Return of the Stache

I recycle.

Black Lips w/ the Selmanaires and The Points
The Black Cat, $12
Saturday, September 15th

Let me start by disappointing anyone reading this who thought I was going to write about the Selmanaires and/or The Points. Not going to happen since we didn't catch them. Maybe if Jumboslice had been in attendance he would have convinced us that these two bands that I've never bothered to listen to until right now, were going to be the next big thing -we would have motivated ourselves. But we usually ignore him when he says things like that anyway. Still, Sacklunch suggested the Selmanaires might be worth checking out after he listened to them a bit online. I checked out their stuff just now (as I type), and the first two tracks on their myspace page, "Selmanaire Rock" (terrible name) and "The Air Salesman," were pretty good with a decent synth sound, but their other two tracks were more conventional rock, and I didn't enjoy them much. So I'm not sorry we missed them. It seems like I would have only been half into it. So I guess I lied, I have now written about the Selmanaires. Sorry The Points, you won't be so lucky.

Black Lips returned to the Black Cat to headline this show in front of an unusually rambunctious DC audience. This was our third time seeing this band, and the first where they were headlining a large-ish venue. Since I will be referencing some of them, perhaps the starting line up is in order.

BAND MEMBERS

JOE BRADLEY - Vocals & Drums
JARED SWILLEY - Vocals & Bass
IAN St. PE - Guitar
COLE ALEXANDER - Vocals & Guitar

As the headline implies, this time around, Jared Swilley returned to the stage with mustache intact. The photo, courtesy of Jumboslice's earlier post, was from our first viewing of the Atlanta, GA band at the Black Cat in October of 2006. When they performed again in March of 2007, Swilley was sans-stache, and I believe they suffered as a result. Having returned to the Black Cat as headliners, coming off positive reaction to their live album, "Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo," and their September 11th release, "Good Bad Not Evil," Black Lips brought with them a young exuberant following and a higher-than-usual visible security presence on stage.

Cole Alexander seemed more of a commanding presence when he performed last week in comparison to the earlier two shows, when I was under the impression that Swilley was the man in charge. Perhaps this had to do with Alexander's constant spit and catch showmanship in those previous performances, which I don't find particularly slick, or maybe because he was left a bit emasculated by technical problems with his axe last time. These kind of antics don't build my confidence in you as a leader, but this is rock, so maybe it should. With fewer luggie-launches last week, Alexander donned an aqua colored painter's cap and seemed a bit more coherent and in command.

Ian St. Pe continues to look every bit the part of the heavily-sedated clueless-rocker. With his metal-plated teeth, St. Pe looks like a cross between Jaws from James Bond movies and a younger Lou Reed. And on stage, he seems to be cool with the pushing, shoving, spitting, and whatever else was taking place in the pit close to the stage. At one point he intervened when security was about to toss out another fan who had gotten a bit too rowdy. Yelling, "hey, don't kick that guy out," St. Pe went on to say that the ruffian was exactly the kind of guy the Black Lips want at their shows. I hope they have a decent lawyer.

So how was the show? It rocked. In a much needed way, RC finally had some live and lively entertainment after a few weeks of tamer activities. Black Lips rock with reckless abandon, and I found myself quickly heading downstairs to pick up a pair of ear plugs - remember what happened to Pete Townsend? He damaged his hearing after years of rockin out and eventually got caught with kiddie porn. I take that kind of lesson to heart. Ear plugs are sold out of a bubble gum machine downstairs at the Black Cat for 50 cents. The machine is tricky to operate, so be prepared to look more drunk than you might actually be, if it's your first time. (Where have I heard that before?) It was great to see an active crowd getting busy with the garage rock at the Black Cat. That should be encouraged.

I also enjoyed watching the skinny greasy bouncer leap off the stage to help the pear-shaped quasi-Asian guy (let's call him Grimace) and some other security dude hustle a guy out on to the street. Inspired by an episode of Cops we were watching at RockClubHouse before the show, I followed the scrum down the stairs and to the door just in time to see/hear Grimace tell the guy to "Go back to Virginia!" Clearly some hard feelings still exist for our confederate neighbor.

