Inessentials » dirty projectors http://www.inessentials.com Analysis, criticism, and observations on pop culture. Sun, 25 Sep 2011 12:50:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Experience: Thao with the Get Down Stay Down at The Space http://www.inessentials.com/2010/04/21/experience-thao-with-the-get-down-stay-down-at-the-space/ http://www.inessentials.com/2010/04/21/experience-thao-with-the-get-down-stay-down-at-the-space/#comments Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:26:36 +0000 inessentials http://www.inessentials.com/?p=342 I made my first venture to The Space in Hamden, CT, a small venue that was specifically designed to be an all-ages venue in an state with very few places for the kiddos to hang out. Somehow I had always had a conflict on the nights when previous bands I wanted to see had come through, but I made sure I wasn’t going to miss Thao. While I was well above the median age of the audience, there was a group of six folks older than me that showed up just for Thao’s set. They were absolutely astonished that someone of Thao’s reputation was playing a club that looks like your friend’s basement. (If your friend had really, really great connections.)

Opening for Thao were All the Friends and Magic Man. All the Friends are an experimental indie rock trio from Waterbury, CT. I think these three young guys are still finding their sound. Each song sounded like an ode to a (worthy) influence. There’s the Beirut song, the Radiohead song, the Dirty Projectors song. But what really stands out about them is their very refined musicianship. They have not only the band nerd vibe, they’ve got some serious music chops, and as they continue to grow and explore who they want to become as a band, that underlying talent will give them a chance to make some truly great music. Download All the Friends’ two-song demo.

Magic Man at The Space (from the Magic Man Myspace page)

Magic Man played a boisterous set in the middle position. I always enjoy an indie band that isn’t afraid of dance music, and Magic Man embrace the joy of bodily movement like few bands I’ve seen. The most obvious comparison is to The Killers, but there are elements of Vampire Weekend in the vocals and the drastic tempo swings recall pioneering emo bands like Modest Mouse. Technically a duo, Magic Man played with a four-piece band, but the real hero was the little white Macbook producing a surprisingly smart and full sound, never just bleeps for bleeps sake or drum loops because there isn’t a drummer, but really filling out the sound. I am looking forward to listening to their debut album, which is available for free.

Thao is in the middle of a Northeast mini-tour following a month-long tour of Europe this winter. There is a rush that comes from standing about seven feet from the band with the 2008 best-selling album by a Kill Rock Stars band (Decemberists, Elliot Smith, Deerhoof). And when she said the good folks at Manic Productions had sent them to Miya’s Sushi, well, my worlds collided just a wee bit. (Wouldn’t Thao and Bun Lai have the cutest, most creative little babies ever?)

Thao’s set ran through all the highlights of We Brave Bee Stings and All and Know Better Learn Faster (except “Easy,” which may have been intended for an encore, but the venue was set up in such a way that the band leaving the stage before the encore left the audience confused and prevented us from showing the love to bring them back out). Thao’s music focuses on melodies and rhythms, the melodies nesting in as catchy little earworms and the the rhythms providing foot-tapping, hand-clapping happiness that warms your whole body over. I was happy to see that the Thao and the fellas had provided some different arrangements for the live versions of the songs. I now much prefer the live version of “Violet” to the album version. The songs (unsurprisingly) were immensely fun to sing along with, and the band provided some high-end claps that clearly challenged the audience. (I saw more than a few people shrug and give up. Clapping is hard for white high school kids from the ‘burbs.)

All in all, a pretty great show.

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]]> http://www.inessentials.com/2010/04/21/experience-thao-with-the-get-down-stay-down-at-the-space/feed/ 0 My Music in 2009 http://www.inessentials.com/2010/01/15/my-music-in-2009/ http://www.inessentials.com/2010/01/15/my-music-in-2009/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:07:32 +0000 inessentials http://www.inessentials.com/?p=231 I have very little to say about music in the year 2009. I wasn’t even planning to do a recap or best-of, but then I realized that last.fm shows play counts by album. So here are my most-listened to albums that were released in 2009. And you can always see what’s in my ears at my last.fm page. (I should note that when songs are played back-to-back, it only counts as one play, which hurt albums that I usually listened to sequentially like Bitte Orca. It also is obviously biased toward albums released earlier in the year, like Noble Beast.)

  • 154 plays: U2, No Line on the Horizon
  • 140 plays: Andrew Bird, Noble Beast
  • 118 plays: Neko Case, Middle Cyclone
  • 117 plays: Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
  • 117 plays: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz!
  • 106 plays: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, s/t
  • 99 plays: Metric, Fantasies
  • 92 plays: Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career
  • 88 plays: Sin Fang Bous, Clangour
  • 85 plays: Mos Def, The Ecstatic
  • 83 plays: Monsters of Folk, s/t
  • 79 plays: Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
  • 75 plays: Blind Pilot, 3 Rounds and a Sound
  • 69 plays: Passion Pit, Manners
  • 69 plays: Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
  • 61 plays: Ida Maria, Fortress ‘Round My Heart
  • 59 plays: Bishop Allen, Grrr…
  • 59 plays: The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You
  • 50 plays: God Help the Girl, s/t

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