all photos: Michael Young

You’ll often hear the words “slow burn” in reference to The National. Those words might describe the way the band’s music takes hold of you with its subtle and nuanced melodies that grow more rewarding with each listen. It may also reference their career’s ascent, quietly releasing albums that would go on the become staples on critic’s “Best of the Decade” lists. Whatever the reference, it is clear the The National have suddenly caught fire. Their latest release, the dark and masterful High Violet, debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts.

This week, the band played back to back sold out performances at House of Blues, where singer Matt Berninger and his literal band of brothers weaved through a deep catalog of their faithfuls’ favorites with their trademark brand of awkward confidence. Berninger will be the first to admit that he’s uncomfortable in the spotlight. But, judging by the fever pitch of fans in the room during arena-rock ready tracks like “Abel” and “Terrible Love,” it seems The National will have plenty of time to get used to the heat.

–Michael Young

Frontmen Brian Borcherdt and Graham Walsh stepped up to their tables full of keyboards, mixers, and effects processors which created a tangle of cables at the front of the stage. Lit dimly from below by LED lights shining through clear risers, a warm white glow washed over the band as they got ready to perform. What sounded like an improvised ambient introduction quickly gave way to “Latin America,” the lead single from their new album Latin.

When not pounding at their keyboards, Borcherdt and Walsh would sing into mics, though they were so distorted with reverb and delay that it was impossible to tell if they were emitting words or just emphatic yells and moans. Either way, the energy was obvious and the vocal tones added another great sonic layer to the music. Standing face to face, the duo bobbed over their equipment to the beats, and it looked like they were having just as much of a good time as everyone in the audience. Walsh even began to pound the roof as the crowd clapped along in unison to the breakdown of fan favorite “Lovely Allen.”

Though the set was largely based around electronics, the bass and drumming of Matt McQuaid and Matt Schulz were also key forces. The heavy, pounding bass added a great low punch and the live drums really enhanced the start-and-stop structure of “The Pulse” and tempo shifts in “Frenchy’s.” Holy Fuck even made ample use of their trademark found sounds, using what looked like a tape ticker to make a wash of white noise in a few songs and even a kid’s spelling toy to spell out their name letter-by-letter on Latin track “SHT MTN.”

Returning quickly for the encore, Holy Fuck played a brand new song which sounded just as awesome as the material from their first two records before closing with Latin’s final track, the epic “P.I.G.S.”

“Thanks so much!” Brian and Graham said into their mics as they left the stage. I think—their words were still processed by the vocal effects, or maybe my mind was just a little distorted by the amazing set.

–Kevin Junker

Photo: Lauren Keefe

Working off the recent sell-out success of his project Neutral Uke Hotel at the Somerville Armory, multi-instrumentalist Shawn Fogel brought his main band, Golden Bloom, out to play a sensational set at the Middle East Upstairs back at the end of May.

Fogel is the main creative force behind the band, and recorded their debut album Fan the Flames on his own, but prefers to think of it as a band rather than a solo project. “I’ve been playing solo forever,” he said when I got the chance to talk to him before the set. “But in ‘07 I put out an EP under my name and I really wanted to do the release show as a band. Bruce Springsteen, Ben Kweller, sometimes you have a band and it’s got your name, which is cool but it wasn’t for me. I wanted it to feel like a specific project rather than just me.”

When Golden Bloom finally took the stage at 12:30, the crowd was well warmed-up from a great performance by Sarah Korval’s new band The Backup Factor, making its live debut and featuring a slew of other talented local musicians. A few dozen devoted fans stayed past the T accessibility curfew, and Fogel was appreciative. “Thanks for staying out late, we’ll give everyone piggyback rides home,” he joked.

Golden Bloom wasted no time keeping the pop momentum going. Starting off the night was the acoustic stomp of new track “Mr. Belvedere,” slated to be on the group’s next release, out sometime next year. They continued the energetic high as it followed up with the electric pop of “Doomsday Devices,” a song with a hook so catchy, it’s criminal that it’s not a smash indie hit. The song even featured a surprise appearance (it looked like it was a surprise to the band, too) by The Motion Sick’s Matt Girard jumping in on trumpet to add extra punch to the lead synthesizer riff. “We usually end the set with that song,” Fogel said afterward, recognizing the song’s intense energy and the wild crowd response.

