted scenes from “Grease 2″ and “Felicity” played on a loop) that were perhaps designed to make you forget that he was either blatantly remixing or channeling the band we were all there to see. He sounded like a mashup of Prince, Seal, and Imogen Heap, or maybe the disputed love child of all three. On to Florence!

Her entrance was as theatrical as you would expect: arms spread wide as sparkling lights illuminated the folds of a sheer black cloak –something an elf queen, or perhaps a Victoria’s Secret model from the 1970s, would wear. She descended the stairs with force, almost moth-like as she spun and skipped across the stage, flaming of hair and bare of foot. A dewy, wooded meadow might have been a more appropriate venue — or at least an outdoor festival, to which she alluded after opening with “Only If For A Night”: “Can you all stand up? It’s quite odd to be playing when you are sitting down, it’s like we’re at the cinema.” Still, the Peabody was well suited to F + M. Every spotlight, every note was on point; rafters, though not visible, were shaken. The set list was heavy on the latest material from the wildly popular “Ceremonials”; however, whenever there were twinklings of harp notes from “Lungs” songs, the masses collectively swooned with something akin to religious ecstasy.

Lest you curl your lip at the ethereality of the Machine, let me remind you that it was not all fairy wings and flowing robes. Take “Rabbit Heart,” for instance: Florence, slightly aghast at the nobility of the venue, reminded us that “this song is for the ladies” and that we should subvert the poshness, the opera housey-ness, of the Peabody by hoisting girls on shoulders and shouting “RAISE IT UP! RAISE IT UP!” along with her black-clad backup crew. I tried to get my sister on my shoulders; she was having none of it, but girls all over the orchestra section started climbing on top of friends, seats, aisles, etc., much to the delight of Florence and the likely dismay of the Peabody Opera House staff.

The spiritualized wordplay of F + M’s soaring ballads, transposed against a backdrop of stained glass, lent an eerie, church-like texture to the performance. Florence herself is a willowy high priestess who at any time could be beamed up into outer space (“Cosmic Love”) or command legions of devotees to pray at her feet even as she declares, in anything but a mournful tone, “there’s no salvation for me now” (“Lover to Lover”). This hybrid of science fiction and mother earthiness is what makes F + M so arresting and her popular appeal somewhat of an enigma.

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Posted by | April 30, 2012 | Concerts | Comment 

Concert review and set list: Getting into the spirit with Cursive, Conduits and Cymbals Eat Guitars at Off Broadway, Friday, April 20

Cursive at Off Broadway in St. Louis. April 20, 2012

Cursive at Off Broadway. Photo by Dustin Winter.

What happens when you mix one part Spiritualized, equal parts Pavement and Thurston Moore, a dash of late-’90s college radio and shake with a trumpet? Just another night at Off Broadway, where assorted and sundry independent music shook the rafters courtesy of Conduits, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and headliners Cursive.

“We’ve played a shit ton of shows on this tour and this has been one of the best,” declared frontman Tim Kasher of Cursive, polishing off a tall boy of unidentifiable origin as the capacity crowd swelled with roars of appreciation. Well into a generous encore, it didn’t seem as though the crowd or the band was ready to call it quits. Cursive had been ripping through the pop-punk-flavored alternative favorites that have made them beloved by erudite indie rockers for over a decade and with each song the crowd loved them more.

Kasher and Co. are well known for a deft songwriting style that assumes a sort of knowing, wink-wink disaffection that somehow manages never to be snide and in fact, revels wholeheartedly in earnest abandon at times. This is music suited to the scholarly scenester, healthily skeptic Generation Y-ers and Millennials who have no illusions about artistic purity or integrity but still believe enough to lose themselves at a live show, all for the love of watching people play instruments and sing about girls. “Art is Hard,” from Cursive’s excellent 2003 release “The Ugly Organ,” summarizes this creative vs. commercial tug-of-war in a self-deprecating missile that saw the crowd singing, cheering, and even (gasp) fist-pumping along.

