The Next Round - Episode 51: Tall Tall Trees

With a shaggy brown beard that extends down his torso, Mike Savino looks like a wizard.  And as Tall Tall Trees, he gets to become one, summoning a multitude of sounds both shambolic and ethereal from his "Banjotron 5000."  We had a beer before his "greasy dance party" at Rockwood Music Hall.  Check it out.

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Pick up a copy of Freedays.
Go see Mike live.
Hear "A Place to Call Your Own" on The Next Round Companion Playlist.

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

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

Dr. Dog, Delta Spirit, and Kishi Bashi Play Central Park Autumnstage

My work computer's clock is four minutes slow.  I adjust it to the actual time occasionally, but somehow each day when I return to the office, it has reset itself to four minutes ago.  I think it's a conspiracy and my employer is stealing my life away, four minutes at a time.  To counterbalance, I come in late.  Yesterday, it did more than just thieve four minutes; it almost made me late to the Dr. Dog and Delta Spirit show at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park.  You see, Google Maps reads the computer time to make its subway recommendations, and when it told me I could take the B at 5:16, 5:16 had already passed.  I realized this when I was on the platform, terrifyingly watching D train after D train pull through the station.  When the B finally dropped me off at 72nd with fewer than ten minutes before 6pm, I drew upon my former life as a cross-country runner and sprinted across the park.  I got to Rumsey with a few minutes to spare, and took a spot in the center.
Why the big rush?  Kishi Bashi was opening, and this marked my third time seeing him this year.  He walked onstage impeccably dressed in a suit exactly at 6, accompanied on banjo by Mike Savino of Tall Tall Trees, as he was at Joe's Pub two months prior.  They began, as the album does, with an instrumental intro that found its way into "Pathos, Pathos."  Although he impressed them with his beatboxing skills on the "Atticus" that followed, the bearded fans of Dr. Dog and Delta Spirit were not the ideal crowd for a Kishi Bashi performance.  Whereas normally the audience would be raptly listening to each layer as it was created, twisted, and turned, mouths agape in awe, this crowd came to see the headliner, so talking came out of their mouths in between puffs of tobacco smoke.  The hoedown section of "Bright Whites" won their attention back, just in time for Kishi Bashi to dismiss Savino for some solo tunes.  "I'm just gonna do a few more songs and then an incredible concert will ensue.  I'm just as excited as you," K gushed.  Now that he had everyone's eyes and ears, he delivered a dramatic "It All Began with a Burst" and finished up with an extended "Manchester."

Desperately trying to shed their folk-rock label, Delta Spirit unveiled a new sound when they released their polarizing eponymous album back in March.  Longtime fans said they'd sold out.  Newcomers loved it.  I listened to the album for the first time the morning prior to the show, and while the last song lulled me to sleep, I enjoyed the record.  There's nothing on it as beautiful as "Devil Knows You're Dead," but I really dig the chugging drums and guitar licks of "Tear It Up."  "Get your jock jam on!" Matt Vasquez shouted as the beat started.  When I originally saw Vasquez as part of Middle Brother, his raucous onstage antics, long hair, and shitty beard reminded me of Andrew WK.  A shave and a haircut later, I'm happy to report that he doesn't store that energy in his hair.  He was just as wild, making eye contact with individual crowdmembers and mugging at them with raised eyebrows while singing.  And he has a terrific voice.  He screeches and growls his lyrics so effortlessly that it seems like anyone could do it, but they can't.  It's almost uncanny because it doesn't feel like he has to build up any emotion to take him to that timbre.  He really wanted the audience to clap to the songs, and "People C'mon" was the singalong clapalong he was thirsting for.  "We're playing in New York in November, folks!" he announced (11/27 @ Irving Plaza, tickets go onsale next Friday) before closer "California."

The sun dropped to the west and a giant flag dropped behind the stage, signaling that it was almost time for the headliner.  When the opening chords of "Shadow People" were met with cheers, it was immediately clear I was in a crowd of Dr. Dog-lovers.  I'd seen them twice before and enjoyed it, but aside from their earlier albums, I felt like their studio work didn't come close to capturing the sound of their live show.  That is, until they put out Be the Void this February.  Minus the stupid lyrics of the overlong "Warrior Man," the LP succeeds in accurately presenting their ramshackle instrumentation, golden harmonies, and bass-forward grooves.  That groove is the secret weapon of Dr. Dog, and it likely comes from having bassist Toby Leaman split lead vocal duties with guitarist Scott McMicken.  Put a bass player in the driver's seat and you're gonna go on one hell of a trip.  The Pennsylvanians didn't talk much between songs, or even leave space between songs, best exemplified during the mid-set sequence of the harmony-laden "Do the Trick" to a fiery "Beach" to a heartfelt "Way the Lazy Do" to a rollicking "Vampire."  They followed that with a "Heavy Light" that went into jam territory, and I didn't think it could get much better than that...


They finally took a break to mention how great it's been to have watched Delta Spirit perform and grow over the six years they've been touring together.  And then, sure enough, things got better.  On Tuesday I got to see Band of Horses play one of my favorite songs ever, so imagine my delight when they launched into Architecture in Helsinki's "Heart It Races."  (The Dr. Dog version is another all-time fave.)  A joyous "Lonesome" with keyboardist Zach Miller on slide guitar ended the set, the audience shouting out the "hey"s.

