Summer Concerts: Delorean, Brian Jonestown Massacre

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One thing I love about New York summers are the amount of great bands that tour (and offer free/surprise/outdoor shows) in the city. Seeing two of my favorites in two days this past weekend (Delorean at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn and Brian Jonestown Massacre at Webster Hall) definitely made up for the humid, muggy 85-degree weather... even if there is no air conditioning at Glasslands.

Delorean is an electronic dance band from Zarautz, a Basque town in Spain. Their newest album, Subiza, was released in March, but my favorite song, Deli, comes off their 2009 EP, Ayrton Senna. Stay Close, a single off their newest album, is great too. Yeasayer had a free show the same night at the beach at Governor's Island, and faced with the nearly unbearable feat of choosing between the two concerts, I eventually decided on Delorean-- since I had already bought the tickets, and I had already seen Yeasayer live last fall (even though I unfortunately missed them at Coachella...). Glasslands is a really cool little venue in Williamsburg (I saw Bear in Heaven and Secret Machines there this past February), although they really do need to invest in air conditioning. We were absolutely drenched in sweat by the end of the show, and the ceiling fans provided little to no remedy. That said, it was an absolutely amazing show, and I think we ended up making the right decision.

Music video for Delorean's Stay Close:

A few pictures I took at the Delorean show:

Delorean at Glasslands

Lead vocalist/guitarist Ekhi Lopetegi (and keyboardist Unai Lazcano's feet...)

For those of you who haven't heard of them, Brian Jonestown Massacre is a neo-psychedelic rock band with a slight Eastern influence and some shoegaze tendencies. The closest comparison I can equate their sound to is The Velvet Underground. Founded in San Francisco by Anton Newcombe in the mid 90's, the band has a huge following, and word has it that their name is derived from a mixture between Brian Jones, the guitarist of The Rolling Stones, and the infamous mass suicide of the "Peoples' Temple" cult in Jonestown, Guyana (lead by Jim Jones in 1978). BJM played a beautiful 2-hour set at Webster Hall in the East Village, showcasing their new album, Who Killed Sergeant Pepper? (2010) and playing all of my favorites from past albums, like Open Heart Surgery, Nevertheless, Super-Sonic, The Way It Was, Satellite and Servo. Probably the best part of the show, though, was the return of Matt Hollywood, who left the band in 2002 after an infamous on-stage altercation which can be seen in this excerpt from DiG!, Ondi Timoner's 2004 documentary contrasting the development of BJM and the Dandy Warhols:

Some pictures from the BJM show...

BJM at Webster Hall

the epic return of Matt Hollywood

Anton Newcombe

...And just for kicks, few pictures from the Caribou show I saw at Music Hall of Williamsburg in late May. I highly, highly recommend their new album Swim (2010). Some standout tracks are Odessa, Sun and Kaili.

Caribou at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

God, I love going to shows in New York. Planning to see Blitzen Trapper (for the third time), The Morning Benders and Neon Indian later this month, as well as Sexy Sushi the minute I get to Paris.

xx

Music video for Caribou's Odessa:

Is your favorite indie band selling out?

Edward Droste, Daniel Rossen, Chris Taylor and Christopher Bear of Grizzly Bear

It's come to my attention as of late that one of my favorite so-called "indie" bands, Grizzly Bear, has been seen and heard frequently in several different un-Grizzly Bear-esque places which smell a lot like selling out. To name a few of said places... they recently composed a song just for a (somewhat trippy) Washington State lottery ad; "Two Weeks" played during the opening scene of last week's episode of Gossip Girl, and "Slow Life" was originally written for the soundtrack of Twilight: New Moon. It's always a bittersweet feeling when a somewhat lesser-known band you enjoy suddenly becomes widely known and begins selling their music to car commercials, angsty teen dramas and the like (cough cough.. Phoenix... Passion Pit... Vampire Weekend... cough..). Not sure whether to be proud of Grizzly Bear for "making it" or scorn them for giving in to The Man. I still dig their music though, and must add that they killed it at Coachella.

