New West Concert Series Past Events
Austra, Young Galaxy, Tasseomancy
The New West Concert Series Presents
AUSTRA
YOUNG GALAXY
TASSEOMANCY
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Main stage @ The Exchange
Doors open @ 8pm
Show starts @ 8:30pm
AUSTRA is Katie Stelmanis, Maya Postepski, and Dorian Wolf. They formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2010. The debut of AUSTRA comes at the end of a long line for the band's principal songwriter Katie Stelmanis. AUSTRA represents the musical progression of almost 10 years of performing as an artist, fleshed out by a full band. More settled and dominant than ever, the AUSTRA sound represents all of Katie's influences tightened into a shiny metal ball - pianos give way to keyboards as songs build and pull, their urgent dark melodies arpeggiating and multiplying through an army of synthesizers, wrapping themselves around Katie's astounding voice.
AUSTRA
YOUNG GALAXY
TASSEOMANCY
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Main stage @ The Exchange
Doors open @ 8pm
Show starts @ 8:30pm
AUSTRA is Katie Stelmanis, Maya Postepski, and Dorian Wolf. They formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2010. The debut of AUSTRA comes at the end of a long line for the band's principal songwriter Katie Stelmanis. AUSTRA represents the musical progression of almost 10 years of performing as an artist, fleshed out by a full band. More settled and dominant than ever, the AUSTRA sound represents all of Katie's influences tightened into a shiny metal ball - pianos give way to keyboards as songs build and pull, their urgent dark melodies arpeggiating and multiplying through an army of synthesizers, wrapping themselves around Katie's astounding voice.
Read More
Ra Ra Riot and Dinosaur Bones
The New West Concert Series presents
RA RA RIOT
w/
DINOSAUR BONES
Friday, October 30th
Doors open @ 8pm
Show starts @ 9pm
Being friends with Vampire Weekend would've helped any band in 2008, but it was particularly beneficial to Ra Ra Riot and their relentlessly charming debut, The Rhumb Line, whose college rock came in similarly preppy tailoring. Plenty of this genre's practitioners have attended ritzy private schools, but these two bands sounded like it: melodically nimble and compact songs bedecked with chamber-pop sweetener and nods to 1980s art-rock. Of course, Ra Ra Riot never faced the same accusations of cultural appropriation or privilege (maybe because Syracuse isn't in the Ivy League?), but oddly enough, their detractors denounced them as even less edgy and more buttoned-up. Perhaps The Orchard is a reaction to that criticism; it pushes their stylistic range at the cost of hooks.
The record's up-tempo singles rehash the band's previous sound to slighter effect. The intentionally offbeat bass on "Boy" distracts, while "Too Dramatic" is anything but, its awkward rhymes sounding like parts of a melodic chain that's missing a couple of links. The Orchard is best when Ra Ra Riot integrate plusher production into more natural arrangements. While the rangy, chugging motorik of "Massachusetts" and "You and I Know"'s dusky balladry (sung by cellist Alexandra Lawn) meander, they at least try something new, hinting that The Orchard might be something of a grower. But as soon as they build momentum with The Orchard's most typically triumphant hook ("Shadowcasting"), the ironically titled "Do You Remember" kicks off a final third that fails to leave any impression.
Any band with a successful debut is tempted to make its next album reactionary, but if Ra Ra Riot were set on doing so, they could've learned something from VW's Contra, a sonically rich and fearless comeback that sounded like the work of a band who, as our Mike Powell said, had "fallen in love with what they started and are hugging it tight without shame or apology." Instead, Ra Ra Riot sound overly self-conscious, the rural environs of their recording space failing to provide the warmth, empathy, or exuberance of The Rhumb Line. They've survived worse things than a bum album (between their self-titled EP and The Rhumb Line, drummer John Pike passed away), so it would be foolish to write them off, but The Orchard at the very least can prove that making something as effortlessly amiable as The Rhumb Line isn't as easy at it seems.
RA RA RIOT
w/
DINOSAUR BONES
Friday, October 30th
Doors open @ 8pm
Show starts @ 9pm
Being friends with Vampire Weekend would've helped any band in 2008, but it was particularly beneficial to Ra Ra Riot and their relentlessly charming debut, The Rhumb Line, whose college rock came in similarly preppy tailoring. Plenty of this genre's practitioners have attended ritzy private schools, but these two bands sounded like it: melodically nimble and compact songs bedecked with chamber-pop sweetener and nods to 1980s art-rock. Of course, Ra Ra Riot never faced the same accusations of cultural appropriation or privilege (maybe because Syracuse isn't in the Ivy League?), but oddly enough, their detractors denounced them as even less edgy and more buttoned-up. Perhaps The Orchard is a reaction to that criticism; it pushes their stylistic range at the cost of hooks.
The record's up-tempo singles rehash the band's previous sound to slighter effect. The intentionally offbeat bass on "Boy" distracts, while "Too Dramatic" is anything but, its awkward rhymes sounding like parts of a melodic chain that's missing a couple of links. The Orchard is best when Ra Ra Riot integrate plusher production into more natural arrangements. While the rangy, chugging motorik of "Massachusetts" and "You and I Know"'s dusky balladry (sung by cellist Alexandra Lawn) meander, they at least try something new, hinting that The Orchard might be something of a grower. But as soon as they build momentum with The Orchard's most typically triumphant hook ("Shadowcasting"), the ironically titled "Do You Remember" kicks off a final third that fails to leave any impression.
Any band with a successful debut is tempted to make its next album reactionary, but if Ra Ra Riot were set on doing so, they could've learned something from VW's Contra, a sonically rich and fearless comeback that sounded like the work of a band who, as our Mike Powell said, had "fallen in love with what they started and are hugging it tight without shame or apology." Instead, Ra Ra Riot sound overly self-conscious, the rural environs of their recording space failing to provide the warmth, empathy, or exuberance of The Rhumb Line. They've survived worse things than a bum album (between their self-titled EP and The Rhumb Line, drummer John Pike passed away), so it would be foolish to write them off, but The Orchard at the very least can prove that making something as effortlessly amiable as The Rhumb Line isn't as easy at it seems.
