Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Concert Review: Canderella's Ball at One Eyed Jacks on September 12, 2009

This was a fun, long night that ended up raising much money for Candace Lamb. It was a great show of support.

War Amps, the new local boogie stoner metal band, started the night off. It was dark, heavy stuff, and the crux lay in the dual guitar attack of Paul Webb and Tom Beeman. I already knew Webb was good. Now I know he's great. It was nice to see him be able to spread his wings a bit.

I like how the band found room for smart, proggy exercises within the sludge. Seemed like Strawberry, the lead singer, spent half his time offstage, pacing around and headbanging along to the music.

Next up was Narcissy, the local garage rock trio. They got their best reception yet. And they rolled hard with that good energy, turning out impassioned, wonderfully dirty versions of their "FU" and "we don't give a fuck" rock ethos.

Happy Talk followed, bringing along cellist Helen Gillet for texture. One song struck me, a new one. It was more ethereal and ambient than their other material. It reached for this emotional place and got it. I love watching good bands push themselves and get better. Kudos.

I think it might have already been around 1 when Happy Talk finished, so the crowd was beginning to thin a bit, and unfortunately, by the time Clint Maedgen went on with his one man looping station, he was met with love but not quite as much as he's used to.

Big Rock Candy Mountain didn't go on until 2:30, but by that point, the people left over didn't care. Every time I've seen BRCM I thought they were missing something, and I thought it had something to do with the songs. But, they just needed a better drummer. Their new one really propels the songs. The band knew how few people were left, but they were thankful for them. They showed it by going for their throats, holding nothing back. Guitarist Andrew Hartsock looked a little perturbed, but he used transferred that energy into the songs, giving them a punk force. On their MySpace the band describes their music perfectly by just listing their influences: The Dismemberment Plan, The Flaming Lips, Queens of the Stone Age, and Led Zeppelin.

Concert Review: Alexis Marceaux and Sam Craft at The Circle Bar on Sept. 7th, 2009

Alexis Marceaux is a native New Orleanian that recently burst back onto the scene. Her folk/soul had enough unexpected, almost proggy changes to set her apart and keep me on my toes when she recently shared a bill at The Circle Bar with Sam Craft.

Her subject matter was nothing new for a female singer-songwriter--the travails of the heart--but her sweet, tender melodies kept the music from sinking into schlock. It also helped that she was comfortable onstage. I've seen enough mousey performers that are just "happy to be there."

She was most confident with her soaring voice, her greatest weapon. She coated the music as she pleased, laying back, playing it lean and straight or going for it, pushing her voice in an impressive showcase of her improvisatory skill. She had quite the range. When she reached her higher register, she sounded like a bird.

Craft, who had been accompanying Marceaux on violin and synthesizer, took the reigns next. Whether on solo acoustic or synthesizer, he proved that Glasgow songs could hit home without a band. It took me to see Craft to play this set to realize how talented he and his brother Sam are as songwriters. My favorite of the set was "Samurai," a song full of rock opera bombast and smart dynamics. It was a fun up and down ride, really well-crafted.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Songs That Go Together

There are songs on classic rock radio that must be played together. You can't have one without the other. They are Queen's "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions," ZZ Top's "Waitin' for the Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago," and Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and "Living Loving Maid." All these songs follow one another on their original releases, so there's that. But, why have these songs managed to stay joined at the hip?

With one second left in "Bus," the song seems resolved. But, then there's a quick snare flourish. This would be taken as an eccentricity, except that it syncs up with and seems a perfect lead-in to the beat in "Jesus." Also, there's less than a second between the two songs, which makes me believe ZZ Top wanted them played together. This leads me to a point about the Zep and Queen duos, which isn't entirely my own. I'm not the first person to ask the "what's the deal with..." question, and when I found a thread about this topic, I also found this thoughtful comment from thanotopsis:

"There's zero silence between them on the original recording. A radio station either needs to crossfade into a new song, or talk over the fading song as it leaves the air. You can't do that on either Heartbreaker or We Will Rock You without starting to play Living Loving Maid and We Are The Champions."

