Ch-ch-changes

Donewaiting head honcho Robert Duffy made an announcement yesterday, but I should probably address it briefly here, since I've been maintaining this blog on a semi-regular basis.

So Duffy's heading to New York to take a great job there, and while he'll be continuing Donewaiting from NYC, he asked me if I'd be the Columbus editor. I was flattered and honored that he would ask me, and I couldn't say no. I'm excited to get started. ...My wife is due with our second child in the next two weeks, so the exact start date is TBD at this point, but probably not before August.

I'll still be writing for The Other Paper on a regular basis. Hopefully a couple of other publications off and on, too. This blog will undoubtedly be updated less often but supplanted with posting over at Donewaiting.com, so add that to the ol' RSS reader if it's not there already.

Comfest is fun

The stabbing puts kind of a damper on the whole peaceful community vibe of Comfest (so sad), but Saturday was a fun day nevertheless. I particularly enjoyed Bookmobile's set (that's singer Sean Gardner above). If you're in Columbus and haven't made it down yet--shame on you!-- there's still good music and fun times to be had today.

More on my Saturday Comfest experience later...

Dirty Projectors - Wexner Center, 6-21

I imagine that by this point, David Longstreth, singer/guitarist and driving force behind Dirty Projectors, is tired of his band being referred to as “brainy.” It’s a tough tag to avoid when you’re a former music-major Yale grad who intricately crafts compositions that are near-impossible to categorize using other musical precedents.

The great thing about Dirty Projectors, though, is that anything that may come across as high-minded is balanced with something high-spirited, thereby dodging pretension. It takes significantly more knowledge and musical prowess than your typical rock band to sing and play the songs this band performed Sunday night at the Wexner Center. Yet the six musicians played with an organic ease and all the while maintained an electricity that was enveloping. (Not to mention the fact that, because the Brooklyn band’s van broke down in St. Clairsville on the way to the gig, they were playing with borrowed gear from the disappointing opener, Skeletons.)

Elvis Costello’s claim that writing about music is like “dancing about architecture” never rang so true as when attempting to describe Dirty Projectors. I could say that Longstreth conjures up the soulfulness and cadence of R&B singers; that the treble-heavy, snaking guitar lines have a distinct African influence; that the three supremely talented female singers contribute harmonies so complex that at times it’s difficult to even distinguish who’s singing; that the drummer’s big beats incorporate oddly-timed experimentalism, reggae and Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks.”

But none of that really does it justice, especially those ladies—Haley Dekle, Angel Deradoorian and Amber Coffman—whose vocal theatrics were consistently the highlights of the show. “Remade Horizon,” off the recently released Bitte Orca, began with an extended vocal intro of start-and-stop, staccato harmonies that sounded so intricate yet so precise, like an entire section of computer-controlled woodwinds. And Coffman’s lead vocals on “Stillness is the Move” showcased a freakish range that could hold its own next to Mariah Carey, a singer she closely resembled on that tune. Coffman threw herself into the song, and her dancing only added to the impact.

It’s a little tough to relate to the lyrics, though, especially in a concert setting. These songs take a little while to comfortably settle. But Longstreth seems to be a lyricist more concerned with how the words sound than what they mean. The singers’ inflections and affected pronunciations convey a word’s impact more than its dictionary definition. The concert opener, “Two Doves,” which featured only Longstreth on guitar and Deradoorian on vocals, was one of the few songs that was entirely decipherable, a (love?) song with a refrain of “Call on me” that starts off describing a lover as a “geranium kisser, skin like silk and face like glass,” but later as a “geranium killer, throat of soil and mind like stone.” The soft song was the closest Dirty Projectors came to a ballad, and it was the prettiest of the night.

“Bitte Orca” wins the prize for most frenetic, cacophonic and virtuosic of the night. The level of choreography was breathtaking, as were the women’s preternatural, siren howls. I also enjoyed hearing “Rise Above” from the album of the same name, which was Longstreth’s re-imagination of Black Flag’s seminal 1981 debut album, Damaged.

Brainy? Yes, but this band-of-the-moment is also a lot of fun.

Larry Jon Wilson

Last year I talked to Jerry DeCicca of the Black Swans about an album he produced by a guy named Larry Jon Wilson, an old Nashville singer-songwriter who hadn't recorded a new album in almost 30 years. We chatted back and forth about the story for a while, and finally Drag City is releasing the record on Tuesday. So after a year of talking and exploring Wilson's music, I was at last able to put some words on paper. You can read the story in The Other Paper this week, or online here.

I had more fun working on this story than any others I've written in a long time. Hopefully that comes through. And I can't recommend Larry Jon Wilson's new eponymous record highly enough.

Blurting about Sinkane

Ahmed Gallab--the Columbus expat behind experimental act Sinkane--released his most recent album, Sinkane, pretty quietly in May. Probably because he was touring with Born Ruffians at the time. But it's his best work yet, incorporating lots of influences only hinted at on Color Voice.

I wrote a short feature on the album and Ahmed's recent escapades for Blurt, an online/print venture from the guys behind Harp. It's called "The Go-To Guru," and you can read it here.

Jenny Lewis with the Sadies - Wexner Center, 6-6

Before Jenny Lewis played the Black Box on the Mershon stage at the Wexner Center on Saturday, the venue screened Welcome to Van Nuys, a documentary about the making of Lewis’s most recent album, Acid Tongue. Much of the doc focused on guests who contributed to a track or two. There was Elvis Costello lending his scruffy vocals to “Carpetbaggers,” M. Ward playing some moody guitar on “Pretty Bird” and actress/musician Zooey Deschanel—who, with Ward, make up 2008 breakout duo She & Him—singing all sorts of oohs and ahs. There were some fun fly-on-the-studio-wall moments, but it also conveyed the feeling that these big names were an essential part of the songs.

The live show proved that isn’t the case at all. Lewis doesn’t need any help. She certainly has a terrific, talented backing band, but her shockingly strong voice carried the show. In fact, I’d take Lewis any day over Deschanel. Even when she’s singing in a low whisper, this redhead’s got soul.

The former child actress also has charisma to spare, hopping back and forth between playful dork (wearing her own shirt) and sensual diva (flaunting her curves). The crowd was putty in her hands, especially drooling fanboys, whose occasional between-song shout-outs (“You’re amazing!”; “How do you do that?!”) were some of the few low points.

Lewis got her start in indie-pop act Rilo Kiley, but her solo projects have found her pursuing a much rootsier vibe that, to my ears, fits her voice and songwriting style more comfortably. When the band left the stage to allow her to tackle some songs on her own, Lewis played an acoustic version of the Rilo Kiley tune “Silver Lining,” a song she said she has recently “reclaimed,” and it’s all the more gorgeous for it. Most of the songs came from Acid Tongue and Rabbit Fur Coat, the 2006 album Lewis put out with the Watson twins. Drummer Barbara Gruska and singer/guitarist Danielle Haim were more than capable of handling the country-style Watson harmonies and backing vocals from Acid, sounding especially nice on the gospel-tinged “Trying My Best to Love You.” And Lewis’s beau, guitarist and oft-songwriting collaborator Jonathan Rice, played the Costello role just fine on “Carpetbaggers.”

I’m not sure why the band chose to have its sound tech onstage during the entire performance—tuning guitars, scribbling things and looking awkward—but that was the only distracting element. The band buoyed Lewis superbly, from the loud, stompy blues of “The Next Messiah” to the backing choir effect on “Acid Tongue.” Columbus also got a taste of two new songs. “Just Like Zeus” was “kinda” about Lindsay Lohan (“Outside of Silver Lake, I am the biggest fake”), and “Big Wave” was the most epic rocker of the night. Both got me excited for what Lewis has in store for the next record, with or without high-profile guest spots.

Openers the Sadies from Toronto were impressive, too, though not quite as much as they were a few weeks ago playing with John Doe at the Rumba Cafe. While the Wex is a great place to have crystal-clear sound and a mostly quiet crowd, some bands just look and sound more at home on a cramped stage in a sweaty, crowded bar. Brothers Dallas and Travis Good’s virtuosic guitar skills still blew me away, especially Travis’s lightning-fast licks and liberal use of tremolo, which gave even his most country licks Dick Dale surf-rock overtones. His throaty singing was cool, too, but Dallas’s delicious baritone trumped it on “Anna Leigh” and “The Story’s Often Told.” In general, though, the Sadies let the guitars do the talking, throwing in lots of short-and-sweet instrumentals and approaching it all with ferocity.

