Phoenix/Dirty Projectors/Wavves
Madison Square Garden
Wednesday, October 20

Better Than: Breathing normally

This year, the biggest show of CMJ had the biggest secret to keep.

I postulated recently -- maybe facetiously -- that this MSG bill fulfilled every part of the psyche. Well, the rampant rumors of a Secret Special Guest Wednesday evening similarly tested two broader outlooks: The pessimists lining the dank Lower East Side caves of the afternoon CMJ showcases refused to believe the whispers, rolling their eyes as they swilled their Rolling Rocks (that beer is ubiquitous this week), while optimists such as myself shrieked at the news, were threatened with physical harm if we gossiped beyond our present media-savvy circles (which I did anyway, vastly), and ultimately harangued and schemed our way into the packed arena, scalping comically high-up nosebleed seats if need be.

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​Oh, indeed. The gala Phoenix/Dirty Projectors/Wavves show hitting MSG Wednesday, October 20th is a big we-made-it moment for the maximalist, SOTC-beloved French pop-rockers; we think it'd be great if you got to see it in person. We have five pairs of tickets. And since is this is a bigger deal, we figured this giveaway should be slightly more elaborate.

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​Look. We here at SOTC are perhaps unnecessarily protective of French maximal-pop stars Phoenix, architects of perhaps our single favorite album of 2009 (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix) and, therein, perhaps our favorite track of last year, the two-part arena-ambient masterpiece "Love Like a Sunset." Evidence of our devotion abounds. It's great that they've met with such wild success. It's great that they're headlining Madison Square Garden October 20. And initially it was great to learn this morning that they were offering a new track, for free, titled "Love Like a Sunset Pt 3." Perfect. Awesome. Except the song itself is lousy.

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​Here is the punchline to all those outraged tweets during Coachella, when people were shocked at that the crowd for Phoenix dwarfed that of indie-rock journeymen Pavement, who had the misfortune to go on at around the same time. Phoenix are a big deal in 2010: Their MySpace page brings news today that the French pop band will play Madison Squre Garden with the Dirty Projectors on October 20th, gracing the same venue Lady Gaga is currently performing at. That's not bad for a group that was performing at the Soho Apple Store (well, Central Park, too) ten short months ago. But they deserve it. Anyone who can make a movie trailer look this incredible can play wherever they want, as far as we're concerned:

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Well this is just glorious. (And way better than that other version of the song we've stumbled over recently.) A little background on these guys here, website here. Their faces are the best part; you almost get to believing those lyrics aren't as inscrutable as you once thought.

A valiant attempt at honoring a band we are quite fond of around here (seriously), though mostly this will drive home the fact that this song is really, really hard to sing. Buy the MP3 (or the whole Friday-night set) here. [Thanks to friend-of-SOTC Richard Gehr.]

​So have at it. Pretty interesting how tackling Dylan makes PHX frontman Thomas Mars basically sound like a magically-restored-to-perfect-health Leonard Cohen. Plus acoustic covers of "1901" and "LIsztomania," which still don't make any sense to us.

​These mischievous Frenchman have played their quote unquote final 2009 show in New York four or five times at this point, and the overall Phoenix saturation level--Animal Collective remixes, Cougar Town cameos, extended Central Park bows--has crept up pretty high lately. That said, this band is everything it's supposed to be and more, live, and so let's commence a now familiar ritual: enter at this link to win tickets to what looks to be Phoenix's last New York date of the year at the PC Richard & Son Theater, next Thursday, December 3rd. We have seen them dazzle even an Apple Store, so electronics theater or no electronics theater, this show will probably be just fine. Plan accordingly.

​Download here, friends.

Listen, we really like this song around here -- no, seriously -- and we thus regard any attempts to alter/improve it, however respectful and benevolent their intent, with profound suspicion. Particularly when Animal Collective is involved. But this has a nice, unobtrusive, hypnotic lilt, wisely avoiding any wayward attempt to replicate the song's slow, inexorable, glorious crescendo and just heading straight for the climax, now chilled out and ethereal. Even when they start adding vocals, it doesn't seem like as big a dick move as it might've been. So, in short: We will let you live, Animal Collective.

Unfortunately there's a whole remix album afoot, and it's very likely something therein will profoundly antagonize us. Early money in that regard is on "1901 Bo Flex'd (Passion Pit Remix)."

Phoenix/Passion Pit
Rumsey Playfield
Friday, September 25

All you Pavement fanatics would do well to remember that Central Park is a five-star venue in terms of scenery but doesn't exactly offer pristine sound, much sonic detail merely evaporating in the crisp autumn night, which won't much matter to those ramshackle dudes, but might louse things up when you're dealing with two of the prettiest and most elaborately constructed pure pop records of the year. Phoenix wins this battle, handily, but of course you knew that.

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