On on Wednesday I went to Terminal 5 for the American Express concert featuring Soundgarden. Some people are acting weird because AMEX sponsored the show but if that means $15 tickets for Soundgarden then I don't give two flying fucks who sponsors it. Soundgarden is one of my all-time favorite bands and I've only seen them once before a couple summers ago in Philly. That was one of the best shows I've seen in years so I had high hopes for this one.
The show started a little after 8pm with the band jumping into "Been Away For Too Long" which is a decent track from their new album. From there they went to "My Wave," which is a track I love so things were looking up but the band never really picked up steam. The Philly show was chock full of harder and heavier songs from the early years but this set was mostly the singles. It's still great music but that's not what I want to see at a show. I'm sure AMEX had something to do with the lackluster set list. Check it out after the jump, you'll notice songs like, "Slaves and Bulldozers" "Beyond The Wheel" "Mailman" "4th of July" "Superunknown" and so forth are absent, all of which they played in Philly.
Showing posts with label terminal5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label terminal5. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2013
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Titus Andronicus & So So Glos Playing St. Pat's Shows With The Pogues!
I guess Shane MacGowan is a fan of the Brooklyn music scene. As always, The Pogues are playing their famous St. Patrick's Day shows in NYC starting tonight. This year they have local boys Titus Andronicus and So So Glos opening up for them. That's a pretty huge honor (especially since this might be the last time The Pogues play the States) and it should be great to see a band like SSG up on the big stage at Terminal 5 in front of a sold out crowd. Way to go dudes!
Link:
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Boredoms: Boadrum 9
Kenya went to Boadrum 9 at Terminal 5 last week. It was her first time seeing Boredoms.
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Boredoms Present 99 Boadrum @ Terminal 5
w/ Special Guest Lichens
9/9/09
So, it took me a few days to process what I witnessed at Terminal 5 the other night. I had no clue of who Boredoms were and definitely hadn't heard of this fellow Lichens either. But now that I've witnessed them each in action, I feel as though I won't likely be forgetting them. Boredoms I don't think anybody could be accused of forgetting just for the spectacle and elation they leave in their wake. Lichens' artistry though, burns an imprint into your psyche, so the damage is permanent. Dude sort of side swiped me, and that is a rare thing nowadays.
Lichens
I didn't know where this dude came from, so I did a little digging. His name is Robert Lowe. He apparently used to play bass for 90 Day Men. Around 2004, after the band released Panda Park, they sort of called it quits. Lowe then began to pursue a solo career. Ambient, experimental deep-listening mood music is what he has produced thus far. His vocalizing is wordless and makes up a great portion of each piece. I refer to them as 'pieces' because calling what he produces 'songs' seems too simplistic and underwhelming to me.
He performed one piece at Terminal 5. Opening for Boredoms to a completely captivated audience. The piece he performed seemed like a culmination of a few of the tracks from one or both of his albums (The Psychic Nature of Being and OMNS) because I couldn't find a single one that sounded exactly like what I heard on Wednesday. God Speed You Black Emperor popped into my head while I was listening to one of his pieces, the exasperatingly titled "M St R Ng W Tchcr Ft L V Ng N Sp R T". What he did for Boredoms seems like a merging of that with another piece of his called "Faeries". This is what it seems like to me, anyone who knows better, please correct me.
What the man did was sit in a chair, make some joke about being glad his microphone worked, and then remain there quietly, (meditating?) for what seemed like a few extra long minutes before opening his mouth and ushering forth sound. There were no instruments. No one else on stage with him. No players. He made sounds with his mouth that mimicked birds twittering in a forest. Chants as from some temple high on a mount somewhere. Then ghostly wails that pierced the very quiet, very still audience. The sounds would catch in some device he was using (I am quite stupid when it comes to knowing the names of these things and what they do properly). It caught his sounds and looped them, so that he was free to move to the next layer of sounds in order to sufficiently bring to life the piece he was creating right in front of our eyes. It started off quietly at first, then began ascending slowly until the whole building was filled, his voice echoing off the walls and the two empty upper levels.
