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I haven't really made a secret of my adoration for Providence, RI's Get Him Eat Him which as of mid-August has been my ADHD indie-pop crack. (Well, them and Voxtrot.) I mean, if you're going to be derivative, being derivative of all of my favorite bands (Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Spoon, The New Pornographers, The Dismemberment Plan) is the way to go.

But while much of the focus has been on their frontman's fluttery Ted Leo-esque vocals (as well as his other somewhat high-profile occupation) their secret weapon is their bassist, Joe Posner. His show-stealing capabilities became apparent when I saw their live show in July and they apparently cross over into interviews as well.

I did not go to the CMJ Music Marathon this year. I have not gone since 2005. That shit is expensive. And I had other obligations. But I wanted to see if the blogosphere had any coverage of their show there since I'm pretty sure that most high-profile NY bloggers were either at St. Vincent, Islands, Dan Deacon or...well...not there. I found this interview that they did for Limewire and nearly fell out of my chair. The guy is so nervous/ADHD that you'll note at one point they suddenly cut the camera completely away from that half of the band - possibly on account of him being so distracting/distracted. But totally endearing. Dear Get Him Eat Him, Please Tour Again Soon. -VP

Posted by VP at 10:36 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This is what my first Arcade Fire show should've been like. On account of having been to that show in May there wasn't that overwhelming sense of pent up anticipation that had been building in me for the previous three years (although perhaps a bit of a sense of one for having missed an LCD Soundsystem show two years prior.) But perhaps hereafter there will be since they announced that this extravanganza of amazing bands would be the last performance in New York...for a couple of years.

Arcade Fire - The Well And The Lighthouse
LCD Soundsystem - Us v Them
Blonde Redhead - SW
Les Savy Fav - The Equestrian

Continue reading "Arcade Fire/LCD Soundsystem/Blonde Redhead/Les Savy Fav - Randall's Island - 10/6/07" »

Posted by VP at 12:45 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Finally. After a year of teases, side projects, nailbiting and general frustration, In Rainbows arrived in our e-mail inboxes roughly three days ago. Several of us here at Indietastic eagerly snatched up those less-than-high quality files at less-than high-quality prices and after a few days - have some early "It still deserves some more listens but..." type of thoughts on the album. The DC-based writers and our Atlanta-based photographer share those thoughts and favorite tracks. And when Rob gets the comments fixed (he will) - we'd like to have your thoughts, too.

VP: The whole album is good. I don't think anyone is going to point to any of these ten as a bad track. "15 Step" and "Bodysnatchers" are strong openers but the first one on the album that really grabbed me the way the best Radiohead tracks do was "Reckoner." From that point on - the album is true gold.

Radiohead - Bodysnatchers

John: It's good. Can't make any definitive judgments yet, I guess. It's not OK Computer but at this point, yes, it's my album of the year. Favorite song at this point is "Reckoner."

Radiohead - Reckoner

Chris MG: Personally, I tried not to mentally hype this album up too much before giving it a listen. Most of these songs were available as bootlegs last summer, so the interesting thing for me is how certaing songs took slightly new shape in the studio. Of those bootlegs, I remember going crazy over Videotape. The version here is great, but for different reasons. Structurally speaking, the song here sounds less fluid, more faltering with each beat, almost like a funeral dirge. I think that sort of feeling of rupture and disconnect perfectly compliments the elegeiac lyrics. I'm enjoying the album itself. Production wise, it's definitely a more minimalist effort than previous records, maybe the product of a band looking to focus more on the tightness of their live show than on putting all those ambient bells and whistles and background noises on record in the studio?

Radiohead: Videotape

Aliya: I feel like I should like it more than I do. Maybe it'll grow on me after I listen to it some more. I do like the second half better also - Reckoner, House of Cards, Jigsaw Falling into Place & Videotape, although I do like Nude on the first part also. The album as a whole doesn't sound like anything new from them, which is odd to me b/c they are such innovators. I heard that a lot of these songs have been played live for a long time, which kind of takes away from it to me. Overall, I like it, but I wished I loved it.

Radiohead - Nude

Posted by VP at 1:34 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I generally avoid posting album reviews - saving my wordiness for live shows and my commentary on studio tracks for short single reviews or VPicks. For Zach Condon and co.'s latest however, I am willing to make an exception. Although it's no longer this week's most anticipated release, The Flying Club Cup comes in (for me at least) at a stunning #2 as he soundly answers doubters wondering whether the Albuquerque wunderkind could recreate the magic he generated on last year's Gulag Orkestar.

