My Favorite Band (this week) - Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard's new album, Watch Me Fall, doesn't come out until August 18th but it has already leaked online. This probably isn't the worst thing in the world since it has only ramped up the buzz. I don't have the album but based on the few tracks I have heard, it's one of the year's best. I could listen to "It Ain’t Gonna Save Me" on repeat for hours and "Wounded" ain't too shabby either. For more on Jay check our review of his Black Cat show.

Wilco (The Review)*

Wilco
w/ Conor Oberst and The Mystic River Band
July 8, 2009 at Wolftrap
by Senior Youth Correspondent, Andrew
Photos by BabyStew

This show was a pretty big deal. Wilco, one of the biggest names in recent rock music, headlines a sold out show at the 7,000 seat Wolftrap, a venue that rarely hosts acts that are of interest to the serious connoisseur of modern music and a venue that probably sells out once every couple of years. It was a beautiful July evening, Wilco had just released their sixth studio album Wilco (The Album) and Jeff Tweedy is 41. Oh, and in case that didn't impress you, Conor Oberst opened, and with a full backing band, jackass.


Here's the first thing I learned: Conor Oberst is very different live with his band than on his one record. I say one record because quite frankly I never went in for all the Bright Eyes malarkey, what with all the puppy face emo hair cut photos and hype that he was the next Bob Dylan before he was eighteen or whatever. That said, I thought Cape Canaveral was a solid album. His set last night was about half songs from that album and half songs that were either new or very alternate versions of older songs of his. Basically, if you saw the show last night without hearing his record you would think he was a straight up alt country rocker while in reality his record displays a much softer, intricate set of songs. I mean Conor was down there screaming and yelling about heartbreak and life on the road, elements that were refreshing after hearing nothing but self pitying whines from his Bright Eyes stuff. His band was tight and seemed just as into it as Conor was. In fact, one of the two other guitarists on stage sang two or three songs in the set. I thought Conor Oberst was still fairly young but it turns out he is 29. Funnily enough, a friend I ran into said she looked at the stage and thought she saw a twelve year old girl. Ouch. Thanks to her iPhone we found out he is 5'6. Despite his vertical challenges Conor Oberst and The Mystic River Band put on a very entertaining show and warmed the crowd up nicely for Wilco. My personal favorite was the spacey version of the song "Cape Canaveral" that got a great response from the folks in the cheap seats.


The rest of this review might really piss off some Wilco fans. But if you read Slice's post about Spoon, it's pretty clear that harassing hard core Wilco fans is a big part of what goes on here. Wilco fans will not be angered necessarily by my review, but by my lack of knowledge about Wilco. I'll be honest about my background: saw them at 930 last year (not impressed), know and like the song Jesus Etc., have an Uncle Tupelo record somewhere. That's it. But this way at least you don't have to read me gush about how amazing they were. Think of it as a critical analysis. Yeah.

Wilco opened with Wilco (The Song), which is actually a very neat tune except for maybe the part where they kept singing "Wilco, Wilco." I found that a bit precious. Shit got epic pretty soon after, with battling guitar feedback solos and finale-esque drums and bass during the third song. That's one of my gripes with Wilco. A little noisy feedback and directionless shredding is fine, but it seemed that more often that not a song would devolve into wails before it really had gone anywhere at all. No one can deny Wilco are seasoned performers. The attention to detail and professionalism in their set was clear from square one. They played Jesus Etc., it was awesome. Tweedy alternated between acoustic and electric guitar and was just sarcastic enough with the audience to keep it entertaining. Guitarist Nels Cline was amazing to watch and displayed his fastidious skills just as he had when I saw him last year. The crowd was going nuts from the beginning. Wilco has something of a cult following in that everyone had a similar look--plaid shirts, flip flops, etc--and that Wilco appeals to such a broad range of ages--they've been classified as "dad rock" as well as "college radio." Although nothing could ever come close to a Hold Steady concert, there was a certain bro element that was fairly pervasive at this show. There were groups of dudes (everywhere) sporting baseball caps, flips, frat shirts, you know, the usual man club garb. In fact, I was seated next to a singing bro, and in front of me I could see hordes of guys jumping, pounding each other on the back, and generally enjoying each other's company. Not my scene, but it's hard to blame Wilco for that one.


The thing is I am not a Wilco fan so while I can say they are good, it is unlikely I would ever give them an A+. The crowd however was going nuts the whole time, so my opinion is, at least in the context of the show, probably a minority one. I was only half serious about harassing Wilco fans. While I would take Spoon over Wilco any day of the week, they are undoubtedly a quality act and fun to watch. I left before the encore, so feel free to add and discuss below.