He was exercising spirits up there. And nearly as soon as it began, it was over. We all came out of our daze long enough to applaud. He thanked us quietly, bowed gracefully and swept away. My descriptions does this guy no justice. He hasn't released an album since 2007, it seems. But if you ever have an opportunity to see him perform, do it man.
Boredoms
Apparently these dudes have been around a long time. Long enough to have impressed members of bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth back in the 90s. They were formed in 1986 in Osaka, Japan. Their line-up has gone through a roster of changes since then. They make experimental indie noise rock using a variety of instruments (some improvised from parts of others) but the star of the show are the drums. I'm not going to go into their entire history though.
I want to get to the drums. And how there were nine of them. And how the lead singer (Yamataka Eye) played a wall of what looked like guitar (and sitar?) handles along with his synth keys. How he leaped in the air and screamed every five minutes. How the drummers played practically none stop with little more than a few seconds break at a time. Yamataka sort of the ring leader of this magnificent circus, giving cues, fading them out, fading them in. The man never lost his voice or his infinite energy, and neither did any of the drummers. Only two of which are apart of the actual band, the other seven extremely happy looking white guys so pumped up and jazzed to be a part of it, they did everything right and then some.
It fucking rocked. Noise rock isn't really my thing. But this sounded like a mash up of traditional Japanese battle music (complete with war cries) and alternative music. It was surprisingly pleasant to the ears and not nearly as inaccessible as one would think. At times intense and aggressive, a little maniacal, but in a good way; the whole thing could change directions quick-fast and lull you into a false sense of ease. Then Yamataka would scream, and cymbals would crash, and he'd jump and the drums would be off again. The coolest bit was how the main drummer (Yoshikawa Toyohito) was carried in from the back, through the crowd on a platform shouldered by revelers.
If Lichens was exercising spirits, these guys were exercising demons. They also win the award for most awesome encore ever. It went on forever, but it was worth it. Apparently it's a rare occurrence to see them play here in the States. Next time they cross the ocean and descend upon us from the east, be on the look out.
My tweeted three word review on the night of was "epic epic epic". BrooklynVegan picked that up and posted it along with eight others from Twitter to appropriately honor the night. They also have 99 amazing pics of the occasion. Head over there and check them out because I am the last reject on planet earth that doesn't have a picture taking device.
------------------------------------------------------
Boredoms Present 99 Boadrum @ Terminal 5
w/ Special Guest Lichens
9/9/09
So, it took me a few days to process what I witnessed at Terminal 5 the other night. I had no clue of who Boredoms were and definitely hadn't heard of this fellow Lichens either. But now that I've witnessed them each in action, I feel as though I won't likely be forgetting them. Boredoms I don't think anybody could be accused of forgetting just for the spectacle and elation they leave in their wake. Lichens' artistry though, burns an imprint into your psyche, so the damage is permanent. Dude sort of side swiped me, and that is a rare thing nowadays.
Lichens
I didn't know where this dude came from, so I did a little digging. His name is Robert Lowe. He apparently used to play bass for 90 Day Men. Around 2004, after the band released Panda Park, they sort of called it quits. Lowe then began to pursue a solo career. Ambient, experimental deep-listening mood music is what he has produced thus far. His vocalizing is wordless and makes up a great portion of each piece. I refer to them as 'pieces' because calling what he produces 'songs' seems too simplistic and underwhelming to me.
He performed one piece at Terminal 5. Opening for Boredoms to a completely captivated audience. The piece he performed seemed like a culmination of a few of the tracks from one or both of his albums (The Psychic Nature of Being and OMNS) because I couldn't find a single one that sounded exactly like what I heard on Wednesday. God Speed You Black Emperor popped into my head while I was listening to one of his pieces, the exasperatingly titled "M St R Ng W Tchcr Ft L V Ng N Sp R T". What he did for Boredoms seems like a merging of that with another piece of his called "Faeries". This is what it seems like to me, anyone who knows better, please correct me.
