Weaver started off strong with “Runaway.” How appropriate that while claiming she was evil, she was swathed in green light. Her self-possession and overall stage presence is admirable, especially for a 22-year-old. She claws her way toward notes that you’re surprised to hear are possible, and when she dances like a freak, it’s like watching a fun friend have a good time without a hint of consciousness. It seems that she would be equally comfortable performing in a garage or an arena.

Refusing to be put in a box, there isn’t a comparison out there that Weaver couldn’t fit. She often has the force of Florence Welch, throw in some of the yodeling of Jewel, with songs like “Traveling Song,” and the coolness of BANKS and you have a very talented, sui generis sort of singer-songwriter. She’s worked with Passion Pit’s frontman Michael Angelakos and Charli XCX to write “OctaHate,” her biggest hit to date. But as she showed Wednesday night, there are many more parts to her that will blow you away.

There’s a French flair with Ryn Weaver, San Diego born, Erin Michelle Wüthrich. Some of her best songs include “Pierre” and “Traveling Song,” a beautiful ode she wrote about her French grandfather, who passed away the first of this year. The song is toward the end of her debut album, The Fool, which came out in mid-June of this year. It has a stunning conclusion where Weaver breathes a sort of spoken word chorus that reached Patti Smith proportions in its unabashed sincerity and clear vision. The audience was completely silent as if caught by the throat. Unless you’re performing at The Met, to do that to any New York audience takes serious talent.

She is folksy and poppy, like Taylor Swift at 18 and 25 smashed together. But unlike Ms. Swift, Weaver has a keen ability to detect bullshit, as well as the artistic integrity not to follow it.

She is a rare singer-songwriter who is confident enough to engage the audience. “Talk to someone you don’t know,” she said in between songs. “Two people you didn’t come to the show with, make out, dance, do whatever.”

This was the party vibe she wanted to keep up, a word she actually used three times during the show. And while she is a formidable ringmaster, hopefully she’ll soon perform at venues where she can showcase her voice, lyrics, and music, all of which near brilliance.

Weaver’s final song of the night, “New Constellations” was the same that wrapped up her album The Fool, a smart arrangement that reminds one of Lorde’s Pure Heroine. “New Constellations“ is a soft, considerate song that serves as a sort of personal mantra to the forceful debut. In Weaver’s case, the mantra is to expand yourself ad infinitum, and it was pure joy to see her do just that.

The post Ryn Weaver is everything in the world (and then some) appeared first on Quip Magazine.

The stage, filled with Ionian columns and a perfect light show, was reminiscent of a St. Vincent show, though not as tightly choreographed.

Django Django know how to start a song, but as far as varying it to the point of gripping people by the throat, they’re still figuring that out (assuming that’s what they want to do).

Like many shows at Webster hall, it was 99 percent white; why white people are so taken by this sort of music we will leave to the sociologists. But even in this stern crowd that cultivates an aura of “cool-serious,” Django was able to make most of the crowd dance.

Webster Hall deserves major props for setting up screens along the balcony so there literally was no place where people couldn’t see the performance. Even at larger venues like Terminal 5 and Hammerstein Ballroom, screens are oddly absent.

Neff was clearly heard throughout the set, singing in a confident voice and speaking in an amiable though rushed lilt that reminded one of a certain hobbit. They had the biggest tambourine ever, and perfect percussion support thanks to Dave Maclean.

“First Light” was the first song for the background of a spinning Sluggard statue to change. The audiences’ cameras came out onto what looked like an eclipse with psychedelic blues and oranges coming out from around the edges. It’s one of their catchier songs and the light reflected fantastically in everything from hipster sunglasses to the bottom of the drum’s cymbals.

Though there’s a groovy, almost beach vibe to their music, the quartet dressed like they worked at a software company rather than channeling Jefferson Airplane.

They turned their keyboard to piano mode and brought out a sax. We could have used more of that.

As their music is a sort of Top 40 for Robots, it makes sense their set would eventually turn to a sort of 80s PowerPoint that may have been featured at the MoMA in the early 80s. The screens continued to morph into a sort of musical playground: a heart monitor reader turned into scribbles, a blizzard of white light.

While the beginning of all of their songs is always gripping, some lack the sort of narrative climax that might keep audiences leaning forward. The lack of drama could also be the fact that each band member contributes equally, and hey, three cheers for democracy, but a leader–or even taking turns at solos–would add a few varying jolts to their live shows.

Still, overall, Django Django is a great dance party, even in 100 degrees weather.

The post Django Django blazes through New York appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Music festivals are gluttonous and famishing at the same time, you get plenty of bands and tunes to feast on, your hungry soul scooping them up with glee—“Is that a supergroup composed of members of Captured Tracks’ best musicians? What? Why would they do this to me, it’s too much for my stomach to handle, such rich delicacies” — and then your bitter and tired body trying to persuade you that the things inherent to all music festivals are specific to this one and make it a bad one. You can’t bring in your own water because they want you to be so thirsty that you will pay three dollars for a water bottle, and all you can hope for is that somehow that extortion makes its back to the musicians. That’s normal ,though. The summer is beautiful, except when you’re standing in the sun and New York City decides to be muggy and unforgiving, and the waves of Brooklyn hipsters are either a) too cool to sit down between sets or b) too cool to move forward up to the stage.

Heavenly Beat opened the first day. This is a band that should be further down the set list, but the lead singer, and band genius John Peña, seems to be the type of person who doesn’t care about when his band plays. The heat got the better of the band. While Heavenly Beat is known for their alluring dance rock, more R&B than electronica, the crowd—previously mentioned at a cautious distance—didn’t pay them enough attention. Peña began by tucking in his inside-out black t-shirt and then proceeded to enjoy his music… until the sound went off. They skipped through their set, being cut short one more time—where a crowd heckler told him to “dance for us” to which he responded, “You sound just like my mom.”

That night, with the sun finally set and the temperature at a manageable place, DIIV took the stage and proceeded to rock out to their brand of heavy boisterous garage rock. The festival was a celebration for Captured Tracks, an independent label started in Brooklyn five years ago, now heavy with a roster of bands making it onto the scene. DIIV are a good example of that. Lo-fi enough to catch the attention of the hip youth, but talented enough to break it open. Their music was a welcome jar to the previously static crowd, sitting comfortably in the surroundings of The Well.

The Well feels like a converted warehouse, all open spaces. The interior is cool and dark and it opens up to a large backyard with cement floors. The stage sits comfortably outdoors. Aside from the summer concert series in parks in New York City an outdoor stage is what is lacking in the city – Austin has Stubbs’ BBQ and, hopefully, now Brooklyn has The Well.

The celebration withstood the summer NYC weather, and now, two weeks later, sits nostalgically as a collaboration of brilliant musicians and warmer climates. Captured Tracks is definitively local, recently opening a record store to promote their bands, but also to celebrate the vinyl record.

The post Captured Tracks anniversary concert appeared first on Quip Magazine.