Caleb Caudle Gets Intimate at Rockwood Music Hall

"New York City. Friday night. There's a lot of things going on. Thanks for choosing this thing," Caleb Caudle addressed his audience in the subterranean Stage 3 of Rockwood Music Hall. Armed only with an acoustic guitar and his twangy mid-range, Caudle began his set by stripping down "Piedmont Sky" and "Tuscaloosa" from last year's Carolina Ghost. He followed with "Trade All the Lights," a fan favorite in which Caudle claims he'd trade all of NYC's luminance to be in New Orleans with a loved one. "No offense," he assured the crowd of New Yorkers at its conclusion. After all, the song was written in a different time in Caleb's life about a woman he's no longer with. He'd explained to me in a podcast interview before the show that even if he doesn't have the same connection to its lyrics as he once did, he realizes that his listeners might, so he has to give it his all for them.

The excellent acoustics of Rockwood's basement made it possible to hear every little nuance of the performance, with Caleb demonstrating a soul singer's keen awareness of his spatial relationship to the microphone. In the small room, remarks from the crowd were also amplified, promoting conversation between Caudle and his fans and fostering the kind of intimacy that the venue is famous for. Following "Uphill Battle," Caleb admitted that he'd only just noticed that he'd sung the first five songs with a cough drop in his mouth. He was supposedly battling springtime allergies, but you wouldn't have known it from his impassioned cover of Springsteen's "Atlantic City" that had an Asbury Park-native in the front row swooning like a young Courteney Cox. Caudle also unveiled "Stack of Tomorrows" and "Madeleine," two numbers from his upcoming record, Crushed Coins. If they're any indication of what's on the way, it's gonna be a doozy. The latter ranks among his best songs and was captivating enough that the waitress didn't dare interrupt to take orders for a second round. Caleb finished off the show with a toe-tapping "Borrowed Smiles," not a person in the room second-guessing their Friday night plans.

CALEB CAUDLE - 04.14.17 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (51 minutes)

SET -
Piedmont Sky / Tuscaloosa / Trade All the Lights / Broken Hallelujah / Uphill Battle / Stack of Tomorrows / Anne Marie / White Dove's Wing / Atlantic City / Madeleine / Carolina Ghost / Come on October / Borrowed Smiles

Tall Tall Trees Takes His Greasy Dance Party to Rockwood Music Hall

Mike Savino has been growing a beard for five or six years.  By now, the tangled nest of brown curls extends down to the middle of his chest.  It's the first thing most people notice, but if you'd seen him on Saturday night, it would've been his toothy grin as the capacity crowd at Rockwood Music Hall sang back to him: "I was a seagull / You were an eagle."

Just three songs prior, a good portion of this choir had never heard of Tall Tall Trees, the name Savino performs under.  While it's a delight to see a musician enjoying himself so much, one of my favorite things to do at a Tall Tall Trees show is to watch people's awed expressions as they first experience the spectacle of what Savino is able to do with a banjo.  I should mention that Mike doesn't play an ordinary banjo.  His "Banjotron 5000" is a custom-rigged Swiss Army knife of an instrument that he fingerpicks, bows, pounds with a mallet, sings through, etc., effectively transforming Mike into one-man band.  In an upcoming podcast interview that we taped before the show, he explained that many of the instrument's features come as a result of him breaking it and re-breaking it.  Its latest casualty was its trademark ring of flashing lights, inexplicably stuck on red.  "I think it's out of anger," quipped Mike.  "It's gonna stay red for a few years, and then we'll have to get the Banjotron back to blue... hashtag."

Although he normally performs solo (when not improvisationally sparring onstage with Kishi Bashi), Savino was joined by Ashevillean Micah Thomas on drums.  "After four years, I got tired of driving alone," Savino admitted.  He introduced "Say Something Real!" as Micah's favorite, the bombastic march of its refrain allowing for Thomas to pound away joyously.  The duo had been playing together for less than a week, and it was exciting to watch Mike keep Micah on his toes.  During the aforementioned "Seagullxeagle," an interspecies romance that Savino described as "Romeo & Juliet for the David Attenborough set," Thomas stood up at his drum kit, spread his own wingspan, and cawed like a bird.

The singalong helped the crowd to loosen up a little in the sauna-like conditions of the small room.  "Are you guys ready to have a greasy dance party?" Mike polled the sweaty audience before plunging into the bhangra-informed "Waiting on the Day."  Mike's foot missed a pedal during the intro to "Being There," and he decided to restart the number, owning up to it with an "I effed up, bro."  The mistake was quickly forgotten as the duo veered the song into a spacey jam, with Savino utilizing a toy megaphone and a laser gun to interact with the Banjotron's electronics.  The jam segued into final number "Highwire," Savino again enlisting the crowd for accompaniment on a few takes of its falsetto chorus before Mike and Micah brought it all home with a circusy dirge.

TALL TALL TREES - 02.25.17 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (56 minutes)

SET -
Picture Picture / Backroads / Say Something Real! / Seagullxeagle / Waiting on the Day / Being There > Jam > Highwire

Rayland Baxter Packs Out Rockwood Music Hall

I'd never seen Rockwood Stage 2 so crowded.  Yet I squeezed into the sweaty room, my back pressed against the metal railing at the entrance and my backpack containing my podcasting equipment (along with the fresh interview I'd just conducted with Rayland Baxter) wedged between my legs.  If it were a lesser artist, I would've foregone the claustrophobic conditions and hopped an F train home.  But this was Rayland Baxter, an amazing songwriter that I hadn't seen since he opened for Scott Tournet at Brooklyn Bowl in 2013.  And this time, he came armed with a slew of new tunes from his about-to-drop second LP, Imaginary Man, and a full band, including Cage the Elephant's Nick Bockrath on guitar.