What the man did was sit in a chair, make some joke about being glad his microphone worked, and then remain there quietly, (meditating?) for what seemed like a few extra long minutes before opening his mouth and ushering forth sound. There were no instruments. No one else on stage with him. No players. He made sounds with his mouth that mimicked birds twittering in a forest. Chants as from some temple high on a mount somewhere. Then ghostly wails that pierced the very quiet, very still audience. The sounds would catch in some device he was using (I am quite stupid when it comes to knowing the names of these things and what they do properly). It caught his sounds and looped them, so that he was free to move to the next layer of sounds in order to sufficiently bring to life the piece he was creating right in front of our eyes. It started off quietly at first, then began ascending slowly until the whole building was filled, his voice echoing off the walls and the two empty upper levels.
He was exercising spirits up there. And nearly as soon as it began, it was over. We all came out of our daze long enough to applaud. He thanked us quietly, bowed gracefully and swept away. My descriptions does this guy no justice. He hasn't released an album since 2007, it seems. But if you ever have an opportunity to see him perform, do it man.
Boredoms
Apparently these dudes have been around a long time. Long enough to have impressed members of bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth back in the 90s. They were formed in 1986 in Osaka, Japan. Their line-up has gone through a roster of changes since then. They make experimental indie noise rock using a variety of instruments (some improvised from parts of others) but the star of the show are the drums. I'm not going to go into their entire history though.
I want to get to the drums. And how there were nine of them. And how the lead singer (Yamataka Eye) played a wall of what looked like guitar (and sitar?) handles along with his synth keys. How he leaped in the air and screamed every five minutes. How the drummers played practically none stop with little more than a few seconds break at a time. Yamataka sort of the ring leader of this magnificent circus, giving cues, fading them out, fading them in. The man never lost his voice or his infinite energy, and neither did any of the drummers. Only two of which are apart of the actual band, the other seven extremely happy looking white guys so pumped up and jazzed to be a part of it, they did everything right and then some.
It fucking rocked. Noise rock isn't really my thing. But this sounded like a mash up of traditional Japanese battle music (complete with war cries) and alternative music. It was surprisingly pleasant to the ears and not nearly as inaccessible as one would think. At times intense and aggressive, a little maniacal, but in a good way; the whole thing could change directions quick-fast and lull you into a false sense of ease. Then Yamataka would scream, and cymbals would crash, and he'd jump and the drums would be off again. The coolest bit was how the main drummer (Yoshikawa Toyohito) was carried in from the back, through the crowd on a platform shouldered by revelers.
If Lichens was exercising spirits, these guys were exercising demons. They also win the award for most awesome encore ever. It went on forever, but it was worth it. Apparently it's a rare occurrence to see them play here in the States. Next time they cross the ocean and descend upon us from the east, be on the look out.
My tweeted three word review on the night of was "epic epic epic". BrooklynVegan picked that up and posted it along with eight others from Twitter to appropriately honor the night. They also have 99 amazing pics of the occasion. Head over there and check them out because I am the last reject on planet earth that doesn't have a picture taking device.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Ratatat & Kid Cudi Played Terminal 5
Brooklyn Ski Club sent out a new writer last night to the Ratatat & Kid Cudi show. Her name is Kendra and this is her first BSC post.
__________________________________
So, Kid Cudi. Until tonight I had never actually heard of him. Apologies for being out of the ‘underground, hipster-rap mixtape' loop. A little research prior to the show resulted in some interesting results: his collaboration with Kanye West on 808’s and Heartbreak, including the tracks “Welcome to Heartbreak”, “Paranoid”, and “Heartless”; a homemade ‘trailer’ for the new Transformers movie featuring his song “Sky Might Fall” that is rumored to have lead to talks to make it official; and appearances in Rolling Stone, on 106 & Park, and MTV for his new album Man on the Moon, among other things.
