Download audio of Ambulance LTD at the Mercury Lounge (8/9/09)

I can’t believe that I didn’t see this last month — Ambulance LTD posted fourteen recordings on their myspace blog from their Mercury Lounge show on August 9, 2009. The downloads are high-quality (large file size) WAV files, and are absolutely fantastic! I’ve been eagerly snapping up every piece of news of Ambulance LTD and Marcus Congleton for the years that it’s been since they last released an album.

Setlist/tracklist:

1. New intro
2. Paper Doll
3. Upsetter
4. New English
5. Country Gentleman
6. Alison
7. Ivy
8. Ladyfingers
9. Ophelia
10. Anecdote
11. Tonight I’ll Be Staying
12. Heavy Lifting
13. Stay Where You Are
14. Young Urban

Check out Ambulance LTD’s myspace to stream some demos of new songs as well and read their blog.

You’ll be the first to know if I hear of any news of the new (post-TVT bankruptcy and lawsuit) Ambulance LTD record! In the meantime, go listen to “New English” again. It’ll do you good.

Album review: Declaration of Dependence by the Kings of Convenience

The Kings of Convenience have always been in their own unique league of pop influenced by folk and bossa nova. I can’t think of another Norwegian acoustic-pop duo, but it isn’t instrumentation (two acoustic guitars, usually without a backing band) or vocal delivery (the perfectly-paired, soothing voices of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe) that makes the Kings of Convenience so distinctive.

After a four-year hiatus, Erlend and Eirik released their third album, Declaration of Dependence, on October 20. Featuring the same delicate and interwoven guitar lines that made each of the band’s previous albums such a delight to hear, Declaration of Dependence ebbs and flows with subtle melodies. Erlend and Eirik’s voices, sometimes paired and sometimes solo, float on the air with an ethereal effect. This quality of the album — or of the music of the Kings of Convenience as a whole — is especially admirable because the quietness of the band’s live performance is just as powerful as any amps turned up to 11.

The album’s intimate, stripped-down acoustic sound never falters, right down to the squeaking of guitar strings, and it manages to sound both spontaneous and polished. The string accompaniment on songs like “Peacetime Resistance” is especially gorgeous and maintains the album’s transparent sound. Slower songs like “My Ship Isn’t Pretty” are airy in their moments of silence instead of dragging or limping, while the brisker tempo of songs like “Rule My World” never sounds hurried.

While Erlend and Eirik don’t reinvent the wheel on Declaration of Dependence, the sound that they’ve perfected over the last eight years is as refreshing as it is calming. There isn’t another song on the level of “I’d Rather Dance With You” on their latest album, but the songs are nonetheless as danceable as they are dreamy.

Recs: Boat Behind, Peacetime Resistance, Power of Not Knowing, Rule My World

Visit the Kings of Convenience’s official site.

New Spoon album out January 26!

In the best news since Sufjan Stevens’ October tour was announced over the summer, Pitchfork reports that Spoon’s next album, Transference will be out on Merge on January 26.

Tracklist:

01 Before Destruction
02 Is Love Forever?
03 The Mystery Zone
04 Who Makes Your Money
05 Written in Reverse
06 I Saw the Light
07 Trouble Comes Running
08 Goodnight Laura
09 Out Go the Lights
10 Got Nuffin
11 Nobody Gets Me But You

Spoon tend to tour pretty heavily, so I’m hoping for some shows in New York early next year! (Hopefully in a smaller-capacity venue.)

Readers of TMOT will remember that I adore Spoon. Interference will probably be the first entry on my “Best of 2010″ list.

AAM Showcase (CMJ) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (10/24/09)

View the full photo set here.

The AAM CMJ showcase at the Music Hall of Williamsburg this afternoon featured a diverse set of indie pop, folk and rock bands. After getting off to a late start, Holiday Shores and Headlights mowed through brisk sets of pop supplemented by keyboards and tambourines. Dutchess and the Duke followed with a calmer and more mellow folk-pop set. Next, the Dum Dum Girls thrashed through 20 minutes of fuzz pop.

Finally, Lightspeed Champion took the stage in a wizard costume (see above), complete with beard, hat, and robes. You will notice from the photos, however, that his feet remained clad in civilian shoes. I’m also surprised to report that he played his entire half-hour set without taking off the beard.

Holiday Shores:

From Tallahassee, Florida, the Holiday Shores are a solid and bright quartet. They started the showcase at 1 p.m. with a brief set of fast indie pop songs.

