Telepathe @ South Street Seaport, NYC - pics

Telepathe was nonsense amateur hour.

Terrible.

Please post the Boris pics now pleaseeeee.

they certainly looked very uncomfortable on stage esp. green shirt girl. isn't there another girl in the band? where was she?

oh man...haha

yeah saw them at sxsw. they are like a bag of wet socks live. too bad

the crappy lesbian tv on the radio. the longer they played, the less interested the crowd became.

the loudest applause during their set? "we have one song left..."

THEY ALL LOOK LIKE HILLARY SWANK.

pretenders

whats with the hate. . .

dag, they sucked donkey balls...

Woa! I hope all those comments aren't objective criticisms from the band Telepathe to one another because they're not really constructive! If they were unhappy with their own performance, maybe they should do things differently based on proper criticisms based on rationality and logic!

i love you

i think 'green shirt' is hot

Just saw em at The Yard.
And wow yeah, they blow/blew/are terrible.

"whats with the hate. . . "

Every negative review is not "hate". This band is just not very good live, yet they are playing high profile shows. People are going to talk about that.

i almost fell asleep during this set. not terrible, but just sorta ..boring...

I liked their first song, but then lost interest. One thing I noticed after their set at the show, a lot of super-model looking women like No Age.

no one cares about this band. put up no age pictures, please and thank you.

no age are also boring. they are like a safe version of punk

I didn;t like the vocals - talk style - 1st song, but I enjoyed their set, especially the ambient music. The singing might not be so up to par. Now, No Age - cannot understand how people can love them. I only sort of liked their last 4 songs.

I really hope the trends that Telepathe and No Age build themselves upon die soon. very very soon.

that's what a nambla meeting would look like, if i knew what a nambla meeting looked like

These comments are misogynistic. Everyone hates them because they are powerful women in a male filled rock world.

"powerful women"?

how so?

I like telepathe
never seen them live but I really like some of their songs

are they powerful?

I doubt it

crazy how much hate they get though
makes me nervous to see them live

they are quite timid on stage actually, so powerful might be a bit innacurate. kim gordon
is powerful.

kim gordon IS powerful. when i saw telepathe @ bowery a couple months ago, they were majorly uncomfortable & asked for the lights to be dimmed down to nearly nothing, maybe they have stage fright? their set then was nice and kinda sweet though.

flying is a better band.

yeah they're pretty wack. decent recordings but live its a disaster. alot of people walked away during the set

Even if telepathe were, as you said "powerful women", I really doubt that's why they get so much hate. Plenty of powerful women in music get the respect they deserve and are adored: Cat Power, St. Vincent, Jenny Lewis, Kim Gordon, Kim Deal...I could go on and on.

But when people see Telepathe playing all these buzzy shows and being not very good, gender has nothing to do with it. It makes them come off as connected opportunists, while so many talented groups never get the chance to appear on such amazing bills.

I'm not saying this as a criticism of them, because I've only seen them live briefly at SXSW, but it is understandable that people are annoyed by them for this. Without being very familiar with them, I'm annoyed enough.

wtf? why so many misongynist comments? what year is this? we produce all our own beats fuckers. no man behind our music!

kevin pickford looked better as a dude in the 70's.

PUH-LEASE, who is actually misogynist (nice spelling, 10:23, btw) in rock these days? i second P above - gender in music is just as passe as it is in everything but politics. who cares who makes the music as long as it's good (unless it's 4 snot-nosed yellow v-neck cardigan & boat-shoes-in-december wearing columbia bitches)? furthermore, except for the lesbian & hillary swank comments, nothing has been misogynist, just factual - telepathe aren't very good performers. feminists stuck in the 80s are more of a barrier to gender equality than BV commentators. so suck on that!

this is like when diarrhea struck North Dakota

did abe vigoda not play? i was debating going only on the fact that they were playing.

"These comments are misogynistic. Everyone hates them because they are powerful women in a male filled rock world."

"wtf? why so many misongynist comments? what year is this? we produce all our own beats fuckers. no man behind our music!"

...maybe I'm mistaken, but I seem to remember these exact same comments on BV last time people started trashing telepathe. Either Telepathe is anonymously defending themselves or they've engineered some kind of self-defense spam bot, which in all honesty would be pretty impressive.

I love them....

i actually enjoyed their set fully

i saw Telepathe play at The Yard on saturday, and i enjoyed it. they were one of the more interesting bands that played.

just because their live set does not sound EXACTLY like their recordings does not mean it was bad. they bellowed and howled and did not give A FUCK. and there is something to be said for that. they were kids having fun. we were all that way at one time, were we not? musically, i think they are really good, and the fact that their vocals live are straight up obnoxious at times is not a bad thing in my book. their live set is more akin to noise than their studio recordings, and i like noise. so perhaps i am biased.

i see that some of you feel that perhaps they are not taking the shows that they are able to play that seriously..........i say perhaps they should not be taking these shows/themselves too seriously.

