Concert review: The Dodos don’t dumb down Off Broadway, Saturday, September 24

The Dodos

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Singer and guitarist, Meric Long hopped up on stage sporting a pair of scuffed boots, a plaid shirt and long greasy hair. He placed a shot of whiskey and a glass of water on the stage, picked up an electric guitar and strummed into “Trades and Tariffs” off 2006′s “Beware of the Maniacs.”

The other half of the Dodos, drummer and multi-percussionist Logan Kroeber, cranked into the song’s hook. Seated in a cheap-looking office chair, he stomped a tambourine with his foot and banged out a complicated rhythm on the rims and heads of four positioned floor toms. The jam-packed Off Broadway lit up like an early Halloween pumpkin with firecrackers shoved in its teeth.

Next, the Dodos leapt into “Men,” which featured flights of Animal Collective-esque whimsy, bursts of shouting, copious rim shots and Kroeber’s masterful African Ewe drumming. Long addressed the audience with the poignant lyrics: “We are in love, we are at war.” The song blew up into a bridge of complex strumming and syncopated drumming. “Good,” from 2011′s “No Color,” galloped along like an unbridled stallion as Long looped a set of “ohs” and “ahs,” and screamed “Don’t be late!”

Kroeber prematurely banged the double toms of “Black Night” and joked, “Just kidding!” which elicited laughs from the crowd, as well as a slew of fake, attention-seeking theatrical laughter from one overly verbose female attendee. Unshaken, Long stared her down as he strummed the bass notes of the track’s opening bars with a sharpened thumbnail. Long invited some unnamed musician friends on stage for “Sleep.” A woman wearing a peacock dress sang backup vocals and rattled a string of vegan goat hoofs in time with Kroeber. A second percussionist banged a small, dented-up trashcan, as another guest tooted on a French horn.

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Posted by | September 25, 2011 | Concerts | Comment 

They Might Be Giants return to St. Louis and the Pageant, tonight

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They Might Be Giants know a thing or two about staying power. With a fun and arty sound the band continues to pull out surprises and memorable pop songs.

Originally a duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, They Might Be Giants has remained a pillar in indie rock over the last three decades. The band has maintained a hefty cult following since the mid-’80s with their nerdy personas and smart songwriting. Eccentricity also largely contributed to the band’s popularity. When the duo first started writing together, they used their original songs on a Dial-a-Song phone line’s answering machine in an attempt to share their music. Odd and memorable videos accompanied the group’s popular songs such as “Don’t Lets Start” and “Ana Ng.”

The band flirted briefly with the mainstream with their early ’90s albums and adopted a full live band. Many devoted fans felt estranged and betrayed that their band appeared on MTV and changed up their less conventional sound. But They Might Be Giants were always a little too quirky to do what’s expected of an alternative band; and that was quite clear when the band began releasing children’s albums such as “Here Comes the 123′s,” “Here Comes the ABC’s” and “Here Comes Science” throughout the last decade.

After creating original music for animated movies and collaborating on children’s books They Might Be Giants return to the adult-oriented rock with 2011′s “Join Us.”

KDHX welcomes They Might Be Giants to the Pageant on Saturday, September 24.

They Might Be Giants: Live at KDHX 10/9/09

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Posted by | September 24, 2011 | Concerts, Video/Film | Comment 

Concert review: The Psychedelic Furs and Tom Tom Club bring ’80s nostalgia to the Pageant, Friday, September 23

The Psychedelic Furs

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With the balcony closed, the main floor of the Pageant was nearly packed Friday night for an ’80s time-machine double bill of Tom Tom Club and the Psychedelic Furs. A fan of both bands in my high school years, I was excited to see the Furs again and experience Tom Tom Club live for the first time.

As they took the stage, the floor was already full (unusual for the opening act), and as Tom Tom Club began working their addictive new wave synth pop, the dance party was on. Tina Weymouth looked adorable in a blue, sequined mini-dress, sneakers and schoolgirl like pigtails as she plucked her bright red bass guitar and danced all around the stage with singer Victoria Clamp.

The band, started in 1981 by Weymouth and fellow Talking Heads veteran drummer/percussionist Chris Frantz, played a few Heads covers including “Take Me to the River” and “Psycho Killer” as well as their own tunes including obligatory hit “Genius of Love,” which got everyone moving. Their groovy sound, filled with ’80s optimism, was a great mood-setter for the evening.

Following a brief break, the Psychedelic Furs made their way onstage to cheers from the mostly 40+ audience. It was a Generation X fest and everyone on the floor wore a nostalgic grin as lead singer Richard Butler began belting the first notes of “Like a Stranger.”

Wearing black trousers, a black button-down shirt, black vest and thick black glasses, Butler looked like a slightly more mature, somewhat “nutty professor” version of his ’80s self; but his voice sounds exactly the same. Granted, his singing style was never what you’d call completely melodic — more of a raspy growl — but it hasn’t changed a bit, making the Furs sound truly timeless.

