All Photos: Dylan Johnston
Gerard Marcus
Last Tuesday, May 17, Finnish dream-pop wonder Jaakko Eino Kalevi put on a killer performance at Brooklyn's Baby's All Right. Accompanied by Melbourne's Sui Zhen, it was a night of magic, wonder, and plenty of eccentricity. Check out some pics from the show below.
All Photos: Dylan Johnston
For more pics, check out our Instagram
Gerard Marcus
This was a strange bill, and I thought so from the moment I saw it. Besides the fact that they're both from Canada, I couldn't really imagine the similarities between Foxes in Fiction and Nicole Dollanganger. The former was an obvious pair with Emily Reo, seeing as they're collaborators, but for some reason throwing Dollanganger into the mix seemed like a mismatch.
The idea was intriguing, though, and as I listened back and forth between the discographies of each artist, I started to see where the connection might be coming from. Though the reasoning was still a bit opaque, my curiosity won out in the end and I made my way to Baby's All Right to experience the wonderfully bizarre lineup. Pics and notes below.
The first two acts were, as we've come to expect, aggressively chilled-out. It isn't surprising if you've meandered through Emily Reo's music—her nicely minimal, slightly folky style of dream pop is like a soundtrack to aimless, late-night reflection. And when you come off a nine-hour day of manual labor like I just had, you quickly realize that's exactly what you want.
Ever since its release last September, Foxes In Fiction's Ontario Gothic has consistently been one of my favorite albums. Sadly, every time I've tried to see Warren Hildebrand live, something has come up and prevented me. Since I couldn't catch his concerts, I just dove even deeper into his recordings, getting perhaps a little too familiar with every little nuance and texture.
Then I didn't touch it for a while. In fact, the first time I've listened to any of the songs off Ontario Gothic since that initial over-saturation was at this concert, which made for a crazy experience because it was all done as a solo set.
At first, I was worried that the music wouldn't be as powerful as it is on the album. That ended up being true, to a certain extent, but what we got instead was a much more fragile and intimate rendition that was absolutely beautiful. The stripping of instrumental layers left the audience with an introspective performance that showcased the vulnerability of Hildebrand's vocal delivery and the simplicity of his guitar work.
Nicole Dollanganger has fascinated me for a while now with her mix of soft, intimate lyrics and dark musical textures. It's one of those weird combinations that's surprisingly engrossing. Her music is even more fascinating in the group's live performance, with the small and introspective Nicole Dollanganger surrounded by a bassist who seems to be channeling a troll and a man who plays both guitar and percussion while he stares, unblinking, into the audience's soul with mascara-covered eyes. It's a striking vignette, but one that helps give context to the world in which this music was forged. I loved it.
All Photos: Dylan Johnston
For more pics, check out our Instagram
DRINKS' latest release Hermits on Holiday has easily become one of my favorite releases this year. This amazingly tripped-out alt-rock gem sounds close to what I want all my dreams to sound like. When I heard they were coming to grace the stage at local favorite Baby's All Right, I didn't hesitate getting tickets so I could see Tim Presley and Cate Le Bon in all their ingeniously weird glory. Great show. We have pictures.
Starting off the night, we had the amazing Matt Popieluch's ongoing project Big Search. It was an all-around great performance that set a nice, relaxed atmosphere for the rest of the concert—plus, he played some new material that I, at least, hadn't heard before. Not that I'm an expert on his very extensive catalog (seriously, the guy's been in way too many bands to list).
The set was comprised mainly of solo work with 12-string guitar, but every now and again he would sweeten the sonic deal with some wonderfully twangy telecaster and simple, tight drums. It was a nice blend of sonic landscapes, made even richer at the very end with the addition of Tim Presley on bass. I believe he has a new album coming out soon, though the date is TBA.
I knew nothing about Droor going into this show, but they nailed it. Their musicianship, their guitar work, their generally laid-back vibe... it all had me intrigued. When I got home I started the search, but all I could find was the three-track EP posted above. Who are these guys!? I'm not kidding. If you know, please tell me.
It's almost too good to be true. If someone came up to me a year ago and said Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley of White Fence were starting a band together, I might have slapped them with excitement. Luckily for all my friends and loved ones, I discovered DRINKS while alone at the ThrdCoast office.
Tim Presley and Cate Le Bon manage to be every flavor of cool at once, and it was great standing in Baby's watching them work their magic. With the help of two members of the mysterious Droor, they wowed the audience with their wonderfully weird psych rock.
One of the truly great things about the show was the crowd. It's sometimes easy to get distracted in Baby's, especially if you're further away from the stage, because of the sound bleed from the front bar DJ. But it was clear from my vantage point, flat up against the wall near the stage entrance, that everyone from the front of the stage to the bar were under DRINKS' spell. They're playing a couple more shows in the area for this year's CMJ, so if you're in New York I'd highly recommend checking them out.
