Twin Peaks, TWIABP, Protomartyr, Single Mothers, Dilly Dally, Tweens & more played BV's Friday CMJ day party (pics)
photos by Amanda Hatfield and Chris La Putt; words by Pink Baby
Dilly Dally / Tweens
The Canadian group Dilly Dally exude a combination of nonchalance and expertly-concealed nervousness. Their songs are bloody-knuckled marvels, big, hammering numbers that are grainy and gritty and yet still centered around clear and cunning pop melodies – it’s like sucking into a milkshake and getting a mouthful of sand. The reference points are all late ’90s – there are nods to Nirvana and L7 in both the charred scrap metal guitars and Katie Monks’s roaring, blown-throat vocals. Their force and power was breathtaking, the sound of a band discovering itself in real-time and reveling in the possibilities. – [Wondering Sound]
The first of our two CMJ week day parties happened on Friday and kicked off with one of the bands we were most excited about, Toronto’s Dilly Dally, playing their first US show. Even with it being Friday at noon and with Colin Meloy playing a last minute set on the street a few blocks away, there was a good crowd there for their noon set — including a lot of label folk to see the unsigned (in America) band. As the Wondering Sound review above points out, they delivered and then some.
Then came UK grungy punks The Wytches who brought shades of early Nirvana to their early set.
Tweens, who have great rock hair to go along with their undeniably catchy, spunky indie rock, followed. At this point, we’d now seen two of our top 10 live sets of CMJ week (Tweens and Dilly Dally).
Then there was King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, no strangers to Baby’s All Right, who came armed with three guitarists, two drummers, a flute and an insane amount of energy. If anyone could follow Tweens, they could. The Australian band may have played more shows during CMJ than any other band and their crazed stage presence never flagged, nor did audiences bouncing. The band’s new album, I’m in Your Mind Fuzz, is out on John Dwyer’s Castle Face label and they’ve clearly nicked a few tricks from Thee Oh Sees. They barreled through their set with nary a pause for breath.
Protomartyr, whose Under Color of Official Right is one of 2014’s best albums, brought a typically intense set (one of four at CMJ) characterized by inventive arrangements and killer musicianship (drummer Alex Leonard’s contributions should not be undervalued). At the helm, frontman Joe Casey (wearing his free Bell’s Brewery sunglasses) offered up tales of everyday life in his typical, witty and poetic off-the-cuff style. He may have also tailored lyrics for “Tarpeian Rock” for our party/commenters. Great set.
After Protomartyr, the vibe changed from post-punk cool to cathartic emo as The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die took the stage. The band fuse the genre with chamber pop-style arrangements and had multiple members singing throughout the set, including spoken word artist Chris Zizzamia joining them for a couple songs. As far as modern emo bands go, they’re really a thing of their own and that was clear from Saturday’s set, which unlike their Cameo show later that night, went off without a hitch.
Single Mothers
Canadian punks Single Mothers followed with what had to be the most intense set of the day party. They were a 5-piece this time, adding in a second guitarist, and all five members were in 100% anger mode the entire time, never looking anything but intimidating. They showed up (a little) fashionably late, set up quick, and just did their thing and left. No frills, no nothing, just badass.
Twin Peaks wrapped up Friday’s day party without tearing down any of the acoustic ceiling tiles this time, but it was still a spirited set.
At noon we gave out a keg of delicious and rare (1 of less than 10 kegs in NYC) Bell’s Brewery Sweet Potato Stout. Bell’s was also giving out koozies, bottle openers, sunglasses and other goodies, and was represented on three of the venues taps.
Sailor Jerry drinks were also complimentary for much of the afternoon, and the buzz of a Three Kings tattoo gun could be heard in the side room all day as people signed up to win Sailor Jerry tattoos and get inked right on the spot.
We then did it all again Saturday.
More pictures from Friday below….
—
Dilly Dally (by Amanda Hatfield)
The Wytches (by Amanda Hatfield)
Tweens (by Chris La Putt)
Tweens (by Amanda Hatfield)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (by Amanda Hatfield)
Protomartyr (by Amanda Hatfield)
The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (by Amanda Hatfield)
Single Mothers (by Chris La Putt)
Twin Peaks (by Amanda Hatfield)
Twin Peaks (by Chris La Putt)
