"Some people travel, some people are pretty,
we have a scraggly dog."
It's been a while since my fall concert preview, so here's a by-no-means-comprehensive (or binding!) list of other shows I might see this season. Please let me know what I'm missing.
Also, download Spoon's set from this summer's 80/35 Music Festival here (via Joe Lawler).
October
Hank Williams III. People's Court (with tbd). Oct. 26. All Ages $20/$22
Joan of Arc. Vaudeville Mews (with Love Songs for Lonely Monsters and Noremac McCarthy). Oct. 28. 21+ $10
Rhonda Is a Dead Bitch. Record release party at Vaudeville Mews (with Golden Veins, Distant Trains). Nov. 20. 21+ $5
J-FLo. Vaudeville Mews. Nov. 26. All Ages $8
PrettyGirlHateMachine. Vaudeville Mews (with Touchnice of Maxilla Blue, Neon Current with Richie Daggers, MC Genetics, the Renegades of Sound). Nov. 27. 21+ $5
George Jones. 7 Flags Event Center. Nov. 28. All Ages $50
If I hadn't cheated and I hadn't lied I'd be the one walking by his side.
It was somehow appropriate that no one seemed to know what time Best Coast would be taking the stage Friday night in the basement of a dorm at Grinnell College. The band's own MySpace said 1:30 p.m.; a few months ago, our friend Ben had pointed that out, and although an afternoon start time definitely seemed strange, I remember thinking, hey, it's a college campus, you never know, right, and immediately trying to convince Ben and Grant and Chet Boom to take off work early that day and give me a ride. The MySpace for UK openers Male Bonding said 7 p.m., though, so there was that. And an article in Grinnell student newspaper the Scarlet & Black listed a 9 p.m. start, but left it somewhat unclear whether that applied to Best Coast or Male Bonding. So I texted Chet Boom saying 9. Then Mrs. Des Noise pointed out that last time we went up to Grinnell, to see British duo Fuck Buttons, we missed the opening act. So she, Shane, our good-natured designated driver Chet Boom and I all rolled into Grinnell's Gardner Lounge a little after 8 p.m., while the bands were still setting up. Turned out we had a couple of hours to kill with the weird experience of openly consuming beer on a college campus. (You're allowed to do that there, apparently. When a guy nearby pulled out a cigarette, though, I noticed that one of the students working security told him no smoking.) It might have felt a little bit weirder because we were sort of creepily lurking in a stairwell.
So yeah, point is, that "what, me know what time I play?" indifference I think is sort of key to what makes Best Coast work. Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno write and perform these fuzzy, super melodic guitar-pop songs with really simple themes about loving someone or missing someone or not being able to communicate truthfully with someone because sometimes that's just the way it is you know? The sound is partly rooted in catchy 1990s indie-pop groups like Tiger Trap, say-- groups with maybe a 60s girl-group element to them, anyway-- and also partly in confessional 90s indie rockers like Liz Phair. Cosentino's voice, though, has an almost counterintuitively dignified, poised aspect to it that connects her to country-ish singers like Neko Case, and there's a traditional, almost retrogressive quality to her lyrics when it comes to gender roles-- does she have to always be sighing over that boy?-- that for some reason makes me want to really stretch and compare her to, like, Patsy Cline, whose records I should put on the turntable while I type the rest of this post. Hang on a sec.
So last weekend after we got home from Kansas City, there on the doormat was our Sunday issue of The New York Times, which I tried canceling a little while ago because we read it mostly online anyway and I was thinking about cutting costs, but you have to call (you can't do it on the website) and the telephone operator was really persuasive, so-- well, now you know how you can get a discount on your Times subscription.
Anyway, the Arts & Leisure section this week was like a million pages, and I noticed there was a New York fall music preview. Which reminded me, along with college football starting again and Mrs. Des Noise going back to school, that it was almost fall. And that, hey-- I usually try to write seasonal music previews! Now, I realize I already missed Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and local indie celebs the Envy Corps at Vaudeville Mews earlier this week, and the farewell roast to bartending legend Dirty Dan at the Mews on Sunday before he moves to Hawaii. Also: Hot Hot Heat got canceled, huh?
