After the Jump Fest is the effort of 20 New York City music bloggers whose goal is to help new artists gain exposure while raising money for struggling school music programs. This year, After the Jump is teaming up with The Music Hall of Williamsburg and Galapagos Art Space for a festival stretching from noon until last call. In the next few months, After the Jump blogs will be making more announcements about the festival including new artists and pre-parties. Stay tuned and in the mean time, check out AftertheJumpFest.com for information on our past events and mark your calendars! It’s going to be a doozy.

For press opportunities such as interviews with the organizers or bands, please contact publicity@afterthejumpfest.com
For sponsorship and all requests, contact producer Jennifer Kellas: jkellas@afterthejumpfest.com.

Here is the first of many recordings from this year’s SXSW festival. I mentioned Jukebox The Ghost briefly last summer and promised you’d hear from them again. Here they are performing at After The Jump’s Backyard BBQ in Austin, Texas.

Jukebox The Ghost hail from Washington D.C. and their first full-length album “Let Live and Let Ghosts” hits stores on April 22nd. They are touring quite a bit this spring and I recommend that you catch them live. I had trouble believing this sound came from only three people until I saw it with my own eyes. All tour dates are listed here.

photo by irockiroll

01 Hold It In
02 Beady Eyes On The Horizon
03 Victoria
04 My Heart’s The Same / Lighting Myself On Fire
05 Under My Skin
06 End Of The World Trilogy
[Fire in the Sky -> Where Are All Your Scientists Now? -> A Matter of Time]
07 Good Day

It’s been a rather slow start to 2008, but I’ll be at this year’s SXSW festival hoping to discover some new bands and catch some old favorites. I will be helping out with the sound at After The Jump’s backyard barbecue on Friday and Saturday. Downtown gets really crazy by the end of the week, so I’m looking forward to chilling out in the east side ‘burbs with free food and drink. Stay tuned to the site for post-SXSW audio goodness.

Friday 3/14, 7pm
The After the Jump Backyard @ 1204 Salina St. - East Side
Free and open to the public + Free beer and bbq!
7 Laura Palmer
745 Senryu
830 The Physics of Meaning
915 Salt and Samovar
10 Oliver Future
1045 These United States
1130 The Lisps

Saturday 3/15, High Noon
ATJ/Indie Outlaw/Paper Garden Day Party @ Lucky Lounge 209 W 5th St,
Free and open to the public, Open bar + bbq and free shirts and bags courtesy of Speakerheart!
1215 Peasant
100 The Pendletons
145 Darla Farmer
230 The Answering Machine
330 LoveLikeFire
415 Morning State
5 Cloud Cult

Saturday 3/15, 2pm
The After the Jump Backyard @ 1204 Salina St. - East Side
Free and open to the public + Free beer and bbq!
215 Bell
3 Laura Gibson
4 Luke Temple
5 The Lisps
6 White Ghost Shivers
7 Jukebox the Ghost

Saturday 3/15, 7:30pm
ATJ Official SXSW Evening Showcase at Lambert’s BBQ
401 W 2nd St - badges and limited tickets @ door
8 The Teenage Prayers
9 Care Bears On Fire
10 Neimo
11 Tigercity
12 Cassettes Won’t Listen
1 Project Jenny, Project Jan

Laura Veirs’ album Saltbreakers was one of my favorite albums of the past year and I was terribly disappointed when the Decemberists tour which she was supporting was canceled. I am glad to have caught this solo show which was a warm-up for her short tour of the UK. She should be back on tour with her band this spring.

During this Sunday night show she played a little banjo, shared stories of her quiltmaking adventures (with samples) and debuted a brand new song for the attentive crowd at Union Hall. Though it hadn’t been named at the time, her new song has been listed as “To Be Held” on her recent setlists.

Laura Veirs - To Be Held (live at Union Hall 1/27/08)

Aside from the dull thump of bocce balls coming from the bar above, the atmosphere was just about perfect for this solo show. It was the first time I had seen folding chairs (about four rows deep) set up in front of the stage at Union Hall, allowing for everyone to have a great view.

Below is the setlist along with some highlights from the show.

