wild nothing all over the place.

Jack Tatum, aka Wild Nothing, will be playing Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all in Brooklyn and all with respectable lineups. Thursday's show at Market Hotel will include Blissed Out, Miho Hatori (who I had never heard of before today - she's great), and Fluffy Lumbers (also playing tonight at Monster Island Basement with Dream Diary and others). Friday is Wild Nothing's biggest gig of the three, at Music Hall of Williamsburg with WOODS and Real Estate; and he will finish up at Shea Stadium on Saturday with PC Worship and The House Floor. All are shows worth attending, do some listening to straighten out your priorities.

Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday
Wild Nothing - Chinatown
Wild Nothing - Confirmation
Wild Nothing - Cloudbusting

Woods - I Was Gone

Woods - Echo Lake

Real Estate - Snow Days

Real Estate - Suburban Dogs

Blissed Out - Jain

Fluffy Lumbers - Harry Dolland's

Love,
Jake

P.S. Go to http://www.eardrumnyc.com/blog/ to check out my preview for these shows.

yeasayer, tonight and tomorrow night.

Yeasayer, one of Brooklyn's most innovative acts, is playing tonight and tomorrow night at the Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg respectively.  If you haven't already checked out Yeasayer I highly suggest you do so.  Yeasayer is formed of vocalist/keyboardist Chris Keating, vocalist/guitarist Anand Wilder, bassist Ira Wolf Tuton and drummer Luke Fasano.  Keating and Wilder played together in high school in Sic Transit and a barbershop quartet, honing their musicianship on multiple fronts.  After splitting for college, the two reunited in Brooklyn in 2006 with drummer and bassist.  Since then, they have steadily risen to critical acclaim in the blog and zine world.    Their first album, All Hour Cymbals, is an eclectic journey through genres and tenses, exploring many instrumental combinations.  Yeasayer does not limit their arrangements on All Hour Cymbals to any single instrumentation utilizing synthesizers, guitars, a double bass, horns, violins, marimbas, an accordion, involved vocal harmonies and all sorts of percussion instruments, accumulating an amalgamation of subtle and profound sounds that will compliment your brain completely.

Yeasayer's latest release was a preface EP to the Odd Blood LP, slated for release on February 9.  The Odd Blood LP, according to Yeasayer in an interview with Rolling Stone, was partially based on an intense acid trip in New Zealand and incorporates Ray Kurzweil's theory that computer intelligence will eventually supersede the human mind.  The Odd Blood EP contains the first single off the Odd Blood LP, entitled "Ambling Alp," as well as another catchy track, "O.N.E."

Opening for Yeasayer at Music Hall of Williamsburg is Javelin and Class Actress.  This will be the first and only US show that Javelin and Yeasayer will be playing together on a February UK tour.  I had the opportunity to catch Javelin at House of Yes a couple weeks ago who, despite some crippling technical difficulties, kept the energy and subsequently the crowd alive.  They are definitely worth seeing and I'm sure that Music Hall of Williamsburg will do a better job of managing their high-power rig (Javelin plays out of a stack of boom boxes, seriously).

White Denim at Music Hall of Williamsburg

This is a show that I am really sorry I'm going to miss. White Denim is stopping off at Music Hall of Williamsburg for a one night stand with Brazos and My Mind. White Denim could be likened to a edgier psychedelic Modest Mouse or The Shins. There is no reason for you not to check out Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight. Show starts at 9. Cover is $15 at the door, $13 if purchased online.

Vic Chesnutt and Guy Piccioto @ Music Hall of Williamsburg: Tuesday, October 27

Vic Chesnutt and his gang of musicians took to the stage on Tuesday at the Music Hall of Williamsburg for a night of crooning and drawn out chord progressions. A parapalegic sad song singer/songwriter from Athens, Georgia, Vic was helped on stage by his sidekick violinist. Also joining him were as many as 5 guitars, keys, bass (double bass at times), trumpet, and drums. In his entourage could be found Guy Piccioto of Fugazi and members of Thee Silver Mount Zion (also Godspeed You! Black Emperor), and Witchie.

The music was feircly epic, as one could only expect from 5 guitarists playing along to one progression. Ultimately the effect of so many instruments eliminated the opportunity to hear much more than a wall of sound, which was probably what Vic was going for. Efrim Menuck of Thee Silver Mount Zion/Godspeed You! Black Emperor had as close to a solo as anyone when he played out the main riffs on the upper registers of his guitar...for most of the set. Guy, remembered for his stage antics in Fugazi, had his moments of spontaneity, springing about in his chair from time to time (when the music got especially epic). In addition, he played the same black and white Rickenbacker that he sported in his days of dischord.

Vic's set lacked variety. The sheer number of musicians on stage seemed to blunt the knife, with which he attempted to split audience members' hearts. Any "wow" effect that the band may have accomplished with their initial appearance (strength in numbers?) was smothered by the audible blanket of vibrating strings that befell the audiences ears. Songs like "You Are Never Alone" and "Phillip Guston" lost much of their rustic quality. Though it affords Vic the right to bill with a star studded cast, the decision to burden the songs with so many instrumental personalities may have been ill advised.

Despite being crammed on the stage with as many as 8 other players, Vic did not lose his ability to capture the audience. The sincerity with which he sings his sorrowful anthems is apparent in his face as well as his voice and is not easily forgotten. At times Vic seemed to howl at the blue light that flooded the stage from above. Ultimately, his charisma was able to carry a performance that was otherwise lost in a sea of sounds. You would have been sad to miss it as a Vic Chesnutt fan. Otherwise, look forward to better performances this fall.