But there's a whole bunch of interesting stuff coming up the next few months. Probable highlights include, in approximate order of likeliness you might've heard of 'em: Band of Horses, Passion Pit, Tokyo Police Club, Best Coast with Male Bonding, The Books, Electric Six, Atmosphere, Candy Claws, Bear in Heaven, Scout Niblett, David Dondero, Retribution Gospel Choir, Tim Kasher (Cursive), Deakin (Animal Collective), Maps & Atlases, Strange Boys and, for the name alone, maybe +Blissed Out+.
As always, please don't hesitate to let me know what I'm forgetting. Thank you for reading!
So Cow: "To Do List" (live in Brooklyn last summer)
It's a lot easier to write a summer concert preview when summer has already started, right? June has already seen some fine sets from the Beets, Coyote Slingshot, Wheels on Fire, and Damien Jurado, among others (still kicking myself for missing Pocahaunted). Interpol unfortunately canceled their June 28 gig at People's and failed to include Des Moines on their rescheduled tour-- all together now, let's shake our fists at Bono-- but there are still plenty of exciting live gigs coming up in Des Moines this summer. Off the top of my head, I'm very, very amped about So Cow, Woodsman, the Autumn Project, Maid Marian, 80/35 (of course!), the Poison Control Center's 80/35 after parties, Candy Claws, Devo, Phoenix, and Best Coast, for starters.
What follows is an incomplete, completely subjective lineup of shows I thought somebody reading this blog might be curious about. I tried to get a mix of local and national acts, but at this point I still only know so many local acts, so there's definitely nothing intentional if I forgot anyone. I put an asterisk next to shows I'm almost definitely gonna attend. (Unfortunately, I won't be at So Cow because I'll be out of town, but you should still totally go.)
Check the venue websites for times; Vaudeville Mews often has both an early show and a late show, due to liquor laws. Anyway, here goes nothing again:
June (what little is left of it)
Summer Jam: Night Ranger, LA Guns, Skid Row, Warrant, Winger, Dokken and Sweet. Saturday, June 26. Blank Park Zoo.
** Tyvek, with So Cow, Wolves in the Attic. Sunday, June 27, Vaudeville Mews. I was just regaining consciousness after a nap when Tyvek opened for Love Is All here in April. So I wasn't at all prepared for the Detroit lo-fi rockers' high-energy assault, and I don't have anything smart to say about it. Apparently I missed new Des Noise faves Coyote Slingshot, too. But Tyvek sounded pretty good, and they're on respected label Siltbreeze, so they're a strong bet for your Sunday night. The band it really kills me I'll have to miss this weekend is Dublin's So Cow. They're here all the way from Ireland, and lead singer Brian Kelly writes the kind of clever, sweet, endearing songs I can imagine anyone in town loving-- the edges are a bit ragged, yeah, but in a ramshackle, you-can-do-this-too way rather than to repel the uncool. I reviewed So Cow's wonderful self-titled album here; see some really intelligent things my Pitchfork colleague Nitsuh Abebe says about them here. Wolves in the Attic are one of my favorite local bands (and were before, full disclosure, I got to know basically all the members); expect really loud, Sonic Youth-inspired indie rock. Anyway, So Cow are the closest thing for most of the summer to the surefire awesome of past Mews bookings like Love Is All, Japandroids, Jonathan Richman, Josh Ritter, Jens Lekman, etc., so I really recommend going if you can; I've seen them live before, and they're for real.
The Melvins. Sunday, June 27. House of Bricks. These avant-garde California metalheads are legendary in their circles.
Big Country Bash: Gretchen Wilson, Rodney Atkins, Jason Michael Carroll, Trailer Choir, Jerrod Niemann, Sarah Darling and Jason Brown. Sunday, June 27. Blank Park Zoo.
Why Make Clocks, with Pink Kodiak. Monday, June 28. Vaudeville Mews. Solid local lineup. I mentioned Why Make Clocks before here. I'd go if I were going to be around.
