With summer’s official end on the horizon, it’s time to close out this series with tales of a very busy August and another season-capping visit to Rockefeller Center. Read on for all the details!
8/19: Legends Of The Past, Present, and Future As a founding member of The Velvet Underground with over 50 years of solo work behind him, it’s very easy to call John Cale a living legend. Yet that would imply that he is living on his legend, which couldn’t be further from the truth. He has kept moving forward in the 21st century, releasing the mesmerizing Mercy, his first album of new songs in over a decade, earlier this year. I had last seen him in 1988, when he opened for Pere Ubu with a powerful set of piano and vocals. I’ll never forget how half the crowd left The Ritz after he finished! I guess the Venn diagram of Cale and Pere Ubu fans had little overlap at the time.
As for myself, I’ve often found Cale’s work interesting, but never had that one person in my life who said: buy this album. So I have none of his solo work in my collection but really love his collaborative albums with Lou Reed (Songs For Drella) and Brian Eno (Wrong Way Up). Over the last couple of years, however, I’ve taken a deep dive into everything on Spotify and curated a concise overview of all his work since he left the Velvets. The process has been a big help in starting to grasp and appreciate his stylistic omnivory and restless, curious mind. However many copies of Vintage Violence, Fear, or Sabotage/Live I saw in the crates back in the day - and turned down - is how many I’m hoping to see in the future!
So it seemed like one of the great coups of the summer when BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn announced a free concert with Cale, his first show in NYC in eight years, and I was not going to miss it. Even better, Tomberlin was opening, making the prospect that much more exciting.
We got there way early to secure a good spot and met some nice folks among the early birds, some of whom had traveled in from Boston. Our efforts paid off with second-row seats, where we observed a vibe that was quite different than the Kelela show we saw earlier in the summer, with the audience trending older thanks to all the Cale die-hards in attendance. I was a little concerned that everyone would yak their way through Tomberlin’s set, like when we saw The GOASTT open for Beck in Central Park a while back.
Tomberlin is the project of Sarah Beth Tomberlin, who made a striking full-length debut with At Weddings in 2018, followed it up with an excellent EP in 2020, and then hit my Top 25 with 2022’s I Don’t Know Who Needs To Hear This…, and for most of her captivating set, I needn’t have worried about crowd reaction. Supported by a sensitive three-piece band (Frank Meadows, (keyboards and bass), Josh Yeager (drums), and Chris Bailey or Daly (guitar)), Tomberlin delivered her delicate yet powerful songs with absolute confidence, her voice ringing out with a rare, sometimes heartbreaking purity. She was also funny, often asking the crowd, “Are there any questions?” Based on the growing response, she was even winning new fans. But there was a hairy couple of minutes when a latecomer (who was definitely old enough to know better) proceeded to stand in front of the front row and catch up with his friends - loudly. No amount of hand gestures could quiet him and it wasn’t until I spoke up between songs and said, “Would you please take your conversation elsewhere?” that he went off - in a huff, I might add! I got my own round of applause for that. The rest of the set proceeded with absolute perfection. Tomberlin is the real deal and it’s exciting to think of what is yet to come from her.
Eventually, Cale took the stage, slender in a chic (Yohji Yamamoto?) black ensemble, which was a sartorial contrast to Tomberlin’s white peasant dress as much as his music is to hers. With Danny Boyer (guitar), Alex Thomas (drums), and Joey Maramba (bass) on a riser at the back of the stage, Cale posted up at a bank of keyboards and launched into the grimy strut of Jumbo In Tha Modernworld, originally released in 2006. The first thing I noticed was how strong his voice sounded, the same dry, declamatory tenor familiar from so many recordings. His keyboard playing was assured, driving the band through the changes. And what a band! The phrase “art rock assassins” popped into my mind as Boyer unleashed this glorious, biting tone that was both well-crafted and on the edge of chaos, Thomas laid into the groove like a bricklayer after a coffee break, and Maramba alternated between virtuosic fills and guttural rhythms. They did not let up throughout the set, going wherever Cale needed them to go while adding plenty of their own personalities.
The sequence was a well-conceived career overview, jumping back to 1977’s Hedda Gabler for the second song, then flashing forward for two songs from Mercy, Night Crawling and Moonstruck (Nico’s Song), both beautifully filled out by the live band. A bit later was the one-two punch of Guts (1975) into a celebratory I’m Waiting For The Man, with Cale’s avuncular delivery - his Welsh background still evident - contrasting with Lou Reed’s streetwise lyrics. The second microphone and guitar, as yet unused, stood as if in empty acknowledgment of Cale’s departed collaborator.
