Due to illness and general lack of sleep, I had to unfortunately pass on the Tea Leaf Green show last Thursday night which I had been planning on seeing for a while. But since I missed that one, I made sure to hit another show that was on my radar on Saturday, Dead Meadow back at the Bug Jar. I had never heard any of their music previously but their name had popped up recently in a few of the places I go for trustworthy recommendations, and the descriptions of their music piqued my interest.
There were two openers, both local bands. I had hoped to miss the first, I was still recovering and just didn't think I had it in me to sit through 3 bands that night. I called ahead and they said Dead Meadow would be starting at 11. I got to the bar around 10:20 or so. The first band came on about 15 minutes later. Crud. The 3 bands together formed a nice spectrum of the heavy rock genre. The first band was Crush the Junta. They played 3 songs in what was a little over 30m. Each song was a long very very very slow build to a very minimal release. Kind of reminded me a bit of the Explosions in the Sky general song structure, but without the soaring guitars, almost purely rhythm. Each musician would repeat the same thing over and over with slight variation and ever so slightly building in intensity. The drummer really was the leader and most varied in his playing, and he really kicked ass. He was from the band Tiger Cried Beef whom I saw open for Fiery Furnaces on the same stage a few months ago.
The next band was called Orodruin, a self-proclaimed death metal band. This was the band I was hoping to miss, so I was fairly annoyed when I realized I hadn't. I imagine death metal to be straight screaming and noise, and these guys were much more controlled and interesting than that. Fine musicianship (especially on guitar) and some deep dark rock anthems. It was bit over the top and almost campy to that end, but they were quite fun. Not exactly my bag, but when one of the bands I like comes out with the evilness these guys brought to every tune, I usually get pretty excited. so...
Finally, around 12:30, Dead Meadow came on. The exhaustion started to set in on my end. I was having a hard time staying awake throughout their set. That was partly my problem, but also, I have been to plenty of shows where my exhaustion quickly dissipates once the band starts kicking my ass. These guys were rocking pretty damn hard, but it was also lacking something, I don't know, maybe melody? Tough to say, but it didn't grab me like I wanted it to. I was ready to be smitten and have a new favorite rock band. The lead singer sounded a lot like Kurt Cobain to me. Do others feel that way? That wasn't an issue, just putting that out there. I just thought in the end that all of the songs kind of dripped into each other and they didn't really distinguish themselves. Still, I did like this band, somewhere in between the over the top metal of Orodruin, and the experimental instrumental rock of Crush the Junta. These guys had the goods. I look forward to seeing them again and hopefully I will be more alert to take it all in. I would love to see them share a stage with Rose Hill Drive. That would be a great double bill. In the meantime, I leave you with this:
30 April 2008
17 April 2008
Sonny Landreth & Campbell Brothers @ Water Street Music Hall
I've got to move,
I'm going on a party ride
I've got to groove, groove, groove,
And from this music I just can't hide.
Are you comin' with me?
Come let me take you on a party ride
And I'll teach you, teach you, teach you
I'll teach you the electric slide
Some say it's mystic
It's electric
Boogie woogie, woogie
This past Wednesday night I was rocking out to the electric slide. No I wasn't at some crazy midweek Bar Mitzvah, I hit up the Water Street Music Hall for Sonny Landreth with the Campbell Brothers in support.
The Campbells opened things up featuring not one but two slides, with Chuck Campbell on pedal steel and Darick Campbell on lap steel. Two more brothers, Carlton on drums and Phillip on guitar, a scruffy lanky tall completely out-of-place white dude on bass, and the energy and pipes of two amazing singers up front which was like having two of Sharon Jones on stage. These guys are flat out and genuinely amazing. No ifs ands or buts about it, they wail.
I mean just check this out:
They closed their set by inviting Sonny Landreth up on stage to make the slide trifecta.
