A lot of favorites in here. “Body” is a new one, “Blood” one of my favorite Pearl Jam tunes, “Legs Away” and “Hands” have both been in my heavy rotation for some time now, so I guess the Frankenmix was inevitable. “Best Friend’s Arm”, of course, is from one of my all-time favorite albums. And, yeah, I like the Nirvana version of “Molly’s Lips” better than the original, so that’s the one that goes in the list.
The other great thing about building around random criteria is the discovery of songs that you had but hadn’t ever given just time to. GBV’s “Skin Parade” is definitely in this category, a song that starts out beautiful and wistful, lingering in an ashtray-laden greasy spoon atmosphere before kicking in to a driving rhythm in beautifully fuzzy high gear. Music to build monsters by.
June 12th, 2010
Oh, Sunday night shows, why couldn’t you be on any other night of the week?
With a sunny day firmly one day back and allergies having officially begun their assault on my sanity for the season, and both Amy and I riding the crest of a wave that promises a long day on Monday once it breaks, we’re lethargic at best heading down to Holocene, but we’re both really excited to see Born Ruffians. Music that hyper and infectious has to be good live, right?
We arrive with Strange Holiday already in full swing and find a seat on one of the couple of couches to watch. They’re a fairly full band, five or maybe six people and the lead vocalist keeps changing up to one strange instrument after another which sometimes works to great effect, but not always; I think I recognize the bassist and soon enough we piece it together. He works with my brother at the Cricket Cafe. We met Ben officially last weekend (although we’ve been visiting the Cricket frequently over the last few months because the food is top notch). The music is good, enjoyable, and to my mind recalls The Besnard Lakes, although it’s a bit too reverby for Amy’s taste. But it’s pleasant and toe-tapping and I look forward to seeing where these guys will go with it.
Young Rival was up next (after some Cotton Jones intermission music, yay!) , a much more stripped down band, two guitars and a drummer, Blues Explosion style, promising to play us some rock songs, a promise they amply kept. They had their name spelled out in letters set up across the stage, which I thought was a nice touch, but even so I keep confusing their name in my mind with that of Local Natives as I tried to recall their name later. But of the rocking, there was much to be had with straightforward, catchy, toe-tapping tunes (and vocals that occasionally called Mark E. Smith to mind) that enthused what turned out to be a pretty good and appreciative crowd for a Sunday night. Part way through the set, though, our view from the couch got obscured and so Amy and I opted to hang out in the spacious lobby for the rest of it playing some fierce Quordy matches against my iPod. The music was plenty loud there, too, so there wasn’t much to miss outside of some hand-clapping that we didn’t participate in.
There are some bands who defy my expectations of what they look like, upon finally seeing them live; like seeing a movie based on a well-loved book, you build up a idea or at least a vague notion in your mind of what these fellows are like. That wasn’t Born Ruffians; they looked like the Born Ruffians had in my head, and they rocked every bit as much as I hoped. They sounded great, played well, were affable with the crowd, and scorched through tune after tune with a ton of energy, opening with the first track off of their new album (“Oh Man”) and bouncing back and forth between the newer songs and stuff from 2008′s “Red Yellow & Blue” (including a super fun rendition of… “Barnacle Goose”, is that the song?).
They– and I too, I suppose– were surprised by the number of people dancing about given that it’s a 21+ venue, but Holocene usually has an enthusiastic crowd. (“Not quite sure how in the HECK you people moved and shaked liked you did, but you did,” said their post-show Facebook post.) Unfortunately, they hadn’t hit the stage until quarter-after eleven and being the old folk that we now are– at least when it comes to Sunday night shows– we left shortly before midnight, the fading strains of “Retard Canard” wafting out behind us.
June 7th, 2010
Just a few brief notes on this show. The first opener was an act that came complete with a bizarre and crude stop-motion style animation with monkeys of various colors flying about, and rapping, and I guess this thing is only half-finished but now I know what going mad begins to feel like. Mostly missed the second act due to the arrival of several friends who got tipsy and lost arriving via limo (the limo ride being a birthday present) and caught up in talking.
Tune-Yards was brilliant, at least as good if not better than the Holocene show of just two months past, singing, dancing, jumping, and enchanting the crowd through a boisterous and playful set. Being the headliner this time– which bought Amy enough time after her performance to make it to the show this time, bonus– we got a little more of an extended set, including the chance to see “Safety” played live during the encore set. Also, there was some saxamaphone in the mix which worked really far better than it sounds like it ought to. It’s one of those instruments that can really make things cheesy in a hurry; thankfully this was not the case here. Fantastic performances by the Tune-Yards crew and a good night all around (perhaps sans Crayola monkeys).
(Video from the encore found via Mississippi apostille).
June 7th, 2010