* yeah, we know the Wilco parenthetical thing has been overdone but it's the best we could come up with

Born on the 4th of July

Explosions in the Sky
w/ The Octopus Project
July 4th 2009
Stubb's in Austin, TX

Is there a better band to see on July 4th than Explosions in the Sky? And don't give me some weak ass answer like John Cougar Mellencamp. He loves America, I'll give you that, but Explosions are named after fireworks and played their very first show on the fourth. Judges rule: Mellencamp can suck it.

Explosions celebrated their 10th anniversary as a band with a huge show at Stubb's. In case you aren't familiar with them here's a little info:

--> instrumental band known for their soaring anthemic rock. Frequently described as "Totally fucking EPIC!!!1!"
--> their music lends itself to soundtracks. In fact they wrote most of the music for the Friday Night Lights movie. They're also the theme music for my personal sex tapes home movies.

Saturday night was hot even by Austin standards. I was geared up for a night of powerful instrumental indie-music not stifling heat and a drenched shirt. Yet I carried on...heroically. It was the 4th of July and it was my American duty to drink Lone Star and listen to great music. Ass sweat be damned.


Opening for Explosions were fellow Austinites The Octopus Project. They were one of the highlights of last year's Fun Fun Fun Fest. This performance was not unlike their Fest set: fun, quirky, rocking at times but with plenty of experimental elements. They displayed impressive musicianship as each member took turns playing various instruments. My favorite part of The Octopus Project is their use of the Theremin. It makes it sound like ghosts are howling along with the band. It's creepy cool.

After a quick changeover Explosions in the Sky addressed the audience and thanked everyone for their support over the last decade. The 90 minute set validated their reputation as a superior live band. The show had a great rock dynamic - emotionally resonant tunes with build-ups/payoffs, heaps of elaborate guitar work, and a powerful rhythm section. There was plenty to like. However, as beautiful as their style of post-rock music can be, it blended together after a while. Admittedly I wasn't familiar with most songs and wasn't smoking lots of weed like the people around me. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the show slightly less than everyone else. I'm not exactly sure. Maybe I'm just being picky. I probably would've felt differently had they played the Star Spangled Banner Jimi-style. Maybe next year.

The Day After

Jay Reatard @ Black Cat - July 5th, 2009 - $12

When the fireworks have fallen, the beer is warm and stale, the potato salad has turned, and the weekend is finally over, what else can you do but get back out there and keep on keepin' on?

We ventured to the Black Cat's backstage Monday night to get a look at Jay Reatard and his hairbandied extravaganza. The man has a fountain of hair that just seemed to spurt out of the top of his melon in a massive stream covering 360 degrees of his head. His band mate guitarist had equally impressive hair, both reminiscent (as Jimbromski said) of Hurley from LOST.

Neither Jimbromski nor I were terribly familiar with Mr. Reatard's catalog, but we knew he played fast and that things could get physical (not in the Barry White nor Olivia Newton John sort, mind you). The backstage was packed for this set and despite my giraffe neck, I never did see the drummer in the back. Indeed, a mosh pit formed, and at one point play was halted due to excessive hair-pulling.

Punk with a touch of pop. Most of the songs were pseudo metal, mostly punk, and occasionally sugary for a radio-friendly sound. Here's just a tiny snippet:

T.V. Smith, of 1970s punk band The Adverts, opened for Jay Reatard and returned to the stage for the only song I truly recognized: Gary Gilmore's Eyes. If you don't know anything about Gary Gilmore, or this song, it's actually quite fascinating. Gilmore murders two in Utah in July of 1976. Convicted and sentenced to die, he chooses to be shot versus being hanged. Asked if he had any last words, he says, "Let's do it." According to wikipedia, within hours of his execution, and complying with his request, two people received Gary Gilmore's transplanted corneas. There begins the connection to The Adverts' song. We probably erred by not checking out TV Smith, who I mistakenly referred to as "TV Set" at one point in the evening.

A few more details. We were pleased to see Mark Kapiloff (aka Everywhere Man, That Guy, Wandering Mark) en route to the club. It had been a while. Glad he is still a man about town. Also seen that night was Ahmad, the blind avid concert goer, who continues to out-rock us.

Lastly, behind Jimbromski's head you'll see Jay Reatard interacting with his fans. I think he looks a little like a young Meatloaf.