Then it was Landreth's turn. What he lacked in on-stage energy from the openers, he made up with sheer dexterous insanity. The man has chops beyond chops. If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing them, I highly recommend it. He and his band play a southern Louisiana blend of blues-zydeco-country-honk with some sometimes proggish, metal even, shredding thrown into the mix. Landreth almost exclusively plays the slide guitar. Going on visuals alone, as I have no knowledge of either of their techniques, his picking method seems awfully similar to Derek Trucks' (that should probably be the other way around obviously). Whereas Derek emits a growl from his guitar, Landreth gets more of a howl from his. Cleaner and more distinct. They played a few tunes off their forthcoming album, the best of which I thought was Blue Tarp Blues, a song about the aftermath of Katrina, and which will feature Mark Knopfler on the album. I could definitely imagine Knopfler's guitar work filling into that song quite nicely, should be sweet. Landreth plays live as a power trio which held down the fort quite admirably. Unfortunately the offer was not returned to have some Campbells join them up on stage, but I wasn't complaining. Water Street was not more than half full and was quite comfortable, though they annoyingly set up seats and tables right in front of the stage which were set off by stanchions. Though that did offer a nice unimpeded view from the sides.
Another note on the crowd: I ran into what is the exact opposite of the obnoxiously drunk and/or drugged out fan. In between sets, some older woman slides over a stool from the bar, knocks it into me, says excuse me, so I moved out of her way not knowing that she was going to place the stool down right in front of me, in fact right where I had just been standing. Um, hello? So then she plops down with her oversized bag and massively oversized 80s mass of hair. What does she pull out of her bag but knitting needles! She proceeded to knit right then and there. Oy, now I've seen it all.
It's Electric! Boogie Woogie Woogie...
I'm going on a party ride
I've got to groove, groove, groove,
And from this music I just can't hide.
Are you comin' with me?
Come let me take you on a party ride
And I'll teach you, teach you, teach you
I'll teach you the electric slide
Some say it's mystic
It's electric
Boogie woogie, woogie
This past Wednesday night I was rocking out to the electric slide. No I wasn't at some crazy midweek Bar Mitzvah, I hit up the Water Street Music Hall for Sonny Landreth with the Campbell Brothers in support.
The Campbells opened things up featuring not one but two slides, with Chuck Campbell on pedal steel and Darick Campbell on lap steel. Two more brothers, Carlton on drums and Phillip on guitar, a scruffy lanky tall completely out-of-place white dude on bass, and the energy and pipes of two amazing singers up front which was like having two of Sharon Jones on stage. These guys are flat out and genuinely amazing. No ifs ands or buts about it, they wail.
I mean just check this out:
They closed their set by inviting Sonny Landreth up on stage to make the slide trifecta.
Then it was Landreth's turn. What he lacked in on-stage energy from the openers, he made up with sheer dexterous insanity. The man has chops beyond chops. If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing them, I highly recommend it. He and his band play a southern Louisiana blend of blues-zydeco-country-honk with some sometimes proggish, metal even, shredding thrown into the mix. Landreth almost exclusively plays the slide guitar. Going on visuals alone, as I have no knowledge of either of their techniques, his picking method seems awfully similar to Derek Trucks' (that should probably be the other way around obviously). Whereas Derek emits a growl from his guitar, Landreth gets more of a howl from his. Cleaner and more distinct. They played a few tunes off their forthcoming album, the best of which I thought was Blue Tarp Blues, a song about the aftermath of Katrina, and which will feature Mark Knopfler on the album. I could definitely imagine Knopfler's guitar work filling into that song quite nicely, should be sweet. Landreth plays live as a power trio which held down the fort quite admirably. Unfortunately the offer was not returned to have some Campbells join them up on stage, but I wasn't complaining. Water Street was not more than half full and was quite comfortable, though they annoyingly set up seats and tables right in front of the stage which were set off by stanchions. Though that did offer a nice unimpeded view from the sides.
