SPIN 20 party at Webster Hall
Last night I was lucky enough to go to SPIN magazine's 20th anniversary party at Webster Hall. I made some icons for their new redesign which looks awesome (check out their new look in the Oct 05 ish - 1st daveB icons on p.32).
I must admit that more than a couple of the performers I knew by reputation only, so I was very much looking forward to checking them out.
Drive By Truckers got the night started with their alt-country-rock vibe - a nice start to the night. They have a female bassist and black velvet paintings on stage including one of Jesus watching over a semi-truck - so they had me at hello. I was especially impressed by their drummer who wasn't reallly a basher but had such a great feel and sound from his kit.
I saw a local NYC band one level down - I'm assuming they were "Nightmare of You" who brought back a nice 80's New Wave sound - I'd check them out again. The entire time they were playing "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" was displayed on a few projection screens - the movie is hilarious even with the sound down.
I was pretty fired up to see LCD Soundsystem - I knew their "Daft Punk..." song and dug it. They (he) was the highlight of my night - I loved the combination of live instrumentation with tracks. The drummer had some endurance to him esp. on some of the numbers that went on a bit. A song like "Yeah" reminds you that lyrics are non-essential when the song kicks ass.
I missed J Mascis since I was probably watching Hurra Torpedo doing their art-rock thing in the basement. It was pretty hilarious and I thought their use of kitchen and laundry appliances as percussion was brilliant. Their set included cover's of "Toxic" by Britney Federline and "Total Eclipse of The Heart" during which they wrecked the appliances.
I caught part of Lady Sovereign's set which sounded great and ended up standing right next to Juliette Lewis. She was lovely and quite nice.
Death Cab for Cutie were good - a real tight band - they just don't totally do it for me. There's nothing bad about them - I don't know why but they kind of remind me of what would happen if Coldplay and Barenakedladies had a baby. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Then the living legend Darryl McDaniel from Run DMC came out for a 3 song set where he rapped along with vocal tracks - a seemingly sad necessity since his voice is basically shot - I remember something having happened to his voice a few years back (as told by VH1's Behind the Music). He's a cool dude and an icon, so again it's sad to hear his voice weakened. He gave major props to Chuck D - saying when he heard him he felt that God came down as a rapper in the persona of Chuck.
I had never seen Public Enemy before so I was pretty excited and when they hit the stage with live drums, guitar and bass along with their DJ I got chills. They put on a heck of a performance and got the remaining crowd - many who were there for HOURS like me - pumped up. Karate moves, samurai swords and Flava Flav (mr. F to me and Bridgitte Neilsen) - how better to end the night.
