Monday, February 28, 2011
Rock Review: Cage The Elephant
Posted by Danielle Look on Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 11:30 AM
A sign that hung on the entrance to The Vogue for weeks said, “Cage The Elephant is sold-out. Really- you can’t get tickets.” On Friday night at 10 p.m., it definitely felt like a sold-out show, too. There was no chance of finding a decent vantage point in the balcony and the floor was shoulder-to-shoulder all the way past the lower level bar. As soon as Cage The Elephant took stage and began to play, the pit in front of the stage lost all composure.
Cage’s wild frontman, Matt Shultz, confessed during the show a love for “this crowd surfing stuff," and just 30 minutes in, his crowd-walking habits had already been on display three times during the first four songs. Not long after, the audience found its balance — rambunctious concertgoers voyaged to the front while stationary viewers drifted towards the back. It was amusing to watch people angered over the intrusion of their personal bubble of space, especially the couple behind me who persistently jabbed their elbows in my back. Yelling at people to quit moshing during Cage the Elephant is like putting a bowl of food in front of a starved puppy and then telling him not to eat; it’s going to happen and you can’t stop it. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
The band's repertoire was split evenly between new and old material, alternating between songs from Cage’s debut album and fresh tracks from Thank You Happy Birthday. Interestingly, the crowd was just as involved during songs from the new album as during older tunes. To me, this signaled true fan dedication rather than a case of the “I heard their single on the radio and now I’m their biggest fan” syndrome. The band practiced good crowd control, too; extra-rowdy songs were frequently followed up by something slower and calmer, even lullaby-esque at times.
During one particularly striking song (ironically titled “Indy Kidz," from Thank You Happy Birthday), the lights cast an eerie red shadow across the stage and the band erupted in a thumping, Dick Dale-like, surf-guitar-meets-punk-rock number. Shultz flapped his arms in a haphazard swimming motion and white strobe lights flickered relentlessly. In a total state of pandemonium, a man with a hardy build was tossed into the air by his buddies and sent sailing across the sea of raging bodies. During an interlude, the song slowed, its mood shifting from screaming chaos to a mysterious daze of complacency. In total Jim Morrison fashion, mumbles and moans spilled from Shultz’s mouth before he dropped his fatigued body into the crowd, repeatedly babbling “I want to be just… like… you…”
Cage saved “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” until the end of the show, playing it just before closer “Shake Me Down.” A few bars in, Shultz stopped the song and addressed The Vogue security staff who were disciplining particularly disorderly audience members. “Stop fuckin’ with our audience!” he yelled. “I appreciate what you’re doing, but they’re okay.” The crowd went wild with approval.
During a three-song encore that included a rousing cover of the Talking Heads classic “Psycho Killer," Shultz dove into the crowd from atop the towering speakers stage right, just as he did when the band opened for Silversun Pickups in 2009. This time though, the audience knew what to do and immediately compressed with arms stretched high to the sky. Seconds later Shultz was on top of those arms, climbing across bodies as he headed towards the back of the floor. Fans from the balcony leaned over and reached for Shultz while those on the floor lifted him towards the ceiling. Despite their earlier disagreeable encounter, Vogue security safely escorted Shultz back to the stage.
Offering closure to the untamed and unruly show, Shultz made multiple attempts to finish the night with a solo acoustic version of “Right Before My Eyes,” but ultimately said “fuck it” and put his guitar down to instead perform a cappella. Except that it wasn’t really a cappella, since the entire room sang every word with him.
Watch the staggering 13-minute finale below.
