This past week, the IT focused on looking back at 2006. You can read about Bryan’s succinct (and frequently hilarious) summary of Ithaca’s notable events in 2006, or you can hit up your Netflix queue after you read about the top movies of 2006 in BVC’s “A Year in the Aisle.” Brian K. (so many Brians!) contributed his last-ever article as an intern with his Encore column, a countdown of the top five records to be released in the month of December. Our art critic Arthur contributes a review of the latest show at the Ink Shop by IC professor and printmaker Susan Weisand, titled “Garden: Delights and Detritus.” The show will run through Jan. 16. I interviewed Terry Hardin, Ithaca’s self-appointed “silent film historian,” who is the president and founder of the non-profit organization Ithaca Made Movies. This may be a bit of a late post, since the event “Behind the Scenes” was yesterday, but he runs similar screenings of restored silent films a few times a year. And finally, my highlights of all the shows I went to in 2006. It’s easy to feel jealous of my friends who live in NYC, London, and elsewhere — the opportunity to see just about anybody play is incomparable — but despite the relative smallness of our beloved city, the staggering diversity of acts that walk through is pretty amazing (and every now and again, I don’t mind driving to NYC for something that will be truly worth it). Here’s the article in full:
It was a good year for live music in Ithaca — I’ll probably never understand how a city so compact can pull in such a vast variety of acts on a weekly basis. Honestly, there were probably only a handful of shows that I’ll vividly remember in the years to come — but this was a notable year in other ways.
This was the year that I took chances on small unknowns — of course, letdowns were inevitable, but there were just as many that opened up new avenues of thinking about music. The year was different from past years because of the sheer amount of bands I saw that I had never really heard of until I saw them live — whether it was world music, indie rock, avant-garde noise or folk pop. It’s an interesting way to discover new music, and since Ithaca venues tend to charge much less for concerts, it can actually be a viable, affordable option for music lovers. In retrospect, I’m surprised it wasn’t an approach I took in past years.
My New Year’s resolution is to continue to push my safety zone when it comes to experiencing new and unfamiliar music — to try new things, even when you risk failure.
And every show I mention here? They’re all connected in one important way — each was the very first time that I had ever seen them play.
The Fanclub Collective pulled off a number of great shows, despite the overall “fashion contest” atmosphere epidemic among attendees. Their best show of 2006 was Wolf Eyes in March. At the time, they were a new band to me, and their unrelenting noise assault on my poor eardrums was shocking and subversive — and extremely musical. Their performance (divided roughly into two halves; I don’t recall anyone in the trio saying a single word the entire night) opened up an entire universe of experimental noise to me, and though they’ve played packed clubs in NYC and elsewhere, I can’t imagine their toxic, ominous landscapes translating better than it did in the sparsely populated Noyes Building on the Cornell University campus.
Other Fanclub highlights included the indie-pop/shoegaze of Asobi Seksu, the leering showmanship of Eddie Argos, frontman for British rockers Art Brut (and here’s to hoping that many more shows take place at newly transformed Club Euphoria), and the joyous, soaring indie pop of Tilly and the Wall.
Cornell Cinema’s Rock the Cinema Ball — why didn’t someone think of this before? Movies with music and music that should be in movies, with free popcorn, a full bar and no need to whisper. With plenty of local Ithaca favorites (Johnny Dowd, Jennie Stearns) and obscure, experimental films, this was an event that was seamlessly executed. It would be a shame if it didn’t continue in 2007.
Cornell Cinema continued to sidestep boundaries between film and live music with two utterly absorbing shows: Small Sails, who performed soothing electro-acoustic ambient pop to their own hypnotic short films, and Alloy Orchestra, featuring Roger Miller of seminal Boston band Mission of Burma, who played perfectly executed scores to restored silent films. Both were a feast for the ears as well as the eyes, and each did their thing with elegance.
Other favorites included Bob Nanna (former frontman of legendary mid 90s Midwestern emo bands Braid and Hey Mercedes) playing at Emerson Suites at Ithaca College; he treated the smallish audience to an entirely acoustic solo set of Braid covers and new material from his latest project, City on Film, and the evening was a warmly intimate affair.
That same night was iconic American singer-songwriter John Gorka at Kennedy Hall at Cornell University, and the genial, hushed atmosphere paralleled Nanna’s own performance.
As usual, Castaways put on plenty of eclectic shows this year, including the largely unattended Thanksgiving performance, starring the bumbling, lanky Adrian Orange, who wowed his crowd of about twenty with warbling ballads and tweaked-out indie folk. 2006 golden boy Girl Talk and Professor Murder were undoubtedly one of Castaways’ biggest shows of the year (purposefully falling on Halloween, and thus drawing out the entire Cornell undergrad population into frightening, garish getups), turning the beer-soaked dance floor into a feeding frenzy of awkward dancing and screaming.
But Castaways’ best show of the year was the well-kept secret of Balkan Beat Box, a fantastic hybrid of high-energy hip-hop (and a terrific bass sound, thanks to bassist Itamar Ziegler), live drums as well as computerized beats, and a truly global feel (the group features members from Gogol Bordello and Firewater). Their grooves were so confident, it was nearly impossible not to dance. I heard rumors they’re returning this spring - and with recent critical acclaim from the NY Times and Spin Magazine, the show should be huge.
I left the confines of Ithaca several times, all with rewarding results. I attended my very first Grass Roots Festival, mostly to check out the dizzying array of top-notch world music (kora master Mamadou Diabate, Cyro Baptista, Thomas Mapfumo, and Folklore Urbano all jump to mind).
This year’s NY State Fair offered plenty of live music, but it was the night of Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips that stood out. Though I missed SY (note for next year: plan for immense traffic delays, long lines and dense crowds), The Lips’ show was easily one of the best live spectacles that I have ever had the pleasure to witness. It was uplifting, beautiful, sad, and magically fantastical — huge, sky blue balloons drifted onto the audience; elaborate, hilarious costumes, confetti guns and psychedelic video projections; and those infamous dancing aliens and Santas. Visually rich and emotionally overwhelming, the show has seared a special place in my musical consciousness.
Even further away was the Jamie Lidell and Snax show at Hamilton College. Well worth the nearly two-hour drive, Lidell’s manic energy and musical finesse riled up a small crowd of devoted undergrads into a sweaty blur; his soulful ballads and leopard-print silk robe probably won over every female in the room, while his one-man beat boxing and noisy, vamping dance tunes captured the hearts of music geeks. [Edit — there’s a great, indepth review of the show here.]
And finally, this past weekend I had the pleasure of watching Johnny Dowd perform for the first time (finally!) at the Lost Dog Lounge. It was weird and wonderful — among other things, Dowd gave thanks to Sun Ra during a free section and recited a poem about James Brown.
Sure, there were plenty of shows that I truly regret missing (most notably, Yellow Swans and Grouper’s droning noise [EDIT: check out her super pretty tracks here]; Jackie-O MF, who I heard was great; Indigo Girls’ slickly made acoustic guitar folk; and the Johnny Cash Tribute show over Thanksgiving weekend), and despite a handful of disappointments, 2006 proved to be an invaluable year for discovering new sounds and pathways to understanding.
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