Blog Topic: Live Reviews

Homedrone: Live Review: New Madrid and What Moon Things at Caledonia Lounge, Saturday, Dec. 7

By Dan Mistich | December 9, 2013 11:12am

What Moon Things (photo via Facebook)

Hey, didn’t we say something about a '90s revival the other day? If you were at the Caledonia Lounge Saturday night, you found yourself right there in the thick of some good old guitar-rock (albeit with a few slight modifications).

After brief, yet solid, sets from Triathalon and Velocirapture, What Moon Things hit the stage with their cross-pollination of My Bloody Valentine’s shoegaze-haze and Failure’s spaced-out rock. The three-piece New Paltz, NY-based outfit doesn’t yet have a proper record released (at least I can’t seem to find one), but mark my words: this band will be making waves in no time. It was a bit hard to hear the vocals over a sea of fuzzed-out guitar, but I seem to recall that there were quite a few songs about alcohol. (You’ve gotta know your audience, right?)

More after the jump.

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Homedrone: Live Review: Deerhunter at 40 Watt Club, Saturday, Nov. 16

By Gabe Vodicka | November 18, 2013 12:10pm

Photo Credit: Robert Semmer

Deerhunter

Elf Power, the opener at the 40 Watt Saturday night, was very good. It was no surprise; Elf Power is usually very good. But I'd like to take a quick minute to talk about Deerhunter, because Deerhunter was fucking great.

More after the jump.

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Homedrone: Live Review: Peter Buck and Kevn Kinney at 40 Watt Club, Thursday, Nov. 14

By Dan Mistich | November 15, 2013 12:38pm

The first thing everyone present at the 40 Watt last night found out was that Peter Buck has quite the voice. It’s probably more accurate to call it a growl or a snarl, but rest assured that Buck’s guitar playing isn’t the only thing that is capable of blistering audience’s ears.

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Homedrone: Mountain Oasis in Review: Nine Inch Nails, Neutral Milk Hotel, Mount Kimbie and More

By Christopher Joshua Benton | October 30, 2013 12:24pm

Flagpole attended the inaugural Mountain Oasis Electronic Music summit last weekend. Here are some highlights.

Photo Credit: Usman Khan

Nine Inch Nails

Friday, October 25

Neutral Milk Hotel

Topping off a week that included a three-night stand at the 40 Watt, Neutral Milk Hotel gave an awe-inspiring performance at Asheville's Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Frontman Jeff Mangum sounded sublime, clear and confident and showed none of his purported agoraphobia during his hour-and-a-half set. He opened by playing “Two Headed Boy” alone before transitioning to “The Fool” with his full band.

More after the jump.

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Homedrone: Live Review: Neutral Milk Hotel at 40 Watt Club, Thursday, Oct. 24

By Gabe Vodicka | October 25, 2013 10:53am

The 40 Watt was packed to the gills Thursday for the conclusion of Neutral Milk Hotel's three-night stand. As it was more or less a locals-only show (slash a people-who-used-to-be-locals-only show), there was a distinct vibe of cameraderie (and, er, draaank) in the air; the band, especially the newly Teen Wolf-ed Jeff Mangum, seemed to respond in kind. Also, it was real sweaty up in there.

The band's set, which began in solo-Mangum fashion with "Oh Comely" and concluded an hour or so later with the similarly stripped-down "Two Headed Boy Pt. 2" (setlist here) was fast and loose in between; in fact, it got damn near rowdy at points. During uptempo songs like "Holland, 1945" and "Ghost," Mangum led a spontaneous pogo-dance charge onstage until the whole thing began to feel, well, sorta like a house show.

More after the jump.

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Homedrone: Live Review: Neutral Milk Hotel at 40 Watt Club, Wednesday, Oct. 23

By Blake Aued | October 24, 2013 2:30pm

We really need another photo of these guys.

Let's get this out of the way: Jeff Mangum is not some kind of reclusive, enigmatic indie guru sitting cross-legged on a mountaintop, waiting for you to climb up and shout his lyrics at him. He's just a guy who wrote some really honest, poetic songs about love in the face of impending death, then recorded them with a bunch of his friends.

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Homedrone: CMJ in Review: Deerhunter, Pattern is Movement, Joanna Gruesome and More

By Christopher Joshua Benton | October 21, 2013 4:28pm

Flagpole attended the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City last week. Here is a recap of some of the action.

Photos by Usman Khan

Tuesday, Oct. 15

From the very first brass notes, it was clear that we were in the presence of an auteur who had meticulously fussed over all the details. That's unsurprising coming from Woodkid, a French director who's done visionary work with Lana del Rey, John Legend, Rihanna, Drake and Katy Perry. From the projections (he makes his own and used to work in CG effects) to costume to the light show, everything was accounted for and perfected.

At Webster Hall, Woodkid wore Air Jordans, color-blocked cropped sweatpants, a color-blocked jersey and a fitted New Era cap printed with his signature double key logo (the same mark that is tattooed on his forearms). He is diminutive and stylish with a dense beard, but Woodkid's voice seemed to come from an altogether different, older, more world-weary man. The seven orchestra players that accompanied him all donned identical black skinny jeans, t-shirts and patent leather Air Force Ones.

Much more after the jump.

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Homedrone: Live Review: Frightened Rabbit at 40 Watt Club

By Adam Barnett | October 10, 2013 11:42am

Photo Credit: Adam Barnett

After finishing work at 10 p.m. and biking 3.5 miles fast enough to where I could hear my calves scream, I finally made it to the 40 Watt. Frightened Rabbit’s breakout single “Modern Leper,” off the band's album Midnight Organ Flight, rang out all the way down Pulaski Street, and a friendly doorman assured me that this was only the band’s second song. So, I proceeded into the venue to fully encounter the Scottish indie-rockers and a half-full (but densely packed) hall of ecstatic fans.

Since I first downloaded the band’s first two records to my Zune in 2008, I could never determine what differentiated Frightened Rabbit from all the other pop-rock in the industry. What drew so many people to songs that could all serve as themes to the big climax-endings of so many indie romantic comedies?

More after the jump.

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Homedrone: Live Review: The So So Glos at Caledonia Lounge

By Dan Mistich | October 9, 2013 10:43am

The more I think about it, it must be easier to play to an audience of 20,000 than to an audience of 20. Not that I think that the Brooklyn-based So So Glos are deserving of playing to that small of a crowd, but those were the very real circumstances in which the band found itself Tuesday night at the Caledonia Lounge. The real test of a band is if it plays with the same amount of intensity no matter the size of the crowd. At least in this case, So So Glos passed.

More after the jump.

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Homedrone: Photos: Jimmy Eat World and Matt Pond at Georgia Theatre

By David Schick | October 8, 2013 3:07pm

Jimmy Eat World and Matt Pond played an all-ages concert at the Georgia Theatre last night. After the jump, check out a couple more photos from the show.

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