If you would like to see some photos from the most alliterative show in recent memory, you should head on over to Impose and check out a few that I took. It was a really good show, but it was so unbearably hot that my brain was a little fried by the time Best Coast took to the stage. Still, I think my favorite thing about her, and what’s very indicative of her music, is that she seemed like someone you would really, really want to hang out with. A good friend who’d always be waiting with a funny joke. I think the best bands are always the ones that you want to chill with in real life. Her tunes were pretty much as you’d expect them to be – breezy and summery (maybe the Knitting Factory left the AC off to add to the atmosphere). Bethany has a strong, unique voice that she knows how to take advantage of, and a really sweet second guitarist. Dude really adds to the cool factor. They didn’t blow me away, but Best Coast certainly matched my already high expectations.
I liked Bitters more than I did during SXSW. They’re really hard and have some very cool guitar parts, but I don’t think they commit enough to their hard rocking side. I really enjoyed their song “Warrior,” which you can download below, though it’s one of their least heavy songs. I think my main problem with the band is that their lead singer just a tiny bit rubs me the wrong way. Not a very good critical thing to say, but one of those personal voice things.
Babies, as usual, sounded perfectly New York cool. I think they’re becoming one of my favorite bands of right now. They come closer to what I imagine the 70s New York underground ethos to be than almost any other band I’ve encountered. One thing I realized while watching them is how having male/female vocals go back and forth creates this really neat, unspoken narrative in the band. There’s a lot at play there in a very subtle way, which makes their songs vocally and personally even more entertaining live. There’s a video of them that I took below, which isn’t too exciting visually but has decent sound. Don’t forget to click here if you’d like to see some photos from the show.
Babies:
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/10777812]
