Brightblack Morning Light & Espers at DC9
I witnessed great sets by both Brightblack Morning Light and Espers last night at DC9 in Washington, as their tour rolled through town. I highly recommend both of their new records, on Matador and Drag City respectively.
Espers actually really made more of dent, and I was mostly there to see them. The lineup consisted of four guitars, two acoustic and two electric, elec. bass, one cello, one drumset — and what a beautiful sound they all made together. It was probably one of the only shows on record I’ve seen in DC as of late where you could A) hear each other speak and B) silenced my cellphone.
In fact, Brightblack calmly and politely asked the crowd to turn their ringers off at one point. The above photo is of a dog that hung out on stage before the BBLM set, and needless to say got everyone excited for some psych folk.
Gang Gang Dance on YouTube
Ok, I promise not to make this blog nothing but YouTube vids, but there’s just such a wealth of great stuff I can’t help but post. Case in point: this February ‘06 performance by Gang Gang Dance at the Cakeshop.
[link for RSS users]
Coachwhips “Double Death”
The farewell release from Coachwhips seems a tad thrown together, but overall its a cool set of live/cover tunes with an additional DVD. They really remind me of the best parts of Doo Rag and Link Wray and countless other 60’s garage groups. Unfortunately I never got the chance to see a show by these guys, and that’s damn shame; luckily this set really caters to those of us who never caught ‘em.
Here’s a clip from the DVD itself from YouTube:
[link for RSS users]
Leak of the Week: Thom Yorke
As soon as my pal Mike told me the new Thom Yorke solo album had leaked, I heard it within mere hours. I must say it meets my expectations almost to a tee, with all the loops and beats I expected. One listen so far while sitting in traffic on the way to work was enjoyable, and it feels like Yorke put a little more effort into it than just churning out a collection of unused Radiohead tunes. Its definitely not going to convert non-Radiohead fans, but for those of us who enjoy the man’s work its a welcome bonus.