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

Lemuria - Pebble

Personally, it's pretty staggering to me that it was five years ago now that I got the split with Kind Of Like Spitting and got bitten by the Lemuria bug. The Buffalo unit has switched bass players in recent history and made the curious move of signing with new school hardcore enclave Bridge Nine, but little has changed in the Lemuria formula. It's still a post-Velocity Girl meets Breeders vibe, in the time-honored power trio format with mostly female vocals, although the drummer sings a fair bit.

Pebble is only their second formal full-length, but there has been a raft of EP and single releases in the three years since their Asian Man debut. Pebble was produced by the estimable J. Robbins at his Magpie Cage Studios in charming Baltimore, lending just the right amount of spit and polish (as well as some auto-tune, methinks) to the proceedings to make one hell of a record. Lemuria should be well proud of themselves. I'd put Pebble up there with P.S. Eliot and my beloved Little Lungs. You should put it in your earhole(s). Here's a link to facilitate.

R

Live: RVIVR with LIttle Lungs, The Measure (SA) and The Fish @ 538 Johnson Ave

Night two of the NYC RVIVR dates was out at 538 Johnson. A bit of a hike, but with The Measure and Little Lungs on the bill, it was more than worth it for $5. In hindsight, I would have avoided shredding my back wheel on a fucking plastic bag during the whole endeavor, but not so bad all around.

So I limped into port, got inside and immediately realized that I was indeed in a different space than the Iron Chic show last week, and though built out more than the last time I was there, very probably where I saw Fucked Up a couple years ago. I caught the last three or four songs from The Fish, but could have done without. Co-ed line up, guy singer who has a sort of third-rate Dylan thing going on, not especially remarkable.

The Measure (sa) were up next. They have a new record coming out on No Idea that is purported to be pretty awesome and have been ramping up the live shows accordingly. I like them very much, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: what is up with Fid and his relentless youth crew jumping? Really. It is so incongruous with the rest of the band, and really most of the songs that I really do hope that he is the best guy on Earth so I can relegate the whole thing to endearing rather than maddeningly slappable. Exclusive of that, The Measure (sa) really are a good time. They aren't the best band, but there is a definite sense of both craft and individuality to the proceedings. There is a record release party for Notes 10/15 at Coco66, but there is very little chance that you will catch JS-NYC falling for the okey-doke at that time warp anytime soon. You should see them anywhere else early and often (unless you think they are best appreciated at 1am midweek).

Man, how great are Little Lungs? I always forget how great they are until I see them live and now they very well be my favorite local band. They have swapped bass players since I've seen them last, tipping the gender majority back to the male advantage, but are no less awesome. The crowd thought so, too. They played pretty much all the stuff from their stellar Hoist Me Up and were damn awesome doing it, I must say. Angie does one hell of a job singing and playing guitar and the rhythm section more than holds its own, live or recorded. Little Lungs were so good, in fact, that I didn't even stick around for RVIVR, just in case I had to call an audible and find a train home. All props due to RVIVR, see them if you can, but as they will be overseas, and live in Oly, look out for Little Lungs and see them ASAP.

R

Little Lungs - Hoist Me Up

Regular JS-NYC readers (this means you, Mom) may recall my being kinda lukewarm about Little Lungs, then catching feelings for them pretty hard after one of their live shows. Well, after only a half-year of slacking, I managed to come up with a copy of their record. Yowza! I am now officially all about Little Lungs. Split between Jersey and Brooklyn, the trio really does a great job of catching their lightning in a bottle on Hoist Me Up. It's a great recording, especially with the vocals. Neither Angie nor Jackie is in any danger of being mistaken for Mahalia Jackson, but they are great to listen to, alone or together. There's a healthy dose of Lemuria / Potboiler end of the If You Make It vibe about the proceedings, as well as some early 90s North Carolina. Rarely is this a bad thing, and Little Lungs do no injustice to the pairing. I can't say enough good things about Little Lungs or Hoist Me Up. Buy it immediately from the good folk of Salinas Records. Here's a link.

R

Live: The State Lottery, Used Kids, Little Lungs, Thousandaires, The New Dress @ Lost & Found 2.19.9

First and foremost, let's all look to the left at the very comely flier created by the folks putting on this event. You'll notice the purported 8pm start time and the order of the bands. I can see thinking the 8 o'clock start time is a load of hooey, but I can personally attest that if I went to the to the totally wrong part of Brooklyn and arrived at, say 11:30. I might be taken aback, pissed even, to see the third band setting up, especially after all the signage outside said Lost and Found was called some sort of Alligator name.

So, sweaty and cranky, I locked up the bike and walked in to find Little Lungs setting up. I hadn't been all that impressed with them in the past and didn't figure I'd be having an epiphany at midnight on a school night, but I will definitely admit that the three-piece kinda brought it. They had been out on tour for a couple weeks recently (maybe with The Measure? If not, there sure were a lot of civilian Measure personnel out) and evidently brought a lot of Husker Du records with them in the van cause the ladies and gent channelled 80's Minneapolis admirably. The trio were tighter than I had ever seen them previously, and if Angie has always been fingertapping up a storm on that Les Paul of hers, I've really been giving Little Lungs a short shrift. I'm definitely going to scare up their records. Look out for a review soon.

