RTFO Bandwagon - Dums Will Survive

Given RTFO Bandwagon’s curious blend of folk and punk, it’s not surprising to find the band on bills with a shitgaze act like Psychedelic Horseshit (with whom it shares a drummer) and eccentric folkies like the Super Desserts. But with the release of Dums Will Survive, RTFO’s newest offering on Dull Knife Records, the punks now have more ground to stand on when staking their claim on the band.

“Skipper Bunkum” is RTFO at its punkiest, with talk-sung vocals over insistent, distorted guitar and keys. And then there’s the in-the-red, album-closing extended jam on “Dumbs Will Survive,” a reprised version of the leadoff title track (a bouncy, catchy tune propelled by percussive guitars and call-and-response vocals).

Still, for the more folk-inclined, you’ll find French horn on the rambling “Like a Dan Shearer Over Troubled Water,” and you’ll find Old West-style piano (courtesy of Dane Terry) and lap steel on “Between the Ears.” Both songs are easy on the ears.

There’s beauty in all of it, though, regardless of the irrelevant genre tags. The record—seven tracks in all—has a ramshackle, homemade feel, and yet every instrument is present and accounted for, intricately pieced and layered together in analog warmth. (One of my favorite touches is Terry’s fuzzed-out, treble-heavy keyboard on “Dan Shearer” and “Public Relations Rag”; it sounds nothing like a keyboard.)

As far as this relatively lo-fi aesthetic goes, it’s probably one of the best-produced records I’ve heard.

RTFO Bandwagon’s release party is scheduled for March 27 at Skylab. Pre-orders are available at dullkniferecords.com; the first 50 orders will also receive a limited-edition cassette of “Like a Dan Shearer Over Troubled Water.”

(Also at The Other Paper)

Southeast Engine, Frontier Ruckus, The Coke Dares, The Kyle Sowashes - Treehouse

With four bands on a bill, it’s more than likely one of them is going to be a dud, or at least have an off night. But the Treehouse was four for four on Friday night.

The main event was the release of Athens, Ohio’s Southeast Engine newest offering, From the Forest to the Sea. As I mentioned last week, it’s a record full of spiritual yearning and self-condemnation, and it’s also one of the best albums released so far this year. What struck me most about Southeast Engine’s indie-folk live is how well bassist Jesse Remnant’s tenor harmonies complement singer (and brother) Adam Remnant’s wonderfully crackled voice--one filled with meandering eccentricities that wouldn’t be easy to harmonize. Watching the Remnants belt out the melodies in fraternal sync was one of my favorite parts of the night.

The set was heavy with new stuff, and I liked the loose, spacious feeling the live setting lent to the songs. Foot-tapping rockers like “Black Gold” and more restrained numbers like “Law-Abiding Citizen” and “From the Roots of the Mountains to Your Holy Temple” came together superbly beneath the Treehouse lights.

Taking the stage before Southeast Engine was Michigan band Frontier Ruckus, a stylistically perfect choice to go with the Remnants and company. I only caught a few songs, but it was enough to convince me to pick up the band’s debut full-length, The Orion Songbook. I highly recommend it. After listening to it the morning after the show, I couldn’t wait to press play and start it all over again. That doesn’t happen very often.

Songwriter Matthew Millia has created a bunch of folk-inspired songs about the mythological Orion Town, and the band fleshes out his singular voice and imaginative, literate lyrics with deft acoustic guitar, singing saw, trumpet, banjo and lovely female harmonies. The songs, whether “Bethlehem” or “Adirondack Amish Holler,” convey a vivid sense of place. Really good stuff.

The second half of the night was a completely different style of show. Part II was jovial, with significantly less weighty subject matter--just lots of laughs and endless energy. The Coke Dares, from Bloomington, Ind., had one of the most original sets I’ve ever seen and were laugh-out-loud funny. Until the last song, the trio, wearing black T-shirts that said “The,” “Coke” and “Dares,” respectively, didn’t play one song longer than about a minute and 30 thirty seconds. Some were even under 30 seconds, but each one packed a punch. It wasn’t rare to have a song’s title contain the majority of the lyrics, e.g. “I’m Gonna Love You Like a Hot Teen.”