Photo: Lauren Keefe

Over the course of the night, Fogel showed off his multi-instrumentalist skills, switching between acoustic and electric guitar, ukulele, synthesizer, and harmonica for different songs, while his backing band of Jeff Patlingrao, Josh Cohen, and Andrew Laubacher covered the lead guitar, bass, keys, and drums.

The band seemed at its best during the slow build of “She Leaves Me Poetry,” with Fogel getting so into his vocal delivery that he was shaking with intensity as the song reached its height. Most songs were punctuated by Patlingrao’s incredible lead guitar riffs and solos, particularly on “EHM” and “The Fight at the End of the Tunnel.”

Golden Bloom closed out the set with an unplugged cover of “Holland, 1945” from Fogel’s Neutral Uke Hotel project, again with Matt Girard on trumpet, and elicited a huge sing-along from the crowd. Though a side project apart from Golden Bloom, Neutral Uke Hotel’s buzz is spreading like wildfire with their track-by-track shows covering Neutral Milk Hotel’s legendary album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. “I picked that album because people have either never heard of it or it runs in their blood,” Fogel explained, taking inspiration from his work with Roger Greenawalt’s project The Beatles Complete on Ukulele.

Talking with Fogel before the show, he mentioned that Golden Bloom only has a few upcoming shows right now, including the North by Northeast festival in Toronto, but there are plans to take the Neutral Uke Hotel project on the road around the northeast, including a free concert at The Basement in Northampton on June 25. While it might be a bit outside of Boston, it will be a show well worth the hike. Whether his next musical venture is with Golden Bloom, Neutral Uke Hotel, or something completely different, I’m convinced that any project Fogel has a hand in will be full of pop greatness.

–Kevin Junker

I’ve now officially seen it all at the Middle East. I had seen everything from rap to punk to belly dancing go down at the Cambridge venue, but I had never seen a 26 piece orchestra pack the downstairs stage. Christopher Pappas, a familiar Boston face for his work with the Everyday Visuals as well as his solo act Forest Fires, tackled yet another musical task by conducting the Hark! Philharmonic on Wednesday night.

Looking around the venue, it was strange to see the eclectic mélange of folks who made it out to see this unique event. To the left were a group of older women seated on the upper level treating it like a more casual night at the symphony. To the right, a group of hipsters swilled Narragansett tall boys, acting like it was just another rock show. Nobody expected to hear classical music at the Middle East, but the moment the suspender-clad Chris Pappas rose to the stage, all went silent.

What ensued was a pure musical journey. Pappas’ three original compositions were breathtaking and the single Vivaldi piece was conducted with grace. One piece featured Kyle Frederickson on banjo, reminding me of a Mark Mothersbaugh piece from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The set really took off, however, when the full orchestra was involved.

In my opinion, Pappas’ magnum opus came with the penultimate composition entitled “(a clearing/a path).” This particular piece moved through many different colors and emotions but let each section of the orchestra shine. Not once during the piece were Pappas’ motions furious; rather, he maintained a laid-back, buoyant feel when waving his baton. The final piece, “(love v. the uncertainty principal)/Concerto for feedback guitar” saw Kyle Frederickson come to the stage again but this time wielding an electric guitar to supply the feedback that was essential to the piece. This selection was an experimental adventure and although it had it’s dark moments, it ended with a touch of optimism and smiles appeared on the faces of the many musicians as the feedback of the electric guitar screeched and moaned.

In all, Pappas really pulled it off. This isn’t an event that just any rock star can attempt either. Pappas is talented, versatile, and musically intelligent enough to be able to take such a risk and the risk paid off. What better way to send off one of Boston’s best musicians too? Come July, Pappas will be living out in California. While the Everyday Visuals and Forest Fires will continue to make music, Bostonians may never have the chance to witness an event like this again. It was a special night and a ceremonious farewell for one of our finest locals.

