Nicolas Baldeyrou and Alexis Descharmes

at the French Embassy, 12/9/2005

The French Embassy has put together an excellent contemporary music series, and they've been working hard to promote the events and build an audience. Those efforts are paying off. This concert was well attended (I'm guessing the crowd was around 100 - 150?) which I think is extraordinary for contemporary music in DC.

This was a challenging recital of "high modernist" music, performed by two phenomenal young musicians. Both displayed flawless technique and remarkable virtuosity. For some crazy reason (God bless 'em) they've decided to specialize in contemporary repertoire, and they played a great deal of thorny music convincingly, making it look easy - and keeping it engaging.

I'm not a great fan of some of the composers featured, but I'm a little concerned about publishing nasty things about composers given my day-job, so let's focus on the pieces that I liked: The concert opened with a solo cello piece by Kaija Saariaho, "Spins and Spells." This was easily my favorite work of the evening. I don't know very much of her music, but Saariaho is quickly becoming one of my favorite contemporary composers. A duo of hers for clarinet and cello, "Oi Kuu," was also on the program - and it was good, but I liked the solo cello piece best.

Baldeyrou performed Berio's "Sequenza IX" for clarinet - which was quite good, although not my favorite of the Sequenza series, and a bit too long for my taste. But well played for sure. His tone is gorgeous, so in a certain sense it doesn't matter what he's playing - I could just sit and listen to the instrument and be perfectly blissed-out.

After intermission, Descharmes provided another stunner for solo cello, Henri Dutilleux's "Trois Strophes sur le nom de Sacher." A three-movement work that had all the cerebral density of Berio, Boulez, etc., plus the visceral impact that puts Dutilleux in a class of his own (well maybe in a peer-group including Bartok and Stravinsky?) I think my personal preference is for modern music that doesn't get so lost in the math that the surface of the music becomes secondary. I feel like that's a trap that many composers fall into... getting so into their own head, or lost in the structural details, that they forget about what I'm calling the "visceral" component... the part that hits you in the gut, or in popular music the part that puts the asses in motion, y'know what I mean? I think this is why I'm a sucker for Saariaho -- she really succeeds in creating her own universe of sounds, equal parts gorgeous and interesting.

Story time

My friend eric posted this great little story. It's short. It's sweet. It's worth a click, I promise.

"It's very important that you don't disturb him. He's reading the Bhagavad-Gita!"

Pretty Girls Make Graves

at The Black Cat, 12/8/2005



(these photos are not from this show... just random ones found on flickr, from a show on august 15th, 2005)

Ok, so there's a wee bit of hype surrounding this band (see this review for example). Here's the thing: it's all true. This band is so damn good I don't know what to say. But I'll write a whole bunch of crap anyway...

For starters, they're a super-tight post-punk adrenaline machine. However, their songs are actually melodic, memorable, and interesting. I think guitarist Jay Clark is my new favorite composer of music for electric guitar. All of his parts are more than a little off-balance, his riffs rarely start on a downbeat and always have some surprising rhythmic ideas. He finds the perfect balance between searing dissonance and melodic contour. Most of the guitar parts aren't chords - they're built around linear figures that somehow threaten to splinter the entire song while at the same time tying it all together. Delicious. The rhythm section is excellent. There's such a solid foundation (also with interesting rhythmic ideas) that Clark can take things pretty far out into left field and there's still a strong foundation keeping things propulsive and grounded.

They told us (i.e. the crowd) that they've just finished recording a new record, which is due out in April. The new material seems to continue the trend of their last record: giving up some of the raw power of the first record, making room for a wide range of styles and ideas. I think that approach yielded mixed results on their second album, "The New Romance," but I have high hopes for the new one... One of the new songs was kind of dub-esque, and had verses in 13. Makes a prog-rock geek like me so happy.

Lead singer, Andrea Zollo, sounded great. I think if anything, her singing has improved since the last record. No signs of strain from years of touring... She's an excellent performer and seems so totally comfortable on stage (same goes for the rest of the band). After the show, Cameron said that Zollo is her new favorite person because she's such a rock star - and because her singing was so clear, you could actually understand the lyrics even when things got screamy.

Their live show is great. These folks play. For real. Some of the songs on "The New Romance" sounded especially great with an extra helping of adrenaline. They ended their set with "All Medicated Geniuses" and that song just took off. Left the crowd inevitably hollering for more. Encore included a few more new songs, and then closed the show with the post-punk anthem, "Speakers Push the Air" - which rocked even harder than "All Medicated Geniuses," which I didn't think would be possible. But somehow they did it.

The Double opened... Sadly, this is the second time I've had to sit through their set (they opened for Feist last June). Last time, I thought they were just boring. This time I thought they were really bad and couldn't wait for their set to end.

I missed Tangiers, the first band of the night, because Cameron and I opted for the vegan chocolate cake (with peanut butter icing) and coffee at Food for Thought. Let us take a moment and give praises and thanks for the vegan friendly cafe attached to the Black Cat.

And one last thought about Pretty Girls Make Graves: mad props to a band who can rock this hard and include an accordion.

Badtz Maru bass guitar

too bad they're crappy instruments, and too bad I don't play bass... [Link]

X and Juliana Hatfield

at 9:30 club, 12/5/2005

Juliana Hatfield is touring following the release of "Made in China" - her best work yet (I think). Her set was solid. I've heard her twice before, once with the Blake Babies and once with the Juliana Hatfield Three following her second solo album. This trio was much better than that one, and I think her material is much stronger now. The accompaniment to most of her songs (meaning the bass/drums) is generally very straight forward - her songs are straight forward 4/4 rock songs, and these guys played them simply and effectively. Often I think the greatest musician is the one who can play simple music just as it should be played. I think that covers the rhythm section. That being said, the show was really all about her. Her voice is crystal clear - same as it ever was, and her guitar playing is totally solid. Seems like she's always played in trios? She can certainly hold her own as the sole guitarist in the band... but if she ever wants to form a quartet, tell her I'm available, ok? I was a little disappointed that she didn't play "Send Money" (my favorite track on the new album), but no complaints. Her performance was mostly business. Not much banter or screwing around between songs - just rockin'. And as a special bonus, John Doe came out during her set and sang the last three songs with her... nice.

