During a 4 hr meeting at work on Wednesday, I was secretly praying for a swine flu outbreak in the greater southern California area. allowing me to stay home for the rest of the week. While this dream did not come to fruition, there has been enough of an outbreak to derail one of the concerts I was most excited about year to date. As reported by Cornelius/Deerhoof’s myspace page, this pseudo art-meets-noise rock tour will not be venturing through the contaminated waste land of LA. *Tear. It appears that only Laura will be lucky enough to see Deerhoof before we all die from the pig flu.
i gave in and made the trek to Williamstown MA to see Deerhoof a couple days ago. Williamstown is a town with a population of about 8,000. It’s in the northwest coner of Massachusetts, snuggled between upstate NY and Vermont. It’s quite a ways from anywhere. They played at the tiny, elite, private Williams College, in the temporary student union – a former chapel- Goodrich Hall. It wasn’t exactly crowded. Just me & maybe 100 kids that looked about 10-years-old. The high ceilings made for great sound, but it didn’t translate into the video i shot. i do like the vids though. The stage and the black and white reminded me of the Ed Sullivan-ish In Bloom video. (Nirvana.) No close-ups. I know i missed some great close-ups. I just wanted to keep the camera in one place so i could forget it and enjoy the show.
They were so good i swear i almost cried.
if this doesn’t get you right away, move into 1:40 or 2:30 minutes.
As a side note – i first heard of Deerhoof when i saw them play before the Akrons in NYC on New Year’s Eve. Cemented by Saturday’s show, they are officially my new favorite band. It’s great to have a new favorite band with a 10-year back catalog!
According to the comment string Laura just saw them on the east coast; please help me convince people they need to go to a Thursday show in the middle of May.
Please comment below so I know whether or not to get the full 6 tickets ticketmaster is going to cap me at. FYI $28 a tix before rape fees.
These are notes for the brass quartet I found after the show. It was going to be the only description piece for the concert review because it pretty much ties the whole thing together.
Instead I decided to bore you all with about 500 words of what most of you will call hippie bullshit.
11:58 pm: Seth, Miles and Dana (the AKAK themselves) take the 400 sq ft stage along with the breaded tree men of Megafaun and a brass quartet (including a flute-playing midget) The stage is set for the entering of the New Year. There is a heavy smell of freshly smoked grass, but I am just blazing the excitement. A part of me does not really believe that I am where I am. My ponderings of the past year’s experiences are halted by the countdown. Fuck Times Square. Fuck Dick Clark. I cannot believe how many people really thought I would fly to NY for that clown act. I am here: to be capitulated; to be with my people; to share in a moment of beauty; to hear a sound that might remind of a purer time. I have always felt that Akron in some way has connected me back to the land, reminding me of that spirit I felt in a river in Texas, the clarity of a time out by the lake in Montana, or standing atop a mountain in Oregon surrounded by 200 year old pine tree. In this tiny venue on the 74th block of Leonard Street, there is a view of the world seen through the eyes of your own precious moments. I find myself amongst the believers who know the majesty of the musical spirit.
Akron/Family jump starts the festivus with Phenomenon. Miles—who has decided to wear his “Hey man, I want to party with you shirt” again—is trying to convince everyone in the place to yell at the top of their lungs. The song closes with a surprising layered shoegaze moment, leading into their recently-revised live version of Lake Song.
(Ebee and I both agree that the live version is great but might be too Latina. Why fix the original if it is not broke.) Nonetheless, you can obviously get a feel for the raw power.
I first heard Untitled I at a live Akron show at a wine cellar in Visilia. I was about 6 inches from Seth’s guitar. His fingers are little soldiers of God’s army. I had my eyes closed for nearly the whole show. Yes, that is how brightly they radiated. Just close your eyes.
(Amendment to the orignal post….I have been re-watching this video over and over; sheer exquisiteness. I mean how great is it at minute 3:30.)They have revamped this song since I last saw them. Adding some meat for the new album is my guess. Awesome.
Raise the Sparks makes me want to hug a tree and scalp the white man all in one motion.
