Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson

I first learned about Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (MBAR henceforth) when Phil gave me a copy of his self titled EP and first album, Summer of Fear. I listened to the EP first and was hooked. The first song Buriedfed is amazing with energy and emotion. The rest of the album is great and carries the emotion, but I guess my small criticism would be I wanted more songs bursting with energy like the opening track.

I finally got a chance to listen to Summer of Fear (both albums are off Saddle Creek By the way) a couple weeks ago in anticipation for seeing him live. I finally got my wish about the energy, as this album rocks out with a lot of energy. My only minor criticism with this album is for some reason MBAR sings at a higher pitch instead of the deeper voice from the EP. It reminds me of Elvis Costello from the Carpetbagger song off of Jenny Lewis' solo album. But no matter, his voice has grown on me.

Phil and I were hoping to attend the show at Le Poisson Rouge on March 10th, but Phil was unable to make it, so I had to go solo. I was really excited because I haven't been to a show in a while. Doors opened at 10:30, which seemed late to me. Most shows I've gone to in Philly would end around 11. The first band was Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers. This was a pretty entertaining band live. I'm not sure if I would enjoy their album though. The lead woman (Shilpa Ray?) had a lot of energy and would often scream while playing her table accordion thing. This is fine live, but I don't know if I would like an album with a lot of screaming. Granted it was energetic, happy screaming and not screamo. Good live band.

The next band was called Suckers I believe. It seemed everybody was there for them. They were also pretty good, but I was starting to loose energy. It was starting to get pretty late and I had to hold my heavy winter coat.

MBAR finally went on 12:45. That's pretty late. The crowd emptied out a lot by then. I was getting tired, so I had to go sit down on a stool for part of the show. Jeez, I used to make fun of people who would sit during shows. I will say in my defense it was 1 in the morning. And I haven't been to a show like 4 months. Anyway, it was just MBAR by himself, playing guitar or keyboard. I guess another guy was supposed to show up, presumably a drummer, but the guy stopped answering his calls and didn't show. I guess this kinda limited him in what he could play, since he couldn't play a lot of the rocking songs. He played a lot of songs I didn't know, which was surprising, but I guess he kinda had to. It was cool to see him in this intimate, acoustic setting. Especially if he becomes more popular. But I hope next time he has a band.

I highly recommend his two albums. Check them out!