photo by Mike Strapp
Monday night is my favorite night at Mercury. A lot of things are dark, and the rest of the LES usually books the uninspiring. Demander, opening for Art Brut, played an amazing set. A big bouncy rock band was just what I needed. Hardish rock with a vivid female vocal - I thought it was great. I bought the record THE UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS, but didn't actually hear my favorite song from the show on it. This is always a good sign - It means I can buy the next record without misgivings.
photo by Mike Strapp
Art Brut were charging $18 at the door, and they were playing 5 nights in a row with all but Monday sold out. I know their first record was very well received in 2005 - I think Pitchfork put it in the top 50 - but I was still taken aback to hand over 18 big ones to the venue before having even touched beer to lip. Art Brut were unlike anything I have seen recently; I read a review that basically said something along the lines of "Every generation needs an Art Brut." I'm not sure if it was insinuating that Art Brut are the newest stars of an old genre, or that Art Brut have created a genre that it must pass on via its many "franchise" bands (We Are Scientists). I think it is the former. And I think the genre is basically every-man punk. The message of every-man punk is pretty classic: I'm hammered, I like mainstream art that wasn't mainstream at it's inception but has since created its own fans, I want to essentially f*ck and fight spurred by a deep urge within that I think it criminal to deny. Not my cuppa, really. That being said, the show was rammed. The band were spot on, and the crowd looked ready to do anything they were told. Check out Eddie Argos doing the "punk rocker in the crowd" thing. I bought Brut's first disc, BANG BANG ROCK N' ROLL. Demander is a little more my genre, so here is "Hollis."
"Hollis" by Demander download mp3
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