But let me backtrack. There must be something in the water in Omaha that compels polite and creative young people to make music ranging from the weird to the eclectic. I’d file it under “miscellaneous.” To wit, the opening act, Conduits, an up-and-comer from Saddle Creek Records who led off with a bass-heavy dreamscape of psychedelia. Now this is stuff for which you need long hair, all the better to whip around as you alternate between gazing at your shoes and banging your head.

Second up: Cymbals Eat Guitars, which aside from being a great band name was also a great band. Hailing from New York City even though they kind of look like they’re from Ohio, CEG frontman Joseph D’Agostino announced this was their first visit to St. Louis. Their sound, a little disjointed, ranges from Pavement-esque screamo to gentler, Wilco-esque melody. Keys and a fantastic drummer who didn’t skimp on the open high hat distinguishes the sound of this foursome from other Brooklyn noise bands and in my opinion earns them a rightful place in the “if you like Sonic Youth, check out ____” category.

And then there was Cursive. Leading off with “This House Alive” from their most recent release, I Am Gemini, the four-piece plus one (an extra for the tour) peeled through old and new to the delight of the crowd, who sang along with everything and surged forward to envelop the band members in sweat-soaked approval. After returning the favor with praise for our fair city’s fan base, a lovely young lady with a flower in her hair stepped onstage with two large glasses of that beautiful amber-colored substance we all know as bourbon and offered one to the lead singer. She knocked hers back immediately, while Tim deferred — “I’ve got to play a show!” — but eventually decided that when in Rome, you’d better drink like a St. Louisian. The show went on.

By the end of the night, I was in the mood to hug everyone — such is the power of rock music and rock musicians who play every night like it’s their last. Well done, Omaha.

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Posted by | April 21, 2012 | Concerts | 1 Comment 

Concert review: LouFest announces 2012 lineup while the Blind Eyes and Morning Teleportation rock, at Plush, Tuesday, April 3

The Blind Eyes. Photo by Ben Mudd.

The Blind Eyes and Morning Teleportation rocked Plush as the artists for this year’s lineup for LouFest rolled across a screen.

In its third year, LouFest is quite possibly the summit of live indie music in St. Louis. Drawing just-left-of-center acts from the past 30 years and showcasing local and national up-and-coming bands, LouFest has become something of a landmark in the Midwest.

Opening with the titular track from 2011′s “With A Bang,” the Blind Eyes brought out feel-good rock with a lightheartedness about it. Fresh from their recent first ever South by Southwest performance at the KDHX-sponsored Twangfest, the Blind Eyes showed why their hometown of St. Louis is so crazed about them.

Their lightly distorted guitars and chug-along bass lines reminded me a bit of good ’90s alternative rock. Other times, I felt a We Are Scientists or the Strokes vibe from their accessible brand of upbeat pop. The band played a currently untitled new song that blasted their harmonies and guitars into the crowd. This being my first time catching the local legends, I found that I was most into how every Blind Eyes song felt like it could be a single. Between the catchy drumming and hummable choruses, the Blind Eyes are a sight (and sound) I’m sure I’ll return to for an awesome live experience once again.

Throughout the night, pictures from LouFest 2011 streamed across a screen while Mark Lewis DJed. His set of ’70s and ’80s punk tunes and the occasional disco number kept the room vibrant in between the festivities of the night.

Announced via a video between bands, the LouFest Lineup thrilled the attendees of the show. Headliners the Flaming Lips will be an awesome sight on a sweaty summer St. Louis night while co headliner Girl Talk will surely turn the fields of Forest Park into a contagious party. Hometown heroes Son Volt alongside veteran noise rockers Dinosaur Jr. and folk-influenced rockers Dr. Dog should make for a killer freakout. Classy synth-pop act Phantogram, garage-heads Hacienda and R&B-influenced hip-hop twosome THEESatisfaction promise to chill out the late August sun. The gently rolling indie rock of Dawes and the quirky pop of semi-locals Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin should appeal to a wide audience, as should Little Barrie, Cotton Mathers, King Tuff and St. Louis bands Sleepy Kitty and the Pernikoff Brothers.

