Shearwater at The Earl, Atlanta, March 19, 2014

Shearwater at The Earl, March 19, 2014

March Madness is now in full swing.  Last night, Austin's Shearwater took the stage at The Earl.

Jesca Hoop opened.

I had heard a few Jesca Hoop songs before last night's show, but wasn't that familiar with her.  As her performance unfolded, a fascinating biography emerged - raised a strict Mormon, she broke away sometime in her teens to pursue a wilderness life off of the grid.  Eventually, she discovered songwriting and started performing, and now lives in Manchester, England, but cut her most recent album in LA before becoming a member of Shearwater's touring band.  However, before Shearwater took the stage, Hoop played a spellbinding solo set accompanied only by her own electric guitar and haunting voice.  The normally rowdy and noisy Earl was so quiet during her performance, you could have heard a pin drop - I was self-conscious by the barely audible "click" of my camera phone.

So that was cool.  I hadn't heard anything by or about the next band, Rhode Island's Death Vessel, before they took the stage, but based on their name expected black metal or at least droney stoner rock.

We got neither.  Instead, they played sweet folk rock, led by singer Joel Thibodeau's crooning soprano. Their songwriting was impeccable (Triangulated Heart was particularly memorable) and the sound mix was perfect.  A particularly nice touch was the quiet, little soundscapes they created between songs, using just a few chimes from a xylophone and a gentle bowed bass line to achieve near-ambient compositions as Thibodeau tuned his guitar for the next song.  At times, I was reminded a little of Fleet Foxes spin-off Poor Moon.

These guys are great.  Check them out.

So that was cool, too, and Shearwater, as always, was triumphant and magnificent.

By my count, this was the fifth time we've seen Shearwater play. We saw them at The Earl way back in November 2010, and then saw a reformulated version of the band at The Earl on Leap Year Day, 2012. In addition to those shows, we saw them open for St. Vincent at Variety Playhouse and for Dinosaur Junior on the same stage.  Five times, and every one was a delight.

This version of Shearwater was different than the last several concerts, most notably for the inspired addition of Jesca Hoop on keyboards, percussion and backing vocals.    

But as always, a Shearwater performance is basically The Jonathan Meiburg Show, and he did not disappont last night.  The band has a new album out, Fellow Travelers, of covers by bands they've toured with, and while they played one or two songs from the new album, they relied heavily on songs from 2012's superb Animal Joy, most notably the title track, Breaking the Yearlings, and You As You Are.

As at most Atlanta concerts by the band, Meiburg's parents, who live here in town, were in attendance.  The set closed with A Song for the Minotaur, and then, for some reason, a perfectly-executed cover of Roxy Music's Virginia Plane.  I have an MP3 somewhere of Shearwater covering Eno's Baby's On Fire (from roughly the same period of time and similar location in the glam-rock universe), so they're obviously fans of 1970s British art-house pop. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised to hear them perform a complete, note-by-note cover of Fripp & Eno's No Pussyfooting.

So, what a night!  A thrilling but intimate performance by Jesca Hoop, a new discovery of a great band, Death Vessel, and a chance to check in with Meiburg and see what he's been up to lately with Shearwater.

New tUnE-yArDs Song

Woo-ha!, but the real question is do I go see Mogwai at Center Stage on May 2, or tUnE-yArDs open for Arcade Fire at Aaron's Amphitheater instead?

Typhoon at Terminal West, Atlanta, March 17, 2014

Typhoon at Terminal West, March 17, 2014

Now that the tragedy-marred SXSW is over and done with, we can resume March Madness here in the ATL.

Phox is a six-piece indie pop band from Baraboo, Wisconsin. Fronted by alluring singer Monica Martin, they kicked off the second half of March Madness with a fine set at Terminal West.

Actually, that's not completely correct.  The truth of the matter is, I was late getting there last night, having attended to my standing obligation on Monday evenings, and by the time I got there at around 8:45, I had missed the opener, Natural Blond, and Phox was already well into the second set of the night.

I liked what I heard, but I was also a little surprised by how crowded the venue was, given the relatively early (by rock standards) hour and that it was only the headliner's first appearance in Atlanta.  I spent most of Phox's set trying to find a decent vantage point to see the stage in the crowded room without rudely cutting right in front of someone already there.  By the time I finally settled in about five or so rows back from the stage, Phox only had a few songs left to their set, but as I said, I liked what I heard.  I hope they pass this way again when I can make it on time.   

They were good, but the large crowd was really there to see Portland's Typhoon, an 11-piece, folk-rock mini-orchestra fronted by Kyle Morton.

Bragging rights: unlike most people in the audience (this was the band's first appearance in Atlanta), I've seen Typhoon play before, twice in fact, both times at MFNW (RIP).  They performed during 2011 on the festival's showcase stage, the outdoor Pioneer Courthouse Square, and the day before at a KEXP radio broadcast from the Doug Fir Lounge.  Here's a Dude-I-Was-There video from the Doug Fir performance to give you an idea of what they're like: 

Fortunately, they haven't changed much in the 2 1/2 years since that show, and Typhoon brought much the same sound to Terminal West last night. The large audience greeted them enthusiastically, and from the opening Honest Truth to the end of the set, everyone, including your humble narrator, was pumping their fists and bobbing their heads along with the music.  

Typhoon are an 11-piece band, and their tour must be an interesting logistical challenge in its own right. They feature two drummers, a three-piece horn section, two strings, two guitars, bass, and keyboards, and frontman Kyle Morton sings and plays both guitar and keyboards. 

By the time their set started, I managed to work my way up to about the third row, but it was still hard to get good pictures of the band, or any pictures of the entire band at all, as they took up so much stage space, one would need an ultra-wide-angle lens and an empty venue to capture them all. 

So, yes, it was a great set.  Typhoon played triumphantly, the audience was over-the-top receptive, Morton was blown away by how nice Terminal West is to play, and everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives.  The band even snuck in a few stanzas of With A Little Help From My Friends near the end of their set, playing it in their own distinctive style that sounded neither like The Beatles nor Joe Cocker.   

For their encore, the band played a long, extended number, and what can you say about a band that in the course of one song, can evoke comparisons to Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Dirty Projectors, Beirut, Fanfarlo, and Jim James?  This isn't that song, but here's their video for set opener The Honest Truth.

One Of The Best Things I've Heard Recently

Digging the album, Benji.

Old Smokey

The most interesting sounds seem to keep coming from Athens, Georgia.  Case in point - Old Smokey, featuring John Fernandes (Olivia Tremor Control) on violin, clarinet, and bass clarinet.  Old Smokey’s first full-length album, Wester Easter, will be released on Cloud Recordings on April 29, 2014.

One Of The Best Things I've Heard Recently

Digging the album, Benji.

Shit I Missed

Shit I missed - Quilt's February 24 show at 529, dang gummit!