It was the Sadies’ last night on this tour, and they were very gracious, thankful dudes. Hopefully next time they come through town it’ll be in a setting a little less stale.

mp3: Jenny Lewis - Silver Lining (solo live 4-13-09)

Jenny Lewis can sing

That may seem obvious, but listening to her records doesn't do her voice justice. She can really sing, and her show at the Wexner Center Saturday night proved it. Full review coming soon. For now, more pics from the show here.

Free Grievances

If you're a person who has thought, "That band Titus Andronicus sounds interesting, but not interesting enough to pay for," or, "I really wish I had a job and/or steady source of income so I could afford that Titus Andronicus album," then today is your lucky day.

The Glen Rock, New Jersey boys' 2008 debut, The Airing of Grievances (which was picked up by XL Recordings and re-released this year), is available as a free download today only.

The Decemberists with Blind Pilot - LC Pavilion, 6-1

Conventional wisdom says that once a band jumps from an indie label up to the majors, the band satisfies its new corporation and larger audience with a more mainstream version of itself—something safe, with all the edges smoothed out. The Decemberists proved that notion false on 2006’s The Crane Wife as Colin Meloy, the band’s singer, songwriter and driving creative force, traded in some of his Brit-folk tendencies for a more grandiose vision, accompanying a bizarre Japanese legend with a (somewhat) unexpected dose of prog rock—keyboards, noodling guitars and all.

It wasn’t just a novelty experiment, either. The Portland band’s second outing on Capitol is this year’s The Hazards of Love, an audacious, ambitious, riff-heavy rock opera with a storyline about a woman named Margaret and her lover William, the son of a forest queen. There’s not an obvious single on the album; it plays more like one long song, titles merely indicating the tale’s progression. Not your typical major-label product.

Monday night at the LC Pavilion, the Decemberists played The Hazards of Love from start to finish, no breaks in between songs, no banter. For someone who wasn’t as familiar with Hazards going into the show, it felt a little lengthy and lacked some energy during the slower tunes. But for the most part, I was enthralled by the epicness of it all.

Meloy still has his Victorian Literature professor persona, but watching him was like realizing that not only does your nerdy college prof listen to Deep Purple and the Who, he can rip it up just like them, too, bounding around the stage pseudo-shredding and head-banging. And wow, the metal. The Decemberists threw in some rafter-shaking, low-end power (guitarist Chris Funk was a treat) that make you forget this band ever played folk ditties like “Eli, the Barrow Boy.” They’d never fit into Rock on the Range or anything (fortunately), but if this were the ’70s, people would just assume the Decemberists made sacrifices to Satan, or at least had an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings.

Adding to the theatrics of it all were female singers Becky Stark (aka Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond). Stark came out dressed in all white and accompanied her singing parts with flamboyant gestures and dancing, as did Worden, who stole the freakin’ show every single time she stepped up to the mic. Her manic stage moves were captivating, and her voice, oh man, her voice. During “The Wanting Comes in Waves,” as she belted out “Consider it your debt repaaaaid!” the whole crowd spontaneously cheered in admiration and excitement. I find Meloy’s affected, overly enunciated vocals mostly endearing, but Worden was still a welcome reprieve.

After The Hazards of Love was completed, the band took a long break before coming back to play favorites like “Leslie Anne Levine,” “We Both Go Down Together,” “16 Military Wives” and “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then).” All sounded great, demonstrating the depth and diversity of the band’s catalog. Before the encore, Worden and Stark returned to the stage for Heart’s “Crazy on You,” a fun cover that may have been my favorite song of the night. It also made me really want to hear Worden front a real-deal rock ’n roll band—something a little less, er, arty, than My Brightest Diamond.

The band ended the show with “Sons & Daughters,” a song with wonderfully quirky instrumentation: bouzouki, accordion and hurdy-gurdy. As the crowd sang along to the refrain, “Hear all the bombs fade away,” it was a good reminder, along with “16 Military Wives,” that Meloy can do topical material (remember Iraq?) in addition to proggy tales of unrequited love and folky Civil War ghost stories. With the Decemberists, you can have your johnnycake and eat it, too.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least briefly mention opener Blind Pilot, also from Portland. Israel Nebeker’s buttery vocals sound even better live than on the band’s lovely folk-pop debut, 3 Rounds and a Sound. It’s probably a bit too breezy for those who only like the Decemberists at their most ELP, but Nebeker’s uncommonly good songwriting shouldn’t be ignored. Expect to hear lots more about these guys in the future.

More pics