Three Imaginary Girls - The Wrens

Imaginary roadtrip, Chicago edition: two nights of Wrens!

imaginary victoria — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:44:09 +0000

24 Jun 2009

Chicago is, without a doubt, my kind of town.

Purchasing a plane ticket to spend two nights with the Wrens at Schubas may very well have been the best decision I've made in the last several years. The shows were mind-bogglingly wonderful, the band was both seamless and deconstructed, the sound was just right, and the energy was -- well, indescribable. Prop all this adjective up against the backdrop of a venue on everyone's short list, add in abundant sunshine and an excellent subway system, stir, and you've got yourself a very imaginary roadtrip.

Schubas -- and the Wrens, mind you -- proudly celebrated twenty years in the making by hosting back-to-back sold-out shows this past weekend. And as most people expected, the Wrens did the festivities ample justice by putting forth two nights of tremendous, sweat-soaked performances that rang out for hours and hours on end. Both sets were like Christmas, as they treated the crowd to the bulk of the Meadowlands, a few choice picks from Secaucus, and about a half-dozen new songs [!] each night -- along with second and third callbacks for encores -- including "Made Enough Friends" both nights and "Surprise, Honeycomb" the second.

We were pulled up on stage for drawn-out keyboard introduction improvisations two songs in the first night, and the percussion festival from a stage full of drumsticks for "Boys, You Won't" at Friday's show was as orchestral and epic as ever. Both long-standing fans and Wrens-newcomers stood side-stage, mouths agape, almost unable to process the controlled chaos that came from Kevin's rendition of "This is Not What You Had Planned" followed immediately by about ten solid minutes of cheering and applause -- mind you, over the club's post-set music coming out of the speakers, and under the glare of full-force lights -- until the band finally gave up and came back to dole out another half-dozen songs to round out Saturday's set.

While we didn't quite have time to pull everyone together for an interview, I did manage to catch up with Jerry, Greg, Kevin, and even Charles for a quick moment over the span of both shows. On top of some adorable new shirts, I was happy to see the merch table stocked with real, record-company released albums of Secaucus, Silver, and the Five Mod Four / Wrens split EP, apparently as a result of some ax-burying with Wind-Up Records. (Those of you who have handmade, computer-burned, silkscreened cardboard case copies of these albums from purchase at shows past will know the bliss of seeing real cases -- with real liner notes! -- housing proper releases of these cds.)

And last, but certainly not least, on the next album: there's no news to report as far as a definitive schedule for the upcoming release -- but I can state first-hand that these guys are writing and shaping a respectable amount of new material. In the end, recording will take as long as it takes, but from what I can gather we'll be hearing more tracks and seeing more serial weekend tours sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed for a night (or two) in Seattle!

Sasquatch 2009 Wrap-Up: Day 2

Imaginary Shrie — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:25:37 +0000

24 May 2009

Sasquatch_2009.jpg

SUNDAY

I'm from Texas and all, but sitting on a rock in 85 degree heat with no shade, clouds or wind isn't my idea of completely awesome. Especially when after all that I walk back to the sticky hot tent to drink and then pass out in my sleeping bag, only to await the next day of the same. So that's my excuse for missing Calexico (but my amigo Sam caught them and wrote about it ). On with St. Vincent!

Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, is a gem. She's cute, can write a ditty of a lyric and has the sweetest delivery. I also think she was amazed and incredibly appreciate of the large audience there to witness her set at Sasquatch. She seemed nervous and a tad unprepared, but her performance was anything but. I know her background is with Glenn Branca but I feel like that gets lost in her solo recordings. Her CDs make her sound like slightly grainy sweetness and light, but live her rocker alter-ego came out. She swayed and jerked her way through the more jarring songs while endearing herself to the crowd with her between-song banter and huge white sunglasses beaming happily outwards.

I've seen the Wrens twice before, and enjoyed them immensely, so I was really looking forward to their set, which is typically very high energy. The Wrens are a garage rock type of band. They drink a lot, wail on their guitars and hop around the stage like they aren't 40-somethings, which is exactly how it went down at the Gorge. The crowd was fairly thin for Sasquatch, and surprise surprise (!) they debuted two new songs! Lots of "we haven't been practicing" excuses (which is often admitted by them) and lots of good, dare I say old-fashioned, rock and roll.

TV On The Radio was my next appointment, and I knew they'd draw a whopper of a crowd. They played their less dancey, more introspective tracks around the first part of the set. It was going to be a hot and heavy set, so the slow transition was a welcome intro. Their sound was rawer, less fleshed out, than their records or their live performances at smaller indoor venues like the Showbox. I think the venue and space gave their sound an airiness that doesn't exist normally. Tunde Adebimpe was as animated as always, stiff-body stomping around the stage with conviction. "Young Liars" was a highlight, evoking much fist shaking and singing along.

