Photos by David Chiu
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Category: Live Reviews
(photo by David Chiu)
Lindsey Buckingham
Town Hall
Sept. 27, 2011
Review by David Chiu
When Lindsey Buckingham performed two songs from his brilliant 1992 album Out of the Cradle — “All My Sorrows” and “Turn It On”–it was a most welcomed aspect of his show at Town Hall Tuesday night. That is because five years ago during the Under the Skin tour, he performed a terrific set at the same venue-—but no songs from Out of the Cradle (not that I recalled). So it was really refreshing that a few songs from that excellent record became part of this current tour in support of his finest album yet, Seeds We Sow.
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The Feelies
Prospect Park, Brooklyn
July 23, 2011
By David Chiu
The Feelies’ career began with almost avant-garde, post punk indie rock leanings that later evolved into jangly, melodic guitar pop. The opposite was also true based from their excellent show at Prospect Park this past Saturday, as the music started off warmly and breezily but later morphed into full-fledged, energetic rock and roll. View full article »
Eleanor Friedberger
4 Knots Festival
South Street Seaport
July 16, 2011
Review by David Chiu
The last time I heard from Eleanor Friedberger was about five years ago when she and her brother Matthew as the indie rock group the Fiery Furnaces released their album, Bitter Tea. For myself who had never listened to the Furnaces before, that record was pretty far out and eccentric. So part of me was kind of expecting more of the same on her new solo album, Last Summer (Merge). View full article »
Azure Ray
Mercury Lounge
Nov.13, 2010
By David Chiu
Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink had gone their separate ways musically speaking in the last couple of years, so to see them again as Azure Ray onstage Saturday night at the Mercury Lounge was certainly a special occasion. With a trio of multi-instrumentalists, the duo brought their intimate and hauntingly beautiful music to a pretty sizable crow. Safe to say Azure Ray did not disappoint. Their set list that covered all of their studio albums from their 2001 self-titled debut through their new album Drawing Down the Moon such as “Displaced” “Raining in Athens,” “Safe and Sound,” and the new songs, the lovely “Don’t Leave My Mind” and the somber and moody “Signs in the Leaves.” Taylor and Fink traded on the lead vocals and their harmony singing together was lush and ethereal. Their encore consisted of “The Drinks We Drink Last Night” and “Rise,” the latter song featuring background vocals by two lucky audience members invited on the stage.
Photos by David Chiu
(Photo by David Chiu)
Metric
Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Aug. 5, 2010
Review by David Chiu
During their rocking show last night in Brooklyn, Canadian rock band Metric performed a song called “Stadium Love.” Although the setting was a park, the band members played like arena rockers delivering a taut performance one after the other. A good portion of the set drew from Metric’s most recent and terrific album, Fantasies, and the live renditions of its songs did not disappoint: “Help I’m Alive,” “Gimme Sympathy,” the aforementioned “Stadium Love” and “Sick Muse.” The other songs from the show drew from the band’s previous records that included “Combat Baby,” “Monster Hospital” and “Empty.” Singer Emily Haines was definitely the focal point as she pranced around the stage and fiddled with the keyboards; the other band members didn’t exactly slack off as they too delivered with bombast. Metric’s dazzling performance reverberated throughout the park-it might have well been at a stadium.
(photo by David Chiu)
(photo by David Chiu)
Alexa Wilding
Rockwood Music Hall
July 27, 2010
Review by David Chiu
Alexa Wilding’s sound definitely goes against what passes off as pop music these days, which is quite refreshing. In fact, this budding New York artist’s acoustic-dominated, introspective music certainly would have fit it quite well with the Lilith Fair over 10 years (and perhaps even this year’s festival incarnation, too).
Wilding’s sound has several characteristics: it’s dreamy, atmospheric, lyrical and expressive—qualities that were on full display at her showcase at Rockwood Music Hall this past Tuesday. (She’ll be performing again at the same Lower East Side venue on Aug.18).
Accompanied by another guitarist, Wilding performed songs from her new self-titled EP. Her finger picking style on the acoustic and movements (which kind of reminded of Joni Mitchell) really showed that she was one with the music as she ran down some strong tunes from the EP: “Light,” “Black Diamond,” “2 AM,” and the atmospheric “Bridges.” While the music is certainly gentle, there’s also sometimes a moody edge that is further evoked by her wistful, expressive voice.
Given the quality of her performance at Rockwood Tuesday night, (not to mention a winning and charming personality) as well as the music from her EP, Wilding is certainly a first-rate emerging artist.
Natalie, meet George
Natalie Merchant
Town Hall,NYC
Jul. 16, 2010
Review by David Chiu
Natalie Merchant made a very poetic return to performing on stage after a seven-year hiatus–literally.
Her latest work, Leave Your Sleep, takes poetry written by others (such as Edward Lear, Gerard Manley Hopkins and e.e. cummings) and reinterprets them as songs with Merchant composing the music.
Half of the set performed at Town Hall on Friday, the second of a two-night stand, were devoted to a selection of songs from Leave Your Sleep. Accompanied by a large ensemble of musicians that included woodwind players, a banjo player and a fiddler, Merchant introduced each selection by describing the poem and the poet before launching into the song (There was an image of the poet projected on the screen). View full article »
Photo by Allison Michael Orenstein
The Kitchen, NYC
Feb. 3, 2010
By David Chiu
Australian singer/songwriter El May, a.k.a. Lara Meyerratken, is not only a one-person band in the studio (she practically played all the instruments on her new album) but she is also one onstage. During her recent solo performance at The Kitchen, Meyerratken — who was previously a backup musician for Ben Lee, Luna and Dar Williams—showed her instrumental prowess as she alternated between electric guitar and piano. She even provided percussion by tapping on the microphone and snapping her fingers.
Performing to a seated audience on Tuesday evening as part of an evening program spotlighting the arts magazine Esopus, Meyerratken performed a majority of tunes from her recently released album ‘El May.’ Some of the songs from that record included the set opener “Fire/Freeze” and the catchy “Don’t You.” She also played a new song that is not from the album called “Atlantic Pacific” as well as a tune, “Hero,” from the 2005 film ‘The Baxter’ starring Michelle Williams. She concluded her brief set with the lovely “Order in the Nothingness.”
It was a night of charming indie pop music that featured her wistful singing in addition to her impressive instrumental playing. And Meyerratken’s appearance was also sort of a homecoming—she previously lived here for a decade before moving to Los Angeles. Hopefully there will be more New York City shows featuring her very soon.
photo by Norman Gholson
If you have seen Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang perform live, as I have several times, including late last year, you know the type of mesmerizing show they can put on. The psychedelic folk duo best known as 2/3 of the legendary alt-rock group Galaxie 500 will be performing with Ghost’s Michio Kurihara on Jan. 30 at the 92Y in Tribeca. But it’s not just a concert per se: there will also be a screening of 1001 Nights, an anthology of the duo’s live performances and videos from the last ten years or so,and a Q& A with Haden Guest from the Harvard Film Archive. And if there was any added incentive to go, the wonderful Sharon Van Etten will be opening the proceedings with her her show. For more information visit damonandnaomi.com.