After the announcement, Morning Teleportation of Bowling Green, Ky. roared out some psychedelically-inclined indie rock. With lead vocals delivered with a dizzying pace and an equally speedy outpouring from their instruments, Morning Teleportation jammed well together. A friend mentioned that the band had performed on the David Letterman show a week prior, further piquing my interest in their performance. As their set continued and the sweatiness of the members increased, the band steered out of straight indie rock into dancy-er, guitar-tapping territory.

I was surprised by the technical prowess of Morning Teleportation’s members, but exceptionally psyched to hear how much the band’s keyboards and synthesizers were featured. It was refreshing to hear a keyboard as a lead instrument, giving the funkier half of the set a certain authenticity. Consistently changing time signatures and thrashing heavily during extended outros, Morning Teleportation definitely held up well throughout their fairly-long set.

Posted by | April 4, 2012 | Concerts | Comment 

Concert review: Kishi Bashi and the Hibernauts rewrite rock formulas at Off Broadway, Saturday, January 14

flickr.com/photos/phillymostlyvegan/5806476270 / Brandee Nichols

As a rule, I’m a comparative thinker. As a writer, I construct parallels and employ juxtaposition all the time. As a critic, I see comparison as a means towards a more accurate definition.

The Kishi Bashi/Hibernauts show at Off Broadway this Saturday afforded me an opportunity to indulge in a study of contrasts.

First, let’s dispense with the obvious. The Hibernauts are four very white guys from the local area and Kaoru Ishibashi (AKA Kishi Bashi) is an American violinist of Japanese descent from Seattle. In the words of Kishi Bashi’s sexually charged anthem — which some on Saturday may have remembered from the Luminary’s of Montreal show from last June — that’s “just the tip.” There’s other glaring contrasts that set these musicians into singular categories and points towards their respective fates.

The Hibernauts’ brand of South Side gritty is a classic example of a post-punk paradigm. What do you do when you grow up in the Midwest and make music? If you are a band by the name of the Hibernauts, you adopt the classic two guitar, bass and drums formula and hope to break out of formulaic results. To their credit, they bring energy and verve to the enterprise, and what kept this band together, even when only sporadically doing live shows or recording new music over the years, is what makes them fun to watch — a palpable synchronicity and the ability to play off one another.

That’s fine if you play the odd Off Broadway gig or jam out for the happy hour crowd at Maggie O’s, but in this era of music-by-demand and cloud-driven social phenomena, a band has to work something else: its network. The Hibernauts have fans, and the turnout this Saturday was respectable and lively, but I’m starting to see why they are “retiring”: They just didn’t create the kind of buzz that makes you heard above the fray, and when they played, it sounded familiar and catchy, and sometimes, regrettably, well — too familiar.

With no single vocalist’s voice pulling the band out of the norm, they seem almost destined for comparisons to other more successful bands. Which is too bad, since while it was billed as a review and featured an old setlist that stretched back to the early oughts, the best stuff they played was the newest. Indeed, “Backburner” should have been moved to the front.

If the Hibernauts represent a classic, tried-and-true formula, Kishi Bashi is a mad scientist tinkering with new elements and new recipes. Classically trained on the violin at the Berkeley School of Music, his instruments double as input devices to a series of loop and effects peddles. It’s no wonder he studied film scores, cause there’s a majesty in his music, and enough depth to inspire the imagination and fill in any gaps that might be left by the lack of a full band.

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Posted by | January 16, 2012 | Concerts, Local | Comment 

Matt Stuttler’s top 10 albums of 2011 (indie rock and pop edition)

facebook.com/pages/Telekinesis/55685593658

My top albums this year all seem to have a return to a rock ethos. There was a certain vibe of retro cool that permeated my favorites from 2011, like amped-up echoes of past artists but channeled into something new.

A few albums, like Girls’ “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” and Fucked Up’s “David Come to Life” really surprised me with the amount of musical territory covered between the band’s previous recordings and this year’s release. Others, like the Black Keys’ “El Camino” and My Morning Jacket’s “Circuital” definitely followed the go-with-what-you-know approach but still felt fresh.