Of Montreal doesn't put on a concert, they put on an honest-to-god SHOW. Their performance at Sasquatch wasn't much different. It was a little stripped down from the norm, instead of a jillion costume changes there were only a few, but they sounded phenomenal and the crowd loved them. "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" firecrackered off first and jolted the crowd into a dancing fever. The visuals onscreen were terrific, at times depicting Kevin Barnes in an almost pop-star like light. And per the usual, Barnes was dressed like a sleazy 70s porn wannabe, teasing in a slinky shirt and bare-chested. Towards the end of the set Kevin Barnes introduced the next song, which was a cover of Prince's "Computer Blue", citing him as a major influence.

I had waited all day to see Jane's Addiction. I expected a lot, and I guess that was my first mistake, but nothing could save them from Perry Farrell's geriatric antics. Their songs were verbose with Navarro guitar solos only interrupted by Perry gyrating like an out-of-touch old man. It was surreal how old he seemed all of a sudden. Dave Navarro is a very skilled guitar player but neither that nor his boyish good looks could give Jane's Addiction what they needed to seem relevant.

Sasquatch Day 2: Check-in

Imaginary Shrie — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:10:17 +0000

The heat and the glaring sun has been getting to me, so I ended up missing Calexico to stay longer at camp under the sweet shade.

There's Wrens blowing up the internets

imaginary victoria — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:47:43 +0000

Full frontal Wrens assault, with video!

More Wrens recording sneak-peeks

imaginary victoria — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:38:44 +0000

Magnet's "Wrens Watch" keeps our instant gratification in check.

A whole lot of new, shiny, blissful Wrens-related content. !!!

imaginary victoria — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:37:14 +0000

Keeping folks waiting since 1989.

New Wrens track!

imaginary victoria — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:51:46 +0000

It's all DIY and deliciousness and new Wrens. NEW WRENS!!!

The Wrens in NYC

Trix O Cone — Sat, 24 Jan 2004 08:00:00 +0000

24 Jan 2004

wrens.jpg

When I first heard about The Wrens, I was curious — a band from New Jersey that I'd never heard of? AND they have albums titled The Meadowlands and Secaucus (one is a stadium, the other is a town)? How could I have missed that? I am pretty down with the scene, I love both Bruce Springsteen (Freehold, NJ) and Ted Leo (Bloomfield, NJ)! I can also name off essentially every rock band with roots in New Jersey (Bon Jovi, The Feelies, Yo La Tengo, Pavement — hell, even Elliott Smith lived here for a while). The article went on to explain their musical history: gonnabees turned worker bees, then simply being during the six-years spacing the two albums.

Listening to the Meadowlands makes me feel wistful — the first time I heard it, I was ready to discount it as a hyped out indie-rock album that I was suckered into buying because I saw that Pitchfork gave it like a 9.5 rating (usually the albums I like get a 6.0 or lower rating). But I kept listening — and then my roommate started to listen to them — and it was getting to the point where if someone played the Meadowlands as I walked into the room, I'd wonder, "Who is this? They sound so familiar." That's when I realized I really liked this album.

This night is especially and appropriately Jersey'ed out — not a surprise given that all three of the bands are pretty much part of the New Jersey scene. Everyone at Maxwell's knows each other — they've played in bands with each other, taught guitar to some, partied together, gotten drunk with each other, etc. It starts with The Rules (who I missed, but man is their lead singer a hottie-and he has a bed like clouds!) who are followed by the power-pop trio True Love, but when the Wrens perform, something comes alive.

They open with the first track on The Meadowlands, "The House that Guilt Built," a twinkling spaced-out guitar taking the place of the cricket chirps on the album, and the clapping starts — appreciative, happy, joyful clapping. It's a Welcome Back Kotter-type of homecoming for the band (remember, Hoboken is home turf) and the world seems to be balancing on a star, until they slam right into "Per Second Second," and the hooting and the whistling starts. I am sandwiched in the back with the merchandise (luckily I know the girls "manning" the merch table, and actually find myself selling merch more than once!). Maxwell's is packed and because it's mostly men are here, it's hard for a girl to find enough room to squeeze on through to the front.

But back to the show, the crowd is feeling crazy, the frenetic energy is building, multiplying and Greg Whelan seems to have channeled spirit of the recently departed Captain Kangaroo, jumping around the (small) stage, leaping like a man who just discovered how to use his legs. They take requests from the audience (yup, someone suggested Freebird), they break out into a cover — "Your Love" by The Outsiders — until the song dissolves in giggles (who knew grown men still giggle? I thought only the girls in The Sleepover Club dissolved into giggles!). They are full of giddiness — they explain later on in the set that they always clap in between songs because in the past, that was the only clapping that they heard during a set — but tonight, the boys in the audience are throwing the goat, and pumping fists in the air — call it "clappiness!"

Or obnoxiousness — because as they said, "We're from fucking Jersey! You're allowed to be obnoxious tonight!"

The set was heavy with tracks off The Meadowlands, and most people in the audience who knew all the words to all The Meadowlands songs weren't ashamed to sing along with the Wrens. Or it could be that most (including myself) don't know all the words to the previous albums. The Secaucus CD sold out even before the Wrens took the stage!

