Live Review: Real Estate and Girls @ Maxwell's

I mean what was I ever going to write about this show featuring two of my favorite bands?

Real Estate was great. Some of those guys have sort of equine features, but whatever the music is there. The vocals were pushed more toward the front of the mix during the show. I am not sure if this was good or bad because the instrumental sections definitely stand out with that band.

Then...Girls. This was the first show of the "Album" tour, and there were some jitters from both the band or the audience. Would the new guitarist Ryan Lynch know the songs? (not really). Would the sell-out crowd know the words? Would they get it? (yes!) There was a moment when the gaunt Christopher Owens thanked the crowd after playing "Lauren Marie." "Thanks, we were terrified of playing that song." Owens, pale and skinny, wearing a Nosferatu T-shirt looked like he may have had an encounter with a vampire or two over Halloween, but musically was none the worse for wear.

For all the uncertainty of a new band and new tour, the good far outweighed the bad. Everyone at least knew "Lust for Life." The glorious "Hellhole Ratrace" got really heavy and fun at the end, and transitioned straight into super heavyloud "Morning Light." I was disappointed not to hear "Big Bad Mean Motherfucker" and maybe a B-side like "Life in San Francisco" or "Solitude." But there were two new songs; one was called "Heartbreaker." I didn't catch the name of the second one, but it was really well written.

Owens responded to rapturous applause at the end by strumming Holy Shit's gem "My Whole Life Story" as an encore. I hope the band continues to get more confident as they tour. Don't miss this one! Rest of the tour can be found at Girls' myspace

mp3 Holy Shit My Whole Life Story
Owens said before he played that this was a song that made him want to write music in the first place. I had forgotten about "Stranded at Two Harbors" (which is sadly totally unavailable) for a bit, but it sounds ultra-relevant now. Gotta hand it to Matt Fishbeck. More discussion in an interview here

Track Review: Summertime by Girls

In this post I want to cover a track that hasn't been popping up too much in other reviews: "Summertime." All the tracks on the record are good, but I seriously got in a fetal position on the floor, turned up my speakers and let this song blow me away last night.

The track is a Girls standard in that it starts with a simple rhythm guitar and a great pop bassline. Owens enters, his voice fragile and expressive, lending depth to the deceptively simple lyrics. The song seems to be about a couple enjoying a perfect summer day. But like all of the songs, there is pathos hidden here. The "you" Owens is singing to/about is never rendered, conspicuously absent. The song is really about loneliness and memories, in the past tense ("get high like I used to do").

After the first verse, the guitars and synths explode into a shimmering riff, we enter the "feeling" of that lost summer day. Suddenly, the synths stop, and we are left with a solitary strumming of a rhythm guitar, as the musician once again becomes conscious off his loneliness. Owens' wonderful chorus returns and the song ends with a lone guitar chord. When you think about it, the song's structure is anything but traditional pop. There are verses and choruses, but in between the two halves comes a huge instrumental break. Songs like "Summertime" makes Album one of the best pop records of the last couple of years, and confirm its status as a real work of art.

mp3 girls Summertime (via HearYa)

Live performance from FADER TV

Review: "Album" by Girls

Last night around 6, I got a package full of goodies from insound: the "Lust for Life Single," a poster, and of course, "Album," which I previewed in late August (mp3s still available at that post). Now that the record is here, it's time for a proper review.

First, the vinyl copy from True Panther sounds excellent. The album was recorded in bedrooms across San Francisco using lots of analog equipment, which gives the record a really warm personable sound. The two singles, "Lust for Life" and "Hellhole Ratrace" are highlights and serve as a good starting point to discuss the band's convergence of influences.

"Lust for Life," which opens the album, basically lists a set of wishes on top of a bright rhythm guitar and bassline. It is an uptempo pop song in the Big Star mode. "Hellhole Ratrace" (one of the top 500 songs of the decade according to one famous website) builds slowly through repetition, reaching a level of psychedelic intensity during the final repetitions of the hook.

There are other forces at play here. The shitgaze/nofi aesthetic (which I like!) is there, most notably on "Big Bad Mean Motherfucker"- a Beach Boys song dragged through the 2009 fuzz machine. However, unlike some of the other bands that make up this movement, it never feels like Girls (Christopher Owens and Chet White) are lowering production value to cover a lack of ideas. Rather, they lend a real spirit of virtuosity to the DIY aesthetic, constantly finding new ways to add to melodies. The effect is an album that infuses well-written songs innovative and melodies with the amateur's sense of enthusiasm and participation. The songs, mostly about love, sound as if they could be written by anyone, but in fact, are well-crafted works of art.

The aesthetic that I have been trying to explain, is also what makes the band's home-made videos so successful. Here is "Hellhole Ratrace" - a beautiful story of a night out.

Video: "Laura" from Pitchfork: TV

Girls will be performing at Maxwell's in Hoboken on Nov. 2 and the Bowery Ballroom on Nov. 6th