Art Brut w/ The Chalets, The Robocop Kraus, and “Art Brut 47″ @ The Knitting Factory 05.17.06
I officially kicked off my summer concert season in NYC this past week, catching Architecture in Helsinki last Thursday and seeing Art Brut, not once, but twice. That’s right, I saw Art Brut twice. I saw Art Brut TWICE (albeit fully clothed). Desperate puns aside, both shows were quite awesome, though the first goes down as one of the better shows I’ve ever seen (the second was just a brief eight-song in-store performance at Brooklyn’s Sound Fix) due to its incredible line-up, featuring three openers all incredible in their own right: The Chalets, The Robocop Kraus, and “Art Brut 47�, who, as speculated, turned out to be We Are Scientists.
The Chalets were the penultimate highlight of the night, eclipsed only by the headliners, and they put on an absolutely awesome set, which I’ve already reviewed here. Next up was The Robocop Kraus, who were absolutely great. I hadn’t enjoyed the few recordings of The Robocop Kraus I’d heard preceding the show, but their excellent performance completely changed that. First of all, they were sooooo German. Second of all, their glitch-pop/guitar-rock fusion sounded awesome in a live setting, and they put on a great performance, with lead singer Thomas Lang venturing into the crowd on multiple occasions. My two favorite songs by them are “Laughter Becomes Tears� and set-closer “You Don’t Have To Shout�, both of which were the undisputable highlights of their performance and can be downloaded below.
MP3: “Theme From Chalets” - The Chalets [highly recommended]
MP3: “After Laughter Comes Tears” - The Robocop Kraus
MP3: “You Don’t Have To Shout” - The Robocop Kraus
Next up was the much speculated-about and anticipated performance by Art Brut 47, who turned out to be We Are Scientists as was rumored, though there was nary an Art Brut cover to be heard. They introduced themselves as being “in the vanguard of Art Brut cover bandsâ€?, but explained that they settled for an opening slot upon the real Art Brut’s arrival in town. Instead, they explained, they’d be playing We Are Scientists covers for the evening, and immediately launched into “Lousy Reputationâ€?. Their set consisted exclusively of tracks culled from their excellent 2006 major-label debut, With Love & Squalor, with the exception of brand new song “Ram It Homeâ€?, which is featured as the b-side on the CD-single re-release of “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurtâ€? (and is available for download here and below). Despite copious amounts of witty banter and excellent run-throughs of all the hits on Love & Squalor (not to mention Chris’ excellent sports-goggles), We Are Scientists proved to be a mere appetizer for the feast of a show that Art Brut put on. Download their new b-side “Ram It Home”, as well as a studio recording of the acoustic version of “The Great Escape”, below.
MP3: “Ram It Home” - We Are Scientists
MP3: “The Great Escape Under The Sea” - We Are Scientists
Eddie Argos and company took the stage and right away launched into the immediately-recognizable “Sweet Child of Mine� riff, which segued perfectly into “Formed A Band�, instantly setting the tone for what would be an incredibly enjoyable performance. Argos has a flawless stage presence, overwhelmingly likeable with his affable confidence and humor, and he had the crowd laughing throughout the show with his clever and impromptu lyric revisions and monologues. In “Formed A Band�, Argos revealed his intention to write a song more universal than happy birthday and perform it “FOREVER on Total Request Live!!!.� During “Moving To L.A.�, Argos shared his ambition not only to drink Hennessey with Morrisey, but also to drink beano with Brian Eno and Rose with Axl Rose as well. Before the final verse of “Emily Kane�, he stopped the band to share the fact that Emily Kane heard the song and had actually contacted him, and that he realized that in actuality it wasn’t so much that he was in love with Emily Kane, but it was more that he was in love with the idea of being in love when he’s 15. He went on to say that “Emily Kane� shouldn’t be viewed as a desperate plea to a long-lost love, but it should be instead be thought of as a celebration of moving on from ex-lovers and accepting that it wasn’t meant to be, and being happy for them instead of harboring resentment. Amidst applause from sentimental audience members, the group immediately launched into the final refrain of the song, before leaving the stage, only to return moments later for an encore that consisted of “18,000 Lira� and their international hit of a new single “Good Weekend�. Before the latter, Eddie took us on a tour of the pop charts around the world, reminding us that “Good Weekend� was not only #1 in Ireland, but in Germany, Australia, the Ukraine, the former Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria (among others) as well, despite maintaining only the #2 spot in the UK (“but we’re working on that�, he assured us). Then, after invoking chants of “Art Brut! Top of The Pops!� from the audience, the band launched into the song, the perfect finale to an incredible performance saw a typically-unaffected NYC crowd rocking out like there was no tomorrow and Art Brut coming into their own and beginning to realize their role as one of the world’s most popular bands.
MP3: “Good Weekend” - Art Brut [highly recommended]
Though “Good Weekend” is my favorite Art Brut track and was the highlight of the show, the band did treat the crowd to one brand new song, which Eddie called “Nag, Nag, Nag, Nag”. Fortunately, RySpace was in attendance and recorded an mp3 of the song for your listening pleasure, available here.