Photos/Review: Meat Puppets @ Brooklyn Bowl

Meat Puppets @ Brooklyn Bowl - October 12, 2013
Photos/Review: Chris

First things first: it's been well over a year since a post has gone up on this here website. Here's a vague explanation of what happened: over the summer of 2012, life got a little complicated, all but forcing me to focus on things that were far more important than going to shows in New York City. I initially intended for the hiatus to be short term while I took care of shit, but I just never got it together enough to get full on back into managing Fucking Nostalgic. It was a full time job, and I already had one of those, plus a personal life that I needed to tend to. Keeping up a blog is not an easy thing to do, as many will tell you.

But then I started going through some of posts and photo galleries and, well, I got pretty fucking nostalgic about Fucking Nostalgic. We covered some amazing shows, interviewed some iconic musicians, and threw some awesome parties. The contributors to FN are some of my favorite people on Earth. It would be really hard to make Fucking Nostalgic as constant a thing as it once was, but if we have something to share with you, we're going to try and share it.

Which brings me to last night's Meat Puppets show, which incidentally was a part of the ongoing CBGB Festival taking place in New York City this weekend. I'll just get it out of the way: HOLY SHIT, the Meat Puppets are great. The first time I saw the incredibly influential band was only a couple years ago at Le Poisson Rouge. I was blown away by how incredibly tight a band they were, considering how archaic and raw albums like II and Up on the Sun sound. Not to mention the well-documented hardships bassist Cris Kirkwood faced towards the end of the Meat Puppets original run (though Cris has been sober since for over a decade). I wasn't sure what to expect, but that LPR show ended up being one of my favorite shows of the year.

Last night was no different. Curt Kirkwood (who was recently the subject of a great interview by Marc Maron on WTF), Cris Kirkwood, Elmo Kirkwood (Curt's son) and Shandon Sahm played a little over 90 minutes last night to a rather ecstatic crowd -- plowing through well-known favorites "Up on the Sun," "Backwater," and "I'm a Mindless Idiot" in addition to the later-made-famous-by-Nirvana trio of songs, "Plateau," "Oh, Me" and "Lake of Fire." Plus a cover of the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" -- something I've seen them pull off each and every time I've seen them live. If it ain't broke, don't fix it I suppose. No encore, but Curt did return to the stage a cappella while his brother and son danced around and hugged each other. It was an adorable family moment we got to witness to close out the night.

If you haven't caught the Meat Puppets live yet, you're doing it wrong. They're easily one of my favorite bands to catch, and you owe it to yourself to witness a legendary band still somehow in their prime. Check out some more photos from last night's show below...

Los Campesinos! released new track (download), playing NYC on 6/22 and 6/23

by John Dabrowski

Who doesn’t get excited for a band with an exclamation point in their name? It is practically a given. On June 22nd, Wichita Recordings’ Los Campesinos! will find themselves in the warm embrace of NYC’s Le Poisson Rouge (tickets), and then on June 23 at Brooklyn Bowl (tickets). The seven piece band made “Tiptoe Through The True Bits” available as a free download last week. The track was recorded during the construction of 2011’s Hello Sadness and could have easily been woven into the album’s fabric. Download the track here.

Yellow Ostrich are the openers for Los Campesinos!. Having recently released the triumphant Strange Land (Barsuk), they look to command the stage with their arsenal of tight, raw tracks. Their sophomore effort demonstrates the group’s fuller sound developed since 2010’s The Mistress (Afternoon Records). 

Find yourself in bliss with Los Campesinos! and Yellow Ostrich on their summer tour. Dates listed below, along with both band's most recent albums on Spotify...

Review: Shabazz Palaces @ Brooklyn Bowl

Shabazz Palaces @ Brooklyn Bowl - April 14, 2012
Photo: Damien, Review: Lara Morrow

Brooklyn Bowl’s promo blurb depicted Shabazz Palaces as “forward thinkers but nostalgic for a sparer time when ancient astronomers only recognized five planets.”

Lo and behold, that connection between the past and the future held strong when I saw them hit the stage at the Bowl on Saturday night. Palaceer Lazaro (previously known as "Butterfly" from the legendary Digable Planets) perched behind his shiny silver MacBook center stage and blasted cool, electronic waves of music into the crowd, blending this notoriously Gen-WhY-not? technology with the warmer earthiness of multi-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire's bongos. The resulting overlap of beats and loops, cool and dark in their own right, conjured up images of desolate paths in woodsy hollows that could've made even those of us who were badasses in the '90s feel Afraid of the Dark.

