White Reaper Le Poisson Rouge Setlist

Review to come.

WHITE REAPER - 11.10.17 - LE POISSON ROUGE (1 hour, 1 minute)

SET -

Wolf Trap Hotel > Last 4th of July > Pills / Little Silver Cross / I Don't Think She Cares > Crystal Pistol > Sheila / Eagle Beach / Friday the 13th / The World's Best American Band / The Stack / Judy French / Make Me Wanna Die > B.T.K. / Tequila Crowdsurfing Jam*

ENCORE -

Half Bad

Elizabeth & the Catapult Shares Her Keepsakes at Le Poisson Rouge

Last night at Le Poisson Rouge, Elizabeth & the Catapult (Elizabeth Ziman) performed an intimate album release show for her fourth LP, Keepsake. The collection of songs is aptly named. It's a sophisticated pop record that travels effortlessly through styles while still packing a melodic punch. I've already listened to it multiple times, and it hasn't even come out yet.

The subterranean space was arranged in a way I hadn't seen there before, with the stage in the center, surrounded by a flotilla of tables. My view of the stage was bisected by a column, but I was able to see Elizabeth take a seat at the piano in the right half. She began with LCD Soundsystem's sombre "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" before brightening things up by segueing into her own "Mea Culpa." With an intrusive squeal, the noisy air conditioner above the stage kicked on right after the song's final lyric, "More bad mistakes for us to make before we fuck it all up," which was actually kind of endearing in that moment. Elizabeth thanked the audience and promised, "I'm just gonna give you everything I've got tonight until until I burst into a million pieces, and then I just have to lie down." A five-piece band materialized onstage to back her on the chorus of "Magic Chaser." After a pair of tunes from her previous LP, Ziman got on her feet and moved to keyboard to her right for a breakneck "Less Than You Think." Despite a technical issue with the keyboard that required Elizabeth to switch to the piano during "Method Acting," the song was one of the evening's best performances, culminating in a beautiful vocal harmony that included Secret Someones' Hannah Winkler. Ziman conceded the keyboard to Winkler and took a handheld mic to the center of the stage. The band proceeded with Keepsake's first single/track, "We Can Pretend," with its lush, Polynesian sounds evoking imagery of Technicolor musicals. They followed it with the album's peppy second single/track "Underwater" and then the band scattered, leaving Elizabeth alone. She performed a solo vocal rendition of Greg Laswell's "Embrace Me" and then shared acoustic guitar duties with Jonno Linden on "Let's Make a Mess of Our Love," a number new enough to not even be on the record.

"So the experiment continues," Ziman said, returning to the keyboard. "I had a children's choir sing on this song on my album, but I couldn't get them in here 'cause they're children." "We'll sing! We'll sing!" offered an eager crowdmember. "Will you be my children?" Elizabeth asked with a laugh. Looping her breath as percussion, she pressed on with "Ambrosia." While it may have been a lot to ask the audience to sing along on a song that they'd never heard before, its hopeful lyrics over a plucky, staccato refrain just beg for audience participation, and I have no doubt that over time this will become an Elizabeth & the Catapult concert staple.  At its denouement, Ziman held up a paper to read a list of thank yous, as well as a political speech in which she encouraged the crowd to "keep spreading love however you know how."

Elizabeth welcomed a mustachioed Jeff Taylor to the stage for his clapper "Kadoka," which was followed by a quick round of "Happy Birthday to You" for Wiman's mom and a "Better Days" bouncier than its studio version. "I just threw the setlist out the window," Ziman announced as she invited Emily Mure and Jeff Taylor to help close out the set with "Where Were You the Night," her reaction to last year's surprising election results. The elegy crescendoed into a chaotic jam, the vocalists' haunting wails intertwining to suggest a ghostly choir of past presidents spinning in their graves.

