When Carrie Brownstein isn’t busy with her IFC comedy show, Portlandia, and the various appearances on behalf of the show, she hits up Fallon performing with Wild Flag. This appearance took place last Thursday, coincidentally, on the same night as Portlandia’s second season premiere. If we haven’t said it before, Rock Cousteau is super proud of all of Ms. Brownstein’s accomplishments. Wild Flag performed ‘Short Version’ on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Do get a gander at this freakishly awesome band’s performance.
Wild Flag make their network television debut on Letterman the other night. Carrie Brownstein and the band of merry ladies rocked it to ‘Romance’ and upon completion, Dave is overwhelmed by their performance and showers them with compliments “that’s pretty good, very nice, nice to see you, that was fantastic, nice going, how ’bout that, excellent, thank you very much..” Paul Schafer follows up with “this is my new favorite band”. We definitely agree.
Four fine ladies from the Pacific Northwest bring us rock music just the way we like it. Call us crazy, but we think Wild Flag should be considered the “break-out” band of 2011 and…..even crazier, their debut album should be considerd one of the top 10 of the year. Carrie Brownstein, Mary Timony, Rebecca Cole and Janet Weiss have come to the table with various indie rock lineage, having performed in bands such as The Minders, Sleater-Kinney, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, The Spells and Helium. It’s certainly a pleasure to see that these fantastic musicians have found a home in Wild Flag. We were blown away by their performance at CMJ in New York last month and now, you are the fortunate recipient of their most recent performance on NPR’s World Cafe. Stream it by clicking on the photo above. As partially described by NPR, they are “punk and tight”.
DAY 1
Seminars, concerts and bands, oh my! Our first day was filled with a wealth of information and fine music. Last night, we saw Eleanor Friedberger open for Wild Flag. There were so many choices, but these acts were the chosen ones. Eleanor Friedberger engaged the audience with a top performance. Her setlist: Heaven, 7th Ray, Mistakes, Happy, Roosevelt, Glitter, Earthquake, When I Knew, Bensonhurst and Fall Apart.
After Eleanor, Wild Flag took the stage and completely blew us all away with their set. Each one of the band members had something very strong to bring to the performance. Black Tiles, Future Crimes, Short Version, Electric Band, Romance, Glass Tambourine, Nothing, Winter Pair, Something Came Over Me, Boom, Racehorse – Encore:See No Evil (Television cover) and Ask the Angels (Patti Smith cover). This sold out show was worth the trip. Check out the coverage from our friends at Music Obsessed.
DAY 2
Nothing like starting your work day with an acoustic performance by a full on talented band. The band we refer to is Swedish band called You Say France and I Whistle. If you enjoy the band, Local Natives, you will dig this band. Now, we didn’t hear them plugged in, but I imagine their sound would be the same, just louder. We are hopeful that this band will find a place in your heart, as it has in ours.
First show of the evening began with Scoundrels from London at the Brooklyn Bowl. Imagine Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon singing to bluesy rock of The Black Keys. What a fantastic way to start off the evening. Check out the video for ‘Loud N Proud’. Hopefully, we’ll all hear more about these guys in the coming months.
Next band to follow The Scoundrels was Yellow Ostrich. A band we put gave some attention to a few weeks ago after the release of their first album, The Mistress. Great tunes and lots of horns by what seemed to be a man of many talents. We love loops and Yellow Ostrich used a looping device that assisted the lead singer in creating vocal harmonies in the tracks that moved from place to place. Check out their EP Fade Cave on their Bandcamp page. These are the efforts that make us really appreciate the musicianship embodied in all the members of these bands.
After we scooted away from the Brooklyn Bowl, our next stop landed us back in the city at the Mercury Lounge to see Lord Huron. All we can remember were percussion and guitars. So many guitars! In between songs, the band played some really soothing background sounds (i.e., sounds of the ocean and waves crashing on the shore). While we really only knew one of their tunes, their set kept our attention the entire time. Losing interest in them live was not an option. Check out their video for ‘Mighty’.
The final stop was the Cake Shop a few doors down from the Mercury Lounge. Hoping to see Weekend, we ended up seeing Bleached first, but unfortunately, patience and time were lost on us, so we checked out for the night. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to meet one of the band members of Cuckoo Chaos and learn about their band, San Diegans with three guitars, bass and drums, that marry West African sounds with contemporary indie rock. Get your taste of Cuckoo Chaos’ ‘Just Ride It’ below.
Although we didn’t get an opportunity to see Zola Jesus and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, our friends at Music Obsessed did get a chance and captured it here.