Or at least, that’s where Shabazz Palaces eventually arrived as they found their groove as the night
progressed.

Shabazz Palaces Are Playing SOB's On Friday, Brooklyn Bowl On Saturday

One of the coolest things about following veteran artists is watching them evolve their sound on new albums or even entirely new projects, and in the hip-hop game Shabazz Palaces has served as a prime example of consistently impressive sonic growth. The brainchild of Ishmael Butler ("Palaceer Lazaro") - formerly "Butterfly" of the legendary Digable Planets - and multi-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire, Shabazz Palaces came onto the scene in 2009 with two anonymously-released EPs that were so locally lauded that the Seattle collective became the first-ever hip-hop artists signed to indie rock label Sub Pop. 2011 saw the release of Black Up, SP's first LP that brought more widespread acclaim for the collective, building on the classic flow and wordplay that epitomized Digable Planets while weaving in the spaced out abstract beats that brought the collective to another level entirely.

And now that you're caught up, you're going to want to check out Shabazz Palaces in person this weekend for sure. They're playing SOB's in SoHo tomorrow (tickets hyah) and Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday ("sold out" but limited admissions at the door nyah). Stream Black Up in its entirety on Spotify, and we'll post our thoughts on the Brooklyn Bowl show on Monday.

Photos: Slick Rick @ Brooklyn Bowl

Slick Rick @ Brooklyn Bowl - January 6, 2012
Photos: Sam Cornwall

Unlike our previous bait-and-switch experience with Digable Planets, the legendary Slick Rick rolled through Brooklyn Bowl this past Friday to rock his signature flow with backing band Lifted Crew. Our photographer Sam Cornwall was there to capture Rick The Ruler in all his eyepatch-sporting glory, and you can check out his shots below from this great show. Maybe Cee Knowledge from DP should consider hiring Lifted Crew instead of that cash-grabbing band who told us to eat a bag of dicks in the Comments. Just a suggestion.

Photos: Deer Tick @ Brooklyn Bowl (New Year's Eve)

Deer Tick @ Brooklyn Bowl - December 31, 2011
Photos: Sam Cornwall

If you happened to find yourself in New York City on New Year’s Eve, there were plenty of options available if live music was a pre-requisite to your plans. One of those options was seeing the great Providence, RI alt-country/indie band Deer Tick at Brooklyn Bowl, who according to our photographer Sam Cornwall put on a raucous show where champagne flowed and general mayhem ensued. As usual with Deer Tick shows, at least in New York City, special guests joined the band onstage including Craig Finn of The Hold Steady--who we recently caught play a great show at the Brooklyn Night Bazaar.

Deer Tick are on a short break from touring in support of their latest release Divine Providence, but will resume in March where they will play a slew of dates in Europe. Below, check out a full set of photos of said mayhem shot by Sam, as well as the band’s future tour dates…

Technically Nostalgic: Digable Planets @ Brooklyn Bowl

Cee Knowledge a.k.a. Doodlebug (right) and some people we don't know

"Digable Planets" @ Brooklyn Bowl - December 20, 2011
Photos: Chris / Words: Damien & Chris

Something a little different this time around, due to the odd nature of this event. Below is an actual email exchange between Chris and Damien that took place during the two days that followed the performance. Throughout the exchange you'll find some tweets that were posted during the show. Rather than write up an actual review of what went down, we realized the story sort of unraveled better this way... enjoy!


Chris: You know… that show last night was pretty boring if I had to be brutally honest. What did you think?

Damien: Yeah agreed. I liked [opener] F. Stokes' energy but like I said, when you're billing something as a Digable Planets show, there's an expectation that more than one of the original three members will show up. And that they'll perform more than three songs off the albums they're most famous for. It felt pretty disconnected from the crowd and it showed as like most of the people left halfway through.

Photos: Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Brooklyn Bowl

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Brooklyn Bowl - December 16, 2011
Photos: Sam Cornwall

Announced only two days prior, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs headlined a benefit on Friday for beloved New York City DJ Jonathan Toubin, who was seriously injured in a freak accident on December 8. Amongst the other acts on the bill, including Heavy Trash and Stabbing Eastward (featuring Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio), were DJs Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers and Billy Miller of Norton Records. Quite the lineup indeed--a great show for a great cause.

Photographer Sam Cornwall was there for us on Friday, and you can take a look at his photos of Karen O (clad in Santa Claus outfit) with the rest of the band, plus the setlist below...

