Interpol C or D?

I met my friend John at Katz's Delicatessen on Ludlow & East Houston (where
I once attended a "pastrami toss" to celebrate Cop Shoot Cop's major label
signing....seems like a thousand ice ages ago). After a highly ill-advised
meal of corned-beef & knishes, we sauntered over to the Bowery Ballroom.
John, unlike some of my other friends, quite enjoys getting to venues *VERY
EARLY* so as to maximize his entertainment-per-dollar expenditure. Fine with
me, as I'm just paranoid and maladjusted enough to always worry about
getting to events *LATE*. It works out well.

First up were a band called The Stills. Let's put it this way: today's
Stills are tomorrow's Dishwalla. Despite the absence of anything resembling
personality or creative innovation, the Stills -- who cop the same VISUAL
aesthetic as the Strokes with maybe just touch of Blur -- will invariably be
signed by some hungry label looking for their piece of the "New New York
Scene" pie. They'll probably crank out a perfectly bland single, allowing
jadesters like m'self to say "I actually saw them open for someone way back
in 2002,...and boy were they dull!" After a fleeting taste of success, in
very short order, they'll go the same way as, say, Vertical Horizon, Seven
Mary Three, Marcy Playground, Better Than Ezra, 3 Doors Down, the Gin
Blossoms, Semisonic, Fastball, Lifehouse, Train, the Verve Pipe, Sister
Hazel, Tonic, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.

In short, they're so NOT promising that John and I were swiftly driven
downstairs to the bar, where we remained until the opening strains of the
next band reverberated through the room.

Next up, the very poorly-named Secret Machines. Despite their crap moniker,
the Secret Machines are an entirely different breed of cat than the Stills.
With no stagelighting save for three blinding floodlights behind them, the
band is a trio of very hairy young men who play very loudly, albeit with
very stark instrumentation. They're comprised of a drummer who was clearly
raised on a steady audio diet of "When the Levee Breaks," a guitar player
who mostly plays reverb-heavy bar chords, and a third gent who splits his
time between vocals, electric piano and what looked like a six-string bass.
The vocalist sings with some surprising passion, augmented by some
completely unexpected harmonies, courtesy of the guitarist. There are
actually some melodies at work here, under all the din (let alone retinal
damage, thanks to those floodlights). I was intrigued enough to spring the
ten bucks for their CD that they were hawking downstairs which -- surprise,
surprise -- ends up sounding nothing like the band I saw, substracting
nine-tenths of the sheer brute force of the band's live presentation. Not
terrible otherwise, though. The electric piano is a very novel touch for
this type of schtick, I thought. The band closed with a frenzied, high
volume rave-up ala the outro of "Helter Skelter" and exited the stage
without the slightest word to the audience. Noisy Hirsute Austerity.
Cooooool, man!

By this point, the Bowery Ballroom has filled up to capacity. I was
expecting a highly style-conscious contingent of the fabled
"electroclash"/Williamsburg neo-new-wave-disco-rock crowd (you know what I
mean: irony overload and retro-kitsch galore). While there was a bit of
those sorta shenanigans going on, it was largely a surprisingly mixed-bag
and "normal" looking crowd. I once again made the mistake of assuming that
the kid standing next to John and I in the EXODUS t-shirt must be an Exodus
fan, but when quizzed on the subject, he confessed to the retro-hip virus,
which I found rather sad. Don't fly the colours if ya haven't done the
groundwork first, dammit!

Not sure what time it was when Interpol finally came on, but by this point
it was as packed a house as I'd ever seen the Bowery Ballroom get. Given the
amount of hype currently surrounding the band -- coupled with the fact that
this was a hometown gig for them -- that shouldn't have been so surprising,
but I was still pretty shocked. I think many in attendance were there out of
sheer curiosity, though.

Before I launch into it, I'd like to preface the rest of my review by saying
I quite enjoy Interpol's album, which made the experience all the more
difficult.