Another note on the crowd: I ran into what is the exact opposite of the obnoxiously drunk and/or drugged out fan. In between sets, some older woman slides over a stool from the bar, knocks it into me, says excuse me, so I moved out of her way not knowing that she was going to place the stool down right in front of me, in fact right where I had just been standing. Um, hello? So then she plops down with her oversized bag and massively oversized 80s mass of hair. What does she pull out of her bag but knitting needles! She proceeded to knit right then and there. Oy, now I've seen it all.
It's Electric! Boogie Woogie Woogie...
06 April 2008
Victor Wooten In-store Performance
Headed over to the House of Guitars for an in-store appearance by Victor Wooten last Friday after work. The setup was not the greatest with rows of guitars lining the entire floor of the store and the stage at the end, there was basically no good vantage point unless you were in the 2 rows of people crammed in front of the display cases. I got an ok spot off to the side, but you'll see from the videos below the view still wasn't great, and the camera got a better view than I did. Anyway, he came on and talked about his new album and book and then played a tune off the album.
Then he fielded questions for about 45 minutes or so. Most of the answers came down to his philosophies on music, basically you should play music not an instrument and think of playing music like speaking a language. It was definitely interesting to hear him talk, but it ended up dragging a little near the end and I wish he would have played a bit more. I was impressed though that he stayed for so long, I was checking the time and thinking, how is he going to make his show in time? Now I know why I am always waiting in the crowd for a show to start on time. He invited a member of the audience (some dude in a camouflage truck driver hat sporting a nice big 'stache--who played a pretty mean bass incidentally) up on stage to prove a point about playing and teaching how to play. He handed over his bass and told the guy to play. So he got the guy to play without playing by imagining the drums and not thinking about playing the bass. It was pretty interesting and reminded me of those famous Phish practice sessions. Anyway, he played another short tune after the question and answer, and then he stuck around for signing.
Then he fielded questions for about 45 minutes or so. Most of the answers came down to his philosophies on music, basically you should play music not an instrument and think of playing music like speaking a language. It was definitely interesting to hear him talk, but it ended up dragging a little near the end and I wish he would have played a bit more. I was impressed though that he stayed for so long, I was checking the time and thinking, how is he going to make his show in time? Now I know why I am always waiting in the crowd for a show to start on time. He invited a member of the audience (some dude in a camouflage truck driver hat sporting a nice big 'stache--who played a pretty mean bass incidentally) up on stage to prove a point about playing and teaching how to play. He handed over his bass and told the guy to play. So he got the guy to play without playing by imagining the drums and not thinking about playing the bass. It was pretty interesting and reminded me of those famous Phish practice sessions. Anyway, he played another short tune after the question and answer, and then he stuck around for signing.
03 April 2008
Catching up: February and March
Been slacking big time, even more than usual. Saw a few good shows in the last couple of months, but have also missed quite a few. The spring and summer dates are filtering in and it looks like it should be heating up around here. Not that there hasn't been some steadily good music coming to these parts this winter. It hasn't been too shabby. Anyway, this post is somewhat pointless as I can't really comment on these shows this far past their happening...I'll just mostly be pointing you in the direction of audio/visual aids. Just checking to see if the mic is on...
Charlie Hunter played Milestones on 2/19. Audio here, and a bit of video from me here:
Every time I see Hunter play I forget how freaking good he is. No matter how many times I see him, the amazement never ceases, This outfit of his was not one of his best in my opinion. It had its moments, but overall it ended up falling a bit flat. The main problem with the show was, whereas most shows, jazz shows in particular, where there are 2 sets, the first set will be a bit of a warmup and the 2nd set is where the shit gets hot. This was the opposite and it left me feeling a little down on the show in the end. Also, the stupid local paper floated out the probability of the Campbell Brothers sitting in, and then I heard that they had played during the soundcheck, but then they never ended up playing during the show. That was a big bummer. Of course, they then showed up and played with MMW the next week when I of course got sold out of the show. Lame.
The night after that MMW show though, the Duo was in town, so it wasn't all bad. They played to a half full Club at Water Street. It was a solid show, and ended on a high note, what that high note was I can't remember, but I remember thinking it was really good. Might have been a Radiohead tune? Anyway, couldn't find this show, but they played the next night in the Cuse. Get it here.
On 3/3 went to see Ra Ra Riot (an up and coming band out of Syracuse...Syracuse? Really?) at the Bug Jar. There were 2 openers and I tried to get there a little late. Of course I ended up getting there right after the first band got started. But thank god I did. They became the highlight of the evening. It was a band from Norway called Syme, As I walked into the bar they were ripping through some dark prog jam and I pushed my way up front. I had all sorts of thoughts on these guys, but can't really remember much at this point. Luckily Brad of Bradley's Almanac fame caught them a few nights later and taped it. My video:
Most of the time they were heavy and rocking, the guitar/bass/drums duo was where it was at, but the keyboard/singer was the main guy seemingly. Some of their songs got into a bit more of a songwriter vein, and that was them at their worst in my opinion. Those tunes didn't work out as well. I felt pretty bad that they came all the way form Norway to open for what were essentially 2 local bands in our lousy Smarch weather. Oh well, they won me over at least.
I have been interested in seeing Ra Ra Riot for a year or so. They didn't disappoint. Really enjoyable set, good tunes. Definitely worth checking out sometime. They stopped by woxy.com shortly before the Rochester gig, which you can download here, and my wonderful video work for you to enjoy:
I'll be back soon, promise...
Charlie Hunter played Milestones on 2/19. Audio here, and a bit of video from me here:
Every time I see Hunter play I forget how freaking good he is. No matter how many times I see him, the amazement never ceases, This outfit of his was not one of his best in my opinion. It had its moments, but overall it ended up falling a bit flat. The main problem with the show was, whereas most shows, jazz shows in particular, where there are 2 sets, the first set will be a bit of a warmup and the 2nd set is where the shit gets hot. This was the opposite and it left me feeling a little down on the show in the end. Also, the stupid local paper floated out the probability of the Campbell Brothers sitting in, and then I heard that they had played during the soundcheck, but then they never ended up playing during the show. That was a big bummer. Of course, they then showed up and played with MMW the next week when I of course got sold out of the show. Lame.
The night after that MMW show though, the Duo was in town, so it wasn't all bad. They played to a half full Club at Water Street. It was a solid show, and ended on a high note, what that high note was I can't remember, but I remember thinking it was really good. Might have been a Radiohead tune? Anyway, couldn't find this show, but they played the next night in the Cuse. Get it here.
On 3/3 went to see Ra Ra Riot (an up and coming band out of Syracuse...Syracuse? Really?) at the Bug Jar. There were 2 openers and I tried to get there a little late. Of course I ended up getting there right after the first band got started. But thank god I did. They became the highlight of the evening. It was a band from Norway called Syme, As I walked into the bar they were ripping through some dark prog jam and I pushed my way up front. I had all sorts of thoughts on these guys, but can't really remember much at this point. Luckily Brad of Bradley's Almanac fame caught them a few nights later and taped it. My video:
Most of the time they were heavy and rocking, the guitar/bass/drums duo was where it was at, but the keyboard/singer was the main guy seemingly. Some of their songs got into a bit more of a songwriter vein, and that was them at their worst in my opinion. Those tunes didn't work out as well. I felt pretty bad that they came all the way form Norway to open for what were essentially 2 local bands in our lousy Smarch weather. Oh well, they won me over at least.
I have been interested in seeing Ra Ra Riot for a year or so. They didn't disappoint. Really enjoyable set, good tunes. Definitely worth checking out sometime. They stopped by woxy.com shortly before the Rochester gig, which you can download here, and my wonderful video work for you to enjoy:
I'll be back soon, promise...
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