Crystal Stilts, Grass Widow, & The Beets Played Brooklyn Museum

On Saturday the above mentioned bands played a Todd P curated show at the Brooklyn Museum. It was part of the museum's First Saturday series. Bob Gruen was also on location with an exhibit and special discussion panel.

I arrived at the museum a bit later then I wanted, thanks MTA! The Beets were almost done their set at this point. Despite seeing them many times, and even booking them, I didn't even realize it was them on stage because the sound was so terrible. The stage was center in a long narrow room that was about 50% glass with very high ceilings. Now I'm no sound engineer (actually I was a long time ago) but that sounds like a bad combo for acoustics.

Like I said I missed most of The Beets so I won't comment any further on them but I was there for Grass Widow. They're one of those bands no one has ever heard of and then all of a sudden they play a show in NYC and they're suddenly everyone's favorite band. I had no idea what they sounded like so I had no expectations. After two songs I gave up on them. Not that they're a bad band, it's just that the sound was so awful I had to get out of there. I went to the deli down the street to pick up some supplies.

When I got back they had just finished and we were excited to see Crystal Stilts. I'm not going to pretend to be a huge fan but they're pretty good. By this point we had talked plenty of shit on the sound but I was hoping that for the headlining band shit would improve. What I didn't consider is the fact that Crystal Stilts likes the reverb... a lot.

They started their set and it was like mud soup. The excessive reverb effects were mixing with the excessive natural reverb in the room and it was just terrible. I was with a friend who's a pretty big fan of Stilts and he walked out after 4 songs. The rest of us made it through 5 maybe before we left. Damn. I guess I should have skipped the bands and checked out Gruen instead. In retrospect that would have been the wise move.

I have no pictures from the event but the museum asked people to photograph the bands and submit them to their Flickr group so there's plenty to see. Bob Gruen will comment on the ones he thinks are worth his critique.

Link:
Brooklyn Museum Flickr

Tonight: Beets, Crystal Stilts @ BK Museum (FREE); Multiverse Playground

There's a pretty killer event going down at the Brooklyn Museum today. First of all there's a free Todd P curated show with The Beets, Crystal Stilts, & Grass Widow at Brooklyn Museum. Bob Gruen is also going to be there speaking on a panel or something. They have tons of other shit happening for free at the museum as well.

Then it's over to Third Ward for Multiverse Playground with Boy Crisis, Das Racist, and a bunch of other bands, artists, and comedians. Should be good times.

Tonight: Freelance Whales @ Pianos

CMJ darlings Freelance Whales are playing Pianos tonight. This band was without a doubt my favorite discovery during CMJ.

They're fucking adorable. They kinda sound like Arcade Fire but much more childish and I mean that in a good, no great, way. They sound like a kids version of Arcade Fire and look like a whole band of Matt & Kims, all smiles - all the time. When I first saw them I turned do my friend and said "I have the sudden urge to go see Where The Wild Things Are" meaning they are a live soundtrack to a childhood adventure.

I know none of this makes any sense but go see them and you'll get what I'm driving at. If they can figure out how to properly mic these kids on a big stage they will be huge.

That said, they're playing what might just be their last little NYC show, depending on how this tour goes. I'd suggest going to this one. $10 sucks but it's worth it in this case.

Freelance Whales
@ Pianos
10PM
$10

New Omar Rodriguez Lopez Album Streaming On MySpace

Apparently this is only available to stream today, so get while it's hot. I did not realize that Omar apparently records like 12 solo albums every year. I guess there's a lot leftover from 25-minute Mars Volta jams. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet but I dig it so far.

Link:
Stream Xenophanes on MySpace

The '90's Video Assault, Episode 4: Deftones

This video right here changed the world. When this hit MTV and The Box (remember that shit?) within hours every punk kid with a skateboard in America was rocking Dickies. This was the soundtrack to our lives we were all waiting for. This song inspired half the kids I know to pick up guitars. When we all rushed out and bought the album we were even more blown away. Adrenaline became the standard and was heard everywhere. "Bored" became the first of many Deftones songs every heavy band in every town covered (mine covered "Bored" and "7 Words"). I even went out and bought a Stephen Carpenter ESP LTD, which I still have and was just playing 10 minutes ago. So while this song is my least favorite from the album it does not take away the importance. Enjoy.

Aww, look how skinny Chino is...

Tonight: Gunfight! & We Are Country Mice @ Cameo; Cerebral Ballzy @ PA; Fucked Up w/WK & Viv Girls

It's a good night for rock n' roll, especially punk. If you're in the Burg you've got two solid choices (Bikes In The Kitchen & Crashin' In parties) right across the street from each other. N.6th is the place to be tonight. There's also an insane Fucked Up show at the Masonic Temple. I guess all Fucked Up shows are insane but this time they've got Andrew WK and Vivian Girls as additional band members.

Titus Andronicus Did Not Have Fun At The VICE Party

Saturday night I checked out the VICE 15-year anniversary / Halloween party at some giant warehouse on N.10th. I got there early and didn't have to deal with any of the door drama that ruined the night for a few people. The space itself was impressive, the booze was free, the bands were pretty awesome and the DJs were playing 90's tunes. Apparently though all types of fucked up shit was going on, which isn't surprising at all. I didn't experience any of this but I left kinda early.

Patrick from Titus Andronicus wrote about his experience and I commend him for still playing his set after all this bullshit. Read all about it here:

Link:
Patrick Got Assaulted By Hired Goons

***By the way 75% of the people at the party were wearing costumes that had more to do with 1984 then 1994. Is it that people just didn't give a shit about the theme or has pop culture bled together so much with our generation that we no longer recognize the difference between 84 and 94? I'm just saying, in 1994 we fucking hated all things 80's so it's weird that people are mixing the two...or maybe I'm just an old bastard.

Tonight: Halloween Parties (Mostly Brooklyn)

Here's some shit to do tonight. We've got loft parties, warehouse parties, bars, open bars, bowling, live bands, dead bands, deth rally...you get the point. Good fucking luck getting into the VICE party.

Tonight: Joy Division, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, & Gang Of Four (Sorta)

There's a killer show at Silent Barn tonight. In the spirit of Halloween and pretending to be someone you're not there's a cover show tonight. This pretty much has to be fun.

Grocery Thief as Joy Division
Le Rug as Dead Kennedys
Graffiti Monster as Minor Threat
Rainbow Party as Gang Of Four
@ Silent Barn
$??
All Ages

Gunfight! on Spin + Free Show Tomorrow

Another BSC favorite, Gunfight!, just got some love from Spin. The band shot a short video interview about their song "All You Need". You can check out the video and download the song through the link below.

Link:
Gunfight! on Spin

If you still haven't seen them yet you should check them out tomorrow at K&M. Plus I played a small role in putting that show together. It's fucking free (RSVP here) and our homeboys pow wow! are playing too. Yes, two bands and two exclamation points. So it must be good.