Foxing, Sorority Noise, Moving Mountains & Shortly celebrated 20 yrs of Triple Crown (pics)
Beloved rock label Triple Crown Records celebrated its 20th anniversary with a sold out, BrooklynVegan-presented show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday (12/8) with Foxing, Sorority Noise, Moving Mountains and Shortly.
Up first was Shortly, aka Alexandria Maniak, who played solo with an electric guitar. She just signed to the label and only released one song so far, “Matthew,” but the room was still pretty full for her and most people seemed pretty into it. She got tons of applause and crowd interaction between songs, and the audience was usually dead-silent as she was playing her quiet songs. (The crowd especially roared when she mentioned one song was in the American Football tuning.) I thought she sounded great, and I can’t wait to hear more from her.
Shortly was followed by Moving Mountains, for whom this show (and Philly the night before with Kississippi) was their first time playing since their three shows with Moneen and Prawn almost exactly two years ago. Like at those shows, they played as a six-piece, giving them the option to add keyboards, auxiliary drums, three-part vocal harmonies, and sometimes four guitars at once. This setup is the fullest they’ve ever sounded, and it works just as well with the older songs as the newer ones. They played just one song from their classic debut Pneuma, which turned 10 this year (“Cover the Roots, Lower the Stems”), the great “Deathless” from their comeback split with Prawn, and plenty of the in-between. Their shows may be few and far between these days, but they still sound as good as ever. If you get a chance to see them soon, do it.
Up next was Sorority Noise, who played this year’s acclaimed You’re Not As _____ As You Think straight through except for the last song, and ended with earlier fan fave “Using.” Sorority Noise were the most upbeat, rockin’ band on the bill, and their live show followed suit. Members were jumping up and down, rolling on the floor, doing hair flips, arm windmills, and more rock-out moves. Singer Cam Boucher has really developed a connection with his crowds, thanks in part to the revealing nature of his lyrics, and that was clear at the MHOW show. People were screaming back every word, sometimes even louder than the band.
Foxing closed the show out, one day after it was revealed that bassist Josh Coll had left the band. He was missed, but Foxing still sounded just fine, and they played a new song that has me really looking forward to their next album. Singer Conor Murphy broke out an acoustic guitar for that one, and it was the kind of thing where you could instantly tell it’s a clear progression from their earlier material. The rest of the set was split pretty well between The Albatross and Dealer, and Foxing sounded massive on every song. They truly never disappoint.
Pictures of all four artists are in the gallery above.
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photos by Amanda Hatfield
