Results tagged “thethermals”

Never ones to shy away from a wild night out, The Thermals had three in town over the past week. The Portland band returned to their three-piece roots this time through, hitting up Bowery Ballroom on Friday and Saturday and Music Hall of Williamsburg on Monday. The band consistently brings out some of the best crowds the city has to offer and encourages them to let loose. The crowd banged around to a rapid fire set of songs from their latest, Now We Can See, as well as what has become quite an impressive back catalog of tunes. Friday night's Bowery crowd started getting so rowdy (there was nearly a fistfight in the mosh pit) that bass player Kathy Foster had to check in that everyone was all right and threatened, "Don't make us go Fugazi on you guys." While Foster played the show barefoot, singer Hutch Harris showed the dapper side of pop-punk, sweating through the sets in a full suit (before treating fans to some shirts-off time in the encore). It's nice to see a band that revels in the intimacy of a small room to stretch out a run like this, rather than settling for one, big, impersonal gig.

The Thermals put on one of our favorite McCarren Pool shows a couple summers back alongside Ted Leo, the fun and energy of their head-bobbing post-pop-punk set clearly winning over a crowd that may have been more familiar with their elder punk headliner. The Pool is no longer, but The Thermals are still bringing it. This weekend they'll be playing two nights at a sold out Bowery Ballroom (and they've added a Monday show at Music Hall of Williamsburg)—joining them are fellow Portlandites The Shaky Hands and Port Juncture, WA. The band checked in with us on their thoughts about how Larry David would fair in Portland, what is cursing indie music right now and what the ideal garb for dry humping is.

The Dodos are about to enter a very interesting phase of their career. The breakout guitar and drum duo (with a provisional third member) are a simple, intimate band. The two of them sit very close together, quietly strum and bang away, and perform like nobody's watching -- which is part of their appeal. You get the sense you've walked in on something you're not supposed to see. So what happens when a band like this really blows up? The Mercury Lounge was packed to the gills on a Sunday, and one should expect them to play only larger rooms from here on out. Will they take the same show to the big stage, potentially losing some of their appeal? Time will tell as the expectations grow. (pic via ...I made a blog)

Brendan Canty is the drummer for Fugazi, the rightly revered D.C. post-punk band whose page on the Dischord Records website still states "1987 - present." The group hasn’t played together or released an album since their phenomenal seventh LP, The Argument; in 2002 they embarked on what is looking increasingly like a permanent hiatus. Like his bandmates, Canty has been consumed by various other creative projects: he’s produced albums for Ted Leo and The Thermals, among others; recorded and toured with Bob Mould; composed soundtracks for film and television; directed Sunken Treasure, Jeff Tweedy's live concert documentary; and helmed an eccentric rock DVD series called Burn to Shine. Started in D.C. in 2004, each DVD is shot on a single day with a lineup of bands who each get two takes on one song in a house slated for demolition. Canty will be at The Kitchen Wednesday night to perform live soundtracks to Brent Green’s distinctive stop motion animation films; other musicians on the bill include Jim Becker (Califone) and Fred Lonberg-Holm (Wilco, Freakwater). The 8pm show is sold out; tickets for the 10pm show are still available.

Well this was unexpected! Not afraid to wear a fur coat to the Natural History Museum, Kanye West made a surprise appearance at last Friday's Cool Kids/Kid Sister party. As Kid Sister was finishing up her set, Kanye jumped up on stage to throw in his part of their duet. He then stayed up there to play a short set of all his current hits. DJ A-Trak claimed it to be a last minute arrangement, getting thrown together by text messages that evening, and it was a well kept surprise. It certainly made the several long will call lines attendees were forced to wait in more tolerable in hindsight. (Pic by Justin Charles for Flavorpill, who hosted the event)

THEATER: Blogging playwright Brooke Berman’s new satire, Hunting and Gathering, starts with a homage to all the apartments she’s occupied in New York – twenty in all. What follows is a story of “four interconnected New Yorkers and their thwarted attempts to find their place – without compromise. Jesse has his first date since his divorce, his ex-lover Ruth is living a fantasy, his brother Astor is the 'man with the van,' and Bess has a plan to come out on top.” Produced by Primary Stages, you can enrich your theatergoing experience with these Hunting and Gathering webisodes. – John Del Signore

ART: Duke Riley brings his latest exhibit, After the Battle of Brooklyn: East River Incognita II, to Magnan Projects. Starting tonight and showing through December 22nd, the works imagine New York during the Revolutionary War and "interweave historical and contemporary events with elements of fiction and myth to create allegorical histories. His re-imagined narratives comment on a range of issues from the cultural impact of overdevelopment and gentrification of waterfront communities to contradictions within political ideologies as well as commerce and the role of the artist in society and at war."

