X with Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts- World Cafe Live (Philadelphia, PA) – June 4, 2009
As with all of the other times I’ve seen them with the original lineup, X completely knocked my socks off! Although we missed the encores in order to catch DEAN AND BRITTA later that night at Johnny Brenda’s, we still managed to see a good two-thirds of the show and let me tell you, it was absolutely spectacular. Although World Cafe Live may be, at least in some people’s eyes, too “nice” of a venue for a punk rock band, I can’t complain. I love the incredible sound as well as the fact that all of their shows end by 11 PM or so. It is expensive and most of the food is mediocre, but they have a pretty decent beer selection. In any case, X sounded great there and they even pulled out a few songs I’d never heard them do before, such as “My Goodness” (from the underrated 1985 album Ain’t Love Grand) and the title track of their 1982 classic Under the Big Black Sun.
As for Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts, they were a reasonable warm-up act for X, playing fairly standard issue roots-rock. This sounds odd to say because of Soto’s pedigree (he is a former member of AGENT ORANGE and THE ADOLESCENTS), but it could use a bit more edge, a bit more punk rock, if you will, to really put it over the top.
Dean and Britta with Cheval Sombre and Wild Carnation –
Johnny Brenda’s (Philadelphia, PA) – June 4, 2009
To be totally honest, I thought that the first third to half of Dean and Britta’s set the other night at Johnny Brenda’s was a little bit on the dull side. In the interest of full disclosure, we’d just come from seeing X at World Cafe Live and perhaps for this reason I wasn’t quite prepared for the completely different vibe of this show. In any case, once they started playing GALAXIE 500 songs (including their first single “Tugboat”), the set really started to get going. Finishing the main set with their take on the SERGE GAINSBOURG/BRIGITTE BARDOT duet “Bonnie and Clyde” (which LUNA recorded in 1995), Dean Wareham’s guitar histrionics really came out of hiding here. We even get a cover of NEW ORDER‘s first single “Ceremony” (a song Galaxie 500 recorded and played live as well) for the encore. What a great way for the set to end!
As for Cheval Sombre, I was really hoping that I’d like them more than I did given the fact that both Dean and Britta are in the band and that SONIC BOOM (who I recently saw terrorize Kung Fu Necktie with noise a few months back) produced their debut album. They reminded me a lot of ACETONE, BEACHWOOD SPARKS and other ’90s bands who tried to capture the “cosmic American music” sound of GRAM PARSONS and while I normally like that sort of thing, their set just wasn’t that memorable.
Unfortunately, we missed the great Wild Carnation because we were still at the X show when they were playing.
Grant Hart with Doomed to Obscurity and Trained Attack Dogs – Johnny Brenda’s (Philadelphia, PA) – June 2, 2009
It was my first time seeing Grant Hart. I almost skipped this show and decided to go at the last minute and boy am I glad that I did. Hart, armed with just an electric guitar plugged into a tiny amp (boy did the Johnny Brenda’s stage look barren), he proceeded to play some newer, as-of-yet unreleased material before going straight for the classics. We got HUSKER DU‘s “Pink Turns to Blue,” “Never Talking to You Again,” “Terms of Psychic Warfare,” “Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill,” “Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely,” “Back from Somewhere” and “She Floated Away”. Wow!
In addition to this, we also got some great solo tracks like “2541” and “Letter from Anne Marie” along with his ’90s band NOVA MOB‘s “Last Days of Pompeii”.
Jay Reatard – “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me”
The first single from his forthcoming debut Lp on Matador (not counting the run of brilliant, ultra-limited 7” singles he released last year that were later compiled as Matador Singles 08 with an additional bonus track) is an absolute scorcher, perhaps the equal of the best stuff on Blood Visions, his incredible 2006 album. I can’t wait to hear what the rest of it sounds like. In the meantime, you can listen to it here.
Elvis Costello – Secret, Profane and Sugarcane (Hear Music)
Featuring an absolutely gorgeous front cover drawn by the renowned artist TONY MILLIONAIRE, this is a vastly different record from last year’s Momofuku. Instead of a rock and roll record with his band THE IMPOSTERS, this is Costello backed by top-notch bluegrass musicians picked out by producer T-BONE BURNETT (most famous for producing the soundtrack to the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? as well as the ROBERT PLANT/ALISON KRAUSS collaboration Raising Sand but also a fine musician and songwriter in his own right and a past collaborator and producer of Costello’s as well).
As such, it’s no King of America (the 1986 masterpiece which was last Costello album that was as roots-based though 2004’s The Delivery Man had its share of such moments as well), but it’s still a nice listen. The re-recording of “Complicated Shadows” (originally recorded for 1996’s underrated All This Useless Beauty) is particularly compelling.
Captain Sensible – Beauty Bar (New York) – May 15, 2009
No, the Captain didn’t play an afterparty full of solo hits like “Wot,” “Glad It’s All Over” and “Happy Talk” (though that would’ve been fun, too), but rather he DJ’d at this East Village bar last month. Leading off with CHRIS SPEDDING‘s awesome “Motorbikin’”, it’s a great listen all the way through. The material, ranging from the mid ’60s LOVE classic “7 and 7 Is” to early ’70s glam stompers, but focuses mostly on the Captain’s late ’70s UK punk peers. You can listen here.
Necracedia – Fight for Change EP (Bad Card)
I used to have this 7”, but sold it years ago. I’m not sure why, as I always liked this late ’80s/early ’90s Pittsburgh-based hardcore punk band. Their sound was a little bit crunchy and metallic, but still clearly punk-oriented and surprisingly catchy and melodic as well.
Though it’s been long out-of-print and hard to track down, thanks to the wonder of mp3 blogs, I was able to find it here.
Husker Du – Minneapolis is Burning (Nu Noize)
A live show recorded at the height of their artistic powers in their hometown in 1985, this mostly features tunes from New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig (which I believe had yet to be released at that point) along with even a few from the following year’s Candy Apple Grey. The only song I’d never heard before here is “I Don’t Know for Sure” as well as a cover of the JERRY LEIBER/MIKE STOLLER-penned “You’re So Square” interspersed with the instrumental “The Wit and Widsom”. You can find it here.
The Horrors – Strange House (XL)
Leading off with a cover of the garage-rock classic “Jack the Ripper” and with great song titles like “Sheena is a Parasite”, The Horrors lead the listener through 40 minutes of deathrock, garagey madness. It’s almost impossible to listen to them without thinking of THE CRAMPS, THE FALL and especially THE BIRTHDAY PARTY and NICK CAVE, so if they have any fault, it’s that they don’t hide their influences all that well.
Still, this is great, energetic stuff. Since Strange House was released in 2007, they’ve released Primary Colours (which I haven’t heard yet) in the last month.
Beastie Boys – “Lee Majors Come Again” EP
Included in only a few copies of the recent vinyl reissue of their 1992 album Check Your Head ala the “golden tickets” in the 1972 movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, this 7” features a great A-side which features the Beasties rapping over one of their hardcore punk tracks. The B-side, “B Boys in the Cut”, is an a cappella track that reminds me of the “Cookie Puss” 12”. Overall, this is a pretty solid 7”, though I definitely prefer the A-side.
