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Reviews
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Photo Review: Torche, House of Lightning and Averikou at Czar
Posted by elawgrrl on Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Metal Monday came early this week with Sunday evening's show, August 2, at Czar's Imperial Palace featuring Torche, House of Lightning and Averkiou. Death Metal, one of Tampa's more unqiue claims to fame, has influenced a plethora of subgenres including the hardcore scene I grew up in. It was awesome to see how many old school hardcore kids made it out along with a whole new group of metal afficiandos on a Sunday night.
Torche
Hailing from Miami, Torche has a rabid fan base hooked on their unique sound - it's part thrash with a twist of melodic hardcore, and dare I say a bit of twang, all on a solid metal base. Decibel Magazine called Torche's music a "whole new beast built from the DNA up." Since Torche's Meanderthal (Hydrahead Records) took the #1 spot on Decibel's 2008 Top 40 Extreme Albums list, their fan base is rapidly expanding but thankfully their intensity remains intact.
Live the band exceeds expectations drawing in the audience until everyone is at least nodding along if not full on head banging. You can see that these musicians love what they do and are having a party on stage to which the whole crowd is invited. As a gift to the fans from back in the Floor days, the crowd went nuts when Scimitar was played. When the audience demanded an encore, the band requested a bit of patience while Rick reassembled his drums that had come undone in the intensity of their last song and the audience happily waited late on a Sunday night to squeeze in just a couple more songs.
Their energetic stage presence had me capturing Steve and Jonathan nonchalantly hanging out in mid-air repetitively:
To really experience the mid-air nonchalance, click on the photo to view them in a larger size.
Torche's 2009 EP (with DVD) Healer / Across the Shields (Hydrahead Records) is out now for your home enjoyment.
Torche is Steve Brooks (Guitars/Vocals), Jonathan Nuñez (Bass), and Rick Smith (Drums)
House of Lightning
The elusive and mysterious House of Lightning (ex-Dove) made one of their too rare appearances opening up for Torche. The crowd reveled as the waves of thrash crashed down upon them.
As a music photographer, few things are as entertaining to capture as the myriad faces of metal framed by hair swirling around in awful red lighting. As you can see during House of Lightning's set, the opportunities for capture were endless.
Word on the street is that House of Lightning has been recording so hopefully a record will be coming soon!
Averkiou
In spite of being the only non-metal band of the evening, Gainesville's Averikou did a good job of holding the attention of the mostly metal mania audience. Averkiou is on the one hand a prototypical shoegazer band (frequent comparisons to Swervedriver, Guided By Voices and, of course, My Bloody Valentine) producing a delicious sound that is nearly tactile and on the other hand is a straight up indie pop band. Check out their new album, Throwing Sparks (Clairecords/Barracuda Sound) which has received universal praise with the most common complaint from reviewers being that it is too short!
Averikou is Matt Brink, David Quarles, Chad Darby, James Hernandez and Jason Shusterman
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Travels with Jack, Part 2: Pitchfork Fest '09 Wrap (with lots of pics)
Posted by Jack Spatafora on Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 8:53 PM
"I'm so blessed to / have spent the time / with my family and the friends I love/ with my short life / I have met so many people I deeply care for"
These final chanted lyrics of Yeasayer's "Red Cave" go a ridiculously long way in summarizing exactly what my recent trip to Chicago for the fifth annual Pitchfork Festival meant to me. While I'd been to the fest several times in the past (the first three, actually), this marked the first time that a huge group of old friends (LBHS stand up!) were able to meet up and enjoy the city and the music and the drunken shenanigans together. (Pictured at right: Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips; all photos by R. Kevin Rose.)
