Elvis Italiano

In Montreal, we saw these posters in the Italian neighborhood near Marche Jean Talon. Who is Elvis Italiano? I noticed he has a facebook site.

Fleet Foxes with Espers at 9:30 Club

Last week, saw the band Fleet Foxes at the 9:30 Club.
The openers were Philly psychedelic folk band, The Espers. I love their music, but the Fleet Foxes audience were pretty chatty during the set. I'm glad they have a new record coming out in the fall, and I'm planning to see them play when they headline with Kurt Vile in Baltimore.
Fleet Foxes were good, but they really need to work on their stage show. They seemed to take forever to get ready betweeen songs, tuning and tuning, even with their guitar tech already tuning their instruments. When they played their songs though, it was lovely.

Dead Weather with Screaming Females at the 9:30 Club

A little of a late post here, but saw the Dead Weather play at the 9:30 Club the night before their record Horehound came out. The openers, Screaming Females, from New Brunswick, NJ were a true revelation- the lead singer/guitarist was a tiny woman who could really belt it out.
The Dead Weather were pretty awesome live. Lead singer Alison Mosshart was a charismatic and sexy frontwoman, and Jack White on the drums was tight and formidable. The show reminded me of seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- kind of dirty, filthy rock and blues.
Towards the end of the set, Jack White took over guitar duties as well.

XX Merge Night 4

Night 4 had a lot of special guests including Ben Gibbard introducing Telekinesis with the guitarist from Nada Surf and Ian from The Rosebuds.
M. Ward played and for his last few songs, Zooey Deschanel came up onstage for backup vocals.


My favorite part of the evening was see Destroyer, Dan Bejar playing a nice acoustic set.
Sorry no pictures from night 5 because cameras were forbidden at the venue that night.

XX Merge Night 3

Night 3 of XX Merge was ok.
Saw the reunion of New Jersey band, Spent which was really fun. They had that nice wall of sound to their guitars which I really like.
The best set hands down went to Lambchop. Someone took a vid of their finale, a revelatory cover of the Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime".

Lambchop @ XX Merge from sassafrassv on Vimeo.

Polvo.
Pipe- much beer was thrown during this set.
Spoon.

XX Merge Night 2

Night two of XX Merge was highlighted by performances by Richard Buckner, the New Zealand band, the 3Ds, Versus, and Superchunk.
Guv'ner.
Versus.
The 3Ds.
Superchunk.

XX Merge Night 1

I was lucky to go to Carrboro, NC for XX Merge, the 20th anniversary concert series for Merge Records. Here are some highlights from the first night.
Lou Barlow.
The Clientele.
The Magnetic Fields.


The Rosebuds.

Animal Collective at the Ottobar

Last night, the band Animal Collective kicked off their tour in support of their new record Merriweather Post Pavillion in their hometown of Baltimore in the intimate setting of the Ottobar.
The soldout crowd of about 400 filled up the club early in the evening, and were restless and a bit noisy for opener, local musician, Daniel Higgs.
When Animal Collective arrived onstage though, the crowd were riveted. The bands trippy, groovy electronics were incredible. Just using simple lights under tablecloths and an image of their most recent album cover on the wall, the show was simple, but the mood of the room was all about their sound and the audience grooving along to the music.
It was truly a privilege to see this amazing band in such a small venue.

M. Ward with The Vivian Girls at Sixth & I Synagogue

Over this weekend, I went to DC's Sixth & I Synagogue to see M. Ward. It was my first time at this venue- beautiful inside with great acoustics.
The Vivian Girls from Brooklyn opened up. I loved their enthusiasm on stage, and their sound reminded me of The Shaggs meets post-punk.
This was my second time seeing M. Ward play and, as before, he was great. He started onstage solo with an acoustic guitar. The ladies in the audience swooned.
A few songs in he brought out the full band, and the show was spectacular. I was blown away by his guitar playing on a John Fahey cover. I also loved his cover of Daniel Johnston's "The Story of an Artist".

Beirut at BAM

A couple weekends ago, I was up in NYC to see the band Beirut play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, opening a series of concerts celebrating musicians from that borough.
He was accompanied by the Vassar Orkestar, which added significantly to the drama of their music. He played a few new songs from his new double ep set as well.

Antony & The Johnsons at the Keswick Theater

Monday night, we went to the Keswick Theater NW of Philly to see Antony & The Johnsons play. Suprisingly, the show was not completely filled. Despite that, the concert was amazing.
Antony's voice was beautiful. He said he felt like he had lemons on his fingers as he was playing piano, but the the support of the Johnsons, the music was great. He did a fun cover of Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" as well as songs from all his records.