Danielle covers local music for NUVO.net and IndyMojo.com.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Rock / Roots Roots/Rock Notes: Johnny, Ryan and Bobbie
Posted by Rob Nichols on Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Since it was the weekend of the righteouseness that is the Cash Bash at Radio Radio (celebrating the awesomeness of the cross-genre legend that was Johnny), here's some related notes to know and places to digitally go:
• Cash's latest album (via the archives) came out on Tuesday; the Johnny Cash - Bootlegs 2: From Memphis to Hollywood set was released Feburary 22, and is a collection of rare recordings from Johnny Cash's early career. The first CD covers Cash's career in Memphis from late 1954 to late 1957, including a a Memphis radio broadcast hosted by Cash, and 18 previously unreleased demos/songs, including outtakes from Sun Records. The second disc gathers Cash's non-album singles, outtakes and B-sides he recorded for Columbia from 1958 to 1969, following his move to Los Angeles. (read more from Cash's website)
• Just for fun, here's a website worth ten (or 60) minutes of your time tonight. It's a simple idea executed brilliantly: An online music video tribute to Johnny Cash where you "contribute" a drawing to create a one-of-a-kind music video for "Ain't No Grave," the title track from "American VI: Ain't No Grave".
It's really easy to do, and a bit addicting.
You draw right on the website and instantly submit. I took me about 15 minutes to do my first contribution and I wanted to create more. Watch the video when you first come to the site - you will understand the process quickly. And look for my drawing on frame 948.
Go to the Johnny Cash Project
MORE:
• The Band Perry, who Ex-Elms guitarist Thom Daugherty has been touring with as an "all things string" sideman", was just awarded a gold record (500,000 US album sales) for their debut album. Daugherty has been lending a little rock crunch to their country-pop, "two brothers with a lead singer sister" hook. They've gigged on TheTonight Show and The View, among other live appearances, and in April, start a four-month run opening for Tim McGraw - they play at Deer Creek on July 17. And we saw on Facebook that Daugherty got together with Elms ex-bandmates over lunch a week or so ago to talk about the band's DVD that is getting ready to be edited. They write that the live footage from the final show has morphed into a bit of career retrospective.
• Bit of a buzz for Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses show at Birdy's on March 10. I've seen the show mentioned on music blogs and websites over the past couple of weeks. And they were the subject of the question I got asked a half-dozen times from audience members at the Truth and Salvage Co. show last Saturday (because once the notebook comes out and people see you are writing things down, they are attracted to me like nails to a magnet) "Hey, who you writin' for?" leads to a conversation that always includes a question or suggestion about music - which I am very cool with. Love to talk music. Saturday's prevailing audience question was "Are you goin' to the Ryan Bingham show?"
Review of Bingham's show this week in Utah, from Salt Lake Magazine
"...he leaned heavily on his 2010 release “Junky Star,” with songs including “Strange Feeling In The Air,” “The Wandering,” and “Hallelujah.” The well-lubricated crowd (of 1,200) greeted these numbers with whoops of recognition and sang along. There were guys in cowboy hats alongside mohawk-wearing punksters, heavily made-up girls next to hippie chicks and even a few hipsters scattered amongst the densely packed dance floor. The somewhat stoic Bingham addressed the audience sparingly and moved briskly through the 13-song, 70-minute set."
Read full review
• Bloomington's mandolin-wielding Americana chanteuse Bobbie Lancaster has some new shows lined up, including a concert March 19 as part of the Indy Folk Series at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis (615 West 43rd St in Indianapolis - $10 at the door). We'll have more on what Lancaster has been doing this winter and talk about a possible new album for 2011. Oh, and if you are in the B-ton area, she is playing this Saturday (2/26) - singing songs for kids and their grown ups - at the Indiana University Mathers Museum of Art (416 North Indiana Avenue) IN from 1-3 pm.
• Wanna be a touring musician? Wanna be one that tours through the Midwest in the middle of winter? Here's why many don't: The alt-country/red dirt country-rockers Randy Rogers Band found themselves pulling into Lincoln, Nebraska in the middle of a snowstorm on Thursday. Pic taken from their van. If I was a band, would make me want to drink some whiskey and crash on a couch after the gig.
Rock / Roots The return of The Cars
Posted by Rob Nichols on Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 11:59 AM
From 1978 through 1984, The Cars were huge. Skinny guy rocking the massive mullet frontman Ric Ocasek - with producer Roy Baker Thomas, put together a self-titled debut album that stands as one of the best in rock history. A Mutt Lange-led Heartbeat City, closed their run of ubiquitous radio play and MTV stardom.
