WDCV FM

First off, let me establish my cred.

I began listening to Neutral Milk Hotel about 8 years ago  (I can hear you saying “pffffft”) when I was in 9th grade and finally learning about good music. Cut me some slack!  So I bought In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, talked endlessly about how it was the greatest thing, and was heartbroken when I realized that Jeff Mangum no longer tours.  I resigned myself to listening to him on album and acting like, if I ever did see him, he would probably suck.

Neutral Milk Hotel started in the 1990s and released a full length album,  On Avery Island, in 1994.  The band released its second full album in 1998, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, to high acclaim for Mangum’s creative lyrics and the unique instrumentation.  Throughout the album the character of Anne Frank is present along with provocative characters such as the Two-Headed Boy matched with equally provocative lyrics.  After the release of the album and the subsequent touring, Neutral Milk Hotel started turning down show opportunities and officially went on an indefinite hiatus in 1999.  Mangum began playing solo shows again in 2010 and scheduled touring dates in 2011.  I was reluctant to see him the first time he came my way.  I loved Aeroplane’s unique sound of horns and woodwinds, I was afraid an acoustic set would make his stories flat.

I have never been so happy to be wrong.
Dan and I walked into the Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center in York and could immediately feel the static of excitement in the room (or maybe it was from the crazy amount of beards, flannel, and wool on my fellow concert goers.)  The opening act Tall Firs was decent and I have to give it to them.  They knew no one was there to see them, still they put on a great set.  Their music was very soothing, kind of like if whales and Mogwai produced an offspring and peppered it with Peter and the Wolf.  I would check them out if you have insomnia.

Around 9pm Jeff Mangum walked on stage.  He was wearing a red wool sweater, cords, and an army cap.  Honestly he could have been sitting next to you in this crowd and, without a second look, you wouldn’t have realized who he was.  Also he had an epic beard.  (It has been growing it since May, he said)

He sat down on a plush beat-up chair, picked up a guitar, strummed a note and started playing the first chords of “Oh Comely”  When he sang the first note it was like being pulled under by a wave.  It was loud, it was powerful, it was raw, it was beautiful, it was real.  The sheer volume he produced with his voice just rolled through the crowd and everyone sat in stunned silence.  His nasally pitched singing sounded better than on the recordings.

After, the crowd burst into cheers and applause and he began to play “Two-Headed Boy Pt 1.”  It was quieter, more restrained, but still so powerful.  With a quick “thanks” and a “This is called ‘Gardenhead’,” he continued.  There was this impression of shyness melting away with every song, every note.  Everyone in that room loved him and it was as if he was making sure of that before he engaged directly with us.  After “Ferris Wheel on Fire” and a cover of Rocky Erickson’s “I Love the Living You”  he encouraged the crowd to sing along because he could “tell you want to.”  And with that he went into “The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. One”, followed by part two and three.  As the room echoed with a thousand mouths proclaiming “i love you Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ I love you,” it was absolute magic.

“Holland 1945” and “Oh Sister” followed.  I have to say “Oh Sister” is much more disturbing when played live.  He followed with “Two-Headed Boy Pt Two,” “Song Against Sex,” and “Ghost”.  During “Ghost” the whole crowd flocked to the front of the theatre (we had been sitting in seats)  and sang with him.  It was beautiful.

However the enthusiasm was nothing compared to the whole crowd singing along to “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” as his encore.

This show was filled with emotion. You could feel the love from the crowd for Jeff and his music, his lyrics and his voice, his poetry.  I was told it would be awkward, watching someone who doesn’t want to perform play live.  It was anything but.  He was personable, he bantered with the crowd and told some short anecdotes.  He was reserved but he didn’t come off like an asshole, just someone who is really shy.  Irregardless of his persona on stage, he is one of the most amazing musicians  I have seen.  The power in his voice and the feeling he projects into the lyrics make the characters in his songs come to life and gives you chills to be present in the wake of it all.

As we know from Oh Comely “soft, silly music is meaningful, magical”  and that was never more true than at this show.

Link to Neutral Milk Hotel’s website:

http://walkingwallofwords.com/

Tall Firs:

http://tallfirs.org/

Here are some links to photos of the show:

https://twitter.com/rpm164/status/299513215451271168/photo/1

http://web.stagram.com/p/385059476710174244_438402

Here is a link to The Strand’s website:

http://www.mystrandcapitol.org/

So I’ve decided to inject some life into this very outdated music section and write some bi-monthly reviews of various shows, gigs, and jigs (is jigs a thing? It is now). I want to mostly cover the smaller, DIY shows around the Philadelphia and Cumberland Valley area, to give what I believe to be a very talented and diverse scene of musicians some great exposure. But for this first review, I’ve decided to relive a show I went to 2 weeks ago at the Union Transfer Station in Philadelphia.

