Mia Doi Todd, The One AM Radio, The Wind-Up Bird
Mercury Lounge, 2.15.05

I'd seen Mia Doi Todd five or six times before last night and, save for one exception, her shows had been strictly solo affairs. I think that's a big part of why they'd been consistently great. Vocal melodies and inflections are at the center of her older music, and the spare accompaniment at the shows - usually just quiet acoustic guitar or piano - let her voice carry everything live. It worked quite well. When a band entered the picture on The Golden State and its release party at the Fez, it felt forced. The instruments were getting in the way of her voice on the older songs, recast for TGS.

Last night was the second time I've seen Mia play with a band, and it was much better. Her set focused on the just-released Manzanita and the extra musicians feel much more natural on the new songs. Though the vocals aren't as ambitious, the songs are more fleshed out with little details like the handclaps on "Tongue-Tied" going a long way live. The older songs were stripped down as usual, with Zeroone's "Merry Me" and "Poppy Fields" ending the show beautifully. Overall I didn't find myself as consumed by the live show as usual, but I sense the new approach may make for more interesting studio efforts.

I was really impressed with The One AM Radio's opening set. The rich sound of Hrishikesh Hirway's guitar really hangs in the air live - lots of reverb perhaps, but don't quote me - and he also sings a good distance away from the mic. The net effect would be to give it all a very "far away" sound - except that the rest of band (stand-up bass, 1-2 violins, the occasional saw) feels very immediate. The contrast works really well, especially with glitchy laptop beats also in the mix. 33.3's old drummer Steve Walls joined in for a couple songs, which was a nice surprise. I've seen The One AM Radio a few times, and each has been better than the last. I'm excited to see where they go next.

The Wind-Up Bird (AKA Joseph Grimm) started the night with what was actually my favorite set. Grimm also used to play in 33.3 and Arcaro (who could ROCK), and The Wind-Up Bird sounds nothing like either of them. In this Stylus interview, he mentions Fennesz and early Oval as influences and you could definitely hear it. His set was basically one long laptop piece, slowly building from a few slight sounds to a dense web of noise with live vocals throughout. He was set up in the center of the floor, and everyone was sitting around him. I'd never seen anything like it at the Mercury Lounge, but it was essential to hear his quadraphonic setup - speakers were mounted in all four corners of the room. With the sounds swirling around, it was pretty damn cool. I've listened to his 2003 full-length Whips three times today, and I like it a lot. I'll be at his next NYC show for sure.