{"id":585,"date":"2012-11-14T18:00:15","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T22:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/?p=585"},"modified":"2012-11-14T18:00:15","modified_gmt":"2012-11-14T22:00:15","slug":"585","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/?p=585","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

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On the same day their fantastic new record \u201cOur House on the Hill\u201d was formally released, The Babies kicked off a long tour in Brooklyn Tuesday night at the Knitting Factory.<\/p>\n

While life for many in the city and region remains difficult because of problems with still unresolved infrastructure damage, the near-full restoration of public transit has brought some normalcy to many neighborhoods away from the water.<\/p>\n

The crowd that turned up to see The Babies for this show didn\u2019t fill the place but it was a good turnout. There was some breathing room, which is nice. You could move around. There was definitely a real good party atmosphere in the room. The new record was a long time coming and it\u2019s a major achievement. It\u2019s great top to bottom. My favorite record of the year for sure. Many of the songs are old hat to the fans who\u2019ve seen the band\u2019s pretty regular shows here but there were some real nice surprises. \u201cWandering\u201d is the final cut and it\u2019s an impressive shift in vocal style by front-man Kevin Morby. The softer projection and authentic crackle in his vocal chords as he contemplates his current place while on the wander versus where he was is a dimension that underscores his versatility. It\u2019s a gorgeous song. Dylan-esque.<\/p>\n

A large amount of credit for how well House turned out should probably go to Rob Barbato too. He oversaw creation of the recordings. It sounds to me like he found clear-cut sweet spots contained in the material\u2019s live renditions and made sure they were loud and clear without over-doing it. For example, Cassie Ramone\u2019s guitar line on \u201cMess Me Around\u201d jumps out of the speakers while you\u2019re listening at home with the same punch you get at the gig.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise is how Barbato and the band transformed the \u201cMore Stage\u201d demo from the \u201cCry Along with The Babies\u201d EP into the new gem \u201cOn My Team.\u201d What an incredible song! Catchy as they come. And if they ever play it live, it\u2019ll bring the house down. Unfortunately, The Babies didn\u2019t do it Tuesday night. After the show, Morby said On My Team is not yet ready for prime time but is on the practice docket for a show rollout down the road.<\/p>\n

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The Knitting Factory doesn\u2019t possess many of the embraceable quirks found at a handful of the more modest venues down by the river but it\u2019s a fine place to see a show. Five dollar bottles of Bud are available only at the main bar outside the performance space. They\u2019re poured into a plastic cup if you take them into the show.<\/p>\n

Friend of The Babies Alex Bleeker and his great band The Freaks warmed things up. Bleeker\u2019s heavy involvement in the local scene and loyal fan base added to the excitement of the night. His sweet-sounding voice and affable stage presence meshed perfectly with the celebratory feel of the gathering.<\/p>\n

Bleeker ended his band\u2019s wonderful set with a cover of Sweet Virginia by the Stones. Morby came on stage for shaker duties. Bleeker also called on a sax player he said he had only met that day. What unfolded was a warmly received Brooklyn music memory that was special because of its real feel of spontaneity. Bleeker said he hadn\u2019t revealed to Morby what song he\u2019d play ahead of time and it was clear Morby struggled a bit to recall the opening verse. He laughed. So did Bleeker.<\/p>\n

Both Jarvis Taveniere and Jeremy Earl were in the crowd to support their Woods bandmate. It\u2019s Earl\u2019s Woodsist record label that put out Our House on the Hill. When electricity was finally restored to Woodsist headquarters in Warwick last week, Earl started shipping orders for the LP, cassette and CD.<\/p>\n

Pitchfork\u2019s review of House has yet to be released. That influential music web site\u2019s unfair review of The Babies\u2019 debut full-length still sticks in the craw. The addition of writer Jenn Pelly to the Pitchfork staff since then makes a more even-handed take on the new record a pretty good bet.<\/p>\n

This Babies tour is ambitious in its reach. The band has gigs in 37 cities across the US and Canada over a stretch of 40 days. A show booked at the Riot Room in Kansas City a week from Friday conveniently puts Morby and the band near his family for Thanksgiving day, one of only three off days on the tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the same day their fantastic new record \u201cOur House on the Hill\u201d was formally released, The Babies kicked off a long tour in Brooklyn Tuesday night at the Knitting Factory. While life for many in the city and region … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[115,10],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s28tEv-585","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":586,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions\/586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}