My goal for 2019 is to write at least a little something about every show I see, preferably by the next day, we’ll see how it goes. I will compile weekly and post here as-is.
So, in that spirit, this is the thirty-eighth of hopefully 52 posts…
Seems like any night of the week, you can flip a rock over and find amazing musicians scurrying about, playing together in random combinations. A classic who-knows-what-to-expect twofer in Bushwick last night…
Will Shore’s Dirty Squirrels @ H0L0
First stop was at H0L0 which is pronounced “hollow” and is barely above the threshold of “venue.” Felt more like a rehearsal space behind a DIY bar and the scene was definitely “I’ve invited my friends to see us jam.” I think there were maybe 10–12 people there, maybe 15, at $10 a pop, with 10 people on stage… well, do the math. Everyone was in that room because they love to make music/see music made and absolutely no other reason.
I had no idea what “Dirty Squirrels” is, but I know that every time I see vibraphonist Will Shore I like the music, whether on his own, playing with Dave Harrington, or most recently, playing with Ben Goldberg’s crazy 3-vibes band at the Stone. On top of that, the billed band was filled with names I know and love, from Harrington to Jessica Lurie to Doug Wieselman to Kenny Wolleson. Beyond that, I had no idea what to expect. Well, there was no vibraphone, surprise!, Shore didn’t play at all. This was a show of “conducted improvisation,” meaning Shore stood in front of the ensemble and conducted them like a conductor in a symphony, except they weren’t playing a symphony, they were just improvising. It’s cool to watch and when it works, it’s cool to listen to.
Thankfully, it totally worked. Shore was like a DJ in real-world, raising or lowering each instrument, tweaking their volume, style, speed, etc, but what each member played was improvised and, because everyone in this band — which consisted of two guitars, drums, percussion, bass, and a horn section (sax/flute, trumpet, clarinet, bass clarinet) as well as someone on voice/electronics — everyone was a clear improv master, some with decades of experience playing with cats like John Zorn, etc. and because everyone was so damn good, the music was, for the most part, pretty great. I think the key was the backline rhythm section, with Dalius Naujo on drums, Michael Kiaer on bass and Kenny Wolleson on percussion. Kiaer was especially instrumental in providing groove and glue to the whole thing, he was very much an in-the-pocket presence which not only gave some mortar to the structure, actually made it almost danceable (although most people sat on the floor).
They played two very short sets (less than 30 minutes each), but was more or less the “right” amount of time. The first piece felt largely centered around Jessica Lurie on flute and Kenny Wolleson on a little African xylophone thing which gave some lovely color to the improv. Harrington took a solo or two, but this was a pretty horn heavy sound. The second piece seemed to revolve around Christof Knoche’s bass clarinet and was definitely bordering on real funk. Shore kept things in a good place, letting the musicians explore, but not too far, with some really outstanding breakthrough moments to make it well worth the buck-a-musician price of admission. Cool.
Jeremy Gustin, Star Rover and Friends @ The Sultan Room
The show was over pretty early and we were but a 10 minute drive from the beloved Sultan Room, so we headed over. Caught the last two songs of Star Rover, which is he’s-everywhere/he’s-awesome Jeremy Gustin on drums and Will Graefe on guitar and vocals. I had seen these guys open for Maybird earlier this year. I dig ’em. It’s a kind of interesting mix of indie pop and freejazz… like the song we walked in on was a raging rock-out jam and then they closed the first set with a nice indie song. Gustin does a lot of different stuff, but he is the kind of drummer, similar to Joe Russo in this way, who makes his presence felt whether he’s in an improv trio, a big band groove machine, playing drums for Rubblebucket, or part of a song-centric/improv duo like last night. He’s a master of using those big fat brushes to create a heavy/soft sound.
The second set was actually a completely different feel as the Star Rover guys were joined by Benjamin Lazar Davis on bass and the three of them served as a backing band for a rotating cast of singer/songwriters, occasionally joined by Toth (from Rubblebucket) on trumpet. I knew some of them by name, but the 4 or so that we saw were all really great. Larkin started and she played a dulcimer and sang some really unique-sounding songs. Davis sang a couple songs with some weird effects, I missed the third singer’s name, she was fine and then Renata Zeiguer was really good, I’d been wanting to see her for a while. The last one we saw was introduced as “NRG” but called herself “Ann” and she did a Lucinda Williams cover and, as we were walking out, a Patti Smith cover.
It was all very nice, again kind of felt like we were sneakily hiding in a private party of some sort. The kind of show that could only happen in Brooklyn on a Monday. The interconnectedness of the NYC music scene is one of the many things that fascinates me, the connections between the two shows we saw and the contrast in styles to the music really speaks to the universe we have access to here.
The Sultan Room continues to feel like a magic place, no matter how many people are there, it always feels rather empty. There is this modern-day livemusic mood that seems to strike audiences, they just don’t want to be near the stage! It’s kind of weird, if you think about it, but people seem to be repelled by the stage, crowding as far back as they can. The Sultan Room plays into this dynamic so well, it almost seems ridiculous to stand in the lower area near the stage and so it will always feel empty… but there it’s even stranger, the crowd further back, but also in an elevated area, like an audience in one of those surgery theaters or something. Last night we sat in the loungey couch to the side, and I really enjoyed that spot for a mellow Monday vibe.
