Menomena @ First Unitarian Church
Waiting outside the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. Wait, that sounds familiar… Oh right, the Tobacco show. But, instead of being in the basement, we were in the sanctuary. Kind of an odd place to have a show but whatever. I love the fact that most of the crowd turned this event into a BYOB show. There’s nothing better than getting plastered in the house of the Lord. Kudos!
To start off the evening, Tu Fawning entered the stage. Though all I had heard from this group at the time was their single, “The Felt Sense”, I was very excited to hear more from them. Everyone was either sitting in the pews or sitting on the floor. Not me though, I was standing right in the front. This band deserved a more interested crowd; they really put on a great show. Tu Fawning are a very multi-talented group; each member was switching off instruments quite frequently. Every member, except the keyboard player (who also played violin on some songs), switched to playing drums at one point. Speaking of the violin, the pizzicato sounded perfect with their style of music. The singer, Corrina Repp, has beautiful vocals that highlihgts Tu Fawning’s intriguing and mystical sound. When they went into their final song, I knew it right away from the drum intro; it was “The Felt Sense.” It was the perfect song to end their set with. Exit stage left; lights back on.
The crowd grew a little bit larger while waiting for the next band. Suckers came out and opened with “Roman Candles” off their new album, Wild Smile, which features whistling throughout. This band was another multi-instrumental band; the bassist manipulated a sampler while playing bass. He had a drumstick in the hand that he was strumming the bass with so he could hit the sampler in between notes. The guitarist/vocalist (although they all sing during the songs) was hitting a maraca on a floor tom while singing. His vocals reminded me of Jim James (My Morning Jacket) from the Evil Urges album. The band eventually brought out the horn player from Tu Fawning to play on their final song. The crowd got into this one. This song was a huge build-up to the end of Suckers’ set and a great transition into what came next.
The crowd had exited the pews and stood in front of the stage, ending what felt like a sermon up to that point. Menomena came out and the entire crowd moved forward. I would call it the “Menomena Phenomena.” This audience was in some sort of trance until the headliners final took the stage. A highlight of their set was definitely “Dirty Cartoons” off their new album Mines; the piano part at the end was fucking magical. The addition of saxophone on some tracks was welcomed, especially on “BOTE.” At that point, they had a TV on the Radio vibe going. Playing multiple instruments was an obvious trend, and Menomena was no exception. The bassist, Justin Harris, was all over the place: Controlling the lighting, playing bass, saxophone, and a PK-5A foot controller. But he wasn’t the only one switching it up; Brent Knopf was also jumping from keyboard to guitar. They also had the guitarist from 31 Knots and Tu Fawning join them. Ultimately, the set flowed well:
- Tithe
- TAOS
- Weird
- Killemall
- Muscle’n Flow
- Five Little Rooms
- BOTE
- Queen Black Acid
- Wet and Rusting
- Dirty Cartoons
- The Pelican
- Sleeping Beauty
- Evil Bee
- ENCORE: Strongest Man in the World
Great show! I would see any one of the three bands again without hesitation. Check them out if you can!
Atlas Sound to Play New York/Philly in October
Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) will bring his solo act back to our area with October shows at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg and Philadelphia’s First Unitarian Church. Each show will be a co-headlining gig with UK electronic artists Broadcast. It’s been a busy year so far for Cox, who released Deerhunter’s Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP a few weeks ago and will release Logos, his second solo record in as many years this Fall. Deerhunter plays the Flying W Airport Resort in Medford, NJ this Saturday with Dan Deacon and No Age. Tickets are still available through TicketWeb here. Cox will also play with his band and as Atlas Sound at the Flaming Lips curated ATP New York show in September. Links to the Atlas Sound points of sale below:
Atlas Sound/Broadcast – First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, NY – October 18, 2009 (on sale now)
Atlas Sound/Broadcast – Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY – October 21, 2009 (on sale July 31 @ noon)
“Walkabout” by Atlas Sound (feat. Panda Bear)
White Lies @ First Unitarian Church
White Lies have plans to conquer America and are off to a perfect start after putting on an absolutely inspired performance at First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia on Wednesday night. It’s easy to assume that you won’t be able to see this band in venues this small after their current NME tour. With a chart-topping debut album in the UK and incredible buzz in the states, White Lies will soon enough be playing arenas to masses of fans who are drawn to their brand of New Wave pop. I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t instantly one of my favorite shows of the year. In light of our recent dismal economic times, White Lies play dark and gloomy songs that give you something to hold onto.
The energy and emotion of lead singer Harry McVeigh was as engaging as I’ve seen in recent memory. Right when you think he’s about to lose it in some of the more dreary lyrics (the songs 
aren’t exactly upbeat, see “Death,” “To Lose My Life,” and “Nothing to Give”), McVeigh is able to get it together again. He announced to the crowd of 500 that his voice was not so good this night, but any detriment to his vocals went unnoticed. Several in the crowd shouted “Harry!” in between songs to express their satisfaction with his inspired performance.
The tech crew took a painfully long time to set up for a band who wasn’t even the headliner on this particular night. We were glad they did, as the sound and mix were absolutely perfect. First Unitarian, especially the basement, has not been known for good sound. Kudos to the sound engineer for not drowning out Harry’s vocals like so many other venues tend to do. McVeigh needs to be front and center to fully appreciate one of the biggest buzz bands around, and that’s exactly what we got. I gave White Lies debut album a satisfactory review, which I’m sticking to. However, I would urge all to catch them while tickets are still cheap and easy to come by. Before you blink White Lies will be playing the Wachovia Center for $60 a pop. This is a band you should not miss live.
http://www.myspace.com/whitelies
Here is the video for their current single, “Farewell to the Fairground”: