words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Tim Griffin

The Music Tapes visited NYC for two nights in March - Maxwell's in Hoboken (3/1, which I wrote about) and two days later at the Bell House (3/1), where Tim Griffin took pics (below) and wrote:

"The big event was when julian came out in to the audience and asked everyone to sit around him. I didn't catch all of what he was saying, as he was un-mic'd, but he handed out paper and pens to everyone (from a plastic camel attached to the end of a broomstick - of course) and asked them to write down a memory on a piece of paper, and that afterward we'd all go outside and burn it. Seemed nice enough. Until everyone was outside. 11 degrees feeling like -3 with the wind. Brrrr....as the fires 'raged' in the pot, Julian lined everyone up and they proceeded to run and jump over the burning paper in a pot. Admittedly it was all very engaging and charming, however ...we were outside for at least 15 minutes, which was more than enough to make my hands completely numb. I was grateful to go back inside, where Julian and Co. finished out the set and the evening."

In other Neutral Milk Hotel related news, A Hawk and A Hacksaw - Jeremy Barnes (ex-NMH like Julian from Music Tapes) and Heather Trost, will be touring as a four-piece, accompanied by Mark Weaver on tuba and Samuel Johnson on trumpet. They'll visit SXSW on Thursday, March 19, before opening for Andrew Bird, and then Wilco across North America, and then touring the UK in June.

AHAAH's fourth album, Délivrance, is set for release on The Leaf Label on May 18. Its first single, "Foni Tu Argile," comes out April 27th as a digital download and a "limited edition of 500 hand-numbered 10" singles, cut at 78rpm, with packaging that replicates the shellac records of old." (The song is streaming now at the band's Myspace. )

All Music Tapes pics (and setlist) and AHAAH tour dates below...

Continue reading "Music Tapes Bell House pics, a Hawk & a Hacksaw tour dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

The Music Tapes @ a CMJ show (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The Music Tapes played Maxwell's in Hoboken on Sunday (3/1), and for those who missed the criminally under attended show (maybe something to do with the weather), you're in luck - they'll be back in town on Tuesday (tonight, 3/3) playing the Bell House with the same lineup of opening acts: musical mad scientist Brian Dewan and upbeat Elephant 6-ers Nana Grizol. Tickets are still available, and we're giving away a pair of tickets. Details below.

For the show at Maxwell's, I trekked through the blowing snow to arrive in Hoboken, a place that seems to have frozen in time the most picturesque parts of every U.S. small town. Inside the show space, hidden past the club's front restaurant-bar area, 40-50 brave concertgoer gathered around the stage, where second-act Nana Grizol rocked with warming exuberance. (I missed opener Brian Dewan - more on him later, though.)

Nana Grizol's eight-strong lineup crammed the stage, which was crowded with 7-Foot Tall Metronome and Static the Singing TV standing at attention for the upcoming Music Tapes set. But first, the Athens, GA, band shared songs and swapped instruments, which included guitar, bass, and two drum sets. One member switched from clarinet to trumpet to melodica with ease. The horn section expanded into three trumpet harmonies, then contracted to a single euphonium. The bulk of the songs were fronted by Theo Hilton, who sang with a kind of Promise Ring innocence in his voice. The roaring, clanking sound convinced me to shell out for a copy of their 2008 Orange Twin recording, Love It Love It.

Between bands, opener Brian Dewan set up a projector and screened a short film so good it made me wish I trudged out sooner to catch his solo set. The hand-drawn animated slides that populated the film told a short history of civic pride, coyly poking fun at the structures of society by connecting scenes of Aztec ritual sacrifice, paying taxes, and odious parking meters into a modern parable that paid homage to archaic public service videos. Each frame change was announced with a studious "plonk."

Shortly after, The Music Tapes took the stage, borrowing most of Nana Grizol's members (or maybe vice-versa). Julian Koster, as always, fronted the band with a banjo and saw. Elephant 6-regular Nesey Gallons also played banjo - in all, a lot of the Elephant 6 holiday tour seemed to be on board. On "Aliens," Dewan even joined the band, playing one of his homemade Melody Gins, a knob-covered oscillator contraption.

Koster played many of the same songs he did at the band's Mercury Lounge CMJ show: "Freeing Song for Reindeer," "Majesty," "Song for Oceans Falling," "Orchestra's Orchestration" and "What the Television Tells Us" (the latter two with props). A number of the songs started with just Koster and ended in double-drums, double-distorted banjo noise. On "Song for the Death of Parents," Koster played percussion by bouncing a kickball on a soup kettle with a microphone hidden underneath in a perfect melding of theme and medium.

Julian came into the crowd to play a singing-saw version of "The First Noel" and a song on his tiny electric organ, before returning to the stage and closing the show with "Manifest Destiny." (He also promised to play a crowd game with bells on Tuesday at the Bell House.)

Live, The Music Tapes continue to be one of the most consistently entertaining bands around. The scratchy, distorted sound of its recordings (can a singing saw's sound actually be recorded?), while interesting, drastically understates the buoyant joy and enigmatic energy of Koster and Co. in person.

Besides at tonight's Bell House show, New Yorkers can catch Brian Dewan when he performs a free set with his homemade-instrument project, Dewanatron (with cousin Leon), at the opening of Pierogi Gallery (177 N 9th St, Brooklyn) on Saturday, March 7, 9pm.

Video and contest details below...

Continue reading "The Music Tapes, Brian Dewan & Nana Grizol played Maxwell's (review) -- Bell House TONIGHT (win tix)"