Away from the radio, like "Bus" and "Jesus," these songs can be played apart, though it feels weird. Hell, ZZ Top recognized this. It's hard to find live clips of the band where the two songs aren't joined. Also, Queen, most notably at Live Aid, played "Rock You" and "Champions" successively(strangely enough, according to wikipedia, "Champions" was the A side and "Rock You" was the B side to the original UK single, but since rock stations in the US were playing "Rock You" and "Champions" back to back, in that order, Queen's US label released the two songs as a double A-side single). Seems like Zeppelin is less concerned with the adjoinment of "Heartbreaker" and "Maid," as "Heartbreaker" was included in the 1990 "Remasters" and 2007 best-of "Mothership," while "Maid" is not on either record(it's well documented that Page doesn't like "Maid," a reason it was never performed live).

We've dealt with the technical aspects. On to any thematical similarities between the songs. "Heartbreaker" and "Maid" both deal with a prostitute, so I see why they seamlessly flow together. I like to think that Jesus is the main character of "Bus" and that "Jesus" is a kind of prologue to "Bus," but that's just me. As far as Queen goes, there is a connection, at least a perceived one, between the two songs, but I won't let myself break them down. I would sound we todd ted, and I fear I would never recover from the downward spiral of music dorkitude that would follow. Gotta leave that one be.

I welcome your comments. What are some other songs that must go together?

http://www.ask.metafilter.com/41048/Why-will-no-one-break-the-champions

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Concert Review: Caddywhompus and Giant Cloud at The Circle Bar on September 1, 2009

I knew what I was getting myself into, standing in front of the Marshall amp and the drum kit with the oversized kick drum and ride cymbal. Still, Caddywhompus were loud! And vibrant and motivational. There were times where, propelled by a disjointed rhythm, I wanted to throw myself against a wall or the buncha packed crowd behind me, but they didn't look like they wanted a mosh pit. And, also, just when the dancey, noisy, herky jerky parts would build up and catch my interest, they'd morph into something else--a different mood and direction.

The local psych/noise/pop duo pulled a quick change often. But, because of how tight they were, drummer Sean Hart and guitarist/vocalist Chris Rehm always sold it. Not once did I question their decisions. I was probably too disoriented, lost in an ADD haze. Haze is a good word, what with Rehm's trippy, processed vocals and how the band would repeat one part over and over again in an attempt to create a trance.

The vocals helped and hurt. They added a bit of romance to the volume, but they could also be shrill. I enjoyed the band the most when Rehm stepped away from the mic and bounced back and forth in front of his effects pedals to their sometimes hard-edged, metallic rhythm, dancing exactly how I wanted to be dancing.

I have a feeling every show's gonna be different with these guys. Looking forward to it.

Giant Cloud, also from here, were the perfect chaser. They were more gentle and dreamy, but I'd have to say both bands were coming to and from an Abbey Road direction. Giant Cloud even played an awesome(I mean spot on really awesome) version of "Don't Let Me Down." The Park The Van band's music was so delicate and pretty it put me in a daze, sitting at the bar, drifting away somewhere nice. Talk about romance. This music was all sunflower breeze and soothing harmonies. An open field.

The barrelhouse piano added some nice texture, too.

I was happy to see so many people stick around to see Giant Cloud. They knew what was up. Click on the title link for Giant Cloud's myspace page.

Let's sneak into this genre right here and cause some damage

Turns out the guy who served me coffee today, Greg Rodrigue, is also a member of local ska/punk stalwarts Fatter Than Albert. "Stalwarts," in the New Orleans sense, means any ska/punk band that has made more than one album and gone on more than one tour. And survived. That seems kinda rare here.

So, Greg from FTA also co-runs a local ska/punk label called Community Records that has eleven national bands from that genre. He had a funny view on ska/punk, which was that 80% of it sucks. I said it was unusual for someone in a band, especially a owner of a record label, to think a majority of the groups from the genre he/she operates in is horrible. To that, he basically said that operating in a sucky genre was advantageous because when you release something of quality, people are that much more likely to notice. The standards have been lowered, and when you produce something better than average, it comes out looking super, super awesome.

He also said the guys in Black Belt used to be in a ska/punk band called the Supaflies. I did not know that.

*Click on the title link for the Community Records website*