Akron Family 4/22/13 The Spaceland Ballroom

First time at the new Space-node. The Spaceland Ballroom is the largest "Space" yet. It is connected to the Outer-Space by a hallway. The Akron Family create sheets of sound with some droney vocals. Two guitars (sometimes bass), keys (sometimes drum machine), and drums. Song structure was loose, and many of the songs were deemed "new". Good crowd for a Monday night. Final song, "I Get Tired Standing on Something I Can't See" was killer.

Holy Ghost Tent Revival 4/16/13 Cafe Nine

How can you resist  a show with a name like HGTR? Young tour warriors from North Carolina. Southern rock with kind of a psycho trombone player out front. Good song structure: "One Step Outside Your Door", "Sway Like the Old Days" had a nice acapella ending. Trombone, guitar/vocalsx2, bass/vocals, and drums. Sparse crowd for a Tuesday.

David Wax Museum, Kingsley Flood, Plume Giant 4/14/13 Cafe Nine

Caught the last song of Yalie trio Plume Giant. Transplanted to Brooklyn and a complete recording under their belt, this two-guitar, fiddle, and harmony vocal trio are great. Wished i got to the club earlier to hear more. Kingsley Flood I noticed was on this year's uber-hip Newport Folkfest lineup. This band will fit nicely. A savory blend of Avett Bros., Wilco, and punk, this band could rock. Guy and girl singers made for great frenzied interplay. Girl played fiddle and sax too. Songs like "Set in Stone", and "i Don't Wanna Go Home" seriously rocked. Chatting with lead singer Yassim who said they were only on Newport's bill for summer festivals. Headliner David Wax Museum has been in this blog before. I like their sound of guy-girl vocals and latin influences. Unfortunately, the girl was sick and unable to play. DWM soldiered on as a trio. They put on a good show despite missing a key component. The girl sings, plays fiddle, and percussion (banging on cow skulls and such) so she was sorely missed. No letdown because this was truly a great triple bill. I would recommend seeing any of these bands.

Helen Money w/ Sea of Bones 3/20/13 Bar

Opener Sea of Bones had an abrasive 3-man doom-metal sound. So abrasive, that I had to wait in another room to save my ears. There were plenty of fans, this is just not the kind of music i'm familiar with. Sheets of sound driven by guitar, bass, and drums is the requisite band geometry. My problem is the inaudible, gravel-throated lyrics that punctuate the noise...i don't see the point. The sound of three cavemen being dragged by a city bus, even if the show was free, is difficult. The final "song" started with a nice reverb-drenched instrumental intro (like "Set Your Controls to the Heart of the Sun", by Pink Floyd), which was great until they started to sing and the song devolved into unlistenableness.
    Helen Money, from Chicago then LA, was billed as a punk cellist. Her music was a sinister mix of plucks and loops. Cellist of choice for the SST punk label, one could see why Sea of Bones opened. Money didn't try to sing, the array of loops and effects made for interesting soundscapes. Money also had a jazz background, one tune was an homage to a recording studio where Charlie Parker recorded. Beautiful plucked cover of a Mahavishnu (i think) song.

Mary Gauthier w/ Scott and Joanna 3/14/13 Cafe Nine

Nice to see Mary at Cafe Nine. Canadians Scott on guitar and Joanna on drums beefed out Mary's sound into folk rock territory. A singer-songwriter from Nawlins, Mary has led a checkered life. A junkie prostitute in her teens led to jailtime. Mary rocked some favorites: I Drink (either the saddest or the funniest song ever, covered by Blake Shelton), Drag Queens and Limousines, Last of the Hobo Kings, In and Out of Love ( written on a tourbus in Vienna). Rousing last song Wheel in the Well then closed with Mercy Now (soon to be covered by Boy George). Mary Gauthier is the consummate songwriter, winning the CMA for the Gay Country category is just the start for someone who came to the craft later in life.

The Big Gigantic 2/20/13 Toads Place

Capacity crowd of 20 yr olds to see drum and sax combo BG. Found a relatively safe viewing location amongst the throng. A young wide-eyed hipster could not stop high fiving me the entire evening. Kids in shorts (it was single digits outside), shirtless binky sucking next,next gen hippie converged at Toads for the scene. The show was similar to the 2011 GOTV Saturday late night, two white guys one played drums while the other played sax and laptop. Computer generated bass shook one's leg hair but the music was not inspired. Vocal snippets and computer crescendo seemed to move the crowd, but not me. This music is more of a backdrop for the scene, kind of like disco for the times. It's ironic that BG used to be affiliated with the Motet, one of the best percussion-heavy jam troupes in Colorado history. I left early for an easy exit to see the streets crawling with cops poised to scoop up those with the largest pupils. As with most music like this, it is best heard outside.

The Residents, Iron Horse Northampton MA 2/13/13

I consider myself fortunate to have persevered blizzard charlotte's aftermath to view the "40 Years of Weird" tour by the Residents. While I cannot begin to explain the checkered history of this avant-art-rock collective, my notes on the evening's festivities seem like the best kind of review. To set the stage, two giant inflatable snowmen with intertwining candy canes form an entrance to the stage. The players, Randy: lead singer/talker dressed as Santa, Chuck: keyboards and electronics, dressed as a chicken, and Bob: on guitar, dressed as a bug. Here goes: Picnic n the Jungle//Demented Midget in a co-dependent relationship with a giant//Struggles//Snakefinger dies of a heart attack in Austria in the 80s// Randy has fight with his swivel chair shaped like a huge pair of lips//between songs Randy rocks autistically on candy cane entrance// chuck lives on a chicken farm, randy lives with cat Maurice on West Pico in LA// randy was beat by eddie murphy for the donkey voice in the Shrek movie...fahk//chuck aims electronic etchasketch at keyboard for a feedback solo//bob seems like Buckethead in his metal-prog approach to guitar//randy has been married 11 times//mandy's butt->everything is black// friend lenny does porno films, rnady's profile pic has him with fake phallus so he "couldn't even make it in the porno business!"// maurice gets hit by a car but only needs a small amputation//lost all money in media-rich "mole" phase in the 90s//randy kicks candy cane, it deflates as he exits// bob skronks out a version of "o tannenbaum" as randy blows up a huge christmas tree with eyeball as the star// closes with "auld lang syne"...............wow