Beirut - Nantes

Beirut - Cliquot

Continue reading "Beirut - The Flying Club Cup" »

Posted by VP at 7:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Someone please give Ramesh Srivastava a hug. Or at least some high-powered antibiotics. He'd probably prefer the latter one, and after last night's show he deserves the Trooper of the Year award. The triad of Indietastic friends The Little Ones, Glaswegian trio 1990s and Voxtrot at their best packs the perfect punch of high-energy, light-hearted (but thankfully not twee as fuck) indie pop. However, the first thing Ramesh said upon taking the stage was an apology in advance for his performance since he had picked up an infection somewhere in his body and would be going to the hospital upon their set's completion. Since I had previously caught Voxtrot in Chicago, I knew that what I was seeing onstage in front of me was not the same springy Srivastava that endeared himself into the hearts of the Pitchfork crowd with his seemingly unstoppable bounce. Still, had he never said word one about how ill he felt, any live Voxtrot virgin would've never realized that they'd just put on a subpar show.

Voxtrot - Soft & Warm

Voxtrot - Brother in Conflict

Continue reading "Voxtrot @ First Unitarian Church - 10/7/07" »

Posted by VP at 7:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The Black Cat was something of a madhouse. Everything from the palpable desperation of the kids trying to beg their way into the show to the errant splashes of PBR on the floor signaled that tonight was huge. John and I knew it and after kicking ourselves for not buying tickets before the event sold out (with some additional self-kicking on my part since I've now missed both of these acts both at Pitchfork Festival in Chicago and Virgin Festival in Baltimore) we managed to finagle a pair and dance our way through the event that John referred to as the Indie Rock Frat Party.

Girl Talk - Bounce That

Continue reading "Girl Talk @ Black Cat - 9/19/07" »

Posted by VP at 8:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

And now for something more recent. The first time I saw The Black Lips was in an Atlanta warehouse sized venue called Lenny's. I found myself caught in a mosh pit the likes of which I hadn't experienced in some time (mostly because I don't go to too many shows where the kids start moshing) and by the end of the show, I was soaked from sweat and the residue from the gazillion airborne cans of PBR that had been launched at the stage.

At the Siren Festival, I was in an overlarge photo pit so there was no pit and no airborne cans of PBR but at the end of the set I was still coated...in feathers and singer/guitarist Cole Alexander's saliva.

Well, there were no airborne beer cans this time. No livestock let loose on the stage. No making out between Alexander and their grill-sporting guitarist Ian St. Pe. So, I guess by Black Lips standards this was a tame show. The nice thing is that a tame show by their standards is still a high-energy, balls-out ass-kicking endeavor.

The Black Lips - O Katrina!
The Selmanaires - In The Direction of Yes

Continue reading "The Black Lips @ Black Cat - 9/15/07" »

Posted by VP at 6:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Brought to you by the Letter M and the number 7...

Continue reading "The Go! Team, Ritz, Manchester (UK) 13/09/07" »

Posted by Gary at 12:20 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

First off: Shame on me for not posting this link last week when I found it and started sending it to um, everybody. Secondly: All Hail The Onion! Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8 is bloody brilliant from its mockery of their writing style to its jabs at readers who read the numbers, but not the reviews themselves...and then form their opinions. Comedic gold.

It also gives me an excuse to put a song from a Pitchfork contributor who I met and who, believe it or not, didn't come across as a pretentious asshole.

Get Him Eat Him - Diminunitive

Posted by VP at 5:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As long as it's taken me to put this up...it's still worth reviewing. At the end of April I saw the two shows that I never thought I'd get a chance to see. I was pretty sure that no other show was going to touch seeing the pleasure of seeing The Dismemberment Plan reunite (and having Travis Morrison forget my name in the most hilarious of fashions.) However, Daft Punk was another live act that I never thought I'd see. Although this show didn't carry the emotional weight of those two nights at the Black Cat - the night of crazed dancing and crazier lights most definitely touched them as far as unequaled excellence.

Daft Punk - One More Time

Daft Punk - Da Funk

Continue reading "Daft Punk @ Keyspan Park - 8/9/07" »

Posted by VP at 3:55 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)