And where was Jumboslice during this excellent show? I think he was mixing Jaeger and Roaring Lion at RFK for a bachelor party... All I know is that RC x 3/4 rocked out and partied until 2:30am that night... I'm just saying...

I found an interesting video report on the Black Lips from their performance at SXSW. Check it out if you have 8 minutes. These guys are paying their dues.

What I Saw on the Drive Back Home From Dan Deacon/Girltalk

Curious? Read more here.

I'd seen this before so I knew right away what was going down, but I'd never seen it on this scale.

Dan Deacon/Girl Talk Preview

I have to admit, I wasnt digging Dan Deacon the first time I heard the disc. Then I caught a glimpse of his live performance at Pitchfork and I was slightly more intrigued. I think this guy is some sort of freakish musical genius. Check out this live performance on some NBC morning show (I think it was like a year ago).






Should be a good show, although I heard (via another music blog) that Dan Deacon was a bit under the weather last night in Charm City and only played for 20 minutes.....And as Potsy said, "wear your mesh shirt, its going to be H-O-T"

Playing Catch Up...Travis Morrison at Iota

Oh, hello there. What? I was supposed to write a review of Travis Morrison and the Hellfighters? Really? Okay, hold on. Let me put on some pants...

This was my second time seeing Travis Morrison, sans the Plan. The first time was at Galaxy Hut right before his first album, Travistan, was released. Had Rock Club been alive to see it, it would have battled Richard Swift and Bang Bang Bang for Worst.....Show.....Ever (comic guy voice). We walked out. His Janet Jackson cover was the last straw. It was safe to say I didn't have lofty expectations for this show.

The Iota show was to promote his new album, All Y'all. The album has some odd and punchy songs that really work, although not on the first listen. "Catch Up", with its goofy white boy rap and bizarre transitions is a bit of a head scratcher. However, I enjoy it more with each listen. The song is awesome like Richard Dawson. Conversely, songs that I initially enjoyed have become grating. "I Do" is the best example. The sappy lyrics get old quickly ("I need you badly, I need you bad. You're the best thing I've ever had"). When he played this live Potsy commented "I wrote the same song back in 7th grade". He then gave the thumbs down, Spinal Tap-style, while continuing to reminisce about his middle school hoochie.

The current Hellfighters lineup is much better than Morrison's original crew. Three keyboardist and a couple drummers was an odd makeup for a band. Ditching some of the keyboardists and adding guitar full time was an obvious move. I'm a fan of the dual drummers (in this case, one drummer and a percussionist) so I'm glad they still have that going. If he added some dancing midgets the lineup would be perfect.

The set stuck mostly to the new album, although they did play "Song for the Orca" off Travistan. The stand out songs were " Catch Up", "Hawkins Rock", and "As We Proceed". The rest of the songs were okay, but not very inspired. I honestly wasn't paying enough attention to know if the band was still working out the kinks or if the songs simply didn't work well on stage. I'm guessing a little of both.

While Morrison and the Hellfighters aren't the tightest band in the world, they ain't too shabby either. One quote I read on DCist sums up Morrison and his band pretty well:

"Yeah, his new band is starting to find their stride. The Dplan wasn't quite ready for prime time the first few years in existence either...it wasn't until about 4 years into their existence that they really hit their stride with the Terrified album. Travis is a great performer, but the band wasn't quite there for a while. The original line up of the hellfighters looked like he grabbed a couple of folks from accounting and marketing and asked them to be in his funk band. They were nice people and good musicians, but they were a little uneasy on stage."

Thus far, the main trait of Morrison's solo music is the disparity of his songs. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground - they're either very good or really bad. I attribute that to his willingness to take chances. He lives every week likes it's Shark Week and is always trying new things. His musical formula is to have no discernible pattern, which I admire. However, my gut feeling is his solo work will never reach a level of ingenuity and consistency we saw w/ the last three Dismemberment Plan albums.

This may come as a surprise to those who think Morrison gives me the hot pants, but I only give this show a 5.2. I wasn't disappointented, but I wasn't overly impressed either.