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Posted by | September 24, 2011 | Concerts | Comment 

Album review: Wilco resumes the rock story on ‘The Whole Love’

Wilco - The Whole Love

Wilco
“The Whole Love”
dBpm/ANTI

Whenever you listen to a piece of music, what you are actually doing is hearing the latest sentence in a very long story you’ve been listening to — all the pieces of music you’ve ever heard. – Brian Eno

We are most often aware of subjective musical experiences, but we probably think much less about the extent to which time and place affects those experiences. The world first heard Wilco’s watershed album “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” 10 years ago this week (though released on April 23, 2002 it began streaming from the band’s website on September 18, 2001). That record echoed what many were feeling at a tumultuous time: It was desperate yet hopeful, maddened yet passionate. It triggered the kind of sonic resonance that we often seek but seldom find. The band’s following LP, “A Ghost Is Born” (2004), was equally raw and searing and cemented the band’s status as indie-rock royalty.

Wilco’s next two albums were often met with responses from fans and critics somewhere between apathy and derision. “Sky Blue Sky” (2007) was too soft and conservative. “Wilco (The Album)” (2009) was simply boring. What we expected from these records we weren’t so sure of, but we knew that we didn’t quite get it.

Both albums contain a healthy number of achingly beautiful and wonderfully crafted songs. While they aren’t career records, they certainly weren’t failures either. What would they have sounded like to us had the Wilco discography been rearranged, with these late efforts appearing before or amongst “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” and “A Ghost Is Born”? Did we expect too much from them? Did they give us too little? The answer is most likely in between, but the real resolution would have been to listen to them with open ears and without expectations.

“The Whole Love” is Wilco’s eighth full-length studio album. The record doesn’t reach the brilliance of the band’s aforementioned peak performances, but that’s no slight. These songs are loose and inspired, with the occasional overplaying and over-arranging of the past two records entirely absent.

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Posted by | September 23, 2011 | Album Reviews | Comment 

Concert review: Alison Krauss and Union Station stage impressive comeback at the Fox Theatre, Thursday, September 22

Alison Krauss and Union Station at the Fox Theatre, September 23, 2011

Jarred Gastreich

After a bit of a hiatus due to her Grammy-winning collaboration with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss is back with Union Station.

The band is touring to support its first record of new material in more than six years, “Paper Airplane,” and they proved to the audience at the Fox Theater last night that they haven’t lost a step during the break.

The band took the stage with no fanfare and kicked off the show with the first two tracks from their latest record, the title cut and “Dust Bowl Children,” featuring multi-instrumentalist Dan Tyminski on vocals. They then slid into the instrumental “Who’s Your Uncle” from band member (and dobro master) Jerry Douglas’ solo record “The Best Kept Secret,” before Krauss took a breather and spun a tale of watching late-night commercials for cosmetic neck lifts and the Genie Bra on the way to the gig. Krauss has always had an easy-going charm, and she immediately connected with the audience. From then on, she commanded the crowd’s full attention.

The show wasn’t merely a marketing event for the latest record. Krauss and company, periodically augmented by a percussionist and pianist, laid down a solid set of songs documenting the band’s history, from 1989′s “Two Highways” through their latest release, with several stops at 2001′s “New Favorite” and, of course, the “O’ Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack, along the way.

With so much musical firepower at their disposal, the band was surprisingly restrained. Except for a couple of extended solo dobro improvs by Douglas that marked the halfway point of the performance, there were no rollicking jams or careening solos.

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Posted by | September 23, 2011 | Concerts | Comment 

Concert review: The Joy Formidable and U.S. Royalty amplify the Firebird, Wednesday, September 21

US Royalty at the Firebird, September 21, 2011

US Royalty / Meghan McGlynn

U.S. Royalty — perhaps named as such because lead singer John Thornley’s swagger is decidedly Mick-Jagger-inspired and bassist Jacob Michael is most certainly this century’s Slash, at least in terms of hair and rocking out — does not, at first glance and listen, make sense.

Perhaps it is the mix of aesthetics — John’s shockingly gold sparkle top and white snakeskin boots, drummer Luke Adams’ buzz cut that could only have been modeled after the most recent armed forces enlistee: This wasn’t the standard indie rock look you see at the Firebird. And the lyrics — a surface listen of which at best conjure some sort of ’80s romance movie soundtrack — “Monte Carlo you keep in your dreams / Along with horses, princes, and kings” — just add to the pastiche. Incongruous, indeed.

But a deeper listen, a willingness to allow these disparate elements of fashion, sounds and sentiments nevertheless to merge into a single moment, a single space, reveals something truly fascinating, and, well, integrated. Under the surface lurks something with integrity. Think raw, southern American blues rock; not so much Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd, but more like the movie Black Snake Moan. Yes, these four skinny-jeaned and lady-blazered white boys from Washington D.C., when they sing, “Come now, follow your heart, young American soul / I hear you crying out in the night / I hear your heartbeat, on these dead end streets / I hear you screaming out to the light,” somehow evoke Samuel L. Jackson in his most “aim to cure you of your wickedness” kind of way.