Rayland took the stage solo, informing the packed house, "Okay, I've gotta kill ten minutes."  He drifted gently into the beautiful love song "Olivia," one of my favorites from his first record.  His bandmates joined him by song two, "Bad Things," which was followed promptly by "Marjoria."  The old tunes out of the way, they took a stroll with "Mr. Rodriguez," opening up its finale to incorporate a Dead-inspired jam session.  "As many of you know, my wife is pregnant with our first child," Rayland remarked to supportive applause just prior to "Your Love."  Ever the joker, he clarified, "I'm just kidding. I don't have a wife."  While Baxter tuned his electric guitar for "Freakin Me Out," keyboardist Jimmy Rowland tapped out a few rounds of "Charge" until Rayland chimed in with a perfectly pitched strum.  They chased that with another type of freakout, "Temporary Queen of a Bad Time," a number reminiscent of early Santana, and based on a true story of Baxter meeting a woman in the early morning at a music festival.  The hippie chick had handed him an orange juice, which he gulped down for the vitamin C.  Unbeknownst to him, the O.J. was spiked with LSD, and the day took an unexpected turn.  They wrapped things up with the loudest rocker in the bunch, "Young Man."  I squirmed my way slowly through the masses and bought the t-shirt.

RAYLAND BAXTER - 07.27.15 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (1 hour, 2 minutes)

SET -
Olivia / Bad Things / Marjoria / Mr. Rodriguez / Mother Mother / Interlude / Yellow Eyes / Oh My Captain / Your Love / Charge / Freakin Me Out / Temporary Queen of a Bad Time / Young Man

Jonny Fritz & Robert Ellis Laugh It Up at Rockwood Music Hall

Never mind the quality musicianship and songwriting; the banter alone was worth the price of admission.  Tonight's Robert Ellis and Jonny Fritz show at Rockwood Music Hall saw the pair of troubadours letting loose before they head to India to record Fritz's new album.

Robert Ellis took the stage first, accompanied by guitarist Kelly "the Tele" Doyle.  "We're from Houston," Robert informed the crowd, before correcting it to the pronunciation of the NYC street, "Houston, Texas I mean."  With minimal percussion from a tambourine by his right foot, Ellis captured the audience immediately with the admonitory "Only Lies."  At the song's end, Robert remarked, "I think I swallowed a mosquito.  Do you guys have mosquitoes in New York City?"  After downing a shot of whiskey, Ellis paused to pluck something from his tongue.  "It was a moustache hair.  You know what I'm talking about, guys.  Maybe ladies?  I don't know."  He continued with the pleading "Good Intentions."  "That one's about infidelity," he shared.  "You can ignore the line about my sister.  I have to explain myself when I come this far north.  I am not having sex with my sister."  "Anymore," quipped Jonny Fritz from a table down front.  "Anymore!" repeated Robert, rolling his head back to laugh.  Following "The Elephant in the Room," a tune about a struggling relationship, a request was shouted from the balcony for "A Good Year for the Roses."  A kindred spirit with "Elephant," this version was more George Jones than Elvis Costello.  Moving to the keyboard for new song "Maybe I'll Move to California," Robert cultivated that sexy '70s soul sound of a Rhodes electric piano.  Robert and Kelly took on Vern Gosdin's "Chiseled in Stone" next, though the drum machine's tempo seemed to hold them back from taking it where it wanted to go.  Doyle stepped offstage as Ellis invited Courtney Hartman to assist him on Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning."  Robert praised the crowd for its quietness, stating, "I don't want you to change.  Never change."  Doyle returned and the duo embarked on "Sing Along," a bluegrass scorcher so hot that the tentative audience couldn't keep from clapping and stomping.

Sporting a tucked-in t-shirt covered in labrador retrievers and a trucker cap emblazoned with gold letters reading "Who's that playing?" Jonny Fritz joined Ellis on the Rockwood stage.  The two clinked glasses, Fritz announcing, "This is our last U.S. show before we die next week in India."  Following a few Fritz fan favorites like "Goodbye Summer" and the ode to a Murfreesboro truck stop worker, "Holy Water," Fritz unveiled a new number, "I Love Being Ready to Go."  Not only did it feature the opening line "All classical music is so clarinet-y / I love meatballs, but don't like spaghetti;" an expertly-timed "Dixie" horn honk from Robert on guitar was also a highlight.  Fritz performed "Stone Cold Daddy-O" stone-cold a cappella, and then he brought up Kelly Doyle for "Chevy Beretta" and "Fever Dreams."  Having spent most of Ellis' set silent, by now some people in the audience had gotten a little too comfortable with the laid-back vibe.  While Fritz introduced "My Humidifier" as a tale about Minneapolis, he was interrupted by a voice from the floor.  "Excuse me, I'm telling a story that does not matter," Jonny joked.  Crowdmembers began calling out requests.  Hell, it had worked with Ellis.  When "Night Rider" was echoed by a few people, Fritz said he would oblige.  "This'll be great," predicted a fan.  "Yeah, it might be alright," Jonny responded.  It went off without a hitch, so Fritz felt moved to play another new one, "Stadium Inn."  The ballad about a seedy Nashville hotel had the audience rolling with lines like "Brokeback Mountain playin' on the TV screen / Brokeback reenactment, room 213."  Clearly he'd written another keeper, as it fit right in with closers "Trash Day" and "Ain't It Your Birthday."  I can't wait to hear the Indian version.