And then the band splintered. Bassist and singer Benjamin Orr died. The group, minus Ocasek, reformed as The New Cars, with Todd Rundgren recruited to front the band. It fizzled.
Now, after nearly 25 years, the original lineup has regrouped to make an album that less-the-subtly recalls the vibe of the glory days (listen to three cuts below). On Move Like This, The Cars recapture their classic sound, dominated by New Wave keyboards, snarly guitars and the hiccuping vocals of Ocasek.
Ocasek told rollingstone.com that he never thought he'd make another Cars record, citing "the past, personalities and Ben's passing away"
Move Like This, scheduled for a May 10 release, features Ocasek, drummer David Robinson, guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboard player Greg Hawkes. Gareth "Jacknife" Lee, (U2 and R.E.M.) produced five tracks; the band did the rest.
Rolling Stone says "new songs such as 'Hits Me,' 'Free' and 'Blue Tip' are a total recall of the precise swagger, art-rock minimalism and chrome-gleam pop on the Top Five LPs Candy-O (1979), Panorama (1980) and Heartbeat City (1984)."
VIDEO: "SAD SONG" from Move Like This
VIDEO: "BLUE TIP" from Move Like This
VIDEO: "FREE" from Move Like This
Saturday, February 26, 2011
My Dream Jukebox
Posted by Nick Selm on Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 1:26 PM
With The Sinking Ship open and less than a block from my house, I find myself spending lots of time there. While the owner, Damon Lyden, claims that the bar isn’t a “punk rock bar”, the music playing within tells a different story. On any given night, you are guaranteed to hear The Bouncing Souls, Less Than Jake, Against Me! or Dropkick Murphys. Those awesome tunes, however, are being piped in through an iPod and not a Jukebox... for now.
Lyden is currently in the process of obtaining a jukebox for The Ship but the iPod playlist fills in nicely for the time being. After talking with Lyden about the prospects of a jukebox, I began pondering the true importance of a good jukebox.
While I’m a firm believer in (true) Democracy, I often found myself scratching my head when I’ve read the results in NUVO’s “Best of Indy” Readers' poll. Jennie DeVoe for “Best Local Musician”? Yikes! Zero Boys for “Best Punk Artist”? Maybe in ‘82! Of all the dubious winners of the 2010 polls, none was more disturbing than The Alley Cat winning for “Best Jukebox”. The Alley Cat has a fine jukebox, but it is a digital jukebox that downloads selected songs from a database. Calling one of those things a jukebox is like calling an iPod a record collection.
The runners-up, The Melody Inn and Dorman Street, both have fantastic jukeboxes. Real jukeboxes, with real music, carefully selected by the owners to fill the coveted slots in the machine. While traditional jukeboxes vary in capacity, they all have a limited spaces for albums. This is what makes a good jukebox so important. Of all the albums in the world (millions) the owners have to choose a perfect balance of tunes to appeal to their clients and provide a suitable soundtrack to a night of drinking.
In my dream world, where I open up a Star Trek-themed punk rock bar in Munich, Germany, these are some of the albums that would be found in my jukebox:
The Replacements - Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was:
A jukebox without The Replacements isn’t really a jukebox at all. These second-wave Minneapolis punks took the raw punk sound and matured it into a sound all their own: “bar-rock”. This greatest hits compilation contains some of their best songs including “Within Your Reach” and the infectious “Color Me Impressed” which will get the entire bar tapping their toes to the melancholy beat.
The Ergs! - Hind Sight is 20/20 My Friend:
The Ergs! are one of the greatest, most under-appreciated bands in modern punk rock. Their sound strapped hardcore, pop-punk, rock and even elements of jazz onto a core of phenomenal songwriting and superb musicianship. Hind Sight is a lengthy collection of all their non-album tracks and includes the fantastic “Introducing Morrissey”.
The Lawrence Arms - Cocktails & Dreams:
To be honest, every single Lawrence Arms’ record should be in every single jukebox in the Midwest. TLA are the three-piece punk rock orchestra that provides the score to every night of rowdy, good-natured drinking. This collection contains the bouncy “Quincentuple You Money” as well as the band’s unofficial credo “Presenting: The Dancing Machine”.
Frank Turner - Love Ire & Song:
Frank Turner makes great drinking music, but in a very different way The Lawrence Arms. This British songwriter sings grown-up punk songs at a thoughtful folk pace. Most of his songs are roundabout reflections on the importance of good friends and good beer.
Against Me! - Reinventing Axl Rose:
The opening track of this 2001 record is called “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong”. If the title alone doesn’t convince you that this belongs in a jukebox, wait until you actually hear the music: loud, rough, melodic punk rock sing-a-longs. What more could you ask for?
The Gaslight Anthem - The ‘59 Sound:
If you haven’t heard this album yet, then something is wrong. This album out-Springsteens Springsteen and oozes with barroom poetry. A easy shoo-in.
Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet:
This album is a perfect pump-up album. It assaults your ears like a beer commercial and begs to be played on repeat. Song like “It’s Time To Party”, “Party Hard” and “Party Til You Puke” can make any bar experience a memorable one.
The Murder City Devils - In Name and Blood:
This album is pure evil. By mixing outlaw country themes with satanic imagery and erie, organ-driven punk rock, MCD created a sound that was truly epic. The band broke up nearly a year ago but this, their last (and best) record captures their booze-soaked spirit.
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak:
I don’t know what the hell happened to this band over the past few years but Aha Shake is a true modern classic. Their mix of southern rock, garage rock and punk rock accompanies the band’s tales of debauchery quite perfectly.
The Misfits - Static Age: You just gotta have some Misfits!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Rock Review: Verona Red, 'Pound'
Posted by Danielle Look on Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 9:00 AM
Verona Red has earned its place on the Chicago music scene with a continuously evolving sound and wildly raucous live shows Although the band's sound and lineup has changed a bit since the release of their debut album, Side Effects , in 2008, their sophomore follow-up Pound is still built upon a solid foundation of rock-n-roll.
Pound's opening track, “Kitchen,” begins with hollow doo-wop vocals that give way to a serving of in-your-face alt-county. “Toein' the Line” highlights frontman Chris Balzer’s deep, passionate vocals, with bluesy harmonica entering the mix before the short, swift song concludes. Lyrically, the song is based on the thoughts of an unscrupulous character, an opportunist who will do whatever it takes to get by.
“Big Mean Boogie” will please veteran Verona Red fans with its return to the slow-build song structure of Side Effects, its piano-and-vocals opening gradually developing into a full-blown swing-meets-rock vibe. “Sweet Rose” nods to the Black Keys in combining electrifying, swampy blues with soulful, elaborate guitar playing. Closing track “Choose Your Enemies Wisely” sees Verona Red successfully meshing their vintage sound with a touch of modern indie and punk rock.
This Friday, Verona Red will kick off a Midwestern tour in support of Pound at The Melody Inn with Phyllis, Sex Before Marriage, and Dead Beats.
Danielle covers local music for NUVO.net and IndyMojo.com.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Soundcheck: Weekend edition
Posted by Scott Shoger on Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 8:10 AM
We don't want to exclude sold-out shows from this weekend's list of recommended concerts — it's worth making the drive and paying for a scalped ticket to see Lucinda Williams, after all, and you might be able to sneak into a nook or cranny of The Jazz Kitchen to see Jeremy Siskind close out the APA's Jazz Premiere series. But there are plenty of tickets available for other fine shows, including the Asylum Street Spankers' last concert in Indianapolis (assuming this is truly the band's farewell tour, as they've told us) and, just across the street, the Cash Bash, where Mandy Marie Luke will play her first gig since skipping town last fall.
