« R.E.M. releasing 'Collapse Into Now' (new video posted) | Crystal Stilts played 285 Kent w/ Beach Fossils & Widowspeak (pics), playing shows w/ Spectrum (tour dates) »
photos by Chris Gersbeck, words by Rachel Kowal
Given Papercuts' recent move to Sup Pop (and Beach House's Alex Scally's long-time involvement with the band), it's hardly surprising that the San Francisco artist would occupy such a highly coveted opening slot. But Papercuts and Beach House have more in common than merely being friends and labelmates. Like the headliners, Jason Quever and his band make dreamy, atmospheric pop music, and they do it well. Perhaps I'm just influenced by the cover art of the last album, but listening to Quever's moody melodies always makes me a feel a bit like I'm floating out in space.
At its core, Papercuts is the musical project of one, but front man Jason Quever often incorporates additional musicians to help spin his multi-layered sonic web. For Wednesday night's show, Papercuts was five men strong. They played a handful of tracks from the last studio album (including the excellent "Future Primitive"), but the majority of their set comprised songs from their upcoming March release, Fading Parade, which you can now stream in its entirety, courtesy of NPR Music.
Once the strains of Papercuts had faded out and the smoke machines had pumped out enough to sufficiently obscure the large room, Beach House stepped on stage and offered a quick introduction. Of course with Victoria Legrand at the mic, even a simple introduction like "good evening" instantly becomes sexy thanks to her distinctive throaty voice. After a brief pause, the trio launched into not a track from last year's hit Teen Dream, but an older one - "Gila."
As is often the case with more subdued, hazy acts, Beach House's performance was a bit lacking in the visual department, but the three large, colorfully lit pyramids lining the back of the stage proved to be a nice focal point - or at least an alternative to Legrand's dramatic hair tosses.
Clearly, the emphasis was on the music. Though the stage banter was often humorous and oddly revealing (Legrand took a moment to both reference her habit of sleeping around and reflect on the Internet's uncanny ability to make everyone get older, faster), for whatever reason, the lighting engineer cloaked the band in darkness when they weren't playing and only threw back on the rainbow colored lights (or twinkling starlit backdrop) when the next song was underway.
Though Scally promised a Vietnamese sandwich to anyone who danced (specifically during "Lover of Mine"), few people seemed to take his offer seriously and instead fell back on their slowly swaying ways.
Beach House & Papercuts' tour continues in Philly tonight and returns to NYC for another sold out show at Webster Hall on Friday. More pictures, a couple of videos and the setlist from last night (2/23), below...
Papercuts
Beach House
Beach House "10 Mile Stereo" @ Webster Hall 2/23/11
Beach House "Lover Of Mine" @ Webster Hall 2/23/11
Beach House set list
Gila
Better Times
Walk in the Park
Norway
Silver Soul
Master of None
Lover of Mine
Astronaut
Used to Be
Zebra
?
Heart of Chambers
Encore
Real Love
10 Mile Stereo
Comments (51)
Leave a Comment
PLEASE NOTE: If your comment does not appear immediately, it will show up shortly.
