Two Cow Garage, Live @ Mohawk Place
Buffalo, NY
October 22, 2010
Welcome to the first ever concert review on the Library Punk. I went to this show on Friday and decided to take the weekend to think about it, rather than write the review right away. After all, how do you accurately summarize one of the best shows you have ever been to?
The show took place at Mohawk Place, a bar in Buffalo, NY. I had never been this venue before. It reminded me of my favorite bar in Dunkirk/Fredonia, only somewhat bigger. I liked the venue, and now that I know how easy it is to get there and get back to Dunkirk I would definitely go to another show at this venue.
The first band of the night was a post-hardcore band called from Vancouver called Carpenter. I had never heard of the band before seeing them on the concert bill, but they were amazing. Very high energy, with the members bouncing all over the stage. They kinda remind me of a poppier version of Hot Water Music as well as The Loved Ones. Definitely the kind of band I like. The songs were great and very well performed. I'm gonna have to check out their album.
The second band was a pop-punk band from Michigan called Cheap Girls. Interesting name, more great music. I was a bit more familiar with this band due to my interest in Quote Unquote Records, who offered a free/donation album from the band called Find Me A Drink Home. They were a bit more stationary than Carpenter, but no less energetic. The singer kinda reminds me of a punk rock Stephen Page (formerly of Barenaked Ladies), with a little bit of Josh Caterer (of Smoking Popes). In addition to being a punk crooner and a great bass player, he was also funny, at one point lightly making fun of an audience member for standing in front of the speaker.
Then finally Two Cow Garage came on stage. And they were phenomenal. I thought Carpenter were energetic, but Two Cow Garage made them look like shoegazers. Singer/guitarist Micah Schnabel and bassist/singer Shane Sweeney were all over the stage when not singing, crashing into each other quite often while never missing a note. And whenever he was at the mic but not playing guitar, Micah did a weird sort of dance (check out the music video for "Lydia" for an example"). They played every song I was hoping to hear, even though at least 2 or 3 of them I expected them to not play. I love those songs on the albums, but they took on an all new life hearing Micah (and in some cases Shane) sing them in person. The show ended and I wondered over the merch table, only for someone from the bar to walk over and tell Micah the band had to keep playing because the crowd wasn't leaving. So they played 3 or 4 more songs. I ended up right in front of the stage at that point, and hearing Micah sings some of my favorite songs from less than 10 feet away easily made the top 10 moments of my life.
Overall, the show left me very optimistic about music. People are debating the future of music right now because of piracy and the impending failure of labels, and lamenting the overall lack of good music on the airwaves, so to see three bands playing amazing music just because they want to play it was uplifting. Watching Carpenter, Cheap Girls and Two Cow Garage play their hearts out on stage made me realize that that's why I want to start a band. Not so I can play arenas, not so I can play Warped Tour, but so I can play music I believe in to 50 or 60 people in the back of a bar that are there because they want to hear it.
It was just an amazing experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. Easily one of the best shows I've ever been to.
Showing posts with label Two Cow Garage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Two Cow Garage. Show all posts
Monday, October 25, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Album Review - Sweet Saint Me
Two Cow Garage - Sweet Saint Me (Suburban Home Records 2010)
The following review is the hardest I've ever written. It took me a couple weeks after hearing the album to write it, because I just loved the album so much that I felt nothing I could write would properly describe the quality of the music. The album is amazing, I just hope my review adequately reflects that:
If there were any real justice in the realm of music, a hard working, honest band like Two Cow Garage would be at the level Lady Gaga is at, or at least Ke$ha. But there isn't, and there are a lot of people who will probably never hear Two Cow Garage or their upcoming fifth album, Sweet Saint Me. Which is a shame, because it's one of the best albums I've heard all year*.
Sweet Saint Me finds the band with the same working class aesthetic that I loved in my first exposure to them, 2007's III. The band have gotten even better two albums later, honing their songwriting and musicianship. The album drips with blue collar Americana, making comparisons to early Springsteen inevitable. Several songs sound like they easily could have been on the Boss's first couple albums if you swap the voices. "Wanted To Be" in particular sounds like an unused track from Born To Run, and the band even reference the title track from that album on "Jackson, Don't You Worry." The Springsteen comparisons are obvious, but that doesn't mean Two Cow Garage are some rip-off act. Like Gaslight Anthem, TCG take Springsteen influence (as well as other Americana influence, such as Woody Guthrie, who is named-checked in "My Great Gatsby") and punk rock values and create something all new and unique.