Returning to the stage for the encore was a pared down band of drummer Eric Slick, Miller, and McMicken on an acoustic guitar emblazoned with fluorescent orange tape and the words "Strum Machine."  They eased into oldie "County Line" from Toothbrush, and the remaining members appeared and joined in.  When the band charged into "Worst Trip," Matt Vasquez stormed the stage with a shaker, climbing on top of Leaman's shoulders for the song's ending.  "Oh No" brought everything to a close with a clamorous singalong.  "We'll be at the White Castle tonight," offered Leaman before leaving the stage.  If you were looking to buy Easy Beat on vinyl, I got the last copy.

KISHI BASHI – 09.20.12 – RUMSEY PLAYFIELD (37 minutes)

SET –

Intro > Pathos, Pathos / Atticus, In the Desert / Evalyn, Summer Has Arrived / Bright Whites / It All Began with a Burst / Manchester

DELTA SPIRIT – 09.20.12 – RUMSEY PLAYFIELD (54 minutes)

SET –

Strange Vine / White Table / Tear It Up / Idaho / Parade > Empty House / Time Bomb / Bushwick Blues / People C’mon / Money Saves / Children > California

DR. DOG – 09.20.12 – RUMSEY PLAYFIELD (1 hour, 34 minutes)

SET –

Shadow People / Stranger / That Old Black Hole / The Ark > The Rabbit, the Bat, & the Reindeer / These Days / Do the Trick > The Beach > The Way the Lazy Do > Vampire / Heavy Light / Hang On / I Only Wear Blue / Heart It Races > Jackie Wants a Black Eye > Shame, Shame / The Old Days / Lonesome

ENCORE –

County Line > Worst Trip > Oh No

Kishi Bashi Covers Beirut at Sold-Out Double-Header

"I'll be playing at Joe's Pub on July 26th, and I'll have a band.  Now I have to find a band 'cause I said it."  So foretold Kishi Bashi at Le Poisson Rouge in mid-May.  Tonight he commenced his summer tour with a sold-out double-header at Joe's Pub.  While his band only consisted of Mike Savino of Tall Tall Trees, K dazzled the crowd with his virtuosic violin skills and technological ingenuity.

Using delay pedals to loop material and concoct songs piecemeal onstage is not a new concept.  Keller Williams has been doing it for almost two decades.  Reggie Watts has made a comedy career from his improvisational looping.  What seems to make Kishi Bashi special is his instrument of choice: the violin.  Plucking on the strings with his fingers or playing it traditionally with a bow, K takes the instrument normally reserved for classical music and propels it into the future by processing the sound through various effects pedals: ramping the speed, shifting the pitch, making noise.  On top of that, he layers a series of percussive vocals.  And on top of that, sung in an octave-pogoing range, his optimistic and introspective lyrics.  If you're having trouble imagining this, or if you're not and it sounds awesome, check out his NPR Tiny Desk Concert below:

While I prefer my Kishi Bashi solo (or if we're being totally honest, fronting Jupiter One), the addition of Savino on banjo and backup vocals was at least interesting.  Also playing through a pedal board, his banjo went from serving as a bass drum when hit with a mallet to a white-noise generator when caressed with utensils.  A cacophony decayed into crickets and then crescendoed into something similar to THX's Deep Note.  The banjo complemented the violin best on "Bright Whites," the song taking on a bluegrass feel and the violin taking on its fiddle label.

The songs performed by Kishi Bashi alone, however, received the most applause.  After an exciting "It All Began with a Burst," K played the slower "I Am the Antichrist to You," introducing it as a love song with a status of "It's complicated."  Then he asked, "Who wants to be a guinea pig tonight?" before going into a cover of Beirut's "A Sunday Smile," which he prefaced by saying that he wasn't the greatest at it.  He flubbed a part halfway through, and exclaimed, "Shit!" before hopping back in over the sounds of mild laughter.

Which brings me to yet another layer of Kishi Bashi's performance: his humor.  The contrast of his complex music with his silly stage banter helps to humanize him from musical marvel into a funny friend.

On the temperature of the room: "Is it really hot in here, or is it just really hot in here?"
On a sound issue with Savino that caused a small hold-up: "We're losing sales, man."
On instructing the crowd to sing the Japanese part of a song: "It's so easy; it's just another language."

For the encore, Kishi Bashi unveiled a very different version of Jupiter One song "Turn Up the Radio," barely using his pedals at all, trading out the original synth-y song for a somber dirge.  After enlisting the audience to sing on what was supposed to be the last song, "Manchester," K couldn't help but be overtaken by the room's energy and segue into "Chester's Burst Over the Hamptons," the only track he had yet to play from his album.

As I was leaving the venue, I overheard a woman say, "He's like a drug."  While that might be an overstatement, I am going to see Kishi Bashi for my third time this year on September 20th.  Maybe I just have trouble admitting that I have an addiction.

TALL TALL TREES – 07.26.12 – JOE’S PUB (LATE SHOW)

SET –

Highwire / Alaska / Wake the Moon / Nothingless / Waiting on the Day

KISHI BASHI – 07.26.12 – JOE’S PUB (LATE SHOW) (1 hour, 16 minutes)

SET –

Intro > Pathos, Pathos / Atticus, In the Desert / Wonder Woman, Wonder Me / Beat the Bright Out of Me > Conversations at the End of the World / Evalyn, Summer Has Arrived / It All Began with a Burst / I Am the Antichrist to You / A Sunday Smile / Bright Whites

ENCORE –

Turn Up the Radio / Manchester > Chester’s Burst Over the Hamptons