St. Vincent videos

MFR has 3 videos of the St. Vincent show at First Ave. Check them out here!

Let the children act like furniture

I am really falling behind with this blog. There have been so many good releases in the past couple months and soon-to-be-released leaks I've been loving. I also saw a pair of excellent shows by two artists with 2009 albums - St. Vincent at First Avenue and Grizzy Bear (with Here We Go Magic) at the Cedar Cultural Center.


St. Vincent is songwriter Annie Clark, who has become one of my favorite artists and live performers, even though only her 2nd full-length was released in May. I first saw her open up for The National after the release of Marry Me, when she blew me away with her solo set consisting of her beautiful voice, foot stomping, double microphone, and Zappa-esque guitar freak-outs. Last week's performance at First Ave, in support of last month's fantastic Actor, included a full band for most songs and made me appreciate her talent even more. The new album is a bit mellower overall, but continues the sweet yet eerie lyrics and unexpected turns from Marry Me without a single misstep.

St. Vincent - Now Now
St. Vincent - Paris Is Burning
from Marry Me
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St. Vincent - Black Rainbow
St. Vincent - Laughing With a Mouth of Blood
from Actor
buy

The Grizzly Bear show was not as enjoyable, but only because of the contrast between the band's mellow, beautiful music and the hot, overcrowded venue. Their vocals and harmonies are borderline unbelievable and their new album Veckatimest has been receiving great reviews and selling extremely well for an indie release. I wasn't a huge fan of their brand of experimental folk on 2006's Yellow House, and their lyrics remain somewhat straightforward and inoffensive, but the 52-minutes of beauty that is Veckatiment converted me into a fan - just check out this performance of "Two Weeks" on Letterman and the songs "Southern Point" and "While You Wait For the Others."



Grizzly Bear - Southern Point
Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For the Others
from Veckatimest
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Here We Go Magic opened the Grizzy Bear show and were also quite enjoyable, although I think I prefer Luke Temple's solo work more than this full band project.

Here We Go Magic - Fangela
from Here We Go Magic
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Luke Temple - Saturday People
from Snowbeast
buy