I had a beer with Robert before the show for The Next Round, so be on the lookout for that.

ROBERT ELLIS - 03.08.15 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (54 minutes)

SET -
Only Lies / Good Intentions / Steady as the Rising Sun / The Elephant in the Room / A Good Year for the Roses / Maybe I'll Move to California / Chiseled in Stone / 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (feat. Courtney Hartman) / Sing Along

JONNY FRITZ - 03.08.15 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (51 minutes)

SET -

Goodbye Summer / Holy Water / Forever, Whatever / I Love Being Ready to Go* / 15 Passenger Van / Social Climbers / Stone Cold Daddy-O / Chevy Beretta (feat. Kelly Doyle) / Fever Dreams (feat. Kelly Doyle) / Have You Ever Wanted to Die? / My Humidifier / Night Rider / Stadium Inn / Trash Day / Ain't It Your Birthday

Fancy Colors Rockwood Music Hall Setlist

Review to come.

SUNRUNNERS - 09.18.14 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (40 minutes)

SET -

We Are at War / Save Everyone / It's a Start / Mexico* / Stars & Colors / The Writer / Everybody / Sailing

FANCY COLORS - 09.18.14 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (55 minutes)

SET -

The Last One / History of Civilization / Africa / The Way You Walk Away / Castle in the Snow / Love is Easy / Island Rose / Infinity / Last Summer

A Night at the Rockwood with Grey Reverend, Taurus, & Fancy Colors

I made the rounds at Rockwood Music Hall last night, visiting Stages 1, 2, and 3.  The first stop was Stage 3 for the sold-out Grey Reverend performance.  L.D. Brown a.k.a. Grey Reverend has quite the captivating backstory.  While making headway as a jazz guitar soloist, Brown began to notice problems with the dexterity in his hands.  He was diagnosed with a neurological disorder called focal dystonia that affects fine motor skills.  Rather than give up his instrument, Brown turned lemons into lemonade, and adjusted his playing to suit a minimalistic folk approach.  The combination of how he uses his fingers (including his thumb) on the neck and off-the-cuff interesting tuning results in his anomalous tone.  This unpredictability went both ways, from the stirring ring of the final chord in "Altruistic Holiday" to the muddled middle of "The Payoff."  "One by One" featured the most complex of the guitar parts, requiring both rhythm and lead.  At its end, Brown sighed, "That was exhausting."  The great unifier to the songs was Brown's haunting voice, which could somehow simultaneously sound meek and powerful.  The audience was dead silent for each number, entranced as they pondered the thoughts in his lyrics.  His dry, witty banter in between tunes made him all the more endearing.  "I'm gonna take things down just a little bit," he said.  "If you didn't think things could get any more down."  Before the final song, "Sunday Soldiers," a loud thump came from the rear of the room by the door.  "Is everyone alright back there?" L.D. questioned.  "Someone just passed out from the awesomeness," he added with a laugh.

I popped into Stage 1 for the first time in years to catch a little of Taurus, who are currently in the midst of a month-long Thursday night residency at the club.  Bassist Chris Morrissey was leading the band through a grooving new tune when I entered.  They followed it with a song from their first album, which had a more alt-rock Foo Fighters vibe.  The last number I caught was another unreleased one, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's still in the germination stage.  While the drums and bass proceeded like an upbeat jazz section, the guitars fought over whether they were playing country or psychedelic rock.  Throw Morrissey's pop vocals on top, and you had four genres in an all-out brawl.  That space has always been a little claustrophobic for me, so I made my way next door.

I've been a big fan of Jupiter One since 2009, and I learned at Kishi Bashi's Irving Plaza concert that the other members are now in a band called Fancy Colors.  When I walked into Stage 2, I saw Zac Colwell, but I was surprised to find Dave Heilman absent.  In his place was Adam Wall, wearing sunglasses with one lens missing.  "Tonight, me and Adam are presenting the songs like this," informed Colwell.  "We're experimenting."  And experiment they did.  The first song began with Zac playing a flute and a saxophone, some fairly unusual instruments for a rock band, but then Adam trumped the weirdness by blowing into a large conch shell.  They followed with "The Way You Walk Away," a more conventional tune with a choppy riff and super-smooth hook.  "The Last One" was an extended cut, ranging from gentle plucking to abrasive Flaming Lips-esque drones, before it culminated in a sax solo that charmed a wine-swilling patron into an interpretive dancer.  She grabbed a partner for "Driftin' on a Cloud," within which Colwell removed his saxophone's neck and used it as its own instrument.  At five songs, it was a brief set, but it capped off a night of truly intriguing music.