17Sep19 Andrew Bird (Chicano Batman opened) @ Kings Theater
Last night was somehow my third time seeing Andrew Bird this year, 13th in the last 12 years, and I don’t think there was a moment in any of them where I wasn’t bowled over with how spectacular Andrew Bird is. It would be so easy for what he does, his mannerisms, style and sound, to start to drift into “schtick” territory, but over the years it feels like almost the opposite has happened. Last night was a ridiculously good show, perhaps better than the other two earlier this year in its completeness… about 2 hours dead on, not a single lull in the set, and the band, having toured extensively on the new album, sounded fucking amazing. LIke every single person in this band can and mostly do lead their own successful bands and all have a very clear understanding of Bird’s artistry and vision and. man, it shows. It shows. They sounded so good last night. Also, the stage production was very nice, nothing crazy, but definitely added to the whole thing.
My full review of the show (read it! It’s good!) is here.
Chicano Batman was pretty great opening, too, which made for a nice full bill. I think their sound wasn’t as dialed in and suffered from Kings’ hit-or-miss acoustics, but they’re a lot of fun and their Latin prog-funk is a personal favorite. Hope they come back and play a club again soon, it’s been a while since I saw them headline at Bowery Ballroom.
Kings Theater continues to be great, if not incredibly inconvenient to get to/home from. Ah well, the price you pay…
Lots going on tonight, but if you can hit that Andrew Bird/Chicano Batman show at Brooklyn Steel tonight, you won’t be disappointed.
18Sep19
Landlady @ Nublu 151
Kind of a tough choice with another regular slew of Wednesday night options, but try as I might, I could not resist returning to Nublu for the second of Landlady’s 3-week residency shows. Walked in right as the first song was getting going, room was about half full, maybe, definitely a slightly larger crowd than last week. The set was about 1:3 in terms of different:same as last week, but somehow the playing and energy was even better. I wish I could describe Landlady’s sound. They are one of the few bands that can deeply stimulate intellectually, keep you dancing almost the entire set with its deep funkitude and have you singing their songs the next morning because they’re so damn catchy…. not to mention their up-to-four-part-harmonies and incredibly dynamic frontman. That’s a tough dynamic to pull off. I think the closest analog is Arc Iris, which probably doesn’t help too many people because it’s another band you should be listening to but aren’t.
Landlady does not jam per se, but Adam Schatz does know improvisation and is quite adept at it (I strongly recommend supporting his Patreon… for $2 a month you get a lot of cool music and insights into this genius’ brain) and so he works many of the beats and arcs of good improvisation into his compositions. In the end you have some sort of artpopfunk thing that’s unlike anything else but super comfy nonetheless. The set last night featured more new songs, a couple of the same songs they played last week, like the confirmed-very-awesome “Tooth & Nail,” and confirmed-very-awesome “Supernova.” Once again they seemed to accentuate their material’s winding compositions, the way you can get lost in their songs, much as you might get lost in a good jam, multiple sections and freeform bridges between them, the dynamics of the journey, all buoyed by an incredible groove that keeps you moving.
Schatz has this hyperintelligent banter pacing where he might say something, a sentence, let it linger as if he has hit the period at the end of it and then with impeccable timing, add a single word to subvert the whole thing, turning something profound into something silly or something silly into something profound, maybe adding yet another word after that to twist it even further, or untwist it back. He does a similar thing both musically and lyrically, ridiculousness suddenly imbued with depth with a quick word or musical phrase, or even physical gesture. In that way, a song like “Solid Brass,” which repeats lyrics like “my voice is lower in the morning,” a silly sonic image, eventually has him singing something like “you won’t regret that you met me” and transforms it into a rather sad love song. The new stuff is great, but the older material like “Dying Day” and a couple others really sounded great in their age, reinventing themselves over the years but also from last week to this. For some reason the drum kit was moved from the left side of the stage to the right side and the bassist was playing a completely different bass, which could just be meaningless fun or something deeper altogether. Who knows?
You have one last chance to catch one of these shows next Wednesday. My highest recommendation. Last week they went on at 9:45 and this week they were on at 9:35.
Karina Rykman @ Brooklyn Bowl
One of the reasons I hit Landlady two weeks running is, beyond my love for the band and the music, is a feeling I have for some musicians that, heck, I just want them to succeed and so, I support by being there. Unfortunately, there were two such acts playing at more or less the same time last night, so about 45 minutes into Landlady’s set, I tore myself away to head to Brooklyn Bowl where I caught the last 3 songs of Karina Rykman’s show there. If you see me at a show at Brooklyn Bowl, please know that it’s only because I really want to see who’s playing there that night and I really did want to see Karina play, even if only for a fraction of her set.
Not much to say about her, she’s awesome on the bass, she’s got a great band that’s settling into being a real “thing,” but really watching an awesome person play with such joy and appreciation, big ass smile on her face the whole time… that’s some good shit. Sounded like the set was very similar to the one she played at Rough Trade back when and I was happy to hear “Spiders” and “Pets” which are both great covers for her. Looking forward to the next one…