Thursday
Lindsay Mac and The Boom Booms at the Irving Theatre
Cello is the new guitar. And let it now be noted that the Cambridge-based Lindsay Mac helped forge the way by demonstrating that it can be a viable instrument for a solo singer-songwriter. About nine years ago, Lindsay ditched her bow and strapped the cello to her body, with a guitar strap wrapped around the cello’s fingerboard. The Boom Booms are Meghan Toohey, Mona Tavakoli, and Dev Ray, whose collective credits include performing with The Weepies and Jason Mraz. Read Paul Pogue's review of Lindsay Mac's 2006 performance at Indy Hostel. 8 p.m., $10 advance (at segmentofsociety.com), $12 door, 21+.
Friday
Beta Male, Pop Lolita, Slothpop, Andy D at Radio Radio
The members of Beta Male are not known for their restraint. They have a reputation for one-upping themselves with every show, whether with near-naked hula-hooping or creative costumes (including latex unitards, Underoos and, just for the hell of it, burqas). But they haven’t been known for their records. Maybe Friday’s release show for their debut full-length will change that. Read this week's cover story on Beta Male. 9 p.m., $10 (includes CD), 21+.
Cage the Elephant, Sleeper Agent at The Vogue
The guys in the Bowling Green, Ky.-born band Cage the Elephant relocated to London once they found that their alt-rock-inspired sound was finding plenty more success on that country's charts than in their homeland. The current tour is in the support of their second album, Thank You Happy Birthday, released earlier this year. Read Wade Coggeshall's 2009 profile of the band. 9 p.m., sold out, 21+.
Lucinda Williams at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre in Bloomington
The old story on Williams was that she spent way too much time on records. But she picked up her pace significantly during the ‘00s, and next month will see the release of her first new album of this decade, Blessed, just three years after her last one, Little Honey, appeared. It addresses some her same concerns — death, by illness (“Copenhagen,” about the sudden passing of her manager) or by suicide (“Seeing Black,” about singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt’s departure on Christmas Day 2009), and fractured relationships (album opener “Buttercup”). Read our 2009 profile of Williams. 8 p.m., sold out, all-ages.
Saturday
Six bands for six bucks at Birdy’s
Well now, there’s no beating this value: six bucks buys you six local bands at Birdy’s Saturday night. Well, it buys you the right to hear the bands; any transactions that occur in the champagne room or in the alley out back are really up to you and the band. Featuring They've Shot Flanigan, The Colourful, The Fallow, Glass Halo, Tug Fork River Band and Outer Sanctum. Hosted by Ricky Lee Potts. 7 p.m., $6, 21+.
Jazz Premiere Series: Jeremy Siskind at The Jazz Kitchen
Saturday night, the American Pianists Association holds the last concert in its Jazz Premiere series, part of a seven month-long competition to elect a new Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz. Four finalists have already performed in a trio setting before Jazz Kitchen crowds; Siskind, accompanied by bassist Frank Smith and drummer Kenny Phelps, will wind things up. The winner, to be determined this April, will receive a two-year fellowship worth $100,000, including $50,000 in cash. 8 p.m., sold out (limited seating at bar stools may be available), 21+.
Asylum Street Spankers at White Rabbit Cabaret
After 17 years, the Asylum Street Spankers, the Austin-born, vaudeville-inspired ensemble, have come to the end of the road. And they’re going out in style with the “Spanks for Everything” tour. The group built up a decent following locally partly as a result of airplay on the Bob & Tom Show, which still has the Spankers’ “Scrotum Song” in heavy rotation. Read this week's profile on the band. 8 p.m., $20 advance, $25 door, 21+.
Cash Bash at Radio Radio
Mandy Marie and the Cool Hand Lukes, who went on hiatus last year when bandleader Mandy Marie Luke moved to Austin, will reunite for the Cash Bash, an annual celebration of all things Johnny Cash held at Indy’s home for all things rockabilly, Radio Radio. 9 p.m., $10 advance (brownpapertickets.com), $12 door, 21+.
Roots The Midwest Songwriter Circle
Posted by Danielle Look on Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 7:00 AM
- Katie Moon
- Midwest Songwriter Circle at Schubas in Chicago (left to right: Jonah Malarsky - Brandon Whyde - Nick Shaheen - Landon Keller)
This Saturday, acoustic aficionados might consider heading downtown to The Earth House for a show featuring songwriters from the Midwest Songwriter Circle. It'll be presented in the round, with each artist playing one song and then taking a seat until all others have also played a song.