What'd I learn? well, for starters... we are all official members of the POSI-ADULT CREW. Not straight edge -- not even close -- but definitely upbeat and affable. Positive, if you will. A group of kids raised on (amongst many, many other things) Bad Brains' "P.M.A.", Seven Seconds, Dag Nasty, Gorilla Biscuits, etc., who grew into a geographically dispersed crew of adults ... all of us still kinda "Screaming For Change" in our own unique ways. (LOTS MORE PICS AND SHENANIGANS AFTER THE JUMP)
CD review: The Takers, Taker Easy (audio)
Posted by autopsy4 on Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Anyone who pays any attention to music in Florida has heard about The Takers at some point in the past year, and since Suburban Home picked them up, the hype machine has been doing nothing but gaining momentum. By the time Virgil reached out to me with a copy of the band's debut album, Taker Easy, I was already wondering if they'd be able to match the advance billing. Now, after spending some two months with the CD and managing to catch them live at the Citrus Circuit Tour, I can readily proclaim that yes, The Takers are worthy of the hype. Now hopefully with the CD finally coming out the rest of the country will get behind this little Florida band.
The Takers are a ragtag collection of bike mechanics, cooks, restaurant managers, cashiers and recycled ink salesmen out of Tim Tebow-land (Gainesville). They came together almost by accident when Devon Vlasin (singer) found himself in need of a backing band to open for an upcoming Willie Heath Neal show. A few phone calls and free beer bribes netted a temporary ensemble that decided to keep at it beyond the one-night gig. After some member revisions and additions, the band finally settled in with singer Devon Vlasin joined by Chad Smith and Ronnie Holmes on electric guitars, Jerome Goodman on bass, Mike Collins on pedal steel and drummer Jon Reinertsen.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Concert review: Nightmare of You at Crowbar
Posted by Kate Cillian on Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Looking over my notes from Thursday night's show, I'm inclined to call Nightmare of You unique. Words like "nuts," "dub" and "sultry" jump off the page, infiltrating my consciousness and recreating the music of this NYC band.
The four-piece put on an incredible show. After a little bit of gambling with members of other bands (Plushgun, Brian Bonz, and Aushua), these guys jumped on stage and rocked it. There was no need for onstage shenanigans -- the music said it all.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Photo Review: Pedals on our Pirate Ships, The Wild, Regular Size People Fight
Posted by elawgrrl on Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Pedals on our Pirate Ships finally sailed into Tampa on July 21, 2009! Which explains how I found myself out late on a Tuesday work night at Transitions Art Gallery to see Pedals on our Pirate Ships (Richmond), The Wild (Atlanta) and Regular Size People Fight (Tampa).
Pedals on our Pirate Ships
My friend Jeff made me some mix CDs last winter and immediately catching my attention was a song, "Peter Pan Syndrome", with this chorus "Will you be my Wendy? Will you be my Tinkerbell? / Don't be silly you can be my Tiger Lily still" and lines such as "We don't have goals but we have lots of fun" and "but secretly we all miss our mothers, we seek security in the arms of lovers." When I couldn't get the song out of my head, I looked up the band with a peculiar name, Pedals on our Pirate Ships, and listened to the rest of the songs posted on their myspace page and was hooked.
Hailing from Richmond, VA, these folk punk rockers play extremely fun and catchy folk punk tunes with just a tinge of introspection. In "reinventing Bryan Adams" Matt belts out "Why do they call it goodbye, doesn't feel so good to me, why don't we call a spade a spade, say what we really mean... look me in the eye and say loving you is fucking killing me" At the show, a small but enthusiastic crowd sang along at the top of their lungs to the crowd favorites including "Peter Pan Syndrome" and "Night of the Living Wage."
Originally, Pedals on our Pirate Ships was Matt Seymour's solo acoustic project featuring an extensive guest and former member list including the following musicians: Michael Otley, Jameson Price, Tim Baker, Casey Martin, Lindsay Sisk, Tim Barry, Nick Bergheimer, Tim Carroll, Ian Cassidy, David Donaldson, Lindsey Driscoll, David Hughes, Joe Hunt, Joe Mager, Josh Small, Daniel Rickey, and Adam Thompson. It's amazing how much more fun a show is when the band is having as much fun as the audience and that was certainly true at this show. Adding to the visual joy of Pedals on our Pirate Ships, the drummer uses a steamer trunk as a bass drum.
Pedals on our Pirate Ships currently are Matt Seymour (vocals/guitar) with Adrienne Brown (vocals/melodica/tambourine) and Louis Cyrtmus (drummer)
The Wild
We arrived during The Wild's set. I liked them immediately and not just because they had a banjo in their punk rock band. Hailing from Atlanta, The Wild also plays music in the folk punk genre. Like Pedals on our Pirate Ships, they had a great time playing and as a consequence the audience had a great time listening. I look forward to checking out their recorded material.