This song I just decided to call Primordial Sound. Miles looks as though he is trying to force the darker side of his soul into the microphone. Neat, huh? (Mom don’t watch this)
The set closes with the original three side hugging each other, repeatedly singing “Last year was a hard year for such a long time / This year is going to be all ours.” Although in many ways this was not my truth I sang along with everyone. The harmony of a Akron + the crowd family is a sound no one should miss during a lifetime.
Tonight (as well as all other nights) Akron/Family broke through the lines of genre and dogmatic categorization, existing in a vast universe of purple mountains that ring of clarity and sharpness. There style is one of unbridled passion, laced with spontaneity and thickness. They are the reason everyone should be protestant when it comes to music; hear with your own ears. Akron is the broad highway.
As the night closes, I remembered of how their set began with the lyrics of Phenomenon stating /some might not think this is the right sound/; I more fully understand that this is not for everyone but it is for me and that is ok.
I wish anyone who just read this was there with us. John, Ebee, Naia, Laura, guy who only listens to live music and I held down the fort for you though. (Dan I can’t believe you left to caught the train.) We only live once and I would not trade the moments shared with you and them for anything. The forever binding spirit of AKAK.
10:30 pm: Enter San Fransisco based indie-experimental-hyper-rock band, Deerhoof. Enter the surprise act of the evening. Enter a small Asian woman, a man in light blue old school milk delivery man suit, a coked out college kid, and a long haired version of Stapler guy from Office Space (you had to hear him talk).
I bought their album “Friends Opportunity” about a year back and was wholly unimpressed. I found it kind of annoying to be frank, so I was not that jazzed about the performance. Next thing you know I can barely keep my hands steady from the energy being pelted at my corpus callosum. The crowd was being set on fire by the guitars of John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez ripping along side the heavy crescendos of Greg Saunier. I had heard their shows were a sight to behold from a friend who saw them at the LA Natural History Museum. I dont know why I doubt people. I feel as though I am failing to describe the essence of the show….but in a sentence, it was heavy yet hyper and my brain tripped over itself repeatedly in anticipation of the next riff from John. I wanted to jump, kick, scream and throw my camera into the wall. Instead I MTFU (thats for you Stone Junkie) and let the vibes run their course.
The video camera is right next to the drum (obviously), so sorry for the sound quality. I am asking for two minutes of your time today, just watch the first video from start to finish. FYI if you know the names to any of these songs I would greatly appreciate help.
The crowd was restless and my camera was being shifted in a wave of sweaty manliness. Listen to the guitar at 1:13 if nothing at all then heard me yelling.
to New York to watch Akron Family play with Megafaun, Deer Tick, Dirty Projectors, Deerhoof at the Knitting Factory, just outside of the historic SOHO district.
I first heard about this show a little over three weeks ago. I was elated by the idea of going, but saddened by the seeming impossibility of this becoming reality. My heart was being cooked by brain until I saw Erin at the Blitzen Trapper show. She mentioned that she had heard about the show. She really wanted to go but money, logistics and finding someone crazy enough to go…I nearly bowled her over with my excitement. Still it was more a wish than a reality.
Yesterday, I read that Akron Family had signed with Dead Oceans and they are remixing their new album which is due out in April. The same article revealed that the Akron Family curated show on New Years Eve is going to be the last show ever for this venue. For whatever reason, the culmination of these facts brought these child-like feelings to overtake sensibility. Three hours later I texted Erin with “Fuck that let’s go to New York; Erin! I just made a decision. I have to go.”
An hour ago, we just locked in two plane tickets, one GA ticket, one GA plus open bar ticket, and one hotel room.
I have never been to New York…..I have seen Akron Family with Megafaun before…..I have never shot a speedball…. NY + AK + MF + DP = Sober Speedball.
In the end you only live once, I want to live life while I am here, because you never know when you are going to get hit by a car.
As I am sure you all can guess, my new years resolution is to stop spending money
LEX I WANT YOU THERE. PLEASE TELL NANNERS YOU NEED ONE LATE NEW YEARS OUT WITH AN OLD FRIEND.