Meditate, if you will, on “Wood,” which clocked in at about 30 seconds: “If you’re gonna make it, make it good, you’re gonna wanna make it outta wooooood.” “Tour Rot” told the (brief) story of playing at Bernie’s when one of two people at the show threw up at the band’s feet. “Rocking all the Time” told of the band’s love for whiskey, pills, wine and, of course, rocking all the time. With a sound that’s aptly been described as a mix of Guided By Voices and the Ramones, you’d never know these dudes also play in Magnolia Electric Co.

The most shocking and hilarious moment of the set came as the band wrapped up its supposedly last song, and then launched into an extended version of Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” with lots of faux endings along the way. It also proved singer Jason Groth is a ridiculously talented guitarist. I can’t say I’d listen to these guys on record a whole lot, but I advise you not to miss an opportunity to see them live.

The Kyle Sowashes kept the energy level high, as is their custom. I think everything Sowash does translates better live, in a whirlwind of guitar, beard and thick, black-rimmed glasses. “My Resume” from last year’s Yeah Buddy! sounded great, and all the more applicable lyrically because of what people like to call “the current economic climate.” And Sowash’s everyman goofiness shone through on “Rumours”: “When I was small, I had it bad for Stevie Nicks/ I just stared at the back of Fleetwood Mac until the age of six.”

The strong set of Sowash-stamped, throwback indie rock was a fitting finish to a night of unusually good music.

mp3: Southeast Engine - Black Gold
Southeast Engine Daytrotter Session
mp3: The Coke Dares - Wood

Southeast Engine - From the Forest to the Sea

Adam Remnant is a tortured soul. The singer of Athens, Ohio, band Southeast Engine revealed that on 2007’s A Wheel Within a Wheel, and he’s done it again on From the Forest to the Sea. The proof is in his tattered, tremulous voice, but it’s in his lyrics even more.

As on Wheel, Remnant vents his frustration through a spiritual lens, one that doesn’t have even a hint of a rose-colored tint. The record is chock full of Biblical allusions and allegory and probably other applicable words that begin with “a,” but the religiosity is never oppressive. It’s the fabric Remnant uses to reveal his shortcomings. He shows us a world that is broken and full of evil, and he wants everyone to know he’s the worst offender.

The album opens with three-part suite “The Forest,” which finds the anti-hero emerging from a wedding ceremony (possibly doubling as a funeral) and heading into the woods. “I said I wouldn’t do no evil, but evil’s just what I’ve done,” Remnant admits, and by part II there’s already talk of “broken vows.” Gorgeous piano eventually crescendos in part III. “Here I am now rising!” he exclaims, but the heavenly ascent is cut short when an outstretched arm from above turns him away.

The rest of the record mixes similar imagery with real-life details while the black cloud of an extramarital affair hangs menacingly over most songs, many of which bleed into the other; From the Forest to the Sea flows like a rolling landscape from beginning to end.

In “Black Gold,” Remnant can’t even talk about the pitfalls of the coal industry without relating it to a mistress--“Every time that she’s ignored she knocks louder on your door.” Noah’s great flood also shows up, churning and battering Remnant further. But he again makes it clear he’s no Christ type: “I can’t be walking on water when my shadow weighs a ton.”

Southeast Engine elicits fewer early Wilco comparisons these days. Still, amid the saloon piano, carnival organs and crunchy guitars, that malleable “Americana” signifier still seems to fit. And as with most concept albums, this record isn’t immediately accessible. It takes a few spins to let the metanarrative sink in. And while there aren’t many traditional song structures here, they’re still singable and become progressively addictive.

There’s a little sliver of light on the last song of the album, “From the Roots of the Mountains to Your Holy Temple.” As Remnant/the protagonist’s life is coming to an end at the bottom of the sea, his blood will become oil, greedy men will find him and “it’ll be up and out through the tunnel to rise into the sky.” It’s redemption in a sense, but a mucky one, because while we know that he’s headed toward the temple, Remnant never tells us if that outstretched arm brings him into the fold this time around. Spiritually, his journey isn’t over, and that bodes well for Southeast Engine musically. To steal a slogan, Remnant’s pain is our gain.

Southeast Engine’s Columbus release show is tonight at the Treehouse with the Kyle Sowashes, the Coke Dares and Frontier Ruckus.

mp3: Southeast Engine - Black Gold

(Also at The Other Paper.)