GREY REVEREND - 11.07.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL, STAGE 3 (1 hour, 6 minutes)

SET -
I Hope You Get Killed* / Altruistic Holiday / My Hands / Nightingale / The Payoff / One by One / Forsake / Into Pieces / Belafonte / Like Mockingbirds / A Hero's Lie / Everlasting / Sunday Soldiers

FANCY COLORS - 11.07.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL, STAGE 2 (39 minutes, 30 seconds)

SET -

I'm a Ladder* / The Way You Walk Away / The Donkey of Anxiety* / The Last One / Driftin' on a Cloud

Goldspot Unveils Deeply Personal Songs at Rockwood Music Hall

Last night at Rockwood Music Hall, Goldspot celebrated the release of their third album, Aerogramme.  It's Siddhartha Khosla's most personal record yet, drawing from childhood summers spent in India, the love for his wife during tough times, and the unsent letters of his father, who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s.  Occasionally when artists stock their set heavily with new tunes, the audience can become estranged.  Goldspot played eight numbers from the new LP, and the momentum never faltered, a testament to the strength of the songs and the band's stage presence.

Khosla started the night on bouzouki for the album's opening track "Abyss."  Keeping with the theme of turning back the clock, they followed with "Rewind," enlisting the string talents of violinist Rachel Golub.  Sidd thanked everyone for attending, and began a story: "When my parents came to this country in the late '70s, they came with $8 in their pockets.  My mother was pregnant, and a year later, they had me."  A voice from the crowd.  It was Sidd's mother.  "She just said 9 months," he said with a laugh.  "Weren't you 3 months pregnant when you left India?"  The debate over his gestation period became too humorous for the seriousness of the tale, so he abandoned it for "The Border Line."  (To hear Sidd tell the rest of the story, you'll have to tune in to The Next Round podcast, coming in the next few weeks.)

Sidd may have been raised on the records of Bollywood playback singers, who leant their vocals for actors to lip-sync to, but it's clear he also belongs in the spotlight.  He gave it his all on every lyric, even singing along off-mic to the trombone part on "New Haven Green" when there weren't lyrics to sing.  Well-versed in several instruments, he moved with ease from Omnichord to Lahore harmonium to acoustic guitar.  After the lively "Monkey on My Rooftop," a chronicle of the endless battle of his aunt with a monkey, Sidd disclosed, "And then there was that time I was 8 and I found my mother's green card," diving right into the bouncy "Resident Alien."  It was simultaneously funny and poignant, and I realized that if you like the interesting world instrumentation of Vampire Weekend, but find them lacking in the human element, Goldspot is a better alternative.

After a few more songs, including older tunes "Call Center Girl" and "Friday," Khosla announced, "We've got one more." "Five more!" yelled a crowdmember.  While I also wouldn't have objected to five more, Sidd chose his favorite song on the album, "Evergreen Cassette."  He explained that when he was two, his parents were unable to find an affordable babysitter and had to send him back to India.  With no Skype technology, and phone calls to India costing $24/minute, his mother would record greetings and lullabies on a cassette tape and mail it to him.  He'd then record whatever a 2-year-old would say onto the tape and post it back.  They continued the process for two more years, until his parents had saved enough money for him to rejoin them.  Try finding something that touching on a Vampire Weekend record.

GOLDSPOT - 08.21.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (54 minutes)

SET -

Abyss / Rewind / The Border Line / New Haven Green / Monkey on My Rooftop / Resident Alien / Call Center Girl / Salt of the Earth / If the Hudson Overflows / Friday / Evergreen Cassette

Allen Stone Sits Down at Rockwood Music Hall

After seeing Allen Stone command the crowd at Brooklyn Bowl, I vowed that I would see many more of his shows.  So when a little bird (Sister Sparrow) tweeted in my ear that he was doing a free last-minute gig at Rockwood yesterday, the plans were set in motion to get there as soon as I finished work.  Once let in, I was able to get my favorite balcony seat in the house.  I ordered a beer and waited for the magic to happen.

To my surprise, it happened almost instantly.  Lyle Divinsky, a subway station singer-songwriter, walked out in his bare feet and sat on a stool in the center of the stage.  Donning a hat and vest, if only his pants would have been rolled up one ring higher, he would've resembled a grown Huck Finn.  And then he started to sing... a cappella.  If Allen Stone is the neo-soul wunderkind whiteboy from Washington, Divinsky is his counterpart from the other top corner of the map, Maine.  The audience was hooting and hollering after that first little taste, so Lyle grabbed an acoustic and led a singalong of his tune, "Come on Home."  "Y'all excited to see Allen Stone?" he asked.  Cheers. "Me too. But I hope you like what's leading up to it too."  Keeping time by paddling his feet off his stool, he kept the soul train coming with "Push On" and "Disaster," the latter of which featured a groovy little jam led by his uncle, Andy Argondizza, on guitar.  The crowd whooped spiritedly at the line, "Fuck you, Cupid!" during "Hit Man," and Divinsky channeled Otis Redding on a series of "I got to"s on "I Can't Believe the Way That You Love Me."  Lyle paused at the song's end, and announced, "So for these last two, it is my pleasure and my honor to welcome my favorite singer in the world, my dad, Mr. Phil Divinsky."  It was the epitome of a healthy father-son relationship as the two traded lines, smiling widely while the other sang.  Acts like Divinsky and Moon Hooch are why I always pause my iPod when I come across a performer on the platform.  You just never know.