When I arrived, there was some dude alone on stage with nothing but a laptop, earnestly rapping his little heart out to a bored-but-empathetic crowd. I thought – please, no. That can’t be him…
I reminded myself of Ratatat to curb my urge to bail and upon closer inspection (and a glance at the clock) I realized with relief that it wasn’t.
Kid Cudi walked onstage literally a few minutes after Earnest Rapper Guy, “straight from the airport” and one of the first things he said was something like: “How many of you motha-fuckas even know who I am?”
I was embarrassed that I did not, because mostly everyone up in the place made noise. It seemed not only was he known by these hipster kids, but they seemed to wake the hell up when he came out, which I thought would not happen until Ratatat emerged.
He signaled his DJ and the show began. Immediately, I started drawing comparisons to Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco, but once I really started listening to tracks like “Dat New, New”, “Sky Might Fall”, and “Day and Night” I began to study him as an isolated entity in a genre saturated with…sameness. Sure, he had himself an Auto-Tuner, okay he wore, big geek glasses, and yeah he proclaimed himself an original like most hip-hop artists do.
But he danced. He was passionate about his shit – yelling at the sound guy to pump it up because “this is my shit and I want it to sound the best”. For me, Kanye West is a dude who makes pretty decent music, wears weird outfits, and really can’t carry a tune. Whereas Kid Cudi is my cousin…the dude who lives down the street…I wanted to go backstage and kick it with him. I wanted to get to know him, and I’ll tell you that’s impressive because that is not something that happens to me when I listen to hip-hop. His tracks are thoughtful, real, and…well, earnest. But not lame-earnest like the previous occupant of the stage (sorry, dude, whoever you are, but – give it a couple of years, will you?).
I downloaded “Day ‘n’ Night” on iTunes the second I got home and will go on the search for his other mixtape tracks soon.
Ratatat.
Where do I begin? I’m sure to offend lots and lots of people. Here goes…I actually really enjoy them – in the intimate confines of my headphones or my home sound system. I’m not sure what I expected of their live show, not having been to one before now. And, actually, when the bright lights blasted on with the heavy electric synthesizer intro, I got really excited like everyone else up in the place.
Their giant projector screen featuring weird, pop-culture imagery and video was rad, and guitarist Mike Stroud’s Pete Townsend-like back-bend began what I expected to be a mega-electrifying show.
Then…something happened. It started with my favorite song of theirs, “Wildcat”, and went on through song after song, so much so that I found myself scratching my head in confusion. I hate to use my douche bag voice here, but…dude, every song sounded the same!
I couldn’t tell if they were playing “Tropicana”, “Nostrand”, or “Germany to Germany” from one track to the next. Was it just me? Everyone else was dancing their asses off, smiling from ear-to-ear, spilling their beers all over themselves in their rapturous enjoyment of the show. Meanwhile I just stood there like…seriously? I’m the ‘tard, here?
I mean I tried – I really tried to get into it, but this problem bugged the crap out of me the whole time. Once it was over, and people were streaming out of the place sweaty and looking dazed with satisfaction, I immediately put on my headphones and found them on my iPod. I listened harder to each song than I ever have, and they are definitely distinctly different. So what gives?
Perhaps the key when going to see these kinds of acts is just to let the music wash over you, beer in hand, and bask in the blending of beats and rhythm without analyzing it too much. Let those bright-ass lights and that tightly bundled mass of people moving and swaying hypnotize you until you’re gyrating and pumping your fist for the hell of it with little thought beyond “this is awesome!” Perhaps…but that’s not my scene, man.
I still really like Ratatat…in my headphones.
