Set Your Goals / The Swellers @ South Hackensack 2/2/10

February 2, 2010

EXCLUSIVE! Download the full performance right now!

On a day off from supporting Motion City Soundtrack, Set Your Goals took tourmates The Swellers to industrial South Hackensack to headline a show at School of Rock. Joining the line up were local acts Bayonet, Dear Tragedy, and My Only Escape, but I arrived in time only to catch The Swellers.

The Swellers

The Swellers

Blending punk-pop with traditional punk, The Swellers played a solid set for thirty-five minutes. The Michigan four-piece stuck heavily to their latest effort, Ups and Downsizing, on Fueled by Ramen Records, but also mixed in older cuts as well. Highlights from the night included “2009″ and “Welcome Back Riders”. Frontman Nick Diener did his best to excite the crowd, but ultimately the band’s biggest downfall is their lack of originality and excellent moments — the band is extremely solid but never truly excels. After giving thanks to New Jersey for its excellent punk scene — name-checking Lifetime in the process — The Swellers closed their set with “Do You Feel Better Yet?”.

Set Your Goals exploded on stage with “Gaia Bleeds (Make Way For Man)”, the crowd appropriately reacting with an enormous pit. Co-frontman Jordan Brown tackled the song’s brutal vocals (recorded by John Gula of Turmoil in the studio) while the crowd tackled each other in attempts of making the pit as large as possible. Things hardly slowed down with the band taking on one of their oldest songs, “Goonies Never Say Die”, next.

Set Your Goals

Set Your Goals

The singalong-ready “Look Closer” followed, with the the bigger Brown and much, much smaller Matt Wilson trading vocals. Though vocally and aesthetically opposites, Brown and Wilson play off each other extremely well. The one-two knockout punch of Mutiny opener “Work in Progress” directly into “We Do It for the Money, Obviously!” was a great addition to an already solid set.

The lighthearted “Summer Jam” was a fun three minute romp, and 2009 title track, “This Will Be the Death of Us”, sounded great. The explosive “Equals” — written about the the necessary equality between band and fans in a punk community — preceded a solid performance of the Something Corporate-inspired “To Be Continued…”. Set Your Goals closed the set with “Mutiny!” and its associated introductory track, “Dead Men Tell No Tales”. The full list:

Gaia Bleeds (Make Way For Man)
Goonies Never Say Die
Look Closer
The Fallen
Work in Progress
We Do It for the Money, Obviously!
Summer Jam
Echoes
This Will Be the Death of Us
Equals
To Be Continued…
Ethos
Dead Men Tell No Tales
Mutiny!

Blurring the lines between punk-pop, punk, and melodic hardcore, Set Your Goals played a solid forty-five minute set to a half-filled venue. In a headlining role, though, it was somewhat disappointing to see the band play just fourteen songs, even if the fourteen selected were arguably the band’s best songs. The band continues on through the the United States in direct support of Motion City Soundtrack, including another date the next night in Manhattan’s Irving Plaza.

All photographs by the excellent Danielle Shepherd.


Kevin Devine / Linfinity / Scott Matthew @ NYC 1/27/10

January 27, 2010

As part of Brooklyn Bowl’s ongoing attempt to raise money to benefit the natural disaster victims of Haiti, Kevin Devine teamed up with New York radio station 101.9 RXP to offer a free show. All donations went directly to Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation and 25% of Devine’s merch sales went to Doctors Without Borders. To encourage donations, Devine offered a free download of his new record with Manchester Orchestra to anyone who donated at least $5 to the cause.

Scott Matthew, joined by Clara Kennedy, opened the evening. The duo performed acoustic cuts for about twenty-five minutes, trading extremely impressive vocal harmonies throughout the set’s duration. “Tonight You Belong to Me”, a 1920s pop song made famous through the years by a number of artists (including Fiona Apple recently), received excellent treatment. The two seemed awkward and somewhat out-of-place on stage, but there is no denying Kennedy’s amazing vocal abilities. Matthew and Kennedy closed their set with a splendid cover of Frank Loesser’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.

The five-piece Linfinity provided direct support for Kevin Devine. The band’s eight-song set was enjoyable but not groundbreaking, even with an electric violinist adding interesting riffs to the song’s fairly standard structures. A slide guitar spiced up “Seesaw Love”; “Choo Choo Train to Venice” was exciting and groove-based. The lyrics and style seemed to indicate a country-influence, and for the final song, “MSG”, the lead guitarist even switched to a mandolin. The full set:

Southern Belles
Seesaw Love
Choo Choo Train to Venice
Holy Rain
Molly Mar of Rome
Miles
MSG

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band — a six-piece lead by Devine and rounded out by two additional guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and keyboardist Brian Bonz — opened with Put Your Ghost to Rest’s “Burning City Smoking”, updating the lyrics to reflect the changing political issues since the song’s original 2006 release. “Yr Husband” followed, with Devine slamming through the song’s jolted chords.