[photo by David Trawin]

01 Pink Light
02 Ether Sings
03 Wandering Kind
04 Song My Friends Taught Me
05 Magnetized
06 Cast A Hook
07 Rialto
08 To Be Held
09 Through December
10 Cluck Old Hen
11 One Thin Dime
12 Nightingale
13 Ocean Night Song
14 Riptide
—-
15 Black-Eyed Susan
16 Wrecking

“It’s so fucked, eh? The Internet, eh? We perform and you go off and you blog that shit.”
- Adrian Jewett, 12/14/07

I agree that the internet is fucked (we have a love/hate relationship), but I wouldn’t be blogging this shit if I didn’t think it was fantastic. Since I first heard them play live at CMJ two years ago, The Most Serene Republic have only gotten more and more exciting. Their latest album Population is simultaneously overwhelming, enveloping and infectious, and their live show is no different. You may wonder how a person with only four appendages can play such complicated drumbeats, or how three guitars can be so tastefully combined into such a cohesive sound, or how music so progressive can still be so catchy. Or you could just stop thinking about it and get lost in the music.

Almost invariably, it seems that my favorite time to see a band is between their second and third albums. The catalog is deep enough that you don’t know exactly what they will play, but you’re sure to hear most of your favorite songs. It’s not that I don’t enjoy going to see… let’s say Radiohead, these days. But at this point they have so many songs I love that I know I won’t get to hear all of my favorites. I can only wish that I’d seen them touring The Bends while trying out songs from OK Computer.

Last Friday, The most Serene Republic played mostly songs from their new album along with 3 selections each from their first record and their EP Phages, which is still my favorite of their recordings. I especially enjoyed the three-part vocals on “(Oh) God”, the pots and pans opening up “Humble Peasants” and all of the keyboard and drum segues between songs, which sounded partially improvised and partially born of sections from various songs.

The Most Serene Republic at Mercury Lounge

December 14th 2007

full show (65 MB).zip

01 Humble Peasants
02 You’re Not An Astronaut
03 Anhoi Polloi
04 The Men Who Live Upstairs
05 Phages
06 (Oh) God
07 banter
08 Sherry And Her Butterfly Net
09 Why So Looking Back
10 banter-intro
11 Compliance
12 Career In Shaping Clay
13 You’re A Loose Cannon McArthur… But You Get The Job Done
14 Content Was Always My Favorite Color
15 Present Of Future End

P.S. Though it was hinted at, there was no encore. I was happy to get such a nice long set considering they needed to clear the hall for the late show that night.

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for more information, please email:

booking: booking@afterthejumpfest.com
charity: charity@afterthejumpfest.com
sponsors: sponsors@afterthejumpfest.com
publicity: publicity@afterthejumpfest.com

During a commercial break for Jay Leno tonight I heard the same New Pornographers song on two separate ads. First was a shortened version of the University of Phoenix ad that’s been on for months. Second was a commercial for the new film “Feast of Love”. I can’t remember noticing that before, at least never with an indie band. The song was “The Bleeding Heart Show” (my favorite track on Twin Cinema). Not so weird to have two ads with the same songs… just weird to hear them both in a span of two minutes.

The University of Phoenix ad:

Here’s the full length trailer for “Feast of Love”. The New Pornos chime in during the last 40 seconds or so.

Here’s an excerpt from a Pitchfork interview on the U. of Phoenix commercial:

—————————–

Pitchfork: I saw an ad for one of those quasi-legit universities, the University of Phoenix, and it happened to have a song of yours in the background.

One thing that made me feel better was, right around the time that commercial started showing up, there was also the Outback Steakhouse commercial with Of Montreal in it. And I thought, “thank God, that’s really going to deflect some attention away from us.” At least we didn’t give our song to Outback. Now I’m afraid if I accidentally say something about the University of Phoenix that a hammer is going to come down on my head, or I’ll find myself in a lawsuit. My official stance is, “I fully support the University of Phoenix,” but to back that, I honestly didn’t know what it was. But then again, if I did know what it was, I’m not sure that I would have said no. We’re just trying to get by in this world. When you play music for so long and don’t make any money, and people start offering you money for things that involve no effort on your part, you start going, “I’ll do that.”

—————————–

This all allows me to point out that Band of Horses recently licensed one of their songs to Wal-Mart. I finally have a legitimate reason to rail against them, you know, besides their songs making me want to run a rusty spike through both of my eardrums. They really sound like they couldn’t come up with enough words to write a legitimate album and they just drag out the same sorry chord progression for years. I mean, for God’s sake… their lyrics are published with ellipses.

