Live Review: Pujol @ Comet Ping Pong, 2/4/2011

It was, for all intents and purposes, the week that wouldn't die, perhaps because I was so super stoked to see Pujol once again at Comet Ping Pong (touring with Monotonix). Once I arrived at the pizza/rock joint, I was amazed/pleased/impressed to see the concert room bursting at the seams. It was so packed that people were actually being turned away at the door, something I haven't seen at any venue around DC in quite a while. I could hardly see the stage for the heaving mass of people, but that was quite alright. I didn't need to see Pujol to get blown away once again.

With one of his band sporting a Bob Dylan circa Nashville Skyline hat, the band was ready to begin. "Fuckin' own that shit!" someone slurred drunkenly behind me, and own that shit they did. "We're all from Tennessee and we're gonna play some songs for you," Daniel Pujol proclaimed before the band ripped into their fantastic set. As I expected, based on my last live Pujol experience, the band was rougher and more raw live, though the poppy undertones remain amongst all that rowdy rock and rolling. The band was loud, raucous, and fearless. "We're gonna slow it down and be serious, Daniel said in his intro to "Butterflyknife," garnering loud cheers with the cool, easygoing slowdown with just a hint of bombast it presented among all the sweaty shimmying.

The set was over way, way too fast for my liking. But what a set it was. If you're in need of some sweet little rock and rollers, you can't do much better than the catchy as all hell song stylings of Pujol.

mp3: Too Safe (Pujol from Black Rabbit)

The Untitled Interview #53: Starring Daniel Pujol

There’s a certain I don’t know what about Daniel Pujol. Perhaps it’s that hint of devil may care that courses through those catchy songs of his. Perhaps it’s something about having grown up in a haunted house. Perhaps it’s the inescapable pull he has musically. Don’t believe me? Just ask Jack White. I had the immense pleasure of seeing Daniel and his PUJOL cohorts a few months back on their tour with fellow Nashville residents and sonic ass-whuppers, and I tell you what, boys and girls, that was one mighty fine, melt-in-your-mouth, blow the house down rock & roll set.

We in the DC metro are lucky enough to have a repeat PUJOL-ian performance. Make dang sure you’re at Comet Ping Pong Friday night, my friends, because this profound pairing of PUJOL and Monotonix should assuredly not be missed. Prepare to peel yourself off the ceiling. But first, check out what Daniel had to say about Mozart, animals, and Peter Gabriel.

Les Enfants Terribles: How the hell are you?
Daniel Pujol: Pretty good!

LET: What was the last song you listened to?
DP: “Solsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel!

LET: Playing music is:
DP: Like holding your breathe through a tunnel just to make a wish.

LET: What album most made you realize you wanted to make music?
DP: All of Mozart’s B-Sides.

LET: Beatles or Stones?
DP: Man, that’s like Ying or Yang, McDonald’s or Burger King, you need the other one to keep the initial one spry and strong.

LET: Top 5 albums (of now, of this month, or of ever):
DP: Lou Reed: Street Hassle, David Bowie: Lodger, The Beatles Collection (all the albums in a album box, HAH!), Iggy Pop: Lust for Life, Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street.

LET: Favorite music-related movie?
DP: “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

LET: Half-full or half-empty?
DP: Half-there.

LET: Which of your peers do you think is making the best music these days?
DP: Wez Traylor of Natural Child.

LET: What’s the first thing you think when you wake up in the morning?
DP: Dear Gawd, please protect me from my million emails, and give me the patience to humor the cat’s conscious effort to convince me that he “made” me feed him.

LET: Little-known Pujolian fact?
DP: I LOVE animals.

LET: The greatest record store in the world is:
DP: Nashville’s Dead’s webstore!

LET: Shaken or stirred?
DP: Black, no sugar.

LET: Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
DP: “You can have something NOW, or you can wait, and have what you want.” ~Dad
LET: If you weren’t in a band you’d be:
DP: Adjunct teaching at a community college or doing Teach America in a rural high school.

LET: Favorite thing about Nashville?
DP: The music scene.

LET: What do you find most comforting/most disconcerting about going out on tour?
DP: I miss my loved ones, but Adam and I make sure to sit around at coffee shops and mope about how much we miss our Scully’s. Adam Tanaka is the most comforting thing about touring.

LET: If you were so inclined, whom would you form a tribute band in honor of?
DP: MEEMAW.

LET: Best song ever written?
DP: “Sexual Reality” by WIZARDZ, off the album Cyber Sex Offender.

mp3: Too Safe (PUJOL from Black Rabbit)

Singles Club: Pujol

Seeing as the University of Tennessee is playing some football right this very minute, it seems kinda appropriate to talk a little bit about Pujol. And I hate UT (what can I say, I'm a Bama girl, but I can make an exception).

Having seen Daniel Pujol and his band not too long ago, I can say for sure that Pujol's got the goods. Another Nashville-type coming to show everyone else how it's done, for new song 'Too Safe" Pujol enlisted Jack White for production help. "Too Safe" has all the feisty guitar and snarling vocals you could want, and then some. It's a nifty little humdinger, and it sure does put the cherry on my sundae, I don't know about y'all. Enjoy.

mp3: Too Safe (Pujol - buy stuff)

Free Music Friday: The Pre-Ninjatastic Edition

Sweet Me, i am worn out today, but between getting you jackals and your Free Music Fridays and getting ready to go see The Warrior's Way in a bit, i guess i best quit bitchin' and get to gettin,' as it were.

