My Top Five Favorite Shows of the Year

(Editor’s Note: This piece appears on The Bowery Presents The House List. Check it out @ http://houselist.bowerypresents.com/it’s-the-end-of-the-year-as-we-know-it-2/)

1. Arcade Fire, Madison Square Garden, August 5
In the physical and symbolic center of New York City entertainment, Arcade Fire delivered a performance that reached to the back of the bleachers and beyond, with fans streaming the live broadcast on Youtube. Everything about the show felt instantly legendary, from Win Butler traveling into the crowd to the entire arena joining along on the chorus of “Wake Up.” I imagine that this is the definitive concert of my generation, the show I will tell my kids about.

2. LCD Soundsystem, Music Hall of Williamsburg, April 8
Before the release of LCD Soundsystem’s alleged final album, This Is Happening, Music Hall of Williamsburg hosted the band’s dress rehearsal for their summer tour. However, with a set including the recent single “Drunk Girls” alongside the Sound of Silver classic “Us v Them,” the show felt more like a victory lap than an audition.

3. El Guincho, Mercury Lounge, September 28
Mercury Lounge is capable of both quiet intimacy and a complete suspension of personal space. During El Guincho’s sample-based tropical rave, I gladly accepted the latter over the former.

4. Four Tet, Webster Hall, October 22
Four Tet’s meditative There Is Love in You is one of my favorite albums of 2010. Fittingly, his performance during CMJ displayed the patience and care, conscientiously extending samples with an awareness of the crowd, which makes There Is Love in You such a triumph.

5. Delta Spirit, The Bowery Ballroom, June 30
I’ve never seen a group of people more excited about a band I knew so little about. With a large sampling of songs from their most recent album, History From Below, Delta Spirit tore through a raucous sing-along set with an encore featuring covers of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and “Shout” by the Isley Brothers.

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El Guincho – Mercury Lounge – September 28, 2010

Peering up from a table full of electronic gadgetry, Pablo Díaz-Reixa, the Spanish musician behind the recording alias El Guincho, asked, “Do you like my music?” This still being the beginning of the show, the ambivalent crowd responded with scattered applause, lightly affirming the lead man. “I like my music,” he jokingly responded. In retrospect, this stood as a defining moment for the night. Díaz-Reixa, joined by a similarly bearded guitarist and bassist, jettisoned the slow-moving, mid tempo songs off his new album, Pop Negro, for frantic, loop-driven jams off of his masterpiece, Alegranza. While Pop Negro often clarifies the loose, repetitive nature of Alegranza, the latter moves bodies far more effortlessly than the former. However, each showcases Díaz-Reixa’s talent for channeling a distinctly Spanish sound into exotic yet familiar dance music. It is this unique talent that drew a near capacity crowd to the Mercury Lounge on Tuesday night.

El Guincho’s set began with Pop Negro‘s most catchy tunes, “Bombay” and “FM Tan Sexy,” a song that evokes “hearing a top single on the radio.” Díaz-Reixa, manning a drum pad, keyboard, and sampler, appeared quite busy controlling the flow and tempo of the show. The other members contributed with excellent harmonies and balanced the otherwise heavily electronic sounds with live instrumentation. “Palmitos Park” and “Buenos matrimonios ahí afuera,” both off of Alegranza, came toward the end of the set and exemplified the groups’ cohesion. And, as the crowd finally matched the frenzied state of the music, El Guincho’s energy amplified to levels uncontainable within the confines of the Mercury Lounge. Those closest to the stage, danced, jumped, and moshed to the last song “Antillas” like it was the last song they would ever hear.

So, now do you believe that we like your music, Pablo?

Additional pictures I took from the show after the jump:

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September Shows

Afternoon Playtonics,

For those of you who don’t know, in addition to writing semi-daily for Playtonic Dialogues, I am also a contributing photographer and writer for The Bowery Presents The House List. Since moving to New York, I have written reviews for Animal Collective and Arcade Fire, as well as many other concerts produced at all New York venues currently booked by The Bowery Presents, including the Mercury Lounge, the Bowery Ballroom, Webster Hall, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Terminal 5, the Brooklyn Bowl, and more… This month I will be contributing reviews for the following shows:

9/6: Big Boi, Brooklyn Bowl

9/11: Panda Bear, Governors Island

9/21: Ra Ra Riot, Bowery Ballroom

9/28: El Guincho, Mercury Lounge

Look out for my reviews and photos which will be on The Bowery Presents The House List as well as this site.

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YouMash Again?!

So pumped to see that PlayJ posted that Beach House x Gone With The Wind youtube cocktail.  It’s so dope plus I’m taking it as a YouTunes blank check.  El Guincho, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and El Perro del Mar provide soundtracks for a couple videonugs, after the jump

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