Art Brut @ Mercury Lounge - 6.2.09 (pics & vids to come)

Art Brut is in town!...or at least will be until this Friday, June 5th :o) So you should run (it’s ok, I’ll wait) and get yourself some tickets for their gigs at Mercury Lounge. You’ll probably have to look in craigslist since I think all nights are sold out, but it’ll be worth it – you won’t have a funner time at a rock show this year.

…the above paragraph has pretty much ruined any suspense this blog entry might have had, seeing as I’ve just instructed you all - all two of you: thank you loyal readers ;o) – to head out to see them. Dammit! I need to build up to it like my 12th grade high school teacher instructed.

But they were great all around. The audience started hooting before they’d even made the stage…which wasn’t so hard seeing as they all had to walk through the audience in order to make it on to the stage – for those who haven’t been, Mercury Lounge is pretty small.

Eddie Argos, the lead singer, takes the mike wearing his long trench coat and his fabulous eyebrows and starts by telling us all about where we could find more info on Art Brut.

H – t – t – p - : - / - / - w – w – w . - m – y – s – p – a – c – e -. – c – o – m - / – a – r – t – b – r – u – t

Yep, he spelled it all out, complete with hand gestures for the dashes and all. And then he started to spell it out again, but stopped after a couple of letters ;o)

They started out with their new single Alcoholics Anonymous which was just a blast of fun to begin with.

And of course the energy only increased through the night, along with the size of my hair – it was a very humid night ;o)

The crowd was an interesting mix and I was glad to see some ‘oldies’as my concert buddy of yore affectionately refers to them, i.e. anyone over 45, really enjoying themselves and getting into it. Just as sometimes the younger NYC crowds can be a bit apoplectic, so can the oldie contingent in an audience – the whole ‘I’m-going-to-just-stand-as-still-as-humanly-possible-and-not-even-acknowledge-that-I’m-in-a-rock-venue-surrounded-by-sweaty-people’ vibe. But not this group – pretty much everyone around me was getting into Art Brut. And how could they not? They’re freaking infectious ;o)

Eddie introduced Moving to LA by dedicating it to his cousin who’s a pilot (who was supposedly at the show)…and who lives in Palo Alto, which was the closest Eddie could get in a song ;o) He tried to point in the right direction – LA’s direction – and got mixed responses as to what the correct direction would be. Decided to stick with the direction he had chosen and said that for the following night he’d change it.

During Modern Art, Eddie decided to come out and meet us plebes, which isn’t that hard to do in a venue like the Mercury Lounge – ‘oh, look,let me just step off this wee stage, and there I am in the audience’. He came out and told us a rambling story about going to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam [alfacinha heartily recommends it btw – kick ass place] , all whilst moving about within us…well, as well as he could giving the short leash he was on, i.e. his mike cord. At some point the mike gave out (as it had earlier in the evening, when Ed their poor sound guy had gone through a few malfunctioning mikes and eventually had to tape the wire to the mike stand just to get it to work), and Eddie tried in vain to yell out the remaining bit of the explanation. He ended up getting back on the stage and yelling out the rest from there, with so-so results – I imagine the people in the back didn’t quite manage to get the gist of it ;o)

And if they didn’t already appeal enough to all us geeky folk…before introducing DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake, Eddie mentioned how he’d visited the actual offices of DC Comics and had had a great time. When I sent this song’s lyrics to a good friend, he remarked that itwas his new anthem…except it’d be Marvel Comics instead ;o)

Eddie extolled the joys of transport and introduced The Passenger -‘like the Iggy Pop one’ - by saying how rubbish LA mass transit is and how much better the ‘NY tube or metro or whatever it’s called’ is.

He also ended up introducing quite a few songs by saying how most of them were about him being naked - ‘Here’s another song about me taking off my clothes’.

Earlier in the evening, one of the opening bands – Mystery Murder - had spotted a guy who had come to the previous night's show as well. At some point during the gig, Eddie turns to this same guy and lets him know ‘that the set list for every night was going to be the same – the songs were just going to get louder.’ :o)

They also played at least one cover, the Ramones’ The KKK Took My Baby Away, although they introduced it as a little song they had just written up that day, so they might be a little off in playing it ;o) It was a blasting cover, full of energy and fun.

They also played Direct Hit, Pump Up the Volume, My Little Brother,Twist and Shout, Emily Kane, Bang Bang Rock and Roll, Bad Weekend, Nag Nag Nag Nag, Formed a Band, and Demons Out. I’m surely missing quite a few songs, but these were the ones both me and my boy could remember afterwards.

As has become customary during Formed a Band, Eddie told all of us to, well, to go form a band. He also told some of us that we were now in a band, and a very select individual few that they were a band.

I had an amazing time and my boy was doubly excited about now being in a band ;o)

P.S. I have to mention how much I liked the first opening band's last song – Les Sans Culottes’ cover of My Sharona (in French!). I was really sorry to have missed the beginning of their act.

