Seen Your Video: Two from Devotchka at the Monolith Festival 2008, Red Rocks, Denver, CO

During an interview with Earlimart awhile back, their drummer and I got to talking about video and whatnot. He said he discovered the Flip Video camera and found it was great during touring because it was so easy and versatile to use. Given the amount of video interviewing I've been doing, (yay to no transcribing), I thought it seemed like a good investment.

My first attempts with this new toy are below: two songs, "Queen of the Surface Streets," and "Last Beat of My Heart," from Devotchka's excellent set at the Monolith Festival last month.

Queen of the Surface Streets


Last Beat of My Heart
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Show Review: Monolith Festival @ Red Rocks, Denver, CO--Day 1 (continued)

Early part of Day 1 review here.


8. Liam Finn
One thing I found myself thinking during certain acts on the indoor stages was "Why are they down here in such tiny rooms if you know the band will attract a big crowd?" Space probably, and a desire to keep stages within easy distance from each other so that they're centrally located yet far enough apart so that sounds don't bleed into each other. Which makes sense. But that sort of calm logic doesn't register when you're a sardine in a million degree room. The first time I found myself thinking this was during Liam Finn.

Liam Finn was playing on the WOXY.com stage, the stage area space that also doubled as a hallway to the other parts of the visitor's center, including the Rock Room Stage (which was within a proper room with well, rocks, hence the name). So when that hallway area got really crowded, it made things difficult for the folks trying to watch the show onstage because there was always a stream of folks trying to move past you and get through (a feat hard for them as well). (This, in fact, did become a problem in that area during The Presets set, as well as the next night during Does it Offend You Yeah?). All 5'5 of me was stuck in the back behind every tall guy who came to Monolith I think, so the only thing I took from the Liam Finn show was that a) his sound is way more rock than the quiet and vastly different sample tracks I’d heard, and b) his female cohort, whose voice I initially liked, began screaming like Yoko doing Japanese hetai but worse, which I did not like.


9. A Place to Bury Strangers
You ever listen to a band’s recorded stuff and think “Eh,” but then you see them live and it’s “Ahhh, NOW I see what the fuss is about”? I call this “The Replacements Factor,” because if you just heard the Mats on record, typically, you liked them ok. But if you saw their live show, you'd, typically, become a full blown convert for time and eternity because their live shows were amazing, so unscripted and spontaneous. The Mats had an essence, that incredible “it” factor, which could just never be captured properly in the sterility of a recording studio. And be it a night when they were *on,* or a night they were a ramshackle shambles, it was always just, well, pure.

This is what happened when I saw APTBS. I'd heard one track of theirs but only had them listed as a "maybe if I'm in the area" (read: not awful but not great) band to catch that day. And I'd only wound up in there because I tagged along with Matt. (Big ups to Matt!)

My first impression of APTBS was that they were decidedly older than anyone else I'd seen thus far and SERIOUSLY FUCKING LOUD. Like put your head in a bell and beat the outside with a hammer loud. The organizers probably kept these guys inside for fear they'd start a landslide outside. And there were only three of them!



Initially, there were no stage lights, almost like "lights, our bad asses don't need no stinkin lights!" (so the only reason I snagged any photos at all was to use the "forbidden" flash). As the band got more and more into what they were playing, a quick glance out to the faces of the audience convinced me that I wasn't alone in feeling like what we were seeing something very different from everything else that day; folks were standing as slackjawed as I was. One thing that bands remarked on at Monolith was that the thin air made performing a little more difficult. With the ferocity and intensity that APTBS performed, I was shocked they didn't drop from sheer exhaustion when they were done because when I say they played hard, I mean HARD, like pop your guitar strings and beat up your guitar hard.







