New Year, New Music.
Throughout January, I’ll be posting about 20 bands/artists never before featured on After The Show.
First band is Zox.
Zox is a band from Providence, Rhode Island (formed at Brown), and the song below – “Anything But Fine” – is violin-driven. Nearly the entire song consists of a sonic build-up to the 3:05 mark.
Jill Hennessy has a new song, and it’s by far her best (and catchiest) one yet.
Called “I Do,” the song wasn’t on her first album, but she’s played it a few times live (it hasn’t been recorded yet, I believe).
Watch “I Do” live from City Winery a couple weeks ago:
“Smart” by Girl in a Coma is one of the best new songs I’ve heard in a really long time.
“Smart” is the single from the band’s latest album, and it sounds like a long-lost song by The Smiths, if The Smiths were an all-girl band.
Every single component of the song works so perfectly together — the vocals, shimmering guitar chords, drum beat that is actually quite varied and complex upon close listening, and bass line that holds it all together.
WOW.
On Wednesday (12/7), I got the chance to see WATERS open for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at NY’s Webster Hall.
WATERS, a four man band from San Francisco led by Van P, played songs from their first record to a packed room (the show was sold out).
For the opening song, the drummer played with a tambourine in one hand and a stick in the other hand, creating a unique percussive wall of sound. The songs were more energetic and lush live than on the album, and they benefited from the more driving, rockier feel of the drums.
A drum-driven instrumental break segued into the song “Back To You,” one of the highlights of WATERS’ set. Towards the end of this song, I noticed that the drummer broke one of his sticks, but he recovered immediately.
Before the last song, Van switched to an acoustic guitar and explained that he wrote the song “Mickey Mantle” when he was living in New York for a little while. To my surprise, he came down from the stage (along with his bandmates) and stood in the middle of a circle of people in the crowd.
Playing the last song unplugged was a good idea (a la Brandi Carlile with “How These Days Grow Long”), but in reality it was terribly disappointing. Unless you were lucky enough to be standing close enough to the band, it was impossible to hear anything. People entering the room had no idea that anything was going on — they couldn’t see and couldn’t hear, so everyone started talking to each other, making it even more difficult to hear the song.
(Partial) solution: I left Webster Hall listening to “Mickey Mantle” on my iPhone.
WATERS is touring Europe in February with Nada Surf.
Words and photos by Suzanne Raga for After The Show. Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.
Family Records Holiday Extravaganza is happening at the Bowery Ballroom in a week!
Catch Wakey!Wakey!, Rosi Golan, Casey Shea, and Pearl and the Beard on December 15, 2011.
Nada Surf has a new album, called The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy, coming out January 24th, 2012.
Watch a live solo acoustic performance of the first single “When I Was Young,” filmed at the Musee Carnavalet in Paris:
Free download of the album version of “When I Was Young.”
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