Fan of the Jack White? Sure, you dig his bold choices to purposefully dress like Edward Scissorhands and his admittedly excellent taste in women, but how do you feel about his work behind the soundboards? Well, here's a taste of his production work for Nashville rocker Pujol. "Too Safe" is the B-side from Pujol's Black Rabbit 7" on Third Man Records.

mp3: Too Safe (Pujol from Black Rabbit 7" )

i dunno know about you, but every now and then, i need a bit of the spastic to keep me sane. That and to wake me. It's really a kind of either/or situation, but you get the drift. Enter this latest from PS I Love You, "Starfield." Hit their site up tonight before midnight, give over the name of your unborn child and be entered to win one of three prize packs.

mp3: Starfield (PS I Love You from Starfield 7")

More often than that, however, i need loud, fuzzy sludge rock to make it happen. And that leads us to Yuck's "Rubber." Great song, but watch the video at your own risk. Sure, there's an incredibly cute chick that gets all sorts of nekkid, but there's also the squeezing and cleaning of a number of dog's anal glands. i've got to be honest with you, it could be a unicorn gang bang after that, but i stopped watching after the third butt purge. That being said, i love the song, and hope to one day never associate the two again. Maybe Mogwai can help me out with their remix.

mp3: Rubber (Yuck from Rubber)

mp3: Rubber (Mogwai Remix) (Yuck)

If i've told you kids once, i've told you a million times--at the end of the day, it's your music that's going to ultimately decide whether we post about you here at LET (or if i'm just really lazy and you're really lucky that day, but that's another story). That being said, it's your email pitch that often helps us to decide whether or not to listen to you in the first place (because we get a ton of submissions; and i'm a downright elitist and snob, but i don't speak for Megs). Today we have two cats who figured it out. First up, sure, Conner Youngblood appears to have sent out a bulk email, but A. he took the time to mention both Meg and me by name and B. he describes one of his tracks as "ambient and hypnotic with ELEMENTS OF DUBSTEP AND BANJO. You fucking win, kid. Most importantly, it's a hypnotizing track. Please to be enjoying. Second in order but by no means in our hearts, Music for Plants pretended to be from Estonia just because they knew. i certainly dig their style of tropical, instrumental music, but playing it like that deserves props, plain and simple. To you stalwart lads and lasses, i say bully! Bully, i say!!!

mp3: Monster (Conner Youngblood from his Soundcloud)

mp3: Enchanted Sister (Music for Your Plants from Music for Plants)

Now i must prepare for the ninjasity that surely awaits me this evening. You go now! You been here four hour!!!

100 Shows of 2010 - #81: Turbo Fruits/Pujol @ Comet Ping Pong, 10/22/10

I don't know about y'all, but when Friday night rolls around, I either want to throw on pajamas right after work and be in bed by 10, or I wanna rock the fuck out and get my face melted off by seriously amazing music, preferably with a cocktail or five in hand. On this particular Friday I went for the latter, venturing out to Comet Ping Pong for the first time ever, and in doing so made the musical acquaintance of two bands from Tennessee who all sorts of rocked my world. Behold, my compadres, the live musical wonder that is Pujol and Turbo Fruits.

MINI RECAP: Pujol = Lewd & Rude! Turbo Fruits = Lewder & Ruder! Overall Score: A

Full discosure, it'd been a long time since I went anywhere on the Rock Creek Parkway. I kinda sorta got a little lost on the way, which meant I missed a few Pujol songs. Which I was, and still am, really bummed about. Because friends, this set, or what I saw of it, was killer. The music of Daniel Lucca Pujol, otherwise known as Pujol, is short, sweet, and simple. More than anything, it fucking rocks. Those little tunes, as knocked out by Pujol along with some help from his friends, were easy and freewheelin', not to mention nice and loud. The attitude was all right, feisty and seriously sassy. The crowd was way into it, which includes the opinion of yours truly. This band grooved and rocked and shimmy-shaked all over the damn place. Hot damn indeed. Unless you happen to be a St. Louis Cardinals fan, this is the best damn Pujol around (or Pujols, as the case may be).

The venue was perfect for these bands. Comet Ping Pong has no true "stage," meaning the bands are on the same level as the paying punters. The in-your-face thing is perfect for bands like Pujol and Turbo Fruits, who drawlingly snarl and sneer their way into your grill as it is. And so it was that, the flag of the state of Tennessee draped behind the drumkit and Enya's "Sail Away" blaring out of the speakers, Turbo Fruits picked up their instruments and unleashed the rock. From opening song "Trouble", I knew it was in for a treat. The song, the set, and the band was utterly infectious. I'd place them as in the vein of Kings of Leon (WAY before the MOR suckage, folks, keep your pants on, I'm talkin' about first EP stuff) with hearty doses of the bratty snarl of Atlanta boys The Black Lips, with an overall swagger and presence impressive for a new band. These boys alone were worth getting lost on that damn Parkway for. Sweet mercy, brothers and sisters. Sweet Mercy. Turbo Fruits is a little bit country and a WHOLE lotta rock&roll. The sound swelled into the small room, turning my brain into sludge with their rocking out. I got the sense that this is a band that could go from zero to Pete Townshend (i.e mass instrument destruction) in six seconds flat. Hair tossin', drum poundin', and brutal guitar riffin'. And melodiousness too? Bonus. Can't beat that with a stick. No sirree. "Thanks for havin' us," said they, "We love your women." And Turbo Fruits, we women of DC love you (well, this one sure does).

Both of these bands ruled the roost with their sweaty, raw rock&roll, and subsequently my love for them is off the charts. This, friends, is music to be heard in close quarters. So step on it, cuz I suspect you won't get a chance to see them in small environs for too much longer.

mp3: Butterflyknife (Pujol from the All At the Same Time EP)

mp3: Mama's Mad Cos I Fried My Brain (Turbo Fruits from Echo Kid)