The frustrating thing about this band is that, as stated several times before, they record pretty freakin' well. The studio version of that "Chrome's On It (Bang Bang)" track is really good and catchy. My jaw dropped when I saw and heard how amateurish and fucked up it sounded at both South Street Seaport and The Yard. It's gotta frustrate the band too as I'm sure they know this themselves. One tip ladies (and gent)...don't put a t-shirt over your drums...it kills all sound, so you might as well be hitting tissue paper...and that's exactly what it sounds like to your audience.

I have to agree with the majority. I liked their recorded songs but when I saw them live at knitting factory is was very underwhelming. They have no energy or stage presence. High Places came out after and said "great set gonna be hard to follow" and I thought rrrrrrrrrrrrrright.

They actually remind of the radio djs in the SNL Sweaty Balls sketch. "good times, good times"

Oh...and check out the dude with the stache's other project called Mirror Mirror. It's like Ariel Pink but without all the purposeful, lo-fi hiss demo recording sabotage nonsense.

Male or female, doesn't matter. This band is terrible.

this band is awesome. you are all crazy.

they were GREAT at the Yard yesterday.

Telepathe needs not just a really good soundsystem (their sound is totally reliant on electronics and beats through the house PA system) but also a sympathetic ear at the board who knows how loud the monitors and the backing tracks need to be.

They had that at the Yard on Saturday, not so much at Seaport or other weird opening slots they've played lately where people on this board have seen them choke. They are a talented band, and not just recorded.

I think the girl who plays the drums in this band has a lot of charisma and moves well on the stage when she dances.

You want to know why Telepathe keeps getting asked to play all these big shows where you guys subsequently eviscerate them?

It's because bands coming through town specifically request to play with them. They have put out a string of great recordings and have done several successful tours around the country and overseas. Out-of-town bands know they're the shit.

Outside of New York, Telepathe are an NYC band that people talk about and are psyched on. Here, they're totally hated and disrespected. The discrepancy in their local vs out-of-town reputation is 100% because the only shows they ever play in town are opening slots on huge shows on big boomy soundsystems, with unfamiliar sound guys and rushed or nonexistent sound checks.

The ladies also have a confidence issue.

It's half bad sound treatment and half ruffled confidence from bad (or perceived bad) sound that contributes to the band routinely bombing when you guys see them.

What Telepathe needs to do is either A.) hire an experienced, expensive big venue sound guy, or B.) buy their own PA High Places-style to make the beats as loud as they want them to be every time, or C.) start playing little shows on dodgy PA systems more regularly so they get more confident in less-than-ideal sound situations.

"Outside of New York, Telepathe are an NYC band that people talk about and are psyched on."

No, they're really not.

Don't forget D.) Learn how to play their instruments live.

11:15, oh really? if they are so universally disliked, then why are they asked to play many many festival shows? why are they asked to open touring bands' big shows?

11:28, you clearly never saw Wikked, the band these women were in that proceeded Telepathe. It was a crazy four-piece all female prog metal band. They know how to play instruments.

11:15 & 11:28: you're both talkin out of your asses.

good job, fools!

this 11:11 guy writes a smart post that actually explains a lot about this band and the weird inconsistency that they keep getting booked and they keep bombing locally... and you guys just respond with a bunch of super weak-ass one liners.

If you want to refute what the guy's saying then actually show some brains and some balls and do so, ya pussies!

why is it totally cool for a bunch of black men in a hip hop crew to just be some guys on microphones with backing tracks, but it's not acceptable when a band like Telepathe does the same thing?

Their sound is about their densely constructed beats AND about their call and response, hip hop influenced vocals. Unless you want to watch them manipulate Protools on stage, it's pretty much going to have to just be prerecorded tracks, heavily affected live bass lines, and the vocals.

Nothing wrong with that arrangement, and it can be awesome when they're feeling it and when the sound is right.

best band that played the yard, period. seaport was terribly boring though.

i loved them at the yard. reminds me of a cross between siouxsie and the berlin 80s girl-band malaria!. they fuckin rock!

yes I agree with last 2 comments, Ponytail absolutely killed it.

abe vigoda pictures please!

shouldn't this all be on the Yard thread?

Saw Telepathe open for the Kills at Webster hall.

They were absolutely horrible. No question about it. One of the worst sets I've ever seen.

