Aussie disco punk at it’s finest. I had become a fan of this band from Digitalism’s remix of Down, Down, Down and few other singles off of their earlier album, Beams. Little did I know how much I would enjoy the tracks from their new album, Apocalypso which I had not heard before the show.
This new record will probably be a strong contender for the best electronic/dance album to come out this year but we have a lot of year left and clearly, some big releases have been falling through the cracks for me.
The show itself is what you would expect from an electronic band and unless you love to dance and/or get off on vintage electronic gear from the 70s and 80s, this show might have gotten a little boring. However, a friend of mine, who has a lot of experience at the Bowery, said he had never seen the crowd dancing like they were for The Presets. And if you take into consideration that New York crowds are supposedly boring, this show just might have been exceptionally good.
I enjoyed it.
Talk Like That
Down Down Down
Girl
A New Sky
Yippiyo-ay
Are You The One?
Together
Aeons
Girl and The Sea
Steamworks
This Boy’s In Love
Kicking and Screaming
My People
Anywhere
I Go Hard, I Go Home
Yet another show I was convinced I needed to see only to realize I shouldn’t have needed any convincing. If you like the White Stripes…imagine a full, southern-rock/blues influenced band backing up Jack White. Rockers in the audience were certainly impressed by Jack White’s presence and energy while the rockaphiles were getting blown away by the jams the band kicked out on each song.
Brendan Benson fronts a couple of songs and as good as he is, they end up being forgettable. Maybe he was overshadowed by Jack White singing into the mirror he had mounted on his guitar stack. Or maybe Benson is overshadowed by the entire band he’s involved with. Yeah, that’s it.
Also, this was my first show at the brand, spankin’ new music venue Terminal 5. What I think sums up this place is the fact that it reminds me of the dance club in Basic Instinct. That’s just weird.
Consoler of the Lonely
Store Bought Bones
Hold Up
You Don’t Understand Me
Top Yourself
Old Enough
The Switch and the Spur
Level
Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan cover)
Steady as She Goes
Many Shades of Black
Rich Kid Blues
Blue Veins
Salute Your Solution
Broken Boy Soldier
Attention
Carolina Drama
Finally, I get around to reviewing this show two weeks after the fact. The simple truth is, the show was like taking a time machine back to 1997 when a college buddy first turned me on to Urban Hymns. Richard Ashcroft and the band look and sound just like they did 10 years ago. I was taken back several times during the show at how good Ashcroft sounded. I was standing pretty close to the stage, near the left PA and I couldn’t see him wearing an ear monitor. Perhaps it was tiny and wireless but the guy can still rock the vocals.
Another obvious observation: everyone there was my age…or older. Ashcroft made references to coming to play New York for the first time when they were 21. Something tells me they were a lot like the younger musicians I meet these days: punk douchebags. But their talent has carried them through some superb material, a long break-up/hiatus all to return in 2008 to make a boat load of money from the reunion tour and, oh, record a new album.
Believe it or not, the two new songs performed were some of my favorites of the evening. It’s not their same sound but more their psychadelic-rock view of today’s indie-rock music. Although a cool song on its own, expect a slammin’ dance remix of Love is Pain to be hitting the bars and clubs later this year.
The rest of the show, as Ashcroft remarked, proved the break didn’t make them any less psychedelic. My only complaint is that they didn’t play Blue - my favorite song by the band. It also didn’t help that I lost hearing my in left ear for a couple of days (I’m sure some of it is never coming back) but that wasn’t their fault. I maybe getting to that age where earplugs are a good idea.
New Decade
Sonnet
This Is Music
Space In Time
Life’s An Ocean
Already There
Weeping Willow
Sit and Wonder (new)
The Rolling People
Gravity Grave
Drugs Don’t Work
Lucky Man
Come On
History
Bittersweet Symphony
Love Is Pain (new)
Les Claypool plays the whamola among other instruments for the theme and character music in Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars. The music on the website and in the game trailers sounds appropriate for a fun yet mysterious mushroom adventure. Les writes about the gig:
When Mushroom Men was first presented to me I was coincidentally on the perpetual late fall hunt for the elusive King Bolete mushrooms which dot the West Sonoma County landscape where myself and my family dwell,” said Les Claypool. “The yearly quest for these fabulous, fungal delicacies has become a bit of a seasonal obsession for myself and my two children over the past few years. Coupled with my son’s obsession with fantasy gaming, it was all I could do to get anything else done around Rancho Relaxo once he got wind of the impending Mushroom Man game and the creator’s interest in having me do the soundtrack. After seeing the design material and mock-ups online, I was queried on a daily basis whether or not I had ‘talked to the Mushroom guys’ and would they be sending us a beta version to try out. I knew at once that this was an opportunity to gain massive brownie points in the eyes of my offspring, a feat that becomes more and more difficult the closer they get to adolescence. Thanks Mushroom Men.
I was just listening to Les Claypool - Mushroom Man
A great friggin show. The performance was mind-blowing and the crowd was awesome with a strong Texas contingent. I loved it. Before I get back to work on my dance moves, here is an attempt at a setlist. I think it’s complete but probably a little off on the order:
Piano Man
All You Rock & Rollers
Stranger Lovers
Vibrate
Sad Sad City
Edge of Town
No Place For Me
Midnight Voyage
Move With Your Lover
Shoot ‘Em Down
Dancin’ On My Grave
Heavy Heart
Robotique Majestique
The Band Marches On
Silver City
Rich Man
HFM
Also, an impressive set of photos of the show by “Madeas” is live on Flickr. I recognize these from the photographer who was standing right in front of us. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate people hauling their gear into these shows and putting their stuff up on Flickr for everyone to enjoy. It’s rock photography at its finest.
There will be a test on all of this after you finish the video: