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LIVE MUSIC: Dum Dum Girls @ The Black Cat - 2/12/12
Style and substance. The tension between the two has pervaded and, in many ways, defined the output of the Dum Dum Girls during their brief career. Their first LP, I Will Be (March 2010) and follow up EP, He Gets Me High (March 2011), were collections of tight, raucous tunes that showcased the group’s consciously cultivated girl group/punk image.
LIVE MUSIC: Sharon Van Etten @ The Black Cat - 2/11/12
Last Saturday, which was hilariously dubbed as being the most NPR-tastic night of the decade, Van Etten, along with a few friends, brought her heart-stoppingly gorgeous voice and a veritable truckload of melancholia to the Main stage at The Black Cat. It was the largest (inexplicably so) venue that she has played in the District to date, but fans turn out by the hundreds to try and fall under the rapture of her spell.
LIVE MUSIC: Cults @ The Black Cat - 1/14/11
Let’s just get this out of the way: I had every expectation of starting another year of covering shows with a bang, and instead it began with a giant MEH.
Now before you get all up in arms, screaming “But I LOOOOOOVE CULTS” and “You’re a stupid head” hear me out. I love Cults too. There songs are impossibly catchy, impeccably written and without a doubt they put out one of the better albums of 2011, if not the most fun album.
But all of this does not a good live performance make.
"Evolution": Wild Flag @ The Black Cat 10/20/11
Words: Paul Photos: Kevin
I know it seems odd to use the term “evolution” in reference to a band that only came into existence at the end of last year but I could think of no better term what I saw from Wild Flag this year. Within eight short months, Wild Flag gave an inspired (if raw) debut performance at the Black Cat, released a fantastic album, and finally returned this past Thursday as fully formed rock stars flexing their muscles at the same venue. It is a rare thing indeed to be able to witness this type of change from a national act in such a tight window of time.
When Wild Flag first played the Black Cat in February, I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that two members of Sleater Kinney, the lead singer of Helium, and the drummer from the Minders had formed a band that had been getting rave reviews on its first tour. There was no album, no video, nothing to indicate what their live show would be like. But reputation and curiosity were enough to get me, the rest of the CG staff, and a sold out crowd through the door – a door which they proceeded to blow off its hinges.
What's the Bizness?: tUnE-YarDs w/Pat Jordache @ The Black Cat 10/8/11
The always fantastic and frequently mindblowing tUnE-YarDs payed another visit to DC this past Saturday, and I'd like to say we're all a little better for it. Merril Garbus, the engine that drives this "group" is simply one of the best, and most capable perfomers on the scene today. And her album whokill is a must hear for anyone who even has the inkling of an appreciation for challenging, thought provoking music that still manages to satisfy on every level. Put simply it's one of the best album released this year.
When we saw Merril and Co. last time here, the buzz was beginning to build behind the album, but had really only spread throughout critics circles and completely obsessive music nerds. She played the Red Palace on H Street, a room that fits 200 on a good day, and at that point in time came off as almost scared of the crowd ammased before her. When she was in the song, she was a veritable hurricane of musical muscle, but the spaces between revealed a somewhat shy performer who may not have quite been sure yet as to why exactly all these people were here in front of her.
Jump forward to Saturday night at the Black Cat. During opener Pat Jordache's (more about him in a minute) set, her and bass player Nate Brenner could be seen side-stage GETTING THE F@#@ DOWN to the 80's inflected sounds that Jordache and his crew were pumping out. It was a joyous discovery to glance over and see this celebration taking place, and it fairly set the tone for the rest of the evening.
International (?) Man of Mystery: Cass McCombs w/Lower Dens @ The Black Cat 7/15/11
The only thing visible besides the silhouettes of the assembled musicians is the occasional glint of a flash off a guitar, or the blinking lights of a random effects pedal. The crowd that has assembled listens eagerly as a dark, man shaped shadow explains from the stage how even though McComb’s is somewhat of a transitory musician, Chicago now claims the singer/songwriter as their own. Members of the crowd shout back “Baltimore!” (which is where his Wikipedia page claims he’s based. He’s not.) but the shadow from the stage isn’t hearing it. Instead he continues to run down the list of everything that makes Cass McComb’s music great. He’s the perfect hype man, though McCombs doesn’t really need it. He finishes, the band takes the stage in front of panels of blinking and shifting lights, and as they opening strains of “Buried Alive” hit the audience, it’s as if a bubble closed tight around the room, and we were all suddenly transported somewhere else.