The Wild is Kylee (drums), Ben (Bass), Dianna (Tambourine and vocals and more!) and Witt (guitar and vocals)
Regular Size People Fight
Regular Size People Fight features a group of talented Tampa musicians from Dukes of Hillsborough, Watson and The Tim Version playing post-punk. It was fun to see these guys playing something a bit different... I haven't heard their record "Yowza!" (Fast Crowd Records) yet but No Idea Records describes it as "Smart lyrics and clever guitar riffs that will make you want to crack open a cold one and sing along."
For more photos, please check out the following links:
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Concert review: The Avett Brothers at the Cuban Club (pics + setlist)
Posted by btreotch on Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 3:25 PM
(All photos by elawgrrl)
This past Saturday night, the Cuban Club Bandshell played host to a long awaited and twice-delayed show by
The Avetts opened with a track from their upcoming release, I and Love and You (September 29, American Recordings) -- "Laundry Room," an entrancing song with a refrain I still can't get out of my head. Then the band traversed through their entire catalog, with highlights that included "Distraction #74," "Gimmeakiss," "I and Love and You" and "Shame."
As NPR's Bob Boilen recently pointed out, Scott Avett sings as if he swallowed an amplifier. The long-haired, banjo thrashing hillbilly yells love songs at the top of his lungs. It's a sweaty mess, but still ends up being captivating, raw and beautiful. The younger (and only other brother), Seth Avett, plays George to Scott's John, Paul and Ringo, as the older Avett will sometimes take to the drum kit and keyboard. Often when drums are interspersed within a set, the music lacks punch and suffers inconsistencies -- but the energy of Avetts made up for it. Not to mention the brothers, along with Bob Crawford on upright and electric bass and Joe Kwon on cello, pound the hell out of the back of their respective instruments. (Setlist and more after the jump...)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Rock Report: Nerdapalooza, Orlando (with audio and video)
Posted by autopsy4 on Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 6:34 PM
As I said with my last post about Nerdapalooza, I wasn't really familiar with the whole genre (or its fan base) until mere weeks before attending the festival, but I had a short list of people I wanted to see as Trevor and I shoved off from St. Petersburg last Saturday morning.
Now, I'm typing this a little under 24 hours after getting home from the festival. Showered, rested, and fed, I'm still not sure how I want to cover it. There were plenty of disappointments, such as Kabuto The Python (the #1 thing I wanted to see) not thinking to try the rapping with a mask thing out before stepping out onto a stage, which resulted in Kabuto the Mime. There was The Protomen's set so mired in feedback that you would have thought they brought it along as their special guest. Then there was the most frustrating of all, the festival's complete and utter inability to stay anywhere close to the schedule (more on that later).
But this isn't meant to be a diatribe from some outsider coming in to point at the nerds and talk about how shitty their convention was. And as I drove I reflected on some of the cool shit we saw. The first band we caught, Captain Dan & the Scurvy Crew, were quite entertaining both sonically and visually as they took the stage in complete pirate garb. Kabuto aside, the rest of the Scrub Club showcase was phenomenal. As a "crew" they seem to embrace a "hiphop first, nerd second" approach to their music and stage show that really appeals to me. Then there was the out of left field "holy shit I am gonna talk about that for months" set of Schaffer The Darklord. I'd listened to his material on myspace in preparation for the festival and was lukewarm to it at best. However, live...live is where it was at. Those lazy beats and rhyme delivery were pushed aside for an uptempo, high energy tight stage show that captivated the entire room. Watching him on stage I kept thinking, this dude is like nerdcore's version of Col. J.D. Wilkes (for those who don't know, read about JD here). I don't think there is any doubt that Schaffer stole the entire festival with his shortened performance.