1. Telekinesis – “12 Desperate Straight Lines”

Produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie, “12 Desperate Straight Lines” became a year-long obsession for me upon my discovery of Telekinesis in early 2011. Smart lyrics, high-energy hooks and some of the best-crafted instrumentation I’ve ever heard make this an album I’ve yet to wear out. “Gotta Get it Right Now” and “I Cannot Love You” bounce so hard that it’s impossible to hear them as background music.

2. Cults – “Cults”

Cults’ debut release stands out as the best ’60s-influenced indie rock of the year. Irresistibly cute vocals and with everything reverbed to the max, Cults purvey an innocence in music without sounding like a pre-packaged pop outfit. Standout track “Go Outside” will be a summer anthem for years to come.

Listen to Cults’ Live at KDHX session from this year.

3. Fucked Up – “David Comes to Life”

“David Comes to Life” sounds like no other album I’ve heard. Fucked Up turned down their signature distorted onslaught from their back catalogue to perform pure pop songs like “The Other Shoe” and “Running on Nothing” without losing an ounce of intensity. The album properly construes all the elements of grown-up punk rock and shows that there still exists progressive, uncharted land for modern bands to cover. That is, if Fucked Up doesn’t manage to do it themselves with their exhausting work ethic — evidenced by some 16 releases and numerous collaborations inside and out of the punk world.

4. Peter Bjorn and John – “Gimme Some”

“Gimme Some” is easily the best the Swedish rockers Peter Bjorn and John has released to date. Yelling with the fast surf guitar rock of “Breaker Breaker” then dropping low with “Down Like Me,” the album is an extremely moody collection. The accessible coolness of “I Know You Don’t Love Me” contrasts so sweetly with the grimy thrash riffs of “Black Book.” “Gimme Some” offers up such a varied vibe of tunes, showing Peter Bjorn and John have gotten even better with age.

5. My Morning Jacket – “Circuital”

“Circuital” feels like an album specifically made for vinyl. It’s warm and roomy, with so much open spaces, exhibited excellently in the album’s titular opening track. Some of the tunes are so beautifully sparse it feels like Jim James is merely singing into an empty orchestra hall. Other tunes, like “Holdin’ on to Black Metal” are instrumentally bigger, incorporating horns and choirs to the lightly crunched guitars.

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Posted by | December 23, 2011 | Music | Comment 

Concert review and set list: Kathryn Calder at Cicero’s — haunting but not fully possessed, Tuesday, December 13

Kathryn Calder at Cicero's, December 13, 2011

Kate McDaniel

Last night at Cicero’s, after I paid the tab for my pizza and beers and headed toward the entertainment part of Cicero’s “Entertainment Plex,” I spied Kathryn Calder at the bar.

In spite of myself, I paused for a moment, feeling a bit star struck, and tried to think of something clever to say (without awkwardly blurting out that I loved her work and creepily squeezing her shoulder, as I once did to Peter Sarsgaard upon a chance encounter at the Clayton Starbucks), but the best I could muster was, “Hey, you’re Kathryn! I’m Meghan! I’m reviewing the show!” and then kept on my path, after she politely shook my hand. But it would appear that my starstruck-ness was for naught when, at the venue door, after Darryl the door guy suspiciously grilled me about whether I was truly “on the list” or not (despite recognizing me from my ’90s table-waiting days), it was she, not he, that ushered me in, popping up from behind, saying, “Oh are you Meghan McGlynn? Yes, you are on the list.” I guess we were already acquainted!

Indeed — it would seem that Kathryn Calder is not the fill in, the backup, or the afterthought here, as she is often accused of when compared to Neko Case from the New Pornographers; in fact, according to her band mate and drummer Marek Tyler, she not only acts as manager when touring, but actually runs the entire show, including loading the tour bus, booking the venues, and, to his great admiration, leading rehearsals a mere 17 hours after completing the European leg of a tour. Impressive! Right?

