siren Siren SIREN !!!

I didn't blog yesterday because I was caught in the wrath of the Siren Music Festival at Coney Island. Not that the lineup was particularly impressive, but the acts that were good were truly good. I arrived at 3:10 or something, just missing the Noisettes, a band I wanted to see (I had seen them at Roseland in 2005 opening for Bloc Party and The Kills,) but I did see The Detroit Cobras' great set. Prior to Siren I had only one track of theirs on my iPod, "Hey Sailor" which I always liked, but it never drew me to purchase any more of their music and whatnot. When I was confronted with an entire set of the Cobras' music, however, I was lovestruck. They displayed cold, hard enthusiasm, and a great sense of comfort amid the Coney Island scene. They mentioned the hot-dog eating contests and how in Detroit a "coney island" was the name of a chili dog. The lead singer [as well] completely contradicted the truth campaigns, making cigarettes look like glorious props to have while belting out a great rock song. I really enjoyed their set.

But, who I really came to Siren for was M.I.A., whom I have loved since "Galang" was a single in 2005. While she did have her diva moments on stage (i.e. needing water all the time, stopping the music occassionally,) I don't fault her. It was a hot day, and for the amount of time she was shaking her hips and rapping, she was looking out for her hot Sri Lankan self. I had a blast watching her. She played some great stuff from her upcoming Kala. Where I was standing in the crowd, not one person was standing still. Whether you were grinding with the stranger in front of you, doing the worm on the beer-stained cement, or shaking your head around breathing in the skunk-weed air, you were loving M.I.A. She shocked me with a great rendition of The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind," a totally new, hip, version of the classic. It got me moving. And following this cover, her DJ friend who layed down the beats she needed for her set, played the beginning riff of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams," mashing it with a new song on Kala. It was simply "wayyyyy-cool!!!" Of course I enjoyed her classics "Bucky Done Gun," "10 Dolla," "Pull Up The People," and an awesome finish with "Galang," (everyone had their hands up on the 'ya-ya-hey' part,) but I really admired her new stuff: "Boyz," her new single which I'm not that crazy about was still fun live, and "Birdflu" was fantastic. Really fun stuff, guys.

I hope Siren revives itself for next year, despite the outrageous conclusion of Coney Island.

VIDEOS:

Wouldda / Wanna / Willa

Events! Events! Events!

I didn't know this happened yesterday!!!

I definitely [wouldda] gone. The caption is too good to be true. Thank you Village Voice.

I also want to go to thisThe Pierces are a lot of fun.

Hopefully I will go to this:
Union Hall is even in MY hood. Why shouldn't I?

Have a wonderful day.

CitySol Rewind

So.....I gathered myself Saturday morning and arrived at CitySol by around 1 o'clock, so i wouldn't miss Frankpollis. They put on a good show with solid vocals, beats, and guitar licks. I was disappointed, however, with the lack of a turn-out for the opening bands. What can one really expect from New York hipster-environmentalists though? Frankpollis was at its best playing "Malk" which ended with a fantastic and almost 8 minute long jam, and "No Name," a pop song. They're great. I wanted the FP set to be longer, but it was stellar nonetheless. :)

Following FP was The Budos Band, who ended their set with an odd rendition of Sugarpie Honeybunch, where the chords were a step higher or lower or something and the beat remained the same. The excessive horns and up and down bobbing of the band members was kind of charming at first, (they're from Staten Island,) but after a while the songs molded into each other and became a blob of [dare I say substance-less] "afro-soul" in the words of the one of the brass players describing the group's genre.

These Are Powers came next, and they seemed to be, in the words of my mother, "a lot of show with no play." Comprised of ex-Liars members, we all expected a possibly innovative and exciting set, but the lead singer, a very pretty Anna Barie mimicked that type of Yoko Ono rock art in the 1970s, but...no dice. I left the CitySol stage at this point to go walk along the East River with some friends.

When I returned, I missed OCDJ, but I made sure to be back for O'Death who were fantastic. Their music style is primitive in that it is old-fashioned in a folky sense, but also in that it maintains a haphazard and chaotic flow in all of the songs.
best part: When the audience and the band sang along to Down to Rest:"Baby...Lay Me...Down to Rest..." Everyone was just having a good time.

Sadly, I missed most of the rest of the show. I didn't see Les Savy Fav or Land of Talk. And I saw the beginning of the Besnard Lakes' set which sounded awesome. CitySol was pretty good except for the crazy environmental aspect I think. Charging a dollar for a plastic cup for conservation purposes I found irritating. BUT the music was fun fun fun. Siren's up next!

mp3s:

OCDJ - Pls Stp Th Hstl

O'Death - Down To Rest

The Besnard Lakes - And You Lied To Me

...and if you were lucky enough to receive the Frankpollis 2-track CD, then you'd have those tracks. For now though: www.myspace.com/frankpollis

One More Thing...CitySol

Anyone who's anyone is going to attend CitySol 2007 at Solar 1 this Saturday on East 23rd St. and the East River.

Some great bands are playing:

Les Savy Fav

Land of Talk

The Besnard Lakes

O'Death

OCDJ

These Are Powers

The Budos Band

Frankpollis

and WNYU DJs

sponsored by Brooklynvegan

I'm particularly excited about Frankpollis.

their myspace

and here they are:

Dengue Fever at the Pool Party 7/1/07

After SiCKO was sold out, I went to McCarren Park Pool to see Man Man and other bands, but I couldn't actually stay for Man Man because I needed to attend the closing performance of Passing Strange (an incredible show) at the Public Theatre.

I'd been to the pool only once last summer to see Bloc Party, Secret Machines, and Mew--a concert that I needed to pay for. I had no idea that there were free concerts every Sunday (I'm very much behind the times,) but now, I want to go to everything they present to the public. What else does one do on a Sunday?

Anyhow, what I did see was the fantastic show put on by Dengue Fever, a band I had not heard of until the minute they began their set. Dengue Fever is comprised of Chhom Nimol on vocals, Zac Holtzman on guitar and vocals, Ethan Holtzman on the farfisa organ, Senon Williams on bass guitar (he's on fire), David Ralicke on the brass, and Paul Smith on the drums. Just by the names and the wide range of instruments, one could tell that this Cambodian-based surf band is certainly diverse among other things. They really rocked the cigarette smoking, tight tee wearing, sun soaking crowd with their homages to a campy corner of the 1960s rock scene, but in a language other than english. Apart from their awesomely catchy, and occasionally hypnotic and poignant songs, they conveyed great chemistry with each other to the audience. The pool is a big place with an almighty obstacle of noise, but their set was nevertheless intimate.

Songs like "Escape from Dragon House," "Thanks A Lot," and "Sni Bong" left the crowd dancing, and feeling ultra-hip as they listened to what seemed to be familiar and yet fresh music. It was from another country, and unless the audience member was Cambodian, the tongue they spoke in was indecipherable, and still, their performance and sound completely commanded the stage and the pool. Even those who lost themselves on the provided Slip-N-Slide (thanks to Helio and Jelly NYC) were grooving.

Dengue Fever really wowed me, and they will wow you too. Their album, Escape from the Dragon House is out now-- I'm definitely going to whip out my ca$h.

myspace: www.myspace.com/denguefevermusic

Videos I took: