[LIVE REVIEW] The Decemberists in Milwaukee 5/29

All photos by Dale Reince (Pabst Theater)

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting of the Decemberists before I entered Milwaukee’s beautiful Riverside Theater last night, but I can say without a doubt that my expectations were far, far surpassed. Colin Meloy and company put one of the finest, most memorable shows I’ve seen in the past few years.

When talk starts up of the Decemberists, the words you usually hear flung around are “bookish,” “nerdy,” or “bring a dictionary.” These all may be true, but they are no longer the band’s defining characteristics. Hazards of Love, their newest release, is a tremendously ambitious album centered on Margaret, who is tricked by a shape-shifting deer, and then runs into a forest queen, an evil rake, and…oh hell, who even cares. What really matters is that the new Decemberists know how to bring the rock.

Listening to the album, I had a suspicion that this show may be a bit different than their past performances. Many tracks start off in the same vein as songs from Castaways and Cutouts or Picaresque, before drastically veering off into half time, head banging sections filled with delicious near-metal riffs. A perfect example of this is “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid,” which turned into one of my all-time favorite live experiences.

The band played Hazards of Love in its entirety for the first set, as they are doing every night of this tour. The album came off very well in a live setting, starting with Jenny Conlee alone on the organ and growing into a pulsing, head banging set. The highlights of the live performance were the riff-laden metal sections of songs like “Repaid,” “The Queen’s Rebuke” or “Won’t Want for Love,” but even the softer sections served well to provide moments of rest in between those high marks.

I think anyone who was in the Riverside Theater Friday night can agree that Shara Worden stole the show. Worden, of My Brightest Diamond, guested on Hazards of Love along with Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond, and both women are accompanying the band on this tour to recreate the album. Stark was captivating in her own way, as she has a beautiful voice that she pairs with twirling, spinning dance moves that lead to a very convincing portrayal of Margaret. But Worden is something else. Storming to the front of the stage for “Repaid” in a short black dress, she absolutely dominated the song with her powerful vocals and fully assured stage presence. From there on out, she received a huge ovation from the crowd whenever she came out from her post in the back of the stage.


After playing the album through, the band took a short break before coming out for a second set. This section of the night served to please any remaining fans who weren’t convinced by Hazards, as they played old favorites “Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect,” “Leslie Anne Levine,” “Yankee Bayonet” and “Sixteen Military Wives.”

The closer of the second set was a mind-blower. When the opening riffs started, I think the crowd had a collective, “Wait, no, is this…? Is it really…?” And yes, it was a cover of Heart’s “Crazy on You,” featuring both Stark and Warden on blistering vocals. Meloy seemed to be in awe of the two women as they belted out the vocals of this timeless classic.

Coming out for an encore, Meloy played a solo version of “Red Right Ankle” before getting the band out for one more song. Inviting crowd members on stage, over 100 people were on stage to sing along to “Sons & Daughters”, uniting on the “Hear all the bombs fade away” line from the Crane Wife album closer.

All in all this night was not one to forget, and I strongly encourage anyone who can to go see the Decemberists on this tour. If nothing else, at least go to see Shara Worden tear down the house.

P.S. Blind Pilot had one of the best opening sets I've seen. They had great songs, but even better, they created such a great atmosphere on stage, very charming and bashful, the perfect combination for an opening act.

The Dead Weather - "Treat Me Like Your Mother"

I'm really looking forward to the full album from Jack White's latest project, The Dead Weather. So far we've just had access to a couple tracks, this being the latest. Featuring heavy drumming from Mr. White, and snarling vocals from Alison Mosshart, this is killer. Guitar solo at 2:25 or so is pretty great, being 4-5 seconds long and all.

MP3: "Treat Me Like Your Mother"

Other songs:

[INTERVIEW] Brent Knopf of Menomena/Ramona Falls

I recently had the great pleasure of talking with Brent Knopf of Menomena about his upcoming solo project, getting Menomena's music into Hummer ads, and his love for Bon Iver. Check it out:

Brent Knopf: Hey, thanks so much for the call.

Come on Chemicals: Thanks so much for talking with me. So, I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I’ve been listening to the two tracks, so far, off the Ramona Falls record, and I’m really liking it.

BK: Thanks!

CoC: I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the whole process of recording the album, how it was done.

BK: Sure, let’s see, the intensive recording started in January, that’s when I got really serious about it, and I set out to record about 13 songs and I ended up finishing these 11 songs. I collaborated with a whole bunch of friends, and with each person, I would go over to their space, their home or church or practice room or whatever, and would record with them for about two and a half hours. So, I’d set up, and then for the first half, they would play along with whatever I had prepared, and then for the 2nd half of the time, I had pre-designed ideas that I was hoping to ask them to implement or interpret, or I’d have a beat in mind or a melody in mind. And so that was the collaborative part of it, but the rest of it was pretty much just me trying to conspire against my own procrastinating and perfectionist tendencies to try and make actual progress.

CoC: Did you record it on your own, with your own stuff, not in a studio?

BK: Yeah, it was really on a budget, so I did it on my own.

CoC: How much of the songs ended up being your ideas of what they should play, and how much was the players’ own ideas, that ended up being on the record?

BK: That’s a good question…I mean, the whole idea for asking people to come up with ideas is to try and create a space for happy accidents, and then to have those takes be amongst the takes to choose from when assembling composite tracks. So I’d say probably 20 percent was stuff that they had improvised, and 80 percent was stuff I knew I wanted, but they would often play off each other in ways I didn’t predict, so that was pretty cool. But for the most part I had a vision, I had a preconceived notion of what I wanted, but I also wanted to create a space for freedom, for some improvisation and some mistakes, because often in mistakes is where the best ideas are.

CoC: So were these songs things that you knew wouldn’t work with the band, or ones that you brought to them and they didn’t like? Why the solo project?

BK: Menomena has first dibs over what I write, and that’s of my choosing. So some of these songs I gave to them and there was no response to them, and so when it became clear that the Menomena record was going to take longer to record than we anticipated, I set about choosing a handful of songs that I was really interested in, that I decided to finish. So there were a few songs that the band had heard demos of, but didn’t really respond to, and so, that’s fine, you know, I don’t expect everything I write to be their cup of tea. And then there was a couple other songs that I kind of knew beforehand that they wouldn’t be interested in anyways.

CoC: Along those lines, is there a certain aspect to a song that makes it either a “Menomena song” or a “solo song”?

BK: There probably is some sort of subconscious mechanism where I kind of am secretly weighing what I perceive to be how they’ll react one way or another. Honestly I don’t know if there’s any rhyme or reason to it, I know that what makes a Menomena song is if all of us dive into a song. I think a lot of it is up to Danny (Seim) and Justin (Harris) and what they choose to dive into. So the fact that some of these songs were songs they didn’t choose to dive into, it just meant that since they’re not involved, its not Menomena. It’s a pretty fluid territory between stuff I write for Ramona Falls and stuff I write for Menomena. Its not like I put on a completely different writing aesthetic when I’m writing for Menomena. It’s pretty much straight from the heart, no matter what. I just try and write what interests me and I hope that it happens to resonates with them as well. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.

CoC: Are you planning on playing shows with the Ramona Falls material?

BK: Yes, I’m hoping, it’s kind of short notice for our booking agent, but I’m really hoping to do some touring in August and September, and maybe beyond.

CoC: I just read the Pitchfork feature about the new Menomena album. Have you guys started pulling together stuff for it yet?

BK: Yeah, its an amorphous process, its hard to really put my finger on it and speak accurately, but, we’ve been working on it for the last couple years and I think that its agreed that the next few months will be the very focused time for us to work together.

CoC: Do you have any new toys that you’ve been playing with in the studio?

BK: (laughs) No, that would probably be a good idea. It never crosses my mind to buy new things. No, not that I know of, I know Justin was shopping for a triangle the other day, I think he was looking for an upside down one. (laughs) I haven’t made any big instrument purchases, I think we’re just dealing with what we have, if the need arises we can dive into other instruments.

CoC: What’s the next step you want the band to take, as far as certain things you still want to do?

BK: You mean besides having our music licensed in Hummer ads?

CoC: Of course, of course. (laughs)

BK: I think each of us has a different conception of what it means to be successful or living our dream or whatever. I already feel incredibly lucky, to me, the fact that I got fired from my day job and that I didn’t have to go get a new one makes me feel like the luckiest person on the planet, I already feel pretty happy. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t . . . I’m sure we all have our set of goals and ambitions of what’s next, for me I’d love to see Menomena be more fully integrated in our writing and recording process. There’s all sorts of interpersonal things I’d love to see, but in terms of artistically, I think I’d like to see an album that is, you know, challenging for us to make and an album that means something to us and feels authentic. It’s a whole bunch of mushy mushy speak basically, but honestly that’s it, I mean, I love playing shows and it is really gratifying when someone comes up to me or us and lets us know that our music has meant something to them, but I wont be depressed if we don’t play the halftime Super Bowl show by 2012 or something. I get more gratification from making the albums and the process of writing and recording the music. Then I think we’re really lucky that we’re able to tour and to do this.

CoC: Speaking of touring are you guys excited to play Chicago this weekend?

BK: We are, yeah, absolutely. The Do Division Street Festival, right? And the Empty Bottle, that is one of our favorite, favorite clubs in Chicago. Yeah, it’s the last two shows on our calendar, its always a little nerve-wracking because we’re going to be using a lot of borrowed and rented gear and our setup is so sensitive on things being just right, so I’m a little nervous but I hope it will, I’m sure it will work out.

CoC: Favorite band of the moment?

BK: Current or past?

CoC: Let’s do current.

BK: Seeing Bon Iver live, a couple times, was definitely . . . it was really enchanting. I feel really lucky that I got to see Bon Iver live. And then I think the band The National is another one that I just adore. And then there’s a band here in Portland , his name's Matt Sheehy, I like his last record. Then there’s a band from like 1979 called the Homosexuals, from England, and that’s been my favorite record of the last couple years. It’s this strange art-punk music and its kind of been my favorite record of the last couple years. They only released obscure vinyl back then and it got compiled into a CD in 1984. I only found out about it a couple years ago, and ever since I’ve been really into it.