** Woodsman, with the Autumn Project, Maid Marian. Wednesday, June 30. Vaudeville Mews. Denver's Woodsman are warm, woozy, electro-psych instrumental band with releases on a couple of the more interesting labels these days, Lefse and Mexican Summer. The Autumn Project are a towering local instrumental post-rock group I haven't seen in a while; anybody who went to the Mono show here last month should check them out (full disclosure: I hear it might be baritone guitarist and bassist John Huffman's birthday?). Ames' own Maid Marian come highly recommended as well, and I'm looking forward to checking out the tape on Sweat Power (Coyote Slingshot)-- so far sounds a bit like Beach House: slow, keyboard-based, elegant female vocals.
Justin Bieber. Wednesday, June 30. Wells Fargo Arena.
July
Spoon: "Is Love Forever?" (Live on "Jimmy Kimmel")
** The Poison Control Center. Saturday, July 3-Sunday, July 4. Vaudeville Mews. (80/35 After Party.) I've said enough about how great these Ames indie rockers are. Check out a little bit of the praise here. (Full disclosure: I've gotten to know these guys, too. Curse all these friendly, nice Midwesterners foiling my attempts to maintain critical distance!)
Waxeater, with Golden Veins, NERV, the Seed of Something. Monday, July 5. Vaudeville Mews. I wrote about Golden Veins (ex-Beati Paoli) previously here.
Ingrid Michaelson. Thursday, July 8. Simon Estes Amphitheater. I don't know much about this New York singer/songwriter, except that she has played 80/35 and friends tell me she's good. Might be one to check out!
Hanwell, with So Much Fun. Saturday, July 10. Vaudeville Mews. Another solid local lineup.
Abstract Rude, with Musab (Sab the Artist), DJ Tramlife, Gaiden Gadema w/ Richie Daggers, Young Tripp. Sunday, July 11. Vaudeville Mews. I met Richie Daggers at the Vaud when he overheard me talking about Nicki Minaj. I was wondering what rap Des Moines residents who really like rap listen to. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm totally down with Aeon Grey and Maxilla Blue, but it always seems like they're billed as rap for people who don't usually listen to rap, you know? Daggers gave me the name of Young Tripp, making comparisons to Nas's Illmatic. So maybe this would be a good one to check out.
The Autumn Project, with Why Make Clocks, others. Friday, July 16. Vaudeville Mews. I'll be out of town; otherwise there would be stars next to this local show. See June 30.
Samantha Crain, with Canby. Sunday, July 18. Vaudeville Mews. Same as above. I've seen and enjoyed Canby, one of the best local indie rock groups, a number of times, and I've liked what I've heard from Oklahoma roots-rocker Crain. I keep thinking I particularly love a song from her that the dude from Bon Iver covered, but I just spent the last 20 minutes searching Google and my computer for any trace of such a thing and I must've dreamed it. Should be a good show, though.
** YellowFever, with the Land of Blood and Sunshine, Deep Sleep Waltzing, the Seed of Something. Monday, July 19. Vaudeville Mews. (Early show.) Austin's YellowFever play skewed guitar pop with 1960s-style melodies and alluringly aloof female vocals recalling post-punk groups like the Slits. With local groups, including Marshalltown's Land of Blood and Sunshine, whom I've seen a couple of times now and am still trying to figure otu. If I can still stand after a weekend at the Pitchfork festival, I'll definitely be at this.
** Candy Claws, with Maid Marian. Monday, July 19. Vaudeville Mews. (Late show.) This Fort Collins, Colo. duo are very much a part of whatever the heck we're calling "chillwave" these days. Right bros? I wrote about them here.
Old 97's. Thursday, July 22. Simon Estes Amphitheater.
** Devo. Saturday, July 24. Simon Estes Amphitheater. New-wave legends within walking distance vs. $50 ticket price. I'd like to be there, so we'll see. In the meantime, here's New York rap duo Das Racist icing these bros backstage at The Colbert Report.