Photos: Marc Ribots Ceramic Dog @ Brooklyn Bowl

Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog @ Brooklyn Bowl - December 13, 2011
Photos: Carrie Jordan

You may not know him by name, but I guarantee you've heard guitarist Marc Ribot perform on at least one record in your collection, having made appearances with Tom Waits, Cibo Matto, Elvis Costello, The Black Keys and Elton John to name a few. The last time we caught his latest band Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog was back in September when they played All Tomorrow's Parties I'll Be Your Mirror in Asbury Park. Since then, Ribot and the band (bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith of Secret Chiefs 3) have been sporadically making appearances in the New York City area, the latest being this past Tuesday at Brooklyn Bowl.

If you missed the show, you have several chances to catch Marc Ribot in one iteration or another in New York City over the next few months. Check out all future dates Marc Ribot has on his calendar, as well as a full set of photos of Ceramic Dog's Brooklyn Bowl performance by our photographer Carrie Jordan below...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tunde Adebimpe (TV On The Radio) Playing Jonathan Toubin Benefit Friday

New Yorkers get a bad rap for being self-absorbed assholes (which isn't necessarily UNtrue), but one thing is for sure: in tragic times, we try our best to come together to help each other out. Our local music community experienced one such tragic time recently, when acclaimed DJ and nightlife wizard Jonathan Toubin was involved in a taxi accident in Portland, Oregan that left him in critical condition.

This Friday, Brooklyn Bowl will be hosting a benefit for Toubin that will feature great performances by several local artists whose lives he's touched - namely the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Stabbing Eastward featuring Tunde Adebimpe from TV On The Radio. Tickets are only $25 and all proceeds go toward his medical bills and care.  The iHeartJT Facebook group has also set up a PO Box for additional donations if you're unable to make it but still want to help out.

Grab a ticket, spread the word, and thanks to BrooklynVegan for the heads up.

Future Nostalgia - Photos: Dum Dum Girls @ Brooklyn Bowl

Dum Dum Girls @ Brooklyn Bowl - December 1, 2011
Photos: Tommy Kearns

Californian indie poppers Dum Dum Girls have been racking up accolades for their new album, Only In Dreams, and they recently took their punk-tinged stylings to our Brooklyn Bowl for a show with DIVE and Xray Eyeballs. This was be their last full-on show in the US for the year - although they'll be back for a DJ set at Brooklyn Bowl again on the 17th - and Tommy Kearns was there to snap the excellent shots below. Check them out, and be sure to grab the Only In Dreams single "Bedroom Eyes" after the jump as well.

Photos: Gene Ween & Dave Dreiwitz @ Brooklyn Bowl

Gene Ween & Dave Dreiwitz @ Brooklyn Bowl - December 3, 2011
Photos: Sam Cornwall

If you missed out on getting tickets to what was surely an insane Halloween party with Ween back in October (don't feel bad, we didn't make it in either), then the next best thing was seeing co-frontman Aaron Freeman (a.k.a. Gene Ween) along with Ween's bassist Dave Dreiwitz at Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday. Together, and along with cellist Jane Scarpantoni and Freeman's daughter Anna Freeman, the band performed a 25-song set, including Ween favorites "I Don't Want To Leave You on the Farm," "What Deaner Was Talking About," and probably my all-time favorite Ween song, "Birthday Boy."

If you happen to find yourself in Denver, CO towards the end of the year, do yourself a favor and buy a ticket to see Ween at the Fillmore Auditorium on December 29, 30 or 31 (New Year’s Eve). Tickets are currently on sale for all three dates, with a special 3-day package option available. After that, you'll be able to catch Gene Ween and Dave Dreiwitz on the upcoming Weezer Cruise. Photographer Sam Cornwall sent us a set of photos from Saturday's show which you can check out below, along with the setlist for the night.

Set list (via The Village Voice):

Kansas City Star
Mountains and Buffaloes
Ooh Va La
Flutes of the Chi
Little Birdie
I Don't Want To Leave You on the Farm
Hawakawawi Say
The Stallion, pt. 4
Stay Forever
She's Your Baby
Demon Sweat
Lullaby
Happy Colored Marbles (with Anna Freeman on vocals)
Chocolate Town
Right To The Ways and the Rules of the World
Oh My Dear (Falling In Love)
Deep Calm
Kite-Flying Man
It Don't Come Easy
The Argus
Chancy Boys
What Deaner Was Talking About
—
The Needle and the Damage Done
Birthday Boy Polka Dot Tail (with Anna Freeman on vocals and Peter Stampfel on fiddle)