During the set, I wished that I could've pushed my way past the flannels and the trucker hats, and been up to the front of the club to look back at the audience like Amelie does in movie theatres so that she can witness rapture — and that is what tonight feels like.

"We're from fucking Jersey! You're allowed to be obnoxious tonight!"

Best of 2003: Top 100 Imaginary Albums of the Year

three imaginary girls — Sat, 03 Jan 2004 08:00:00 +0000

You voted, and we tabulated. Now you can print and clip the top 100 imaginary albums of the year list for your post-holiday-gift-certificate shopping pleasure...

The Postal Service, "Give Up"
The Shins, "Chutes Too Narrow"
Death Cab for Cutie, "Transatlanticism"
Radiohead, "Hail To The Thief"
Outkast, "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below"
The White Stripes, "Elephant"
The Long Winters, "When I Pretend To Fall"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Fever to Tell"
The New Pornographers, "Electric Version"
The Decemberists, "Her Majesty, the Decemberists"
The Strokes, "Room On Fire"
The Wrens, "The Meadowlands"
The Divorce, "There Will Be Blood Tonight"
Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, "Hearts of Oak"
Nada Surf, "Let Go"
Visqueen, "King Me"
Idlewild, "The Remote Part"
Junior Senior, "D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat"
Cat Power, "You Are Free
Belle & Sebastian, "Dear Catastrophe Waitress"
The Rapture, "Echoes"
The Darkness, "Permission to Land"
The Thermals, "More Parts Per Million"
The Dandy Warhols, "Welcome To The Monkey House"
The Lights, "Beautiful Bird"
Stellastarr*, "Stellastarr*"
Various Artists, "Lost in Translation" Soundtrack
Massive Attack, "100th Window"
The Mars Volta, "De-Loused in the Comatorium"
Wonderful, "God Bless Our Pad"
British Sea Power, "Decline of British Sea Power"
The Delgados, "Hate"
Jayhawks, "Rainy Day Music"
Los Halos, "Leaving Va."
Mogwai, "Happy Songs for Happy People"
My Morning Jacket, "It Still Moves"
The Aislers Set, "How I Learned to Write Backwards"
The Thrills, "So Much for the City"
Kaito, "Band-Red"
Basement Jaxx, "Kish Kash"
Gillian Welch, "Soul Journey"
Grandaddy, "Sumday"
The Decemberists, "Castaways and Cutouts"
Twilight Singers, "Blackberry Belle"
Sun Kil Moon, "Ghosts of the Great Highway"
American Analog Set, "Promise of Love"
Damien Jurado, "Where Shall You Take Me?"
The Hidden Cameras,"The Smell Of Their Own"
Cursive, "The Ugly Organ"
Clearlake, "Cedars"
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Take Them On, On Your Own"
Mojave 3, "Spoon & Rafter"
Rufus Wainwright, "Want One"
Calexico, "Feast of Wire"
Crooked Fingers, "Red Devil Dawn"
Sleepy Jackson, "Lovers"
Fountains Of Wayne, "Welcome Interstate Managers"
Manitoba, "Up in Flames"
Pretty Girls Make Graves, "New Romance"
Andrew Bird, "Weather Systems"
Johnny Cash, "Unearthed"
The Libertines, "Up the Bracket"
The Paybacks, "Knock Loud"
Broadcast "Haha Sound"
Deerhoof, "Apple 'O"
Menomena, "I Am the Fun Blame Monster!"
Fanny Pack,"So Stylistic"
Jet, "Get Born"
Kinky, "Atlas"
The Notwist, "Neon Golden"
Broken Social Scene, "You Forgot It In People"
Ed Harcourt, "From Every Sphere"
Exploding Hearts, "Guitar Romantic"
The Kills, "Keep On Your Mean Side"
Blur, "Think Tank"
Four Tet, "Rounds"
Kings of Leon, "Youth & Young Manhood"
The Drive-By Truckers, "Decoration Day"
The Minus 5, "Down With Wilco"
The Orb, "Bicycles and Tricycles"
Downpilot, "Leaving Not Arriving"
Longwave, "The Strangest Things"
Okkervil River, "Down the River of Golden Dreams"
The Malinks, "Can't Shake Last Night"
The Stills, "Logic Will Break Your Heart"
United State of Electronica, "Demo"
Guided By Voices, "Earthquake Glue"
Anna Oxygen, "All Your Faded Things"
Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man "Out of Season"
Dead Meadow, "Shivering King and Others"
Martina Topley-Bird, Quixotic"
Rachel's, "Systems/Layers"
The Fitness,"Call Me for Together"
The Primate Five, "1234567APE"
Triple R, "Friends"
Holopaw, "Holopaw"
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, "Nocturama"
Smog, "Supper"
The Bad Plus, "These are the Vistas"
The Gossip,"Movement"

A list of the top 100 records of 2003 as voted on by you, our fabulous imaginary readers.