Frances Cone Band was up next.  The plucky bass and drums that kicked off "Better Man" reminded me a little too much of "Come on Eileen," but the set improved from there.  I didn't envy her position, sandwiched between two vocal powerhouses, but she made do, using her smoky voice on a cover of the Black Keys' "These Days" that actually had me struggling to remember who originally sang it.  By the next number, "Mercy," Frances had also stepped out of her shoes, feeling the room's energy through the floorboards.

The Rockwood crew lowered the piano from the ceiling, setting the stage for Stone.  He emerged from the back hallway and grabbed a stool between Brent Rusinow and Trevor Larkin.  Thanking everyone for coming on such short notice, Allen strummed an acoustic guitar and began "A Change is Gonna Come."  Screams from ladies and shouts from dudes.  He passed the guitar back to Larkin, and invited Josh Rawlings to have a seat at the piano that was taking up so much real estate.  "Contact High" and "Celebrate Tonight" followed, Allen's voice impeccable in the room.  "The more you drink, the better we sound," he offered unnecessarily.  "Amen, brother!" toasted a crowdmember.  Stone shot back, "Thanks for the vote of confidence.  Who the fuck invited you?"  The crowd chuckled, and Stone continued with "Quit Callin."  "We haven't done a show like this in a while. I can't remember the last time I sat down onstage," he remarked before "The Bed I Made."  It was amazing to see him in such an intimate setting.  Unfortunately, sometimes other people don't know how to behave in this situation, and I had to ask two yappy bitches behind me to quiet down.  Following "Sex & Candy," Allen stated, "We're gonna keep it in the same mood.  We're gonna do another cover song."  The song was "Is This Love."  Putting Marcy Playground anywhere near Marley for reasons other than alphabetical order is pretty much blasphemy, but I quickly forgot MP once he got to the chorus.  It was during this number that I looked down and realized what a special night it was.  This wasn't Allen Stone inciting a crowd to dance with a preacher-like authority; it was Allen Stone using his dazzling voice to make a room fall silent while his friend tickled the keys of a real, wooden piano.  Brent, on backup vocals, made hand signals to Josh to watch Allen for the end, but then found himself laughing in awe at Allen's vocal ability, not wanting the tune to stop.  Before the final song of the evening, "Last to Speak," Allen offered some words of advice not commonly given by rockstars: "Just be humble.  I believe that humility breeds confidence."  The audience listened with rapt attention as he spit the powerful lyrics.  No one even whispered, humbled by the man onstage with the spectacular voice.

ALLEN STONE - 08.02.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (54 minutes)

SET -

A Change is Gonna Come / Contact High / Celebrate Tonight / Quit Callin / The Bed I Made / Sex & Candy / Is This Love / Figure It Out / Unaware / Last to Speak

Broken Anchor's One-Man Show at Rockwood Music Hall

It's not every day that one of your favorite bands of the year invites you to construct their setlist, but then again, it's not every day that your blog grows a new arm.  The big news is that Dry Paint Signs is branching out into the podcasting world with Dry Paint Signs presents The Next Round.  Last night, I sat down with Austin Hartley-Leonard of Broken Anchor before his show at Rockwood Music Hall, and we talked about topics ranging from addiction to ball sweat.  I'll be posting the interview in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Austin recommended that I get to the venue before his set to check out Sometimes We Sing Together, a duo comprised of Ashleigh Haney on drums and Trey Lockerbie on guitar.  And as you may have guessed, sometimes they sing together.  "Thanks for comin', friends and fam," Ashleigh said graciously.  "I thought you said friends and fan, like we had one," Trey admitted with a laugh.  They definitely have a new one now.  After the cowboy folk standard "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie," Lockerbie relayed a story about how they'd recently opened a "hippie festival" in San Diego, claiming, "We just started playin' and they started comin'," he and Ashleigh imitating the fluid motion of the hippies.  Trey reprised the dance at one point in the rollicking "Big Black Car," but the song's highlight came when he and Haney delivered the line, "People stopped and they stared," and the pair took an extended pause to gaze at each other before jumping back in.  The audience chortled, enamored with the twosome.  But that little bit of comedy was only a taste of what was to come, as SWST put their hilarious spin on Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Snake Farm," getting full-blown belly laughs from the late-night crowd.

With the recent departure of drummer Mike Duffy, Broken Anchor has become a solo project for Hartley-Leonard.  Though he's currently developing an act that relies heavily on sampling, for last night's gig, he took the stage with only his guitar and a vocal effect pedal to emphasize certain parts.  By the third song, "Dear Diary," Austin had the room rapt with attention, everyone listening so intently to the haunting guitar that you could hear a pin drop, or as it turned out, a text message being received.  The only time I missed the drums was in this song, following the line "Something deep inside of you burned deep inside of me."  I guess I've just gotten too used to listening to the studio version where everything kicks in at that moment.  "This is a song written by one of my favorite guys in the world, A.A. Bondy," revealed Austin. "Yeah," offered a voice in the dark.  "One guy also feels that way maybe," Austin said, starting up "Oh the Vampyre."  "Ohio" was dedicated to his Uncle Mike from Cleveland.  "C-Town.  Do they call it that?" asked Austin.  Mike, sitting on a stool by the wall, shook his head horizontally.  "That song isn't about you, Mike. It's about a woman," Austin clarified.  On the closer, "Never Leave Me Alone," Trey Lockerbie rushed the stage to sing backup into a spare microphone.  I was worried I'd miss Duffy on this one too, so accustomed to his rapid fills and tambourine shakes, but by the time Austin wrapped it up with an elongated yell of "Never leave meeeee alone!" it was like this was how it always had been.  Having now seen Broken Anchor as an electric duo, an acoustic duo, and Austin solo, I'm stoked to see the sampler incarnation once he rolls back into town.

