Live: Tenement with Swearin', Vacation & Space Trash at Brooklyn Fireproof 9.12.12

Tenement are an amazing band that I can honestly see getting embraced by the mainstream and going all Nirvana Green Day on us in the very near future. Tour dates are sort of feast or famine for a number of reasons, but NYC has seen its fair share of the Wisconsin indie rockers in last the last couple months. This show was pretty well booked, heavy with the some of best like-minded bands you'll see touring today, and very probably the best $6 you'll spend on an indie rock show this year.

That said, the proceedings did bring to light some of my favorite pet peeves about the DIY shows. First would be the 8pm start time. Or lack thereof. Now I can see things starting a half hour or so past then, but an hour and a half is a little silly, especially when the show is in the middle of goddamn nowhere. Kids could also take a fucking shower. If you are on tour, I can see giving a pass, but when the locals smell worse than the not olfactorally delightful road dogs, something needs to be rectified. Beyond that, Brooklyn Fireproof is a nice venue, and while the concrete room didn't bode well for acoustical delight, it was actually a pretty fun space to see a show. While I'm bitching, the addition of Space Trash was not especially welcome either, although they were decent enough for what was allegedly their first show.

Vacation batted second. The Ohio gents have stepped to the top of the list of bands I always internally bitch about being on bills and then wonder why when they rock my old ass. The drummer as lead singer thing is really the only thing I could take a cheap shot at, save for the fact that he's a great singer and drummer. I'll definitely have to come with a better attitude next time.

As things were getting late, I was pleased to see that Tenement were jumping the order (normally, a pet peeve). The Wisconsin trio has never been known for their epic sets, but this show was probably the longest, and by far best, show I've seen them play. Like Swearin', Tenement have just enough great songs to make opening slots a tornado of great tunes. They romped through a half-hour and came back for a couple more before I bailed on Swearin' and hopped in the saddle. I'm sure they were great. Swearin' are playing Cameo Gallery next week for some other bands record release show. Tenement are out for the next couple weeks, so see them when/if you can.

R

Live: Swearin' at Mercury Lounge 9.10.12

photo stolen with apologies and not from Mercury

Looks like Swearin' are blowing up, as the interwebs tell me they have transcended the blogosphere and good old word of mouth and are currently getting space in the New York Times about their new release. Kudos to them, even if they have upped and moved to Philly on us. Oddly enough, that move has precipitated an inordinate number of local shows of late. This gig was the opening slot of an early show and at Mercury, a perfect storm of awesome for this old man that had me gladly paying full price to leave after the first band.

Between the first EP and their new full-length, Swearin' have the perfect set for an opener and made the most of it, blazing through a half hour or so of the best of those releases. The better than usual PA gave a little more shine to Kyle's songs this time around, but everything about this set was pretty great. The touring is definitely paying off, at least when it comes to the foursome getting tight as all hell. Swearin' is obviously a band firing on all cylinders. See them with Tenement later this month in Brooklyn, at Cameo the week after, and look for them out with Japandroids in November.

R

Swearin' - s/t

Swearin' may very be my favorite new band. They've got the hooky boy-girl jangle rock thing going on that has been really hitting home at JS-NYC HQ, rock that is equal parts David Gedge and Kim Deal. I've seen a decent amount of their local shows and even the most oblivious of fans has to have noticed they've been filling larger and larger rooms  Their first EP What A Dump got a lot of spins at JS-NYC HQ and it was with much rejoicing six months on that news of this eponymous LP came down the pike.

Vinyl for Swearin' comes courtesy of your friends at Salinas Records and those that operate in the strictly digital domain can check out their Bandcamp presence. Twelve songs appear on their debut full-length, with the aces Kenosha and Crushing reappearing from the EP. The ten new songs are pretty aces as well, with Here To Hear and Movie Star topping the list. Looks like we are losing the band to Philly, but those of us that want to love a local hero should step lively here and here to get a piece of their rock while they still have NYC roots.

R

Live: Iron Chic with Laura Stevenson and the Cans, Low Culture and Swearin' @ Death By Audio 6.10.11

It's pretty rare in my cranky old age that I want to see an entire bill from stem to stern, but this show was one of them. Iron Chic have been a JS-NYC perennial since we got off the ground, and Swearin' have stepped in the breach in the absence of Little Lungs as my go-to lady fronted band in town.

