The Library Is On Fire - Mercury Lounge 3/9/10

The Library Is On Fire is what I call a black-and-white band, meaning that you could take 100 photographs of them performing in color and ten snapshots of the same show in black and white, and those 10 black-and-whites would blow all the color shots out of the water.









TLIOF is also a loud band; and when I say loud, I don't just mean LOUD, I mean the kind of band which starts a show with 50 people in the room chatting to each other and ends that show playing to the 15 people who actually came to hear music instead of socializing.









Of course, it doesn't hurt that they're also damn good. So if you like shows where one pair of earpluge is just not doing the trick, you really need to come see these guys at The Knitting Factory Friday night.

And if you like this --

02 Magic Bumrush Heartz - The Library Is On Fire

-- or this --

05 I Miss You So Much, It Hurts So Bad - The Library Is On Fire

-- then you really need to get your hands on this:

Magic Windows, Magic Nights

"Cocaine Cowgirl" - Matt Mays & El Torpedo @ The Mercury Lounge 6/12/08

Supagroup at the Mercury Lounge 11/19/07

The show was advertised for 7 PM, but it's a Lower East Side 7 PM, which means the slate in front of the Mercury says it starts at 7:30 and it doesn't really kick off till around 7:45. If you're lucky.

That's the clock time, anyway. In reality? You got an 11 PM show before the sun had barely set. But then Supagroup always puts on an 11 PM show, mixing tasty hooks and awesome guitar riffs in a balls-to-the-wall set that's half AC/DC, half Van Halen, and all energy.

Seeing these guys rock out in a venue like the Mercury is incredibly dislocating,because by rights they have a show and a sound that can and should fill the Garden. You know how a lot of concerts have the people who came for the music up front and the people who came to talk to each other in the back? When these guys play, nobody talks. When these guys play, everybody's there for the music.

Bottom line: file this group under S, not just for their name, but for Should Be Totally Famous Already.