Subscribe
Previous Post
And the music continues…
Shearwater, Jens Lekman, and the Phenomenal Handclap Band all played Brooklynvegan’s showacase on Tuesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Shearwater was the “suprise special guest” which delighted me because I was supposed to see them on Monday night at (le) Poisson Rouge and could not attend at the last minute. They really are a fantastic band, making full use of various instruemnts like an upright bass, glockenspiel, and homemade dulcimer. Lead singer Jonathan Meiburg’s voice is deep and melodious and his lyrics are beautiful. The whole set was very lyrical, and kind of theatrical in a way. Entertainment was added by drummer/dulcimer player/clarinetist Thor Harris who stole the show.
My love for Swedish singer Jens Lekman cannot even be put into words. Definitely one of my favorite singers of all time, his irreverant lyrics and sweet voice have no match. That being said, I was pretty disappointed in his set, simply because there was not enough Jens. Billed as a “Singing DJ” there was way too much DJ and not enough singing. Stil, he was fun to watch and the two songs of his that he did play were great. I just wish there was more!
Unfortunately for brand new group The Phenonmal Handclap Band, the room cleared out quite a bit during and after Jens Lekman, partially due to Jens’ disappointing set, and the fact that it was 1 a.m. There are seven core members and twenty additional people that play and record with them at various times. Made up of musicians from such great bands as TV on the Radio, Apollo Heights, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, L’Trimm, Calla, Mooney Suzuki, and Sí Se, the group is an artist collective born of the talents of NYC Club DJs/Producers Daniel Collás and Sean Marquand (Embassy Sound Productions). This was I think their fifth show ever, and they were pretty damn tight. All dressed in white, they reminded me a lot of Spiritualized, what with the soulful inflections and such. They are playing two more shows this week:
Friday at 1:30 am at 205
Friday at 8 pm at the Levi’s Fader Fort
Lots more pictures after the jump!
All photos permission: Devorah Klein