__________________________________
So, Kid Cudi. Until tonight I had never actually heard of him. Apologies for being out of the ‘underground, hipster-rap mixtape' loop. A little research prior to the show resulted in some interesting results: his collaboration with Kanye West on 808’s and Heartbreak, including the tracks “Welcome to Heartbreak”, “Paranoid”, and “Heartless”; a homemade ‘trailer’ for the new Transformers movie featuring his song “Sky Might Fall” that is rumored to have lead to talks to make it official; and appearances in Rolling Stone, on 106 & Park, and MTV for his new album Man on the Moon, among other things.When I arrived, there was some dude alone on stage with nothing but a laptop, earnestly rapping his little heart out to a bored-but-empathetic crowd. I thought – please, no. That can’t be him…
I reminded myself of Ratatat to curb my urge to bail and upon closer inspection (and a glance at the clock) I realized with relief that it wasn’t.
Kid Cudi walked onstage literally a few minutes after Earnest Rapper Guy, “straight from the airport” and one of the first things he said was something like: “How many of you motha-fuckas even know who I am?”
I was embarrassed that I did not, because mostly everyone up in the place made noise. It seemed not only was he known by these hipster kids, but they seemed to wake the hell up when he came out, which I thought would not happen until Ratatat emerged.
He signaled his DJ and the show began. Immediately, I started drawing comparisons to Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco, but once I really started listening to tracks like “Dat New, New”, “Sky Might Fall”, and “Day and Night” I began to study him as an isolated entity in a genre saturated with…sameness. Sure, he had himself an Auto-Tuner, okay he wore, big geek glasses, and yeah he proclaimed himself an original like most hip-hop artists do.
But he danced. He was passionate about his shit – yelling at the sound guy to pump it up because “this is my shit and I want it to sound the best”. For me, Kanye West is a dude who makes pretty decent music, wears weird outfits, and really can’t carry a tune. Whereas Kid Cudi is my cousin…the dude who lives down the street…I wanted to go backstage and kick it with him. I wanted to get to know him, and I’ll tell you that’s impressive because that is not something that happens to me when I listen to hip-hop. His tracks are thoughtful, real, and…well, earnest. But not lame-earnest like the previous occupant of the stage (sorry, dude, whoever you are, but – give it a couple of years, will you?).
I downloaded “Day ‘n’ Night” on iTunes the second I got home and will go on the search for his other mixtape tracks soon.
Ratatat.
Where do I begin? I’m sure to offend lots and lots of people. Here goes…I actually really enjoy them – in the intimate confines of my headphones or my home sound system. I’m not sure what I expected of their live show, not having been to one before now. And, actually, when the bright lights blasted on with the heavy electric synthesizer intro, I got really excited like everyone else up in the place.
Their giant projector screen featuring weird, pop-culture imagery and video was rad, and guitarist Mike Stroud’s Pete Townsend-like back-bend began what I expected to be a mega-electrifying show.
Then…something happened. It started with my favorite song of theirs, “Wildcat”, and went on through song after song, so much so that I found myself scratching my head in confusion. I hate to use my douche bag voice here, but…dude, every song sounded the same!
I couldn’t tell if they were playing “Tropicana”, “Nostrand”, or “Germany to Germany” from one track to the next. Was it just me? Everyone else was dancing their asses off, smiling from ear-to-ear, spilling their beers all over themselves in their rapturous enjoyment of the show. Meanwhile I just stood there like…seriously? I’m the ‘tard, here?
I mean I tried – I really tried to get into it, but this problem bugged the crap out of me the whole time. Once it was over, and people were streaming out of the place sweaty and looking dazed with satisfaction, I immediately put on my headphones and found them on my iPod. I listened harder to each song than I ever have, and they are definitely distinctly different. So what gives?
Perhaps the key when going to see these kinds of acts is just to let the music wash over you, beer in hand, and bask in the blending of beats and rhythm without analyzing it too much. Let those bright-ass lights and that tightly bundled mass of people moving and swaying hypnotize you until you’re gyrating and pumping your fist for the hell of it with little thought beyond “this is awesome!” Perhaps…but that’s not my scene, man.
I still really like Ratatat…in my headphones.
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