U.S. Royalty opened for the Joy Formidable last night at the Firebird, touting their single “Equestrian,” which is nice, and which had their fans “oh oh oh oh oh”ing along with them for the chorus, but this more popular tune was not their moment of triumph. Rather, USR’s 10-minute rendition of “The Desert Won’t Save You” from their recent self-released album “Mirrors,” in a single song, accomplished what all openers should and must do: They set the stage for a full-bore rock show. “There’s a strong desert wind / and it’s creepin’ in, creepin’ in… / Oh this is the season of my prime… / Don’t doubt me now… / I’m gonna lay you down.” Laid down we were, prone and primed for The Joy Formidable. “It’s the witching hour.”

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Posted by | September 22, 2011 | Concerts | Comment 

All Aboard for Fun Times: St. Louis show highlights for September 23-25

All Aboard for Fun Times Train

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Here’s another hectic weekend. They will be for a while, as autumn festivals hit full stride:

Friday, September 23

This week’s free evening show at Atomic Cowboy (4140 Manchester) offers the Skekses, a folk duo featuring the powerful voice of Elly Herget. This runs 6-10. You may encounter smoke if weather permits this to occur on the patio, as planned.

An album release show for rockabilly act Bible Belt Sinners also takes place here tonight in the adjacent concert venue, The Fox Hole, with support of similar ilk from Butcher Holler and Rat Rod Kings. Starts at 9, with a $7 cover (no age info posted). Smoke-free.

A word of warning: there’s also a DJ/techno/disco-type thing happening at 10, and these normally occur in the adjacent room, with the sound frequently bleeding into the band venue. Brilliant!

Tonight through Sunday offers the annual Taste of St. Louis downtown, on Market and Chestnut between Tucker and 14th. It includes a loaded roster of acts to sate your musical palate, here’s the Friday line-up:

While there’s no cover to attend, this isn’t really set up as an event where you can enjoy sample-sized items, priced accordingly; the majority of items are full-sized/priced portions. It’s best to go with others, so you can share and avoid having to choose between wasting food/money or limiting yourself to a narrow selection (maybe they’ll do more taste-sized offerings this year, what with the robust economy and all).

The Horrors / The Stepkids
Firebird 2706 Olive 9-1 $15 (+2 under 21) Smoke-free

UK band TH started out showing a strong garage/punk influence, moving into more of a goth/synth style recently. TS offer a funky, synth-heavy sound that evokes Young Americans, Lodger-era David Bowie.

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Posted by | September 22, 2011 | Concerts, News | Comment 

With ‘Pearl Jam Twenty’ Cameron Crowe composes a love letter for fans

A young Eddie Vedder / pj20.com

A young Eddie Vedder / pj20.com

After standing in a line that extended around the side of the Tivoli Theater in the U-City loop clear to the back of the adjacent parking lot and into the alley Tuesday evening, we finally took our seats for the sold-out, one-night-only theatrical premiere of the highly anticipated Cameron Crowe documentary “Pearl Jam Twenty.”

This film is essentially a two-hour love letter to one of the greatest rock bands of the last two decades on their 20th anniversary, directed by one of the most beloved rock journalists and filmmakers of our time. This is quite simply a movie for the fans. It almost assuredly wouldn’t have been as effective in any other hands but Crowe’s. A rock journalist and contributing editor for Rolling Stone since the tender age of 18, as well as the director of popular films like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Say Anything,” “Singles,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Almost Famous,” Crowe has deep ties to Seattle and its legendary music scene.

Crowe moved to the Emerald City (home of his now ex-wife Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart) in the mid-’80s, as the legendary grunge scene was just burgeoning with bands like Green River and Mudhoney. Crowe is wise in paying tribute to Pearl Jam’s true roots in the beginning of “Pearl Jam Twenty” highlighting the rise and fall of Mother Love Bone, the beloved Seattle band that included future Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament and rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard. The film shows some rare early live footage of Mother Love Bone and its tragic hero, lead singer Andrew Wood, who died suddenly of a heroin overdose in 1990 just before the band released its acclaimed debut album, “Apple.”

It’s fair to say that without Mother Love Bone, there would be no Pearl Jam, and Crowe digs deep with Gossard and Ament, as well as Soundgarden front-man Chris Cornell, who lived with Wood and was a close friend, getting them to open up and speak candidly about how Wood’s death affected them. Crowe was known in his early days at Rolling Stone for being a reporter who was trusted by bands that trusted no one, getting them to show their true selves in ways that other reporters just couldn’t. He succeeds in the same manner with these interviews.

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Posted by | September 22, 2011 | Music, Video/Film | Comment 

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