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)

Best Columbus albums 2008

Since I already gave away that Miranda Sound's self-titled record is my favorite of Columbus album of 2008, I figured I should post all top ten. So here they are, though after the top three the order itself doesn't mean a whole lot--some of these will switch spots with others, depending on the week, day or whatever mood I'm in. The point is, these are all great records. 2008 was a good year for Columbus music. (Links go to previous reviews.)

1. Miranda Sound - Miranda Sound
2. Times New Viking - Rip It Off, Stay Awake E.P.
3. Melty Melty - Rise of the Birdmen
4. Two Cow Garage - Speaking in Cursive
5. Envelope - Shark Bolt!
6. The Lost Revival - Homemade Confetti
7. Moon High - Moon High
8. Our Cat Philip - Apart of Someone
9. Sinkane - Color Voice
10. Brainbow - Brainbow

This week's Other Paper

In this week's paper, you can check out my review of the seven-year anniversary concert at Skully's featuring seven local bands: the Whiles, Two Cow Garage, Deathly Fighter, Good Company, Bush League All-Stars, Psychedelic Horseshit and Unholy Two.

I also wrote a feature about all the behind-the-scenes turmoil accompanying this year's Hate Michigan Rally with the very much alive Dead Schembechlers, Watershed, and, oddly, the All American Rejects. For some reason that one isn't online yet, but I'll put a link up when it (hopefully) goes live. UPDATE: Here we go.

Oh, and preview blurbs for Marnie Stern and AC/DC, also not online. Yay web presence!

Columbus releases: The Flashing Clock, Two Cow Garage

The Flashing Clock - Hot Brown
Dan Spurgeon is probably better known for his other band, Bush League All-Stars, but the Flashing Clock just might change that with its new album, Hot Brown.

Recorded by Datapanik’s Nick Schuld, it consists of 11 two- and three-minute ditties that sound like they were all put to tape in a creative frenzy one substance-fueled night. The songs are devoid of frills and (high) fidelity, just old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll with a dash of punk thrown in.

Lyrically, it’s doubtful any of these songs will have you pondering your place in this world. (Take the hook in “Teardrop Tattoo”: “Teardrop tattoo, don’t know what I’m gonna do.”) But rock music doesn’t always have to do that. Sometimes all you want is distorted guitars and a catchy chorus, and the Flashing Clock delivers. I absolutely love “Knife Fight” and “Have You Seen.” Let’s hope Spurgeon (or “Cosmo Time,” as the CD sleeve refers to him) keeps this project on the front burner.

RIYL: Bush League All-Stars, the Patsys

The Flashing Clock and You’re So Bossy are on the bill for the Evil Queens’ (possibly) last show Saturday night at Ruby Tuesday.

Two Cow Garage - Speaking Cursive
Speaking in Cursive, the fourth full-length from Two Cow Garage, follows in the same vein of the band’s last one, III, but this talented band’s cowpunk just keeps getting better—probably a result of constant touring.

“Bastards and Bridesmaids” and “Your Humble Narrator” are destined to become Two Cow classics. “Swingset Assassin” is a folk song that highlights singer Micah Schnabel’s knack for storytelling, tracking his childhood musical journey from the Beatles through Black Flag: “I wrapped myself up in Black Flag and flew it as my own...But in the end punk rock just left me empty and alone.” But Schnabel never discarded any of those influences completely; all of them have been incorporated. Two Cow Garage’s sound wouldn’t be the same without that punk edge--due in part to Schnabel's shredded vocals--alongside the country and pop-rock sounds.

Along with tackling death, drugs, self-doubt and heartbreak, Speaking in Cursive continues Schnabel’s attempts at reconciling his love for music with its destructive force in his life. In “Folksinger’s Heart,” he mentions a bit of advice he received: “My father, and the truth: ‘Destroy the thing you love, son, before it destroys you.’”

Good thing for us he’s not heeding his father’s warning.

RIYL: Haynes Boys, Drive-By Truckers, Replacements

(Also at the Other Paper)