The alliteration-laced “Go Haunt Someone Else” sounded great; Bonz beat-boxed the intro to Devine’s latest single, “I Could Be With Anyone”, which received great live treatment. The trippy “Carnival” begs for a live environment, and Devine and the Goddamn Band nailed the song.

Kenny Warren joined the band to play trumpet on “Fever Moon”, sticking around to also provide the blaring brass to an excellent romp of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Holland 1945″. Rarely seen “You Are the Daybreak” proceeded a fiery performance of “Cotton Crush”. Jam-heavy “Brother’s Blood” closed the schedule setlist; Devine and the band returned moments later for an encore of “Just Stay”. The full set, which equally balanced new songs with his back-catalog:

Burning City Smoking
Yr Husband
Go Haunt Someone Else
I Could Be With Anyone
Carnival
Another Bag of Bones
Buried By the Buzz
Fever Moon
Holland 1945 (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
You Are the Daybreak
Cotton Crush
The Only One (Manchester Orchestra cover)
Brother’s Blood
Just Stay

The night was an absolute success, with more than two thousand dollars raised for charity. Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band sounded great across their varied fourteen-song setlist; a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel goes over extremely well in Williamsburg. With such an extensive and formidable catalog, Devine’s set will always feature glaring omissions; still, the singer-songwriter did well to include a little bit of everything throughout the show making the night not only rewarding but exceptionally enjoyable.

inTuneMusic is very interested in any submissions/corrections from this event including photographs, setlists, and audio/video. Please contact us, you will receive complete credit for any submission.


Anthony Raneri / Kevin Devine / Vinnie Caruana / JT Woodruff / Shane Henderson @ Farmingdale 1/21/10

January 21, 2010

Assembling the chief songwriters of Bayside, I am the Avalanche, Hawthorne Heights, and Valencia, and tossing in Kevin Devine,  Long Island’s Crazy Donkey hosted an evening of acoustic performances by five talented musicians. Each artist approached their set in a completely different manner, making for an unpredictable and exciting evening.

The night’s first performance was by Valencia frontman Shane Henderson, though I unfortunately managed to catch just two songs. Henderson’s penultimate song was “Away We Go”, a song recorded by Valencia for their debut album, This Could Be a Possibility, but originally appearing on Promise of Redemption’s Lights That Flicker Will Surely Fade – Henderson’s debut solo album. “From the Second I Wake Up…”, a song from Promise of Redemption’s second album, closed the set.

JT Woodruff performed next, playing a seven-song set that included six originals and one Face to Face cover, chosen for its significance in introducing the Hawthorne Heights songwriter to punk rock. Wisely opting not to perform any of his band’s songs (even denying a request for the awful “Ohio is for Lovers”), Woodruff’s performance was somewhat enjoyable yet clearly the weakest link in an otherwise outstanding night. The set began with a song about his hometown, followed by a quick number about his daughter Avery. The set’s highlight was clearly “Friends in the Sky”, a heartfelt tribute to lost friends including former bandmate Casey Calvert, Bayside’s John “Beatz” Holohan, and recently deceased Avenged Sevenfold drummer “The Rev”. Woodruff closed his set on a less-heavy note, however, with “Least Favorite Things 2009″, a jab at the current neon culture and even Lady Gaga. The set:

(New song)
Avery
Disconnected (Face to Face cover)
(New song)
(New song)
Friends in the Sky
Least Favorite Things 2009

Vinnie Caruana

Vinnie Caruana

Vinnie Caruana began his set with a solid new song, moving quickly into staple “Hey” from The Movielife’s Forty Hour Train Back to Penn. “Drinking Song” and “Green Eyes”, from Caruana’s current project, I am the Avalanche, sounded great. A few more favorites from The Movielife and some rants about New York sports–specifically regarding the success of the New York Jets and the disappointments of the New York Mets–preceded “Brooklyn Dodgers”, a new I Am the Avalanche song dedicated to his mother and father in attendance. The extremely personal “I Took a Beating” closed out a solid set from the Long Island native. The full set:

(New song)
Hey (The Movielife)
Drinking Song (I am the Avalanche)
Green Eyes (I am the Avalanche)
Sailor Tattoos (The Movielife)
Walking on Glass (The Movielife)
Brooklyn Dodgers (I am the Avalanche)
I Took a Beating (I am the Avalanche)

