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| From | "josh chasin" <jchasin@nyc.rr.com> |
| Subject | Random Musings on IPO NY |
| Date | Tue, 18 Nov 2003 16:55:12 -0500 |
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I've got nothing systematic to report about IPO NY, just some stream of consciousness ramblings. I caught all or part of four shows... I've had a busy week, didn't catch as much as I'd have liked, and am still getting over sleep deprivation.
Tan Sleeve. I admit, I am probably a sucker for this band because I went to summer camp with Lane Steinberg. But I thought-- and think-- they were/are great. Kind of the current incarnation of the Wind. Lane reports there is a new album recorded and ready to go; the highlight of their set for me was a song by Steve, the keyboard player, called "When Lindsey Buckingham Shaved His Beard." I must own this song immediately. I just happen to live in a world where this was a cultural touchstone. And Lane reports they will be playing more live shows-- a definite treat... Jennie was right about Dave Rave (she said that after his set I would be buying his album from her.) I'm an instant fan. "Madeleine Says" is a song that, if you can listen to it and not instantly like it, you just weren't brought up right... Field Trip, led by Cord from Star Collector, played I believe their first live gig at last year's NY IPO. One year later, new band, and the improvement is palpable (and last year's set was a winning one.) Their record is a week and change away from the light of day, and that should be a good one... The Playmates! Sorry, didn't see 'em. Everyone did rave about them though... Wednesday night was a local-themed show, a lot of NY/NJ bands. More rock and less pop, owing, David Bash suggested, to the relative young age of the bands. One late addition, Color Bars, took too long setting up their silly colored lights, and played a weird but oddly likable pop set driven by keyboards that was sort of reminiscent to me of Flaming Lips. I ended up buying their ep (from myself)... Soul Engines. I'd never heard of them. They looked like a bunch of regular Joes from Joisey; we were making jokes like, "I bet at least one of these guys is a Systems Analyst," or "This one goes out to Phil in accounting!", or "I wrote this while on the way to pick my daughter up from soccer practice." No attitude, not one scintilla of rock star affect at all; just earnest heartfelt songs, jangle, and great vocals and harmonies. They totally won us over... Saw two Japanese power pop bands the last night-- Salt Water Taffy and Nudge 'em All. Both were punkish, loud, and rather unmelodic. But some things are the same in any language-- you know: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy brings dishonor upon family, boy gets girl... I really dug the Catholic Girls. What is it about those uniforms? I wish I knew. (And I'm not even Catholic.) Gail and company rocked out in a very "80s" fashion, in a good way (at times reminding me of bands like the Motels)... Kurt from the Gripweeds makes any band he plays with that much better. Heck of a drummer... MaryKate O'Neil's set was a treat for me, albeit not so much pop as singer/songwriter. She did a duo performance with Jill Sobule (a personal favorite and object of minor crush), and the chemistry the two of them have is great (Jill is all over MaryKate's album.) And MaryKate's a total sweetheart.
As usual, great seeing everyone, and especially David. Let's be honest-- at times you can't help think, hey, its after midnight, there are seven people left in the room... but then some band you maybe never heard of gets up, plugs in, and bashes out a 23-minute set as if they were opening for the Beatles at Shea, blowing the hair back on your head, and you realize, hey, this is really what its all about. Thanks to IPO for keeping the faith.
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