The Bowery Presents

The Bowery Ballroom upcoming shows

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin / Telekinesis

The Mommyheads

Venue:
The Bowery Ballroom
Date:
Wed 9/08
Notes:
18+
Doors: 7:30 PM / Show: 8:30 PM
$13 advance / $15 day of show
Tickets
Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
official website
myspace
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin has been playing music in Springfield, Missouri since 1999, when Will Knauer and Philip Dickey met at a Super Bowl party. They came up with their band name shortly after Boris Yeltsin's resignation in the early hours of Y2K. John Robert joined the band in 2001, when he was dorm roommates with Philip at Drury University. SSLYBY played dozens of local shows, often acoustic, from 1999-2004, and released a split EP on a local label, Generic Equivalent, in 2004. The band's first LP, Broom, was a blog-hit in 2005. Jonathan James joined the band after mixing Broom on his computer. SSLYBY followed Broom with a series of monthly cassette tapes, mailed to subscribers of the SSLYBY Tape Club. A split CD with Michael Holt from The Mommyheads was released by Catbird Records in the fall of 2005. The band signed to Polyvinyl in the summer of 2006 (in a Congress Hotel room in Tuscon, Arizona) and re-released Broom later that fall. SSLYBY's second LP, Pershing, which was released in April 2008. Both records were self-recorded in members' and relatives' houses and were supported by over 250 national and international shows. SSLYBY performed in Moscow, Russia two months after Boris Yeltsin's death.
Telekinesis
myspace
Michael Benjamin Lerner, masquerading under the name Telekinesis!, does not, as the name might suggest, dabble in the psychic world nor imply that he can move anything with the power of his brain. Except maybe metaphorically, if you count how someone might be “moved” by music. But this is an awful metaphor and not something you’re inclined to keep following through the lengths of a bio, especially if you have no idea who this person is. The good news is that you will get to know and grow to love Michael via his pure-and-simple pop songs. At that point I may take creative license to subject you to a verbose illustration of the perceived intricacies of his future magnum opus, but until then, let’s keep it simple.

Telekinesis! is based out of Seattle, WA, and is driven by Michael’s love for Brit-Pop (which I’m sure is part of the reason he decided to live in Liverpool for a year though this is merely a conjecture), pistachio nuts (which he eats in inhumanly amounts), Scandinavian cheese-cutters (because who doesn’t love decorous cheese?), and possibly his reverence for the musicians who came before him in this city on the Puget Sound. I cannot claim to know everything that drives Michael and most assuredly you can’t either. So you’re going to have to take my word for it until his newly finished, full-length debut is mastered, packaged, and released. Then feel free to form your own opinions…

This split 7” with the super-talented Cloud Control is a small taste of what Michael has been up to. In the last 3 months, he has finished a record with Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie, Tegan & Sara, The Decemberists) at the helm, played numerous shows regionally, and managed to document all of this with his uncanny photographic skills. What you are hearing is an exclusive version of “All of a Sudden” – a catchy song about summer, which seems entirely appropriate that it be released as Australia is facing a change of seasons and, paradoxically, Seattle is growing greyer by the minute.

Michael’s work ethic in the studio is characterized by fearless commitment and a willingness to experiment, even if the ideas seem far-fetched. His positivity makes the studio and subsequently his songs more welcoming. Truth be told, he doesn’t appear to have much of a dark side and still he manages to intrigue and surprise an audience in a very accessible way. He can also drum and sing at the same time, which is not only unassailably cool but for most of the population is physically impossible.

I implore you to keep tabs on Telekinesis! not just because all the kids are doing it, but because his particular brand of pop is satisfying in a sing-aloud-with-the-windows-down sort of way. And that could not be much more convenient given that the Australian summer is imminent and you have earned it.
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