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The Fiery Furnaces – World Cafe Live (Philadelphia) – May 6, 2011
Ted Leo with Noun – Kung Fu Necktie (Philadelphia) – May 1, 2011
Please see my full review here.
Buffalo Tom – The M Room (Philadelphia) – April 29, 2011
Although I’d seen Buffalo Tom on two other occasions, I’ve never seen them play with such incredible passion and energy. Perhaps the small club setting helped, but this was just exhilarating! Next to this past March’s Sebadoh show, this was the best ’90s-era indie rock show I’ve seen this year and with Dinosaur Jr, Guided by Voices and Archers of Loaf touring this year, too, it’s tempting to think that the calendar’s been turned back to the mid ’90s.
Low with A Stick and a Stone – First Unitarian Church (Philadelphia) – April 25, 2011
Overall, despite the oppressive heat inside the church sanctuary that made us decide to leave before the encore, Low put on a show that I enjoyed more than the last time they played here in support of 2007’s Drums and Guns. They focused much more on more recent material (from 2005’s The Great Destroyer up to this year’s recently released C’mon). Opener A Stick and a Stone, the nom de plume of singer-songwriter Elliott Harvey, played an appropriately quiet and reflective set that set the stage for the headliners quite nicely.
Screaming Females – Castle Talk (Don Giovanni)
After seeing Noun open for Ted Leo last week, I played this one again after not hearing it for a while since it came out last year. I still consider it by far their best work to date and a quantum leap in terms of songwriting, production and Marissa Paternoster‘s vocals from their previous albums.
Greg Sage – Straight Ahead (Enigma)
I picked up a really nice, clean vinyl copy of this 1984 gem recently at Joe’s Record Paradise in Silver Spring, MD. Up to 1985’s Land of the Lost, pretty much everything that Greg Sage recorded both with Wipers and solo (this album) was nothing short of amazing and the later records range from very good to great as well.
The Shocking Blue – The Shocking Blue (Colossus)
During the same trip to Joe’s Record Paradise, I also found a banged-up but still playable copy of this 1970 classic. Most known for #1 hit “Venus” (later covered by Bananarama) and for having Nirvana cover “Love Buzz” on their 1989 debut Bleach, this was essentially the U.S. version of 1969’s At Home along with a few songs taken out and others tacked on for the U.S. market. If I had to describe this, it would be a Grace Slick sound-a-like singing over ultra-catchy, fuzzed-out, slightly psychedelic garage pop. To me, it sounds like heaven and this band should be known for way more than several songs.
Exene Cervenka – The Excitement of Maybe (Bloodshot)
After not releasing a solo album since 1996’s Surface to Air Serpents, Exene released 2009’s reflective, somber Somewhere Gone. Unlike the material she’d recorded with her bands Auntie Christ and The Original Sinners (both ripping punk bands) and The Knitters‘ 2005 album Modern Sounds of the Knitters, Somewhere Gone returned to the country-folk territory of 1989’s Old Wives’ Tales and 1990’s Running Sacred. The Excitement of Maybe is a bit more upbeat and though no songs immediately stand out, it’s a fine listen that will hopefully grow and reveal itself over time like Somewhere Gone did.
Noun – Holy Hell (Don Giovanni)
The solo project of Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females, this disc ranges from songs that could fit in on one of her band’s albums to solo excursions similar to Wipers’ quieter moments to other ideas as well.
Nada Surf – If I Had a Hi-Fi (Mardev)
Admittedly, I don’t normally enjoy cover albums, but this one is definitely an exception. Nada Surf succeed in putting their own spin on songs by everyone from Depeche Mode to Dwight Twilley to The Go-Betweens (and more obscure figures like Bill Fox) without alienating fans of the original songs, a very difficult trick to pull off. Their cover of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” is a standout as one doesn’t even recognize the song until its chorus. They make it sound as if they’d written it, in other words, and that’s no small feat.