But soon Cale shifted to that guitar and mic for two songs, including a knockout performance of Helen Of Troy (1975), which ground on gloriously, fueled by Cale’s chunky riffing, and firmly left the studio version in the dust. He returned to the keyboards for his signature cover of Heartbreak Hotel, with Maramba bowing his bass to create an uneasy atmosphere. It occurred to me in that moment that Cale has been performing the song longer than Elvis had been alive. Suffice to say that he owns it as much as Presley by this point. Of the four songs that followed to end the night, an extended take on Hanky Panky Nohow from 1973’s Paris 1919 was especially memorable and immersive. In this interpretation, the song felt completely relevant and fresh - but the same could be said for the entire concert, which featured Cale at the height of his powers. What a remarkable thing to have witnessed. Thank you BRIC!
8/24 and 8/26: Time Well Spent Since 2015, the Time:Spans festival has been bringing new music to robust life at the end of the summer. I’ve done a good job of missing it every year until now, when I was able to catch two excellent shows by two of our finest ensembles at The Dimenna Center.
The first featured Yarn/Wire, the quartet of Laura Barger, Julia Den Boer (pianos), Russell Greenberg, and Sae Hashimoto (percussion), performing works by James Diaz, Michelle Lou, and Anthony Cheung. I got to the neighborhood early and decided to grab a cocktail at Longo Brothers. Not only did I find myself drinking out of a macaw, but I ended up catching up with composer (and Talea Ensemble Director of Operations) Tori Cheah.
Diaz’s Negative Mercury (2022-23) opened the night, making colorful use of the group’s instrumentation, with an additional halo provided by electronics. It came on strong and then gradually fragmented, like friends becoming strangers, leaving me needing to know more about Diaz. While the piece has continued to evolve through collaboration, it’s well-represented by Yarn/Wire’s premiere recording from 2022.
Having only discovered Lou earlier this year thanks to Tak Ensemble’s Swoonfest, I was psyched to see and hear Different Fur (2017), a wild piece that I described on Twitter as “…a trek through a digital rainforest, with iPhones instead of compasses for direction…and a mechanical tiger at the heart of it all. Mysterious & deeply involving. The level of concentration & communication among the players was riveting.” To parse: Lou had all the players using iPhones to generate and control sounds, adding to a nonstop sonic tapestry that reached a climax of a sort when Hashimoto and Greenburg left their kits to uncover a mysterious object at center-stage. It proved to be a mechanical tiger, which only deepened the mystery - and humor. After the show, I saw Lou carrying the contraption off and asked her if it needed to be fed. “With feedback,” she said, quick as a whip.
The final piece was a world premiere of Cheung’s Tactile Values (2023), a customarily stylish piece full of air and space, with a restless progression to an arresting finish. Cheung’s deployment of the instruments seemed to come from within them, with the mastery of orchestration and imagination that makes him one of our very best. Looking forward to having a recording of this to explore further.
Two days later, I was back at Longo Brothers, this time for dinner with my daughter before Talea Ensemble’s festival-closing performance. The hip spot solidified its place as the Time:Spans commissary when Patrick Castillo, composer and the New York Philharmonic’s Vice President for Artistic Planning, walked in with his brother. The cocktails, pasta, and conversation were a fine prelude for what was to come, which was the NYC premiere of Enno Poppe’s Speicher I-VI (2008-13), which the Talea Ensemble last performed in 2015. Conducted by the dynamic James Baker, this evening-length work assembled the full complement of Talea players and then some, making for an elite chamber orchestra of 21 players.
As someone who just began exploring Poppe’s work (his latest album, Prozession, is a wild ride, indeed), but hadn’t had a chance to listen to Klangforum Wien’s debut recording, I just let it all wash over me, enjoying the constantly shifting tones and textures, along with his trademark wit. Speicher means “memory,” and apparently refers to themes from one movement that may be “remembered” in a later movement. During this first listen, I wasn’t always aware of when one movement ended and another began but found myself paying exquisite attention to the use of silences, especially in the percussion parts. The percussionists were Bill Solomon and, in a welcome return, former Talea head Alex Lipowski, and it was thrilling to watch the precision with which they would strike, then silence, an instrument that could ring out. Along with a passionate engagement, this attention to detail was matched by all the players, making for a gripping performance throughout.