Sweet Saint Me is an amazing album overall, an excellant example of great songwriting, both in lyrics and music. The guitar/piano opening to "Lydia," leads into some great opening lyrics ("I wanna be loved like an old soul song, I wanna feel like the second verse of 'Let's Get It On'"), which leads into a great chorus ("Lydia, you're much too young to have your teeth on the tip of my tongue, if just your lips were a little older"). The semi-a capella ending of "Jackson, Don't You Worry" just might be the most emotionally gripping 40-something seconds in underground music of the past several years. The excellent ballad-rocker "Angeline" leads to "My Great Gatsby," with an opening that is the hardest few seconds on the album to that point before settling into frontman Micah Schnabel longing for the return of Woody Guthrie and the troubadours, then leads to Micah screaming "This is not an alibi, this is who I am!" "Lucy And The Butcher Knife" comes even heavier than the opening of "My Great Gatsby," with driving drums that just won't quit backing chugging guitars and Micah and bassist Shane Sweeney trading vocal duties. And considering all the songs preceding it, I can't imagine a better song than "Brothers In Arms" to close out the album.
The album sat in my car for several days before I finally put it in my CD player. Suburban Home Records had hyped the album so much that I was afraid to listen to it, certain there was no way it could live up the expectations the label gave me. It then stayed in my CD player for over a week, and I listened to it several times. I just couldn't get over how great it was. It's one of few albums that I would honestly recommend to anyone, regardless of musical tastes. The album will definitely find its main audience among fans of Drag The River, Lucero and Gaslight Anthem, but I think it's universal and has the widest potential appeal of any of the albums I've reviewed on this blog.
Favorite tracks: "Lydia," "Jackson, Don't You Worry," "My Great Gatsby," "Soundtrack To My Summer"
*And that's quite a feat, considering this year also saw the release of Gaslight Anthem's American Slang, Guster's Easy Wonderful, Fake Problems' Real Ghosts Caught On Tape, and The Sweet Revenge's Creatures of Routine.
The following review is the hardest I've ever written. It took me a couple weeks after hearing the album to write it, because I just loved the album so much that I felt nothing I could write would properly describe the quality of the music. The album is amazing, I just hope my review adequately reflects that:
If there were any real justice in the realm of music, a hard working, honest band like Two Cow Garage would be at the level Lady Gaga is at, or at least Ke$ha. But there isn't, and there are a lot of people who will probably never hear Two Cow Garage or their upcoming fifth album, Sweet Saint Me. Which is a shame, because it's one of the best albums I've heard all year*.
Sweet Saint Me finds the band with the same working class aesthetic that I loved in my first exposure to them, 2007's III. The band have gotten even better two albums later, honing their songwriting and musicianship. The album drips with blue collar Americana, making comparisons to early Springsteen inevitable. Several songs sound like they easily could have been on the Boss's first couple albums if you swap the voices. "Wanted To Be" in particular sounds like an unused track from Born To Run, and the band even reference the title track from that album on "Jackson, Don't You Worry." The Springsteen comparisons are obvious, but that doesn't mean Two Cow Garage are some rip-off act. Like Gaslight Anthem, TCG take Springsteen influence (as well as other Americana influence, such as Woody Guthrie, who is named-checked in "My Great Gatsby") and punk rock values and create something all new and unique.
Sweet Saint Me is an amazing album overall, an excellant example of great songwriting, both in lyrics and music. The guitar/piano opening to "Lydia," leads into some great opening lyrics ("I wanna be loved like an old soul song, I wanna feel like the second verse of 'Let's Get It On'"), which leads into a great chorus ("Lydia, you're much too young to have your teeth on the tip of my tongue, if just your lips were a little older"). The semi-a capella ending of "Jackson, Don't You Worry" just might be the most emotionally gripping 40-something seconds in underground music of the past several years. The excellent ballad-rocker "Angeline" leads to "My Great Gatsby," with an opening that is the hardest few seconds on the album to that point before settling into frontman Micah Schnabel longing for the return of Woody Guthrie and the troubadours, then leads to Micah screaming "This is not an alibi, this is who I am!" "Lucy And The Butcher Knife" comes even heavier than the opening of "My Great Gatsby," with driving drums that just won't quit backing chugging guitars and Micah and bassist Shane Sweeney trading vocal duties. And considering all the songs preceding it, I can't imagine a better song than "Brothers In Arms" to close out the album.
The album sat in my car for several days before I finally put it in my CD player. Suburban Home Records had hyped the album so much that I was afraid to listen to it, certain there was no way it could live up the expectations the label gave me. It then stayed in my CD player for over a week, and I listened to it several times. I just couldn't get over how great it was. It's one of few albums that I would honestly recommend to anyone, regardless of musical tastes. The album will definitely find its main audience among fans of Drag The River, Lucero and Gaslight Anthem, but I think it's universal and has the widest potential appeal of any of the albums I've reviewed on this blog.
Favorite tracks: "Lydia," "Jackson, Don't You Worry," "My Great Gatsby," "Soundtrack To My Summer"
*And that's quite a feat, considering this year also saw the release of Gaslight Anthem's American Slang, Guster's Easy Wonderful, Fake Problems' Real Ghosts Caught On Tape, and The Sweet Revenge's Creatures of Routine.
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