Kevin Devine

Kevin Devine

Brooklyn boy Kevin Devine played fourth, beginning with “Brother’s Blood” from his 2009 album of the same name. Despite being stripped down to its acoustic roots, the song benefited greatly from Devine’s unfeigned and fiery delivery. “Noose Dressed Like a Necklace”, from 2003’s Make the Clocks Move, was a welcomed addition to the setlist; “Keep Ringing Your Bell” was as personal and sincere as any song all evening. Unafraid to show his political and religious convictions, “Another Bag of Bones” injected biting cynicism into the set. A promising, brand new song preceded “Cotton Crush”; “Ballgame” found Devine once again tackling politics, this time in context to his own life decisions. The final song of Devine’s excellent nine-song selection was “Yr Damned Ol’ Dad”, performed significantly slower and softer than normal. The full list:

Brother’s Blood
Noose Dressed Like a Necklace
Keep Ringing Your Bell
Another Bag of Bones
Carnival
(New song)
Cotton Crush
Ballgame
Yr Damned Ol’ Dad

Headliner Anthony Raneri began his thirteen-song setlist with a solid cover of Matt Skiba’s “Good Fucking Bye”, receiving a fairly warm response. The crowd really cheered, however, as Raneri started to play the opening notes of the extremely emotional “Don’t Call Me Peanut”. A strong cover of Bad Religion’s “Sorrow” preceded “Landing Feet First”, a song Raneri called the “first and last love song” he has ever written.

Anthony Raneri

Anthony Raneri

After briefly explaining that using a capo on his guitar was new territory for the experienced frontman, Raneri performed “The Ghost of St. Valentine” from Bayside’s Shudder and Tim McGraw’s “Just to See You Smile”. Talking over the intro riff of “Duality”, Raneri commented that this song finally allowed him to have his “rockstar moment” — that is, a song with an introduction that can be extended indefinitely while the band addresses the crowd over the riff.

A sloppy Counting Crows cover followed, but Raneri rebounded with a compelling performance of “The Ballad of Bill the Saint”, a song destined one day for an Anthony Raneri solo album. Acknowledging that he has too much respect for the instrument to call himself a “true guitarist”, Raneri condeded that he probably butchers “I’ll Follow You into the Dark” but loves the song and plays it anyway. Oft covered by Bayside, Smoking Popes’s “Megan” finished the set. The full list:

Good Fucking Bye (Matt Skiba cover)
Don’t Call Me Peanut (Bayside)
Sorrow (Bad Religion cover)
Landing Feet First (Bayside)
The Ghost of St. Valentine (Bayside)
Just to See You Smile (Tim McGraw cover)
Duality (Bayside)
Blame it on Bad Luck (Bayside)
A Long December (Counting Crows cover)
I and I (Bayside)
The Ballad of Bill the Saint
I’ll Follow You into the Dark (Death Cab for Cutie cover)
Megan (Smoking Popes cover)

With each artist taking a unique approach to his set (originals, covers, and parodies), the night moved along at a rapid pace; downtime between artists was brief — it was, after all, just a microphone and a guitar that needed setup. With the longest set time and biggest fanbase in attendance, Anthony Raneri clearly stole the show. Still, Kevin Devine’s performance was the most seasoned, making it clear that as a solo artist he is by far the most talented of the batch.


Motion City Soundtrack @ Fords 1/20/10

January 20, 2010

EXCLUSIVE! Download the full performance right now!

Fresh off the release of their fourth full-length, My Dinosaur Life, Motion City Soundtrack hit the small town of Fords, New Jersey, to perform a brief acoustic session at Vintage Vinyl. The band’s first release on Columbia Records, the Mark Hoppus-produced record sounds like the logical progression from 2005’s Commit This to Memory, making up for the misstep of 2007’s Even if it Kills Me.

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack

Fronted by the ever-quirky Justin Pierre, the Minnesota five-piece began with the crowd-pleasing “Everything is Alright” (from the aforementioned 2005 effort), likely the band’s biggest single to date. From the rapid fire stream-of-conscious verses (“I’m sick of the things I do when I’m nervous like cleaning the oven or checking my tires or counting the number of tiles in the ceiling — head for the hills, the kitchen’s on fire!”) to the infectious chorus, the song is easily one of the band’s strongest cuts and an absolute treat to hear in an intimate acoustic setting.

Before playing the first of four My Dinosaur Life songs, the members of Motion City Soundtrack responded to a question asked about their own favorite bands. Bassist Matt Taylor responded with “The Beatles”, drummer Tony Thaxton with “Ben Folds”, keyboardist Jesse Johnson with “Elvis Costello”, guitarist Josh Cain with “Pixies”,  and Pierre with the eclectic “Tom Waits.” The band then kicked into “Her Words Destroyed My Planet”, an idiosyncratic jam that finds Pierre contemplating the effects of a single incident — in this case the end of a long-term relationship — changing the whole shape of his life.

Motion City Soundtrack frontman Justin Pierre

Motion City Soundtrack frontman Justin Pierre

After explaining their new album’s title (it’s a bastardization of a quote from the documentary American Teen – “Just think about your dragon life”), the band kicked into “Stand Too Close” for just the second time ever. The song’s playful nature comes across much better in a live acoustic setting than on the album, resulting in an excellent addition to the brief set.