BROKEN ANCHOR - 07.17.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (29 minutes, 15 seconds)

SET -

Leave the Light On / Broken Anchor Blues / Dear Diary / Oh the Vampyre / Ghosts / Ohio / Always / Never Leave Me Alone

Hey Anna Celebrate New EP at Rockwood Music Hall

I discovered Hey Anna back in March at Muchmore's in Williamsburg, and I said I'd be keeping them on my radar.  Well, they played a gig at Rockwood Music Hall last night, so I decided to head on down.  Hey Anna is fronted by the three Rauch-Sasseen sisters (Erin, Katie, and the band's namesake, Anna), and rounded out by Andrew Smolin on guitar and Matthew Langner on drums.  They recently released their second EP, Pompette, which you can download for free at their Bandcamp.  "Or for some money if you're feeling generous," said Erin.  "$3000?" offered Katie optimistically.  "You never know," replied Erin hopefully.  They played all four songs from the EP, starting the set with the sweet love song "Superglue."  Erin reminded me of a mid-1990s songstress on this one, but make no mistake, they are not a revival band.  Smolin's staccato stringwork is the superglue that holds Hey Anna together, and sets them firmly into today's indie pop scene.  On the EP's best song, "Pia," Erin matched him on the verses with her jerky vocals as Anna tried her best to contact aliens with her keyboard.  Unfortunately, the room was quite talkative for the first half of the set until Anna and Erin harmonized a cappella on "Rollercoaster," which silenced the chatterboxes.

More stage time should allow them to command a crowd better, but they're so new that right now they seem to mostly just be playing the songs as they would when jamming in the studio.  Smolin was the exception, looking up from his guitar to clap and sing along (He doesn't have a mic.).  I suggest starting a set with Katie's spunky "Love Love Baby," which got the crowd dancing and the band smiling.  The shift was noticeable, with Smolin and Langner laughingly displaying their wingspans as they pretended to coast like birds at the beginning of "Cloud Bird."  When the band announced they had one more song, there was a collective "aww" from the audience (Awwdience?), followed promptly by a request for "Blackout" from their self-titled EP.  Erin retuned her guitar and they honored it, Smolin leading the crowd on the shout of "Woo!" towards the song's end.  If you were disappointed by Vampire Weekend's new album this week, give Hey Anna a try.  It could be the best $3000 you ever spend.

HEY ANNA - 05.16.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (38 minutes, 28 seconds)

SET -

Superglue / I Don't Care About Your Money* / Tim McQue / If You're Wondering How I'm Doing* / Pia / Rollercoaster* / Dance Until Three / Love Love Baby / Cloud Bird* / Blackout

Ben Kenney Powers Through His Second Week at Rockwood

Originally, February 13th had been reserved on my calendar for Ben Kenney at Rockwood Music Hall, but then I was presented with the opportunity to see the Sound City Players at Hammerstein.  So imagine my excitement when it was announced that Kenney would be playing Rockwood again on the 27th, and this time "taking it up another notch" according to his Twitter.  For those of you who may not recognize Kenney by name, perhaps you're acquainted with a group in which he used to play guitar called the Roots?  Or maybe you've heard him play bass in a little band known as Incubus?  His own tunes lean more towards progressive rock, and if you're intrigued, Ben has generously given away his discography for free on his website.

"I'm gonna make a preemptive disclaimer that I've had a lot to drink.  Let's get it on.  Let's see if I'm not too drunk," he challenged before crunching into "Not Today," the opening track off 2008's Distance & Comfort.  Though Ben's performance wasn't hindered by his alcohol consumption, I was struggling with my own buzz.  A waitress approached me right before the set, and informed me there was a one-drink minimum.  While normally I wouldn't care, I recently saw Ben Taylor and Broken Anchor at the venue, and each time, beverages weren't required.  (I might add that their website mentions nothing about drink minimums either.)  Had I known, I wouldn't have been in Williamsburg right before, downing some 11% ABV beers on an empty stomach.  Alcohol doesn't enhance concerts for me, so that extra beer just got on my nerves; not to mention it's harder to take notes with a fucking pint glass in my hand.

Rhythmic clapping bridged the gap between "Not Today" and new song "Leave on Your Makeup."  "Empty Handed" exemplified Ben's impressive vocal range, his voice not unlike his Incubus bandmate's, Brandon Boyd.  Backed by two friends, Joe Baldacci on drums, and Ashley Mendel on bass, Ben turned the mic over to Ashley for "Distress!"  The Mendel-penned ditty featured one of the heaviest grooves of the night, but I much preferred Ben's voice to Ashley's, whose tone matched his emo haircut.

The ready-for-the-radio new number "Concord" was reprised from two weeks ago, though this time without the "Mickey" and "Low Rider" teases at its start.  Admitting his guitar was out of tune, Kenney defiantly said, "Fuck the tuner."  "Just make it louder," offered Mendel.  And louder he made it on "Rubber Sheets," which featured a guitar solo that brought Kenney to his knees, out of sight to many in the packed house.  When you could see him, his face was a series of alternately pained and joyous expressions, real guitar-player looks.  "The vein is gonna come out the forehead that only comes it when I'm bending over or bending over," he warned before a breakneck "Aftertouch."  "That song went by fast," he laughed at its end.

