Retrospecticus

We at Drink at Work have been furiously making the rounds at music and comedy venues over the last week and it's only going to continue. CMJ starts today --yours truly has a badge--and the New York Film Festival begins next weekend. As a trusted humor and entertainment provider, Drink at Work is committed to providing you with our own take on these and other events. So to kick things off, here's a brief rundown of performances we've seen recently:

Nicole Atkins
For the first 10 minutes of her performance, I was convinced that she was lip-synching; no one's voice could be that perfect. No one, apparently, except for Nicole Atkins. This girl is just cool, there's no way around it. She's smooth, sexy, commanding and light-hearted all at once, almost the American equivalent of Marisa Monte. Her band The Sea is a collection of extraordinarily talented musicians and together they put on a show that falls somewhere between alt-country and bossa nova. You can check them at tonight's CMJ showcase at Sin-é.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Is it terrible if I wasn't bowled over by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!? Don't get me wrong, I liked them, I did...really. Promise. I love Talking Heads and New Order and you can't go wrong by crossing those two sounds right down the middle. But I had one nagging little problem: I found Alec Ounsworth's voice distracting. It's not that I didn't like it, I just wanted him to enunciate at least one goddamn word. I have a pet peeve about lazy vocal patterns and that's how his voice sounds to me; like he can't be bothered to sing clearly. But why should he? Everyone loves how much he sounds like David Byrne...so rock on, Alec. I'll probably see them again and then decide I really like them and regret ever saying this...capricious girl.

The National
Quite simply, one of the BEST shows I have ever seen. It amazes me that these guys still get better everytime they play. They find moments in songs they've performed a hundred times and make them new. I'm shocked when I read reviews that describe them as bleak or unaffected. Aside from the serious looks on their faces, this band is about as far away from being boring as Kurt Vonnegut is from pole vaulting. Matt Berninger's voice is beautiful, deep and haunting, the Dessner boys volley spiraling guitar melodies back and forth across the stage like a game no one else knows how to play, Bryan Devendorf is a virtuoso drummer and Scott Devendorf (alternating with Aaron Dessner between guitar and bass) holds the rhythm that seems to keep the whole cataclysmic business from winding out of control. These guys don't perform music, they barely contain it. Love, love, love them. Check out their tour schedule to see if they're coming to your town.

The Shark Show | Special Hurricane Relief Edition
I was late for this show, so I saw it from the last half of Seth Herzog's set on. This was only the second time I've seen Seth perform fully clothed, and he was excellent. Scathing, sharp, adorable. After that was the mid-show review by Jesse McKinley (brother of Shark Show co-host Gabe McKinley). I believe this is a fairly new edition to the show, and it's pretty great. McKinley writes for The New York Times and he does a mini, bitchy review of everything that has happened up to that point in the show. It's uncomfortable and wonderful. Rachel Feinstein was next and she killed...probably the best performance of the show. I've laughed over her impression of her mother's voice many, many times since that night. This episode of the Shark Show also offered me my first chance to see God's Pottery, a faux Christian folk group so much like the real thing I thought I was back at church camp.

Yes, church camp.

Crash Test | Special Hurricane Relief Edition
An amazing line-up with a surprise performance by Mike Birbiglia. Mike's so likeable he should be Canadian. Or a delicious sandwich. This show as a whole featured a lot of the MVPs of EV, NYC comedy: Birbiglia, Demetri Martin, Eugene Mirman, Leo Allen, Andy Blitz (who read a brilliantly constructed letter of support to President Bush) and host Aziz Ansari. The crowd was a little demure and some of the bits seemed a little less developed than other weeks, but it was kind of a greatest hits show for good cause, so it worked.

The King of France

Get thee to the Bowery and see The King of France tonight...in like, four hours! They kick off the CMJ show there tonight and shall bring the funky-lizard swagger that we at Drink at Work have come to love. We enjoyed their pre-CMJ show at Scenic last night where they were in terrific form. Look for their self-titled album to be released Sept. 27 on Echo Records.


That about sums up the last week or so. We'll be hitting various shows tonight and reporting back to you, our dear, drunk readers.