Over-choiced

Listening to my Blip.fm stream

Check this - my Fall line-up:

Eels in September
Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation in October
Joy Formidable in November
Dandy Warhols also in November

Then there's Autolux playing at Maxwell's later this month that I would lovelovelove to see, especially at an intimate, dark, rock-n-roll-beer-and-vomit soaked venue like Maxwell's, except who the hell's paying for it since I've already spent my 2011 concert budget on the previously listed shows.

Joanna Newsom is playing soon, too, as is School of Seven Bells. I'm giddy over the embarrassment of choices, but it's making me a little (more) nuts. I'm spending money on these tickets like I have it. I've been minding my budgetary Ps and Qs this summer, which I guess doesn't exactly make me a financial hero as you can't swing a dead hipster without hitting a free summer show in these parts.

Speaking of, finally saw one of the aforementioned summer shows this past weekend. My first foray to Governor's Island, formerly used for military evil, and now used for artsy good. [That's a great idea - turn all the decommissioned military bases into artists colonies. I'll be sure to pass that along to my ex-Army officer dad when next we speak. He'll LOVE it.*]

Back to Governor's Island. The place itself is amazing - gorgeous view of lower Manhattan, good sight lines, sound was decent. The night itself was perfect weather-wise, plus any venue you have to ride a ferry to get to gets a couple bonus points for atmosphere. The headliners were Neon Indian, but it was two of the three opening bands that I was most excited to see: Nite Jewel and Prefuse 73.

Nite Jewel labels themselves as Lounge and it does have a sort of lounge-ish feel. But overall the sound is basically schizophrenic. I like the song Am I Real**: it sticks to just a few genres of music (R&B and lounge with a touch of synth-driven funk of some sort). Also like What Did He Say, for similar reason. The song holds together as a cohesive mix of styles. The majority of what they played, though, was just a mess. You'd be grooving along to the beat then out of nowhere there'd be a hair-metal guitar solo. Discordant to say the least. Thankfully Jersey City put on a fireworks show, I think out of pity for us. It helped to concentrate on that and tune out a good portion of what was happening on stage.

Prefuse 73, in contrast, are masters of mixing, and played a long set right before Neon Indian came on. They did a collaboration with School of Seven Bells (everything comes back to SSB) that I adore called The Class of 73 Bells. I was crossing my fingers that SSB were in town and would do a guest cameo on stage with Prefuse, but no luck there. I did like what I've heard of them regardless, and they had some moments of genius up there for sure. They were at times inconsistent, which resulted in a crowd that listened to them but never quite broke out into the hip hop dance party it could have been.

At least that's my perception from where I was standing, next to the strung out emo kids and their dealer. That was a fun game that helped pass the time between sets: name the drug the emo kids are strung out on. As I have never partaken in illegal substances*** I had to defer to the others of our group, more worldy-wise than I. In the end I believe a consensus was reached - e and heroin. Or maybe that was the boutique shop owner who claimed he was Bob Dylan and sold my dear friend H a $100 purse for $45 earlier that day. It's blending together (unlike the musical stylings of Nite Jewel... oooo snap!).

Dom played as well, in between Nite Jewel and Prefuse 73, and they added some rock and energy. Not much to say about them. Didn't hate them, didn't love them. They were kinda adorable in their burn-out kinda way.

Neon Indian finally came on after 11:30 as I was walking quickly to the ferry to leave the island. I heard two songs from the bow (or possibly port or stern -- I'm not all that nautical)... anyway, the back of the ferry. They sounded really good. I'm glad I left when I did, though, because I had a fairly mishap-free commute back home, and was snug in my bed by 2a.

Overall, a good show. I'm glad I saw Prefuse 73 especially, and hope to catch them again. Neon Indian sounded great from the ferry. The lower Manhattan nighttime skyline kind of stole the show, though.

Maybe someday soon this will all be virtual, and we'll be able to pick and choose our Ultimate Line-Ups that are then fed to our cerebral cortexes via the USB port at the base of our brain stems. We can tear it up with a few friends (splitter cable included for an extra surcharge) wherever and whenever we want, with no lines to a stinky Johnny-on-the-Spot, no annoying "I'm Drunk Wheeee!" 22 year olds, no heart failure as you race from the venue hoping to catch the ferry, then the 1 train, then the last NJ Transit train for the night. I'd sure miss the crowd energy (minus the drunks) and the Olympic-level races to public transportation, though. Nothing like ending a great night with a mighty leap from the platform through the closing doors of the last train out.

* He won't love it.
** I swear I am working on finding a way to embed songs into these posts. Haven't found a Mac-compatible one yet. If you know of one, PLEASE pass on your knowledge!
*** This may or may not be 100% accurate.