One final note: Gist, who opened for Morrison, were a very pleasant surprise. The Indian dude on lead vocals and guitar was pure rock intensity. The band has a great post-punk power pop sound. I've been listening to their album Diesel City and while it's not as as good as their live show, it's still a fun listen. These guys bring the rock and deserve our support. I propose we put a future Gist show on our official To Do list. All in favor?

The Novemberists

Rock Around the Clock

I am one of those not-so-hipsters who really dug the Decemberists, "The Crane Wife" album. I didn't think I would for some reason, but I did. I listen to it a lot. Does that mean I want to see them in concert 4 days in a row? I hope not. While I'm happy that the Decemberists think so highly of DC as to camp out here for a week, it detracts from the uniqueness of a show when the show is playing 4 nights straight, no? This isn't Broadway.

They're even offering 2-packs of tickets for their stint with the 9:30 Club. This isn't a sporting event either...

F 11/9 The Decemberists w/ Laura Veirs and Saltbreakers 8pm Doors

Sa 11/10 The Decemberists w/ Laura Veirs and Saltbreakers 8pm Doors

F 11/9 & Sa 11/10 The Decemberists w/ Laura Veirs and Saltbreakers 2-Day Ticket. 8pm Doors

Su 11/11 The Decemberists w/ Laura Veirs and Saltbreakers Late Show! 8pm Doors

M 11/12 The Decemberists w/ Laura Veirs and Saltbreakers 8pm Doors

Su 11/11 & M 11/12 The Decemberists w/ Laura Veirs and Saltbreakers 2-Day Ticket. 8pm Doors

Sounds of the Seventies

Do you remember the good old days, AKA the 1970s? Here are various activities people enjoyed in the 70s:

1--Snorting coke off of Farah Fawcett's ass cheeks, then getting in a fistfight with Lee Majors--and winning
2--Hot tubbing with Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, and laughing your ass off when Tricky Dick threw Kissinger's Speedo on the White House roof
3--Ventura Highway, in the sunshine
4--Doing the following pills: uppers, downers, barbs, ludes, dust
5--Attending a Poco concert, after ingesting the pills listed in (4)

The list is endless but I'll stop there.

Here are some good songs from the 1970s vault that I keep in my house.

1--"Lowdown", Boz Scaggs: Scaggs attended St. Mark's Episcopal High School with Steve Miller, and was briefly a member of The Steve Miller Band. Thank God he left the band, because they have got to be one of the most annoying groups ever, in history. Ever. This song is from 1976, and was recorded with session musicians who later went on to form Toto. Dig the flute:

Boz Scaggs: pass the barbs

2 & 3--"Breakdown" and "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You", The Alan Parsons Project: Alan Parsons started out as a sound engineer and worked on various Beatles (Abbey Road), Pink Floyd (Dark Side Of The Moon) and Hollies albums.

Alan Parsons: look how gentle I am

He then formed the Alan Parsons Project and recorded some of the gayest, softest music ever heard, even for the 70s ("Don't Answer Me", "Eye In The Sky", "Games People Play", or, as my sister and I called it, "Gay People Play"). These two are cool, though. Here's "Breakdown", which sounds like Fleetwood Mac:


And here's "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You", which sounds like Wings:


I know Jumboslice will say all these songs suck, but honestly, we all know that if I changed the names of the groups, and said that they were new bands, and that Pitchfork had given them ratings of 6.9 and 7.8, respectively, he'd be none the wiser. In any case all three of these songs would be great on a movie soundtrack.

An Alternate Alternative from the Nati

Late to the Party?

Maybe you've all chewed on this and spit it out by now, but I stumbled across it tonight while procrastinating...

Sick of suffering through KEXP's reggae hour, international beats hour, or any of its other not-what-I-was-hoping-to-hear hours?

10 LISTEN www.WOXY.com
20 GOTO 10
RUN

I listened to it through iTunes radio. Yeah, I know Jumbo Slice, you've got Rhapsodomy at your disposal. But I don't.

woxy.com
700 W. Pete Rose Way
Cincinnati OH 45203

Inside Look at the Upcoming Van Halen Reunion

Courtesy of Stereogum.

Can they match their 1983 form? Judge for yourself:



Attention Illinois, Ted Leo, Travis Morrison (and countless others): if your banter isn't as good as this, then don't bother. And it isn't, so don't bother.