Best Live

What's music lists without considering music in the live spectrum? Actually I didn't think about doing such a thing until I was tipped off that it'd be a good idea, but here goes:

10. Felice Brothers 9/7 Club Helsinki, Great Barrington, MA

These guys are hell of fun, especially since they're from just over the NY border in the Catskills. They've got this rag-tag vibe, a sort of drawl which seems leftover from times when America was still forging westward towards the Pacific. They've got an endless array of stories and mythologies (who knows how many are true) to share while they make you feel like family.

9. Caribou/Fuck Buttons 3/25 Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, MA

The second time I've seen Caribou was certainly better than the first (again at the Iron Horse last year), with chaos drumming and trippy projections aplenty. This show came right before the drummer broke his wrist (yes, while drumming I believe) so I was lucky. Openers Fuck Buttons have received much buzz this year, and they were surprisingly impressive. They had already started as I walked in and the noise had already begun to deafen, creating a gap between where the audience chose to reside (far away from speakers) and the stage.

8. Between a Rock and a Tiny Bell (HEALTH, Han Bennink & Peter Brotzmann, Blarvuster, ZS, Black Moth Super Rainbow) Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center, RPI campus, Troy, NY

This show was bizarre. Free is always good and semi-local is always good, so some friends and I headed over to Troy, mainly for HEALTH and Black Moth Super Rainbow. HEALTH was fantastic and spastic, wildly prancing around stage and creating some real huge feedback noise. Black Moth Super Rainbow sounded just about the same as on the record, which would have been disappointing if not for the constant B-movie/kid show/horror projections in back of them. The real "what the fuck" of the show was Bennink & Brotzmann, however. Bennink is the greatest drummer I've ever seen live, and I'd never even heard any of his work until this show. He was absolutely phenomenal, making every single sound a drum kit could possibly make, or more appropriately every single sound a drum kit could dream of making. Truly a vision.

7. Holy Fuck/A Place To Bury Strangers/Tiny Whales 3/21 Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA

For reasons unknown, Holy Fuck was the headliner of this show. APTBS absolutely killed, probably the loudest show I've ever seen. They tore through songs relentlessly behind strobing lights in the Middle East's tiny upstairs venue. See this band.

6. All Points West (Radiohead, Kings of Leon, Animal Collective, Metric, Chromeo) 8/9 Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ

Festivals are fun, especially when you can get single-day passes and not have to lower cleanliness standards by not showering for a week (like Bonnaroo). APW attracted be for the simple combination of Radiohead and Animal collective at the same stage, though separated by one of the lamest bands I've ever had to sit through, Kings of Leon (right up there with Jennifer O'Connor and Rig 1). Chromeo started the afternoon all dance-y and electro, while Metric's Emily Haines bopped around stage in a tiny gold suit. Animal Collective was jaw-dropping: loud, trance-like, druggy. They played "Brother Sport" and "Fireworks," the only songs I recognized amongst other new material. Radiohead was amazing as expected. Crystalline light show, all the new songs (including "Bangers & Mash"), and a great throwback to "Planet Telex," rainbow LEDs creating a visual which will remain with me for a very long time.

5. Jamie Lidell/Jennifer O'Connor 6/7 Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA

This was probably the most surprisingly fun show I saw all year. After Jennifer O'Connor's snore-fest to start the night, Lidell hit the stage as a true performer, flaunting a crazy gold jacket, amateur-at-best dance moves, and all the hits. He ended up onstage in the encore with a television encasing his head, another image I'll never forget. P.S. his saxophone dude is baller.

4. The Dodos/Tall Firs/The Amazements 4/10 SMOG at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

First off, this was one of the cooler venues I checked out this year. It was a simple garage cleaned up for shows and practice space, absolutely covered in graffiti. The Dodos literally only played for 35 minutes before campus security made them stop (who needs quiet hours?) but it was truly crazy. I was inches from the neck of Meric Long's guitar, pushed up against the stage by the hoard of students packed into the dusty, cigarette smoke-filled concrete box.

3. Saul Williams/Dragons of Zynth 4/12 Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, MA

I don't usually get motivated by the politically conscious, but Mr. Williams was an exception. He comes onstage with feathers in his hair, blue Bowie-esque facepaint under his eyes, over his cheeks. He convulses his way (in huge feathery boots) around the stage and into the crowd, inciting the liveliest crowd I've ever seen at the Iron Horse. He read poetry, rapped over beats from CX KiDTRONiK, and otherwise killed. I felt unity.

2. M83/School of Seven Bells 11/16 Pearl Street Clubroom, Northampton, MA

M83 was as close to perfect as possible. The drummer was flawless, whether he was behind the drum kit or the drum pad, surrounded by a see-through sound-absorbing wall which created drum sounds directly from the record. In fact, the drummer was hypnotic. Everything (synthesizers, guitars, etc) mingled and melded together to create a haze of processed sound, disappointing none.

1. Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno 12/2 Calvin Theatre, Northampton, MA

I'm not usually into seeing artists rehashing their old sound to sell tickets and wallow in superstardom, but this seemed like so much more. David Byrne and Brian Eno recorded a new record after a 27-year break since 1981's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts so Byrne decided to tour some of the songs as well as old material. David Byrne. Brian Eno. That means the glory days of the Talking Heads, some of my favorite music I was not alive to witness. I heard songs live I never thought possible (like material from that 1981 record) and songs I never thought I'd see performed by Byrne himself, such as "Once in a Lifetime," "Life During Wartime," "Crosseyed and Painless," and, ultimately, "Burning Down the House." These were the clinchers, not to mention the impeccable lighting and weird ballet.