“The idea itself is not original,” explains Landon Keller, organizer of the Midwest Songwriter Circle, of the in-the-round concept. “New York and LA have songwriter circles, too." But Keller thinks that it's rare to see in-the-round shows in Indianapolis — and they have been relatively scarce since the Indianapolis Songwriters Cafe closed up shop a couple years back, after putting on a year's worth of monthly in-the-round shows.
The Danville native founded the Midwest Songwriter Circle while a Chicago resident. After several successful shows in Starbucks stores across the city (including one during a store's grand opening), the coffeehouse and performance space Uncommon Ground expressed interest in hosting the event. Two shows were booked, both of which sold out. Once again a resident of Indianapolis, Keller is bringing the concept to Indy.
“A lot of songwriters around here are opening for rock bands," Keller says. "They’re doing 7 p.m. shows in venues whose sound quality stinks. This event is based totally around an intimate singer/songwriter session. If you don’t like one particular artist, for whatever reason, then you don’t have to wait 45 minutes for somebody else. You get exposed to four people, instead of just one. So it’s sort of a marriage of the people who really want to hear this type of thing and the people who really want to do this type of thing. There’s not going to be cell phones, beer bottles clanking in the trash, girls taking their clothes off, guys getting into fights or someone yelling ‘Free Bird!’”
The Midwest Songwriter Circle itself is a collective of seven Midwest musicians, hand-picked by Keller. Saturday's concert will feature four of those seven, each of whom will play four songs.
In the future, Keller plans to expand to other cities — he is currently researching the potential for a Nashville installment — and arrange a college tour. But he doesn't want to soak an already-saturated market. “In Chicago, we did a show once every six months or so," he explains. "This is an event, so it won’t be in the same place every time and it’ll only happen a couple of times a year.”
In the long term, Keller’s goals are more expansive: “The philosophy, drive and passion behind this is certainly social and artistic. I want to spread the songwriters’ love for music around. I want to get moral and ethical companies involved. I want to get other types of artists and art involved. It’s certainly a thing that anybody can come into, but I also don’t want to flood the membership. Because it’s fragile right now, right? It’s just a baby. But the end all — if this can be successful— is just about changing peoples’ mind about music; that it’s not just a hobby, that it can be a profession and that it can be a lot of things that musicians stereotypically are not seen as.”
Ultimately, though, The Songwriter Circle is about people who love to play acoustic music playing for people who love to hear acoustic music. Keller concludes on a sentimental note: “For me personally, I’m sort of addicted to performing ‘in the round’ now. The energy on stage, for me… It’s kind of like when full bands talk about having ‘moments’ on stage amongst each other- which I’ve had, and those are great- but it’s like, that only lasts like a minute. This is like a slow-buzz almost.”
Landon Keller, Brandon Whyde, Bob Stamper, and Nick Shaheen will perform at The Midwest Songwriter Circle on Saturday February 26th at The Earth House at 7:30 p.m.
Danielle covers local music for NUVO.net and IndyMojo.com.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Slideshow: Dominique Young Unique
Posted by Stacy Kagiwada on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Slideshow
Rock Review: Loveless Root & Eumatik at Mousetrap
Posted by Danielle Look on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 8:45 AM
It's common practice for Indy concertgoers to show up about an hour after a scheduled start time. Doors open at 8 and the show starts at 9? That really means nobody will start showing up until 9, so the band won’t be on stage sooner than 10. Even at 10, you’re likely just arriving in time for the opening act. And who cares about the opening act?
Well, The Mousetrap does. That’s who.
This past weekend, I stopped in at The Trap while the evening was still young to check out what the early birds were catching on Friday and Saturday nights. Turns out, a hell of a lot more than just worms.