Times New Viking <3 the Velvets

Just about any band that veers off rock’s beaten path owes a debt of gratitude to the Velvet Underground. The band’s Lou Reed-led, Andy Warhol-produced The Velvet Underground & Nico and pretty much each boundary-pushing album thereafter conveyed a message: Rock is something to be messed with. It can be a form of art, and, as such, experimentation is a part of the process.

Given that legacy, Columbus’s hometown breakout art-rock icon Times New Viking was the perfect pick to pay homage to the Velvets last Saturday in a Wexner Center concert celebrating the final weekend of the Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms exhibition. It’s probably not overstating to say that Times New Viking (and a host of other bands) wouldn’t exist without the Velvet Underground.

And yet, since TNV’s boundary-pushing comes in the form of fuzzed-out pop songs that rarely make it past the 2 1/2-minute mark, there was a palpable sense of a curiosity and anticipation surrounding this show. How would Times New Viking interpret a seven-minute, dynamic-laden song like “Heroin”? Well, the band proved right away that it doesn’t mind taking a break from short shout-alongs to get all long and droney, and even (no joke) jam. “That’s already longer than most of our sets,” joked drummer/singer Adam Elliott after the first song, “Run Run Run,” off The Velvet Underground & Nico, from which the band drew the bulk of its material.

Times New Viking also had some help from a couple of friends: Mike Hummel--the white-haired elder statesman of the Columbus rock scene who’s perhaps better known as Mike Rep of Mike Rep and the Quotas--added guitar and vocals, and Cincinnati’s C. Spencer Yeh of Burning Star Core contributed squeals, squalls and drones on violin. TNV guitarist Jared Phillips used his usual Strat/Marshall setup, but singer Beth Murphy often took a break from the analog synth to play a bright red guitar. (If you’re counting, that’s three simultaneously strummed guitars at a Times New Viking show.)

The super group’s re-appropriations made for a mostly gratifying Valentine’s Day show. I’ll just get a couple complaints out of the way, the most glaring of which was Hummel’s guitar. It was consistently way too loud, which is a shame since the stuff he was playing added a lot. But he continually drowned out the rest of the band, especially Phillips. And while Yeh squeezed some amazing sounds out of his violin, often making it sound like a digital loop or guitar feedback, his contributions were hit and miss. He sounded great on the beautiful mess of “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “I Can’t Stand It” but was inaudible on “I’m Waiting for the Man” and just in the way on “Femme Fatale”; I would have liked to hear Murphy’s synth instead on that one.

But the highlights were plentiful. Aided by strobe lights and a screen that showed mostly pixelated video of the Velvet Underground, the band nailed the loud-quiet-loud and fast-slow-fast dynamic of “Heroin,” which Hummel took growly lead vocals on. It was the best of the night. Elliott and Murphy’s tag-team vocals usually worked well, too, with endearingly imperfect harmonies--pretty, in an off-kilter way. And Murphy’s deadpan vocal delivery was a good match for Nico-led songs like “I’ll Be Your Mirror.”

Ending the night with “After Hours” off VU’s self-titled album--probably the only Velvets song that could be considered “cute”--the band invited members of RTFO Bandwagon to come up while Ron House took over vocal duties. Roses were handed out, and the crowd sang along. It was fun, it was goofy, it was a great ending to the night, and proof that even art-rock doesn’t have to take itself too seriously.

Hodge Podge

-- "We are beautiful, we are doomed." That's the title of one of Los Campesinos!' two albums released in 2008, and it's also a fitting description of the band's show with Titus Andronicus at the Wexner Center last Wednesday. Titus Andronicus has no qualms airing their grievances in a tortured, messy way, thrashing around the stage with the punk vigor and reckless abandon that can only come from New Jersey youth. And boy did they look straight outta study hall. Or, probably more accurately, detention. They're definitely too young to be singing "I don't think I've ever been so tired of life," but the fact that they don't realize that made the near-trainwreck all the more fascinating to hear and watch. Los Campesinos! cloaked similar sentiments in more playful melodies, equal parts beauty and doom. I loved the boy-girl vocals, the excessive use of xylophone, the spoken rants, the Welsh accents, and, above all, the exuberance. This is the first band to earn the explanation point at the end of its name.

