Wrapped In Gold Gift Ribbons

Matthew Dear @ #offline Brooklyn Bowl 10/23/2010

Honey / Monkey / Soil To Seed / Shortwave / Slowdance / You Put A Smell On Me / Tide / Little People (Black City)

Matthew Dear “Little People (Black City)”

This was a strange show. I wasn’t sure what to expect of Matthew Dear’s live performance — I half-suspected it would be a guy-with-computer-and-sequencers deal, but as it turns out, he augments that setup with live drums, bass, trumpet, keyboards, and guitar. Dear and his band are dapper pros, and perform with an aloof intensity. There were two guys up near the stage who started dancing wildly even before the funk in the music started to kick in, and as the set progressed, they got even more rowdy and took their shirts, revealing chiseled, muscular physiques. These guys were fist-pumping, air-grinding, bro-ing the fuck out. As Matthew Dear played increasingly funky material, their enthusiasm became contagious, and the dudes started going back into the crowd to rev people up. By the time Dear started in on his epic funk suite “Little People (Black City),” lots of people were totally down for it. It was kinda awesome. Matthew Dear should consider hiring these dudes to be his aesthetically incongruous hype men.

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Marit Larsen @ Oya Festival at CMJ, Public Assembly 10/22/2010

The Chase / Ten Steps / Solid Ground / Only A Fool / Don’t Save Me / If A Song Could Get Me You

Marit Larsen “Don’t Save Me”

It’s hard to imagine that any act at CMJ was more wholesome and sweet than Marit Larsen, a young woman who is basically Norway’s answer to Taylor Swift. Larsen was incredibly friendly and polite — I think she thanked the audience at least 20 times in a six song set, and she made some self-deprecating remarks about her tendency to write extremely sad songs with very cheerful melodies. She’s about as professional, poised and adorable as you might expect, and didn’t have to work to sell her immaculately crafted hits to a small audience mainly comprised of Europeans. I suppose it would have been nice if more of the young people who do CMJ had showed up, but let’s face it — this is not their music, and it’s just kind of a lucky fluke that this happened at all. Well, at least for me — I’ve been wanting to see a Marit Larsen show ever since “Don’t Save Me” came out in 2006!

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Marnie Stern @ #offline Brooklyn Bowl 10/22/2010

Nothing Left / For Ash / Transformer / Transparency is the New Mystery / The Crippled Jazzer / Risky Biz / Prime / Vibrational Match / Her Confidence

Marnie Stern “Transparency is the New Mystery”

Marnie Stern and her band played seven shows in the span of four days at CMJ last week. This set was the second show of Friday, and I couldn’t hear much wear and tear on their sound. The songs seemed a bit streamlined in a good way — her current drummer isn’t quite on Zach Hill’s level, and it sounded to me like he was simplifying the drum parts in a way that placed a more traditional emphasis on the guitar hooks. And really, that’s great — people fixate on the flashiness of Marnie’s playing, but I’m sold on the tunes and the emotional weight of it all. The new songs came off very well, most especially “Transparency,” which hits a great peak on its chorus, and “Her Confidence,” which is just towering and epic stuff. I would love to eventually watch Marnie rock to a room full of fans. That would be the best.

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