– Perry Eaton

OLD ABRAM BROWN Photo: Gabrielle Petraglia

These days, a night without a single worthwhile show is a rare occurrence. Partially responsible for this is a group of young bands and artists on the rise who are homegrown from different Boston schools and scenes. Groups like Southern Belle, Bearstronaut, and Mystery Roar are becoming household names- building a following from playing smaller clubs around the city. It was no surprise then, that even on a Sunday night, Clatter Clatter and Old Abram Brown could draw a crowd to the Middle East upstairs for an impressive couple of sets.

Sandwiched in between sets from Live From the Sun and Sun Castles, Clatter Clatter stepped up to bat first and delivered a lively series of tunes fueled by strong vocals and jangly guitar. While some songs displayed the energy of guitar-driven power pop, it was the more laid back tunes that shined to me- perhaps it was a Sunday night thing. Selecting tracks from their debut EP Too Many Boxes and throwing some new songs into the mix, Clatter Clatter proved that their catalog translates nicely in a live setting. Their sound provided a solid platform for Old Abram Brown to work off of.

OLD ABRAM BROWN Photo: Gabrielle Petraglia

Old Abram Brown is one of the more versatile of the many up-and-coming Boston bands- a trait particularly evident live. Throughout their set at the Middle East, each member constantly switched instruments, making transition with ease. The vocals of lead singer Carson Lund gave the band a similar sound to a band like the Cold War Kids, but the band that backed him achieved a more vintage reverby style reminiscent of The Cure. The band played selections from their full-length release Alive in Winter, as well as some tunes that will be heard on their new EP expected for September.

It may have been a typical night at the Middle East on Sunday, but it sounded pretty damn good. Keep an eye on bands like Clatter Clatter and Old Abram Brown: They are just a couple of the many young groups that are ensuring big things for the present and future of the Boston music scene.

– Perry Eaton

CLATTER CLATTER

Photo: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Musically there is a lot to say about Habib Koité. He has played with the likes of Eric Bibb and Bonnie Raitt, become one of Putumayo World Music’s most popular artists, and represented Africa on the world stage. But sales numbers and statistics do very little to capture the essence of this Malian musical titan–the most important part of what he does is heart.

Koité was born in 1958 to two musical parents. His musical heritage can be traced back centuries, through the long line of Khassonké griots. A griot in traditional West African society is a wild mix of poet, praise singer, storyteller, court jester and itinerant historian. Much like the Scandinavian skald, their job is to hold the history and memories of the societies in which they find themselves, and keep them safe.

While Koité is not a traditional griot (his lyrics cover too broad a scope and his style is too eclectic), he tunes his guitar like a traditional n’goni, a kind of small harp. That disavowal of chords and use of the pentatonic scale gives his music a subtle complexity that hits the body like a welcome shock to the system. The opening bars of his concert were like sinking into a warm bath: instantly relaxing, endlessly understanding.

Photo: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

It’s very easy to think of African music as timeless, and in some ways it is… but a better word to use here might be universal. His songs, many of which are about what the continent needs to develop and grow, feel open, honest, and necessary. The name of his band, Bamada, is a nickname for people from the capital city of Bamako (and can also be loosely translated to “in the mouth of the crocodile.”) The dress and comportment of the band members themselves playfully tweaks expectations of musicians from the developing world–they wear traditional Malian shirts and pants along with bright white sneakers, plastic watches, and even a LiveStrong bracelet (Lance would be proud).

I get a closer look at this when the talking drum player gets restless. Koité, who takes great pleasure in teasingly interacting with the audience, has just finished explaining that his next song is about the fact that in Mali men can have four wives. The song has begun and the drummer spies me taking photos. He nods his head—he’s made his decision—and the next thing I know he’s hopped offstage, grabbed me and another woman from the aisle, and pulled us into the song to dance.

As a reviewer (and possessor of a serious case of stage fright), part of me is slightly horrified: but in a lot of ways, this concert has to do with finding pieces of yourself you never thought you had. And if you want music to break down barriers, where better to start than with the one between audience and performer?

Photo: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Habib Koité is part of a grand tradition of identity musicians, focused on the country of Mali and the spirit of Africa. But his extensive background in jazz, rock, R&B, and the blues ensure that when he worked his way back to the music that he came from, the sound had the ability to carry others along with him for the ride. In his view, while Mali is economically poor it is rich in nearly every other way: the depth of its traditions, spirit of its people. He is a part of that wealth, and also its heir—and his music has the ability to loosen feet and hearts in a bevy of surprising ways.

