The King Left are getting ready to release their first full length LP Perfect Without People in mid May. The album produced by Ian Love of Rival Schools (whom they also toured with last year) definitely shows the band reaching a new level with their songwriting and fully realizing a very dynamic sound of their own, though you can detect traces of their influences throughout the record including Built To Spill, Radiohead and Grizzly Bear. Download a new track from the record below and you can pre-order the vinyl here with a free instant digital download.
After a few times of seeing Cursive live, I’ve figured out that are three different bands that can show up at one of their gigs. There is the really drunk one – which is mostly fueled by lead singer Tim Kasher’s famous, belligerent rants. There is also the really god awful one. Back in the salad days of LNWF, I wrote a review (which, I am not going to link here because I’m sure it’s god awful) saying how I thought they might break up after a truly horrid show at Webster Hall. Yeah, it can get that bad sometimes. Finally, there is the super pro version, where the band blazes through their back catalog with little to no talking or ranting from Tim. Monday’s show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg was the latter.
Posted on 10 November 2008 by late night wallflower
Rival Schools finally played the first New York show they officially announced a couple months back at the Mercury Lounge last Thursday. It was their second set of the night, as they opened up for Bad Brains at Irving Plaza show earlier in the evening. The band played a great set of the classics from their debut album as well as previewing some of the new tracks like “Arranged Marriages” and “Big Wave.” They also rocked a cover of “How Soon Is Now?,” which they dedicated to our new President elect, Barack Obama.
The set closed with “Used For Glue,” which caused the crowd to get a bit rowdy, which only escalated when the band decided to play just one more song, a cover of the Cro-Mags’ “We Gotta Know.” Hardcore dancing at a Rival Schools show started for a small portion of the crowd in front of the stage, causing one guy near me to get punched in the face. Covered in blood after the set the dude muttered in disbelief, “a bloody nose at a Rival schools show, really?!”
Opening the night was Innaway and The King Left. Unfortunately, I only caught the last few minutes of Innaway, but the King Left put on a stellar show with their angular guitar riffs, thundering drums fused with the occasionally spacey/shoe-gazey build ups. They will be headlining Mercury Lounge with Howlies on Dec. 4th, a show we highly recommend.
Gaslight’s set was full of interesting tales of fortune tellers from Australia during an hour and half long set of damn good rock and roll. Check out some photos below.
New York City based indie rockers The King Left have posted their first video for “The Storm In A Teacup” from their new ep New York Nothing. The band just finished their second show of a three show residency at Piano’s. Catch their last show next Thursday at 9:30 PM.
