Photos: Woodsman, Velvet Davenport, and Wild Nothing at Monster Island Basement

It was hot.  Monster Island Basement was packed for this show, and every body that trickled into the venue seemed to bring another degree of heat and humidity to the buzzing crowd.  When Woodsman played first, the air was bearable, but by the time Wild Nothing took to the stage you could feel the entire room suffocating your skin.  You could tell everyone wanted to dance, but it was too hot to move.  Aside from the heat, I was delighted by Woodsman.  There’s a lot of psychedelic noodling in their live act, and their duo of drums in the back and the duo of guitars up front were presented so skillfully that it never got boring.  I think as they progress as a live act they’ll want to watch out for the Mogwai effect (really great instrumentals with tons of build that ends up getting awfully repetitive), but a very promising young act for sure.

Velvet Davenport played with all of their percussion off a laptop.  I think the songs are still good, but the guitars and vocals were out of sync with the recordings, and I’m sorry to say that it didn’t come off very well.  Wild Nothing were 80s tastically great, just as good as the Knitting Factory show, but a whole lot sweatier.  I’m sorry to say that I didn’t make it for Ducktails, who apparently played with a full band and were pretty great.

Woodsman:

Velvet Davenport:

Wild Nothing:

MP3: “When the Morning Comes” – Woodsman

Recommended Friday Show: Ducktails, Wild Nothing, Velvet Davenport, and Woodsman at Monster Island Basement

Brace yourselves.  New York City is packing an entire season’s worth of music into the next week.  There are at least five different totally worthy shows this Friday night, eight more on Saturday, and starting next Thursday, a ridiculously exciting Northside Festival weekend.  Was the lineup this good or extensive last year?  I certainly don’t remember it being so.  Either way, rest up where you can on Monday-Wednesday, because you’re going to want to spend every night this weekend and next out at a show.

I’ve talked enough about Wild Nothing recently (yesterday) and Ducktails in the past on this blog for you to get their basic jist.  The 80s synth rockers and the 80s mall music noise rocker would be enough of a bill on their own.  But throw in Velvet Davenport and Woodsman?  You’ve got Friday night gold.

I’ve blogged about Velvet Davenport before.  Here’s what I said: “Next up is a track from Velvet Davenport, from the excellent city of Minneapolis.  I first heard about this band from the excellent blog, Microphone Memory Emotion, which you should visit by clicking the link on the right.  ”Drop” starts off with a George Harrison sitar-y riff (I’m on a Beatles kick tonight, I guess), but then comes in with some Lou Reed-but-more-folksy “Venus In Furs” type vocals (maybe that’s where the Velvet in their name comes from).  There’s interesting layers of sound happening on this track, and I’m very fond of the percussion.  Can’t wait to check these guys live.”

I’m finally getting my wish to see them live.  I feel really good vibes coming from these guys, so go see them now so you can get in on the ground floor.  Woodsman, too, are being blogged about all over the place, and definitely fit in more with the Ducktails portion of the evening.  Dreamy, atmospheric, blah, blah, blah, they’re part of a fantastic lineup that will surely draw out some of the better people-watching anywhere in this whole city Friday night.

MP3: “Drop” – Velvet Davenport

MP3 Roundup: Morning Benders, Velvet Davenport, Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore, and Rooftop Vigilantes

Another day, another MP3 roundup.  First off, Morning Benders.  This song has been everywhere this week, and that’s because it’s really good.  To be honest, it’s a little on the boring side, but there’s an earnestness about it, a young Paul McCartneyness to it that’s pretty much irresistible.  It sounds a lot like the new Dodos album to me, plus a youthful wistfulness and some sort of Northern Pacific rainy-day charm.  Listen to it.  If you don’t fall in love with it, I bet you’ll at least like it.

Next up is a track from Velvet Davenport, from the excellent city of Minneapolis.  I first heard about this band from the excellent blog, Microphone Memory Emotion, which you should visit by clicking the link on the right.  “Drop” starts off with a George Harrison sitar-y riff (I’m on a Beatles kick tonight, I guess), but then comes in with some Lou Reed-but-more-folksy “Venus In Furs” type vocals (maybe that’s where the Velvet in their name comes from).  There’s interesting layers of sound happening on this track, and I’m very fond of the percussion.  Can’t wait to check these guys live.

Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore just put out an album on Sub Pop called Dear Companion, and all of the proceeds go to Appalachian Voices, an organization that raises awareness about mountain-top removal coal mining.  I don’t write a whole lot about folk or old time music on this blog, but “Something. Somewhere Sometime” is a great example of how mistaken I am.  With a phenomenal build throughout its two minutes and thirty-five seconds, the combination of finger-pickin’ banjo and locomotive cello create a wonderfully familiar love song.  Simple songwriting in a well-worn genre at its very best.

This is a new track from Rooftop Vigilantes of Lawrence, Kansas.  It’s not the most mind-blowing track or anything like that, but I saw these guys at Cake Shop last year, and their honest, uncorrupted punk performance blew me away.  I just wanted to post this solid new track because I’m so glad they’re still kicking around, and I hope everyone goes out to see them when they come back to NYC at the end of March.  I’ll make sure to remind you of those dates closer to the time.

MP3: “Excuses” – Morning Benders

MP3: “Drop” – Velvet Davenport

MP3: “Something. Somewhere, Sometime” – Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore

MP3: “Seth No Jump” – Rooftop Vigilantes