Bell X1 Played Bowery Ballroom

This year I've spent a lot of time going to see bands that I've not heard of. I find it to be a great chance to experience something completely new with the potential of falling in love on the spot. While that's not always the case, it may be a bit of an understatement regarding my concert experience last Sunday night at Bowery Ballroom with my new loves: Bell X1 and David Ford.

While I've heard a bit of hype regarding Bell X1 (namely that they're 5x platinum in Ireland), David Ford was a brand new name to me. Gladly, that's not the situation anymore. Ford blew me away with his one-man looping band, where he would play a part of the song, record it in a loop, and continuously add to it. For an incredible example of this, check out his one-shot music video of "State of the Union" on YouTube. It's worth it, I assure you. Many a time throughout the night David reminded me of Damien Rice, both in vocal tone and in song content. If I could be so bold, I'd say this guy could be just as big. The aforementioned "State of the Union" was phenomenal, as were "I Don't Care What You Call Me," and his amazingly chill jazz tune, "Song for the Road." Beware, get this man in your head and you will never get him out.

Bell X1 continued blowing my mind. The Irish quintet took the stage to a packed house for the second night in a row, and they didn't miss a beat all night. The band, originally called Juniper before Damien Rice left for his own solo career, has been raved at in every single way by European magazines, but has somehow missed the radar on this side of the pond. It seems like they're finally starting to get the notice they deserve. Monday night they played Letterman (fittingly, St. Patrick's Day), and at one point in the night, frontman Paul Noonan pulled out a list of things they weren't allowed to say on the show, care of the station. Noonan read through most of them - lots were what you'd expect, but I didn't know you couldn't say piss, necrophilia, or dick (when not using it as a proper name). It was a good laugh for all.

The guys played a lot of songs off of Flock, an album that went to number 1 in Ireland... in 2005. The album just saw it's American release last month. I don't understand the delay - it's a brilliant album. While the concert was my first true listen of the band, a few songs stuck out as just great: "Bad Skin Day," "Flame," "My First Born for a Song" and "Rocky Took a Lover." I loved those songs, but perhaps the song that really sold me on these guys was their banjo-infused cover of Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You." Plus they ended the night with a bit of "Do You Realize??" by The Flaming Lips - the only lyrics I sang along to all night, and I seemed to be the only person that even knew the song.

I'm hard-pressed to find a more refreshing concert than this one. Both bands had such great original sounds, and were all new to my ears. I must say, I owe it to Shore Fire Media for pointing me in the right direction, and I will now take credit for passing this one on to you guys. Please check them out at your earliest convenience.

More photos here.

[mp3] David Ford - "Song for the Road" (Songs for the Road)

[mp3] David Ford - "I Don't Care What You Call Me" (I Sincerely Apologize For All The Trouble I've Caused)

[mp3] Bell X1 - "Bad Skin Day" (Flock)

[mp3] Bell X1 - "Rocky Took a Lover" (Flock)