Next up was, of course, the Used Kids. Cue cranky old man 'what the fuck?!?. Who cares if they were billed as the first band and that Thousandaires don't play all that often, change up that bill! To be fair, I thought Modern Machines were ok, and was happy to see that Nate had a new band after they went belly up. That fact that Mikey Erg and Kate Cheeky were involved in the garage-punk franchise only sweetened the pot, but I wanted to see some fucking Thousandaires and The Damn State Lottery. Unexpected or not, Used Kids were good. It's obvious that Nate and Danny are from the Figg-obsessed land of Wisconsin and the 1-2-3-4 parts were endearing, but I still wasn't pleased that another player in the game was being introduced, at midnight on a Thursday no less. I bet I'd like them more in different circumstances, but if you're intrigued you can keep tabs on Used Kids here.

At this point it was still up in the air as to whether The State Lottery were still playing. It soon became evident that they were, albeit at 1am. They set up in short order to a decent crowd, but one definitely down in numbers from the early part of the evening. I wondered if it was going to be one of my favorite eventualities: the rare performance from a once-great band that mars what passes for their legacy by playing a short, under-rehearsed set. Despite the admission that their first rehearsal had been earlier that day, it was great to see the Detroit/NYC five-piece making a racket again. They sound a lot like the best parts of Mid 90's DIY like Braid, embellished with keys and the odd sax part. While it was a great set, I don't believe this is going to mark a return for The State Lottery. You can, however, get a free copy of their record(ings) here from the fine folk of If You Make It. I strongly suggest that you do so.

R

Live: Bridge & Tunnel with Get Bent, Antillectual, One Win Choice & Little Lungs 11.8.8

After the previous night, it was hard to come down to Earth, but it was a crappy day and Get Bent were playing the lead off slot on a matinee a block away, so I figured I'd make the trip.

If I may digress into a bit of a tired old man rant. I don't think that it's too much to ask for the actual venue to know when a show will start or the order of the bands, in at least a relative sense. This is sadly not possible for the collective, but its location allows me to not have to hang around like an idiot because I only showed up 45 minutes after the show was supposed to start. Silly me. Another 45 got me a copy of the new DonDiva and an arrival halfway through a band that was not Get Bent, the purported opener. 

The band proved to be Little Lungs. They are pretty decent, but young, so I see leaps and bounds being made in the next year or so. The rocking is in the trio format, with two ladies up front on strings and microphones and a lone gentleman pounding the skins. Think Sleater-Kinney with a dose of The Measure and you've got a good start. The things was, they were not Get Bent, begging the question: where exactly does a project band with only five (non-Pelican length) songs appear in a set in this day and age? No one really seemed to know.

Soon enough One Win Choice set up, although I didn't know at the time.  Evidently hail from NJ and have been around for a while. They seem very earnest, so it'd be wrong to clown them too hard, but I am kind of a dick, so: they were kinda silly. Strike Anywhere tattoos, bad logo that one guy (assumably the designer of said logo) had spray painted on his cab and tattooed on his calf and frontman moves cribbed Tim from Rise Against are not a recipe for good times for this guy, so I went home to realign my perspective. A couple of kids really seemed to dig them and their hearts do seem to be on the right place, so make your own call. Maybe you can throw it on when your Mom won't let you go to the Gaslight Anthem show cause it's a school night.

I got back to see a pretty good bit of Antillectual's set. They had been touring with One Win Choice (in the same van, even) for a couple weeks and ABC was the last stop on the tour before they went back to the Netherlands. Good, sort of of a better version of OWC, although the foreign factor does tend to skew bands towards to better end of things. They've been around for eight years and tour hard in their homeland. They definitely seem to have earned their following, although it was a fairly meagre turnout here in NYC. They are no Manifesto Jukebox, but if you'd like a crustier version of Strike Anywhere in a three-piece format, check them out.

Get Bent finally materialized next and judging by how the room filled up, they seem to be getting quite a name for themselves. Dave Bierling had told me about the demo and I enjoyed it a bunch, but always seemed to miss them when they played. I'm glad I finally caught them. Despite nearly inaudible vocals, they got the best response of the day playing the songs off their demo and maybe a new song. Good times from a band that really deserves to go places. Pick up their demo here and see them next week at Death By Audio with Lemuria.

This was Bridge and Tunnel's homecoming show. They had been out on the road for two months previous behind their No Idea debut and really tightened their shit up. I'm a little too negative for their relentless positivity, but they played a great set. Lots of delay and interplay with single note lines and dual vocals that almost approach a Jawbox vibe, or Rainer Maria on a really good night. I liked their record a bunch before and am definitely going to spin it a lot more after this set. They may be fresh off tour, but they aren't letting any rust settle as they too, are playing with Lemuria on 11/14, making this a show you should probably make it out to. The Steinways/Unlovables show is on Sunday, too, so get your rest. See you there.

R