I recently updated my list of upcoming shows in the right-hand sidebar, which now features a ton of great bands that will be stopping through town in the next month, many as part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon. What's killing me is that there are no fewer than nine amazing shows happening in a span of ten days, but I don't think that my legs (or my wallet) will be able to endure that much rocking in such a short span of time. Decisions, decisions. I did commit to a few shows by purchasing tickets, so here are quickie previews of these ones I'll definitely be attending:
10/13 - Consonant + Shellac @ The Knitting Factory
Consonant are actually the opening band, but they're the main attraction for me. Clint Conley (ex-Mission of Burma) and his band came out with what I consider the best album of 2002. And live, they deliver the same tunefulness and intensity with a fierceness that simply blew me away when I saw them back in July (coincidentally, also as an opening act at the Knit). Bob Weston of Shellac recorded the Consonant album and performed on a few tracks, so perhaps we'll see a little onstage collaboration as well.
11/06 - The Mountain Goats + John Vanderslice @ The Knitting Factory
The bedroom pop double bill. I've missed many opportunities throughout the years to see The Mountain Goats, so here is my chance. If John Darnielle can put across a song so well with just him and a guitar on record, then I'm sure live it will be just as enjoyable, if not more so. (Side note: Mr. Darnielle, who is also a noted music writer, runs a little site called Last Plane to Jakarta, filled with his music essays that blend the critical and the personal in such a way as to *define* a subject so completely that one feels compelled to keep reading (and scrolling) screen after screen. Recommended? Yes.) On the other hand, this will be my third John Vanderslice show this year, after most recently seeing him at Bowery Ballroom opening for Spoon a couple of weeks back.
11/10 - Crispy Ambulance + Mahogany @ The Knitting Factory
Here I go rediscovering Crispy Ambulance in the process of putting together my 24 Hour Party People-inspired Factory Records mix... and now find that they've re-formed and come out with a new album and a tour as well! Am just as excited about finally seeing Mahogany, as I've been listening to their music for quite some time. As mentioned in this mini album review I wrote back in July, Mahogany's musical kinship with the sounds of Factory and Crepuscule make them the perfect match as an opening band.