Monday, 30 March


"Wow, Monday night and there's, like, people listening!"  Sharon Van Etten was shyly pleased by the healthy turnout for her solo set Monday night at Cake Shop. Drawing the crowd into her quiet, intimate music with a warm voice, rich guitar sound, and solemn face, Van Etten played a full set (including an encore) of pretty, semi-depressing songs. 
"My Dad really wanted to be here tonight, but he's doing his taxes.  He's really stressed out.  He asked me to play this song," called "Have You Seen," Van Etten's lips barely moving as she sang the twisting, floating melody. 
Singing in a low voice, Van Etten's eyes glanced up at the ceiling periodically during "I Am Giving Up on You," which featured hypnotic guitar-picking.  
Other highlights included a cover of "Save Me a Place" by Fleetwood Mac, and the dark "For You," from her new album.
"I'm Sharon, and you can talk to me.  I'm approachable."

Sunday, 18 Jan


Imagine a punk band and an indie-rock band engaged in an Ultimate Fighting-esque tournament, and you’ll come close to the sound of New York’s No One and the Somebodies.  Loud and quasi-chaotic, the four played an impassioned set at Cake Shop Sunday night, inspiring a handful of audience members (all male) to dance, improv style, in front of the stage. 

“This one will be an instrumental.  It’s a waltz.  So…think about that,” the guitarist commanded before the third song.  He danced while playing, the keyboardist moved to the drums after a minute or so of the song had elapsed, and the drummer moved to the front of the stage to hit a metal plate lying on the floor with drumsticks in rapid-fire rhythms.  After the song ended, the band discussed Kenny Loggins lyrics.

“This song is about adopting two underprivileged children and inviting them to live with you in the lap of luxury…in the ‘70’s,” was the bassist’s introduction to a song called “Mr. Drummond”; a veritable cavalcade of varying rhythmic configurations, with the keyboardist singing/shouting “Oh(!)” for the last half of the song.

NOatS songs came across as completed entities that had been smashed about a bit, and often they ended in noisy chaos.

Their last song, the epic “Bike,” combined tuneful keyboard moments with distorted guitars and fast drums, and featured a dramatic meter shift into six-eight towards the end.

Check out No One and the Somebodies at Alphabet Lounge February 13th.

Friday, 24 Oct


Walking into the audience and across the floor, the lead singer of New Zealand’s Cut Off Your Hands leapt into the air and sang a few lines of “Happy As Can Be” perched crouching atop the bar, much to the surprise of the audience, and chagrin of the Cake Shop bartenders.  With music whose sonic landscape is expansive and rife with galvanism (along the lines of Aberdeen City), at the same time almost always retaining a hint of sly irony, Cut Off Your Hands’ stage presence emanated a fervent heat the audience didn’t know they were thirsty for until they got it.  During the second song, “You and I,” the lead singer walked onto the floor again with hands in air and clapping, and the audience dazedly attempted to follow his lead.

Striking was the fact that each of the other three band members sang backing vox, creating some impressive visual and audio counterpoint, as with the second to last song, “Expectations.”

Cut Off Your Hands' debut album You And I will be released in the US in early 2009.