Hippie Fest Returns: beware of hippie fest

I'm not sure why, but the Albright Entertainment Group is bringing back the hippies. I heard them advertising on the radio earlier in the week. You may recall that the first Hippie Fest played Wolf Trap last summer. Here's a glimpse of what you missed (albeit not at WT):

As I heard the advert for Hippie Fest 2009, I was surprised that they would bother, remembering the WaPo article that lambasted the show. Just have a look at the first two sentences:

Rock-and-roll cavalcades rarely add up to the sum of their parts. But it would be hard to come up shorter than the Hippie-fest 2008 bill did on Wednesday at Wolf Trap.

This time around, they play the Pier 6 Pavilion in Baltimore on July 23rd. So here we are, just shy of the 40th anniversaries of the moon landing and of Woodstock, and this is what they drag out. Hippie Fest - continuing to give hippies a bad name.

My Favorite Band (This Week) - Spoon

This one isn't exactly a shocker. Anyone worth their salt is a Spoon fan. They've released a series of impressive albums and continue to win new fans with each release. In my opinion they're the best band out there. You may disagree, and well, that's what makes you a jackass. Sorry but someone had to tell you. It just happened I was the one to do it, jackass.

Earlier this week Spoon released a new three song EP entitled Got Nuffin. Take a listen to the title track:



The band is working on their follow up to 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. It should be ready at the end of the year or in early 2010. For those of you in Austin, you can catch Spoon's 3-night stay at Stubb's on July 9th-11th. I'm still debating how many nights I'll attend. Who am I kidding? I'll probably go to all three.

Tribute Band Prolongs Nation's Grief

Who's Bad
June 26, 2009
9:30 Club

Who's Bad are a Michael Jackson tribute band. Sacklunch selected this show on June 24 as a sort of "fuck you" to Potsy and I because we were harassing him to make up his goddamn mind already and pick a show for his week. Little did he know that the messer would become the messee when we called his bluff and said yes to Who's Bad. And little did any of us know that the show would be even more tribute-y when Babystew Steve alerted us to Jacko's impending death on Thursday (Steve either has a TMZ RSS feed or a Michael Jackson Google News Alert).

And so here we are. This show review would, as I so eloquently put it, give Sacklunch an opportunity to show America how to grieve. Except Sacklunch went on vacation for a week so I have to do it. Not a totally unexpected development but galling nonetheless. The guy adds absolutely nothing to this enterprise except for giving us the opportunity to point to schlubby looking guys at shows and say, "hey Sack, look, it's your twin!"

Who's Bad modestly billed themselves as "one of the top Michael Jackson tribute bands in the country," which I think is fair. There's The White Gloves, operating out of Detroit, and Bubbles Loves Bananas, from St. Louis. And let's not forget Hyperbaric Chamber Music, who dominate the Florida Panhandle, and Webster's Unabridged, in Boise. The list goes on and on. I believe that last one actually features Marlon Jackson, so that's hard to top.

The highest praise I can give Who's Bad is that they really really made me miss the real thing, which is probably not quite what they were after. My biggest beef was with the dancing--the moves didn't snap the way they should have as our ersatz Jackson moved like an arthritic amputee. Dude, I can look past not totally sounding or looking like The King of Pop, but you should have the moves down. Not all of them, but just pick a few and master them.

Who's Bad was actually a passable funk band and the crowd seemed willing to overlook any faults (leave fault-finding to dicks like me) on this very special night. "Smooth Criminal" was pretty tight, but it would take a special level of ineptitude to fuck that one up. The rest of the songs came off slightly above average, with the exception of "Beat It," which sucked bad, and I mean bad. Do not modify that guitar riff in any way. As with the Jacko impersonator, I understand that you, sir, dear lead guitarist, are not Eddie Van Halen, but that does not entitle you to put your own "spin" on things. "Beat It" did provide one of the funniest moments I've had at a live music show in years, when the lead singer fell over an amp on the stage. I haven't laughed that hard since I attended the sneak preview of the hit movie Football In The Groin starring George C. Scott. Buh-buh-buh-but wait, there's even more...after he fell, he ran off the stage in a huff, and then a member of the audience sprinted across the stage and did this major stage dive, and it happened so fast that no one was ready for it, and nobody caught him. As I was already guffawing from the amp fall, I nearly died after I saw that. Seriously, the whole thing, from Jacko trip to stage dive faceplant, happened in about 10 seconds. I think I wet myself a little, I was laughing so hard. It reminded me of the criminally underrated movie Night Shift, when Michael Keaton leaps from a balcony at a sex club to try and save Henry Winkler from a beatdown, and no one catches him. Here's a clip--you have to wait until 7:15 to see the scene I'm talking about, but really you should watch the whole thing because it's totally full of funny scenes. Whatever happened to Michael Keaton, anyway? The guy used to make good movies. Here's a tip--if Who's Bad comes to your town, stay in and rent Night Shift instead. You do know it's a Ron Howard movie, right? Of course you do.

