Time Takes a Cigarette.

My show reviews of Fleet Foxes and TV on the Radio have been posted on Stories In High Fidelity (hopefully more to follow) so there has been a lack of updates recently. I'm working on some new projects, both writing and photos, so hopefully I'll have more to say in the near future. In the mean time keep it scene in the city.

Jeff Mangum Returns!

The Elephant Six Holiday Surprise show made its way to Pittsburgh last night and marked a historic event in indie music. The show's finale was Jeff Mangum playing Neutral Milk Hotel's "Engine" in the middle of the room accompanied by Julian Koster. This was the first time in ten years that Mangum has played a NMH song in public. Can we please have that reunion tour now?

Fleet Foxes played Webster Hall

Fleet Foxes have been getting a lot of buzz as of late due to the success of their self titled debut LP and great live shows and last night helped fuel the fire. The tremendous harmonies that these guys create translated from the studio to the stage with great perfection, even for the acoustic impaired Webster Hall. Along with great tunes, these guys are also just plain funny and had great interaction with the audience, which is lost among most performers. Before even launching into their first song, they shared some witty banter with the audience about how Webster Hall sounded more like a CW show then a venue. However when they finally kicked into music mode their voices melted the audience. I think these guys could blow away a crowd if they just did everything acapella and last night's show gave us more of that treat. Their voices and song writing ability are clearly their strong points, yet as soon as they jammed into "White Winter Hymnal" and "Ragged Wood" they showed that they clearly were just a great band and have the whole package. These songs are really where they shine and are able to put forth their best work. It just seems so cohesive and right when the melodies, harmonies, and lyrics just blend together. As their main set ended with "Mykonos" off the Sun Giant EP they broke down the ending into great vocal parts and really just set the mood for the entire evening and proved that despite their growing popularity these guys need to stick to small intimate venues where the audience can really be fully engulfed by what these guys are doing; something lost by bigger auditoriums.


new song

set list:
Sun Giant/Sun Rises
Drops in the River
English House
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged Wood
Your Protector
Crayon Angels (Judee Sill Cover)
Oliver James
Quiet Houses
He Doesn't Know Why
Mykonos
Katie Cruel (Traditional) - unplugged!
Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
Silver City - new song!
Blue Ridge Mountains