Month: February 2008 Page 1 of 2

Alison Goldfrapp is an intriguing iteration on the Diva. Her flamboyance is quiet, studied, her gestures thoughtful rather than brashly encompassing. Her style is less brassy than it is Surreal, flirtatious, even a bit louche. There’s something so marvelously fantastical and almost Pagan (think Wicker Man) about the unsettling worlds she paints with her songs. (They’re like musical corollaries to Angela Carter’s phantasmagoric and sometimes nightmarish short stories in tone and imagistic flair —think endless nights at the circus, or dusk-to-dawn cabarets presided over by Jenny Lind and Emmy Hennings .)

Her eponymous duo’s 2003 album Black Cherry has remained one of my favorites, a lush, ornate —yet oddly comforting— song cycle that hangs together more gracefully than most dancefloor-friendly albums deign to even attempt. That’s why the 2005 follow-up, Supernature, was a bit of a letdown. Far less consistent, it hit the same sensual notes as Black Cherry but pallidly, like a Xerox of a Xerox.

I have great hopes for her new album, Seventh Tree [Mute] as a bucolic and ever-so-slightly sinister return to form —the press release calls it a “sensual counterpoint …gilded in butterfly colors of an English Surrealism shared with Lear and Lennon.” I do hope that doesn’t mean that Goldfrapp’s marvelous idiosyncrasies have been wiped out in favor of the glitter-ball chanteuse who stomped all over Supernature. We shall see. (It’s out tomorrow, I believe.)

I’ve been a fan of Ms. Goldfrapp’s evocative voice for quite some time now. She’s graced some of the quirkiest, most unusual singles of the late 90s, working with Tricky, Orbital, Add N To X, among others. I leave you with some of my favorite Goldfrapp moments from her pre-solo career years.

Goldfrapp [official] | [Myspace] | Tricky | Add N to (X) | Orbital

Add N to X, “Revenge of the Black Regent” (from Avant Hard, 1999)

Tricky (with Alison Goldfrapp), “Pumpkin” (from Maxinquaye, 1995)

Orbital (with Alison Goldfrapp), “Sad But New” (from the Insides EP, 1996)

These Are Powers
Helms
Neptune [Record Release Party]
Great Scott
Allston, MA
Saturday, February 16th

Variation is a wonderful thing. Even though Saturday night’s show is (on paper at least) power trio night, it’s amazing how much leeway there is within that structure. None of these bands would everbe mistaken for one another.

These Are Powers start things off with a bang. High-kicking banshee priestess Anna Barie is aided and abetted by equally energized co-conspirators Pat Noecker (ex-Liars) on bass and vocals and diminutive powerhouse percussionist Bill Salas on squiggle box/drum kit/vocals.

There’s a kernel of truth to the group’s Myspace genre designation “breakbeat/healing & easy listening.” On the one hand, their music is crazily danceable and weirdly hi-NRG; on the other, it’s tribal and contemplative, a beguiling mix of the high and low, the sacred and the profane.

Noecker’s intoned, vaguely ominous vocals contrast effectively with Barie’s wide-ranging, often startling ululations. You never get the sense that these two having a conversation, per se. Lyrically, their intentions clearly have nothing to do with your typical pop scenario of lovelorn grievances; rather, the effect is cumulative and largely textural —using repetition and variation to gradually build meanings and associations.

Musically speaking, though one can hear echoes of angular, vaguely No Waveish skronk, TAP’s overall sound melds psychically exhausted, apocalyptic end-times music with something altogether more optimistic, even Dionysian. The group is as much about pure revelry as it is about painterly textures.

Most importantly, though, their collective, headlong engagement with the music is joyously infectious. Not that a Boston crowd is going to dance without a fight, but the head-bobbing gets noticeably more frenzied. By the time the too-short set culminates in their as-yet-unreleased new single “Chipping Ice” (complete with whacked-out coughing solos), the group’s endearingly manic energy seems to have won over the blasé, packed-in-like-sardines crowd.

I’m prepared to like Helms, really I am. They have a kind of well-balanced grace, standing there, instruments at the ready. So far, so good, until… they…start…playing.

