Eagles of Death Metal/Ted Leo/Brother Ali - SPIN party

Rap and rock music's co-existence flourished again last night at SPIN's annual year-end (year beginning?) party at Highline Ballroom in NYC. Thanks to the party favors of gratis Heinekens and Bushmills from SPIN, the music of Eagles of Death Metal, Ted Leo and Brother Ali sounded that....much....better.


photo by Dfactor


photo by Dfactor


photo by Dfactor

Brother Ali kicked things off and kicked it out, to a crowd that was probably half-listening, but he was spot on. "Uncle Sam Goddamn" and "Truth Is" were great (and catchy!) and he did a solo turn about his love for his son whom he misses dearly due to a marriage breakup. Not sure if this is a 'track' or not, or if he was just slidin' some improv our way. But it was pretty heartbreaking and pretty great together.

I had taken a 2007 moratorium on Ted Leo and band (Note to Ted - update the band photo on MySpace). I had grown somewhat immune to Ted's musical charms sometime in 2006, after seeing his band a bunch of times. I think I saw him last at a big South Street Seaport show in summer 2006. Since then Ted gained a guitar player and a new bassist, and last night was my first night seeing him with the band. And the thing that struck me most was ....how much alike they all look. I think all four guys have reddish/auburn hair, slim builds and pale skin pallor. Did his Craigslist ad for new band members mandate that they resemble him?? Weird.

But his band rocked out hard. Ted and band were on the game, almost like an old-school hardcore band, with rhythms to match. They cranked out 40 minutes of riff-ready rock, with about half the tracks from his 2007 release Living with the Living, including a killer "Sons of Cain". Heart of Oak's "The Ballad of the Sin Eater" smoked hard too. See pictures here. And a video of The Unwanted Things below.

I also grabbed some sloppy (slightly inebriated) video below of Eagles of Death Metal doing Cherry Cola. EODM played great, hammering out big chunky chords on their own songs and having fun with some covers later in the set, including The Ramones' "Beat on the Brat" and The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar". I liked 'em.

Eagles of Death Metal - Cherry Cola



Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - The Unwanted Things