I recently received an album from a friend of mine who is a v. talented (cough Grammy winner) music producer in Nashville. This is someone whose music tastes and extensive knowledge I have always respected. Mike was also a factor in some of my earliest music junky memories (his views on Peter Gabriel’s Sledge Hammer video stick out in particular). I was truly excited when he sent me a copy of Asleep In The Green, the album he just finished with a band called Telephant.
Telephant is a group based in Nashville, although after my first listen to the album I could have sworn they were British. On song such as Anne Frank, 1000 Violins and the title track Asleep In Green have clean slightly chamber popish arrangements that suggest the Walkmen. They show real chops when they push these talents to achieve a larger sound on songs like Songs For An Ancestral Alien and Robespierre. On these two tracks they build a sound and weave the lyrics into the entire sound an art mastered by the likes of Radiohead and Coldplay (two obvious influences on the group).
Telephant is also lyrically smart they don’t try too hard to be overly witty or verbose, as I said their strength is weaving their compositions and their words together to achieve a whole sound, when they toss in phrases like “In all of the kismet and proverbs and visions of the famed Holy Ghost and these strange superstitions” it tacks your ear to the lyrics forcing you to recognize there is more than just a great arrangement playing out.
If these tracks were the entirety of the record I would say they have a good chance of making a name for themselves with the current indie crowd. However they have spiced the album’s sound up with Botswanna a track that incorporates some Afro Pop elements to compliment the sound they brand on the rest of the album. The reach towards experimentation is done with comfort and to such a degree that it doesn’t tear the fabric of the album as a whole. It also suggests these fellas are drawing from a diverse range of inspiration, not just trying to be the next Coldplay. I can’t help but go full circle and suggest the influence of Peter Gabriel on this track as well as Rhythm Of The Sant’s era Paul Simon. While I’m not entirely sure Afro Pop is the direction they should be headed I genuinely appreciated the stylistic curiosity.
For a first album there are real signs of promise on Asleep In Green. If the boys of Telephant can enhance their recorded sound with a solid live show and maintain their curiosity while evolving to a more defined identity they could rightfully claim their place in the indie race. I would like to see them explore the subtle steel guitar/alt country tinge I began to notice after a few listens. Regardless, I look forward to seeing them live and would suggest you seek them out as well.
Drop.io Links
Anne Frank
Fifth Ace of Anchors
Robespierre
Telephant MySpace
I had the great pleasure of seeing Bon Iver this week at the Trocadero in Chinatown. Apparently, Billy and I didn’t read the fine print on the tickets requesting we wear our skinny jeans, lumberjack plaid and stocking cap. The opener for the night was The Tallest Man On Earth . We caught his last song, a cover of Jackson Brown’s These Days, which was good. Probably would have been better had it fallen in the context of his entire set. But, I’d go see him if he passed through town again.
Bon Iver took the stage and opened with one of the tracks from their new EP Blood Bank. Despite it being a little more chamber folk than I usually like it was a good way to start the show. I was a little surprised to see how amped the band was but upon reflection, For Emma…Forever Ago was a solo effort (implying a good degree of tech support) so, with the addition of band members it seems only natural that the whole thing would be plugged in. It was well done too. The drums and bass were given the hollow weight from the album and live it was particularly powerful. The only time it was really apparent was on the new EP tracks which are aiming for an epic sound vs. the reflective somber mood of For Emma…
The version of Skinny Love they played introduced a degree of bass drum that made my heart twitterpate. I have an affinity for the warm vibrations of a bass line and Justin’s assembled band delivered in spades. Again they emphasized the bass percussion in Re:Stacks in a way that made it a different tune entirely. There were only a few off notes of the evening mostly involving the newer stuff it seemed a little untethered and aimless but it took a few listens to For Emma… for me to adore it so, I’m willing to chalk that up to having not heard most of it before.
The only other issue I had with the show had nothing to do with the rperformers and EVERYTHING to do with the chick standing near us who had fucking bells attached to her shoes. Note to all of you concert goers out there: don’t bring your own instruments to shows. She obviously thought it was cute that she was adding her own touch but not only did she jingle her bells at the worst possible times but SHE WAS ALWAYS OFF BEAT. Ugh. But I digress.
The fellas did a cover of the Outfield’s Your Love which was an interesting choice but Justin’s voice made it him own for sure. For The Wolves the crowd was encouraged to sing along at the end while it built to it’s crescendo the howl/scream/yell when the tension broke. The space in the Troc made the crowd participation rather effective and the howl at the end reminded me a bit of the Midnight scream organized by my alma mater during finals.
The true gem of the night for me though was the closing of the show. When the album first came out I was intrigued simply because you seldom see Emma used. While sorry that the Emma in Justin’s past cause such pain I am not too torn up cause this album was the product. Anyways, I was hoping to hear my track played live and not only did they play it but they finished the WHOLE SHOW with a little dedication to moi. The cherry on top was the country swing they gave to it making it clear that whatever it once meant Bon Iver has moved on to a much happier place. I look forward to hearing Blood Bank in its entirety next year and seeing Bon Iver when he returns to Philly.