THEATER: The annual Soho Think Tank Ice Factory, arguably New York’s most impeccably curated theater festival, has been hosting an exhilarating array of new shows every weekend since July 4th . Starting tonight you can sink your teeth into Vampire University, in which “a struggling vampire family descends on an evangelical college in the Midwest, the dad’s mid-life crisis of immortality triggers a desire to come back to life and the gulf between first and second generations vampires has never seemed greater.” Scored to live Theremin! John Del Signore

It seems that every time The White Stripes fade away for a year or two, people seem to forget exactly how amazing they can be live. Perhaps it takes a show like the one at Irving Plaza last Tuesday...filled with hardcore, line-waiting fans and eager and excited members of the media to really drive home just how good a show Jack White puts on, and exactly how impressive Meg is to keep up with him (though not everyone agrees). Those in attendance were in for a treat, as any time an arena band brings it down for a club show, it's always a spectacle. We were floored at Keyspan Park two years ago, and are excited to see them bring it to another level at the Garden next month. Read the reviews at Productshop, The Modern Age, and Stereogum, to (name a few in attendance.) (Pic Via DanFun)

We've never handed our tickets to the door guy at a show before and been asked if we wanted to get a table and buy a bottle. But this, I suppose, is what you get when you go see a show on 16th street and 10th ave. Our experience at the new High Line Ballroom felt as if we were living the opening scene of a Law and Order episode, where at any second some over-tanned I-banker would come stumbling out of the bathroom covered in blood as everybody runs towards the exit. The thumping music, the blinding lights and this lingering sense of false superiority reeked of a disaster, but the ambiance aside, both Spankrock and Ghostface put on one hell of a show. Each act managed to cram as many people as possible on the stage, all rocking and flopping about to the music. Even fellow Wu-Tanger RZA came up briefly at the mic for a brief cameo. Live hip-hop shows are often a mixed bag for us, but while this one started out a bit sketch, it ended with a huge bang. (pic via Gaelenh's Flickr)

Here's a heads up on sunny summertime shows. Sure, after the first week we'll be complaining about the heat, the smell of the city as it melts, and the lack of shade...but it's always nice to have some music to look forward to. So stock up on the SPF for the following shows:

Conor and friends will be back at Town Hall for a 7 night run at the end of May. Tickets are not on sale yet. Check some more opinions of the shows here and here. (Pic above via tammylo's flickr)

READING: John Sellers will be reading from his book, Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, tonight. Idolizing bands like Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Pavement and Guided by Voices, the book outlines how he developed his taste in music. It reads more like a blog, than a book, which makes sense since Sellers has one.

We were caught a bit off guard the last time we caught Rahim live. It was a different band than we remembered. We knew the keyboard player was different, and there were suddenly 4 people on stage. All said, we liked them just fine before, but they sounded absolutely fantastic this time. For once, an added member really completed the sound, rather than acting as a tacked on distraction (See: The Thermals, CMJ). Not exactly sure if was a permanent member or simply a guest sitting in, since as far as we can tell the band is officially a three-piece and a quick scan down their livejournal tour diary would lead one to believe that they just had many friends join them on their many tour stops. Whatever the explanation, the band is performing at the highest level we've ever seen them at right now, and we expect them to carry the momentum into this Sunday's show at Northsix. They’re playing with one of our favorites of 2006, Bound Stems.

As we stated before, there is far far more to CMJ than our little series of parties. Over 1000 bands were in town last week, and while nobody could possibly catch them all, the idea is to see as much as you can and maybe discover a few new favorites. Rather than scrape together a drab roundup of the day by day, we decided to award certain aspects of CMJ for making a mark on the 2006 marathon. Here we go...

Man in Gray

We won't lie, pretty much every band is in Austin right now. But don't let that get you down, there are still some things worth seeing in this city over the next four days - and we bet you'll have a more enjoyable time. With everyone out of the city there will be less crowds and less waiting for a drink at the bar...take advantage of it!

great, but want to check them out for ourselves, since we do like this video. Also check out the last sell outs post for more info on future shows we're not relisting here.

to any more shows was necessary. But we trudged on, press badge around neck and open mind...er, kept open.

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