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.

The Walkmen at the 9:30 club

Last night, after the rains from Hurricane Hanna passed over, I went to the 9:30 club to see The Walkmen perform.
Opening up was a group called Golem, a band inspired by Eastern European and Jewish klezmer folk music. They were fun to listen to, and the violinist was gorgeous.
The Walkmen's new record, You & Me, is really good- they seem to have a knack for writing songs about the holidays and New Year's. Live, the new song "In the New Year" was amazing- Hamilton Leithauser's voice crescendoed into a scream in the chorus. They played a nice mix of songs from all their records. It was also nice to see Leithauser smile and banter between songs.
At the end of their main set, during "Louisiana", keyboardist Pete Bauer's son rushed up on stage in a small set of earmuffs and played the wooden sticks.

The Breeders at the 9:30 Club

I went last night to see The Breeders at the 9:30 Club. It was actually my first time seeing them play, and it was great. They played songs from all their records as well as some Amps tunes. Kim and Kelley Deal were really fun onstage, and their voices sounded amazing. Honestly, they were more fun to see than the reunited Pixies shows a few years ago.

Stephen Malkus & The Jicks with John Vanderslice at the 9:30 Club

Friday night, went to the 9:30 club to see Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks perform in a sold out show. Wonder why he didn't come to Baltimore because it's a title of a song on his new album. Oh well.
The opener was John Vanderslice, who I had heard of, but not actually heard before. Not too bad- he had nice songs and his band was good. He gave props to vegetarian Chinese restaurant Vegetable Garden in Rockville.
This was my first time seeing Malkmus outside of Pavement. Janet Weiss formerly of Sleater-Kinney was also his drummer. They were really good- I still love Malkmus' quirky lyrics combined with his always interesting guitar sound.
He is definitely a big nerd- I recall a reference to the word "Frak" during the show.

Cornelius at the 9:30 Club

This past weekend, I went to 9:30 club to see Japanese musician Cornelius play.
After eating some great soul food and bearing the set of a Medeski, Martin & Wood-inspired jam duo, Cornelius and his groups came on stage. They started with a large sheet in front of the stage- soon a video projection started introducing the show as the "Sensuous Synchronous Show". Then after seeing band members' silhouettes backlit on the sheet, it dropped down to reveal the band playing.
Cornelius and his band were really good. They changed music styles with great ease- from pop to ambient to metal to disco.
His video show though was pretty spectacular and, as promised, completely in sync with the music. Highlights included a video that started looking like sound waves, but was in actuality flowing water filmed sideways. I also liked another video that had a hand walking around a room.
Cornelius was also very engaging with the audience: he pulled a kid onstage to play the theremin, and he also passed a sampler with large buttons into the front row of the audience to play.
He put on a great show.

Kaiser Chiefs, The Walkmen & The Annuals at 9:30 Club

Last night, we went to a sold out show sponsored by NME with the Kaiser Chiefs headlining.
Opening up was North Carolina band The Annuals. They've received some hype in the blogosphere, so I was interested in seeing them Needless to say, I was disappointed. Their bombastic style of rock reminded me of Arcade Fire, and I hate that crap. They had 3 people drumming sometimes, but I'm not sure why as it added nothing to the music. I don't get why all there up and coming indie bands have to be so bombastic. Is it to create drama onstage?
Next up was one of my favorite bands, The Walkmen. I just saw them a few weeks ago, but despite a less receptive audience, they were outstanding. After hearing a lot of their new songs, I really am looking forward for their next record.


The Kaiser Chiefs were what I expected from a Britpop band- high energy, tight playing, and good audience rapport. The lead singer was short and pudgey and at one point he swam on top of the audience to the bar at the club. They played the songs from their two records I recognized well. They were fun.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen at 9:30 Club

I went to the 9:30 Club last night to see Damon Albarn's latest project, The Good, The Bad, & The Queen. It was a great show.
The opening act was actually a burlesque duo from Baltimore, Trixie Little & Evil Hate Monkey. The crowd really responded well to their tongue in cheek and very acrobatic act. It was fun to have them warm up the crowd, and really got everyone excited to see the headliners.
The Good, The Bad, and the Queen is essentially a supergroup consisting of Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), guitarist Simon Tong (The Verve), bassist Paul Simonan (The Clash), and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti's band). They basically played the entire album, and they sounded great.
Albarn was charismatic onstage. I think at one point he took a hit of a joint and proceeded to rock out.
Simon Tong was your basic Britpop aloof guitarist- he seemed quiet, but his guitar playing was solid. I wish we could have heard more of Tony Allen's drumming but when he hit the drums hard, you could tell.
I had the best time watching Paul Simonan onstage. He was so cool- he had this awesome punk swagger. When he smoked a cigarette onstage, he was still cool. It made you wish you had the chance to see him with The Clash. I loved the dub style of his bass playing.

The encore was a song called "Dog House" which they left off the record, and they closed with B-side, "Mr. Whippy", with a guest Syrian rapper. All in all, it was a really fun show. It looks like you can hear it on NPR here.