As I am on Talea Ensemble’s board of directors, I should have stayed and congratulated all the players on what felt like another landmark performance. But we had another engagement that evening…
8/26: Avant Folk Fest Yes, in a challenge only AnEarful could love, I had won a pair of tickets (thanks Brooklyn Vegan!) to see Florist, with Skullcrusher and Adelyn Strei, at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg, the same night as the Talea concert. The timing was just about right, too, with a mad dash from Dimenna to Brooklyn getting us in just as Strei was finishing her set. What we heard sounded very nice, too, and was borne out by her debut single when I went back and listened.
I was also unfamiliar with Skullcrusher until I saw they were touring with Florist, but when I did my homework and checked out Quiet The Room, their debut album from last year, I was blown away. While the name might sound like a doom metal project, Skullcrusher is actually an exploration of diaphanous folk by singer/songwriter/guitarist Helen Ballentine. At the Music Hall, she performed her gorgeous songs as a duo with a keyboard/guitarist/singer lending support. There was a concentrated stillness between the two of them, lending an intimacy to the dreamy set. They did indeed quiet the room - except for the rapturous applause.
Having seen Florist earlier this year at Storm King, it felt like a wonderful gift to be able to see them again. I was also curious how a couple of months on the road may have changed their set. While the same wonderful intra-band communication was there on the last night of their tour as on the first, they had made some changes. The set was now divided in three parts, with an opening suite of songs featuring Strei on clarinet, vocals, and guitar, adding some new dimensions. Then, Emily Sprague was left on stage alone to perform a short solo segment, two or three songs, displaying her exquisite fingerpicking and giving us an X-ray of extraordinary songs like Red Bird. Finally, Jonnie Baker (guitar), Rick Spataro (bass/keyboards), and Felix Walworth (drums) returned and just levitated the room, especially during a transcendent version of 43, which included an emotion-drenched drum solo.
While Sprague made several references to being exhausted by the tour, and drank from a cup of several tea bags including Throat Coat, there was no sense of diminished strength during the set. Just the opposite, in fact, further solidifying my verdict that Florist is one of the great bands of our time. Rest well, Emily and friends, you’ve given us so much this year and last. Thank you.
9/9: Roughing It At Rockefeller We had a wonderful time at the inaugural IndiePlaza Fest last year and were eagerly awaiting the return of this groundbreaking collaboration between Rough Trade and Rockefeller Center. While the lineup was less familiar than last year’s, I found a lot to love when I did a background check by making this playlist.
I was especially excited to see Miss Grit but the timing was off as I spent the earlier part of the day helping to christen the intersection of Ludlow and Rivington (where I shot the cover for Paul’s Boutique) as Beastie Boys Square - more on that another time! But I did meet my daughter in time to see the last four bands, starting with Death Valley Girls, who turned in a beautifully chaotic set of Stooges-influenced rock and roll. Their 5th album, Islands In The Sky, came out earlier this year and is far more polished and atmospheric - but both iterations of the band are well worth your time. I gave guitarist Larry Schemel a thrill when I said his playing reminded me of James Williamson - but it was only the truth!
Next was Video Age, who make a cheerful flavor of indie-disco-pop that wears its 80s influences on their sleeves with perfect sincerity. The vibe was perfect for a day when the humidity just did not quit.
Narrow Head, who have been perfecting their multi-guitar attack for a decade, turned up the heat considerably with a galvanic set of shoegaze- grunge- and metal-infused hard rock. The crowd response revealed a strong fanbase, which should only grow based on their excellent third album, Moments Of Clarity, which came out in February.
Closing the show was Nation Of Language, who put on a dynamic performance of their expertly constructed and passionate synth-pop. There were driving bass lines played by Alex MacKay, elaborate and rich electronic constructions played by Aidan Noell, and detailed programmed rhythms, all supporting the (new?) romantic vocals of Ian Richard Devaney, who also picked up a guitar occasionally. His wonderfully loose-limbed movement seemed to illustrate the emotional landscape of each song, which was also amplified by his and Noell’s commitment and enthusisasm. With their third album days from release, I wondered how it would sound away from the stage, but now that I’ve listened a few times I remain enthusiastic. It’s fun, exceedingly clever stuff - and it was the perfect way to end another Hot Live Summer.
What shows did you see over the last few months?
From the Archives:
Live Log 2023: Summer Catchup, Part 2
Live Log 2023: Summer Catchup, Part 1
Hot Live Summer