Go To Sleep - RIP

Michael Jackson's death has given the world a chance to reflect on - and pay homage to - an artist whose music has truly impacted the lives of millions. Rightly so.

Farrah Fawcett also died on June 25th, 2009. And while her impact on popular culture comes no where near that of MJ's, she was still iconic and deserving of some ink. Personally, I have been living under a rock, and only learned of the cause of her death two days ago. Anal cancer. I never would have guessed.

In keeping with our tradition, I bring you a rock inspired YouTube clip this Tuesday. This one features Ms. Fawcett's untimely death in the movie Logan's Run set to the music of Radiohead. I still have never played Dark Side of the Moon as the soundtrack to the Wizard of Oz. I think that'll have to wait until my retirement/imprisonment/hospitalization.

Farrah appears at the 3:00 mark.

My Favorite Band (this week) - Harlem

I'm sorry to interrupt the Michael Jackson tributes but we'll be back with a review of Who's Bad: The World's #1 Michael Jackson Tribute Band soon enough. For now, let's focus on my favorite band (this week): Harlem. This Austin band specializes in fun-loving, sloppy, lo-fi tunes with goofy names like "Psychedelic Tits" (great song, btw). During SXSW I caught them at the Gorilla vs. Booze party and it was a blast. The free Red Stripe was flowing, the joint was packed, and everyone was dancing and sweaty. It was like the best house party you never went to.

The band has one album out called Free Drugs ;-) and recently signed to Matador Records for their next record. It'll be recorded this summer and released in 2010.

The King is Dead. Long Live The King! (Part 1)

Jimbromski gets credit for the headline, though out of respect for MJ I decided not to use his alternate title "Wacko Jacko's Heart Go Smacko"

Of course, a mere 16 hours later, this is all old news. The King of Pop passed away yesterday at the age of 50. I am not going to bore you with a history of MJ's life. I am sure there are 5000 other stories, blog posts, etc.. that could do a much better job than I could even think of doing. However, I will share a few personal memories of perhaps the greatest pop star to ever have a pet chimp.

I remember back in 1983 when MTV released the "Thriller" video. It really was the heyday for MTV, and I distinctly remember staying up to catch the almost 14-minute long video, watching from the comfort of my parents bed (I was 12 years old). More a short film than an actual video, it was truly an unbelievable moment in music history. I remember everyone talking about it at school the next day and its release just before Christmas 1983 set off an even greater stream of Michael Jackson frenzy.

That next summer (1984) I got the privilege of seeing MJ live on the Victory tour, which I already posted about here. However, something else happened that same summer which few people (outside my immediate family and those who were there) know about. That summer, we rented a large beach house in VA Beach with a bunch of other families and their kids. At the end of the week, I spearheaded an operation to act out the entire "Thriller" video as entertainment for the adults. Of course, I was to play the lead as I already had a nice jew-fro going and my skin was a light cocoa color due to a whole week in the sun. It was a totally ridiculous attempt, but I think we pulled it off. I remember using 2 Q-Tips as "fangs" for the scene when MJ transforms into the Zombie. I also remember my then 6-year old brother getting smacked in the head when we were doing the zombie line dance. He went running off camera in tears.

Did I say camera? Well, yes, the entire performance was filmed by my pops on his fancy new VCR recorder (the thing was like the size of a small piece of luggage). The video still exists today at my folks house. If any of you techies out there know how to convert a VCR tape to digital, I promise (to my utter embarrassment) I will post the video here on the blog.

Luckily for us, we pre-purchased tix (thank you Potsy) to tonight's sold out Who's Bad tribute at the 930 Club [btw, they added a second show]. Of course, there will be a proper review of that show coming soon. The funny thing is, I picked this show days ago, kind of as a joke. I guess I am like the Grim Reaper of rock. So if I were a cheesy crooner named Neil , I would probably go to the doctor and get a physical. Next up for RC, Superdiamond!