Unfortunately for me, the whole show zoomed by, even though it was a 56-minute set, which is lengthy for Rockwood.  They followed with "Truly," a song by the Division Group, the band Kenney formed with Mendel on drums and Soulive's Neal Evans on keys.  He then gave the audience some vocal coaching for a two-part harmony on "Worlds Collide," another highlight of the night.  For the final song, Kenney chose "Wrong" from 2006's Maduro.  Not content to end it there (Hey, he promised to take it up a notch.), the band segued into the Pearl Jam classic "Even Flow" to end the show.  "Let's go to the bar next door and get drunk afterwards," Ben suggested to the applauding crowd.  If I hadn't have been halfway there already, I may have taken him up on the offer.

BEN KENNEY - 02.27.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (56 minutes)

Not Today > Leave on Your Makeup* / Empty Handed > Distress! / Rubber Sheets / Concord / Aftertouch / Welcome to the Jungle (tease) / Truly / Worlds Collide / Wrong > Even Flow

Broken Anchor Drops on East Coast at Rockwood Music Hall

"For the first show of a tour, we like to play small, unimportant markets," Austin Hartley-Leonard of L.A.'s Broken Anchor informed the New York crowd.  "That's a joke.  It's important.  It's also large."  Their first time touring in the Northeast, they drew a pretty sizable Friday-night audience at Rockwood Music Hall's Stage 2.  When their debut LP is finally released this summer, I have no doubt the Anchor's going to make a big splash in this little town.

I got to the venue early and caught the last two songs of Portland's McDougall, stomping his feet to accompany himself on a banjo with a guitar's neck.  There were maybe ten of us in the room, but his gusto was infectious.  He was a nice, bearded amuse-bouche for the meal I'd been waiting for since I first heard Broken Anchor on NoiseTrade a little less than a month ago.  I've listened to all three of their EPs about sixteen times, and as you may remember, they grabbed the number one spot on my Top 15 Most Anticipated Albums list, beating out the likes of Bowie and Phoenix.

Austin took the stage with his lone bandmate, Mike Duffy, who manned the drumkit and a laptop that provided backing vocals and electronic washes.  They eased in with the song that shares their name, "Broken Anchor Blues."  For "Dear Diary," Austin slapped a vocal effect on his microphone that would remain for several more songs in the night.  I was initially turned off by it, but quickly realized its purpose in doubling his output to make everything sound like it was coming from a bigger band than the duo onstage.  "Say Serenity" was great all the way through its explosive ending, and halfway through "Stencil Heart" it ultimately hit me how relieved I was to finally be hearing these songs live.

For new tune "Head is a Hole," Austin cut his number of strings in half, trading his guitar for a bass with only three strings that he played capoed and with a pick.  While most of Hartley-Leonard's lyrics at least flirt with melancholy, this was clearly the most despondent song I've heard from them, with the chorus "My head is a hole in the ground."  "Automatic Midnight!" yelled someone from the balcony at its close.  "We have a Hot Snakes fan in the audience.  Dad?" deadpanned Austin.  It was, however, the perfect spot for the dour ditty, juxtaposed against "Always," which soared to anthemic heights, propelled by Duffy's blows on the toms with mallets instead of sticks.

After a more upbeat newbie, "My Marie," Austin took the opportunity to hawk some CDs: "Hand-stamped. Cardboard sleeve. Ink. Hand-stamped by me. You're welcome. Makes a great stocking stuffer."  He suggested more seasonably, "Late 'I'm sorry' Valentine's Day gift?"  After "Leave the Light On," which was more relaxed than its recorded counterpart, the sound guy noted the time.  "We got two more songs.  Right on track.  Pros," said Austin.  They chose "Ghosts," which was recently heard on "big-ass TV show," Private Practice, and "Never Leave Me Alone," the first single off the upcoming album.  The latter actually got a few crowd members dancing, which is a good sign.

I talked to Austin after the show, who told me the album would probably come out in June.  It's still at the top of my wantlist, and I'm predicting this band to take off, especially if they snag a bassist and keyboard player for live gigs.  Broken Anchor are performing a live acoustic concert at StageIt.com on the 19th, and will play a free "stripped-down" show as part of the American Folk Art Museum's Free Fridays next week.

P.S.  I stuck around to watch the thirteen members of King Holiday cram onto the tiny Rockwood stage.  I wanted a bit more range in the sparkly lead singer's voice, but he impressed me with his pained shouts into a telephone during "Dub of Love."  The Bed-Stuy crew will be playing Pianos on February 20th.

BROKEN ANCHOR - 02.15.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (40 minutes, 30 seconds)

SET -
Broken Anchor Blues / Dear Diary / Say Serenity / Stencil Heart / Head is a Hole / Always / My Marie / Leave the Light On / Ghosts / Never Leave Me Alone

Ben Taylor Starts Mini-Tour with Intimate Set at Rockwood

Ben Taylor kicked off his Manhattan mini-tour last night with an at times, too intimate acoustic performance at Rockwood Music Hall.  The show featured new songs, old faves, and a few covers of his father, Sade, and... Mary Poppins!?!