-- Watching Times New Viking tackle tunes from the Velvet Underground on Saturday night at the Wexner Center was bizarrely entertaining. In one way, it's fitting for art kids like TNV to re-appropriate and pay tribute to art-rock forefathers like the Velvets. But it's also shocking to see TNV play a song for more than two minutes, much less to engage in a droney jam. It made for a (mostly) pretty fun hour, though. Full review in next week's Other Paper.

-- I admittedly wouldn't know about Other Lives if I hadn't received a PR e-mail blast about them. But they're playing a show tonight at the Basement, opening up for the Delta Spirit. It's mopey but pretty stuff, so fans of Hayden, Strand of Oaks and even Coldplay and Elbow should find something to enjoy.

-- Athens, Ohio boys Southeast Engine released one of my favorite albums of 2007, A Wheel Within a Wheel. I think I'm a sucker for alliterative biblical lyrics, but that aside, I also think it's (post?)modern Americana at its best. There's a new album, From the Forest to the Sea, out tomorrow. I'm reserving judgment on that one till I give it a few more listens--review coming Thursday in the Other Paper--but check out Southeast Engine's album release show this Friday at the Treehouse with the Kyle Sowashes, the Coke Dares and Frontier Ruckus.

Victorian's Midnight Cafe

Back in the day, when I used to play in a little acoustic duo, we'd play almost exclusively at Victorian's Midnight Cafe. I'm not sure how that started, and I'm still not completely sure why we kept it up. We never knew if there would be more than one mic, any mic stands or even any cables. More than once we showed up only to find out the owner double booked us. Once he even triple booked the place.

But, Victorian's is one of the comfiest spots in Columbus, like playing in an aging hippie's living room. And they always had cold bottles of Chimay. So hopefully the soon-to-be new owners (according to this post over at Cringe) will keep that laid-back vibe, but maybe not so laid-back that performers have to jerry-rig a mic stand out of found materials.

(ht: Donewaiting)

Music

Today, while listening to Califone's deliciously off-kilter Roots and Crowns, I realized how many albums I love but rarely listen to anymore. I attribute this mostly to an unquenchable desire to hear everything new that comes out, and I attribute that desire to my part-time music-writer gig and the fact that this blog exists.

I certainly never get around to all of the stuff I want to hear, of course, but the aforementioned realization also led me to admit how absurd it is to have 55 records in my Top Albums of 2008. There's no way I could have listened to each of those 55 albums as many times as they deserved. And, there also seems to be a not-so-subtle relationship between the albums in my top 20 and the albums I was paid to review, since I felt more of a duty to spend more time with those records. (That is, while it may seem obvious that I would listen to the records in my top 20 most, maybe it's more accurate to say that I like the records in my top 20 most because I had to listen to them many times.)

Granted, I'll probably never experience albums in the same way I did as a high school sponge, which is a little sad, but I can still make a conscious effort to avoid iPod overload and spend more time with fewer albums. I'd like to be more choosy, explore old albums I forgot about and discover several musical forefathers I keep managing to gloss over in my search for what's glossy.

Super Bowl recap

I still think Bruce Springsteen sucks.

Little Joy

Perfect Floridian vacation soundtrack

Super Desserts - Barefoot in the Disenchanted Forest

The Super Desserts’ new album is called Barefoot in the Disenchanted Forest, and it features song titles like “Still Unable to Speak...Claude Somehow Manages to Express His Opinion to a Pack of Wild Cougars, Who Are Surprisingly Supportive.” The CD also comes in a colorfully decorated 7-inch sleeve accompanied by a handmade, photocopied booklet full of collages, animals, people with animals’ heads and some hilarious liner notes.

All of this should tell you this ambitious, eccentric band has a predilection for the fantastical, along with lots of twee cuteness—hand claps, ukulele, banjo, glockenspiel, etc. Featuring Eve Searls (of Bird and Flower), Justin Riley (of Terribly Empty Pockets) and other local vets and newbies, the band is only made stronger by the full roster of capable musicians, rather than being weighed down. And while there’s a whole lot going on throughout the album, there are also moments of quiet, restrained beauty, like the guitar melody on “Steve Attends the Martian Funeral.…”

It’s not just a clever name. The Super Desserts are super sweet, but not like those nasty orange peanut-shaped candies that leave you feeling sick to your stomach. More like awesome fair food that leaves you fat and happy.