Headlights:

Another pop band with a lead female vocalist, Headlights went through their set even faster than Holiday Shores. If you crossed Tokyo Police Club with Margot & the Nuclear So & So’s, you might get something like Headlights.

Dutchess and the Duke:

From Seattle, Wash., Dutches and the Duke were an unusually equipped trio who played fairly traditional folk-pop — perhaps like Tarkio, without Colin Meloy’s nasal voice. With everyone contributing on vocals, the two guitarists and maracas/tambourine player were calmer and less frenetic than the previous two bands.

Dum Dum Girls:

Apparently Dum Dum Girls is actually the solo project of one girl named Dee Dee, but there were four Dum Dum Girls at the AAM showcase. The lineup was fairly standard — two guitars, bass and drums — and the set was as short as their dresses.

Lightspeed Champion:

Now, I don’t know much about Lightspeed Champion’s sartorial inclinations, but I’ll assume that the wizard costume was an early Halloween joke. Opening with a Beatles cover (the name of which I cannot recall), Lightspeed Champion also played their new/forthcoming single “Marlene.”

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View the full photo set here.

All in all, it was an interesting afternoon even though none of the bands really captured my attention. Thanks to AAM for putting the showcase together!

The Dodos at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, with the Ruby Suns (10/13/09)

Percussion was front and center at the Dodos show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday night. Every band member of the Dodos and the opening band, the Ruby Suns, picked up a pair of drumsticks at some point during the night — and at moments, all three members of the Dodos or the Ruby Suns were percussing simultaneously. Lead Dodo Meric Long even took to drumming on his guitar toward the end of their set:

The Dodos’ live performance was a great deal more frenetic and exuberant than I would have expected. Their surpassing and creative use of the vibraphone also merits mention — without a bass player, their sound still packed a hefty punch. Launching directly from one song into the next without preamble, the Dodos played a brisk set that reminded me of White Rabbits, a comparison that I wouldn’t make between their studio recordings.

The Ruby Suns, from New Zealand, opened with quasi-experimental, jangly, almost festive indie pop tinged with Afro-Caribbean themes. Though they were interesting as an opening band, I wasn’t particularly taken by the Ruby Suns.

Two notes on the show: My apologies for not having the setlist — quite honestly I couldn’t make out half of what anyone was singing, so I gave up on trying to write it down. Also, I found this show particularly difficult to photograph, but my photos didn’t turn out as badly as I’d feared.

The Ruby Suns:

The Dodos:

View the full photo set here.

Sufjan Stevens at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, with Cryptacize (10/7/09)

View the full photo set here.

At Sufjan’s fourth and final sold-out show, the band stuck to mostly the same set list as on previous nights. I’m happy to report that “Casimir Pulaski Day” gets more beautiful every time I hear it, although I’m disappointed that Sufjan didn’t play “Romulus” during the last four shows. A few other noticeable omissions: “To Be Alone With You” was written on the setlist, but was skipped. Rosie Thomas as Sheila in the neck brace was absent. The band only did one encore instead of two.

Once again, I will skip the recap because I’m dead tired. My photos from Wednesday night — unedited and raw — are probably the best out of all of the three Sufjan shows that I’ve been to. And, as always, the setlists are enclosed below.

Cryptacize:

Our beloved Sufjan:

View the full photo set here.

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Cryptacize setlist

One Block Wonder
New Spell
Transcendental Meditation (Beach Boys cover)
Blue Tears
Willpower
What You Can’t See Is
Galvanize
Cosmic Sing-a-long
Mythomania
Say You Will
Tail & Mane

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Sufjan setlist

The Mistress Witch from McClure (Or, The Mind That Knows Itself)
Impossible Soul (new song)
Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois (solo piano)
The Transfiguration
All Delighted People
Majesty Snowbird
Casimir Pulaski Day
Too Much Love
Owl & Tanager (Barn Owl, Silent Killer)
Seven Swans
Detroit, Lift Your Weary Head! (Rebuild!)
John Wayne Gacy Jr.
Age of Adz
Come On! Feel the Illinoise!

Encore:
The Dress Looks Nice on You
Jacksonville

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Additional coverage, with photos and setlists:

Sufjan and Cryptacize at the Music Hall on Tuesday, October 6
Sufjan and Cryptacize at the Bowery Ballroom on Sunday, October 4