Strat Hear
Okay, so it's become readily apparent during this blog's existence that only posting when I'm feeling particularly clever or I had a good highdea the night before simply does not provide the regular, constant updates which the blogosphere demands. Readers want content, content, and more content (for their sexy bods... blog joke) and if I maintain my rather more discriminating standards I simply can't deliver it. So...
I've decided to start posting reviews of the shows I work at Joe's Pub on a semi-regular basis. These reviews will not only be my jaded take on the quality of music and the live show itself, but also more personal insights into the kind of people these bands are. "Hey asshole," I hear you saying, "who the fuck died and made you king? You don't know these people, and if you did you'd kill yourself when you realized how much cooler they are than you."
Well, here's the situation: I work as a stage manager at Joe's, a job which requires you to be as personable and accomodating as possible. This means that I enter into contact with an act wanting very badly to like them because then it is just that much easier for me to treat them well. I think how a band/act behaves towards someone they know to be in this position speaks worlds about their character (and from my experience I can be quite confident in telling you they do in fact understand the power dynamic there, whether they admit it or not).
Having laid that down I'd like to do a brief review of the CocoRosie set last night...
The set itself was pretty good. The band plays what I can only describe as trip-hop a lá the New York indie scene. They had the simple, repetitive chord changes, with soaring, filtered female vocals, and the loping feel of trip hop, but interjected with some beatboxing and odd found-sound sampling. The songs were pretty and the crowd seemed absolutely riveted, but I found the material a bit samey by the end of the set (which is sometimes my response to genres like trip-hop).
As for the band... Well, I had mixed feelings. The second vocalist was very nice and seemed to quite motivated for someone who, when I first met her, was so high that she could barely remember how many people were in the band. The lead vocalist on the other hand was a bit more of a diva than I might have expected from an indie act. She delayed the set about ten or fifteen minutes putting on makeup, doing vocal warmups, and tuning her harp, and then one of the band members had the nerve to be somewhat cross with me when they ran over on time and only got through 2/3 of their setlist. Sorry guys... You may be the next thing on the indie scene but that makes you only a bit less disposable than an American Idol runner-up, and we have to clear the room by 9pm for the next set.
I've decided to start posting reviews of the shows I work at Joe's Pub on a semi-regular basis. These reviews will not only be my jaded take on the quality of music and the live show itself, but also more personal insights into the kind of people these bands are. "Hey asshole," I hear you saying, "who the fuck died and made you king? You don't know these people, and if you did you'd kill yourself when you realized how much cooler they are than you."
Well, here's the situation: I work as a stage manager at Joe's, a job which requires you to be as personable and accomodating as possible. This means that I enter into contact with an act wanting very badly to like them because then it is just that much easier for me to treat them well. I think how a band/act behaves towards someone they know to be in this position speaks worlds about their character (and from my experience I can be quite confident in telling you they do in fact understand the power dynamic there, whether they admit it or not).
Having laid that down I'd like to do a brief review of the CocoRosie set last night...
The set itself was pretty good. The band plays what I can only describe as trip-hop a lá the New York indie scene. They had the simple, repetitive chord changes, with soaring, filtered female vocals, and the loping feel of trip hop, but interjected with some beatboxing and odd found-sound sampling. The songs were pretty and the crowd seemed absolutely riveted, but I found the material a bit samey by the end of the set (which is sometimes my response to genres like trip-hop).
As for the band... Well, I had mixed feelings. The second vocalist was very nice and seemed to quite motivated for someone who, when I first met her, was so high that she could barely remember how many people were in the band. The lead vocalist on the other hand was a bit more of a diva than I might have expected from an indie act. She delayed the set about ten or fifteen minutes putting on makeup, doing vocal warmups, and tuning her harp, and then one of the band members had the nerve to be somewhat cross with me when they ran over on time and only got through 2/3 of their setlist. Sorry guys... You may be the next thing on the indie scene but that makes you only a bit less disposable than an American Idol runner-up, and we have to clear the room by 9pm for the next set.
