Show of the Year: Jarvis Cocker | Music Hall of Williamsburg | 7.21.2008

"This is the definition of power trio (not to compare them to Cream or anything, there's no bass), three as one — you know, very New Testament but in a rock sort of way… If you like Velvet Underground, Television, Bettie Serveert, the Greatful Dead, Marnie Stern, metal, indie rock, Denmark, spoken word, noodling, no-bass bands, twin-leads, or Nordic good looks… this might be the band for you."

1. Mystery Jets feat. Laura Marling – Young Love (MP3) (Video)
The most inventive, deceptively simple (but actually kind of crazy complex; listen to all the little flourishes), repeatedly-rewarding pop song of the year. Great video too.

Amazing Baby – "Pump Your Brakes"

Seriously, what the hell is going on here? Basketball, teen witchcraft, Egyptian gods, rocking out? Can't say I'm a fan of this style of "whatever everything" videomaking popularized the by the MGMT boys, but I am an Amazing Baby fan and like the song, which is available on their free Infinite F**king Cross EP.

BPA feat. Emmy the Great — "Seattle"

Brighton Port Authority is Norman Cook's new project which purports to be some sort of secret, "lost tapes" kind of thing in hopes of distracting us from how boring the last couple Fatboy Slim albums were. But the BPA are better just by the nature of the project, which are all collaborations.  I was kind of hoping that this would be a cover of PiL's "Seattle" because I couldn't imagine Emmy singing it. But no, it's an original and quite lovely, actually. As for the video itself, Cook has always made clever ones and this flip-block concept is pretty cool.

Camille – Money Note

I can't say this song by French singer Camille does much for me but the video, directed by Paf ! Le Chien (yes that's a person's name) is pretty great in a Nagi Noda-meets-Gondry-meets-Mummenschanz kind of way.

Violens – Doomed

Typical of their art collective background, Violens' video for the Aztec Camera-ish "Doomed" features no lip-synching, or even the band at all. Instead, we get a bunch of pretty young girls in a nice old house with a surprise, creepy twist ending featuring high thread-count linens.

I was a little shocked there weren't more people there for this — it was free to get in and the lineup was kind of amazing, in a NYC up-and-comer kind of way. Lord knows I've written about Crystal Stilts enough, and Violens and Chairlift too. Most of the folks who might've attended were probably at that Diesel 30 extravaganza out in Red Hook. I'm going to guess there were maybe 150 attendees, many of whom seemed to be there just to check the place out.

The biggest problem of the night was the attrocious sound. All three bands featured keyboards prominently but apart from Chairlift you couldn't hear them at all. Crystal Stilts, playing in the most brightly lit stage of their career, still managed a great good show. The band are clearly loosening up — singer Brad, usually stoic with eyes closed, actually cracked a smile more than once. Violens suffered the most from the poor mix — Jorge Elbrecht's guitar was knock-you-back loud, overpowering everything else. Given the right sonics, Violens are amazing; tonight was more violence than violins.

Chairlift had the best sound but really should have played first. By the end of the evening people were talking more than paying attention and their ethereal, synthy sound (which I do really like but at times drifts perilously close to Enya territory), light on drums, just didn't hold the crowd's attention. Two girls standing in the front row next to us talked loudly enough to cause my friend Kelly to tell them to shut the hell up — and she's one of the nicest people I know! 

Anyway, a trial run like this is just the sort of thing a place like this needs, and certainly the sound seems like something that isn't a permanent problem (like those big-ass columns, shades of Tramps if you remember that place). They'll figure it out, and 92Y is a welcome addition to NYC's venues.

As you may know, frontman Jorge Elbrecht is also part of the art collective Lansing-Dreiden (very post-punk in concept no doubt), who released two albums in the early Aughts. While L-D focus more on the art side of things, Elbrecht has Violens as a musical outlet. Less than a year old, Violens are made up of members of the L-D Section touring band (which Elbrecht wasn't part of [I don't think], despite singing lead on the records…again, very post punk) and they've become a tight little unit, capable of light, jangly pop ("Already Over" and  a Smiths-y set closer) and serious shredding. "Trance-Like Turn," which is a New Order-y techno-rocker on the Green Owl compilation where it's found, takes on more ethereal, dreamy feel… until Elbrecht rips it up. He's said in interviews of his love for The Monochrome Set and Mr. Bungle and it's clear here he's serious. I was seriously impressed.

Here's a couple songs I shot:

Trance-Like Turn:

And this rocker is called "Grey Reigning":

I'm anxious to see them somewhere like Mercury Lounge where we get a more intimate setting but good sound. And I know it's somewhat rediculous to expect a band this new to have an album out this quickly, but I am ready for another EP already.

MP3: Violens – Violent Sensation Descends
(via RCDLBL; buy the Violens EP from Insound)

They've got a new EP coming out, actually, but you gotta go to Fashion Week to get it. Violens are scoring designer's Patrik Ervell's unveiling of his Spring '09 collection, reworking their songs as marches. And they'll be giving out copies of those reworkings at the event.

Also: Violens play Philly club Johnny Brendays this Saturday (8/30) and then head off to the UK to play a bunch of shows with MGMT and Amazing Baby in November:

Nov 3 Ambassador Dublin
Nov 5 Academy Leeds
Nov 6 Rock City Nottingham
Nov 7 Academy Bristol
Nov 9 Barrowlands Glasgow
Nov 10 Academy Birmingham
Nov 11 Academy Manchester

* Best Seaport Music Festival Show that I saw… missed Dirty Projectors last week.

I was there primarily to see Violens, the new band from some of the Lansing-Dreiden folks, though I’m not sure exactly which ones. Definitely singer/guitarist Jorge Elbrecht, and probably keyboardist Iddo Arad. Maybe more, but hard to say. L-D were an enigmatic bunch who didn’t believe in album credits or band photos… or even playing in the live incarnation of their band.

Violens are more forthcoming about the who’s and whats. It’s also a more cohesive sound. Lansing-Dreiden incompassed everything from synthpop to metal, but Violens seem more influenced by ’80s UK pop, both of the jazzy variety favored by Aztec Camera and Prefab Sprout, and those that prefered delay pedals like A Bell is a Cup-era Wire and The Sound. (In that respect, they also reminded me of ’90s Swedish band Eggstone.) And like L-D, they still love the reverb. They also like volume. Why didn’t I bring earplugs? The ringing in my ears seems especially prominent today. The best moments of the show combined the jazzy and the delay-ridden rocking out. And my favorites of the night are not to be found on their MySpace, so I think there’s a lot to look forward to with these guys.

You can get Violens’ song "Violent Sensation Descends" from RCRDLBL. They’ve also got an EP, which wasn’t for sale last night, but you can get it at Insound.

Violens next show is June 5 at the Mercury Lounge where they’re playing with Chairlift and Mixel Pixel. Tickets ($10) are on sale.

But as I said, the whole bill at Union Pool last night was very good. All three bands are signed to Cantora Records that is probably best-known at this point for being the label who released MGMT’s first EP. Tonight proves they’ve really got a good ear. The weather was horrible yesterday and I figured between the torrential rain and showing up at 9pm there would be nobody there. But the place was already pretty packed when I got there, and I think as many people were there for opening band Amazing Baby as their were for Violens.

It was Amazing Baby‘s first-ever show, though you’d never know it. They came prepared and kind of knocked everyone’s socks off. Though I’m probably wrong, I’m going to go out on a limb and say
Amazing Baby don’t sound like any other band in NYC. To draw
comparisons… maybe a heavier, more-psychedelic Roxy Music? That sounds about right. Who are they? The band seems to be primarily an offshoot of rawkers Stylofone, but the live permutation, last night at least, also featured ex-Diamond Nights guitarist Rob Laakso and Jane "Spider" Herships on bass. There were also two female backup singers and a keyboardist. (Maybe that’s where the Roxy comparisons come from for me.) They’re the kind of group you could imagine going the denim-leather/lightshow route but just let the music do the talking. And that came through loud and clear. I’m pretty sure they’re my new favorite NYC band and seem ready for domination.

MP3: Amazing Baby – Head Dress

MP3: Amazing Baby – Supreme Being

Amazing Baby’s MySpace has these plus three more and you can download all of them.

If you’re intrigued, Amazing Baby are playing tomorrow (5/11) at The Annex. Go ahead, bring Mom, it’s an early show — supposedly they’re on at 9pm. They’re on around 11pm I’ve just been informed. And if you can’t make that, they’re playing Glasslands on Thursday (5/15).

In between Amazing Baby and Violens were Savoir Adore who are also making a kind of music that seems scarce these days — pure pop. This is the sort of stuff that seemed so prevalent in ’80s indie music, be it Let’s Active or The Go-Betweens or The Reivers. Not that they sound dated in any way — I don’t think this kind of pop ever really goes out of style. (Even though it kind of currently is.) Deidre Muro and Paul Hammer compliment each other so well, both vocally but also the way their guitars intertwine. Keyboards seemed superfluous at times, except when they were set to Melotron, which they usually were.  Apparently most (all?) of Savoir Adore’s songs are for a concept album yet-to-be explained involving characters named Mr. P, Dr. Rousseau and a wooded forrest, but you needn’t know any of this to dig what they’re doing:

MP3: Savoir Adore – We Talk Like Machines

MP3: Savoir Adore – Mr P. Professor of Thought.mp3

Both these songs, plus two more, are available on their Cantora Records page. Savoir Adore are opening for Los Campesinos! this Thursday (5/15) at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and then play Lit on May 23.

So to recap last night’s show. Three bands, all different, all great. My friend Don was armed with his nice digital SLR and took some photos which you can find here.