Later, I would read they are known as the "loudest band in NYC," and given the number of loud bands in NYC, you might think that's hype. But believe it, cause that moniker totally applies to them. If the spirit of the Ramones and speed and volume of Jesus and Mary Chain had a baby, APTBS would be it, full of piss and vinegar, shredding and feedback. And I’m not normally a fan of that sort of thing (Ramones and Social Distortion aside of course). But for the sheer love of how overwhelming their music was, and sheer tenacity at which each of them played, it was overwhelming in a very good way. I stood there just dumbfounded for most of the set.



Seriously, this set ranked as one of the two best shows I saw over the two days. Incredible. They’re currently on tour so be sure to go see them….just don’t forget your ear plugs.

(More photos from the A Place to Bury Strangers set here.)

Listen: To Fix the Gash in Your Head_A Place to Bury Strangers

10. Vampire Weekend
Holy crap, they aren't robots after all, they realized they should actually look at their audience! Man, all that touring has really paid off.









(More photos from the Vampire Weekend set here.)

Listen: Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac cover)_Vampire Weekend

11. The Night Marchers
I liked what I heard from The Night Marchers' mp3 but live, not so much. Maybe it was coming off the high of A Place to Bury Strangers...maybe it was because I hadn't eaten in 14 hours...but I just wasn't super blown away. The Night Marchers had all the elements I typically like: guitar-driven rock, great backbeat and bass, lead singer very Mike Ness-reminiscent, all snarly and strong jawed like....but it just didn’t wow me. So I dunno what the deal was. But I do plan to check them out again; perhaps they just require being in another state of mind to give them a fair assessment.



(More photos from The Night Marchers set here.)

12. Corey Chisel and the Wandering Sons
I’d really liked what I heard of Corey Chisel beforehand so I raced back down the 230 steps to find that I liked him live just as much. He and his band, the Wandering Sons (although one of the Sons was an awesome female back up singer, Adriel Harris), is music for a Sunday morning, with a paper and a coffee to slowly drink it all in, or for after a breakup during that period when you’re dwelling. At Monolith at least (I couldn’t find band member names sans that of Harris, so I wonder if the players change depending on his needs), Chisel played acoustic, and the Sons were comprised of Harris, who traded keyboard duties with another guy, an electric guitar player, and for a song or two, one of the guys from Band of Horses (they were playing Monolith Day 2).



Corey Chisel’s 6-song EP, Cabin Ghosts came out in July, and I highly recommend it. His is lush Americana music that is forlorn, soft, and heart-shorn with a tinge of blues, and just really, really lovely. And I cannot wait to see him and the Sons again when they’re out wanderin on tour (though hopefully in a bar that’s got warmer winds going through it than Red Rocks in September at twilight heh).



(More photos from Corey Chisel’s set here.)

Listen: Home in the Woods_Cory Chisel

13. Silversun Pickups
Anything and everything good you’ve ever heard about the Pickups’ live show is all true. They are this incredible bar band, great musicians whose playing as a collective is really tight and can burn down amphitheaters as well as bars (and any place else). What do I mean by that? There are plenty of bar bands, but a really good bar band can touch every person in that room in one way or another. And the Pickups brought that feeling to a huge amphitheater setting and seriously make it work. Not an easy task by any means.

Tearing through a set with tracks from “Pikul,” “Carnavas,” and one or two new ones, the Pickups were clearly having a ball onstage; it was obvious they were happy to be playing again (lead singer/guitarist Brian Aubert mentioned they were in the midst of finishing up a new record). Aubert kept pacing the long stage, oftentimes coming right up to the front of the photo pit; had there not been barriers, I do believe he would have waded into the crowd for sure.



Aubert and bassist Nikki Monninger were disarmingly sweet to watch, oftentimes laughing and sporting ear-to-ear grins, like they couldn’t believe folks were so thrilled to see them (and boy were they).



Drummer Christopher Guanlao is, hands down, one of the best drummers I’ve ever watched. (And here’s a question I may ask The Whigs’ Julian Dorio when I interview them next month: do drummers practice playing all nutso in front of mirrors so they can find the coolest way for their hair to fly around?)