Lily Allen at 9:30 Club

Friday night, I went to see Lily Allen in a sold out show at the 9:30 Club. I had a great time.
The opener was Baltimore DJ Aaron Lacrate - I think mp3s should not be used for djing because the sound quality of his set was crap- the 9:30 has fantastic sound, and it sounded like a blown speaker was playing during his set.
Lily Allen was really impressive. I love her voice and the fact that her music has rocksteady and ska beats. She pretty much did all the songs from her debut record, Alright, Still, and to fill the rest of the set she did some pretty great covers of Keane's "Everybody's Changing", The Kooks' "Naive", and The Specials' "Blank Expression".

Camera Obscura with The Essex Green at 9:30 Club

Monday evening, I went to the 9:30 Club to see Camera Obscura play.
Opening up was a Brooklyn band called The Essex Green. I only thought they were okay- well intentioned but just not great.
They had a pop-rock sound like The New Pornographers, but without a woman with a voice as strong as Neko Case and without a lyricist like Dan Bejar.
Needless to say, I was not surprised by their Gram Parsons cover.
Camera Obscura played at the Black Cat last year, but it was nice to hear them at 9:30 because of the better sound system. It was also an impressively crowded club for a Monday night show. Despite a few technical difficulties with the acoustic guitar, the band was great.
They mentioned how they like local band Georgie James, and lo and behold, John and Laura from that band could be seen watching Camera Obscura from the balcony.
I just also want to add, the young lady in front of me looked just like the sister from Dexter on Showtime,

Emily Haines & Soft Skeleton with Tall Firs at 9:30 Club

The 9:30 Club was really cold last night for the Emily Haines show. It was also my first seated show there. To top that off, DC now has a smoking ban in all bars and clubs!
Opening up was a band called Tall Firs. I was a little disappointed in their low-key electro-acoustic style at first, but after their third song I began to enjoy their set. I liked it when they played off each other's guitar sounds, and I actually was enjoying a dissonant section when they stopped and admitted they had goofed up on a song.

Emily Haines was really good. Upon first listen to her record, it was really quiet and a little boring, but the songs live were much better. I didn't think she needed to have a projector and a Powerbook for visuals because it was nice just to watch her play music.
I enjoyed her crowd banter, and was really impressed by her humble nature. She's considered one of the "indie hotties", but she was very sweet. She ended with a really nice cover of Neil Young's "Expecting to Fly".

The Decemberists at 9:30 Club

I went tonight to the 9:30 Club to see The Decemberists play a sold out show.
Opening was an LA band, Lavender Diamond. The lead singer told the audience she grew up in Maryland and had gone to see shows at the old 9:30 club, so she was excited and a bit nervous. Her voice was shaky at first, but once she got into her set, she was pretty fun to listen, too, mainly due to her enthusiasm and her scattered onstage dialogue.
I really like that on the Decemberists' new record The Crane Wife, they take an art rock kind of sound. The band really seemed to enjoy playing the new songs live, and they played one of the best sets I've seen from any band this year. I was surprised by the number of female fans at the show. Alright!
I think the fact that so many of their songs are like sea shanties that people really enjoy singing along to their songs.
I loved their stage set with the red lanterns and the nice Asian backdrop. Kind of missed Petra on backup vocals, but the new member, Lisa was still pretty good. Colin Meloy also told a joke onstage with the drummer.
Colin: "Have you tried coffee with chicoree?"
John (drummer): "No, but I've done blow with Kenny G."
Big belly laugh ensues.
They also did a cool cover of "Divide and Conquer" by Husker Du.
Tomorrow night's Decemberists show is going to be on NPR.

Lady Sovereign at the 9:30 Club

Last night, went down to the 9:30 Club to see UK's Lady Sovereign play.
She was tiny! Also, she looked like she was twelve. It was really fun seeing her live though. Clearly, she enjoys the booze, but her rapping was still pretty damn good.
The openers were some crap dance punk wannabes Young Love. The lead singer was a pretty boy who clearly only held his guitar to look cool, not to contribute any music worth a poo. Awful, but considering the music business, and the response of the kids at the show, they're gonna be huge. Sucked.
Lady Sovereign was messing around on the balcony before her set, pouring drinks onto her crew while they were doing the changeover. Onstage, she has a lot of charisma for such a tiny gal. She did a fun cover of the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant", and she got someone dressed as a banana from the audience onstage and karate kicked him. She also dissed on Bush. Oddly enough, the only Bush supporters in the audience were Young Love fans.

Jenny Lewis at the Watson Twins at the 9:30 Club

I went tonight to the 9:30 club to see Jenny Lewis and the Watson twins for the second time this year. Again, no photos allowed, but NPR has the show online as well a pics.
She played a few new songs I really liked. Her sound is so 70's country rock- like the second coming of Juice Newton. The twins were less creepy tonight - I can definitely tell them apart now. It was a sold out show with lots of short ladies everywhere.
The openers were The Blow - kind of like a female Cex, and Vietnam, guys who had a real classic rock sound.