one night i saw boobs.

still playing catch up, i can’t believe it’s been three weeks since i went to see erase errata and the again reformed team dresch. i was really excited for this show i just knew it was going to a lot of fun. erase errata i’ve seen four or five times and always had a great time. years ago i saw team dresch and remember them being awesome. i had faith that even though neither of them have been particularly active for the last couple of years, they would be in solid form.

i like rotture as a venue. it’s a good size and has a good outside balcony (usually full of smokers). i was glad to see that they raised the stage, seeing was a problem sometimes. the crowd was elated and possibly one of the friendliest crowds i’ve experienced since moving to portland. the first two bands were good and well received, but i can’t remember a thing about them.

when erase errata came on it was just like old times again. the reason i love erase errata is because they have a sound and spirit that is akin to the great post punk/no wave bands; the pop group, the slits, the index (who are really proto and way ahead of their time), come on, devo, the raincoats. it’s a sound i’ve always connected to. erase errata played kind of a greatest hits show, energy was high, and they sounded as tight as ever. it was one their best shows i’ve seen. i really got my twitch on, and so did beth ditto, who was standing next to me. sadly there were no new songs or promise of a new album.

team dresch had been in the crowd all night so it wasn’t a big deal when they took the stage no one paid attention until they started playing. they also stuck to the greatest hits format, and the crowd knew every word.  my favorite songs were alway the kaia ones, so i was glad that i was standing next to her. they rocked it like it was still 1997. some of the women in the crowd were so excited they took there shirts off and i got to see boobies for the first time in a while. including those of jenny hoyston, the lead singer of erase errrata, she had replaced beth ditto next to me.

when the show ended, sometime after one a.m., i was in such a great mood that i had a very enjoyable bike ride home.

they’ve come a long way.

i had some apprehension about going to cocorosie, the last time i saw them i was not very happy about the show. they had a full band and a beatboxer with them. the beatboxer was distracting, and too loud in the mix. the band was sloppy, they never seemed to get it together and the show was a mess. in the end i decided to go, it helped that i like the aladdin theater. i was also lucky enough to have don accompany me.

when don and i got to the aladdin  we were struck by the dress of the crowd, there were a lot of creative outfits. cocorosie seems to have accumulated and interesting collection of fans. we settled into some seats mid way through the opening act, katie stelmanis. they had an electro riot grrl sound, think sleater-kinney working with neu!. i enjoyed them. no need to own the records, but i would see them again.

as the time for cocorosie to come out came near, the sold out crowd headed toward the stage. don and i abandoned our seats and moved several rows up and had and excellent view. i could already feel that it was going to be a good show. the crowd seemed to be in a great mood, no matter what everyone was going to leave happy. the venue darkened and cocorosie walked on stage. at first it was just bianca and sierra, playing on a near black stage. they played two songs,  i couldn’t tell you the names. they were operatic and reminded me of the first time i saw them. piano, modified toy samples and vocals. it was fantastic, and a great way to start the show.

the band, piano, bass and beatboxer, have a name but i don’t remember it. i’m pretty sure the beatboxer’s name is spleen. sierra was on the piano or harp, bianca manned a station of modified toys and samplers. they both contributed their own style of vocals, sierra’s operatic vocal skills sounded fantastic and filled the hall, bianca’s squeaky childlike hip-hop influenced cadence was just creepy enough. the acoustics of the aladdin really worked for them,  to me the aladdin always contributes a “church hall” effect.

i couldn’t even come close to a set list. i recognised quite a few of the songs, i’ve never memorized coocrosie’s song titles. the new songs are stunning, and a great new direction for them. they’re getting a lot clearer in their vision of hip hop/opera/minimalist avant-garde. the current band set up is the best i’ve seen of them. the beatboxer was remarkable, he added such texture and rhythm, without ever being obtrusive. he performed a solo in one song that floored the crowd, it took about thirty seconds for the applause to start. the other members of the band were always on point with the rest, talented guys. they just didn’t stand out. for a group as creative as coocrosie, i was let down by the visuals. the lighting was competent, but the video was a collection of short clips only lasting 15-20 minutes total, projected on a screen most of the time. we probably watched the loop 5 or six times.

we left that night totally in love with cocorosie. and like i thought everyone left happy.

hippie stank.