Justin & Sarah Siskind Lovi’ns For Fools
Justin solo on piano For Emma…
A week later I finally have time to give the run down of the Mountain Goats show I saw last week at the TLA. It was kind of an interesting crew I convinced my friend Tom/Sebastien to join me and we met up with Ashley and her fella Dan as well as another friend of hers. A random bunch, yes but, fun all around.
The show was all ages and at the TLA two variables that generally mean an influx of non-city dwellers and this was no exception. Kaki King was the opener and beyond saying she could be the poster child for “only one good album” and “much better recorded” cliche definitions I am not going to waste my energy on expressing how totally horrible she was for the entire hour and half she played [a set time rivaling those common during shows from my Jam Band phase]. The single redeeming factor was the sound board guy who played trumpet and some digital instrument that looked like the love child of a Casio keyboard and a bong from the back, apparently too shy to join them on the stage.
Anyways, the Mountain Goats made a quick switch of gear and got off to a rollicking start. I have been a fan from afar for a while but in the last few months I have really come back to some of their stuff, in particularly live recordings. So, seeing them live was a priority. For someone with Aspebergers John Darnelle is pretty fantastic on stage. His anecdotes were short and entertaining and got right back to the music. He even satisfied a request from the audience to play “Thin Lizzy” — only after pointing out it was generally in poor taste to ask for a cover by shouting out the other band’s name and not the song title — and it was a fine cover of a eighties pop standard. They kept to their peppier stuff Fall Of The Star High School Running Back and Pirates and No Children the lyrics to which are some of my favs. The crowd (after the Kaki fans went away) was a fun dancy high spirited bunch singing along to Darnelle’s often quirky lyrics.
The only low point was Kaki’s return to the stage, and I really am not trying to hate on her too much it was just the weak point honestly, and their duet on the Snake Song they have recently released. I’m pretty sure that’s not even the real name but its not one I like too much and seemed to go on for too long.
Kaki stuck around for another song but then the rest of the Goats came back on stage and finished the set. The show finisher, for me at least, was This Year. The one song I was really really wanting to hear. He sang it with a sincerity I hadn’t heard in previous recordings, perhaps due to a year that he led by mentioning was one of the hardest he has ever experienced. I didn’t stick around for the encores I was stupid tired at that point (1:12 am) but I heard it was excellent. On the whole not the best show I’ve seen but certainly not the worst and I will definitely catch them once the opportunity again presents itself.
I saw Frightened Rabbit on Friday night at the First Unitarian Church. They were opening for Spinto Band for whom the night was serving as their official CD release but I tell you, most of the people there had come out to see this threesome from Scotland.
As I am newish to formally reviewing shows I’m not sure if I can capture how spectacular this show was. So I’ll just start from the beginning. The sound was a little wonky to start, it is the basement of a church after all*, but after they got that balanced the boys glistened.
Their post punk influence is much more apparent when you see them live and can really feel the driving bass drum and see the way these fellas rock out together. I can’t tell you how much a true connection and balance of talent/musical understanding contributes to a live show. They played stuff off of their new album The Midnight Organ Fight as well as their freshly released live album Liver! Lung! FR! both of which should be purchased by you all post haste. Highlights were
•The Modern Leper which is probably the best song written with references to Leperosy and when played live have an energy the isn’t on the album (but is still a valid tune)when the rhythm is pumped up a bit more you really feel the drive of this song.
•Old Old Fashioned which is the kind of tune you wish your friends who are in band would have written so if anything you had one reason to go to their shows. The lyrics to this song are grand and made for a good sing along with the crowd.
• They closed with Keep Yourself Warm which is the song that first grabbed my attention months ago. It is a gem of an honest relationship song and really tied things up very nicely. There is something about the singing “It takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm” in a room with a bunch a strangers in the mess hall of a church that has a delicious irony.
If they had played Backwards Walk it might have been too good to be true and now I have real motive for seeking them out when they come back through the East as headliners this winter. The crowd wanted more after they left the stage and stood around makin noise for a while but FR didn’t return to the stage. I was standing by the sound board at this point and their manager came back to let the guy know they weren’t coming back out (despite the fact that EVERYONE there was bowled over by them and wanting to see what else they could put out there) because, he said, they (FR) didn’t want to steal Spinto’s glory at their release show a far more endearing end than any encore could have provided. Well played guys.
It would be well worth your money to see Frightened Rabbit when/if they come through your town.
* One of the reasons I so love this city they have some fabulously unique venues. Besides First Unitarian Johnny Brenda’s is an old dance hall and the Trocadero is an old Chinese theater.