Loveless Root kicked off Friday night's festivities around 10:30. With multi-instrumental talent spread across the six-piece electric bluesy jam group, each of the band's songs presented a new mix of sounds. One bass guitarist, Chris Kremer, also played saxophone and Electronic Wind Instrument, while another bass guitarist, Jesse Scott Bieber, shared guitar responsibilities with two others, Roderick Allen Minch and Josh Mast. Joey Ray Wills held down a traditional drum set, while Eddie Roodvoets (also from Dudes of Lord and dressed in a loud-patterned matching-pants-and-jacket outfit) contributed “alternative percussion."
Spacey conceptual rock that begs to echo through the woods of an outdoor music festival comprised a large majority of their set, further agitating the bad case of festival fever I’ve been fighting for weeks now. Occasionally though, Loveless Root tweaked their sound to take on a different persona. My favorite example of this genre exploration was an electrified country song that seemed inspired by country acid-house group Alabama 3.
Saturday night The Mousetrap was the setting for a full-blown ragefest, even early on. There was a typical jam-band loving weekend crowd, but the music would have easily entertained The Trap’s EDM-devouring Altered Thurzday crowd. Eumatik follows a popular trend in jam music right now by fusing electronic elements with live instrumentation. Josh Lockwood (on keys, as well as laptop and Abelton Live) acted as the orchestrator, leading jazz pianist Ashton Kleemann and percussionist Derek Shelton, who served up live drumming that emulated manufactured beats with amazing meticulousness.
During one tune, Shelton’s sticks tapped out an infectious swing beat on his drumset’s high-hat with an impressive speed and relentless precision that brought the song to life. Eumatik’s self-described “UFO-summoning, twist-bopping, trance-inducing, disco-fever-catching sounds” surely threw a few people for a loop Saturday night when they walked into The Mousetrap looking for some easy-going jam music. That’s the great thing about Mousetrappers, though. If it sounds good and has musical merit, they will find a way to dance to it. Even if it’s only 9 p.m.
Danielle reviews local music for NUVO.net and IndyMojo.com.
Rock / Roots Review: Truth and Salvage Co. at Radio Radio
Posted by Rob Nichols on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 8:00 AM
Gospel music is the sound of hope. Gospel is Sam and Dave and Aretha. It's a Hammond B3 organ crying under the fingers of Stevie Winwood. Drawing on American music traditions — from Memphis, New Orleans, the rural south and the Heartland — Truth and Salvage Co. creates uplifting, pounding, loose, build-and-release rock and roll. And it was gospel music. That's what I kept writing in my notebook Saturday night at Radio Radio
By the end of the 90-minute show, fans had received a healthy dose of rock and roll spirituality, from a band that played with passion and an arms-around-each other attitude.
An early highlight included "Hail Hail," on which band members offer questions and answers in song to some of life's problems. Oil? We should "ride horses and dig our hands into the dirt." Too simple? Only if you take it too literally. A sense of rural-ness and common sense inhabits nearly all the band's music.
A song introduced as from 1978, "Down to Middlecreek," grandly channeled Little Feat and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. "Jump the Ship" featured lead guitarist Scott Kennebrew's liquid, Black Crowes-influenced leads. "Heart Like a Wheel" found Tim Jones making a pop song sound anthemic by nicely building to a chord change near the end that jolted the crowd to cheers.
As with their last appearance in town, Indiana native Jones shined with his "Old Piano," prefacing the song by telling the crowd it "made dreams come true for us. And we sold out Radio Radio in Indianapolis." Jones was the Indiana boy, front and center, but it was a band in the finest sense of the term. They used the entire stage and obviously enjoyed playing music together, smiling, jumping up, and hopping inches from each other's faces as they played. Truth and Salvage Co. is a damn likeable band.
The band added in a new song, "Stars and Stripes," a chunky Midwest rock and roller which sounded untested but gritty and promising. On the road with their current material for more than a year, they had been playing much of it for months preceding the release. Jones told NUVO in a recent interview that they were going to drop some newer songs into the set, though they have no immediate plans to start making a second album.
"See Her" cycled The Band into the musical mix, conjuring "Stage Fright." Appropriately, they brought out The Band's "The Shape I'm In" as the final song of the night. Levon Helm would have been proud.
