Girl About Town

Eye Candy #67: Film School, The Depreciation Guild, Home Video and Bronze, live @ Glasslands Gallery - 9.30.10

Film School, photos by C. Becker 

This past Thursday, photographer and GAT contributor Chris Becker was invited to take in the Glasslands Gallery show in Williamsburg (in Brooklyn, NY) which featured acts Bronze (former members of Detachment Kit), and Home Video. Film School, who this past July released their fourth album "Fission" headlined, performing for their third date with The Depreciation Guild. Film School also came off of their own tour dates, starting off in San Diego. The groups played Philadelphia this week as well, with Depreciation Guild also touring for their latest album; "Spirit Youth". During their set, Depreciation Guild were quick to mention how much they enjoyed their European dates and were excited to move on to their Canadian, mid-West and West coast dates.

Bronze, photos by C. Becker  

"….to my surprise Bronze performed very well; fusing their uplifting lyrical moves with progressive riffs…and as for Home Video; they have a new CD out, which I was especially looking forward to seeing performed live. It was really a great performance because they played a lot of their new songs--completely changing the mood of the room for their set. It was like being in a a fast, but slow, lyrical dreamland. The music of Depreciation Guild makes for a very soft setting with occasional jumping leads into stronger guitar lines. And what can I say about Film School? There has been so much buzz about their new album: I've never personally seen them play live--but, boy, they really moved with an emotion and interesting sound that was up-tempo, but still had falling beats, which i happen to really enjoy. I'm really into a lot of the new acts that are coming out of the San Francisco-area right now, so seeing a group like Film School made the show even more emotional and memorable; it moved me to give their album "Fission" even more play after seeing them live." - Chris Becker, www.artistsweetsbecker.us

Depreciation Guild, photo by C. Becker 

Home Video, photo by C. Becker  

Film School - band site / myspace
The Depreciation Guild - band site / myspace
Home Video - band site / myspace
Bronze - myspace 

Eye Candy #66: James, live @ Paradise Rock Club, Boston MA - 9.26.10

James playing The Paradise Rock Club in Boston. 

We've been seeing a lot of shows out on the road lately, this current James tour being one of the many that we'll also catch up with in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Two years ago now, the group released their tenth album, 2008's "Hey Ma" and more recently put out two back to back EPs, "The Night Before" and "The Morning After", released in the US as one double-EP titled, "The Morning After the Night Before"--also the name of their current US tour (backwards in the UK called "The Night Before The Morning After Tour"). 

One the many things to appreciate about James playing for so many years is that they've always attracted a unique audience: from those who love to dance; to those who may only know their tracks from "Laid"; to those who may be familiar with the group's whole catalogue--this is a band that just continue to put on a stellar live show….case in point: for Philadelphia's live date at The Trocadero, lead singer Tim Booth wore a disco-ball glitter jacket to perform at the end of the group's live set, and there is always the lighting set up for a set, and the general joy that emanates from Tim Booth accompanied by his group while he dances out singing between on stage--you can always expect a differing set list as well, which is a nice change for a group that often plays in the UK but have not played the US in a very long time.

James - band site / mercury / myspace

Eye Candy #65: Interpol, live at Music Hall of Williamsburg (Brooklyn, NY) MySpace Secret Show

On Friday September 10th, Interpol played to an exclusive crowd, along with opening up-and-comers Cloudland Canyon, at Music Hall of Williamsburg in New York. The group who are down-to-earth locals themselves, used to practice near Penn Station. Lead-singer Paul Banks made it clear to their crowd that this was still their hometown, and, that even though they had gained such notoriety; that they were still practicing locally (right around the corner from the venue, in fact).

Guitarist Daniel Kessler gave the nod to the evening with several guitar struts, and showmanship that didn't trip him--or the crowd, up. We were happy to be among a group of very excited people; loving the band that they've loved, from the beginning.

Cloudland Canyon (below): #1 on the WNYC radio charts right now, announced new dates supporting Bear In Heaven for this week, but unfortunately seemed to lose any sense of togetherness on stage while opening for Interpol this past Friday.

