Stars at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Last night I headed over to the Music Hall of Williamsburg to catch Stars on tour for their upcoming album, The Five Ghosts. Rumor had gotten around that the band was playing the album in its entirety and an energetic group of loyal fans waited in anticipation. Their was an explosion of cheers when the band came on and sultry singer Amy Millan announced "We're gonna play you The Five Ghosts from start to finish."

The first song, "Dead Hearts," was a sweet call and response between Millan and lead vocals Torquil Campbell. It was their typical sound in a refreshed way. But the rest of the album, for the most part, took a different direction with strong New Wave and Art Rock influences. With heavy synth and simple rhythms, the album is more of an authentic 80's sound than it is a modern day interpretation.

At this point the band is seasoned at performing the album and they knew what the crowd wanted. Campbell was theatrical and engaging, reminiscing about their time in Billyburg. "Stars started in the streets of Williamsburg," he said. "When I walked down the streets today, I thought I was on acid... It's an honor to be a part of the community again." With that, the band went into "The Passanger," a pop song with laser sound effects. The crowd swayed and there was a chorus of "woos." A lot of them also stood there, staring, with open ears. It's a weird thing to have a band fully play an unreleased album. There's a rush that this is a live listening party, but also a feeling of wanting to bring the album home and carefully listen to it in your bedroom.

The show was broken into 2 sets: the new stuff and the old. The crowd roared when Stars jumped into "Take me to the Riot," and from there the energy grew. The nostalgia continued to pour out from the band. As the second set approached its end, Campbell gave one last nod to the neighborhood. "This is a fucking hallucinatory dream of life and it's because you supported it. So start a band in Williamsburg... but that L train is a bitch!"

The Five Ghosts will be released on June 22nd. You can pre-order it on

Amazon/iTunes

Tunes on a Tuesday

This is yet another day where I feel kind of incoherent (lack of sleep) and don't want to bother thinking of a theme to tie my music together, so I'm just going to throw up a few songs that I like.

80 Days (mp3) by Tin Cup Prophette, from the album "Liar and the Thief" (iTunes). Tin Cup Prophette is yet another band from Athens, Georgia. This song was introduced to me by Paste Magazine. I love the slight dissonance in this song and the use of string instruments. And singer Amanda Kapousouz's voice has a quality that's interesting to me. It's not necessarily that she has great voice, but there's just something about it. I really like the other songs on their myspace too. The song Going Numb kind of reminds me a lot of Psapp.

Take Me to the Riot (mp3) by Stars from their new album "In Our Bedroom After the War (purchase). Their album was released on the internet months before it's original September 25th shelf release date. They knew it would get leaked before then anyway, so they just released it on the internet four days after it was complete. Probably pretty smart on their part. I really like the album. So far no song has really stuck out to me as a favorite the way Your Ex-Lover is Dead did on their album "Set Yourself on Fire." But as a whole, the album is very strong. I chose Take Me to the Riot to post because it is more upbeat and I'm in an upbeat kind of mood.

Speaking in Tongues (mp3) by Eagles of Death Metal from their album "Peace Love Death Metal" (iTunes). This is a great dance rock song. It is entertaining in every sense of the word. It just makes me want to shake and shimmy and jump around. Plus it's amusing/funny when he "demonstrates" speaking in tongues as part of the song.

Ok, that's all the songs for today. Man, I wish I had money and could afford to go to concerts more often. The White Stripes are playing tonight. But alas, I am not going. So many other good concerts coming up this summer. *sigh* Tata dahlings.

Blame Canada

So, I was reading an article about the band Arcade Fire (awesome band by the way) in an old issue of Entertainment Weekly (I'm at work and there's is nothing to do here) and it said that they are from Montreal. Is it just me, or have other people been hearing that a lot lately too? It seems like everyone who's anyone in indie music right now came from Montreal - or if not Montreal, Canada in general. Spin apparently called it the "next big scene" in February (boy were they right, and apparently I'm a little behind the times).

A little over a week ago, I went to a concert as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn series and all three bands - Malajube, Sam Roberts Band, and The Stills - were from Montreal. It was a Canadian-themed night, so you would think they would've tried to get a little more geographical diversity, but nope. I liked Malajube and The Stills a lot, and all of three bands seemed like really cool people and were pretty solid rock bands. Sam Roberts band was ok. A little... folky for my tastes? No, I don't know. I liked them, I just didn't love them. The Stills were pretty good. I'd seen them last year at Siren Fest too. This show was a little lower energy, but I think that was largely the audience's fault. And I even really liked Malajube despite my lack of French. I know there are tons of other French Montreal bands that I don't know about, but I am still learning when it comes to music in foreign languages (one of my favorite things about listening to music is singing along after all, so it took me a while to embrace foreign music) so bear with me.

Wolf Parade, another Montreal band, formed when given the opportunity to open for Arcade Fire. And while Stars - one of my favorite bands - is not originally from Montreal (they are originally from Toronto), they relocated to Montreal after spending some time in New York City (and I always hear them being referred to as "from Montreal"). I also saw them perform last year at Siren Fest and they were spectacular. Amy Milian, the female singer-guitarist of Stars, has one of the most unique and beautiful voices I've ever heard. The song "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" from the album "Set Yourself on Fire" is positively hauntingly beautiful, and is my favorite song by them. I definitely relate. Coincidentally, Amy Milian and fellow Stars' singer Torquil Campbell also perform with another awesome Canadian band, Broken Social Scene, formed in Toronto. And that brings me to yet another Broken Social Scene performer, Leslie Feist, who's solo career (simply as Feist) has blossomed beautifully.

Though born in New York, Rufus Wainwright (and presumably his sister Martha Wainwright, also a musician) spent most of his childhood in Montreal and began his rise to fame there before moving back to New York. Speaking of sibling musicians, twin performers Tegan and Sara were born in Calgary and Sara currently resides in Montreal.

Montreal is even inspiring American band names. Of Montreal is not from Montreal but from Athens, Georgia - another semi-recent "it" place for the indie scene. Apparently the band was named by founder Kevin Barnes after a "failed romance" with a woman from Montreal (according to Wikipedia).

Ok, so I'm sure there are tons more awesome bands from Montreal and/or Canada that I didn't highlight here, but please don't attack me for it. However, do feel free to tell me about them as I am always looking for new, good music to listen to. And since this is only my second post, I should tell you that I try to post songs by the artists I talk about so you can hear samplings of them. So here ya go. Enjoy:

I've seen Stars' new single "The Night Starts Here" floating around on the internet quite a bit. It's lovely and gives me high hopes for their new album In Our Bedroom After the War, due to hit shelves September 25th. And my favorite from their album Set Yourself on Fire, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" .

And we'll finish today with my faves from Feist, "My Moon My Man" from the album The Reminder. Also from that album "Sea Lion Woman" and "When I was a Young Girl" (which I can't find except for live versions that I can't listen to on this computer at work and since I don't know if the recording quality is any good I am not going to link to them). Well that is all for now. Tata dahlings.

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