Their energy is so consistently tamped-down and, well, consistent —with so little tonal variation from moment to moment— that they leave little in the way of expectation. Their format —rock-solid rhythm section propping up noodly-muso guitarist (with nary a rhythm guitarist in sight, alas)— is texturally numbing and borderline dullsville. Throughout their set I keep hoping for the rhythm section to mutiny (they’re so obviously better than Mr. Muso and his mumbled vocalizing), but, seeing as how the bassist and drummer are respectively wife and brother to said muso guitarist, that hardly seems a likely scenario. Alas.

To their credit, their final song finally breaks out of the gray-wash torpor and deigns to ROCK. I wish they’d done it sooner. They really, truly need to be thrown off-balance, to get out of their comfort zone, and rough up their dynamics a bit.

Helms drag my energy level down to nothing, then Neptune sweep in and build it back up —and then some. And I’m not just saying that because they ply the audience with sheet cake (inscribed with the name of their new album, Gong Lake).

Neptune is a gimmick band that long ago transcended the gimmick. This decade-old Boston-based trio make their own instruments, literally sculpting sound with their own bare hands using scrap metal, found objects and their own twisted Rube Goldberg-ian imaginations.

None of this three-dimensional ingenuity would mean much if the music didn’t match it with equal fervor, but it does.

To fall back on the dreaded “Listen if you like…” cliché, Neptune ably build on the urban dread of Rocket from the Tombs and the whimsical (albeit sadistic) genre-tweaking surrealism of Diskomo-era Residents (although Neptune lack that group’s more explicitly theatrical elements).

At times the music sounds like robot dub —all mutant polyrhythms and processed, echo-chambered vocals. It can also be hushed and cinematic, playing with drones and slow-building tension.
Whispery and barbed, Neptune’s music full of coiled-up energy that gets released in short, sharp bursts by three expert players who instinctively know one another’s strengths and play to them with breathtaking efficiency.

Here’s to another ten years.

These Are Powers | Helms | Neptune

These Are Powers, “You Come With Nothing” (from TERRIFIC SEASONS [Hoss Records, 2006])

Helms, “There’s No ‘I’ in Team But There Is One In Tina” [from SECRET DOORS | Plants & Brains, 2006])

Neptune, “Purple Sleep” [from GONG LAKE | Table of the Elements, 2008])

NEPTUNE AT GREAT SCOTT, FROM NEPTUNEBAND.COM

I have a longer post I’ve been struggling to finish, so as a stop-gap I’m going to post some noteworthy local(ish) concerts coming up.

First up: These Are Powers, non-stop touring whirling dervishes, will be releasing a new EP called Taro Tarot [Hoss] on April 8th.

TAP is playing Neptune’srecord release party at Great Scott in Boston this Saturday night (2/16) with the excellent Animal Hospital. Go see them: they will kick your ass and take names. You will not be disappointed. (Unless you harbor skepticism about post-No Wave, booty-shaking atonal insanity.)

TAP will be also playing some dates with the ever-delightful Mr Calvin Johnson [K Recs, Beat Happening, the (original) Go Team, and on and on]. Calvin will be at Brown’s own Hourglass Café (located in the basement of Faunce House, 75 Waterman St.) on Saturday as well, which means —egads!— that I have to DECIDE between the two shows. (Say it ain’t so!)

Deer Tick will be playing a solo set at the Hourglass this Thursday evening (that’s Valentine’s Day for all you lovebirds out there). Tom Thumb opens. The show starts at 8PM and will be broadcast on live on BSR

Hourglass shows generally start around 9PM or so. But it never hurts to get there early —bring your laptop, take advantage of the free WiFi, awesome coffee, and comfy chairs.