Recently
Recent Comments
- What's going on Saturday? (21) strategic sourcing wrote: Liars went on at 730 and played for about 52 minutes. Amazing place... [more]
- Kanye West playing Roseland & a pop up show in NY tonight? (20) Anonymous wrote: Yall be slaves. ... [more]
- watch Field Mouse play three songs in the second episode of BV Studio Sessions (76) Anonymous wrote: 8:31 is right on! I can't help myself sometimes. I have to work o... [more]
- the 2010 New Orleans Ponderosa Stomp (in pics) (13) annuaire camping wrote: Super cool cette review au sujet du camping... [more]
- Bloomingdales is so Punk (40) Anonymous wrote: Maybe BDales screen printed these t-shirts (sweatshop) without gett... [more]
- Crocodiles touring with Japandroids, playing Union Pool (6) free e3lanat wrote: great band... [more]
- Crazy Spirit, Deadly Reign, Brown Sugar, Creem and more punk bands playing at The Acheron this week (5) Preppers wrote: Anymore music videos?... [more]
- Spanish Prisoners releasing 'Prior Art,' remix Twin Sister (MP3), opening for Freelance Whales, 2:54 (6) Prepper wrote: Love this band!... [more]
Recent Galleries
-
Foxygen, Amen Dunes, LODRO & Prince Rupert's Drops played first BV-curated RBSS show at the Knit (pics)
-
Phoenix played The Apollo with Blood Orange (pics, setlist)
-
Coachella Weekend 2 Day 3 in pics (Ghost BC, The Three O'Clock, DIIV, Thee Oh Sees, Nick Cave, Grimes & more)
-
Coachella Day 3 Photos (Wu-Tang Clan, Vampire Weekend, Father John Misty, Grimes, Kurt Vile, James Blake ++ more)
Most Popular
- What's going on Saturday? (21)
- It's 4:45 & The Darkness have taken the stage #GoogaMooga (32)
- No Joy played Glasslands with Weekend who are playing Northside (pics, dates) (18)
- Kurt Vile & The Violators played Bowery Ballroom with Angel Olsen and Steve Gunn (pics); playing Letterman tonight (21)
- download 2 new songs from Liars who play NYC this weekend (8)
- Dan Deacon's Ultimate Reality Part 3 @ Bang on a Can 2008 (1219)
- VIDEO: Kanye West played new songs @ Roseland Ballroom in NYC (in a pyramid) (24)
- Market Hotel tag sale this Saturday (13)
Browse Categories (or Browse Tags)
Blogroll
Blogroll Links
- Todd P
- BV Austin
- Stereogum
- BV Chicago
- Thighs Wide Shut
- music snobbery
- done waiting
- Invisible Oranges
- Blabbermouth
- largehearted boy
- gorilla vs bear
- chromewaves
- my old kentucky blog
- You Ain't No Picasso
- The Bergstrom
- Muzzle of Bees
- La Blogoteque
- Daytrotter
- Fluxblog
- Nah Right
- RCRD LBL
- Arjan Writes
- Free Williamsburg
- Hype Machine
- I Guess I'm Floating
- Hipster Runoff
- An Aquarium Drunkard
- The Daily Swarm
- Boing Boing
- Brownstoner
- Gothamist
- Curbed
- Gawker
- WFMU
- WNYC
Colophon
- Twitter.com/BrooklynVegan
- Twitter.com/AllBVposts
- Twitter.com/BVTicketsOnSale
- Twitter.com/BVNYCShows
- Twitter.com/bvCMJ
- Twitter.com/bvSXSW
- Twitter.com/bvComedy
- Twitter.com/InvisOranges
- Facebook.com/BrooklynVegan
- Facebook.com/BrooklynVeganChicago
- Facebook.com/BVAustin
- Facebook.com/InvisibleOranges
- Instagram.com/BrooklynVegan
- Instagram.com/BVChicago
- Instagram.com/BVAustin
- Instagram.com/InvisibleOranges
- MySpace
- MySpace.com/BrooklynVegan
- NEW.MySpace.com/BrooklynVegan
- Feeds
- RSS
First!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:09 PM
Second.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:18 PM
? was a kick ass song.
Posted by Tim J | February 24, 2011 2:21 PM
What a beautiful show this was...oh, third!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:22 PM
sorry i fell asleep watching these vids...
fourth!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:25 PM
This band works better than any sleeping pill I've ever taken.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:27 PM
This was a very dull show and a very noisy crowd, especially during the non Teen Drama songs
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:29 PM
that new song was incredible. sounded like the best thing theyve ever done.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:31 PM
yeah, i don't quite get all the hype around these guys. some decent tunes, but overall pretty pedestrian, imo. kind of a snooze, too.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:31 PM
i once got a paper cut at a beach house
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:34 PM
Paper cuts are the worst! I hate them so much..it takes a while to heal properly too! Grr!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:37 PM
First!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:44 PM
Totally off topic but the last time I saw Beach House, there was this amazingly annoying couple who were not only talking during the whole show but were talking about TMI info. The guy kept asking her "Do you know how many tracks I made it into Teen Dream without falling asleep?Seven and a half tracks! Seven and a half tracks! Is it the longest you've ever heard?" Yeah bro you're cool.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:50 PM
this show was fantastic. this thread isn't.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:51 PM
One time at my beach house, I got a papercut from my DUNKACCINO cup...I told the resident artisan at DD and got hooked up with, yeah you know it, a free DUNKACCINO!!!!