As a whole, I'd say Nerdapalooza was wildly successful, especially for true fans of the genre. Hell, I've become an avid fan of Schaffer and the entire Scrub Club crew. The organizers said attendance was larger than they were expecting, that they managed to recoup their original investment and will apparently be making a sizable donation to the Child's Play Charity, so all signs point to a third Nerdapalooza coming to Orlando next year. On that note I'd like to offer the festival itself some friendly advice (constructive criticism). Now normally I try to avoid too much criticism, especially for shows that have long passed, as it falls in the 'too little too late' category. However, this thing will probably happen again so I feel it's criticism that could bear fruit. So...
Hex and crew. You need to put a greater focus on keeping the festival running on schedule, or at least close to it. There are a ton of ways this can be achieved, but already being an hour behind 5 bands into the day is terrible. Furthermore, when you see that you need to make up time, condense the sets of your afternoon performers...not your headliners.
Captain Dan & The Scurvy Crew - From The Seas To The Streets
Captain Dan & The Scurvy Crew - Flintlock Glock
Nerdapalooza theme song?: MadHatter and Duyahn Walker - Nerd Party
Schaffer The Dark Lord - Nerd Lust:
Schaffer The Darklord - The Bender:
CD Review: Regina Spektor, far (with video)
Posted by Leilani Polk on Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 4:51 PM
It’s been three years since Soviet-American songstress Regina Spektor first enchanted us with the soul-pop perfection of Begin to Hope and proved herself a storyteller with a keen sense of detail and drama, a confident singer with a broad vocal range -- from high and pure to low and sensual -- and a poet with a unique use of words and an alluring inflection, not as if English were her second language, but as if she’s established a whole new charming style of speaking.
The follow-up and Spektor’s fifth studio album doesn’t quite attain the catchy ease of its predecessor, but far (Sire Records) carries its own abundance of appeal.
In the bouncy opening track, “The Calculation,” Spektor playfully ponders the mathematical equation of love and the surprising fury of its burn while in "Folding Chair," she enjoys a casual day at the beach with her sweetheart and daydreams of domestic bliss (“Let’s get a silver bullet trailer, and have a baby boy / I’ll safety pin his clothes all cool and you’ll graffiti up his toys”). “The Wallet” shows her way of making the mundane seem remarkable with a touching ballad about finding someone’s lost wallet, and she combines quiet, abstract contemplation with grandiose stretches of piano and rhythmic flourishes in the melancholy yet somehow uplifting “Eet.” (Video after the jump)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Review: Maxwell's BLACKSummer'snight
Posted by Eric Snider on Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 5:53 PM
It was not all that long ago that a self-imposed eight-year hiatus by an R&B singer was tantamount to quitting the game. Labels wouldn’t have it; fans would forget.
Singer Maxwell’s retreat for most of the decade into “pedestrian life” doesn’t appear to have hurt his career. BLACKSummer’snight, his first release since 2001’s Now has generated plenty of buzz and reportedly will make a splash on the charts any day now.
Maxwell’s re-arrival happens at a precipitous time, amid a listless modern soul scene where hardly anyone can resist the Auto-Tune button. We’ll call BLACKSummer’snight a solid return, especially welcome considering contemporary R&B’s current state of affairs.
The 36-year-old Brooklyn-bred artist is a genuine singer in the classic mold of a Marvin Gaye. His stock-in-trade is smoldering restraint, but he can grasp for the rasp and turn up the passion when called for.
Tales From the Pit: My First Warped Tour Experience
Posted by Lily Reisman on Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 6:16 PM
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It was ridiculously hot. It took me 15 minutes to realize that my white wife beater would become my face towel for the day. It was loud. It was colorful. It was my first time at Vinoy Park. And finally, at the age of 24, it was my first time experiencing Warped Tour.
It's been three years since I attended a music festival and as I walked through the ticket line into a field filled with tents, stages, beer stands and even a slip n' slide, I instantly recalled why I love outdoor fests; passing through the gates meant entering a world of the unpredictable and the unexpected. I didn't know what kind of crazies I'd come across (there were bound to be some amidst the 10,000 attendees), what kind of new music I'd hear, or how pleased I'd be with the bands I was there to support.
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Tags: News, Reviews, Bouncing Souls, punk, concert, music, rock, hardcore, Commentary, Concerts, Vinoy Park, warped tour, music festival, Bad Religion, Less Than Jake, Ska, streetlight manifesto, cash cash, set it off, i set my friends on fire
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