A link to the aforementioned lottery ad, just for kicks:

http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/04/26/grizzly-bear-lottery-ad/

Coachella 2010 in pictures

I was lucky enough to attend the Coachella music festival in Indio, CA this year for the first time ever-- yes, I know, as a born-and-raised Angeleno, I'm a late bloomer. Though having been on the east coast for the past 4 years has put a bit of a damper on the springtime music festival front. Needless to say, it somehow worked out this year, and while I had an incredible time there; rather than give you a summary of the three glorious (actually, make that one stressful and ridiculous, two glorious...) days I spent in the desert listening to amazing music with even more amazing friends and no cell service, I thought I'd share a few of the photos I took, mainly of the sensational art objects and decorations at the festival(the ones I took of the bands are mostly blurry and unrecognizable). If you're really interested in a (rather harsh, in my opinion!) critique of each band, read this Pitchfork article:

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7795-coachella-2010/

Pavement's epic reunion was one of the most talked-about acts at Coachella, and they arguably had some of the best visual effects... I loved the string lighting, reminded me of the album artwork on Terror Twilight

the giant paper crane, which changed colors at night.. on Sunday it was rainbow!

the crowd in the Sahara tent on Saturday night, I believe during David Guetta's set

a seemingly never-ending trail of balloons in the sky...

..and the balloons at night (you can't see it here, or maybe they hadn't turned on yet, but each one had a tiny blue LED light attached to it, creating a glowing effect)

the Ferris wheel that made me miss Deerhunter... according to Pitchfork they weren't all that good, so I guess it doesn't matter

Coachella from above. Notice how many people there are in the audience at De La Soul!!

Indian headdresses were a popular fashion statement this year (I credit this in part to MGMT)... a few at Hot Chip

view from below the paper crane

sunset during Spoon on the last day

art being made

a broken mirror sculpture

FIN

Just Kids.. with some dreams and some paintbrushes

I've been reading a lot recently about Patti Smith's new novel, Just Kids, which came out in January-- I personally can't wait to get my hands on a copy. The legendary rock star and poet's first novel offers a "never-before-seen glimpse" of her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe and their life in New York City in the late sixties and seventies during the prelude to their imminent fame. I read an excerpt recently, I think either in Rolling Stone or Interview, in which Smith recalls how she and Mapplethorpe would buy art supplies before food-- and how they made a pact to continue creating and to take care of each other no matter what happened. It's easy to idealize the bohemian, starving-artist lifestyle (I am admittedly guilty of doing so), but what I read of Smith and Mapplethorpe's seemingly passionate and creativity-fueled love struck me as beautiful and got me thinking of other (often star-cross'd) bohemian lovers-- Above, a picture of Mapplethorpe and Smith in NYC in the 70's. Below, a few more of my favorites:

John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Even though she broke up the band, I still love her. And this iconic image by Annie Leibovitz, which appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1980.

Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull.

Anna Karina and Jean-Luc Godard. Apparently some of the lines from Pierrot Le Fou (1965) were improvised; Godard had Belmondo and Karina simply make conversation without telling them the camera was rolling. He ended up using a great deal of footage from these "improvisations." There's a specific scene in the film, too, in which Karina is staring directly into the camera while she berates "Pierrot"-- and word has it that her tirade was the result of a real argument with Godard, her then-husband, who promptly taped it and put it in the film.

Marie Antoinette and Count Fersen (film still from Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette). The infamous queen's relationship with her husband, Louis XVI (whose greatest passion and hobby was lock-picking... ironic?) was less than perfect. So what's a girl to do in that situation? Take up a dashing Swedish lover, of course. Even better, one who resembles Jamie Dornan. Say what you will about the historical inaccuracy and disjointedness of the film; their love scene is set to "Kings of the Wild Frontier" by Adam & The Ants and is, in my opinion, perfect.

Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin... (can you see their traits in Charlotte?)

The always-classy Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen..

Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash

...and of course, Kate Moss and Johnny Depp circa the early 90's (by Annie Leibovitz). The most physically perfect couple to ever exist. Tell me again why they broke up???