** Black Mountain. Monday, July 26. Vaudeville Mews. Sludgy Canadian psych-rockers on Bloomington, Indiana's excellent Jagjaguwar label should please Led Zeppelin fans for blocks around.
** June Panic. Tuesday, July 27. Vaudeville Mews. North Dakota's June Panic is one of those guys who can't stop writing songs regardless of the recording quality, in the mold of Capstan Shafts, Guided By Voices, etc.
Poppets. Tuesday, July 27. Vaudeville Mews. This Swedish punk duo played here last summer, but I don't think I gave them a fair shake. It'd be cool to see them again.
The All-Girl Boys Choir, with Squidboy. Sunday, Aug. 1. Vaudeville Mews. Not too familiar with the All-Girl Boys Choir, but longtime local indie-rockers Squidboy are always worth stopping by the Vaude.
Jamey Johnson. Thursday, Aug. 5. Val Air Ballroom.Here's what I said about this country outlaw's performance at last summer's state fair.
** The Delta Mirror, with Golden Veins. Friday, Aug. 6. Vaudeville Mews. Here's what I wrote for Pitchfork about the Delta Mirror; for Golden Veins, see July 5.
Black Keys, with Morning Benders. Sunday, Aug. 8. Val Air Ballroom. Morning Benders played here not too long ago, but I'd be curious to see them again.
Rooney. Monday, Aug. 9. Vaudeville Mews.
Toro Y Moi: "Blessa"
** Phoenix, with Toro Y Moi. Tuesday, Aug. 10. 7 Flags Event Center. French band Phoenix had one of the best records of last year, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and it still blows my mind that they'll be playing in Clive. I once overheard somebody around town saying they're kind of weird, but they're really not at all, except for occasionally fanciful lyrics-- you've heard these guys in car commercials for a reason. With Toro Y Moi, who have one of my favorite albums of this year. Here's what I wrote about them for SPIN.
** Vanilla Ice, with Tone Loc. Sunday, Aug. 15. Iowa State Fair. Hey, it's free! And I probably still know more of the words to "Ice Ice Baby" than I'd like to admit.
A few notes on English band Fuck Buttons (great music, lousy name), who played at Grinnell College the other night. It was my first time seeing a show there. The venue is like the basement of this dorm, and college kids-- smart, independent-minded ones-- are around being college kids. Pretty energetic vibe, pretty intimate. And get this: Show started on time! So I missed opening Brooklyn drone-rockers Growing, which, ugh, sorry. Fuck Buttons duo Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power stand across a table full of electronic equipment from each other, like they're playing air hockey. Their sound, especially on new album Tarot Sport, if you'll let me be overly reductive here, is all at once noisy, pretty, and has thundering dance beats. Vocals are distorted beyond comprehension through kids' toy microphones. They brushed off a couple of equipment malfunctions, humbly keeping their cool, and I think everybody went most nuts for 2008 debut album Street Horrsing's "Sweet Love for Planet Earth", though I might be remembering wrong-- they were going nuts a lot, at least in the middle where I was. I did overhear great chatter, just typical stuff about classes and relationship problems. I'm told the crowd was wilder for Liars, but I'll definitely be back to find out how other shows compare.
Tuesday night I saw the Athens, Ga., band Modern Skirts, who'd previously been at the 80/35 Festival here this summer. I didn't take notes as much-- "Can't tell you more than you already know," I remember him singing-- but yeah, they put on a good show (obviously, I decided to see them a second time!). More of a tense, rhythmic style of indie rock, kept reminding me of Spoon or White Rabbits. I remember at one point the singer saying he didn't expect anyone to be there, so it was cool that a decent audience came to the show. "Please, I'm beggin ya please." Went to Fong's Pizza afterward.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: One of my favorite new-ish bands, Philly's A Sunny Day in Glasgow, will be playing at Vaudeville Mews on March 4. Any readers happen to catch them in Iowa City over the weekend?
Sorry to Young Republic, who I'd e-mailed with but couldn't get out to see Wednesday night. How was it?
.jpg)
Posts
