Hello from Minneapolis, where I have just arrived to some beautiful weather (suck it New York!)! Last night I had the privilege of attending one of the
Deli Magazine Best of NYC Festival shows at South Paw in Brooklyn. It was a pretty phenomenal line-up, I have to say. While I missed most of the first act,
Mia Riddle, I liked the little bit that I heard. Gotta love girl-powered folk rock. I'm sad that I didn't get to see more of them, but I'm sure I'll be seeing them around.
Next up was KaiserCartel, who I am unwittingly seeing twice in 4 days in two different cities. They're the real thing. What I mean by that is that they sound just as beautiful live (if not more) than on their recordings. Those harmonies literally gave me chills. Plus they seem like really down-to-earth, cool people (for their last song they got off the stage and came into the audience to "look into our eyes"). Even completely unplugged and wandering the audience, they sounded spectacular.
After KaiserCartel was
April Smith and the Great Picture Show. I was blown away by her powerful voice and I loved her playful music. It seemed to me like she really had a lot of fun writing and performing it, and her music combined all sorts of genre and time period influences - jazz, waltz, showtunes (seriously, this girl should be on Broadway, I can totally see her in Chicago or something), pop, doo-wop, and more. Plus I really like her style and she seems like a really sweet girl.
The last act I managed to catch (I wanted to stick around for
Lowry but it was just too late and I had to get up super early for my flight to Minneapolis) was
Elizabeth & the Catapult, who have just come out with their first full-length, label-backed album,
Taller Children. On a total tangent, if you google them, their extension on CD baby is "eatcatapult," which makes me giggle. But back to the show. Elizabeth is adorable. Her smile totally lights up the room and she her voice always sounds at ease. She seemed really grateful to be there. She even baked the audience cookies (though they were gone by the time she announced this so I missed out on that... sadness...). And I love
Taller Children. It really resonates with me right now, as I am entering the adult world (and dreading it). I think most people can really relate to being in this stage of life that is really a duality. The music reflects this as it alternates between youthful/playful and serious/sober/nostalgic. Check back soon for an exclusive interview with the band!
More pictures
HERE.
Mia Riddle was up first. She started out a little bit... nervous? Timid? I think she was a tad bit overwhelmed about playing at the infamous Joe's Pub. She kept saying how awesome it was to be there ("like a dream come true!"). As the set went on, she got more and more confident (as did her band), which was great to see. She has a very strong voice and a good stage presence, especially when she smiles and looks like she's having fun. The audience seemed to be really digging her particular brand of folk rock, as was I.
Ravens and Chimes also seemed a little nervous and warmed up as they went. I guess it's the Joe's Pub reputation for star-making. They played quite a few new songs, which is exciting. I am really looking forward to hearing even more when their next album comes out. Although, I was a little disappointed that they didn't play my very favorites (in their defense, I do love basically all their old stuff though. And they did play "General Lafayette! You Are Not Alone!" which is fitting since we were on Lafayette street). I was also not so impressed with the mixing for their set, but that's not their fault. And at least lead singer Asher's underwear didn't get stolen (apparently he used to perform commando and once his underwear got stolen during a gig at Maxwells, but he no longer goes commando). During the show, he also told a funny story about almost getting arrested but getting out of it by telling the cop he was in a band.