From the drummer beating his skins raw (and on-beat) at triple-time, to the bassist in his own world (faced back to the crowd, mostly), and a keyboardist who really, really, seemed into it but couldn't help looking over to the lead singer for support while crowd members (not yet sure of whether they were seeing a shoegaze band onstage or not, and who were *obviously* sound-people, themselves) yelled at him between songs, shouting: "WE CAN'T HEAR YOUR VOCALS, TURN THEM UP....TURN THEM UP!!!!" and, "YO, WE STILL CAN'T HEAR YOUR VOCAAAALS!!"

To the group's own unfortunate detriment; using a vocal effect going through a Mac, which was not manned was equal to not being able to do several things at once: hard to perform, sing, play guitar, and work the Mac when not behind the table (which was over on side-stage, somewhere). Although a bit of a disappointment to the crowd who seemed to only 'thoughtfully' clap after each song, the shrug of the shoulders from lead singer  Kip Uhlhorn gave the group's full anxieties on the stage away, as if to say, "Oh well, we tried. Maybe next time." And who knows....

  

Eye Candy # 64: Massive Attack, Martina Topley-Bird, and Neon Indian, live @ Terminal 5 - 5/12/10

Massive Attack, all photos by vipgala

Martina Topley-Bird, all photos by vipgala

Last night Massive Attack played at the packed venue Terminal 5 (Bowery presents...) in NYC with openers Martina Topley-Bird and Neon Indian. Martina Topley-Bird who recorded with Massive Attack for their latest album "Heligoland" wore a stunning pink gown that befit the cinematic feel of the show. Massive Attack are on tour with Topley-Bird who is gaining a lot of support right now over her coming live studio release on Damon Albarn's independent label "Honest Jon's" (out this summer) and also, the re-release of Tricky's ground-breaking trip-hop album "Maxinquaye" which she was featured on. We will have an Spill! interview with Martina in the coming week, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can enjoy our live photo gallery of the show with exclusive photos from our new contributor vipgala who was able to take some great shots of the live show last night!

Massive Attack with Martina Topley-Bird, and Neon Indian - live @ Terminal 5 (NYC)

Eye Candy #63: The National @ The National Theatre, Richmond VA - 4/23/10 (Day Two)

ARLT photos by C. Marcoux

Openers ARLT who were handpicked to open both dates of The National's shows in Richmond, VA were an interesting duo to watch live, but were (perhaps) set before the wrong audience (a sold-out crowd of 1500 people) who were largely waiting for a rock band (loud and indecent). The delicate duo were due to fly in from Paris specifically for these dates, but could only make one because of the delay on air-traffic to and from Europe. They play music that is a mix of classic Ye-Ye and Gypsy-jazz. With the vocals of Eloise Decazes at the forefront of their subtle pop; it was almost as though her voice and movement (moving far away from the mic, cupping her hands to make different sounds 'ouh-ouh') were being used as another instrument in accompaniment with the guitar. Sing Sing (her accompanying guitarist and also singer) seemed to experiment with irregular timing and dances with his guitar to punctuate his strums. They were lovely to watch and listen to live with their quirky songs about cigarettes, birds and dreamy love disasters, but barely audible over the largely talkative crowd, unfortunately. They have a new LP and were only here for one or two more dates in the US before they disappear back to Paris, France until their next visit....

ARLT - myspace

The National photos by C. Marcoux

The National's second show that took place at Richmond, VA's National Theatre was a slow-burner. The set seemed controlled and we think that it may have been due to the 'live' video that the group was shooting while playing on stage. Whatever the cause, the band began to finally warm up as Berninger jumped uncontrolled (and very unevenly) off of the stage with a microphone stand and microphone in hand to satiate the thirsty sold out crowd. With fans going crazy at the end of their set, the band left the stage on a high-note and hopefully have set the tone for what they'll be able to pull off live on future dates. Certain fans however, are still waiting for them to make it past their usual hour and forty live set by pulling in some more of their older material from their (now) wealth of releases. See their changed up set listing below....

The National at The National, Richmond, VA Fri 4/23/10:
 
Anyone's Ghost
Brainy
Secret Meeting
Afraid of Everyone
Blood Buzz
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
Slow Show
Mistaken for Strangers
All the Wine
Little Faith
Conversation 16
Runaway
England
Abel
Daughters of the Soho Riots
Fake Empire

The National - band site / brassland / myspace