CoC: Well that’s all I’ve got, thanks so much for taking the time to talk.

BK: Well hey , thanks so much for your time, I really appreciate your curiosity.

Brent's solo album under the Ramona Falls moniker, Intuit, comes out August 18. Read more about it here, and listen to two of the tracks here.

As mentioned, Menomena is in Chicago this weekend:

Sunday May 31st -Do Division Street Fest (w/White Rabbits) - Chicago IL
Monday June 1 - The Empty Bottle - Chicago IL

Grizzly Bear Day!

Well the day has come. Veckatimest is released in the States today, May 26. Pitchfork got their say in quickly, giving the album a 9.0, and a Best New Music title. Obviously it's a high score, I was thinking they'd go even higher, but does it really matter? Clearly no.

Unless Radiohead comes out with another surprise release, or Neutral Milk Hotel reunites for “Aeroplane, pt. 2,” I don’t see any other album topping this one. Packed with rich, dense layers of sound, it showcases everything that was great about “Yellow House,” their previous release, while adding so much more. “Two Weeks” is bound to be the song of the summer, as the band takes on a more straightforward pop approach than usual, and it pays off, with glimmering vocals set over a bouncing piano theme.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Go buy the album here.

RIP: Jay Bennett

Sad day for Wilco fans, past and present, as Jay Bennett has passed away. From Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times:

"Jay Bennett, a rock musician with deep ties to Chicago best known as a former member of Wilco, died early Sunday morning in downstate Urbana, where he had been running a recording studio, according to a spokesman for his family.

The singer and multi-instrumentalist was 45 years old.

"Early this morning, Jay died in his sleep and an autopsy is being performed," said Edward Burch, a friend and musician who collaborated with Bennett on the 2005 album "The Palace at 4 a.m." "The family is in mourning and is unavailable for comment at this time."

Born in the Chicago suburb of Rolling Meadows, Bennett began playing in bands as a teenager. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned multiple degrees in secondary education, math and political science. In between, he co-founded the Replacements-like power-pop band Titanic Love Affair, which released three albums during the alternative-rock heyday between 1991 and 1996, when it was dropped from its label.

Bennett was working at a VCR repair shop in Champaign when he was tapped to join Wilco as it toured in support of its first album, "A.M." A talented arranger and versatile musician who could play virtually any instrument he picked up, from mandolin to Mellotron, Bennett formed a fruitful partnership with Wilco bandleader Jeff Tweedy. His contributions over a seven-year period were key to the albums that resulted in the band's national breakthrough, including "Being There" (1996), "Summerteeth" (1999) and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" (2002).

Relations between Bennett and Tweedy, both painstaking perfectionists, soured during the latter recording, as documented in the film "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," and Bennett left the band. Earlier this month, Bennett filed a lawsuit against Tweedy for breach of contract and unpaid artist's royalties, stemming in part from his role in the film.

In late April, Bennett wrote on his MySpace blog about dealing with intense pain from a hip injury suffered during a dive from the stage while playing with Titanic Love Affair. He was preparing to have surgery, but was concerned about his lack of health insurance. However, he also was looking forward to finishing his fifth solo album, "Kicking at the Perfumed Air," at his studio, Pieholden Suites, named after the song on "Summerteeth" that best encapsulates his talents as an arranger.

"This whole experience [with the hip pain] has really taught me to look both inward and outward for support, and I've learned things about myself that I thought I had completely figured out years ago," Bennett wrote. "Family and friends have helped me to keep faith in a future that will actually be much more carefree than my constricted present state. I encourage you all to tell me stories of recovery, as they really do help... All in all, I'm 'in a really good place' right now; I'm just waiting until I can make it all happen."

Bennett's former bandmates in Wilco are touring in Spain and could not be reached for comment. But Burch said he had spoken to bassist John Stirratt, and the band was "broken up" about the news.

"He was an extremely talented musician and a great person, and I'll miss him terribly," Burch added."

Sun-Times article

[VIDEO] Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks"

If you were on the internet at all yesterday, you probably saw this, but it's too good to not post. One of the most interesting videos I've seen lately -- such a simple concept, but the effect/slow-motion that is used is captivating, you just can't look away until it's over. Enjoy.



Veckatimest is out on Tuesday.

A round-up - New of Montreal songs

Lately I've been seeing more and more videos of new of Montreal songs popping up, so I thought it might help to try and gather them all into one place. If anyone knows of any that I'm missing, let me know.

First: "Coquet" as performed acoustically in the WTMD studio.



"Coquet" live, full-band:



From the WTMD sessions: "Like a Tourist":



From Rolling Stone's Smoking Section, "Tourist" has turned into "Teenage Unicorn Fisting"

http://www.rollingstone.com/blogs/smokingsection/2009/05/of-montreal-enter-the-ss.php#

So far "Coquet" is my favorite, it's very grabbing from the start. Thoughts? Am I missing anything?