Back in October, Underoath announced they were breaking up after 16 years, 7 studio albums, and as many lineup changes as Spinal Tap. They did not plan to go out quietly however, as plans were quickly made for a farewell tour with MewithoutYou, As Cities Burn, and Letlive as supporting acts. The lineup for this show greatly intrigued me when I first saw it. Underoath has been one of the largest, most well-received bands in the post-hardcore scene ever since 2004’s They’re Only Chasing Safety, and their following albums, including my own favorite Define the Great Line, blended elements of hardcore, ambient electronica, and post-metal. Each of their albums has always brought something distinct, enjoyable, and new to the table, one of the reasons they have been so successful. Pairing them with the unique sound of MewithoutYou seemed eerily appropriate, as the band is known for being pioneers in the post-hardcore and indie rock genres for their spoken word vocals and free-ranging instrumentals. For me, the icing on the cake was As Cities Burn, a personnel favorite of mine who had been touring around the country for the past year after breaking up in 2009, and whose debut album, 2005’s Son I Loved You at Your Darkest, remains one of my favorite hardcore albums of all time. From the minute this lineup was announced in October, I knew I had to be a part of this tour. So I contacted a friend, bought a ticket for the show in Philly, and waited patiently for the day to come.

2 months after I had already bought my ticket, the day of the show arrived. I rolled into Union Transfer with 4 other friends around 8:30, just as Letlive had finished their set. I was a little disappointed that we had missed the first act, mostly because I had never really listened to Letlive before, but with As Cities Burn setting up I didn’t have much time to lament. We found a place to stand near the middle of the crowd and waited for the band to come out. As Cities Burn has three albums, all with a distinctly different sound. Their debut, Son I Loved You at Your Darkest, is the only hardcore album and would make up the majority of their set, but they opened with a few songs from their other 2 albums, ambient and progressive Come Now, Sleep and indie rock Hell or High Water. I picked up instantly that the band would be modifying their sound this evening to appease the hardcore-loving Underoath crowd, applying distortion and bass to their non-hardcore songs that didn’t feel very right. Even when they started to play their heavier songs, there appeared to be some aggressive modifications to their style that didn’t sit well with me as an avid fan of the band’s studio work. I witnessed something similar when I saw them in Dallas a year ago, during their first reunion show. Despite coming to the conclusion that As Cities Burn is just not as good a live band as they are on record, they played an incredibly energetic and lively set that set the mood for the night perfectly. Lead singer TJ Bonette was very interactive with the crowd, and the rest of the band was constantly moving and having fun on stage. Everyone seemed to react to them well, as evidenced by the first mosh pit of the night forming quickly within the first 10 minutes of their set. Overall, As Cities Burn played a lively, fun, but I still feel they had underachieved compared to what kind of sound the band is capable of.

Among my friends and I, MewithoutYou was the band we were most looking forward to seeing. The Philadelphia-based band is one of the most innovative group of musicians in the post-hardcore and indie genres today. Lead singer Aaron Weiss is considered one of the better spoken-word lyricists, in the same company as La Dispute’s Jordan Dreyer or Listener’s Dan Smith. We scoped out some spots right in the front in anticipation of their set. Their 5^th studio album, Ten Stories, had been released a few months prior, but they played a set filled with songs from across all their albums. The band has a pleasant awkwardness to them; Weiss sounds like a nervous toddler in between songs and the rest of the band partakes in some unorthodox theatrics throughout their sets (I caught the drummer licking his sticks at one point. Licking.) This stage presence just contributed to their sound, which was uncompromised and beautifully performed. By far the highlight of the set was when the band pulled out fan favorite song Torches Together. At the end of MewithoutYou’s set, my friends and I felt that we had already gotten our money’s worth.

Finally, after a lengthy delay, Underoath took the stage amidst thunderous applause and approval. My friends and I had at this point re-located to the balcony/bar, giving us a full view of the crowd and stage. Underoath came out strong, playing a myriad of songs from across many albums, and didn’t slow down until the 4 song encore. There was certainly a lot of passion and energy on the stage; lead singer Spencer Chamberlain was constantly interacting with the crowd as the band played vigorously on stage. It was an emotional set; Underoath has always been widely popular, and their exit was bound to not go unnoticed. It was good, though, to see the band play songs that they enjoyed a lot with the fan favorites. It’s hard to forget that for these musicians, leaving the life of touring and recording can be a big shift. Undoubtedly some of the members will remain active in music, but for most of them, this tour is it. In the end, Underoath played like they would never be playing Philly again, capping off a great show with an emotional nail in the coffin.

Outside of house shows, this was my first show of 2013, and it was definitely one of the better ones I’ve attended in the past year. As Cities Burn played with intensity, MewithoutYou was as phenomenal and artistic as always, and Underoath provided the emotional icing on the cake. It truly was a night to remember.

If you are interested in learning more about the bands in this show, or the Union Transfer Station in Philadelphia, check out the links below.

https://www.facebook.com/underoath
www.mewithoutyou.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ascitiesburn
https://www.facebook.com/theletlive
http://www.utphilly.com/