ELIZABETH & THE CATAPULT - 10.18.17 - LE POISSON ROUGE (1 hour, 26 minutes)

SET -

New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down > Mea Culpa > New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down > Mea Culpa / Magic Chaser / Salt of the Earth / Happy Pop / Less Than You Think / Method Acting / We Can Pretend / Underwater / Embrace Me / Let's Make a Mess of Our Love / Ambrosia / Thank You for Nothing / Kadoka (feat. Jeff Taylor) / Happy Birthday to You / Better Days / Where Were You the Night (feat. Emily Mure & Jeff Taylor)

ENCORE -

Go Away My Lover (feat. Jeff Taylor)

Kevin Barnes Le Poisson Rouge Setlist

Review to come.

KEVIN BARNES - 05.24.16 - LE POISSON ROUGE (1 hour, 14 minutes)

SET -

Empyrean Abattoir / Obsidian Currents / Chaos Arpeggiating / Raindrop in My Skull / She Courts Calamities / Thank You, Dylan Thomas (Poem)* / The Color of Terror (Poem)* / Ambassador Bridge / Won't You Always Be There* / Mother (tease) / Nothing Compares 2 U / Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider / Suffer for Fashion > Sink the Seine > Cato as a Pun > Touched Something's Hollow 

ENCORE -

Hang on to Yourself / Gronlandic Edit

Kishi Bashi Le Poisson Rouge Setlist

Review to come?

TALL TALL TREES - 05.17.15 - LE POISSON ROUGE (49 minutes)

SET -

Nothingless > Improvisation > Say Something Real! / Picture Picture / Waiting on the Day / Highwire

KISHI BASHI - 05.17.15 - LE POISSON ROUGE (1 hour, 45 minutes)

SET -

Improvisation (Intro) > Manchester / Bittersweet Genesis for Him & Her / I Am the Antichrist to You / Atticus, In the Desert / Carry on Phenomenon / Wonder Woman, Wonder Me / Q&A / Q&A (tease) / Conversations at the End of the World / Evalyn, Summer Has Arrived / Evalyn, Summer Has Arrived (tease) / Game of Thrones Reading / Improvisation (Game of Thrones) / Bright Whites / Improvisation (Space Jam) / Improvisation (Orch Pop) > Bright Whites / Philosophize in It! Chemicalize with It! / The Ballad of Mr. Steak

ENCORE -

Pedal Breakdown / It All Began with a Burst

Of Montreal Le Poisson Rouge Setlist

Review to come.

OF MONTREAL - 05.11.14 - LE POISSON ROUGE (1 hour, 46 minutes)

SET -

Lanc Intro / Girl Named Hello / Triumph of Disintegration > Disconnect the Dots / Id Engager / Spike the Senses / Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider / Faberge Falls for Shuggie / Fugitive Air / Plastis Wafers / Coquet Coquette / Obsidian Currents / Raindrop in My Skull / Happy Birthday / Mingusings > St. Exquisite's Confessions > Oslo in the Summertime > The Party's Crashing Us / Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

ENCORE -

Lanc Intro > Don't Fuck the Candyman / Suffer for Fashion / Gronlandic Edit > She's a Rejecter > The Past is a Grotesque Animal

Sea Wolf: Middle Distance Runner in the CMJ Music Marathon

I decided to limit myself to only one CMJ show this year because the three- and four-concert weeks have been a little taxing.  I went with Sea Wolf headlining Le Poisson Rouge last night.  The last time I'd seen Sea Wolf was in 2009 when I was driving cross-country, and planned a day's mileage based on getting to their free show at St. Louis University.  Having not slept much the previous night, and driven all day, I was exhausted, nodding off occasionally during the songs.  It was sad because it was such a great show.  I bought their new album (at the time) White Water, White Bloom, and it became my soundtrack for the rest of the trip west.  I was overdue for a reprise.

