Wakey!Wakey! pulled off an incredible feat the other night at their Mercury Lounge concert. Saturday in New York was a rainy shitstorm of a day, complete with apocalyptic thunder and lightning and wind. The morning had been uncomfortably warm and humid, the air sticky with the impending deluge. While a comfortable E.Vil. coffee shop had shielded me from what I thought was the worst of the day, I managed to catch cats and dogs on my long walk back to the subway, and to the relative safety of my loft. Why go back to Manhattan? Just for to shoot photos at another dinky concert?
Man am I glad that we rallied.
Mea culpa: I missed the opener. Mea maxima, maxima culpa. I arrived at the Mercury Lounge with a wet umbrella and several damp friends, a new camera in a new camera bag wrapped in a black plastic bag begged from a bodega. A generous assortment of musicians, fans, and friends milled around the small performance space, with many, many more taking advantage of the set break to grab a drink or beg a $0.40 cigarette from a passer-by. I happily grabbed a spot near the stage, but Wakey!Wakey!’s set up gave me a good little surprise. “Why are there so very many people setting up?” I mused to myself and a friend. The explanation of the group that I had gotten a couple of weeks before was that they were mostly one guy, Mike Grubbs, with an occasional assortment of friends and guest artists. But this was a MAJOR assortment: drums, guitar, bass, ok, fine, that’s standard. Violin. Cello. Viola. Another violin. And what about the people sitting on the church pew along the side of the room, the ones with trombones and accordions? So very much more than just one man.
Grubbs did start out the Wakey!Wakey! concert on his own, running his hands deftly up and down his keys, feeling out the room and his audience. What started out as simple noodling morphed into a lush, classical introduction, soon joined by Grubbs’ rich, reedy voice as he intoned the first lyrics of “Brooklyn.” The recurring, ebbing flow in the haunting “I have made mistakes, yes I have made mistakes today, and I have made mistakes today,” fit the mood outside perfectly, a whole city recently cleansed of some bad dream of humidity and sweat, quietly expectant while reflecting on what had just passed.
Though Grubbs is clearly still getting used to the full band, Wakey!Wakey!’s energy and thick instrumentation add incredible dimension to his songs. Perhaps the best example of both the still-tentative use and the power of the band was on “Take it Like a Man.” Here, drums aren’t even added until about three quarters through the song. As the kit joined the strings, though, we see that they enter at just the right time to pace the searching, increasingly frenetic frenzy about to erupt from Grubbs’ fingers.
Grubbs’ increasing comfort is well-visible (audible?) in “War Sweater,” available (along with “Take it Like a Man") on the recently released live album Silent as a Movie. Again starting by himself on tinkling keys—with just slight sul pont tremolo from excellent violinist Gene Back—Grubbs whispers us into a searching, searing expression of head-tilted ponderings. Strings soon joined in, adding a stretching legato to a track occasionally spiked with high-tension, high-pitch declamations.
It’s nothing but self-aggrandizing to call a band “Up and coming,” as if we know something that others don’t, we have our fingers (or at least our thumbs) on the pulse of the indie scene, and we can somehow predict the future. That said, Wakey!Wakey! has all the makings of a band on the cusp of something enormous. But they’re better than that, too. They’re already packing the Mercury Lounge, they’re starting to branch out to other cities, and they have a devoted following in New York. We felt nearly the same way when wrote our March 2008 Wakey!Wakey! concert review. Right now, it’s the kind of whisper campaign that leads to packed audiences like we saw at the Mercury Lounge concert. Soon, though: Soon we’ll just say, “Told you so.”
Now if they’d just record that song about Clinton St. Girls, I’d be completely set. We’re looking forward to seeing them on iTunes and for a future CD release party. After all, Mike spent yesterday in the studio . . . .
Wakey!Wakey! (official / MySpace [download the cover album for free!])
Sit Tight! Review of the Pretty Boys—also at the Mercury Lounge with Wakey!Wakey!—coming soon! Teaser photo below!
Ugh. Paste’s profile of Free Energy made me kind of hate them. So does your review. It’s this unctuous defense of good-time rock-and-roll ("we’re just here to party, and we’re awesome!") that seems more self-serving than fun-loving.
by beth on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.41 pm from the entry: Foreign Born + Free Energy - The Knitting Factory (Brooklyn, NY; Mar. 12, 2010)
that inescapable feeling you are referring to, is that like when you hear something and you could have sworn you heard it before because of the nostalgic catchy quality? or is is like when you’ve heard a band exactly like said band?
great post by the way!
by paul on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 03.15 pm from the entry: The Novel Ideas - "The Sky Is A Field" - Borrow It
Whoa! I had no idea she was enegaged. You would never know with the way she behaves! Wow!
by art on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.48 am from the entry: Nikki Darlin and John McCauley: 1+1=1
This comment stream is so meta. Great review Kelly.
by chris on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 07.50 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
no prob. The whole album is excellent, combining some of the harder sonics of Los Angeles with the meat of his debut and obviously difficult to summarize in only 50 words… 
I’d say it’s on par with the debut, but better than Los Angeles.
by kelly on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.23 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
By the way, I really liked the mp3 posted. Thanks.
by Joshua H on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.17 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
WHO WROTE THIS...PUKE ! “WHO WROTE THIS...PUKE ! “Picture yourself coasting your bike past space funk palm trees, homeless harpists, vintage video arcades, electronic drum circles, and 60s psychedelic singers who’re waiting for the bus. Cosmogramma is kinda like that if someone suddenly tripped you just as you’re starting to enjoy the ride. But in a good way.””
by Joshua H on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.17 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
This was my first time to see Wakey!Wakey! and I remember it so well. Mike Grubbs, you’re awesome!
I’ve only seen Wakey!Wakey! as one man at a piano. I would love to see Mike backed by a whole band!