Live Videos: Deerhunter, Times New Viking (Halloween)


Deerhunter

Here are some videos of the Halloween show at the Variety Playhouse. These two bands were great, but Pylon and Jay Reatard were excruciating to get through and wore me out by the time Deerhunter blasted through a Microcastle-heavy set. I’ve found myself really enjoying the addition of Whitney Petty to the line-up live. Now that Bradford is all business on stage and dropped his antics, her goofy, quirky persona is literally the side-show off by herself while everyone else is busy shoegazing. I’m still not in total love with Times New Viking like some, but they are pretty damn good. See all of Clint Miller’s photos from the show here.

Times New Viking:

Deerhunter:


Times New Viking

Photos: Holy Fuck, The Fiery Furnaces, Super Furry Animals on 1-30-08 @ Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA

Holy Fuck

The Fiery Furnaces

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Photos and Video: Yo La Tengo, Kurt Wagner- 1-12-08 at The Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA

Yo La Tengo

“Tom Courtenay”

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Photos: Black Lips, Deerhunter, Snowden, The Selmanaires - 11-30-07 @ Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA

The Selmanaires

Snowden

Deerhunter

Black Lips

Live Review: Blonde Redhead, Annuals (5-4-2007) Variety Playhouse

Last Friday night I celebrated being done with finals by catching this. We got there at ticket time and it was already fairly packed. Annuals came on first, and I would describe them as a poor man’s Arcade Fire with almost a jamband tinge to the sound. The front man, Adam Baker, looked like he was on mushrooms or something. The six-piece featured 2 full drum sets, a pair of drums for the lead guitarist, and even Adam Baker himself had a drum to beat on from time to time. Overall, the total sound seemed to be a little too schizophrenic for me; it seemed like people’s parts didn’t really blend together well. They were great for an opener, but I doubt that I would exert a ton of effort to go see them again. Here’s some pics from my phone:

Between the two bands, the Variety Playhouse actually dropped the curtains in front of the stage, which almost never happens. When the curtains opened, Blonde Redhead brought it full blast. The lighting they employed was really cool because it was so subtle and created a an interesting light “aura” for the band. Musically, it was hard for me to make out the vocals often times in the front where i was, but other than that, I was very impressed. The set was heavy on songs from 23, but I’ve actually been digging on that album the more I listen to it. I know it’s not quite as adventurous as their best work, but if you can overlook that, there’s some amazing material on it. The three-piece was spaced out far away from each other and they seemed to have a confident yet awkward stage presence, with guitarists Kazu Makino and Amedeo Pace pseudo-flirting with each other as they jammed out and watching drummer Simone Pace’s facial expressions were hilarious as he would get really into some entrancing rhythms. Kazu even had an enormous stuffed horse to sit on when playing keys. Overall, my first Blonde Redhead show was everything i hoped it would be.

Live Review, Photos, and Videos: The Books, Todd Reynolds (4-20-07) Variety Playhouse

Review by sleo
Photos by BiggieC
Video by bobloblaw79

Friday night The Books tour stopped in Atlanta promoting the new tour/online only Play All DVD. The show started out with Todd Reynolds, a masterful violinist with effects pedals and a bass drum. Todd also used a large screen to display many graphics that were developed by a variety of artists. Not only could Todd play a mean violin with twists and turns throughout his elaborate, overlapping melodies, but his use of the pedals and bass drum also added an intriguing element of intensity to his visual effects. My favorite visualization shown by Todd was a portrayal of riding on the British monorail. The artist took footage from the front and back of the train at the same time and displayed each perspective side by side. The journey down the rail was traveled at the same rate of Todd’s violin bow, and quickly became mesmerizing to watch. Todd had also cleverly designed his musical piece around his artist friend’s footage to coincide with the changing directions, speeds, and overlaps of the different angles from which the artist filmed his journey on the rail.

Then The Books took the stage and totally blew me away. It’s not often enough that I get to go to a show that has so much going on in their music and on stage that I can’t even tear my eyes away. The duo also utilized the large screen on stage with several videos that went along perfectly with every song. They showed a wide variety of footage, from creations of simplistic and distorted graphics of the alphabet to old family videos. Nick consistently held the mellow tone of their music with his acoustic guitar, while Paul contributed dramatic melodies on his skeletal cello. Throughout all of their songs, several different samples of voices and music filled in over the acoustic sound of their instruments from what seems like quite an extensive library of sounds. There was not a large turnout for the show, yet the crowd that was there was thoroughly entertained as the sounds of their enthusiasm throughout the entire performance was thunderous. It was additionally nice to be able to chillax and see everything going on with such a friendly and upbeat crowd. Todd Reynolds came out to join the duo for a few of their songs, which made for a more complex and compelling performance. They even did a phenomenal cover of a Nick Drake song from his album Five Leaves Left (which they admitted to having done last year at their performance at the EARL). I had a great time at the show and really can’t wait to see what else these guys can come up with.

(Click for larger photos)

Todd Reynolds

The Books

“Cello Song” (Nick Drake cover)
Note: The video is very dark but the sound quality is listenable)

Photos: 3-31-07 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Love of Diagrams

(Click for larger photos)

Love of Diagrams

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists