Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY 7/16

Photo by Eddie Chu

Doors 8pm
Wakey! Wakey 9pm
Ha Ha Tonka 10pm
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin 10pm

Upon entering the great space of Music Hall of Williamsburg, it was near empty. Fortunately, I chatted with someone about music and by the time Someone Still Loves You came on the place was nicely filled for a Wednesday night. The crowd seemed responsive to all the bands, cheering, singing, dancing, and two people up front gave peanuts to the bands members after their set.

As odd a name as Wakey! Wakey! is, they pulled a great performance that pleased me greatly, considering they’re an opener. This New York 6-piece included a violinist and a keyboardist, plus the band had good presence and the singer spoke to the audience and jokes. It was fun watching the violinist play. The singer said, “This place is big, I’m very excited to be here.” I appreciated him saying that. One of the lines for their songs was perfect,“New York is a dangerous place and we fuck it all up.” The band did a great cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.” Solid set.


Ha Ha Tonka had a alt-country rock vibe to them. it was nice to hear the bass was audible and the drummer played with his hands for some of the beats, which was cool. The outfit sang one song acapella, “Hangmen,” was nice. They also did a Black Betty? cover. They closed with a jammy song and to make way for Someone…the singer sang part of “Oregon Girl.” Tight set from this fellow Springfield lads. During this band an older fellow came out with all this stuff, a mug, map, Boris Yeltsin book, and other fun goodies about Missouri. He spoke to me thrilled to be seeing the band and a fan of Missouri bands. He recommended checking out The Republic Tigers.

So it seems indie pop seems is all the craze nowadays, like this man was enthused about, with bands like Mates of State, Wolf Parade, and Tilly and the Wall. Most of the music is very fun and upbeat. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin with its long and clearly endearing love for Mr. Yeltsin (the first president of Russia), bring the same spirit and music with it’s nicely melodic and lyrics. The group has two main releases 2005’s “Broom,” which I’m most familiar with and this year’s “Pershing.” Unfortunately, I only stayed to hear 30 minutes of their set, but heard my favorites, “Oregon Girl,” and “House Fire.” I had so much fun for “House Fire,” because it has a nice groove and the lyrics, though not fun, speaks volumes to a situation in my life I can relate to.

“We did what we could
To save this house from falling.”

But I think it still fell. Next time, I’ll try harder.