Webster Hall is a terrible place, shitty sounding, bad vibe staff on every level, plus a Kills crowd is a bunch of musically dimwitted dumbasses.

No surprise that Telepathe didn't go over well.

Telepathe were fucking tight and hot at the Yard yesterday

I agree with the first guy, this band looks like they'd suck. What do all of these Todd-P approved bands have against bassists and rhythm in general?

isn't that the hostess from Enid's? did she sing?

rhythm? this Telepathe band is all rhythm! It's booty bass beats. Plus, they have a bass player!

here's a question? why comment derogatively about a band you've clearly never scene or heard even casually?

note: the bass player dude also plays guitar at times

scene = seen, obviously

list of bands w/out bass players or bass heavy backing tracks who regularly play Todd P shows:

No Age

um, that's pretty much it.

i saw jim i hendrix at woodstock in 1969. he was really good!

I am happy there is has a lot of examples of objective criticism coming.

Girls can not help that they were born girls and maybe we all need to be more supportive and realistically critical of females in music because there obviously is no semblance of equality in sight. I am not a girl and that disqualifies me from the female perspective. Maybe bands like Best Friends Forever and Vivian Girls and Marnie Stern and Telepathe are significantly more relevant because they are girls we know or more comparable to girls we know as far as their music and image would project. I would be afraid to hit on Cat Power or Joanna Newsom in a bar but that just means, regardless of their music, they are empowered beyond their genders to what ever subjective relevance I have.

Everyone should go see Best Friends Forever in August because they are one of the best bands in the U.S. Additionally, if you care about this sort of thing, they were born girls.

wikkid were not 'prog-metal' as some fool stated above. i would liken their sound to a 5th rate scissor girls or something. angular guitar riffs, whatever. they werent great but they showed promise. and they didnt really KNOW how to play their instruments.

telepathe, on the other hand are just pure garbage. PURE UNADULTERATED GARBAGE.

:)

Saw them at the Seaport. They were awful. No stage presence; wonky, amateurish vocals that didn't mesh at all; and they were just plain boring. It was an endurance test from the second song on.

why no word on Abe Vigoda? They were silly and had some fuck ups but the new album is really good and they did alright. telepathe was boring and awkward, i went to Uno's halfway through the set.

it really isn't much of a debate about the seaport show. they sucked. you could see on their faces that they knew they were sucking. the backing tracks weren't loud enough and the vox were pitchy throughout prolly due to bad monitors. im sure if you talked to them they would agree that the seaport show was an off night to say the least.

I CAN"TTTTTTTTTTT STAND ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

scene = scene, obviously

no really telepathe fucking SUCKS

You are either a lesbian, a dude, or you don't really like good music. This is a fact proven with science and charts.
- steve albini

Guys listen. I'm sure some of you are in bands and some aren't, but its to be said that its hard trying to make art when you're worried about letting your friends down. Why would you need to add to that antagonism? Its not like people with weapons showed up in your doorway and marched you down in your bright, monochrome clothing to watch things at the South Street seaport.

Guys, I want the only criticism of the South Street shows to be that Pizzaria UNO is a virus on the face of the only true entity in the entire cosmos; pizza and they need a true pizza alternative. On top of that, these are shows with a lot of sponsorship; some corporate, some local, trying to give you free shows.

On top of that, stop trying to act like we don't know how old you are. Are you that dumb that you don't know how the liquor laws work? WE could go to jail. YOU could go to jail. Just go to fucking Six Flags on Seaport on the water front and watch some cute girls try to make dance music.

4:49 -- is your post a parody of something? if so, of what?

No. This is the new game in town. Irony is dead. Know why? I'm killing it. Irony can be detractive, hurtful, and a passive way to progressively hurt people you know without falling under criticism.

It IS on the other hand ironic that a person using plain speak and objectively arguing for his belief sounds more like a fictional character than a real one. How can we trust one another when we can't believe what one another says?

I put the dictionary definition of irony below. Every word has a meaning and you should know it, not think you know it. If you don't know a word you hear and don't look it up, then you've only failed yourself. Words do not own condos that are somehow infringing on your creative process by trying to develop an area that is becoming affluent.

IRONY
- the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect : “Don't go overboard with the gratitude,” he rejoined with heavy irony. See note at wit .

• a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result : [with clause ] the irony is that I thought he could help me.