The band continued with explanations about My Dinosaur Life — from Joe Ledbetter’s excellent covert art to the pronunciation of track nine, “@!#?@!”, which Pierre claims is actually “Motherfucker”.  Solid renditions of “A Lifeless Ordinary” and “Disappear” followed, with the band layering background vocals underneath Pierre’s trademark soprano delivery. Fan-favorite “The Future Freaks Me Out” finished the evening with the entire crowd singing along. The full acoustic set:

Everything is Alright
Her Words Destroyed My Planet
Stand Too Close
A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help)
Disappear
The Future Freaks Me Out

Accurately recreating the sound on their albums yet introducing an incredibly fun live feel to the songs, Motion City Soundtrack sounded phenomenal at Vintage Vinyl. A brief yet well-picked set showcased the band’s ability to write enormous pop-hooks that stand up as strong as ever in a live acoustic environment without any studio trickery. Motion City Soundtrack is set to play the area on February 3 at Irving Plaza with Set Your Goals, This Providence, and The Swellers — don’t miss the chance to catch a ton of great new songs from My Dinosaur Life.


The Hope Conspiracy / Blacklisted / United Nations / Mother of Mercy @ NYC 1/15/10

January 15, 2010

Outside a tiny pastry shop in the Lower East Side, hordes of teenagers and middle-aged adults crowded around 52 Ludlow Street’s aptly named Cake Shop. Inside, vegan cupcakes and vinyl records were for sale to those lucky enough to make it through the door–The Hope Conspiracy had sold out all 250 tickets in advance, turning away at least that many at the door who were unaware of the not-so-routine-for-a-patisserie-ticket-presale.

Pennsylvania’s Mother of Mercy kicked off the evening with their metal-riffed hardcore. Sharing a similar–albeit smaller–fanbase with co-headliners Blacklisted, the band received a warm welcome from the New York City hardcore scene. Promoting their debut record, III (Six Feet Under Records), the band tore into the Cake Shop crowd and deservedly left the city with a new set of fans.

United Nations

United Nations

United Nations–tonight as Geoff Rickly handling vocals, Lukas Previn and Jonah Bayer on guitars , Ben Koller on the skins, and The Hope Conspiracy’s Jim Caroll filling in on bass–played next. Mixing up unreleased new songs (due on an upcoming 7″) and cuts from their self-titled 2008 debut, the band exhibited no lack of energy during their explosive set. Koller’s fantastic drumming and the driving  spastic blasts from Previn, Bayer, and Caroll paradoxically laid a foundation for chaos. Rickly’s vocals were barely audible, but his impassioned screams and relentless cries made for an intense affair. Home 33’s Ryan Bland joined Rickly midway through the set to deliver a pummeling dual-vocal assault before diving into the crowd. The band returns to the stage for just their fifth performance ever on February 12 at Brooklyn’s Union Pool.

Blacklisted

Blacklisted

As (relatively) popular as United Nations seems to be–it does draw fans from the (comparatively) enormous Thursday, Glassjaw, and Converge–Blacklisted took the show to new heights. Fans of the Philadelphia hardcore outfit climbed on top of each other for a chance to sing with frontman George Hirsch, tearing down the decorative Christmas lights adorning the ceiling in the process; heavy palm-muted riffs found the rest of the crowd slamming into each other through drum-heavy breakdowns. Songs from the new No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me were welcomed with open arms, but cuts from the band’s earlier records received the biggest response.

The Hope Conspiracy

The Hope Conspiracy

Properly warmed up for the impending onslaught of The Hope Conspiracy by three excellent opening acts, the Cake Shop crowd packed as close to the “stage” (really just a rug with some amplifiers) as possible for the Boston hardcore band. Flowing across cuts from their entire discography, including the brand new True Nihilist EP, The Hope Conspiracy wasted no time and took no prisoners in front of a rabid crowd. Pits were forcibly opened by reckless kicks to nearby heads; the crowd would nearly overflow into the aforementioned stage during every breakdown, of which there are absolutely no shortages. The band was tight, with breakneck riffs and thundering drums laying the ground for Kevin Baker’s unremitting vocals.

By night’s end, anyone who wasn’t exhausted from the melee travelled to Brooklyn’s 538 Johnson (another intimate “venue”) for encore performances by Mother of Mercy and Blacklisted. The sold-out Cake Shop picked up its pieces and emptied out, with patrons browsing the pastry selection and small vinyl collection on their way out. The venue–and indeed the bands–aren’t for everyone, but those with a true appreciation of punk and its DIY-ethics would be hard-pressed to find a more honest, sincere, and absolutely incendiary show so far in 2010.

All photos by the incredibly dedicated and talented Brian C. Reilly.