CMJ report: Speck Mountain/LeLoup/Papercuts/Bowerbirds @ the Knitting Factory

If there was one common theme running through the acts at last night’s CMJ showcase at the Knitting Factory, it was the display of extremely talented, multi-instrumental musicians more interested in group collaboration and dynamics than fronting the typical 4-person band. There were French-horn-playing-keyboardists, accordion-drummers, banjos picked up willy-nilly, drumsticks on guitars and a violin thrown in for good measure. Overall, it was a solid show that made a statement that the bands coming up the pipeline are innovative, ambitious and interested in making music with anything they can get their hands on. Below are some thoughts on the four acts I caught last night.

Speck Mountain: This Chicago-based quartet was the first band up last night and I showed up just in time to catch the last three songs. I wanted to catch their entire set but I misjudged the actual start-time of the show and over-estimated the length of each set. (Unlike the Bowery showcase I saw earlier in the week, the KF showcase kept things moving at a fast clip with 30-minute sets for each band.) But I can say, as a first impression, that they have a sound I immediately associated with 1990’s shoegaze pop….think Mazzy Star. Speck Mountain was pretty good though…I might check them out again.

Le Loup: Okay. This is going to come across as a bold claim to some (and I don’t really mean it as such) but for those of you looking for the next Arcade Fire a convincing argument could be made that Le Loup is that band. This isn’t to say that they sound just like them, or are trying to emulate them, or whatever else sort of backhanded compliment could be meant by such a comparison. I only mean that Le Loup is similarly large in scale and scope and have a similar desire to push themselves by experimenting with an impressive variety of instruments, tempos and vocal styles. They don’t quite have the discipline of AF and their music (at least their live music) suffers for it: they get caught up in their own “progressiveness” sometimes and are at their best when the reign it in a little. The chaos seemed to be orchestrated by their exuberant lead-vocalist Sam Simkoff, who also displayed considerable talent on a variety of instruments. He was quite a force to witness onstage. However, I think, quietly, that the keyboardist/freak-French horn player was the best at straddling the line between structure and chaos that Le Loup was playing with: the rest of the band could use her example a little more to bring a sense of focus to their wanderings. My other gripe is the use of three guitars…it was unclear to me why they needed so many, especially since you couldn’t always distinguish them stylistically, and it only served to slog the music down in parts. All that aside, it was a fun set and a fun band and I look forward to seeing them progress. Perhaps, since they hail from D.C., they’ll be back to the City soon enough.

Papercuts: I was not impressed with this group. They are based out of California and they immediately reminded me of a band from California with a familiar surf-pop 60’s sound. The use of held-out, continuous chords on an electric organ was extremely heavy-handed for the first couple of songs. The balance was restored a bit when the lead-vocalist on the organ switched with the guitarist but the constant chords really got to me.

Bowerbirds: Of all the bands on the line-up last night, this was the one I had anticipated the most. Snippets I’d read here and there led me one day to their MySpace page and I decided I should check them out while they were in town. And, while the other bands didn’t disappoint, I was hoping that the BBs would hit it out of the park for me and they did just that. There are three of them, one on lead vocal and acoustic guitar, one on accordion and sometimes the bass drum, and the last on violin and also sometimes on the bass drum. The lead-vocal styling was familiar to me, although I couldn’t quite put my finger on it…Bright Eyes? Coco Rosie? Devendra Banhart? (While I eventually settled on the latter, it felt more like a mixture of them all at times.) But most stirring was when the other two chimed in as well. The three of them knew how to play off and with one another and their young professionalism and tightness was a welcome end to a generally chaotic musical adventure last night at the Knitting Factory.

*I should mention that His Name is Alive and St. Vincent actually closed out the showcase last night at the KF, but since I have to at least pretend to be cogent during my 9-to-5 today I bailed at 11.30pm.