To my huge relief, I’m not the first dancer onstage that night—or the last. After the show I realize that many of these people had seen Koité and Bamada many times, in Mali or abroad. In the lobby he came out in person to sign CDs and talk to his fans, and even appeared to recognize a few of them from previous concerts.

As I walked into the night, glowing and full and luminously amazed at what I’d just experienced, I found myself privy to my favorite exchange of the night. Walking in front of two men whose accents (thicker than my father’s) marked them as inescapably West African, one of them musingly said to the other, “Did you see the white people [dancing]?” The other replied without missing a beat, “Yeah—they were great!”

–Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Photo: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Photo: Michael Young

“I hate to ask, but is anyone near the fucking bar?”

That’s Kate Nash, partway through her set at Great Scott, humbly begging her adoring audience for a drink . They were all too happy to oblige, and through the rest of the set, the PBRs and vodka-Cokes fell like manna from heaven.

If anyone ever deserved a drink (and a little manna), it was Nash that evening. The night before, she had tripped in a Toronto hotel and wound up with a sprained ankle. But a twisted joint wasn’t about to come between Nash and her performance, the second on her North American tour.

Though the London-based Nash is a pretty big deal in the US, and a pretty giant deal in the UK, this series of gigs is all about playing eensier venues—Great Scott being the eensiest of all. She was performing in support of her sophomore album, My Best Friend is You. This one is rowdier than Nash’s first, less pop and more rock. But it’s still got all her trappings—sweet hooks, take-no-prisoners lyrics, and hefty helping of post-millennial twentysomething rage.

Photo: Michael Young

The Great Scott show was ragey too, fueled in no small part by the fact that Nash was pretty well in the bag by night’s end (fear not, impressionable children—it was all in the name of pain management). Nash played most of the show seated at her keyboard for her ankle’s sake, which had a banner draped in front proudly proclaiming, “A cunt is a useful thing.” Otherwise, she stood on one leg with the other propped up on a stool to play guitar. Her backup band was most obliging.

The show chiefly featured songs from My Best Friend, with a few forays into classics from her debut album, Made of Bricks. And then there was the banter. She ended the talky, brilliant “Don’t You Want to Share the Guilt?” by asking the audience, “That’s my song about you. Do you like it?” She prefaced coming-out-of-the-closet anthem “I’ve Got a Secret” growling, “For all you homophobes out there, this song’s just for you.”

As the show progressed and Nash grew tipsier, the songs got louder. Nash palm-slapped the piano keys and attacked the guitar strings, and the audience didn’t mind one bit. It takes a serious trooper to play a show the night after she’s been confined to a wheelchair. But an indefatigable chick like Nash, who got her start on MySpace, grew big, stared the many-fanged fame beast in the face and didn’t ditch one iota of personal quirk, isn’t the type to let a little thing like bodily injury keep her down.

–Jenna Scherer

Photo: Michael Young

Photo: Michael Young

Photo: Ben Rowland

Francis Farewell Starlite, enigmatic frontman of Francis and the Lights, writes music that makes him want to dance. Far from the relentless booty-shaking electro that the kids are into these days, his songs inspire motion in a frenetic but sensual way. Part disco funk, part Blue Eyed Soul, Francis carefully crafts and curates all of the elements that make their way into his recordings and live shows to create his distinct sound.

Francis and the Lights first caught our attention with the video for “The Top,” which features Francis in front of a seamless white backdrop, showcasing his signature dance moves. It’s a different kind of sexy—overwhelmingly in your face but not indecent. The kind that makes you say, “Who is this guy?”

Big names have taken a shine to Francis’ pop-funk as well: he made waves with his cover of Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” was handpicked as the opener on tour with Drake this spring, and will be opening for MGMT at Radio City Music Hall in August.