Day 3
After a full day of seminars, we hit Cantora’s Smart Lounge atop the atrium in the Thompson Hotel. A rather tight venue where the stage took up a small bit of real estate under an atrium with a spectacular view as the backdrop for the bands.
Our first treat was The Stepkids. Check out the video for ‘Legend in My Own Mind’. There is a grand future for this band and we were so pleased to be a part of their ground floor exhibition.
Next up at Cantora’s, Electronica with laptop/sampler performer, AraabMUZIK. An artist that you really would have to see in person to believe what he could do with synth and drum samples that he so deftly tapped out with his OWN fingers. We noticed he was rubbing out some Carpal Tunnel between songs. Best thing is to check out his moves via our friends at Music Obsessed.
After suffering through a demonstration by Turntable.fm, we finally got a chance to see a band we had been waiting to see live for some time, Dum Dum Girls. You like dark, brooding and haunting lyrics, maybe with a side of guitar distortions? Always happy to assist, RC came to the rescue and provided Dee-Dee with piece of paper for her setlist. Here’s a good example of an uplifting song, ‘Bedroom Eyes’. They played a very toned down set with just the Dee-Dee and Jules, billed as acoustic, but they were plugged in, just enough.
Finally, the band we had been waiting for (although, the bands that came before were fantastic)….Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO). Low-Fi, Psychedelic rock that might either piss you off or really make you happy. Depends on how you look at it. For us, there was only happiness. Unfortunately, the band really had a tough time seeing anything, especially their equipment, which made the set slightly difficult for them to get through. It didn’t distract the founder & New Zealand native, Ruban Neilson, because his licks continued to give us goosebumps! Completely worth the 5 hours it took to get to this point and see the band. Get a taste of what we heard with the video of ‘Ffunny Ffriends’.
It was time to move on to the Mercury Lounge to see J. Mascis, among others. Much to our dismay, we got shut out of the venue. This is a risk you take when attending CMJ. 10 minutes before we hit the Mercury Lounge, the last CMJ badges were permitted. So our friends were inside, but we were not. Despite the disappointment, we managed to pull ourselves out of the sadness & wander over to the Bowery Electric, where we were quite pleasantly surprised to catch a great new band, Aviation Orange. Dreamy, fun, catchy tunes from a well put together band. Do not miss them if they come to your town. Check out their performance for Google here.
We took off for another venue, this time, Pianos where we caught the last half of Zambri. If you like Siouxie and the Banshees, you will adore this band. Again, no guitars, but there was an energy and allure that this NY native band created that was all their own. Check out the video for ‘On Call’. They definitely got our attention and if you like creative sounds, this band will lure you in. We stuck around Pianos for a healthy listen to two more bands. The band after Zambri, not too terribly memorable, but Caveman followed the “unknown band”. By that time, it was time for the “dogs” to sit out.
We told you about Wild Flag a few weeks ago. Reminder, two things you need to know about Wild Flag. One, it’s a new group formed by Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, former Sleater-Kinney bandmate, Janet Weiss, Helium’s Mary Timony, and The Minder’s Rebecca Cole. Two, with the exception of the vocals, the album was recorded live in The Hanger, a recording studio in Sacramento that doubles as a skate park. If you enjoy the bands Television or Wire, you’ll enjoy this album immensely! Wild Flag’s self-titled debut album is out now on Merge and it’s still streaming at NPR’s First Listen. Click on the album cover below to be directed to the stream at NPR’s First Listen.
Two things you need to know about Wild Flag. One, it’s a new group formed by Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, former Sleater-Kinney bandmate, Janet Weiss, Helium’s Mary Timony, and The Minder’s Rebecca Cole. Two, with the exception of the vocals, the album was recorded live in The Hanger, a recording studio in Sacramento that doubles as a skate park. If you enjoy the bands Television or Wire, you’ll enjoy this album immensely! Wild Flag’s self-titled debut album is out 9/13 on Merge and it’s streaming at NPR now. Click on the album cover below to be directed to the stream at NPR’s First Listen.
When Carrie Brownstein isn’t busy with her IFC comedy show, Portlandia, and the various appearances on behalf of the show, she hits up Fallon performing with Wild Flag. This appearance took place last Thursday, coincidentally, on the same night as Portlandia’s second season premiere. If we haven’t said it before, Rock Cousteau is super proud of all of Ms. Brownstein’s accomplishments. Wild Flag performed ‘Short Version’ on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Do get a gander at this freakishly awesome band’s performance.
