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September 29, 2006
the Ballet, Live @ the Cake Shop, NYC, 09.22.06
photos by Devon Banks
The Ballet's debut album Mattachine! is one of the most instantly likeable discs I've heard all year. Song after song of three minute pop, told from a fresh point of view, and impeccably executed. So assured is the production that it's hard to remember that this is still a very new band on shaky fawn legs working to establish a perfomance presence. Last Friday's show at the Cake Shop (in an opening slot for Mark Robinson's Flin Flon) was a reality check.
The show was put back over an hour from the posted time, subjecting the punctual to an endurance testing hoe down band. When the meek saviours finally emerged, the small room's occupancy had swelled to the breaking point. Given the band's dominant subject matter and probable demographic, man cuddling abounded. They started with "the Start Song", logical in name, but actually one of the less memorable songs in their repetoire. The subsequent "Cheating on Your Boyfriend" was a bit thin as well, Greg Goldberg's voice mousier in person than the confident delivery that anchors the recorded material. The strings and synths sounded fine, but the sound mix was off or something, and the lyrical heart was hard to discern.
Also, the reliance on iPod backing tracks was a problem as well. Listen, I know how hard it is to even get 8 people together to get a drink at the same time in New York, so swelling your line-up past the assembled five must be a chore, and I understand that. But from a purely objective point of view, any time you hear the words, "Can I get some more iPod in the monitor?" then the band you're seeing hasn't figured out how to fully translate their sound to the stage yet. There's an evident talent in the songwriting, so I'm sure the nut can be cracked eventually, it just hasn't yet.
Another problem in the set for me was song selection. I really do like this band, and I feel bad for being so hard on what was in the end an enjoyable set, but this one at least is out of affection. It just seems to me that in the early stages of a career with a new record just out and a full crowd before you, that you're doing yourself a huge disservice by not including 3(!) of your best, most widely posted songs in a 40 minute set. So we were denied "I Hate the War", "Personal", and "the Face of Everything". Which was sad.
One of my favorite numbers that they did squeeze in was "Clay", an ode to Bret Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero protagonist, unless I've completely misinterpreted the lyrics. I really like how it starts with Bernard Herrmann-esque suspense strings (a nod to Ellis's faux horror leanings?), before launching into more friendly pop. I love the killer Ellis-esque final line of "In December you'll be twenty one/ and nobody will remember who you are." This video captures it decently...
the Ballet - "Clay"
The short set ended with a non album track called "Murder at the Discotheque", which you can stream on their MySpace page here. This one featured an amp up in energy from the rest of the set, starting off sleepy and then erupting into a siesta with all band members issued a fanciful shaker and Greg breaking out a banana-monica (pictured below). It might be hard to summon a ton of kinetic energy on the venue's small stage, especially with the space needed for mulitple string players, but this was a nice end. Here's hoping that more dates and a more finalized band line-up will result in a fuller sound for the charming songs that derserve them.
P.S. Sorry to Mark Robinson for bailing before Flin Flon. I love Unrest and like some of his other work, but it just wasn't in the cards that night. I promise a Robinson post in the near future as penance.
Previously: MS Pick - The Ballet [MP3]
Tags: the Ballet, Cake Shop, Flin Flon, concert reviews
Posted by Jeff Klingman at September 29, 2006 12:30 PM
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