I'd already composed a lengthy laundry list of cutting little remarks and
nasty jibes on my way home last night (after some "condolence beers" at Max
Fish, a bar I feel way too old to be in these days), but those comments all
seem so petty and needlessly critical this morning. Put plainly, Interpol
are very lucky lads to have garnered the respectable press and credible
praise they're currently enjoying, as they're only a few precarious
baby-steps away from being a forgettable joke band like Orgy or Deadsy (two
laughable bands that happily accept their shameless retrofetish fixations).
That they've managed to somehow come across as "a band to watch" (as opposed
to "a band to ignore, unless you're thirteen years old") is impressive, but
it could all come collapsing like a house of cards. Despite STRENUOUSLY
denying certain key influences that the press automatically cite in reviews
(i.e. Joy Division, the Smiths, etc.), onstage Interpol wear their
influences on their sleeve. On a purely visual level, the band is completely
lacking in any real stage prescence. The only real movement onstage comes
courtesy of the bass player, but more about him in a second. I'm not saying
that every band has to be like Kiss or Iggy Pop and jump around like a bunch
of gibbons on crack, but Interpol just aren't much to watch. That's okay,
though, as neither are a lot of other perfectly respectable bands. At the
end of the day, they're still a new(ish) band and large-scale exposure has
come quickly -- maybe they're still adjusting.

Musically, Interpol fared pretty reasonably, faithfully recreating the album
(not in exact sequence, mercifully). Daniel Kessler's guitar really defines
the sound -- however monochromatic it all turns out. Coupled with Paul
Banks' mannered, adenoidal vocals, it's virtually *IMPOSSIBLE* not to play
'spot the reference' with their sound, as sonic allusions to the Smiths, the
Chameleons, the Cure, Public Image Ltd and -- of course -- Joy Division
abound. But, once again, they do it well, at least. It's how they present it
that's problematic.

From their stridently po-faced stance through their wardrobe (some odd
middle ground between Preppy, Mortician and Hitler Youth....again, only
slightly less silly than Deadsy), Interpol appear to take themselves *VERY*
seriously, and therein lies my biggest beef with them. Without a noticeable
sense of humour, it's harder to forgive them their otherwise blatant
appropriations. Maybe they have a hard time expressing it, or maybe I'm just
not noticing it. I don't know, but it's just not there.

What am I forgetting?! Oh yeah -- the bass player. How to improve Interpol
in ONE EASY STEP: Fire Carlos Dengler, the bass player. For every argument
the band makes against being a retro-pastiche pantomime act, their bass
player undermines it all. Looking like a refugee from an age he couldn't
possibly have been old enough to experience first hand, Dengler's obstinate
adherence to "New Wave fashion" of the most cartoony variety (think of that
"Quincy" episode featuring "punks" or pre-puberty Sarah Jessica Parker's
friends on "Square Pegs") almost single-handedly prevents Interpol from
being taken as seriously as they clearly take themselves. With his floppy
Teutonic fringe, red satin shirt, skinny black tie and :::ugh!:: black
arm-band, Dengler clearly belongs in Deadsy....or Orgy...or Menswe@r....or a
very-sad-indeed Christian Death cover band that was locked in someone's
basement in 1985. Couple said sartorial flourish with the predictable
low-slung bass ala Sid Vicious/Peter Hook/Simon Gallup, and Dengler
officially becomes the weakest link. Goodbye.

So, anyway, that's pretty much it. Despite all my misgivings, the band's
performance of "PDA" at the end of the set was still a great moment, as it's
simply a great song. The band *ARE* indeed capable of
delivering the goods, but they really need to either hone or ditch entirely
the schtick their currently pushing. Failing that, they will CONTINUE to
suffer jokers in the crowd yelling out "How Soon Is Now?" and "Transmission"
at them during their shows.

Interpol -- inheritors of the Black Crowes/Rancid trophy? Sadly, `tis true.

Yes. New wave, not punk -- totally different head, man.

nb i was at the show and i really enjoyed it.

I was right!!

New York Cares
New York Cares
New York Cares
New York Cares

subway she is a porno and the pavements they are a mess
i know you've supported me for a long time
somehow i'm not impressed

It's up to me now turn on the bright lights
It's up to me now turn on the bright lights

New York Cares
New York Cares
New York Cares
New York Cares

It's up to me now turn on the bright lights
oh, It's up to me now turn on the bright lights

Right on.

I almost used "move into my assface" as the quote instead of the 100 undergrads, btw.

Album title of the year, if someone could get around to it. It'd be Dave Q's rural concept disc.

(crumbs, I'm saying nice things about Placebo in public...hmmm)

Anyway, I'm loving TOTBL hugely right now - makes me wish I had Today Forever to hand, and this lunchtime I'm *definitely* buying Songs To Learn & Sing cos I realised I don't actually *own* any Bunnymen and it's only 15 bucks.

