It's Friday and there's some damn good shows going down tonight. That's all that needs to be said. Take care of each other tonight and donate a couple of drinks to your favorite band.
As you can see to your left, ambient mood music shall penetrate the walls of Southpaw tonight beginning at 8pm (125 5th Ave., Bklyn.). We've got four ultra-promising bands coming there for the reasonable price of $10: SEA RAY, TENDERFOOT, THE LAST TOWN CHORUS, and CHALLENGER. Once you hear "Revelry", you'll understand why Sea Ray have been the possessors of tremendous industry buzz. Think Sigur Ros on Prozac, The Polyphonic Spree shaking hands with the NYC Symphony. It's perfectly-structured pop music, but with added unique qualities; a cello here, intelligent lyrics there (Oh I don't care what the Good Book says/Now I'm free/But I feel no revelry), and this great light percussion section (on a song like "Revelry", SR could've decided to go melancholic duple, but instead they came up with the uber-catchy double-time drums and tambourines you hear in the track). The fact that the band possesses a diverse sound is an added bonus. Tenderfoot meanwhile have emigrated from Iceland to bring you quality music their way. Yes, I know when you hear Iceland, you immediately think of aforementioned blues brothers, Sigur Ros. Judge not dear music lover. On a song like "While This River Flows", your ears are imbued with Simon and Garfunkle guitars and waves of pulsating rhythm punctuated by deep-throated emotional vocals. As if it couldn't get better, it goes and does with The Last Town Chorus. It is at this point that I should mention that the bookers of Southpaw deserve tremendous credit here; they have sculpted a bill which is consistent in both technique and sound. TLTC keep within the bill's theme of mysterious mood music, but they have a completely different idea of what that entails. Beth Orton-esque female vocals glower over echoed slide guitar in "Change Your Mind". The only complaint I will register here is that the song doesn't have many parts to it, it's a beautiful river of sound but with no climax or bridge to keep the ear tuned in. Last but not least, Challenger, a band who will stretch the boundaries of Southpaw's conception of "mysterious mood music". I've had this group on the radar for some time now after hearing "Goddamn American Dream", a Pink-Floyd-opera of sorts complete with samples of Bonham's "When The Levee Breaks" brick-layer-drums. Nevermind that when I exclaimed to a DJ friend how amazing it was that Challenger sampled Zeppelin, he cooly replied that along with "Funky Drummer", "When The Levee Breaks" is one of the most sampled drum lines ever. Besides the point entirely. They took a novel approach to a much-approached subject and, I think, succeeded. "Goddamn American Dream" is one of their more accessible songs however; strange samplings like the knife-sharpening sound in "Destroyer" may put off the audience a bit. Personally, I think it's intriguing enough to warrant a second listen. See for yourself at Southpaw and then tell L.A.R.S. all about it.
Moving right along, we've got one of my favorite bands playing a surprise show tonight at the Knitting Factory's Old Office space (74 Leonard St.). Yes, I'm talking about THE HARLEM SHAKES, a band who can shake (harmony-infused "Eighteen"), rattle (the dark "White Note") and roll (the addicting "Disco 5000"). These boys are simply wonderful on wax and preternaturally mind-blowing onstage. Get there by 9pm with $7 in order to see the Shakes' supporters, Fireworks Go Up!, Kung Fury, and Salo Rex. Don't believe the hype? Well after listening to THS' mp3s below, please reroute yourself to the L.A.R.S. archives, where you will find a review of their January 17th performance at Don Hills, where they properly blew away this young music fan. At the very least, go there to give them all a good pat on the back, they're superbly polite and sweet gentlemen.
And speaking of The Harlem Shakes, I have a favor to ask all of you, and this time, it's actually quite important. If perhaps you fancy yourself to be Mick Ronson-esque:
or perhaps Jimmy Page-ish
or, as Beck said, You only have one finger left/And it's pointing at the dawn, (I mean, really, why do all lead guitarists point at up? Je ne sais pas)....
you need to IMMEDIATELY contact The Harlem Shakes. These boys are in need of a lead guitarist toute suite. I shall repeat that, because it bears repeating. THE HARLEM SHAKES ARE IN NEED OF A LEAD GUITARIST. The question is, are you feeling lucky punk? If you are, contact this awesome band at harlem@harlemshakes.com. And no prankers please, only qualified guitarists need apply. Check out their website beforehand to get a better feel for the band: www.harlemshakes.com. I mean, I immediately offerred to do the Robert-Palmer-video backup style, but apparently they're not in need of such schlockery. Point is, contact them and then go see them tonight. Cheers.
Check the Events Calendar for more details and other shows, there's so much more where this came from. And need I remind you, all of the band websites, dive websites, etc etc etc, are located in the L.A.R.S. links. Bisou, bisou-S.
All these bands are so nice, I decided to list them twice:
Sea Ray: "Revelry" http://www.culturalagency.com/mp3/sea_ray_revelry.mp3
Sea Ray: "Quiver" http://www.culturalagency.com/mp3/sea_ray_quiver.mp3
Tenderfoot: "While The River Flows" http://www.tenderfoot.is/media/While_this_river_flowes.mp3
Tenderfoot: "Country" http://www.tenderfoot.is/media/Country.mp3
The Last Town Chorus: "Change Your Mind" http://www.thelasttownchorus.com/audio/TheLastTownChorus-ChangeYourMind.mp3
The Last Town Chorus: "Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1950" http://www.thelasttownchorus.com/audio/LTC-BrooklynNavyYard.mp3
Challenger: "Goddamn American Dream" http://www.challenger.ms/music/Challenger%20-%2001%20-%20goddamn%20american%20dream.mp3
Challenger: "Destroyer" http://www.challenger.ms/music/Challenger%20-%20Destroyer.mp3
The Harlem Shakes: "Disco 5000" http://www.harlemshakes.com/Disco5000.mp3
The Harlem Shakes: "White Note" http://www.harlemshakes.com/whitenote.mp3
Fireworks Go Up!: "The Sun Don't Burn Without Her" http://www.fireworksgoup.com/sun.mp3
Fireworks Go Up!: "Glorious Mood" http://www.fireworksgoup.com/glorious_mood.mp3
Kung Fury: "Gotta Be Me" http://mp3.washingtonpost.com/get_song?song_id=8664
Kung Fury: "Need My Soul" http://mp3.washingtonpost.com/get_song?song_id=8663
And in dedication of Robert Palmer...and what I could've been...a contendah:
I used to rock it/Sometimes I'd roll it/I always knew what it was for-S.
