Garbage Returns to NYC with Terminal 5 Show

It took more than a decade and a half, but I finally saw Garbage live on Friday night at Terminal 5. Not my favorite venue, but Shirley Manson and the band put on a great show that included plenty of tunes from their catalog of albums spanning 17 years.


Garbage performing "Only Happy When It Rains" at Terminal 5. This and following video via Hellspawn3000.

The band kicked things off with "Push It" and rocked hard during most of the show, which ran close to two hours. (See set list below.) Things slowed down a bit only for a couple of more mellow tunes, such as "The Trick is to Keep Breathing" and "Cup of Coffee" (which Manson called the most depressing song in the Garbage catalog).

Manson looks great, and mentioned several times how glad they were to be back in New York, playing at the beginning of the last leg of their North American tour to support their latest album, last year's "Not Your Kind of People." (They opened this stint at Montclair's Wellmont Theatre on Wednesday night.)

No doubt she and the other band members appreciated that, in a world where there's a hot new band becoming the next "it" thing practically every week, Garbage was able to get fans out to see them on tour despite the band being on hiatus for seven years—an eternity in the modern pop music landscape.

There were a couple of false starts on songs, which Manson blamed on technical problems, but other than that Garbage performed like a well-oiled machine. Manson didn't hit the higher notes like she does on their records, which may be a result of age and vocal wear and tear, or maybe she never hit those notes live anyway. Nevertheless, it didn't detract from what was a fine show.



As with the Wellmont show, Garbage was joined onstage by Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females for a cover of "Because the Night," which the two bands recorded as a single for next month's Record Store Day. Paternoster's voice was a good contrast, but not an unwelcome one, to Manson's, and Manson let Paternoster bask in the limelight by performing several blazing guitar solos, even walking to the back of the stage while Marissa played her licks.

The show ended with guitarist Duke Erickson performing a solo rendition of "Thank You Honey Bun," an old-timey sounding tune that I'm not familiar with (and which was definitely a contrast with Garbage's set).

The stage for opening act IO Echo featured Japanese shoji screens and a paper fan in front of the bass drum, but the sound was more goth than Asian. The band's Facebook page uses the term "Pastel Doom," which seems to fit.

Singer Ioanna Gika spun around the stage in kimono for most of the set, and though I didn't hear any Asian influence in the music, the aforementioned Facebook page describes their music as "Made with both organic and synthesized instruments from the far east. Japanese koto harps, one passed down to me from my grandmother + Chinese Violins + Pastel Romance."

I didn't hear any harps or violins but I liked their sound. After playing a number of shows at the recent SXSW, IO Echo seems to have a gained lot of new fans. Although their first full-length album doesn't come out for a couple of weeks (their set Friday night was only 25 minutes), their EP sold out at Terminal 5.

Setlist: Garbage at Terminal 5, March 22nd (via Setlist.fm)
Push It
Queer
Automatic Systematic Habit
Hammering in My Head
Blood for Poppies
Special
Why Do You Love Me
#1 Crush
I Think I'm Paranoid
The One
The Trick Is to Keep Breathing
Cherry Lips
Cup of Coffee
Stupid Girl
Only Happy When It Rains
Vow
Beloved Freak
   
Encore:
Because the Night (cover of Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith tune), with Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females
When I Grow Up
You Look So Fine
Thank You Honey Bun (Duke Erikson solo performance)

Now Streaming: Hear New CDs from Wavves, The Strokes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, & More

It's a relatively slow week for new streaming albums, but there are a few titles that sounds interesting. Among them: the new collection from San Diego surf-rockers Wavves, the new Jeff Tweedy-produced album from Low, the latest from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the new disc from singer-songwriter Josh Rouse, and a Smithsonian Folkways-inspired collection from Ridgewood, New Jersey native Julian Lynch.

(UPDATE 2, 3/19: "Girl Who Got Away" by Dido added below.)
(UPDATE: New album by The Strokes, "Comedown Machine," added below.)


Part three of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's six-part "Specter At The Feast" short film series, directed by Malia James (who's also a member of Dum Dum Girls).

There's also "Night," the intriguing collaboration between folk/country singer-songwriter Tift Merritt and classically trained concert pianist Simone Dinnerstein.

For fans of old-style soul, there's an album of new material by '60s legends The Delfonics (whose material has lived on through extensive sampling by hip-hop artists). It features songs written by producer Adrian Younge, who also features his backing band on the album.

(Note: Low is playing in NYC at the Society for Ethical Culture; get tickets here.)


Video from the new collaboration between Tift Merritt and Simone Dinnerstein.

Pitchfork: 
"Comedown Machine" by The Strokes

CBC Radio:
"Girl Who Got Away" by Dido

NPR First Listen:
"Afraid of Height" by Wavves
"Lines" by Julian Lynch
"Amygdala" by DJ Koze

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Specter at the Feast" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
"The Happiness Waltz" by Josh Rouse
"The Invisible Way" by Low

AOL Music's Listening Party:
"Night" by Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt

KCRW Album Preview: 
"Sleeper" by Carmen Villain
"Adrian Younge Presents the Delfonics" by The Delfonics

South by Southwest Music 2013: Free SXSW Downloads, Podcasts, Streaming Shows, & More

Hear live concerts and more from South by Southwest; see schedule below.

