Give Me Three Wishes

Sleigh Bells @ Webster Hall 5/11/2011

Crown on the Ground / Tell ‘Em / Kids / Treats / Riot Rhythm / Infinity Guitars / Holly / Rill Rill / Rachel / Straight A’s / A/B Machines

Sleigh Bells “Holly” (demo)

The last time I saw Sleigh Bells they were doing a small show at some kind of VFW hall-type place in Brooklyn on the day their album came out. That was a fun show, but it had nothing on this. They’ve both grown comfortable with their rock star moves, in part because it’s no longer a theoretical notion, and the band now put on a full-on rock spectacle complete with comically oversized amps and a light show that perfectly matches the super-saturated sound of the music. Even better, the audience has had time to live with the music and so every song gets the response of a huge hit. They were exciting before, now it’s just off the charts. I was thrilled pretty much every moment of this show.

CSS @ Webster Hall 5/11/2011

Art Bitch / Off the Hook / ?? / Air Painter / ‘Hits Me Like A Rock’ / Music Is My Hot Hot Sex / ‘I Love You’ / Move / ‘In the Big City Nothing Hurts’ / Beautiful Song / Let’s Reggae All Night / ‘All Dressed Up’ / Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above / Alala

CSS “Alala”

CSS lost me with Donkey, but I’m happy to say that they 1) remain a very entertaining and joyful live act, thank mainly to their wildly charismatic frontwoman Lovefoxxx and 2) their new songs are all terrific, immediately enjoyable and clever. The selections from the debut were very fun and cathartic, but the major highlights were new tunes, most especially the ones I’ll call “All Dressed Up” and “In the Big City Nothing Hurts,” since I don’t know what they are actually called. I’m dying to hear them again, most especially the latter. But it’s nice to have something to look forward to, you know?

Buy it from Amazon.

Mr. Dream @ Webster Hall 5/11/2011

Knuckle Sandwich / Crime / new song / Scarred For Life / Trash Hit / Winners / Knick Knack / Croquet / Learn the Language

Mr. Dream “Scarred For Life”

Mr. Dream have the look of clean-cut, handsome young men, but they deliver some of most brutal yet tuneful hard rock that anyone has produced in the past decade. There’s something amusing and subversive about how heavy these guys get while lacking the visual signifiers of the hard rockin’ dude — singer/guitarist Adam Moerder seriously looks like an alternate universe John Mayer who grew up on the extended Steve Albini discography rather than Stevie Ray Vaughan. Like Nirvana, the Pixies and McLusky before them, the secret to the band’s intensity lies in the nuts and bolts of simple pop hooks, but what really sticks with you is how hard Nick Sylvester hits those drums and how fully Moerder and bassist Matt Morello commit to screaming their lines. They’re not hedging any bets up there.

Buy it from Amazon.