“Then I’m sure… I could steer…”
[chorus]
The Title Of The Song
[end chorus]

Sorry, I’m not mean very often. I feel better now.

I only post about upcoming shows when I’m really excited about them. And I haven’t been this excited about a show in a long time. For the last year, I’ve listened to The Most Serene Republic’s Phages EP more than any other album. I’ve been anticipating their second full-length Population so strongly that I thought I might have doomed myself to disappointment. On the contrary, it’s been one of those rare and beautiful instances where I’m absolutely enraptured by an album from first listen. While Phages is short and dense, Population allows for some breathing room with slow building songs and a couple of jazzy moments. It’s still an album that demands your undivided attention, but if you’re a fan of sweeping, driving, complex pop music (or any other Arts & Crafts band) I guarantee you it will be time well spent. The album drops on October 3rd.

The Most Serene Republic - Present of Future End.mp3

I’ve seen them only once, which was at the Arts & Crafts showcase during CMJ 2005. It was simply awesome. They have one of the most insane drummers you’ve ever seen and the talent of the rest of band does not lag far behind. But while you might revel at their musicianship for a song or two, you’ll quickly come to hear them as a cohesive group, not a bunch of hot-shot prog-heads. Most of their songs are in crazy meter, but flow so smoothly that you barely notice the changes.

Here’s a live performance of my favorite song from Phages, the title track:

Anyway, they are playing three New York area shows and I’ll have to miss two of them, but there is no place in the world I’d rather be on September 21st than Union Hall. My friends at Neon Lights are presenting the bill and I hope to be recording the show. From their press release:

NEON LIGHTS PRESENTS announces our return to Union Hall, following a victorious two night stand in July (Ola Podrida, De Novo Dahl). In an effort to top ourselves, we’ve brought in a secret Canadian weapon, THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC. The Ontario seven-piece were the first group signed to the Broken Social Scene’s Arts and Crafts label that weren’t a direct off-shoot of BSS themselves. The lovely expansive pop sound of their upcoming sophomore release, Population, will place the band on the level of their celebrated countrymen like Stars or Metric. Joining MSR will be hotly tipped Brooklyn newcomers, HIGH PLACES and SHE KEEPS BEES. The sweet melodies and alien instrumentation of HIGH PLACES have earned the duo Pitchfork love letters and an opening spot on the Blow’s upcoming Northeast tour. The spooked songwriting and soulful voice of SHE KEEPS BEES’ Jessica Larrabee have garned favorable comparisons to Fiona Apple or the early work of Chan Marshall. Between sets, music will be lovingly selected by our fellow blogging /concert promoting guest DJ’s, Justin and Nghia from CRACKER’S UNITED/ FRICTION and Chris from THE BATTERING ROOM/ KNOCKOUT.

I can’t make their Mercury show because I’m helping to produce Beirut on the 20th at Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene. We scouted the venue today and I have to tell you, it’s going to be an amazing show. One of the greatest things about this season of the Wordless Music Series is that WNYC has signed on to record and broadcast all of the shows. This means their extremely knowledgeable engineer and all of his expensive microphones will be there. I can’t wait to hear Zach playing his trumpet through a ribbon mic that’s three times his age. Honestly, in that hall with those mics, Beruit will sound better than ever. And if you can get over your fear of the G train, the venue is not very hard to get to and very unique with superb acoustics. Or come to Manhattan on the 24th, both shows will be great. [details at Wordless Music Series]

I can’t make the Maxwell’s show on the 22nd because I need to be at Battering Room’s Knockout: Round 6. Some good friends of mine are playing… Details on that are forthcoming.

This past weekend’s After The Jump fest was a great success. The turnout was surprisingly good for our inaugural festival and a substantial amount of money was raised for music programs in New York City schools. This is only my opinion, but the younger “up-and-coming” bands totally blew the “headliners” away. Jukebox the Ghost played first on the side stage and may have been my favorite act of the day. I’m sure you’ll hear more about them in the future, but for now I’d like to introduce you to a band that I was reminded of during their set.

