The Bowery Presents

The Mercury Lounge upcoming shows

Say Hi
10:00

Telekinesis
9:00
Joe and The Flying Spoons
8:00
Phil & The Osophers
7:00

Venue:
The Mercury Lounge
Date:
Sun 3/29
Notes:
21+
Doors: 7:00 PM / Show: 7:00 PM
$12
Tickets
Say Hi
official website
myspace
Say Hi simultaneously defies and enforces physics. We're the mumbling in your head while you're crunching the numbers. We're the apparitions, ticks, gut wrenching, suspicion and glee too. We're the reason you rolled a nineteen for charisma, the cat's meow, your least favorite aunt. Touch us and we'll touch you. Watch us and we'll watch you. You once tried to call us and the line was busy, but that was actually just us making busy signal noises with our mouths. If you would have called back we would have cooked you some pasta. What you're looking for right now is going to evade you forever. Fish don't speak but squirrels do. It all depends on your longitude. You should start from the beginning, but ignore the prequels. We like minimalism, broken robots, granny smith apples, sneakers and the mundane. We like make believe vampires but the real ones scare us. We don't care too much for your boss and the fact that you're starting to resemble her. You should work on that. You'll find us to be very reasonable if you'd just give us a chance. You can paint us by numbers. You can tell us to your shrink. You can consume us up to three times daily but you shouldn't ever exceed twelve doses in a four day period, unless you have a note from your mother. We definitely detest mom jokes. Seriously. We don't need to be reminded of what we resemble. We named ourselves after Midwestern dairy queen civility. We usually involve a variety of livestock running rampantly around. We think sideways motorcycle helmets are all the rage now that sideways trucker's hats are out. We are live, fleshy human beings attempting to recreate these sounds in real life. We put out our own records. We speak in binary code. We're in the market for an A-team van. We strive for muzak and custom made slip n' slides. We write under pseudonyms. We play for keeps. Our grass is always greenest. Our hair is unkempt.
Telekinesis
myspace
Michael Benjamin Lerner, masquerading under the name Telekinesis!, does not, as the name might suggest, dabble in the psychic world nor imply that he can move anything with the power of his brain. Except maybe metaphorically, if you count how someone might be “moved” by music. But this is an awful metaphor and not something you’re inclined to keep following through the lengths of a bio, especially if you have no idea who this person is. The good news is that you will get to know and grow to love Michael via his pure-and-simple pop songs. At that point I may take creative license to subject you to a verbose illustration of the perceived intricacies of his future magnum opus, but until then, let’s keep it simple.

Telekinesis! is based out of Seattle, WA, and is driven by Michael’s love for Brit-Pop (which I’m sure is part of the reason he decided to live in Liverpool for a year though this is merely a conjecture), pistachio nuts (which he eats in inhumanly amounts), Scandinavian cheese-cutters (because who doesn’t love decorous cheese?), and possibly his reverence for the musicians who came before him in this city on the Puget Sound. I cannot claim to know everything that drives Michael and most assuredly you can’t either. So you’re going to have to take my word for it until his newly finished, full-length debut is mastered, packaged, and released. Then feel free to form your own opinions…

This split 7” with the super-talented Cloud Control is a small taste of what Michael has been up to. In the last 3 months, he has finished a record with Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie, Tegan & Sara, The Decemberists) at the helm, played numerous shows regionally, and managed to document all of this with his uncanny photographic skills. What you are hearing is an exclusive version of “All of a Sudden” – a catchy song about summer, which seems entirely appropriate that it be released as Australia is facing a change of seasons and, paradoxically, Seattle is growing greyer by the minute.

Michael’s work ethic in the studio is characterized by fearless commitment and a willingness to experiment, even if the ideas seem far-fetched. His positivity makes the studio and subsequently his songs more welcoming. Truth be told, he doesn’t appear to have much of a dark side and still he manages to intrigue and surprise an audience in a very accessible way. He can also drum and sing at the same time, which is not only unassailably cool but for most of the population is physically impossible.

I implore you to keep tabs on Telekinesis! not just because all the kids are doing it, but because his particular brand of pop is satisfying in a sing-aloud-with-the-windows-down sort of way. And that could not be much more convenient given that the Australian summer is imminent and you have earned it.
Joe and The Flying Spoons
myspace
The Flying Spoons are a band. Their name comes from a Creedence Song, as all band names should. Except for the bands that came before Creedence, they can...ah, nevermind. We do what we can. I totally used Thomas' Myspace Editor, but only based on the reputation of his English Muffins.
Phil and the Osophers
official website
myspace
One of the finest, most perfectly polished pop acts you’re ever… no, actually, this really is fucking rough as hell. It really is - rougher perhaps than anyone bar the likes of Maxwell Panther and the Wave Pictures (before their Moshi Moshi days). And do I love it? Of course I fucking do. Cast iron proof that really all you need in order to make a great album is a cast-iron knack for an infectious tune, and the ability to write good lyrics.

This has both of these qualities in spades. The rough recordings seem to be used as an extra instrument, because Phil himself sings in a lazily casual sort of a way, so I get the impression none of this is all that accidental. There are only two of them as well, and they’ve known each other since school too, so the parallels to the Wave Pictures continue.

They seem to take a perverse pride in not really being able to play things all that well. The recorder (or whatever it is, I’m not sure) on I Will Reverse It sounds like a primary school music class, and apparently the drummer, Kevin, didn’t learn the drums all that recently and there were one or two teething problems early on. Honestly, though, it really doesn’t seem to matter. They clatter and wail their way through their songs and somehow it all just seems to work.

It’s largely upbeat and oddly infectious, with a sort of careless enthusiasm which seems to pervade the album. Sure, it might be a little inconsistent but I’ve really enjoyed listening to this, and I look forward to raising eyebrows when we invite my parents round for dinner next and it slowly dawns on my Mum that, no, it’s not the fucking Lighthouse Family.
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