Posted by Leilani Polk on Jul. 22, 2009, at 2:25 pm
A quick breakdown of this weekend’s most worthy concerts beginning with Thursday, ’cause that’s when the weekend really starts, right? For a more comprehensive schedule of concerts, check out our Upcoming Events page.
Thursday, July 23 Nightmare Of You (pictured) w/Plushgun/Brian Bonz/Aushua In Nightmare of You’s single, “I Think I’m Getting Older,” frontman Brandon Reilly laments about aging against jangly guitars and post-punk bounce, and right before it peters to an end, there’s a brief breakdown of lazy, watery dub. Haven’t heard the rest of the Long Island, NY, four-piece quartet’s just-released second album, Infomaniac (Bevonshire), but my curiosity is piqued. Plushgun and Brian Bonz are both Brooklynites; Plushgun does cloying electro-pop (oft-described as “infectious”) while Bonz has a husky vocals and a pleasant ambience to his organic experimental rock. Thurs., July 23, 9 p.m., Crowbar, Ybor City, $10 in advance/$12 dos (18 and up).
Ex-Norwegianw/The Lighthouse and the Whaler/PemberleyWhile the name may imply far away origins (or an appreciation of Monty Python’s Flying Circus), Ex-Norwegian hails from Miami Beach and their music has the bright and shiny quality you’d expect with hand-claps, acoustic guitar and cheery vocals. Ohio’s Lighthouse and the Whaler make airy folk rock with percussive trimmings and multi-voice harmonizing that give the music a tender, rustic feel. Thurs., July 23, 9 p.m., New World Brewery, Ybor City, $7. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jul. 16, 2009, at 8:55 am
This time, instead of opening for of Montreal, brother-and-sister indie pop duo The Fiery Furnaces bring their own headlining tour back to town. No Clubs Presents the band at Orpheum Saturday, August 22; tickets are $13 in advance and can be purchased at Daddy Kool ($15 day of show). Here’s the full Fiery Furnaces release/bio:
Eleanor was constantly ridiculed in the crudest and least interesting manner by her brother Matthew. He, for his part, had to suffer such things as her coming in the room, and various other affronts, for instance talking, or watching the TV show she wanted, or putting on a record she might like to hear. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on May. 17, 2009, at 6:52 pm
Last night, Photographer Phil and I played Heatwave Hopscotch, skipping from stage to stage, pausing longer at some than at others though never staying long enough to get comfortable in any one place, and having a grand old time all along the way.
We cruised into Heatwave around 9 p.m., missing the monsoon and arriving just in time to catch a snatch of blues guitarist Michael Burks at the Bandshell before we landed in the Cantina for Kinobe and Soul Beat Africa. (Kinobe pictured, photo by Phil Bardi.)
We were in our spot two seconds and one sip into our drinks before we were befriended by a pair of jolly 40ish Bradenton gals (I nicknamed them Angel and Curly), who immediately pushed a few Ace’s Lounge cards on us, then admitted to being friends with the owner. Angel went on to extol all Ace’s virtues (she called it the “Skipper’s Smokehouse of Bradenton”) and about the hotel conveniently located right across the street, the Jimmy Buffett-themed Parrot Inn. You could virtually make a night of it – see a show at the famed Ace’s, stumble over to the Parrot and get a room, hit Bradenton Beach the next day if your head’s still attached. (Angel admitted she’d already booked a room for Red Elvises in October.) Then she and Phil started chatting about photography and her husband’s new hobby of taking pics of the sky through his mega-high tech telescope, and how Saturn was so clear right now that you could see its moons. When Phil ducked away to take pics, Angel latched onto me, and told me about how excited she was to see some world music, the greatness of what we were seeing while we were seeing it, the lady who scooted into the huge spot in front of us and whether she was a temporary or permanent stopper. I ran into Van, spotted a dude who was a deadringer for Donald Sutherland, enjoyed a few songs worth of the warm and buoyant Ugandan music, then snagged Phil and dragged him to the Ballroom. (Many more pics and tidbits after the jump.)Read the rest of this entry »
The early evening monsoon that struck Saturday had the bands at New World Brewery running late. No worries, the music never really stopped, and though the rains would let up, the crowd would not. Packed in on the porch, those in attendance witnessed some of the best central Florida music.
