2.24.2010
12.17.2009
Noise Report: The Low Anthem
Words: Jonathan Kosakow
Video & Photos: Curtis Stiles
In August of 2007, a blue station wagon pulled up to the Rockwood Music Hall on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. After checking to make sure they were legally parked, Jeff Prystowsky and Ben Knox Miller unloaded their own gear and carted it to the small stage. Rockwood, though comfortable and with pristine sound, only holds a handful of people, so it’s not spacious enough to host any large band – or even a small one with a large following. On that night, the room was hardly at capacity, but the two members who comprised The Low Anthem were able to grab hold the ears of every listener in the small, dimly lit brick room. And, based on the post-show conversation, I was not the only one who felt they had a music-making future ahead of them.
Click here to watch Curtis' video
Since that show at Rockwood, they have toured with Ray Lamontagne and Elvis Perkins. They have played at (among others) Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and most recently the famed Newport Folk Festival. Their song To Ohio was selected Song of the Day by NPR Radio. The selection honored them with comparisons to Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan. Their latest album, Oh My God Charlie Darwin
, was awarded Album of the Month by the UK magazine Uncut. The list goes on.
Their songs – mainly written by Miller – poetically speak of subjects from survival to faith and lost love. They draw from personal experience, but the lyrics are mostly fictional – “a novel, not a memoir,” as Miller puts it. These stories give the mellow music life, and often times they seem too age-old to be created by a year-young writer. When you’re in the audience watching them play, you can’t help but stay quiet and simply listen.
As a whole, The Low Anthem’s combination of folk, rock, blues and gospel hits close to Woody Guthrie and even Tom Waits, but at times lands closer to the blistering rust of Neil Young. Though his main instrument is guitar, Miller also plays harmonica through much of the set, and can also sit comfortably behind the drum kit, pick up an old horn he does not know the name of, or even whistle into a cell phone to create some interesting feedback, as he does during The Ballad of the Broken Bones.
Prystowsky jumps comfortably from instrument to instrument – upright bass, drums and pump organ – while lending a gentle backup vocal to Miller’s rough yet calming voice (which sometimes turns into a whisky-soaked roar). Adams brings yet another delicate vocal to the harmony, and her multi-instrument talents – ranging from clarinet to guitar and many others – give the trio much more versatility on stage. In short, each member is capable of playing any role necessary to make every song work.
Beyond the obvious talent, it is a welcome change to see such modesty in a group. From the moment they come on stage to the moment they walk off, it is clear that the three enjoy making music together. They focus solely on making sure that each note is where it should be and each song fits into the whole, and that is what drives them from show to show.
The Low Anthem are currently in the midst of a short run opening for like-minded folkie Josh Ritter, before they set off a ten-show tour with The Avett Brothers in February.
11.05.2009
CMJ: The Best Festival You've (Probably) Never Heard Of
There is no “right” way to get through CMJ. Of the almost 1,100 musical acts who performed over the five days at this year’s marathon, even those fans heavily immersed in the music scene were familiar with only a small percentage. Some choose to see only the bands they already know and are familiar with. Some choose to pick a venue and stick with it for an entire evening. Others choose to pick bands based on their names, and still others just go to an area with the highest concentration of shows (generally the Lower East Side of Manhattan), and bounce around between venues. But no matter what method you choose, you are bound to find something you love, something you hate, or something completely weird.
As I am just one man, I was only able to see a (very, very, very) small percentage of the music played. But of the bands I was able to see, here are my recommendations.
These United States bring a sound similar to a combination of The Black Crowes and The Band, with vocals slightly reminiscent of the Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz. Comparisons aside, this quintet had a sound too big for Piano’s, the small bar that played host that evening. By adding a steel pedal guitar to the classic southern rock, they are allowed much greater diversity of sound and can bring in many more influences. And that may be their only true drawback – the lack of a definitive sound. Give them a little bit more time to find their true sound, though, and I’d put some money on seeing these guys in much larger venues.
Brooklyn’s Clare & The Reasons, who refer to themselves as “chamber pop,” are some of my favorite new musicians on the scene today. Clare Muldaur Manchon and husband/musical collaborator Olivier Manchon write intricate pieces for a small band capable of playing a host of instruments.
Guitar, violin, bass, piano, tuba, trombone, even a glockenspiel and a recorder make their way into each show. Clare’s voice, perhaps a mousier version of Billie Holiday, is what really sticks out, though. Give her two notes and you’ll be hooked.
Even though punk and dance beats are culturally and musically exact opposites, Bang Bang Eche has found a way to combine them. With the oldest member only twenty years old, these kids rocked, and rocked hard.I’m generally not a big fan of punk, and to be honest my heart sank when this group of teenagers got on stage and lit up some disturbingly distorted guitar. But only two songs in and I was already a fan.
Between songs, T’Nealle Worsley and his bandmates yelled across stage as if it were part of the show, still unsure of what they’d play. “Should we do this one?” “Yeah, we might as well!” And that’s when the mayhem began.
The technically proficient Motel Motel could immediately be described as indie-rock, but there music is much more than that. Good indie-rock these days, as I see it, takes from all the best bands of the past few decades, and that is exactly what Motel Motel does, without sounding any bit too much like any single band - a little bit country, a little bit folk, and a lot Rock & Roll. It’s many old sounds with a new twist.
An Honorable Mention also goes to the self-described psychadelic, ghettotech, melodramatic pop of Warpaint, the 11-piece rock orchestra known asEmmanuel and the Fear, and Annie & the Beekeepers, whose quiet trio of acoustic country-folk held strong against what could have been a show-halting dance beat on the other side of the venue’s wall.
Rules to Sink or Swim at CMJ 2009
When you are an accomplished musician, such as JD Souther, it probably shouldn’t take more than ten minutes to tune your guitar before playing one last song. Instead, telling extended stories at the Living Room ultimately lost his audience, and never actually produced a tuned instrument. Mr. Souther could have stopped his ship from sinking but he just stared at the holes.
I remember the moment that the “band” who calls themselves the Bodega Girls officially lost me. One of their two lead microphone-holders was comfortably in the crowd, pumping his fist and screaming “We’re all losers” to the easily bought crowd. But when his counterpart proclaimed “I looooooooove your face paint” I had had enough. Unless you’re the ultimate warrior, or KISS, spending time on make-up is over-rated. Isn’t one really just masking something that nobody wants to see, or in this case, hear?
Being a gracious host can only make you look better in the eyes of your beholders. So when Bang! Bang! Eche! leader T’Nealle Worsley slipped off the stage in a fit of musical passion and accidentally knocked into a photographer, he sought out the victim and apologized immediately after the song was over. And for a moment the world was right and everything was A-OK. Similarly, before Motel Motel lead singer Eric Engel walked off stage, he thanked so many people you thought the “cut to commercial” music was about to come on. Saying “thank you” when you are given a compliment and “sorry” when you make a mistake never goes out of style.
9.21.2009
Nirvana
9.16.2009
9.15.2009
More Thoughts On Pickles