Whenever a pop band relies heavily on the piano it seems they immediately get compared to Ben Folds Five. The Five purposely limited their sound by eschewing guitars, yet they still turned out some of my favorite music of the 20th Century. While Robert Sledge’s melodic basslines and Darren Jesse’s drumming gave the trio their unique sound, the songs always felt like they could be realized a little too easily with only a piano - which many of them were when Folds began flying solo (”Steven’s Last Night In Town” being one exception with it’s clarinet and trumpet parts - still, these instrumental oddities were album-only cameos and were usually played by Ben on a melodica in the live setting). After two albums, the band seemed to go as far as they could within the confines of their three instruments. Their experimentations with additional instruments and broader styles on their third and final album seemed to upset their delicate balance. On Ben’s latest records he writes and records mostly all the parts himself and while the instrumentation is becoming more varied, the songs still seemed composed mainly for piano with the additional parts being layered on top as an afterthought. The ability and desire to compose and arrange music for an wider arsenal of instruments is where bands like Jukebox the Ghost and Fluid Ounces break free from the Ben Folds Five stereotype.

When I first happened upon Fluid Ounces they were touted as being “like Ben Folds Five, but better”. I knew not to take such a broad opinion at face value, especially when it seemingly put down one of my favorite bands, but there actually was something “better” about this new discovery, fronted by songwriter Seth Timbs. Much like Folds’ most recent efforts, Timbs plays most of the instruments on his albums. But compared to the defunct trio and their fearless leader, Timbs’ music sounds more adventurous. While the piano is central to Fluid Ounces sound, other keyboard instruments are also heavily used and Seth Timbs rocks a mean guitar. The songs themselves are less straight-forward, a little bit progressive perhaps - but in a Queen way as opposed to a Rush way - with quickly delivered, witty lyrics which remind me of the Dismemberment Plan or Stunt-era Barenaked Ladies. The arrangements are complicated yet easily accessible and he draws from a very wide variety of influences, from vaudeville and ragtime to jazz, tango and blues.

Here’s a review of their most recent album The Whole Shebang [via PopMatters].

from The Whole Shebang (2004):
Fluid Ounces - Paperweight Machines

The Whole Shebang is available on iTunes, but you’ll have a much harder time finding the band’s second album, the out-of-print In The New Old-Fashioned Way which is widely regarded by fans as Fl. Oz.’s most outstanding album. Unlike The Whole Shebang, ITNOFW was recorded by the late 90’s incarnation of Fluid Ounces as a full band and not by Timbs alone. It kicks off with Lend Me Your Ears (”what Vincent Van Gogh must have said”) and other pop gems then progresses on to more heartfelt and personal songs such as my favorite “Bigger Than the Both of Us”. You can buy the import version at Tower.com (which still exists?) or find cheaper used copies at Amazon.

Marvel Girl [from In The New Old-Fashioned Way]
“stop action heroine/better than heroin”

Not as expansive, but still worth your time and money is Fluid Ounces first album Big Notebook For Easy Piano. Foreign Legion is their third album, released in 2001 on Japanese label Cutti Records. I originally thought it to be a live album, but it’s actually a proper release chock full of songs I need to become more familiar with.

Poet Tree [from Foreign Legion]
“so put your branches in the air/and wave them like you’re apathetic”

also from Big Notebook for Easy Piano (1997):
Fluid Ounces - Record Stack

Seth Timbs is somewhat of a local hero - a legend in his hometown of Murfreesburo, TN and nearby Nashville. He has also toured Japan, but hasn’t taken many trips around the States. This seems to suit him and his fans just fine, but I can’t help but try and broaden their fanbase. Unfortunately Fluid Ounces “final” album Instant Nostalgia will be released soon, but Timbs already has a new project lined up - a band called The Hot New Singles which plays guitar-based rock with a noticeably absent piano. Though Fluid Ounces got started before “Brick” hit the airwaves and stuck around much longer, Timbs himself admits that he’s “tired of the Ben Folds Five comparisons”. So I figured I’d do Jukebox the Ghost a favor and open the door for Fluid Ounces comparisons before they tire of hearing the name Ben Folds as well.

UPDATE: Juan posted a link to his fantastic blog Hung On Every Word in the comments. It’s a great resource for learning more about Fl. Oz. (which I wish I had when researching this post). You can also now find all of their music through Snocap at the bottom of his site.