P.P.S. Murder Mystery, the second opener, started out really well with a couple of lovely songs which reminded me a bit of Andrew Bird, but then quickly fell into some more bland ‘American rock’ sounds, reminiscent of some warmed-up Beach Boys stuff. I was really disappointed, given their great beginning. But they redeemed themselves in the end, first by bringing out a cello player as well as a couple of violinists and a trumpet player for a lovely song – at that point, they looked like an American version of Belle and Sebastian on stage :) But their final song was even lovelier, with the singer’s sister (and resident band drummer) taking the lead mike and singing a great ditty.

Updated old posts (now with talking pictures)

Well, it's a new year and I'm already behind on posts. But since it's now been almost a month and 2 weeks respectively since my last two musical interludes and my memory's just not that great, i've decided to instead tweak the old blog a bit. So i went deep into the bowels of my macs (one of which at least is still working ok) and found some teeny gems that had been hiding away. Rather than let you all try to figure out where i've added the goodies, i thought i'd add the links right here, in this handy post, for all to quickly peruse my film-making abilities. The next Spielberg I'm not ;o)
There's been new video added to:

• 4.17.07 - Art Brut @ the Bowery

• 5.2.07 - Bjork @ Radio City Music Hall

• 7.14.07 - Travis @ Irving Plaza

• 7.20.07 - Gogol Bordello @ Irving Plaza

• 8.7.07 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Webster Hall

I've also tweaked those lists over on the right side of the screen, so you can now click directly on the gig review you'd like to read (i.e., Reviews of Shows I Graced with my Presence - 2007), rather than try and hunt it down in the Gig Archive.

Enjoy and a very belated Happy New Year to all! :o)

Art Brut @ Terminal 5 - 11.21.07

Art Brut @ the Bowery - 4.17.07

I was checking my mac and found these. So although I wasn't able to get any pics of Eddie Argos and co. from their recent Highline Ballroom show, I do have these to share from back in April. Show was just as good then - they're just a really fun band to watch. Plus for some reason, their demographic tends to be boys on the shortish side. So...
Seeing Art Brut - $20 plus tixbastard fees up the wazoo.
Holland tunnel tolls paid to get to the show - $6.
Not having to stare at the back of some huge guy during the whole show - priceless :o)




02.10.08 Update: Can't beat Eddie singing about moving to L.A.

Art Brut @ Highline Ballroom - 7.9.07

My friend and I got to the show a bit late, which seems to have become a habit, but I actually don't think we missed more than a few songs. The venue is amazing. This was my first time at the Highline Ballroom and it did not disappoint. Sightlines as good as the Bowery, but an even smaller club, yet wider. Killer lighting, the whole works...well, except for the sound, which i guess was a bit of a problem. It didn't happen constantly but Eddie Argos was hard to understand a couple of times...and no, it wasn't b/c of the accent. As for the show itself, it was as always dead on. They always seem to be having the best time, which is incredibly refreshing for a rock band. I guess I've just seen one too many sourpusses in my time, looking miserable while performing to sold out crowds, so seeing Eddie and the gang really get into it totally warms the cockles of this music fan.

They played a good mix of the newly released songs, like this great bit:

I'm taking it slowly

I've been reading the signs

I found my hand in a place

Where I can't tell if she minds

Rolling around amongst our clothes on the floor

I can't help it:

"Have you heard this song before?"

I know I shouldn't

Is it so wrong

To break from your kiss

To turn up a pop song

How can you not love a song about being distracted by pop songs while making out?

Or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgcDaYqOaGI

Once they left the stage for their encore, the crowd started yelling out "Art Brut, Top of the Pops", which for the uninitiated, is a refrain/band's wish from a ditty on their first album. So ingrained has this song become in my psyche, that when I heard about TotP going off the air, Art Brut is the first thing that came to my head. 'Oh no' thought I, 'now they'll never be able to be on Top of the Pops.' That's how crazy catchy their music is. It's silly, funny, and just plain fun. While doing a medley of songs, during which they do the Top of the Pops bit, Eddie starts calling out where that song had hit number 1 - Estonia, Brazil, Jamaica, former Yugoslavia, Disneyland, Disneyworld, and progressively sillier and sillier. But it's not just Eddie that makes up the band, although he is quite the showman. I have to also point out Jasper Future, one of the guitarists. He seems to have walked out of a 70's Bowie session and to my mind, could fill in for one of the excellent Hives, if one of them should ever have some sort of odd sledding injury. He has that kind of smart-aleckiness that I so love and treasure in the Hives' Nicholaus Arson.

On a side note, I'm sure I would've gotten excellent photos, since the lighting was so good, except, oh, I left my camera on during the ride over and so had no battery left. I attempted to take a photo with my cell phone but the results of that were too pitiful to post.

The crowd was decent enough, although for a while I was wishing bloody murder on the magpie couple in front of me who proceeded to canoodle without actually making contact, throughout the entire show. I think the show was just an elaborate set music piece background to their enchanting banter/flirtation. Grrr. Look, it's obviously ok that you go to a show on a date (although a bit stupid, since you can't really, or shouldn't, talk while the band is on), but don't ruin it for everyone else behind you, i.e. poor little me who had nowhere else to go. But I digress...

End result: Band was in top form as always - this was the third time I've seen them and they haven't disappointed yet. I had a great time jumping around a bit and yelling out obnoxious lyrics. And I hope they can come back soon so I can do it all over again. But next time I'll definitely show up earlier so as not to miss any of the fun.