The truth is, I never felt she was secondary. I was always more drawn to Kathryn than Neko, no matter how much I love and respect Neko; and, in the three times I saw NP, Neko wasn’t present and it was Kathryn hitting those most memorable crystalline high notes, and Kathryn who stood, front and center, demanding attention with her voice and loveliness and musical ability, and of course, it is Kathryn leading the vocals on “Adventures in Solitude,” one of my favorites.

There’s no doubt that Kathryn’s got the power to pull off a solo album and concert, and if the tales I heard are truthful, she’s got the determination to make sure it comes to fruition. But something seemed missing from her NP days last night; she seemed, well, tired. Touring is difficult, of course, and from my short chat with Marek, who explained at length how hard Kathryn works, and also from my short pre-show chat with Kathryn herself, who declined my offer of a drink, noting that she was responsible for driving the bus to Springfield post-show, I couldn’t help but wonder why she was managing and why she wasn’t just being a rock star. She’s got a music producer husband and a famous musician uncle, not to mention her own very successful career with NP, and though I know nothing of such things, I couldn’t help but wonder why she did not avail herself of those resources and just sit back and make music happen?

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Posted by | December 14, 2011 | Concerts | Comment 

A musician without armor: An interview with Crooked Fingers’ Eric Bachmann

Claire Wolff

Eric Bachmann is best known to many as the frontman of ’90s indie-rock iconoclasts Archers of Loaf. While that band found more popularity than Crooked Fingers have as of yet, Bachmann’s work with Crooked Fingers has eclipsed that of his former group in artistic vision and execution.

As the driving force behind Crooked Fingers and it’s only consistent member, Bachmann’s music has bounded about so restlessly that the only elements unifying each record are peerless emotional resonance and his rich, melancholy voice.

I spoke to Bachmann recently before a Crooked Fingers’ gig in Milwaukee at the famed Cactus Club. (The band is on tour in support of their new record “Breaks in the Armor,” but routing prevented a St. Louis date.) The tiny venue lacked a green room, so we found some space away from the crowd by moving to its basement, where Bachmann perched on a keg of beer near the furnace while I procured the only chair in sight.

Many musicians are eager to pay lip service to the idea of artistic purity, but Bachmann’s gentle, humble and passionate tone belie this virtue that so many of his peers lack. He made it clear that while he’s thankful for every day that he’s able to play music on stage, he’d be just as content to practice his craft far from the madding crowd. We’re lucky that he has, at least for now, chosen the former path.

Chris Bay: Crooked Fingers is a project that’s essentially driven by your artistic vision, so why do you brand it as Crooked Fingers and not use your own name?

Eric Bachmann: I’ve done several records as Crooked Fingers and only one under my name. I think the reason I did it under the Crooked Fingers moniker the first time is because I didn’t like the idea of calling it my name. I don’t like the idea of putting my name on a t-shirt. A band name is just more creative. My grandfather passed away when I was coming up with that band in the late ’90s and I wanted to name it after him. That was his CB handle; he was a truck driver. So that just kind of happened. It was serendipitous with the timing and I decided to call it that. If that hadn’t happened and I couldn’t come up with a better name I might’ve just called it Eric Bachmann.

The last few albums have featured female vocalists very prominently, and not just as background vocalists but in duets and as the main vocalist on a few songs. When you’re writing do you think about a song being geared toward a female vocalist and who might actually sing it?

Absolutely. I don’t like the sound of my voice. It’s not like I dislike it, it’s just that I like to hear other people sing more than I like to hear myself sing. Maybe most people are that way, I don’t know. The songs on the previous record, “Forfeit/Fortune,” those were all B-sides that didn’t make it onto albums that I thought were too good to be put on a B-side compilation. So I just re-recorded them, and when I was re-recording that record I thought, man, I should just have women sing all of these. Of course, I didn’t do it. I sang a lot of it myself. But I do think about that. I do want to make that kind of record at some point in my life, where you just write it and you let other people sing it. So I do think of that. And it’s really not in your control. I don’t write the song in that direction, I’m just writing the song and it happens to come to you a certain way.

Claire Wolff

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Posted by | November 29, 2011 | Interviews, Music | Comment 

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