Needless to say, catching Francis and the Lights at the tiny Middle East Upstairs was an opportunity that surely won’t present itself again, and we’re glad we jumped at it. A tall figure in all black, Francis commanded the small stage, backed by a trio of equally dark but disarmingly stoic bandmates (just don’t call them The Lights– that part of the band’s handle actually refers to the electrical elements present in their videos). There was little on-stage banter, but Francis had the crowd rapt with his idiosyncratic spins and swaggers as he worked his way through the band’s catalog, returning for an encore.

We got to swap a few emails with Francis himself to find out a little bit about his creative process and plans for the future.

–Jessie Rogers

Photo: Jake Schreier

Francis and the Lights first full-length release, It’ll Be Better on Cantora Records is now available on iTunes. What can fans expect from this album compared to your other work?

I wanted three things to be better on this record:

1. The singing, with nice background harmonies.

2. The beats. I wanted a strong beat for each track, unflinching, but with ‘feel.’ I wanted to make rhythm tracks that melded drum machine and live drums.

3. Consistency. I used the same minimal instrumentation on all the songs. Piano, drums, drum machine, bass, one synthesizer sound, and guitar. Also, the record is longer than anything else I’ve released (8 songs).

What is your writing process like? What were your major influences for the new album?

I write by myself in my head, and at the piano. The song “Going Out” was written by myself, Jump Back Jake Rabinbach, Jonathan Finlayson, and Jeremy Most, all members of my band. Jake Schreier and Aaron Lammer, my closest friends, also wrote and contributed to the record. I make it a point not to name influences. However, I used one record as a blueprint for It’ll Be Better, and that was Tapestry by Carole King.

The band formed while attending Wesleyan University, as did tour mates MGMT. Is this a coincidence or is Wesleyan a hot bed of musical creativity?

Coincidence.

You have been opening for Drake on this tour, but you are headlining the Boston show. What can Boston concert-goers expect from your live show? In your opinion, what makes a great live show? We hear you’re quite the dancer.

It is true, I do dance. I’m having trouble answering this question. I think it’s because the subject is too meaningful to me. Some live footage I’ve seen is the greatest art I could possibly imagine and has affected me deeply. So I say, “I want to do that too.” There’s a line in a song on my new record:
“all the way, knees to the floor.”

The video for “The Top” is brilliant. The director, Jake Schreier, is also in your band. How did you guys meet? Will he be directing your next music video? Can you tell us anything about the new video?

Our new music video, “Darling, Its Alright” is out now. It is a single-take live performance, ‘edited with light.’ “Darling, It’s Alright” is the ’sequel’ to the Top. if you look close you can see many parallels. Jake and I met in high school. We have a specific vision for our music videos, and we hope to make many more.

The blogosphere went totally crazy when you did a cover of Kayne West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” We understand you receive a lot of inquiries about doing remixes for artists, but is there anyone you would love to remix or cover?

I covered the Strokes “Under Control” at the Boston Middle East show. I’m not sure if I’ll record any more covers, or remixes. I’m more interested in working on my songs.

Are you currently following any Boston artists? If so, who?

I’m afraid I don’t know.

After this tour, what is next for Francis and the Lights? More touring? Rest?

I would love to tour for rest of the year. We’re playing with Drake until June 16, then we’re playing with MGMT at Radio City Music Hall on August 17.

Photo: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

“I think the musician’s role is to give advice, to warn people, and to make them aware of what they might not have thought of themselves.” And so it was when I entered the Somerville Theatre last Saturday night to check out Baaba Maal.

The musician and his band (which includes blind griot, or member of the West African caste of artist/historian/singers, Mansour Seck) are titans in the West African musical scene. His collaborators include everyone from Barry Reynolds of the Compass Point Studio Band to members of Blur, Gorillaz and Hans Zimmer. His music has appeared everywhere from the Nobel Peace Prize Concert to the soundtrack for Black Hawk Down. And his philanthropic vision has taken him from a small town on the border of Senegal and Mauritania to the role of Youth Emissary for the United Nations’ Development Program. Touring in the US for the first time in four years, Maal has a new album that is spun out of an extended collaboration with New York based polyglots Brazilian Girls.