How much did I like the Silversun Pickups show at Monolith? I went out the very next day and bought Carnavas if that says anything, and haven’t turned it off since. The Pickups truly really deserve any and all kudos because they’re just that good.

(More photos from the Silversun Pickups set here.)

Listen: Common Reactor live (Paris, 11-17-07)_Silversun Pickups


14. Devotchka
Beautiful is an adjective I find I wrote down a bunch in my notes on Devotchka’s set at Monolith. Even in a place the size of Red Rocks, on a stage as big as the main stage where Devotchka played at Red Rocks, their live show was so engaging they made it feel like they were playing somewhere very intimate and personalized. And though the temperature had dropped and a cold rain started drizzling just before their set started, it somehow added to that intimacy, like some weird modern version of “Casablanca.” I’m sure playing such a unique place for a hometown crowd (Devotchka hails from Denver) had a lot to do with that. It was something very lovely to witness.




There was no aerialist this time, (probably because she’d have frozen to death), but that was ok because it allowed the focus to stay on the band and their talents (Tom Hagerman is always exciting to watch because every time you blink, he’s playing a different instrument). Another neat thing was these black and white "home movies" that played between certain songs on the Jumbotron screens. Given how much the little kid in one of them looked like lead singer/guitarist Nick Ulta, I wondered if they weren't real ones of his family.

I could go on and on about how incredible and amazing Devotchka was at Monolith (“Queen of the Surface Streets” damn near brought me to tears), but then, their live show is always an experience. Bravo to the festival organizers for closing the first night of the unique festival with these hometown heroes.





(More photos from the Devotchka set here.)

Listen: Venus in Furs (VU cover live)_Devotchka

Up next...Day 2, including The Whigs, The Airborne Toxic Event, CSS, Sharon Jones, and TV on the Radio.

Quick-Like: Monolith Festival, Day 1

Ok, I'm bone tired but wanted to give you a glimpse of the Monolith Festival:

1. I took about 987685675675 pictures. I think I really like taking pictures.

2. If you ever come to Red Rocks, that whole mile above sea level thing really takes the wind out of you (literally) when walking anywhere uphill. That's no bull.

3. I met and became friendly with a consortium of cool fellow music writers like this guy, these folks, this gal, and this guy. Hey guys!

4. I wound up talking with Jon Fratelli, lead singer of the Fratellis, about how cool Worn Free shirts are (he was sporting the one I've been planning to buy).

5. Devotchka put on an incredible performance. No aerialist this time but she would have been frozen solid (Denver=damn cold at night).

6. Best show of the day? A Place to Bury Strangers out of Brooklyn. Their recorded stuff I listened to in advance I wasn't too thrilled by (sounded a tad too electronica-like for seeing live), but their live show, with the energy, intensity, and frantic pace was insanely good to watch. Remember what I said about a a passion for music? These guys have it and slap you around with it. (And there aren't any synths or computers involved, it's just them). Silversun Pickups ran a very close second.

More tomorrow! With pictures and such!

Show Review: Devotchka @ 930 Club, Washington, DC (5-16-08)

With all the traveling back and forth to NYC as of late coming to a close for a bit (unless I see notice of The Henry Clay People or Radars to the Sky coming to the right coast of course), I'm finally getting back 'round to those posts/interviews from that "lost weekend" that went 31 days in May (grand jury duty). You may say, "Well what's the point now?" But ah my friends, the reasoning comes in my desire to share those things which were pure beauty. One of these things was seeing the Colorado band Devotchka live at the 930 Club on May 8th in support of their new release, A Mad and Faithful Telling.

Music is an interesting thing. Whether instrumental or when teamed with lyrics, it's got this incredible ability at times to touch something so deep inside...the hair stands up on the back of your neck or you get goosebumps, and you physically feel your breath catch when you're listening. That's what seeing Devotchka at the 930 Club was like for 90 straight minutes.