the t:ba festival has come and gone. and as in the past i didn’t go to anywhere near as many events as i wanted, in fact i only made it to three. one of these years i’m gonna have to invest in an all access pass.

i started with opening night at the works. this year the works was held at washington high school, which has been empty since the eighties.

two floors of classrooms were used as galleries, each focusing on one artist’s installations. for the most part, the installations seemed a little slipshod to me. even after i read the descriptions, i still felt like they were just not refined enough. a couple of the rooms had some good imagery (stephen slappe and johanna ketola), but didn’t have any direction or cohesiveness. the only one i really liked was ethan rose’s sound piece made up a modified music boxes. it was the only one that felt like it fully realised.

gang gang dance capped off the night fantastically. their brand of tribal noise dance jams was well suited for the high school auditorium. if only the shirtless hippy behind me didn’t reek of hippie sweat. also i must be getting old because i just don’t find moshing and crowd surfing appropriate at anytime. it’s not fun getting kicked in the head.

i went to see a hitoshi toyoda silent slide show titled spoonful river. the presentation took place on the lawn of washington high school. it was a collection of images taking place over a year, which hitoshi spent half in new york and the other half traveling japan. there was plenty of beautiful imagery; insects, plants, city scapes, small villages, etc. i couldn’t help looking for a narrative or a connective thread, but i couldn’t find one. what i didn’t understand was the inclusion of pictures of family and friends. i understand that they were part of the year, but it took the presentation into a vacation slide show direction. either it needs time to be refined, or i need some one to explain it to me.

on a grey sunday afternoon i went to sound artist ethan rose’s live installation with local folkie laura gibson and video artist ryan jeffery. they performed in the windows of the pdx contemporary gallery, with the manipulated sounds broadcast on the sidewalk where the crowd watched, listened and stopped traffic. I stayed for three of the four hours, during that time it rained a bit and we experienced a beautiful sunset. ethan rose sat behind a mixing board and a couple of laptops most of the time. laura gibson switched between sitting in front of ethan and standing in the window. every time she moved a different string instrument was used. ethan manipulated the sound creating a soundtrack for urban nature.

i wasn’t too impressed with the video work. mainly composed of nature collage, it worked well with the sound, just not too original. it was also unfortunate that it was barely visible until it got dark.

i don’t know if i’ll still be in portland for next year’s t:ba festival. i’m sure it would be worth traveling back here for.

lets do a sing-a-long.

the oven like temperature in our apartment over the last couple days has keep off the computer. if i wasn’t seeing a movie, i was lying on our bed reading with a fan pointed at me. we are currently down to a chilly 92, and it wierdly seem chilly, i may put on pants.

here’s what happened at edgefield in troutsdale, or. on July 18th.

rebecca, jessica, and i went to troutsdale to see the decemberists on a lawn with a bunch of families and blankets. i normally avoid this stlye of show. i’m not a fan of outside shows, especially when it’s still light out. also i hate the casual family oriented atmosphere. the group next to us had a 3 month old and they spent the entire time talking and braiding hair. it’s just not how i like to see a show. then last year i went to see erykah badu at marymoor park, that show gave me hope that some shows are still worth it. so i thought i should give it another try. i thought the decemberists were a safe bet, i’ve seen them live several times before. also they were performing the hazards of love, which i believe to be a masterpiece.

hip portland band of the moment blind pilot played first, they were completely pleasant country pop. something that i might grow to like but not enough for me to exert the effort to find out. andrew bird played next, and he was much loved by the crowd. andrew bird is his own brand of quirky, i just don’t find the music that interesting. he spends all this time setting up the song and there is much payoff, his song just kind of meander. i never grew to like that kind of pop. talented guy, just doesn’t work for me.

of course it was still bright as day when the decemberists came out, so the light show was barely there. they went right to playing through the hazards of love. hearing it live was pretty extraordinary, when i wasn’t focusing too much on the activity and din around me. becky stark and shara worden were amazing, they moved around the stage providing the drama. they weren’t my favorite part of the album till i hear the npr sxsw podcast, they can tear it up live. the decemberist were predictably good, colin and the gang rocked their butts off, somewhat gently.

the second set made up of older songs, was alright, i expecting it to be a bit longer. that may have been that, because of the area, the venue has a 10 o’clock curfew. (another annoying thing about outdoor summer shows.) they chose good songs, but none of my favorites. the best part was the heart cover, “crazy on you”, with becky stark and shana worden dueting. it was pretty awesome, watch them play it in minneapolis here.

