Live: The Love Story at Cake Shop 3.27.9

The Love Story have been around for a while now. The trio released a great EP on their own Blonde Records in 2004, following up with their first full-length , the self-titled The Love Story in 2007. The band has a mid 90's Midwestern sound, with early Liz Phair stuff being a good touchstone. No bass, although singer Molly Donahue handles that role nicely with some tasty single note lines that mesh nicely with co-guitarist Renn Cheadle's more textural contributions. Donahue uses a fair amount of reverb on her voice, filling out the band's sound without going all Mazzy Star on us. She's been tentative live in recent years, but the recent shows have found The Love Story a lot more comfortable in their own skin.

The band was plagued by the usual monitor problems a band playing Cake Shop has to weather, but The Love Story really tore the place down. They might not have been able to hear themselves, but the rest of the room could and their loss was definitely our gain. There is a quiet intensity to The Love Story that a lot of bands really lack. They also lack drummer Jason Trammel, an absolute metronomic terror whose swing is as strong as his stagewear is questionable. Five years as a band have coalesced the band into the only band around today that I believe I can reasonably support that doesn't have an actual bass player in their ranks. 

The Love Story have a new record called Mink out now. Look out for a review here soon, but don't postpone joy waiting for the JS-NYC seal of approval. You can buy Mink in tangible or digital form here from Blonde Records for a mere $10. Buy the vinyl and get a cd copy with it. You could do a lot worse for a sawbuck. Keep track of TLS here.

R

Live: The Love Story with She Keeps Bees and Mount Olympus @ Hank's Saloon 2.13.9

So The Love Story have been flying under the radar for the better part of a year crafting their new record on Blonde. It's called Mink, for those of you scoring at home, and this ill-portended day marked their record release. 

As the internet is the best repository of misinformation there is, I checked the Hank's website (define: incongruous) to find that there was another band tagged on the bill, which sure made it seem like our heroes would be kicking it Wilson Pickett style and going on around the midnight hour.  Oh, the wrongitude! I got a text around the ten o'clock hour from two-thirds of Aldenbarton that there were only three bands and that The Love Story were playing second. Cue one frantic sprint over the bridge.

In case you were wondering, Daddy still has legs. I posted up at Hank's in under a half-hour and ran into half of the people I know crammed into the dive-iest hipster bar in Downtown Brooklyn. I hadn't been out there since I sold the Drunk Stuntmen a laptop there a million years ago but suffice to say that things haven't changed a damn bit, save for the clientele, and that's only due to the high rate of alcohol related mortality. Was good to see Heath in the rock arena (and his long-suffering/improbably attractive girlfriend Christina) plus the Aldenbarton crew and the regular gang of Love Story/She Keeps Bees superfans. She Keeps Bees were a couple songs into their set, but the dynamic duo sure do sound nice. I'm not big on the deconstructionist duo thing nor the couples that rock together, but Jessica sure can sing and they sound decent, even through a shitty PA. They recorded their new record Nests live at their house. If you don't make it out to the gang of shows they have booked in the coming weeks, you can pick up a copy of Nests here from the kids at Other Music.

The Love Story were up next to a packed room. It took a bit for them to sort out some sound issues but once they were ready, the kids really tore down the joint. Still no bass player, but save for the slap in the face to the low-end community, these kids sounded pretty damn great. It's not a surprise, but it's always a pleasure to be reminded. There's not too much in the way of frills: Molly can sing, the other two jokers can play, and the songs are just plain great. The sound got a little sketchy up front, but it was still good enough to send a lot of crappy Brooklyn rockers back to their rehearsal space early to play some catch-up. TLS were as sinuous and glossy as their new album's namesake, look for a review in the next week or so at JS-NYC. Trust me, while I appreciate your deference, you don't need my affirmation to go out and pick up Mink immediately. You can pick it up from Blonde Records here.Tell Ren JS-NYC sent you. The Love Story are playing some more shows in the coming weeks, including a show on 3/27 at the temporal timewarp that is The Cake Shop. Keep tabs on all the goings-on in The Love Story here.

I bailed before the Mount Olympus set, but TLS drum juggernaut Jason assured me that they kind of bring it. Check them out here. The force seems strong within them.

R