I’ll admit, I didn't really know much of Devotchka's music apart from “Queen of the Surface Streets,” the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack, and a few tracks via the Hype. But they came highly recommended from some folks whose musical tastes I respect, so I thought what the hell. I fully expected a sold out show, but with the plethora of other shows that night (for example, Los Campesinos! down the street), there was actually room to move around some, and we got quite close to the stage.

Devotchka came out and a small woman in sparkly bathing suit threw roses from the stage. To watch a rock club crowd lose its collective mind over someone playing an accordion was a little surreal-I'd only ever seen this much excitement over an accordion before at Oktoberfests and when the Hungarian side of the family got together when I was a kid--but I must stress how worthy of the adulation it was, Tom Hagerman’s playing was seriously amazing. And it wasn’t just an accordion he rocked. Each of Devotchka’s main musicians plays multiple instruments, and not always those of the same family: Jeanie Schroder plays upright bass AND tuba (yes, I said tuba); Tom Hagerman plays accordion AND violin; Shawn King drums AND trumpet, and lead singer Nick Urata guitar AND saw. How they use these instruments also differs from those one expects to see in a rock band- it’s not a bass guitar keeping the rhythm with the drums, it’s a tuba. Instead of a lead guitar shredding solos, it’s a violin or an accordion. And on top of it all was Urata’s voice; my god, Urata’s voice was probably the loveliest instrument of the group. It made me think of twilight, that time where it’s not quite day and not quite night, and can be sultry and keening, dark and dangerous, heartbreaking and sad, and exciting and fevered, all at once.

As a collective, Devotchka created music that was at times racing and swirling and fast paced with the accordion leading the charge, whipping the crowd up and carrying them along, and other times, what came off that stage was insanely haunting and lush and beautiful. Mere words wouldn't do it justice, but you knew it was something powerful and amazing because you could feel your soul sobbing from the sheer emotion of it all.

On the whole, the audience was loving it, though I did see some filtering out towards the encore. Which made them fools because they missed the encore, and the encore was something you had to see to believe.

From the ceiling’s lighting rigging came a long red silk scarf that went to the floor. A woman appeared, the woman who’d thrown the roses out into the crowd earlier in fact, and she started to climb up the material, stopping some 30 feet up. It’s probably obvious to say that anyone thinking of filtering out stopped dead in their tracks with this. Devotchka started to play, providing an instrumental backdrop to this amazing aerialist’s performance as she literally danced in mid-air, leaving the crowd literally slackjawed in awe and delight.





After her descent, opening act Basia Bulat came out to join the band for a raucous “My Brother’s Blood,” into the ethereal “You Love Me,” which was complemented with amazing mariachi-style horns. Urata and company then waved goodbye to the crowd, swigging from a bottle of red wine, sending the crowd off into the DC night to love and to live and to dream of the foreign lands of which Devotchka sang.

If you haven’t already guessed, Devotchka isn't your everyday group in terms of sounds or instruments. Look up Devotchka in the dictionary and following its first definition of “girl/Origin-Russian,” the second definition is a picture of these guys with the words “a musical and emotional phantasmagoria of multicultural influences.” In this day and age of songs remaining the same, it’s nice to know there’s a band out there who can still give you goosebumps.

(Devotchka is currently out on tour supporting A Mad and Faithful Telling and will be performing at the Monolith Festival in September.)

Decisions, decisions, decisions....Help!

So SXSW is often the starting point for spring band tours and this year is no exception. I think I'll be spending close to half my mortgage payment on concert tickets between this month and next. And of course, it makes sense one or two would wind up on the same night but did it just have to be for Devotchka and Los Campesinos!, two bands I should have caught at SX but didn't?? So now I have to decide which to go see and fast. I mean, I love stuff like Hot Club of Cowtown and things of that ilk as much as I do Washington Social Club-style music, so how's a girl supposed to decide? So tell me internet, anyone have any insights on who's a better live show??