The first set I caught was by the so-called “folk experimental” threesome of Lauris Vidal. The instruments may have been experimental and folk based — Vidal played everything from a homemade, wooden slide guitar to an electric banjo — but these guys are a crisp, blues-rock band. What sets them apart, though, is their use of dub & reggae influences to create a more syncopated sound.
Roppongi’s Ace rocked the mustaches off faces with their style of southern rock. I missed Ted Lukas and the Misled for some Cuban Club acts, but got back to catch the start of Will Quinlan and the Diviners’ set. These guys — simply put — are good shit. GreyMarket changed the pace, breaking out a light show & laptops to turn in a quite excellent guitar & drum driven electro rock set. (Pictured: GreyMarket guitarist Cave McCoy; photo by Phil Bardi, no glow added.)
The Sheiks played a solid, but ultimately unmemorable post-rock set giving way to a surprise late-night show featuring Johnny Cakes and the Four Horsemen of the Apacolypso. They opened up Heatwave at the Ballroom stage — I’m not sure how that set went over, but 1:30 a.m. at a still raging New World felt like a better time slot for the high-energy — and highly dirty — ska band. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on May. 7, 2009, at 11:12 am
CL’s choice picks for this weekend in music.
Friday, May 08 What was it that Deiter said on Sprockets? Oh yeah … “Your story has grown tiresome.” I can see this gimmicky show — Unwigged & Unplugged: An evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, which features the three now-silver-haired comedians who made up Spinal Tap performing acoustic — as getting real old real fast. Let’s hope the trio doesn’t think that just the songs can carry the day; they’d better have some funny shtick in there, or I could see this thing being a waste of time. Then again, I could be wrong. Still, one wonders: What happens when you run an acoustic guitar through an amp and turn the amp up to 11? Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg, $36.50-$49.50. —ES
Post rock meets experimental electronica by instrumental Los Angeles duo El Ten Eleven (pictured). Made up of Kristian Dunn (fretless bass, guitar/bass doubleneck) and Tim Fogarty (electric drums, acoustic drums, synthesizers), El Ten Eleven employs heavy looping and much effects pedal-pushing to create its fuzzified, lively brand of dance music. Also performing: Surly, The Tape Delay and Ghost of Gloria. Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., Orpheum, Ybor City, $8 in advance/$10 DOS. —LP
It’s only fitting that Nashville’s Kings of Leon have graduated to playing arenas — although the Sun Dome is pretty small in that regard — because their sound has morphed from a garage-y immediacy to, yup, more of an arena-style bombast. “Sex on Fire,” the first single from KoL’s current album, Only by the Night, casts a U2-ish hue. The shift must be working: Only by the Night ascended to No. 5 on the Billboard 200, besting 2007’s Because of the Times by 20 slots. For more, read CL’s interview with guitarist Matthew Followill here. Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., USF Sun Dome, Tampa, $35.50 and $43. —ESRead the rest of this entry »
The latest press-generating tactic the Lips are enjoying is a collaboration with Wu Tang’s GZA. (That’s the foursome below with a badass looking GZA. Or maybe his bad-assness is mere confusion, like, “Who are these guys again and what real benefit am I getting from playing with them?)
Posted by Leilani Polk on Apr. 27, 2009, at 2:27 pm
Much randomness has arrived in my inbox, made headlines, been ranted about, premiered, revealed … you get the idea. Here’s a breakdown of news stuff that caught my eye over the past seven days.
Tonight, the Decemberists (pictured) make their first appearance on The Colbert Report since the 2006 ShredDown between Funk and Colbert fill-in, Peter Frampton. Portland’s indie chamber rock ensemble is set to perform “The Wanting Comes In Waves / Repaid.”
Newcomer pop-soul singer/songwriter Priscilla Reneais the latest webcam-owning self-promoting musician who’s used YouTube to get noticed. She’s got a real nice voice, young and velvety sweet, so teen-attractive that she was scooped up by Power/Capitol without delay and released her debut EP, Hello My Apple, March 31. Here’s the adorable vid she put out in honor of her release. Whaddya think?
After eight years, I’m still trying to find my identity in the Tampa Bay area. I’ve got the “you’ve got to drive everywhere all the time if you want to have any fun and be a part of anything” vibe down, but there’s something missing in my overall music-making and living experiences in St. Petersburg. The latest rash of confused feelings came to me Saturday night, when I found a review of my band Blast & the Detergents CD in the April issue of MAXIMUMROCKNROLL.
A great, short and earnest review, I was as giddy as a little 12-year-old whose parents finally let him get a cotton candy. This nationally distributed, punk-as-fuck, San Francisco-based ‘zine spent the time listening to and reviewing my CD. They even chose my hand-drawn album art to be displayed for eternity in the review section of their April 2009.
I admit it that I start too many blogs lamenting about why it is that there are no shows (that I want to see, at least) for days/week/months and then there are several competing shows the same night …
Posted by Eric Snider on Mar. 30, 2009, at 8:22 am
This concert review was written by CL intern Michelle Stark; photos by Nicole Kibert.
Adding to a slew of sold-out shows across Europe and the United States, British duo the Ting Tings played to a packed Orpheum on Sunday night.
Lead singer Katie White, decked out in sparkly tights and red ankle boots, pounced energetically onto the stage and launched into the band’s first song, “We Walk.” She and her partner, drummer/singer/guitarist Jules De Martino — who was equally fashionable in neon green sunglasses that matched his T-shirt —filled the next hour with lovely vocals and some serious jamming. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Mar. 20, 2009, at 8:23 am
Black Lips play Orpheum in Ybor City next Thursday, March 26. Here’s my feature/interview with the band:
“I want other bands like us to become as successful as we are so they can stay as shitty as we are,” says Jared Swilley, bass player for Black Lips, talking on a cell phone as the band rolls out of Omaha in a van.
So why is Swilley standing up for shitty music? You have to understand his definition of such: music that comes from a raw, unfiltered place, that’s not recorded using the latest computer technology, that doesn’t concern itself with whether the vocals and guitars are exactly in tune or the rhythms are perfectly in time.
“I like the human side of music,” he says. “I love imperfections and mistakes. Otherwise the cyborgs win. Look at ‘Louie Louie.’ It was No. 1 hit [actually a No. 2 in 1963] and it was sloppy and had the biggest vocal flub.”
“Louie Louie” would be a fair reference point for the music of Black Lips, an Atlanta quartet that’s been together since the early part of this decade. It sounds like the stuff made in basements and garages by self-taught kids in the 1960s, recorded off-the-cuff with lots of reverb and little regard for squeaky-clean sonics. Black Lips have dubbed their music “flower punk.”
“When me and [guitarist] Cole [Alexander] were pretending to be in a band early on, we listened to The Germs and they couldn’t play their instruments at all,” Swilley says. “When we really started playing guitar, we emulated Link Wray. He had these guitar riffs that were cool and tough and easy to play. We were into the punk stuff, but we were always into the ’60s stuff.”
Sometimes an album review just writes itself. Such is the case with William Elliott Whitmore’s new album, Animals In The Dark, and here is what it writes:
“William Elliott Whitmore’s new album is absolutely awesome and anyone who listens to it and honestly dislikes it needs a swift kick in the crotch.”
Really, I could say “Essential Listening” and the above and feel like I’ve summed it up, but I wanna spend some time telling you just how awesome it is.
Animals In The Dark marks a couple of firsts for Whitmore. It’s his first album on Anti- Records. Existing fans will find all new sounds and full band arrangements. The banjo we’ve come to love makes a couple of brief appearances, but for the most part Animals In The Dark is a full, multi-instrument affair. This may turn off some of his old fans, but I can’t see how. The expansion of his sound has done nothing to lessen his impact, it just helps to make it a little more accessible. Read the rest of this entry »
My ears are still ringing from Foxy Shazam’s show at the Orpheum Tuesday night, where I stood mere inches away from the stage, close enough to see the burning embers on lead singer Eric Nally’s cigarettes before he swallowed them. That was just one of the highlights of the night.
Before Foxy Shazam delved into their shenanigans, though, a couple of openers played brief sets.
Dr. Manhattan (pictured at right), a group of quirky guys from Illinois, opened the show and entertained the crowd pretty well with fast-paced danceable numbers that got the early arrivals moving. For their song “Nuclear Embrace,” the stage lights were turned off and each band member donned glasses with mini flashlights on the sides. It was silly, but entertaining and the sound was pretty good. I was less impressed with the A.K.A.’s. They were decent, but at that point, I was restless to see Foxy so I was less than appreciative of the band’s out-of-control rhythms.
Then it was Foxy’s turn. Lead singer Nally theatrically grabbed the microphone shortly after the five-member band (plus touring member Alex Nauth, who did a fantastic job on trumpet and accompanying vocals) took the stage and launched into the first of about a five song introductions. And by introductions, I mean short, nonsensical stories that seemed to have nothing to do with the song that followed. An example: “Me and my girlfriend, we were putting our kid to bed one night, and the blinds were drawn, but they were open, and then moon was shining through the slits, and I looked over at her on the bed, and I said, “Baby, you look like a zebra.” Read the rest of this entry »
ninebullets.net is the official online presenter of the O’Death show here in Tampa this Tues., Feb. 3 at Orpheum. While I’m not entirely sure what “the official online presenter” really means, I can also say I don’t really care. Anytime I have the chance to align the site with the Appalachian Apocalypse from New York that is O’Death, you best believe I am gonna do it. What this means for the local reader is that I have a pair of tickets to give away to the show and what this means for both the local and non-local reader alike is that I have (3) copies of their latest CD, Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin, to offer to you, the loyal ninebullets.net reader.
What do you have to do for the loot, you ask? Well, go to O’death’s myspace profile and then email me what the fourth song on their music player is. First local person gets the tickets and I’ll give the CD’s to the first three locals or out-of-towners to email me the same answer.
If you don’t win, don’t let that deter you from checking out this show, Tampa. It’s definitely gonna be a show of the year candidate. Here is what I wrote about them the last time they came to Ybor City: Read the rest of this entry »
Comfortably packed and full of sweet hipster coats, the Orpheum hosted a Tuesday night show with New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus (see Gabe’s review and pics below) and from across the Atlantic, the Welsh band Los Campesinos!.
Two lead singers, Gareth and Aleksandra, each played a small glockenspiel and microKorg synths – Gareth’s with a floor tom and snare. Neil and Tom shared guitar duties, volleying chords, leads and noise in a Pavement-inspired ethos, though Ollie, the bare-chested and pasty Ron Weasley look-a-like behind the drum kit, kept the tempos faster than typical ’90s indie rock. Read the rest of this entry »
On Monday, which was one of coldest nights of the year in Tampa, Los Campesinos! and Titus Andronicus shared the stage at The Orpheum in Ybor and warmed the crowd with blisteringly hot tunes. Its rare for Tampa to get a chance to see two young bands in the early stages of their careers on the same bill. Read the rest of this entry »
Last night, Manchester Orchestra sold out the Orpheum (this reporter only made it in thanks to the door work of CL Marketing + Promotions Director Joran Oppelt). Lead singer Andy Hull (looking every bit Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle’s little brother) impressed with his vocal chops, mixing in a good deal of Ben Gibbard-influence to go with the band’s loud/quiet sing-a-long numbers, some which have been featured in the Gossip GirlTV show.
A unique collaborative event transpired at the Orpheum to ring out September in style – an honest to goodness full on revival awakening the masses to the not so secret Americana wave. The Revival Tour featuring Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ben Nichols (Lucero) and Tim Barry (Avail; pictured left) along with friends Todd Beene (Glossary), Jon Gaunt (Whiskey & Co), Austin Lucas, Bob Lucas (Austin’s dad), and Digger Barnes proves that hardcore kids can evolve while staying true to hardcore ideals. Back in the 90s going to shows at The Stone Lounge, and later 403 Chaos, along with the Hardback in Gainesville and many other venues up and down the eastern seaboard, I often wondered what would happen to all us hardcore kids as we got older. Local music fans already knew it was possible having witnessed the successful evolution of The Chase Theory to Have Gun, Will Travel. The Revival Tour reaffirms that transition while enabling us to hear new music discussing the issues of our day – war, economic crisis, etc. from a critical vantage. In traditional revival fashion, once the music started it kept on rolling as the musicians tag teamed in and out through each others sets until the final farewells rang out.
During Tim Barry’s set, a microphone outage, provided a glimpse back to the hardcore days:
Thursday, July 23
On Monday, which was one of coldest nights of the year in Tampa, Los Campesinos! and Titus Andronicus shared the stage at The Orpheum in Ybor and warmed the crowd with blisteringly hot tunes. Its rare for Tampa to get a chance to see two young bands in the early stages of their careers on the same bill. 
