Friday, 25 July


Preston Demands[!] played their final show in the Old Office at the Knitting Factory on Friday.  The songs were each and every one touchingly bid farewell by the lead singer/guitarist (who's also the songwriter) during the headlining set. The band in its final incarnation was only about a year old, comprised of nicely skilled players, including the vivacious bassist who enthusiastically proclaimed his love for Cradle of Filth about halfway through the set.  This proclamation notwithstanding, the songs played on Friday night, with their just-outside-of-standard rock chord progressions and charming keyboard melodies, were decidedly indie-rock.  The lead singer has an Elliott Smith-esque sound, but with the potential for larger, more commercial appeal.  Though the band is no longer, it's more than likely that each of the boys of Preston Demands[!] will be popping up in new projects, so check out the music (especially the song "Brandywell") on their MySpace and watch for future developments.

Friday, 18 July


Young and loud, Atlanta's own Chainestereo confounded the mostly drunk-and-looking-to-score styled audience collected at Pianos in the Showroom on Friday night.  With a combination of playful impudence and youthful sincerity similar to that of their contemporaries Spiral Beach, Chainestereo inadvertently played right over most of the collected heads during their eleven-song set. 
 
Comprised of the indie-standard guitar/bass/drums/keyboard, walls of distorted sound abound in Chainestereo's music, with the bass player (also the lead singer) skillfully making melodic moves here and there.  Staying true to their self-stated punk influences, the singing was mixed with screaming, and other such vocal liberties.  The keyboardist gave what struck me as an early-Patti-Smith-esque vocal performance when she took lead vox for one of the songs.  But I doubt the drunk guy next to me loudly requesting "Freebird" had any such appreciation.  Alas.

Photo taken from band's Myspace

Wednesday, 16 July


Self-proclaimed “pioneers of lungcore” Jerseyband brought their metal-with-horns to Greenwich Village’s Sullivan Hall on Wednesday night.  Combining the traditional guitar/bass/drums set-up with trumpet/two tenor saxophones/bari sax, all-male Jerseyband’s electric and compelling stage presence (complete with costumes---several of the band were wearing dresses) matched their highly dramatic and at times playful music.  

The eleven-song set featured a range of textures, from full tilt shredding to intimate intros played only by the horns, and the audience responded enthusiastically no matter the volume level.  Occasionally, a horn player or two would step up to the mic to do some screaming.  The bari player introduced “Rats in Boxes” in his best Dr. Sbaitso-sounding voice.

With their surprisingly convincing sound and oddly sexy presence, Jerseyband are a breath of fresh air in the genre-commingling movement.  

Saturday, 12 July


The Showroom at Pianos was packed tonight with eager, jumping boys and girls, their faces upturned to the four skinny, and also jumping, boys of indie-rock band The Dig.  With their vivid stage presence and just-homogenous-enough look, The Dig inspired nothing less than dance mania in their audience.  When the set was finished, the mania was still going strong, and the crowd began to chant “one more song, one more song.”  When The Dig didn’t oblige, a couple guys went so far as to loudly curse them; the audience was palpably frustrated at being robbed of an encore.

The band’s set, which was about ten songs long, was loud and beat-heavy---I thought the drummer was going to rip right through his tom heads---and their songs catchy without being trite, much in the vein of Franz Ferdinand or The Killers.  The keyboardist in particular added quite a lot of interest to the songs, and both the lead guitarist and the bassist took turns singing lead vox (both sounding a bit like The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas).  Unlike their opening band (Washington D.C.’s Junior League, the latest in a burgeoning line of indie-bluegrass groups), The Dig’s post-punk revival-flavored sound felt right at home on the Lower East Side.  As yet unsigned, the cleverly creative and charismatic boys of The Dig stand a chance for success, so catch them at the small venues while you can.

Sunday, 13 July


Musician, artist and filmmaker David Byrne’s much publicized sound installation “Playing the Building,” originally installed in Sweden in 2005 and presented here in NYC by Creative Time, does more than offer the public a chance to make interesting sounds.  The installation provokes the consideration of our psychological relationship with music and its instruments, as well as a consideration of the nature of music itself.

The installation consists of a small pump organ, whose keyboard is labeled “motors---pipes---pillars,” with several chords streaming from the back of the organ to the ceiling, walls, pillars and radiators of the building.  Motors are attached to the ceiling’s rafters, while air is blown through pipes, and hammers strike pillars and radiators.  The result is a mix of pitched, hooty pipe sounds (a typical organ sound), clanking hammers, and jack-hammeresque motor sounds, the last of which actually sound a lot like a real pipe organ’s lowest and biggest pipes.

While waiting for my turn to play the building, I was able to overhear and to witness the reactions of several of those in line with me.  Some were unconvinced that standing in line was worth it (it’s about a 5-10 minute wait), and attempted to convince their companions to leave.  Others wondered over what it meant that the keyboard on the organ controlled not pitch, as with a normal organ, but mostly non-pitched sounds---how can you play a real song on such an instrument?  Though the words “Please Play” are painted clearly before the organ, many hesitated to sit down on the bench and instead played while standing; often friends would all play at once (I saw four people playing it together at one point).
 
As with many installations of this kind (especially those involving sound and music), those who appreciate the philosophical questions it raises, or even simply the interesting sounds it produces, can find themselves confronted with those who find it equally uninteresting, unpleasantly confusing, or just plain offensive.  What pushes the provocative aspect of this particular installation just one step further is Byrne’s use of an actual instrument for the production of sound, thereby confronting visitors with what is often a complex emotional reaction to playing musical instruments.

You can “play the building” until August 24th, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 6pm.  Admission is free, onsite waiver-signing is required.