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Frankie Rose played Knitting Factory w/ DIVE & Night Manager (pics, review), adds another NYC show to tour (dates)

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Bill Pearis

Frankie Rose @ Knitting Factory
Frankie Rose

Frankie Rose definitely prescribes to the “leave them wanting more” philosophy. When she blurted out “okay that was the last one, thanks” after seven songs, the entire Knitting Factory crowd did a “what that’s it?” double take.

In fairness, she’d just blasted through most of her new, Best New Music‘d album Interstellar (which clocks in at 32 minutes), skipping only the three ethereal slow jams that would be tough to replicate live. Especially at a first show playing all-new material with an all new band. A new album that is much more complex (and studio-centric) than anything she’s done before. I think because we didn’t get a “this will be our last song” warning, we weren’t ready for it to be over.

First show jitters considered, it was a pretty good set. Frankie’s definitely upping her game, with appropriately interstellar projections lighting the way, and a much stronger band than she’s ever played with. (I’m not sure who most of them are but Alexander Iezzi, formerly of Dream Diary, was on drums.) It took about three songs to get the mix right, but by the time she got to the spooky, Twilighty “Moon in My Mind” they achieved liftoff.

We did get a one song encore, “Candy,” the only older song of the night and the most confident of the set (No surprise, really). I hope, as the she tours with this new line-up, they try Interstellar’s more delicate numbers like “Pair of Wings” and “The Fall” which are two of the album’s best moments. And will lengthen that setlist.

Frankie’s soon-to-be tourmates DIVE get better every time I see them. Which is fairly often. Jokes are made about how often they play, but damn if that constant gigging hasn’t paid off: DIVE are crazy tight and exciting. And that’s more than you can say about 90% of bands. While they suffer a bit from samey material (which bares more than a little resemblance to Cole Smith’s other band, Beach Fossils), they make up for it with boundless energy.

I’ve seen openers Night Manager a few times now and I’m still not sure what to make of them. It’s almost like two styles force-fused together. While the band plays complex, riff-heavy music that recalls early ’90s shoegaze and the DC scene (there’s more than a little Shudder to Think in their sound), Caitlin Seager is more in the Bethany Cosentino pure/clear vocal style. (Which kind of makes them a little like Britpop band Echobelly, weirdly.) I’m not sure those two disparate elements work together all the time, but Night Manager are fun to watch, especially guitarist David Anthony Tassy who really gets into it.

DIVE and Night Manager play again tonight (2/24) at Cheap Storage. Night Manager also play next Wednesday (2/28) at Death by Audio.

As mentioned before Frankie Rose and DIVE head out on tour together in April. That tour now includes a May 5th Mercury Lounge show which goes on sale at noon today. All tour dates and more pictures of all three bands frokm the Brooklyn show, below…


Night Manager

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Dive

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Frankie Rose

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Frankie Rose – 2012 Tour Dates
Thu-Apr-05 Philadelphia, PA Northstar Bar *
Fri-Apr-06 Arlington, VA Artisphere / Chickfactor 2012: For The Love of Pop!
Sat-Apr-07 Baltimore, MD Golden West *
Sun-Apr-08 Richmond, VA Strange Matter *
Mon-Apr-09 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506 *
Tue-Apr-10 Atlanta, GA 529 *
Fri-Apr-13 Dallas, TX Club Dada *
Sat-Apr-14 Austin, TX Red 7 *
Mon-Apr-16 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room *
Wed-Apr-18 San Diego, CA Soda Bar *
Thu-Apr-19 Los Angeles, CA The Satellite *
Fri-Apr-20 Santa Cruz, CA Crepe Place *
Sat-Apr-21 San Francisco, CA Brick and Mortar Music Hall *
Mon-Apr-23 Portland, OR East End *
Tue-Apr-24 Vancouver, BC The Biltmore *
Wed-Apr-25 Seattle, WA Barboza *
Thu-Apr-26 Missoula, MT The Badlander *
Sat-Apr-28 Fargo, ND The Aquarium *
Sun-Apr-29 Minneapolis, MN 7th St Entry *
Mon-Apr-30 Chicago, IL Township *
Tue-May-01 Detroit, MI Magic Stick *
Wed-May-02 Toronto, ON The Shop under Parts and Labor *
Thu-May-03 Albany, NY Valentine’s *
Sat-May-05 New York, NY Mercury Lounge *
* = w/ DIVE