I posted up just as Swearin' were getting under way and thoroughly enjoyed them. The What A Dump tape is pretty aces and they are on tour for most of the Summer, so go out of your way to check them out.

I had intended to miss Low Culture and Laura Stevenson in favor of hanging with the local bearded drummer set, but ended up sticking around and enjoying both of them. Low Culture are out for a bunch of dates with IC. Based out of  New Mexico, they have some ex-Marked Men and Shang-A-Lang dudes in their ranks and sounded like it. Grab their demo here from the Dirt Cult kids and look out for a full-length maybe in the Fall? I've ended up seeing Laura Stevenson a couple three times over the last couple years and liked her/them, but always wondered why The Cans played on the kind of indie/punk bills they did. Turns out Stevenson also plays in Bomb The Music Industry, so if you enjoy either or both, check them out. I understand LS needs some surgery, but look out for them to return to their continued heavy touring level in fairly short order. Here's a link.

Iron Chic closed out the proceedings with their usual set and respective blood alcohol levels. Things seemed to stretch out a little longer than I remember their average set being, perhaps owing to their having been playing some higher profile opening slots with Bouncing Souls and Hot Water Music in recent months. Either way, good set from good dudes and if the maelstrom of singing/flying bodies is any indication, team IC is maintaining their local fanbase quite nicely. Keep track of them here.

R

Swearin' - What A Dump

I saw Swearin' play the Little Lungs show at Death By Audio the other night and thought they sounded like pretty a decent prospect to drink beer and rock to this summer. They sounded a lot like PS Eliot to these ears, just with a bunch of dudes backing this time. I picked up What A Dump after their set and it appears that it is indeed Allison from P.S. Eliot handling most of the vocals. The other guy who sings a bit is evidently named Kyle and used to play in a band called Big Soda that I've never heard. Not sure of the provenance of the other two gents.


What A Dump is six short sharp songs, only once nosing past the two and a half minute mark and mostly rounding it down toward the two minute end of things. Swearin' make the most of the time, matching Pavement-approved indie guitar with some Kristen Hersh/Mary Lou Lord vocal flavor. It's good. Really good, actually. I'd say Kenosha is probably my favorite, but Snag and the title track are pretty aces as well. Either way, you can check What A Dump out at pay what you will pricing here courtesy of the band and the good folk of If You Make It. Swearin' web presence can be found here.

R

Live: Little Lungs with Noun and Swearin' @ Death By Audio 3.30.12

Little Lungs have been up on blocks for a while now, with very little word as to their status. I feared for the worst, and as such was pretty pleased to hear that they were doing this one-off show at Death By Audio as a benefit for MS. I had hoped to rock star in as LL jumped off, but good old punk rock standard time stymied my old man plans and Swearin' jumped off pretty much as soon as I walked in.

They sound good. I'm pretty sure there is a PS Eliot connection with the Swearin' singer. The two ladies sure sound alike, as does the band, save for them all being dudes. The foursome knocked out a pretty aces set of tight-ish indie rock that sounded like they have heard the Throwing Muses. I'll definitely see them again and picked up their debut EP. Look forward to a review soon.

Next up was Noun, aka Marissa the guitarist/singer from Screaming Females in a quasi-solo incarnation. This live show had her backed by the drummer from Cheeky. In a nutshell: less soloing, more screeching vocals ala Kim Shattuck. The Moe Tucker drumming was fun to watch and both ladies seem to be having a good time, but I'm still not a fan. That said, a good bunch of people were there to see them and seemed to dig em. I say meh.

Little Lungs split the evening into sets by both incarnations of the band. Angie, Brian and Josh kicked things off for maybe twenty minutes before Brian tagged Jackie in and they romped through most of the exceedingly awesome Hoist Me Up. Angie mentioned this was the first time they had played in two years, but you wouldn't have known to listen. It was a pretty great set and I recorded it, so mail if you'd like a copy. It was nice to see the kids back in action. Good cause aside, it seems a shame to have this be the Little Lungs swan song. Ideally this overcomes some inertia and we'll see some more of Little Lungs soon.

R