by Andrew Frisicano

Jemina Pearl @ Union Pool...

The audience was left to wonder exactly what happened when Jemina Pearl walked off stage less than 30 minutes into her headlining set Saturday night (2/13) at Union Pool. The question wasn't the shortness itself, but the abruptness of her departure: after getting increasingly frustrated with something, she kicked the drum set, gave the one-finger salute to her band and left, to the stunned then embarrassed faces of her supporting trio. The show was really just getting started. "As long as everyone had fun, that's what matters," said the bass player sheepishly before getting a lit cigarette thrown at him by the singer, in a brief return to the stage.

They did manage to get through "I Hate People," a cover of "Band on the Run" and a handful of others (though not "Heartbeats" which one of the most enthusiastic fans requested as a not-to-be encore). It was an awkward hometown end to nearly a month of touring.

Openers Harlem were admirably sloppy and enthused (it's hard not to think of a less manic Black Lips). Their animated, banadana-ed singer/guitarist and more straight-laced drummer swapped roles halfway through the set, which brought out a different dynamic for sure - round two was cleaner with more of a focus on pointed guitar riffs and less on effusive vocals. The Austin band's second album is due this summer on Matador, and they'll be touring the West Coast for the next few weeks.

Jemina's next scheduled show/shows are SXSW. The full Ecstatic Peace SXSW showcase lineup (Thurston Moore, J Mascis & Andrew WK included), more Union Pool pictures, a video and Harlem tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Jemina Pearl played Brooklyn w/ Harlem, stormed off stage (pics), playing SXSW w/ Thurston, J. Mascis, Andrew WK"

by Martin Longley

Friday's gig's sold out, although in the new Knitting Factory this still means that we're not feeling claustrophobic. Still room to move. It's like a mini-history of London punk, with former Slits singer/guitarist Viv Albertine playing a completely solo opening set that feels like it's half monologue as she recalls the days of platonically sharing a bed with Sid Vicious and getting her one-time heroin fix from Johnny Thunders. Mother sits you on her knee, to tell you tales of the old days, but few bedtime stories tend to inhabit such a nihilistic world. The rules of punk are explained, and Albertine's anecdotes come across as a mixture of naîve wonderment and epic sleaze: there's something very strange about this legend-making material becoming a thing of thirty-plus year-old history. Sadly, Albertine's tinny-guitared songs are quite basic and uninspiring, but the massive Slits legacy is indeed a difficult songbook to match.

Albertine fares much better later, guesting with The Raincoats to play "Adventures Close To Home", which was originally a Slits ditty. This is the climax of a short US tour, coinciding with the reissue of the band's ultra-classic 1979 debut album. Predictably, it's these songs that provide the highlights, played in an authentically raw fashion, as if they were scrawled out only a few days previously. The face-painted Raincoats emanate sheer inclusive bonhomie, ebulliently bouncing and bounding. Gina Birch and Ana Da Silva swap vocals and guitars, whilst Anne Wood jumps around gleefully as she bows with a fierce attack to her sawtooth violin riffing.

Vice Cooler's drumming is almost too professionally session-istic, but we can't really argue with the added thunder-power he provides. There's "No One's Little Girl", with its eeeek-ing violin/vocal harmonies, and the minor fluff of "Babydog" from their fleeting 1996 revival. The true classics, though, are "No Side To Fall In", "Fairytale In The Supermarket", "No Looking" and "Lola", all delivered as a multi-vocalled rabble. The Raincoats remain completely committed, still in touch with their original ramshackle energy-forces.

Check out a video from Viv's set, below...

Continue reading "The Raincoats & Viv Albertine played Knitting Factory"