The music portion of this year's South by Southwest festival starts March 12th (running through the 17th), and as usual there are plenty of ways to sample music by the artists involved and the actual concerts down in Austin. Here are a few of the best ones (I'll post if I come across them):

* NPR Music's SXSW coverage is, as usual, pretty extensive; there are live webcasts of concerts and the keynote, interviews, and more. On March 13th there'll be live webcasts with Nick Cave, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Youth Lagoon, Alt-J, and more; the next day they'll stream Dave Grohl's keynote address. Other live sets include Divine Fits, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Iron and Wine, Dawes, and Charles Bradley.

NPR's Alt.Latino will broadcast live sets as well, featuring Café Tacuba, Molotov, and Bajofondo. And if you miss any of these live webcasts, don't worry: NPR tends to archive them online and make many of them available for download as free podcasts.

See the complete schedule of NPR Music's SXSW 2013 lineup here, and listen to their "Austin 100" playlist of songs (which you can also download individually, or in one big 800 MB zip file).

* Sample more than 1,200 songs by SXSW 2013 artists with this year's edition of The (Unofficial) SXSW Torrents. It's split into two files, the first is over 6 GB, the other a little over 1 GB.

* Amazon.com has two free SXSW 2013 samplers, one from Polyvinyl Records (featuring Deerhoof, Japandroids, Of Montreal, and more) and "Don't Mess with Texas" from The Orchard, with Loal Natives, Charles Bradley, The Virgins, Young Galaxy, Ra Ra Riot, and more.

* L.A.'s KCRW radio was one of the first radio stations to broadcast from SXSW, and it will have plenty of festival coverage as well. See the complete KCRW SXSW schedule here.

* The Alternate Side and its parent, WFUV, will have plenty of live music from SXSW on March 15th as part of the Public Radio Rocks SXSW Day Stage featuring Vampire Weekend, Divine Fits, Iron & Wine, Emmylou Harris, Dawes, Charles Bradley, and Pickwick.

* Fellow blogger Andriana of Gluttony is the New Black has put together a very thorough guide to the essentials of surviving SXSW for the website The Line of Best Fit. It covers music, of course, but also gives tips on the best food, open bars, parties, getting around, and more.

Concert Notes: Tickets for Lianne La Havas, Flaming Lips, Silversun Pickups, & More On Sale Friday

Here's a listing of some of the great shows that are coming up in the NYC area in the coming months, and going on sale tomorrow, Friday, March 8th. All go on sale at 12 Noon, Eastern time. Listings and links after the video.


Young British singing sensation Lianne La Havas comes to Brooklyn on April 10th.

* Lianne La Havas at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Wed., April 10th.

* Kaki King at Mercury Lounge, Thurs., April 25th. Early show: solo, performing "Everybody Loves You;" Late show: with full band.

* Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Fri., April 26th.

* Flying Lotus at Terminal 5, Sun., May 5th.

* Silversun Pickups at The Wellmont Theatre (Montclair, NJ), Sun., May 5th.

* Peter Murphy at Webster Hall, Tues., May 7th.

* Lights at Bowery Ballroom, Tues., May 14th.

* The Flaming Lips at The Wellmont Theatre, Thurs., May 16th

* Laura Stevenson at Bowery Ballroom, Fri., May 24th.

* Atlas Genius at Bowery Ballroom, Tues., June 18th.

* Lord Huron at Webster Hall, Fri., June 21st.

Now Streaming: Hear New CDs from Dave Grohl & Friends, Son Volt, They Might Be Giants, & More

Dave Grohl's new album of songs for the "Sound City" soundtrack is one of the albums headlining the crop of new albums streaming online this week. He's playing South by Southwest and other selected dates with his new supergroup, called"Sound City Players."



Other interesting new albums streaming this week is  along with a new album from No Depression alt-country pioneers Son Volt. And if you like Nine Inch Nails or the soundtrack work Trent Reznor has done with Atticus Ross, you'll want to check out "Welcome Oblivion" by How to Destroy Angels, the new group featuring Reznor, his wife, and Ross, among others.

Also streaming this week: Brooklyn duo They Might Be Giants are back with a new album (as hard as it is to believe, they've now been around for 30 years). And KCRW is featuring an album by the brother-and-sister duo known as Wild Belle.

NPR First Listen:
"Sound City: Real To Reel" by Dave Grohl & Friends
"Mala" by Devendra Banhart
"Muchacho" by Phosphorescent

KCRW Album Preview: 
"Isles" by Wild Belle

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Welcome Oblivion" by How to Destroy Angels
"Nanobots" by They Might Be Giants
"Honky Tonk" by Son Volt
"Hands" by Superhuman Happiness
"Bloody Amateur" by Bloody Amateur
"Lines We Trace" by Hey Marseilles
"Swords" by Lovers and Reflections
"The Wilderness" by k.s. Rhoads
"Eden" by Bow Thayer
"Varsity" by Christina Courtin