Photo: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

When Baaba Maal began his show, the first impression was of age, stillness, and stone. Covered in a flowing blue garment from shoulders to feet, he sat in a chair and sang in a voice that sounded a bit worn out, a bit sad. There was almost a reluctance to be onstage that I couldn’t quite give a name to, a liveliness of spirit that I just couldn’t find. During the eponymous track of the new album Television (about that new and ubiquitous visitor to Africa, “the stranger you didn’t ask for coming into your living room”), Maal rose to his feet and sang directly to the other members of his band. There was an absence of connection between singer and audience that was frustrating– it wasn’t until the talking drum player started dancing in the audience that I started to discover the heart of the concert. It was in the inclusiveness.

One of my favorite things about the show was the random procession of people who trooped on and offstage to do any number of things: sit down and play drums for a few songs, press money into the hands or onto the foreheads of performers, and–in one particularly awesome case–rock up onstage dressed all in white and dance like the Senegalese predecessor of Janelle Monae, grinning ecstatically the entire time. Too often we walk into a theater and expect to be stunned, wowed, entertained, but a concert is nothing without an audience. In this space we were asked not just to see, but to be.

Photo: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Baaba Maal kept invoking the tradition of sitting down under the mango trees after a feast and picking up instruments slowly, quietly, to start to play. At first it felt forced to me– romanticizing a continent for the benefit of Cantabrigians who needed an excuse to cut loose. But after a particularly exuberant bout of onstage audience dancing, he joked “This is Africa, we share everything. The food. The culture. The music. The vibe. They can’t handle it. it’s in the blood.” And I started to get it.

Sometimes it takes a village – or a theatre. Baaba Maal invited an especially high-spirited dancer onstage and, when he found that he had turned 60 (!) that day, led us all in a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday.”

Then he swung back into a Fulani song about his hometown of Podor that had us all back on our feet. My parents are from Ghana; I grew up in Florida and the Midwest and now live in New England. I’ve never been able to say I have a decent handle on where I should be, or that I’ve found my place. But in watching Bostonians dance to West African music with a social conscience–casting off inhibitions and the thousand mile stare to fully embrace how alive we all are–I have rarely felt more at home.

–Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Photo: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

The band opened with “Sandy,” a layered jam from the previous album, Andorra, and followed with “Leave House” and “Kaili,” both new tracks from Swim. “Kaili”, an ambient, beatless heartthrob of a song, complete with panning techno-esque synth stabs, was represented live as a soft hum, a quiet expression, crescendoing beautifully as the rest of the band swelled in during the last chorus with pounding cymbal hits and vocals drenched in reverb and harmony. This song in particular really gave a good taste of each band member’s personality, especially Snaith’s drummer, whose energetic and enthusiastic performance basically changed the song into something completely organic and new.

With a shuffling dance beat, quirky synth hits, and a bass line not easily forgotten, Swim single “Odessa” was clearly what the crowd had been waiting for. Still bodies suddenly started bouncing all over the place, drunks acted drunker, and the packed crowd began moving like a self conscious, sweaty amoeba. Also from the latest release, the ambient “Hannibal” gave Snaith the opportunity to sit at his drum kit and perform several long sections of complex syncopation with his stage drummer, almost echoing marching band drum line patterns and giving the crowd an amazing show of intensity and energy.

Snaith then gave his false goodbyes, and hopefully not false thanks, and left the stage for about a minute, before returning for the expected encore. The band gracefully played through two more tracks, the first, “Jamelia,” featured the guitar player singing silky lead vocals, and Snaith sitting diligently and comfortably at his drums. After giving his final thanks, Snaith took up his guitar and began the final track, “Sun.” Almost a total acid-jazz track, the downbeat drums, throbbing organ and moving intensity of Snaith’s looped recording of his voice singing the title made for the perfect closing song. The band once again allowed the wash of sound to evolve into an extended jam, and finished off the night with an abrupt and dramatic stop. The crowd cheered, the band waved and departed the Downstairs stage.

Between the pounding drums and the array of unique (to say the least) sounds, it’s difficult to resist loving Caribou’s live performance. If Caribou shows us anything, it’s that only a passionate performance should be acceptable in these times of a super-saturated music market, and that even the most obscure of musical intentions can be channeled into pop-sensible tunes that make even the stillest of hearts move.

–Patrick Canaday