New Wave In A New Time: Eleanor Friedberger @ The Black Cat 7/12/11
When you’re half of a band as well known as The Fiery Furnaces, people, right or wrong, are going to have expectations. Eleanor Friedbergers’s first victory over those expectations this week was the release of her excellent new solo album, Last Summer. Breezy, poppy and loud when it’s gotta be, Last Summer is an unmitigated hit, as well as being one of our favorite records of the year so far. Her second victory over those expectations this week was the performance that she delivered to a welcoming crowd assembled in the Back Room of the Black Cat on Tuesday, the night of that records release.
My expectation for the show was that it would be somewhat reserved, but perfectly serviceable. I also (wrongly) assumed that Eleanor might be the type who is solely focused on the music, acknowledging the crowd once in a while, but for the most part just performing her material to the people who paid to see it.
Better Late Than Never: Thao and Mirah @ The Black Cat 6/10/11
I live my life with low-grade anxiety, one I suspect I share with lots of music fans—those of us with more interest in music than time in the day to pursue it. I’m anxious that there’s a band out there that I need to be listening to but am not. One that would occupy a very special space in my life if only I’d heard it. And unlike many of my other anxieties, this one has been validated. How, for example, is it that Thao and the Get Down Stay Down’s first album, We Brave Bee Stings and All, had been out for nearly two years before I’d even heard of the band? (Hat tip to the good people at All Songs Considered for clueing me in, thereby further proving that I am, in fact, a demographic stereotype.)
Thao’s blend of percussive indie-pop with smart lyrics – coying at times, biting at others—buried into my head from the first listen and hasn’t left. So it was with great excitement that I tore into the album that Thao put out with collaborator Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn earlier this year. That self-titled album proved an exhilarating, if somewhat disjointed, affair. (Read Kevin’s review here)
Having never seen either artist live, it was with even greater excitement that I headed to the Black Cat last Friday to check out their show. From song one the duo came out swinging...
Roaring through the night: The Besnard Lakes @ The Black Cat - 5/12/11
It took till nearly the end of the set, but the journey to the cathartic “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent Pt.1 & Pt.2”, the opening track of the Besnard Lakes 2010 release, The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night, was well worth the wait. Downgraded to the back room of the Black Cat due to poor ticket sales (shame on you DC), the quartet from up north (Montreal to be exact) took it all in stride delivered a scorching set that was as epic as it was sublime...
Titus Andronicus @ The Black Cat 4.27.11 (DC)
So when I'm wrong I'm apparently REALLY wrong.
I'll admit it. I wasn’t (until now) the world’s biggest fan of Titus Andronicus's last release, The Monitor. In fact if it hadn't been for Paul (CG contributor) telling constantly telling me how awesome this band really is I wouldn't have even ended up at this show.
But holy shit, am I glad I did.
Something that I think can get lost in today's world of instant access and always on media is that at the end of the day, musicians are supposed to play music. Just because you can put something out there doesn't necessarily mean you should, and if you are in a band, your job, by definition is to go out and play in front of people. And be good at it. It's a little thing that so many bands get wrong, or worse, don't care about.
But not Titus Andronicus. They f@#@ing get it.
Live Music: Wye Oak @ The Black Cat - 3.11.11
The first time I saw Wye Oak, they were opening for Blitzen Trapper at Ottobar in Baltimore. I can’t recall if it was the last night of their tour, or if it was just the first time the duo of Jen Wasner and Andy Stack had been home for a long while. But either way, they made it a point to let us know that this was a sort of homecoming show for them. The two musicians then proceeded to tear through a set that was as ferocious as it was joyful. Blitzen Trapper, as great a band as they are, quite literally ended up as sort of a happy afterthought to the night.
In the two years since that night, Wye Oak has not only managed to hang on to all of that power and all of that joy, they have managed focus it to the point that hearing them play now is akin to standing in the eye of a controlled hurricane.
Live Music: Wild Flag @ The Black Cat - 2.10.11
When talking about Wild Flag, it’s hard to ignore the ghost of Sleater Kinney. Disregarding the fact that half of Wild Flag is comprised of two-thirds of Sleater Kinney, both bands are made up of all female members who play a unique brand of sludgy, aggressive, almost stoner punk, rock. Add to that the fact that both bands have it in them to blow just about anyone off the stage they care to, and it’s completely understandable, if not valid, that many could walk away from this show feeling a longing for the return of Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss’s previous group. But Sleater Kinney is dead, so long live