And J** D*******? Not at all! Really, I don't get it.

Also on a brief note, people have been notoriously stupid when it comes to comparisons. On the subject of The Strokes, how maybe times did I read The Rolling Stones or The Kinks while flipping through various publications? People are absolutely rancid when it comes to these things.

new one's nice

new Editors is better though :(

new National is best

lol Interpol still exists

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/21/arts/21.interpol.span.jpg

lol @ yesterday's ny times.

Far left: Bob "Hardcore" Holly, far right: Ornaldo "Orlando" Bloomps

so like when did they replace the singer guy with Jodie Foster

second one's like a young David Eugene Edwards

er... with, like, a different head and face and hair. (ok, I was wrong)

Second from right is ER's Noah Wyle with a beard...

The new album is really growing on me - I saw them at the Rock Werchter festival this weekend, wasn't going to stay for their whole show, but I did in the end, so I guess I liked them.

the new album is sitting on 92 on metacritic after 5 reviews

bloody hell

(they obviously weight Playlouder reviews much higher than OMM, which is a surprise, and Amazon.com, which is not)

"Lighthouse" is such a pathetic example of "atmosphere."

In NYMag, Paul Banks described the late night PATH train as "amateur hour for alcoholics," which is a nice, succinct, accurate description, so I give him some credit.

getting raves - mojo, nme etc. 'best album yet' type talk.

This is the first album on which they're unable even to make their meaninglessness signify on any level.

CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC
I love this band more than life.
Well I exaggerate but I really love their entire sound, every album is more epic than the last, gorgeous lyrics, its atmospheric and moody and I love the darkly romantic sensuality of it all, their music is...
http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/AnCkEbNFOa7Q8Igzo5mPNA/l
I can only gush. Hate all you want, but its a beautiful thing they've done with music..*sigh*
Oh and since when has Interpol been attractive?
ALWAYS.

^^^AWFULLY worded review there but its accurate

HUH?

the new album is sitting on 92 on metacritic after 5 reviews

They should have stopped at 5 reviews. For Interpol's sake.

Metacritic needs to adjust the scale of their rating system. Seems like every album falls between 60 and 80 points, which means "generally favorable reviews," and anything hip enough to appear on ILM is almost always in that range.

It's been a year since that awful record, no?

Lord Sotosyn, Hater of Ye Olde Interpol Greats. We meet again.

Yes, except Alfred's right. That Interpol disc was between totally unnecessary and downright bad.

First disc was great, tho. Deserves the praise it got.

ohh fuck yes

http://pitchfork.com/news/65553-interpols-paul-banks-and-wu-tangs-rza-are-banks-and-steelz/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr8Su5tPZZI

Dud.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/84ab5cae2f1d3d9497fee75af1b156b3/tumblr_o0tajnqq0V1rvi9cso1_500.jpg

I figured this revive would be about the Banks and Steelz record. It's not very good. (The song with Florence is decent.)

i just got convinced to go to the Morrissey show next week here in Los Angeles. i can't stand Morrissey because of his hard right politics but doing a favor for a girl and you know sometime in life you need to do that for the better sex. i did love The Smiths and actually was able to see them twice on the Queen Is Dead[ tour and that was amazing. i can't stand him and hope he doesn't go into things at this show.

anyways, the bonus and really the only reason i'm going is because i do get to see Interpol. is Interpol been good live lately? has anyone seen then recently and can tell me i have made a good choice? i have never seen Interpol live before.

This song from a new Banks side project is way more promising than anything on the last album.

https://soundcloud.com/user-434202633/muzz-bad-feeling

Has anyone heard The Other Side of Make-Believe yet?

Out today

They put out a video this week that I didn't love, but I'm still probably gonna give the album at least one listen this weekend.

After one listen, I like it a lot. I think Interpol are perfectly designed for me, because I don't care about lyrics at all and whatsisname sings them in such a just-woke-up-from-an-afternoon-nap-that-was-accidentally-about-20-minutes-too-long way that they're rendered instantly forgettable, but their guitar and drum sounds (production by Flood and Alan Moulder) are really beautiful.

Shocked and really happy that something like “Toni” exists in this day and age

Paul’s voice sounds pretty weak tho

This is surprisingly good, unperson very much otm, it's all about Kessler's guitar and Fogarino's drums.