Seeing a show at NYU was kinda weird. The auditorium at the Kimmel Center was acually pretty big. I would compare it to the Bowery Ballroom in size, but with much less character. I think this was the first rock show I’ve been to where no beer is served. Given the merit of the bill, the night was surprisingly undersold, I’d say 60% attendance. I suppose everyone that really wanted to see Wolf Parade already saw them on Monday or Tuesday. The Honey Brothers, self described as “NYC’s Hawaiian Appalachian Glam Rock Band” surprised me only when I recognized the drummer was Adrian Grenier of HBO’s Entourage fame. The music wasn’t particularly smart (which is where the appalachian part comes in i guess). Driven by a ukulele, their folksy, bluesy music was a little to straightforward for my liking. You can listen to music samples for yourself on their myspace page.
I have been meaning to check out Dirty on Purpose ever since I got their Sleep Late for a Better Tomorrow EP. As previously mentioned on this blog, Vocalist/Keyboardist and resident hot-chick, Erika Forster left the band to focus on Au revoir Simone. Having listened to the new live tracks the band has posted, I came to the same conclusion that topo did…that falsetto is a little bit rough. If you listen to the ep, there is only one song that doesn’t either feature Erika, or have her complementing drummer Doug Marvin. Seeing them live, you realize that Marvin barely does any drumming while he’s singing. Picking up the slack for Erika is guitarist Joseph Jurewicz, who’s off key falsetto, when audible, is pretty grating. I think what you have is a band that makes great music, but they are really without a singer, and seemingly lost with where to go with it. It seems pretty clear to me that if they simply soldier on without Erika, they are not going to get very far. Having Marvin and Jurewicz focus solely on vocals in a studio setting may get them their next record, but i’m not sure they are ever going to be able to cut it on the road. They really do make great music, and the new live stuff (if you ignore the vocal performaces) sounds solid. It will be interesting to see where they go from here.
I like Wolf Parade, but probably didn’t need to see them twice in one week. This was the last show of what was surely the longest tour the band has done. They were admittedly tired, but still put on a great, energetic show. The setlist was nearly the same, except in the encore they opened with Disco Sheets. They again tried to close with Dinner Bells, but just as they were going into the breakdown about half way through, Spencer yelled “Fuck It!”. They had lost power to half his keyboards, Dan’s guitar, and Hadji’s keyboard. Instead of storming off, they did a spirited cover of Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’. By the time they had finished they had sorted out the technical difficulties, Spencer explained to the audience that they didn’t miss much to the ending of Dinner Bells (even though that 3 minutes of music is perhaps my favorite of their entire catalog), and launched into an “old, but never recorded song”. Having seen them again, I realized I had much more of an affinity towards Spencer’s songs. Dan’s songs are more ‘rock’ with a capital R, while Spencer’s are more melodic and lyrically complicated. You can see pics from the show and another review over at who’s driving the bus.
: Dirty On Purpose - Mind Blindness :
: Wolf Parade - Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts :
yeah, i kinda felt that way about the d,o,p, vocals before erika left, so now i imagine its just moreso… but then again, the vocals were never a draw for me so its not like they lost anything. i do hope that they consider a stronger vocalist or something to change their dynamic.
that iron & calexico show was my first show sans drinks for me in a long time. probably since i was underage. but that was because i had a long drive on not much sleep ahead of me, and i didn’t want to push it.
[…] I kind of bashed these guys after their seeing them open for Wolf Parade back in October. They had lost Erica, the band’s eye candy, but more importantly, its voice. I decided to give the band another chance. Dirty on Purpose are a really good band. They write some really nice indie pop songs, that occasionally crank it up a notch and start to rock. I think musically the band sounded tighter than a few months ago, but i’m sorry to report that the vocals are still a problem. You have to think the band knows it, as 3 of 4 band members took turns on lead vocals. As I said back in October, I have every confidence that they will be able to put together a great record in the studio. People will listen to the tracks on myspace and get excited. They will go to the shows…. and they will continue to be dissapointed in a band that could be so much more. […]