All Hail to the Mewsical Talents of Copenhagen

Mew, like an old school band, is getting better with age. They spoiled the audience with some superb intros that kept them on their toes. When the intros led into the songs, the results were cathartic.
But like any old school band, or the Beatles in particular, the climatic screams of the overjoyed fans were followed by a consistent sing along. For the less intense fans of the Danish trio (they lost their Bassist to marriage…), the fanatics really ruined the essence of the show.
The first song from the Good-Concert-Bad-Karaoke series was “156”. After the teenage fans’ own 30 seconds screaming intro, they screeched along with the Jasper.
Despite the endless shrieks, the rest of us were able to appreciate the better renditions of the band’s extensive discography. The legendary “Zookeeper’s Boy”, the intoxicating guitar intro of “Snow Brigade”, and the heavily commercialized “Special” got the crowd’s loudest cheers. These songs really were the most sonically reworked of the concert and it came through.
Call me a sucker for dark, fatalistic chords, but last night the ones that really got to me were “Apocalypso” and “Comforting Sounds”. With Mew, the more intense the song, the more energy you are going to get from the stage. These two last hits got what the rest of the concert was most lacking: stage energy that filled the room.

MuteMath @ Gramercy Theatre

After two amazing opening acts, what kind of show would MuteMath have put on for this crowd? Whatever they had to do was done last night. MuteMath plays a kind of experimental rock that sounds a bit like an electronica version of a fusion between The Police and Air.
The band started out with their signature intro of “Collapse” and “Typical” and completely nailed it. The record track does not even compare to their performance anymore. The audience went nuts. Before they even had time to catch their breath, Darren King had already started battering the beat of Chaos on his drums. By then, utter madness was unleashed. The crowd clapped along to the fast-paced beat of the song.
The best song of the show was probably “Plan B.” Greg Hill started it off with a mind-blowing guitar intro, King backed it up with his powerful beats and Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, bass, just sent the song on an express ride to “you can’t top it”-ville.
After Mitchell-Cardenas and King synchronized a beat for “Obsolete,” Paul Meany said, “ The next song is called control and I’m gonna need a lot of voices for this one.” The moshpit totally agreed and by the end of the song, Meany turned the microphone over to the crowd singing, “It’s such a beautiful surrender.” Before they left the stage, the band preformed a version of “Reset,” which was quite frankly out of this world.
After the encore, the band played three last songs that ended in an instrumental euphoria, and King’s set scattered all over the stage.

Set List:
Collapse
Typical
Chaos
Picture
Voice
Plan B
Stare At The Sun
Obsolete
Control
You Are Mine
Noticed
Break The Same
Reset
(Encore)
Sooner
Without It
Ok

Typical :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqiVIgiN8zo

Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin @ Gramercy Theatre

Drummer, Phil Dickey, likes to spice things up a bit. After he switched position, mid-gig, with guitarist John Robert Cardwell, Dickey jumped off the stage onto the security platform in front. Only his feet got stuck in the cables at bit…
“That was thoroughly rock and roll,” said Deanna Wallach, photographer with the Cinematics who high-fived him after he plugged all the cables back in. “Really that was stellar. He’s amazing. ”
Right on! They are all amazing, they’re the “we-do-our-own-thing” kind of band, and though we don’t necessarily understand why they do it, we love it! Just like we loved “Pangea” and “Boring Fountain.” The overall vibe of their performance was a more chilled out, “friends-rocking-in-their-basement” kind of gig. They started playing “Oregon Girl” immediately after the sound check. They just blew the crowd away. The rotating band finished off the performance with the addictive riffs of “Ocean-O.” The next time they will come to New York, these Missourians might just be their own main show…

Set list:
Oregon Girl
I am Warm and Powerful
Pangea
House Fire
Boring fountain
Modern
Half-Wake
You could write a book
OCEAN-O

Highlights of The Show:

Oregon Girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXXsxZ0CNPo&mode=user&search=

Pangea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4bUqqCZ4Xo&mode=related&search=

Boring Fountain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K_BcZCphgk&mode=user&search=

Ocean-O:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD44DcjSsvs&mode=user&search=

The Cinematics @ Gramercy Theatre

The energy flows from the Scottish band that sounds like a mix between Placebo and Joy Division. Though the band does not fight the ‘80’s new wave influence, they are not “just another one of those bands.” Franz Ferdinand and Editors might have ventured around the genre of that bygone era, but no one has done it quite as superbly as The Cinematics. Their debut record “A Strange Education,” combines the best of both decades. If Ian Curtis had not committed suicide, Joy Division’s last record would have closely resembled it.
Last night, the band definitely warmed up the crowed for MuteMath. They opened and turned everyone on with “Sunday Sun” and “Keep Forgetting,” but they really peaked with “Maybe Someday” and “Break.” At that point, the whole crowd realized that this was not just a bland opening act. The band could feel it too, and they were showing it off. They were literally playing as if no one would ever stop them.


Highlights of the Gig

Maybe Someday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNbYHKbwuhc

Break:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNdcAHhj3vw&mode=related&search=

Aqualung @ the Hiro Ballroom

In the middle of the gig, Ben Hales walked over to Matt and whispered something in his ear. Matt’s facial expression changed then he said with a smile, “euhm, ladies and gentlemen, my brother Ben has an announcement to make. He has told me he just ‘rocked’ a button off his shirt.” Ben, who was swinging his guitar to the beat of the music, was so engrossed in the tune that he ripped his top button off his shirt. “This is not how I choose to look,” he told the audience. “Be careful,” Matt said, “not to rock your cloths off all the way down to your bollocks.”
Throughout the gig, there was a lot a back and forth between Matt Hales and the audience. Whether he was teasing us with an extended piano introduction, or telling us about his awkward encounters with Richard Gere and Ricky Martin, he was having a long intense conversation with us. From “Easier To Lie” to the magnificent “Tongue Tied,” he delivered a stellar performance of his best hits with his signature candid smile.
Hales alternated the old with the new, as he introduced us to some songs from his new record, Memory Man, out today nationwide. Based on the cheer-o-meter from last night, his new tracks were pretty well received especially “Something To Believe In” and “Outside,” whose faster tempo sets it aside from most of Aqualung usual songs.
“I know it’s something most artists assert,” said Hales about Memory Man. “But for what it’s worth I’m really quite proud of it.”

The Highlights of the Gig:

Something To Believe In:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTtJP9ZR1Wc&mode=user&search=

Outside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgLKpTLWJTw&mode=user&search=

Tongue Tied (partial):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUvCJF3DPFo&mode=user&search=

Easier To Lie (partial):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfEyvcNuOt8&mode=user&search=

Modest Mouse-We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

The band famous for “Float On” and inspiring Wolf Parade and Tokyo Police Club, is back with a new record, and a bloody brilliant one at that! Most bands usually have their one huge hit, the one that echoes throughout their career and they have to perform at every single gig they play. But bigger things are meant for our Modest Mouse (sea)men. We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, will unleash a sonic coup d’état against “Float On” and make room for their next top song, “Dashboard.” The prospective hit leads with some rhythmically captivating guitar scruffs backed by Green’s steady bass drum pace. But while “Dashboard” is the catchiest tune on the record, the most intriguing track is “Fly trapped in a jar.” You will be hooked from the tight intro and Brock’s addictive multilevel vocals to the stoically accepted conclusion of the song, “so well it’s already been said/ that it’s already been said/ that we’re already dead.” And though there really isn’t a bad track on the album, the best one is “Florida.” Their newest record will truly be the biggest storm these fishermen have ever seen!