Cymbals Eat Guitars' Joseph D'Agostino at Pitchfork Festival
Earlier this year, fellow mtvU blogger Taylor was raving about the band Cymbals Eat Guitars. I thought, “eh, cool name,” and somehow didn’t get around to listening to them until months afterward. Big mistake. I was walking down 3rd Avenue when I got about halfway through opening track “…And the Hazy Sea,” only to find I was totally blown-away by the power of frontman Joseph D’Agostino’s voice. And I mean this quite literally. He almost popped both my ear drums and I jumped about two feet in the air. It was awesome.
In all the chaos and madness that was CMJ last week, I managed to catch the group at their Friday night set at Le Poisson Rouge and I’ll say this. If I liked them before, I freaking love them now. A tremendous band already, their live performance elevates their status a hundred-fold.
I desperately wanted them to open with the aforementioned track not only because it’s a personal favorite, but because it really sets the tone of the whole sweeping epic scope of the album Why There Are Mountains and I was sure it would do so for a live show. Well they did. And I do so love being right. (wink)
At some point, I had to tear my eyes off D’Agostino and watch the rest of the band, who are equally talented. But I do feel somewhat bad for them, as their frontman is so mesmerizing there is a tendency to forget they are present. (I was particularly impressed by keyboardist Brian Hamilton. Not just his skills, but his mullet. Two thumbs up.) When Joe is not convulsing over his guitar all seizure-like or screaming into the microphone with pure undiluted angst, he is sweating profusely over the audience members in front of him.
Playing most of the tracks off the album, they closed with single “Wind Phoenix” and included new song “PlainClothes.” (You can check that track out on You Ain’t No Picasso.) I’m hearing rumors of a new album in early 2010. I can only hope it’s true. Enjoy this footage of “…And the Hazy Sea” from Pitchfork TV.