• (also dramatic or tragic irony) a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character's words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

jesus fucking christ telepathe have some good songs , havent' seen them live but I"m sure their album will slay some people

a bunch of off-the-shelf indie pop rock fans dissing a band that is doing something different as boring. that's some rich irony right there.

you guys a bunch of clueless dweebs. you don't get telepathe because their live shows are unpredictable. sometimes they suck, sometimes they transcend, but none of you losers has offered even a spoonful of interesting insight into what they do and how they succeed or fail in pulling it off.

why don't you stick to your MIAs and your Cat Powers, you just aren't ever going to get these ladies. They are capable of really hitting it live and they come up with some dense and awesome backing beats, some great vocal phrasing and some brilliant compositions, but it's all probably too volatile and obscure for your ears.

The best bands are the ones who can play a bad show once in awhile. If they'll ride it even when it feels like it's going to teeter over, that's a good band. Telepathe have had the bad luck and maybe bad coping skills that the teetered over shows are outnumbering the ones where they slay, but you're full of shit to claim there's nothing good going on there. These ladies have got talent.

I saw them play in New Zealand a few weeks ago and thought they were pretty awesome. Especially after the night opened with a crap show by The Black Keys.

Obvious question: Why post about it if the band clearly sucks? Wouldn't this coverage be better suited to another act?

Telepathe have played in New Zealand?! Fuck, there really is no justice in the world. How on earth did that happen?

"The best bands are the ones who can play a bad show once in awhile. If they'll ride it even when it feels like it's going to teeter over, that's a good band. Telepathe have had the bad luck and maybe bad coping skills that the teetered over shows are outnumbering the ones where they slay..."

My brain just leaked out of my ear.

i think its more bands that have the ability to get over bad sound systems etc to put on a really good show. GOOD coping skills is what makes a good performance, not some balderdash from bushwick thats too weak to overcome it.

yeah shame on your brooklynvegan for even giving a post to these foolish girls! what the fuck? theres no shortage of unique, great stuff out there.

just to stir up controversy? really weak on your part, BV.

"why is it totally cool for a bunch of black men in a hip hop crew to just be some guys on microphones with backing tracks"

really?

4:12. what's your point? you think the bit you quoted is racist or something? is is insensitive to state that hip hop crews are just a bunch of dudes mouthing words along to a backing track?

do tell.

hey douchebags, I think you need to come to terms with this fact:

THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO LIKE TELEPATHE

hahaha! "no justice in the world,"your fucking band blowsssssss

hey guys check it out, i found a website where we can all continue this sweet discussion

http://newyork.craigslist.org/rnr/

I think people need to stop talking to and about black people like they're IUDs. They go home and watch fucking Friday after not picking up girls at shows like the rest of us. Its not like the gradient of your skin ACTUALLY has even the vaguest semblance to do with anything and maybe you all need to just say that out loud.

I somewhat do agree with most current rap acts being artistically inept or to self conscious to be artistic but I think there are people changing that and if you keep supporting Atmosphere because he uses samples from music you here from white people and not Jah Jah from Ninja Sonik who is totally the embodiment of his music in a superficial sense of his personality, than you're as bad as if you were dragging them behind a truck in rural Arkansas.

If you're not aware, hip hop wasn't always a joke and most proto-hip hop (that is more electro music and disco than what we consider now current hip hop) was not race specific and was more musically integral and relevant. Everyone knows the reason most mainstream hip hop is irrelevant because not even 50 Cent lives the life he raps about in the songs. If you want to talk about people in Connecticut with trust funds, 50 Cent lives off of Vitamin Water stock in Farmington, Connecticut and I'm sure I would have heard it mentioned if he ever even thought of considering going to a club in the state.

Blah blah...telepathe are amazing to me...you haters can suck my big d*ck.
I'm a highly educated straight dude.

i've never seen telepathe live but i think their recordings are pretty amazing. i can see them on 4ad.

this is the Wikkid CD.

Wikkid was the mathy proggy metal-y band both of the ladies in Telepathe were in.

http://pukekos.blogspot.com/2008/04/wikkid.html

It's pretty solid, I don't know where the guy above is coming from saying they couldn't play their instruments. By the end of their run, they were fucking TIGHT.

I never said they couldn't play their instruments. I said their first rehearsal wasn't amazing.

The truth is, they all played their instruments exceptionally well. Busy is a phenomenal drummer and I wish she played the drums more in this band.

If you want to hear a really killer Telepathe live set, you can check it one here:

http://pukekos.blogspot.com/2008/06/telepathe.html

Bj, I think 12:59 was talking about the guy dissing them above on this thread, not on your website.

seen them twice and love them. busy is hot

wtf...this is a band....pathetic

wtf...this is a band....pathetic

you know what's really pathetic?

a troll who comments negatively on message boards months after the subject was posted and long after it's relevant.

you're a loser, dude!

10:10 AM din redskap, og jeg angir faktaene,

id fuck busy. she's fakin the lesbo thang. fo sho.