but because of the surroundings i couldn’t connect with the show, i felt a little cheated. i think i would have had a better experience if i was in a different part of the lawn. it was the only section that didn’t stand up, i couldn’t really see from where we were sitting and i didn’t want to be the one person standing.

set list,

prelude
the hazards of love 1 (the prettiest whistles won’t wrestle the thistles undone)
a bower scene
won’t want for love (margaret in the taiga)
the hazards of love 2 (wager all)
the queen’s approach
isn’t it a lovely night?
the wanting comes in waves/repaid
an interlude
fhe rake’s song
the abduction of margaret
the queen’s rebuke/the crossing
annan water
margaret in captivity
yhe hazards of love 3 (revenge!)
the wanting comes in waves (reprise)
the hazards of love 4 (the drowned)

encore
july, july!
billy liar
the engine driver
dracula’s daughter
o valencia!
crazy on you

2nd encore
sons & daughters

crackers.

on june 21st antony played a concert in amsterdam with the metropole orkest. not only was it filmed for dutch television broadcast (although four songs were cut), but it was also recorded for a radio broadcast (full set list and all the talking). thanks to the internet i have been obsessed with this concert. there is a beautiful version of the unreleased “christina’s farm”, a haunting cover of “crazy in love”, and a killer version of “ghost” (another unreleased song). “ghost” floored me when antony performed it a couple of years ago at the brooklyn academy of music. the highlight of the show is that he premiered a new song “salt, silver and oxygen”.  morgan is probably beyond tired of hearing this concert, i don’t think a day has gone by in the past month that i haven’t listened to it. a friend sent me a dvd of the show also, but i will save morgan and only watch it when he’s not home.

my friend birdantony is hosting downloads on his site. be sure to thank him in the comments.
go here for the audio.
go here for the video. (ignore the audio on that page, it’s not the complete show.)

“ghost”

“salt, silver and oxygen”

“crazy in love”

she barks.

well over a week ago i went and saw pj harvery and john parish with jessica who scored some awesomely cheap tickets. i knew going into it that it wasn’t going to be regular pj harvey show, this show focused on the two bluesy, mildly bar rock albums that pj has made with john parish. the first of which i like okay and the second one is just meh.

the show was good, not great. they all seemed to be so happy to be there in the half empty roseland. the showmanship of pj was the highlight of the show. she was much more subdued than when i saw her before, but she has that spark that you can’t take your eyes off.  it’s a bit of a shame that we didn’t get even one pj solo song. they did play a john parish song, which was surprisingly good, but not good enough to make me look into him.

we left happy, yet wishing we had a more rockin’ time.

dozed off.

i’ve been avoiding this post for some time. i started it several weeks ago as a review of the animal collective show that josh and i attended. i was a little let down in the show. i am not a fan of the new album, but i was hoping they would bring in noise live. it makes me sad when a band i love so much starts disappointing me.

grouper opened the show, she is a local drone rock queen. her layered vocals and guitar loops were lost in the acoustics of the roseland. she would be better appreciated in a bar, or someones basement. hopefully not being overshadowed by animal collectives equipment.

animal collective played a mellow set with songs mainly off the last two albums and “comfy in nautica” from panda pear solo album. they were so static on the stage they became part of the stage. the set was so sterile, nary a scream, heavy bass or excitement.  i expect more experimentation from them, especially in a live setting. not once was i suprised. the music was so lulling that i fell asleep for a moment during “fireworks/essplode”.

then there was the lame ass stage setting. a couple of lit up tables,a tapestry of the last album cover, and an inflated orb for projections. it was almost like a one trill hill’s version of a hippy light show. the last couple of tours have had pretty impressive light show in a very radiohead jr kind of way.

when the set was over, they left the stage for a few minutes.  brian and noah came back on stage and said that they couldn’t play an encore because something was wrong with david’s ear. apparently the only song they could play without him was “comfy in nautica”, and they had already played that. while i understand about david’s ear, i would like to call b**sh*t on not doing an encore.  noah has three solo albums out, you can’t tell me he couldn’t have pulled off a couple a songs. brian is a competent guy, he would’ve improvised. hell, they should’ve just started playing, not caring about it being perfect. that’s what the animal collective i fell in love with would have done.

i may sound very negative about the show, i didn’t hate it. i just thought it was fine. they rocked softly, i feel asleep. i will certainly think twice about seeing them again.

jerry tells the jokes, we laugh.

the wonder ballroom was turned into a ramshackle social experiment on friday night, the person behind it was dan deacon. i went expecting a fairly straight forward nob twiddling with some live instruments show, that was not it at all. it’s hard to categorize dan deacon’s music, i often just designate it under arty electronica meant for a party in a gallery. so seeing him in a large venue like the wonder ballroom already seemed a bit off. on this tour he has an ensemble of twelve musicians, which worried me a bit, i thought it could turn into a cacophonous mess.

the crowd around me didn’t seem to know who dan deacon was or what to what to expect, a few of them were turned off by his long set up time and his nit picky way of setting the levels in the monitors, so they retreated to the bar. i understand why dan has to so precise about the set up, when dealing with distorted sounds things have to be right or it just sounds like chaos.

dan and his ensemble produced the perfect soundtrack for the evening. dan was behind his board crowded with equipment, four keyboardists, three drummers, a guitarist, a bass player, a woodwind player, and someone with wiimotes (!!!). at first they were askew, it came off ill sounding, about halfway into the second song they got it together and kept it. dan took on the roll of conductor and producer, it seemed like the instruments, except for the drums, were fed through dan’s board. mixing live instruments with mostly sampled circuit bent music is always a risky gamble, dan was smart at the controls and it all melded together. the setlist, of course, featured the most recent album bromst, but also contained songs from the noisier early ep’s. the live versions of the songs were zippy and full of boisterous fun.

the show started with dan deacon leading the audience in some movements to get us “in the zone”.  once the music started the crowd was pretty wild. a couple of songs in dan organized a dance contest, two people would dance then tag someone in the crowd. this started a pattern every couple of songs he would organize a audience movement, he had people dancing through tunnels that other people made and had the crowds running in circles. i’m not much of the audience participant, but the rest of the crowd got into it. it was a lot of fun to watch, and i was thankful i was on the wrong side of the barricade. by the end of the evening the show had taken on almost a sermon feeling, with dan deacon as the pastor. the devotion was a bit creepy, but wholly entertaining.

a deserved pat on the back.

despite playing at what is one of the worst venues in town, being sick, and on a school night i dragged myself to backspace to see jamie stewart (lead guy of xiu xiu). the openers were locals that i have heard good things about, all proven wrong. dragging an ox through water was the better of the two. he’s got the tortured fractured experimental songwriter thing down, it just came off too precious, i get the feeling he doesn’t need the money. i hope that made sense to anyone but me. nurses came next, from what i’ve heard they were the next animal collective. while those comparisons aren’t wrong, they sound like all my most hated aspects of the last two animal collectives albums. jam bands and modest mouse influences condensed then diluted with something bland (think plain tofu or unsalted soup). i fear they may become huge.

jamie stewart can never fail though, he is just one of those performers that feels every emotion of each song every time it’s performed. using only a guitar, a stylophone, some bird whistles, and a variety of pedals he played songs from all over the xiu xiu songbook. i am horrible at xiu xiu song titles so i couldn’t even guess at the set list. an amazing show well worth the misery beforehand.

among other things.

michael gira played to a comfortably full room at the doug fir on tuesday. the crowd was a mix of metal heads and goths (fans of swans), psych-folk hipsters (angels of light fans), and music/record nerds (probably where i fit). the opener was larkin grimm, m. gira’s latest protege (you may have heard of his last one; devendra banhart). pretty folk singer, not anything special to me, but i could see her finding a niche. she had great stage presence and the crowd warmed up to her nicely.

m. gira was in the crowd all night, so it wasn’t a big deal when he came on stage to set up his equipment. once he set up his amp balanced on two cinder blocks and his music stand with laminated lyric sheets,  he wandered off stage. he returned ten seconds later and started the show. the set consisted of a lot of new material, angels of light and swans songs. gira was in a fantastic mood joking with the crowd, a much different persona than last time i saw him. gira’s power in his voice is what makes him special, hearing him live is something you won’t forget. like jamie stewart he has a talent for reaching that painful-beautiful space. also as a songwriter he is masterly poetic with dark, sometimes brutal, imagery and subjects. lots of blood has been spilled in his music.