Entering the club, the most noticeable difference from my last visit was that the tables and chairs had been removed.  This show was standing room only.  While that meant more chatter from the crowd, it also meant I was able to secure a great spot in the center of the room.  An album by the Decemberists played over the PA, priming us (or perhaps ruining us) for opener Hey Marseilles.  The Seattle seven-piece share much musically with their Portlandian neighbors, with their folky tales of the sea backed by accordion and bowed instruments.  Lead singer Matt Bishop sounds more like Ben Gibbard than he does Colin Meloy, but unfortunately his lyrical prowess is not up to par with either.  They played mostly new songs from an album to be released in February, "Heartbeats," with its chugging drums being the standout.  Closing with a duo of "Rio" and "From a Terrace" from their debut album, they had the crowd cheering, but I wasn't sold. While all talented musicians, I wish they'd do more to distinguish themselves from their forebears of the Northwest.  If you're still intrigued, however, here's a free fall sampler of theirs to download, which includes the single "Elegy."

Jim White opened with the melodica-spiced "If Jesus Drove a Motor Home," backed by guitar, bass, and a drum machine supplying the beat.  "Just imagine if your dad was up here on stage, slightly stoned, singing songs for you," White suggested to the young crowd.  At 55, White is no spring chicken, though you'd never know he was that old by appearance.  Aside from a touch of grey at his temples, he is a very Hollywood-looking 55.  His years have imbued his alt-country songs with a level of depth not always found in the recently fashionable genre.  He shared stories with the audience about his time as a NY cabbie ("For every year you drive a cab here, that's seven human years.") and his thoughts on the 6% that will determine the upcoming election ("You know why they don't vote?  'Cause they're drunk.  So on Election Day, take a drunk off the street, make him vote for Obama, and give him a six-pack.").  In an age where it seems like everyone has a harmonica holder hanging from his neck, White is the real deal, casually slipping a blues harp from his chest pocket during "Jailbird."  Though it was disappointing to witness a crowd that had remained silent for the derivative Hey Marseilles talking during White's songs, the audience was taken by the hilarious "Newspaper," the story of an inebriate attempting to buy a newspaper to get his life together only to find out that they are sold out, and settles for a beer.  I even noticed They Might Be Giants' bassist Danny Weinkauf cracking up in the crowd.

Sea Wolf took the stage a little before 9pm, starting things off with "Miracle Cure" from their recently released Old World Romance.  Alex Brown Church played all the instruments on the album, from the sparklingly clean guitars to synthesized drums, but there are not as many standout songs as on his previous effort.  The band I saw last night wasn't the band I saw in 2009 either.  Even though I was half-asleep, I remember really enjoying the orchestral feel brought by the cello, now having to settle for the keyboards of Lisa Fendelander.  It wasn't a bad show; just not what I wanted.  And I'm glad I chose this night to as opposed to Thursday's at the Bowery Electric.  Church remarked, "Last night was a weird show.  This is much better.  CMJ's always kind of a clusterfuck, you know?"  Some crackly farting sounds from the speakers marred most of "Middle Distance Runner," when Church wasn't forgetting the words.  He couldn't remember the lines at the start of "I Made a Resolution" either, relying on the audience for support.  The highlight of the night for me was the one-two punch of "Turn the Dirt Over" going directly into the Marxophone intro of "Wicked Blood."  The encore came down to an audience vote, and while "Black Leaf Falls" was the clear victor, ABC vetoed and chose "Saint Catherine St."  "If you wanna hear 'Black Leaf Falls,' come see us in the spring," he offered.  If you bring the cello, I'm there.

HEY MARSEILLES – 10.19.12 – LE POISSON ROUGE (30 minutes)

SET –

Hold Your Head / Elegy / Summer Skies, Winter Cold* / Dead of Night / Heartbeats / Rio / From a Terrace

JIM WHITE – 10.19.12 – LE POISSON ROUGE (38 minutes)

SET –

If Jesus Drove a Motor Home / State of Grace / Keep It Meaningful You All / Chase the Dark Away / Jailbird / Sunday’s Refrain / Newspaper

SEA WOLF – 10.19.12 – LE POISSON ROUGE (1 hour, 3 minutes)

SET –

Miracle Cure / Winter Windows / The Traitor / Old Friend / Dew in the Grass / Priscilla / Middle Distance Runner / I Made a Resolution / Turn the Dirt Over > Wicked Blood / Kasper / Black Dirt / You’re a Wolf

ENCORE –

Saint Catherine St.