Major conflict of interests

So I have this friend, who's dating someone that I have met a couple of times and who my girlfriend and I get along with quite well. Enough said about that. The guy also happens to be a musician, and we went to see his show on Monday night, at a packed venue in Midtown. He's a very talented singer, just signed, who is recording his debut CD in California. The same old major label story that we all thought doesn't happen anymore. It does, apparently. I have never been to a pop concert before, with the exception of I think Hootie and The Blowfish, when I was the age at which I had to be driven there by my mom.

So I saw the show, and I am very pleased for this guy's success. I like him. But I am also totally enraged by pop music, and I feel sort of bad saying so. The show was supposed to be a "night off" on a mini-tour that has stretched the country, but since none of the suits from the label that signed him had seen him perform yet (WHAT!?), it was arranged that he would do a small club set on his night off for them and a select group of CRAZY WOMEN. Granted, women make up the main fan base, but I am really not used to this sort of fan. If anyone acted like that at a Mercury Lounge show, I am certain someone proactive would call an ambulance. Back to the show: the songs are sung well, but I was constantly fighting off a grimace, even when I was feeling genuinely happy for the guy on stage. I guess people think it's harmless to sing pop songs. I think it is one of the more pervasive and malicious things people can do, rolling back the clock on everything, and perpetuating all of the subtle and not-so-subtle control mechanisms that prey on the lazy and stupid. Sigh.

Anyhoo, so I am a little down, having come so close to the big bad machine. And trust me, it really is big. And it really is bad.

Frederik go on an hour late, I nearly pass out

Last weekend I heard a demo of Fredrik, a band from the southern tip of Sweden. What I know about Sweden, other than the word "Schmootz" and that a band from there can tap into some relatively easy cash from the government, is that a diverse lot of great bands calls it home. Armed with the knowledge that at least one of their songs is good, I took note of their show on my iCal.

We rolled into Cakeshop about 5 minutes before Fredrik's 10:00pm set to catch the very end of Macgregor Burns, a pleasant enough acoustic duo from Baltimore. We assumed Fredrik was next, but the band going on was clearly not from Sweden, no matter how weak your sense of stereotyping is. It was Cinemasophia first, who were good, but for most of the set, I was outside smoking and getting some air; Cakeshop had reached a new level of hellish heat. By the time Fredrik came on, I seemed to forget myself, and I was lulled into a happy state. I won't say too much about the music, as I find it hard to classify. It is definitely pretty and slow-moving, but I am still sort of at a loss about it. Sometimes it reminds me of Elbow, and the first track, "Black Fur" reminds me of an obscure Travis song (see download below). I have been listening to their album, NA NA NI all day, and it stands up really well. "Hei Hei" is probably my favorite. At the end of the show, satisfied but suddenly aware, I clutched and crawled out into the night, getting a fresh blast that felt arctic upon alighting.

Download their song "Black Fur" from bandweblogs.com

Joseph Arthur in Williamsburg

Last night I ventured to Williamsburg with a couple of friends to see Joseph Arthur, a guy whose music I have liked for a while, even though I have never seen him live or really crossed paths with anything to do with him anywhere. I know very little about him: he makes a ton of albums, Peter Gabriel likes his tunes, he paints. I was very impressed when I heard OUR SHADOWS WILL REMAIN, but I confess that it is the only album I know.

We arrived early in the set, and the band was fully into the performance. A 4-piece band backs up Arthur, allowing him to frontman more effectively. Live, his vocal range is even more impressive than on his recordings, and more raw. I was especially moved by how warm and fat the tones in the lower end of his range are. Arthur's catalog is as diverse as his vocal range, and his songwriting taps into a real reverence for recent musical history. I think for instance that the first song he performed solo during the encore was the best Neil Diamond song that Neil Diamond wishes he could have written. For those of you who are tempted to stop reading as soon as "Neil Diamond" is mentioned, let me say also that all of Arthur's songs have an authenticity to them that I think comes from Arthur allying himself to the classic, fundamental questions that a popular music genre like rock addresses best, diverting the audiences attention from the "message"/"meaning" of a particular song to the journey itself that the songwriter/performer is going through. You really get to watch him, without being confronted by opinions etc. marring the music. It makes for an endlessly entertaining evening, especially with such talented musicians in tow (Jen Turner on guitar is a show all by herself).

images copyright Joseph Arthur, from museumofmodernarthur.com

Joseph's visual art , which until recently could be seen at his gallery, the Museum of Modern Arthur (MOMAR) in DUMBO and on his album covers, is an achievement of a completely different sort. Unfortunately, the gallery is closing. I saw a slew of the paintings at the gallery's closing party, and it really is a shame that they will only be exhibited online from now on. Those rabid fans of Arthur's (of which there are many) would often come and hang around the gallery, just waiting for Joseph to show up! Amazing. I ran into one such crazy fan in the bar. When I let slip that I didn't have to pay for my ticket, her eyes became sort of possessed. I assumed she thought I could help her get close to Joseph (which I couldn't), and her enthusiasm caused me to hide in the bathroom until she left. I did see her scouring the merch table, and with Arthur averaging about 50 albums a year, she should have plenty of fodder for her home shrine.

A sparse, meager blog, comfortably situated

Don't get excited. Close that other tab. There will be no need to go to insound.com right after this. Just relax. Most of the stuff I write about here will be safe and sound, away from the cutting edge. The jagged, frightful edge. I am going to write about music, in Manhattan. By the time it gets to me here, you can rest assured those middle-twenties rockers will already have toured to your borough. Perhaps a multi-borough tour. They'll be big local stars in the Red Hook used-car warehouse district by now. I am sure banana vs lucmo has a 2 pager in the archives, images exclusive for 3 weeks. Their mp3's are abundant, in need of thinning-out. Even the amateur iso-hunter should have no trouble bagging a few. We'll be buying and stealing a lot of music around here, enjoying it all, even if we are in the rear guard. About this blog: nepotism, favoritism, narcissism, all the tools required to do something this self-indulgent. Hopefully with a touch of class and word-craft on the days one is feeling the most nimble.