Photos: Mike Doughty & His Band Fantastic @ Brooklyn Bowl

Mike Doughty & His Band Fantastic @ Brooklyn Bowl - November 18, 2011
Photos: Tommy Kearns

"So let’s talk about Band Fantastic – for it’s been a while since Doughty’s been out on the road group-stylee and left the Question Jar at home. Fantastic Band? It’s not a misnomer, they really were – to see pianist Dan Chen tickling both ivories old-school and synth, the Panderers’ Pete McNeal bashing out drums and longtime Doughty foil Andrew “Scrap” Livingston on electric bass, all together, was a treat. It gave a fullness to the songs, in a way that my ears haven’t heard live for a while. (And that’s saying something, me and Mike D go wayyy back.) 

He’s not just funny, sly (when folks kept calling for Soul Coughing songs – poor guy – he suggested: “Uh you’d best go back and Wikipedia that shit”) or a skilled guitarist (his green Fender Coronado is THE SEXY), but he gives good rockstar too. You sorta forget that when he’s sitting doing the cost-effective stripped-down shows… this was a was a nice reminder."

-The Backstage Rider 

That snippet comes from our friend Mikala Taylor's recent review of Mike Doughty's show in Seattle a couple weeks ago. On Friday, Doughty and His Band Fantastic made their way to Williamsburg's finest bowling alley, Brooklyn Bowl to play another set of songs to a packed crowd. The following night he finished his tour out with a show at Bowery Ballroom.

Doughty (formerly of cult act Soul Coughing) released his fourth solo album Yes and Also Yes under his own label SNACK BAR back in August. Listen to it on Spotify over here. Photographer Tommy Kearns was at the Brooklyn show on Friday and took this batch of photos of us...

Photos/Review: Cibo Matto @ Brooklyn Bowl

Cibo Matto @ Brooklyn Bowl - July 12th, 2011
Photos: Chris; Review: Jessica Callender

On a balmy Tuesday in one of the swankiest areas of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Cibo Matto proceeded to blow the minds of 500 or so people at Brooklyn Bowl last night. Eclectic sound man Sxip (pronounced as “Skip”) Shirey served as opening act as he beguiled and tantalized audience members with his vast array of sounds that can only be described as juxtaposed harmonized chaos. Performing tracks from his most recent effort Sonic New York, one song that etched itself into my memory was a cover of Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell.” Shirey renovates the classic giving it a darker, bluesy aspect as well as attaching a touch of longing utilizing the beautiful vocals of his cute female companion, Rachel Prince. Other songs I recognized were “I Live In New York City” and “Asleep on the Subway.” After a nearly hour long set, it was time for Shirey to pack up his gear in lieu of the main event.

At 10:21pm, with the air tense with excitement, the crowd began to liven exponentially as the members of Cibo Matto quietly assembled on stage. While Miho Hotari addressed the showgoers, it was apparent that these folks were already keyed in and ready to have a good time. The women began their set with “Beef Jerky” and “Le Pain Perdu” as the audience sang along with every word and truly began to groove out. Of course, patrons didn’t fully lose it until the opening notes to “Sugar Water” played. Miho’s voice was instantly hypnotic as the sway and bounce of the track dripped effortlessly throughout the performance. “Spoon” was played shortly after and with it came the appearance of their bassist and drummer. Another song worthy of note was the sweetly alluring performance of “Moonchild,” with Miho’s vocals backed by surprise guest Sean Lennon.

Miho and Yuka performed two new songs last night as well, “Tenth Floor Ghost Girl” and “Check-In.” Considering that both tracks are indicative of the future of Cibo Matto and their new sound, they were surprisingly quite modern without the loss of the duo’s edge, which made me fairly excited about their upcoming album. And apparently everyone else was equally hyped about the women. Shortly after 11pm, following almost an hour of play, Cibo Matto attempted to close out their set only to return for an encore after a most raucous and spirited bout of applause and cheers; finally ending the night with “Know Your Chicken”.

There was a certain grace to this performance that I haven’t seen a very long time. Cibo Matto played effortlessly and skillfully as well maintained the crowd’s energy levels on such a positive note. It’s the joy and hope of every music patron that their favorite artists exude that caliber of professionalism and considering the blast I had at Brooklyn Bowl; I for one, am ecstatic about the glorious return of Cibo Matto.

--

Below, check out a full set of photos of both Sxip Shirey and Cibo Matto, as well as Cibo Matto's setlist. Also, thanks to Panya Media, you can stream Cibo Matto's entire set last night. Tickets are still on sale for their Bowery Ballroom show on Monday, 7/18...