Catch the Super Desserts at the Treehouse Feb. 7 with Two Cow Garage, Ghost Shirt and Tree of Fern.

mp3: Super Desserts - On the Way to the Hospital, Claude is Riding on the Back Wheel of a Backward Jeep While Clara and Her Half-Brother are Riding on the Mystical Motorbike with the Three-Legged Unicorn (aka "Funeral")

(Also at The Other Paper)

Donewating 6-yr anniversary show: Envelope, Two Cow Garage, Moon High, Adulture

(Late post of last week's show...)

I don’t pretend to be a connoisseur of the Columbus hip-hop scene. In fact, my knowledge pretty much ends with a passing familiarity of the Weightless Recordings roster and Wes Flexner’s entertaining ramblings on local music blog Donewaiting.com. So I can’t really compare Envelope’s performance for Donewaiting’s six-year anniversary show at Skully’s last weekend with other hometown rappers’ performances. But man does this guy put on a great show.

First off, it’s refreshing to see someone put so much time and energy into an actual stage show, as opposed to just getting up there, staring at the ground and going through the motions. Envelope (aka Tony Collinger) billed the night as “Envelope presents The Corner Store,” and he meant that quite literally. The guy constructed a huge set (mostly out of cardboard, I think) for the stage--what looked like a corner store stocked with cereal, ranch dressing, Magnum condoms, chips, etc. It made for a long set changeover, but worth the wait.

Collinger comes off like a lovable goofball bounding around the stage--a far cry from ultra-macho, egomaniacal emcees obsessed with proclaiming their lyrical superiority and sexual prowess. He’s humble, yet highly entertaining, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. (On one track from 2008’s Blueprint-produced Shark Bolt, he says, “I’ll even admit that I’m annoyed when I hear too much of my own voice.”)

It was definitely a sloppy show. Collinger has a great flow but can’t sing for his life; luckily he usually asked the crowd to help out with the sing-along refrains (e.g. “I’m not poor, I’m just broke, broke as hell”). He also screwed up one of my favorite lines from “Oh My My My...,” a complaint about the letdowns of science: “They got wisdom like the Masons lack secrets.” But he made up for it with some other choice nuggets: “American Apparel’s owned by a sexual predator”; “Lost my swagger so I started jogging/ Beer gut, not so awesome”; “If we’re so smart, and nothing is left unexplored/ Then why’s it 2009 and I don’t have my hoverboard?”

He’s also more acutely perceptive than he gives himself credit for. “Day Dream Nation” does a pretty good job of diagnosing society’s ills and skewering the culprits--a group from which he doesn’t exclude himself.

And while an Envelope album is all about the smirky, everyman lyrics, an Envelope show is more about the experience. Just a playful, talented dude dropping rhymes, shouting out to his friends (like onstage deejay Detox) and acting out tongue-in-cheek skits with other friends (like The Catalyst). A fellow TOP critic described Envelope’s last album as quintessentially “Columbus,” and that goes for the Whetstone grad himself, too. Collinger unapologetically embraces this city, and we’d be right to return the favor.

Two Cow Garage gave one of its typical gerbil-on-a-speedball performances, with all the gusto and grit we’ve come to expect from the band, along with a near-overdose of catchy choruses. I’ve been doling out ego boosters to these guys a lot recently, so I won’t go on and on, but I have no qualms calling Two Cow the best live rock band in Columbus. Oh, and the drummer smashed half of his drum set on the last song.

I didn’t stay for laptop duo Adulture’s closing set, but the young’uns played some cool stuff in between acts, doing impressive live edits of Portishead and more. Moon High, a newish folk-inspired act I’ve been enjoying, opened the show with one of the most upbeat songs I’ve heard from the usually super-placid band. I’m excited to hear more of that. Musically, the rest of the set was pretty solid, too, but I tend to think atmosphere is more crucial than usual when watching Moon High perform, and Skully’s garish surroundings seemed to clash with the band’s aesthetic (foot-switchable globe lights, banjo plucking, tranquil songwriting). I’d rather experience the songs at a place like the Treehouse (where the band performed this past Friday with the Couch Forts) than at what someone recently described to me as “Columbus’s version of L.A.”

(Also at The Other Paper)