Having to fight my way through Lincoln Tunnel traffic, delayed subway trains, and an army of drunken Santas, I didn't get to Rockwood at the time I had hoped.  I was still able to snag a stool in the balcony, albeit behind a row of people.  The opener was a woman called Grace Weber, who I had never heard of before.  Thirty minutes later, I was in love with her.  A gorgeous, tall blonde, she had an incredibly soulful voice with a range so amazing, it seemed it could have only come from inside the blue water bottle she drank from, sucking the beautiful voice out and singing with it à la Ursula in The Little Mermaid.  She has some room to grow as a songwriter, (and I've probably never said this) but I think if she got on American Idol, they'd be able to turn her into a star.  Not in the young pop starlet mold that she physically encapsulates, but more along the lines of Adele.  After failing to get the vocal effect pedal to work that she'd just hyped up, and knocking her guitar into the mic stand several times, she laughed embarrassedly, "You guys are seeing my dorkiness like in full force tonight."  "We love it!" shouted someone in the crowd.  Closing her set with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" caused me to roll my eyes a little, but as the song progressed, I listened with rapt attention like the rest of the silent audience.  Grace Weber, with the right guidance, you will go far, and please leave a comment below if you want a boyfriend.

The piano onstage was lifted into the ceiling, leaving me worrying about a coyote and roadrunner-style mishap for the first few minutes of Ben's set.  After all, he was already wounded, having recently snapped his left Achilles' tendon whilst playing frisbee.  Ben was accompanied by his longtime friend/collaborator David Saw, and the duo's guitars harmonized so sweetly, you'd have never known they'd been off-tour for two months.  Ben paused between each song to give a little background on it, and introduced Sade's "By Your Side" as having been recorded for a top-secret TV appearance.  They sang "Worlds Are Made of Paper" with the line in the chorus changed from "Nothing lasts forever" to "Nothing lasts for apples" because Saw was smitten by a young child's YouTube rendition.  They followed that with a brand new song, a spicy little number which I'm going to call "Rocket to the Moon."

Those in the know spotted songwriter/producer of Fugees fame, John Forté, seated in the front row.  Busily sipping wine and videotaping the show, Ben asked if he wanted to join in, but Forté shook his head.  "We'll work on him little by little.  We're gonna sing the songs he normally sings, and we'll sing them so badly that he'll not be able to take it anymore," said Ben.  Enlisting the crowd's help on "Dirty" and providing Forté's rap himself, Taylor tried to work on him too quickly, but it was a great laugh for the audience.  The beat provided by Ben's bassist Benjamin Thomas on cajon, Taylor played new song "How Serious Can This Be" and segued seamlessly into his father's "Lo & Behold," the first time I've heard Ben cover his dad.  John Forté put down his camera and took the stage for two songs, "Hungry" and "I'll Be Gone."

Ben designated the next part of the show to be his family's portion, starting it off by recalling the time his mother inquired, "Write a song telling me how much you love me."  When Carly Simon requests you write her a song, you oblige, but you've got to take your time.  As the years passed, she kept asking if songs he'd written about other women were about her, to which he'd reply, "Did you even listen to it? That's gross."  Eventually settling on "Nothing I Can Do," Ben admitted, "I wrote this for my mama 'cause she's my archetypal woman."  The most interesting songwriting tale that I hadn't heard yet, however, was the one for "Oh Brother," written for Ben's younger twin brothers.  He sang the song over the phone for James, who cried and revealed, "That's so beautiful I wish I'd written that for them."  Still without a bridge, Ben offered it to his father, who excitedly took the task.  Two months later, Ben still hadn't heard back, so he reminded his father again.  James accepted, but only if Ben would hum a melody over the bars, so James could write the lyrics.  To mess with him, Ben recorded, "If we could only get some of that old good time JT shit right here," following it with a series of "no's" in James' signature scatting.  "My dad's the only old man who gets happier the more times he says no," Ben laughed, and demonstrated.  Playing the track for James, the legend responded, "That's a great fucking lyric," and the bridge remained the same.  Ben also tacked on "Jolly Holiday" from Mary Poppins to the family section, in tribute to a foxy nanny he once had named Mary.

The funny banter and excellent sound in the tiny space increased the intimacy level to a comfortability where fans would answer Ben's rhetorical questions or shout out questions of their own.  While that could get a little annoying, it was only encouraged by the candidness Ben was displaying, making announcements like, "Ladies and gentlemen, Benjamin Thomas is going to urinate."  He told the crowd straight-up, "You can clap and clap all you want, but once I leave this stage, that's it because I can't get back up," motioning to his leg.  He finished things off with "I've Known the Garden," and retreated to the hallway to talk with fans and sign CDs.

Ben plays tonight at the Standard Hotel (RSVP here) and tomorrow at the Bowery Hotel (RSVP here).

BEN TAYLOR - 12.15.12 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (1 hour, 53 minutes)

SET -
Dear Boy / Listening / Wicked Way / By Your Side / Worlds Are Made of Paper / Rocket to the Moon* / You Must've Fallen / Dirty / How Serious Can This Be > Lo & Behold / Hungry (feat. John Forté) / I'll Be Gone (feat. John Forté) / Nothing I Can Do / Oh Brother / Turn on the Lights / Jolly Holiday / A Good Day to Be Alive / Not Alone / Good Bird / America / I've Known the Garden