ps - the enjoyment you got from reading about my incident is far greater than anything these aforementioned bands could EVER supply. Be cool and eat fruit!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:52 PM
holy crap you people are unfunny
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:54 PM
i'm sorta in the mood for a dunkaccino. it's just kinda hot out.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:55 PM
Did Victoria fall on her burr, like she did last Webster Hall show?
And...No....No I would not.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 2:56 PM
it's cool, she probably prefers guys who can spell an SAT word like "butt" correctly anyway.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:03 PM
19th!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:03 PM
21st!!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:07 PM
nice 3:03, nice.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:08 PM
Victoria + us = VICTORIOUS
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:10 PM
nice 3:08, nice.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:13 PM
Too cute.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:34 PM
I'd hit that. Hey Oh!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:40 PM
Ezra Koenig called. He wants his hair back.
The guy from We Are Scientists called. He said to stop pretending you're him and trying to bang his wife from Au Revoir Simone.
BrooklynVegan comment board called. They want their boyish-faced hipster look back.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:57 PM
Merch scene looks WACK!!! Giant font on hipster band t-shirt = WAAAACK!!!!!!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 3:58 PM
The Arrangement (of Hummus) was missing. I'd eat some of that...
Posted by Anonymouse | February 24, 2011 4:13 PM
was "?" a new song?
Posted by ? | February 24, 2011 4:35 PM
Beach House gives me a 7.5 inch erection.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 4:42 PM
"Beach House gives me a 7.5 inch erection."
So does Best Coast. Oh wait, that's just Bethany.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 4:51 PM
I'm so glad I was here for the first 7.5 posts. Otherwise I'd come here and be all like "what are they talking about with 7.5"?" But instead I'm like yeah I'm as cool as these guys because I know what they're talking about.
Posted by 8 inch | February 24, 2011 4:55 PM
Victoria used to serve me nachos in Baltimore. One ugly bitch
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 5:00 PM
very cool comment @5:00 im sure she enjoyed yr presence
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 5:12 PM
Happiness, fellas. Embrace happiness.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 5:14 PM
her skin looks like the surface of a freshly opened platter of hummous
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 5:17 PM
I can't begin to imagine the 7.5 inches I would have if Victoria served me hummus.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 5:43 PM
Vicki LeGrand Band
Smells like a beach house...old rotted wood panels soaked with sea water
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 5:44 PM
There's a girl in Beach House?
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 6:23 PM
Yes.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 6:34 PM
Damn sissy-ass beach tunes...how you gonna do when a fuckin pirate tries to cornhole your friend? Hangin out on the sand and shit....sea clowns...
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 6:35 PM
^^ This guy writes worse than a 7.5 inch piece of hummus.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 6:46 PM
CABS ARE HERE!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 6:57 PM
Y'ALL HEARD ABOUT CORNBREAD? SHIT IS HOT!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 7:15 PM
Corndawgs!!!!!!!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 10:25 PM
that setlist... they should really do their cover of gucci mans lemonade live everywhere. that soudns like a made up bv absurdist troll comment but it's not they do a great cover.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 11:00 PM
does the rug match the drapes?
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 11:06 PM
imagine naming your band BEACH HOUSE.
then imagine tr--EH EH CABS ARE HERE!
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 11:29 PM
I wonder if the carpet matches her pubes.
Posted by Anonymous | February 24, 2011 11:43 PM
^ Yeah, you must get all the chicks with those types of lines.
Posted by Anonymous | February 26, 2011 6:07 PM