• DEER TICK | Hourglass Café, 75 Waterman St. Providence | Thursday February 14th, 8PM

• CALVIN JOHNSON | the Underground at Faunce House, 75 Waterman St. Providence | Saturday February 16th, 8PM

• NEPTUNE, THESE ARE POWERS, HELMS, and ANIMAL HOSPITAL | Great Scott, 1222 Commonwealth Ave. Allston | Saturday February 16th | 21+ | 9PM | $10

• NEPTUNE (Record Release!) with WHITE MICE, LAZY MAGNET and THE GLASS SHIVERS | AS220, 115 Empire St. Providence | Sunday February 17th | $6

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THESE ARE POWERS Tour Dates

Feb 14 2008 | NY, New York Valentines Day @ Cake Shop w/The Apes, Knyfe Hyts, Mixel Pixel, Puttin’ On The Ritz
Feb 15 2008 | Annandale-On-Hudson, New York @Bard College
Feb 16 2008 | Allston, Massachusetts @ Great Scott w/Neptune, Animal Hospital
Feb 17 2008 | Pittsburgh, PA @ TBA
Feb 18 2008 | Detroit, MI @ TBA
Feb 20 2008 | Chicago, Illinois @ AV-Aerie (formerly Open End) w/Bird Names, Adam Griffin
Feb 21 2008 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin @ Mad Planet w/MAHJONGG, Juiceboxxx
Feb 22 2008 | Minneapolis, Minnesota @ 7th St. Entry w/MAHJONGG
Feb 23 2008 | Ames, Iowa @ The Practice Space w/Wet Hair, Secret Abuse, Iwa
Feb 24 2008 | Omaha, Nebraska @ The Waiting Room w/MAHJONGG, Calvin Johnson
Feb 25 2008 | Lincoln, Nebraska @ Box Awesome w/MAHJONGG, The Show is the Rainbow, Calvin Johnson
Feb 26 2008 | Denver, Colorado @ Larimer Lounge w/MAHJONGG
Feb 27 2008 | Salt Lake City, Utah @ Kilby Court w/ MAHJONGG, Calvin Johnson
Mar 1 2008 | San Francisco, California @ Hemlock Tavern w/Lemonade, Mi Ami
Mar 2 2008 | Oakland, California @ ABCo Artspace w/ Wildildlife, Chen Santa Maria, Lumerians
Mar 4 2008 | Los Angeles, California @ Echo
Mar 5 2008 | Los Angeles, California @ The Smell w/ Ima Gymnast, Teenage Moms, Bipolar Bear
Mar 6 2008 | Phoenix, Arizona @ Modified Arts w/The Chinese Stars, The Vultures, Soft Shoulder
Mar 7 2008 | Santa Fe, New Mexico @ High Mayhem w/Chinese Stars
Mar 9 2008 | Denton, Texas @ Rubber Gloves w/Shiny Around the Edges, Castanets
Mar 11 2008 | Houston, Texas @ Boondocks w/ The Death Set, Ponytail
Mar 12 2008 | Austin, TX – Habana Calle 6 (Cardboard Records Showcase)
Mar 13 2008 | Austin TX – Ms Bea’s w/ Ecstatic Sunshine, Foreign Islands, Pig Out, Tristan Perich, Panther, The Mae-Shi, Deer Tick, Castanets, Woods)
Mar 13 2008 | Austin, TX – MyOpenBar.com Garage w/ No Age, Mika Miko
Mar 15 2008 | Austin, TX – Mohawk w/ Matt and Kim, DD Fantasy, High Places, Ponytail, Ecstatic Sunshine, Foreign Islands, Team Robespierre, Woods, Abe Vigoda, Best Friends Forever)
Mar 16 2008 | Little Rock, Arkansas @ Happy Fucker House w/The Deathset
Mar 17 2008 | Nashville, Tennessee @ Exit/In w/The Deathset
Mar 18 2008 | Lexington, Kentucky @ The Void Skate Shop w/The Deathset
Mar 19 2008 | Greenville, NC @ Spazzatorium w/ the Deathset
Mar 20 2008 |Richmond, VA @ Gallery 5
Mar 21 2008 | Baltimore, Maryland @ Floristree w/ WZT Hearts and more…
Mar 28 2008 | Ridgewood, NY @ Silent Barn w/Extra Life, Skeletons
May 3 2008 | Krems, Austria @ DONAUFESTIVAL

These Are Powers | Hoss Records | Calvin Johnson bio [k]| Deer Tick |

These Are Powers, “Chipping Ice” (from the upcoming Taro Tarot EP [Hoss Records, 2008])

Beat Happening, “Bad Seeds”

Neptune, “Paris Green” [from GONG LAKE [Table of the Elements, 2008])