X sounded fabulous. I've heard them twice now, this was the first show I've heard with Billy Zoom back in the band. I don't think I want to open the can of worms that is comparing Zoom and Tony Gilkyson, so let's skip it. Also, that wouldn't be fair to Mr. Zoom, since I absolutely love Tony Gilkyson's playing and I think he's one of the most underrated musicians in the entire world.

The show did present some questions, though. They don't have any new material, and this tour is basically a "reunion" style show and they're selling it as such... simply the old favorites by the original members. I couldn't help feeling like it's somewhat "disney-fied" -- like this was a sort of theme park version of what used to be revolutionary music... Billy Zoom took every opportunity to mug for the camera when fans near the stage took pictures, and John Doe leaned into the crowd often to encourage particularly enthusiastic fans on his side of the stage. Sort of felt like the fans were on vacation from their middle-aged-ness, and excited to see Mickey and Goofy? I suppose the band is peddling nostalgia and giving the people what they want... but I have mixed feelings about it. I suppose this is made worse since I'm one of the minority (I'm assuming) of X fans that actually like the more recent material (from the Gilkyson years) so I missed hearing songs from "See How We Are" as they were mining the back catalog.

On the other hand, the performance was excellent. It sure didn't seem like they were phoning it in or anything - I felt like they were playing these old songs like they still mean it. And since those early records are recorded so poorly (even if some of them were produced by Ray Manzarek, they still sound pretty crappy), hearing them live was pretty special. Hard to read a song like "We're Desperate" quite the same way now, though. Exene and John Doe are singing "We're desperate, get used to it" and it sounds a little tired. Maybe I'm just hoping they're not quite so desperate now that they've achieved status as punk rock legends?

Picking up on the thread of "rock star signifiers" from the other night, there was lots to take in here... before the show, stagehands taped down a piece of marley in front of Billy Zoom's amp, but his performance style is calm, cool, and collected - grinning ear to ear and simply walking around the stage - and occasionally striking a pose for the camera. What's the marley for, exactly? Doe, in contrast, was all over the place, working up a sweat. And then there's the image of Exene Cervenka, one biker boot firmly planted on top of a monitor speaker - assuming her rightful place as the first-lady of west-coast punk. Too bad there weren't any young'uns in the audience to take in this particular history lesson.

They pretty much burned through all the old songs as you might expect, and it was good. One funny change, though: during "The New World" they changed the lyrics slightly. What used to be "Mrs. Reagan, you got a quarter? Gee, well I couldn't spare it" became "Have you got a place to live?" to which Exene chirped, "Vote for Pedro." Strange. Were they de-politicizing a song about the futility of politics ("It was better before they voted for what's his name") - or were they being even more nihilistic? Maybe just cracking a joke.

Scorch Trio

at An Die Musik (Baltimore), 12/3/2005

(This photo is not from the show at An Die Musik... it's from the Nattjazz Festival 2004 in Bergen, Norway)

I was lucky enough to hear the Norwegian free jazz trio The Thing along with Joe McPhee at Sangha a few weeks ago. The rhythm section is also the core of the Scorch Trio - just swap saxophonist Mats Gustafsson for guitarist Raoul Björkenheim, switch from double bass to electric bass guitar, and there you go...Welll, almost.

Both groups play free jazz. Both groups are equally "influenced" by rock and jazz and whatever other music might enter their ears. Scorch Trio is definitely more of a "rock" project, I think.

Music was hot. As expected, these guys burned the place up from the start (well, after they got warmed up...Which took a few minutes, I guess). Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass) and and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) quite simply kick ass. I haven't heard such a ferocious improviser on bass guitar before. His double bass playing in The Thing was excellent, but not unheard of -- certainly similar to many free jazz bassists. On electric, however, this was something new to me. Drummer is also excellent. I hope this isn't sacrilegious, or heretical, or whatever, but he reminded me of Tony Williams - sort of a post-modern Tony Williams. Is there a term for this school of free jazz drumming with little bells, cymbals, woodblocks, and nick-nacks placed on the drums, and constantly juggling all of these little things in addition to the rest of the drum kit? If so, let me know in the comments. If not, coin the term and leave a comment. Nilssen-Love is certainly a master of this approach. He's also remarkably fast. This show featured a lot of very busy playing - most of the music was very high energy -- the show with The Thing gave him more room to explore softer textures, which he did incredibly well, using scraps of felt and fabric to mute the drums, creating an extensive palette of timbres even at low volume.

At times, the group seemed like a sort of post-modern Tony Williams Lifetime -- lots of rock energy merged quite successfully with free jazz aesthetics. And, to their credit, I think they managed to avoid all of the power-trio pitfalls that a rock/jazz hybrid could easily lapse into.

And as for Björkenheim, his playing is excellent. There's plenty written about him online, so I won't get into this much. Clearly very influenced by Hendrix (what electric guitarist isn't?), I thought I heard lots of early John McLaughlin in the show. But I don't want to get caught up in the "spot the influences" game. He did a fair amount of fast, flashy, playing - including some two handed tapping a la Eddie Van Halen, but also had lots more up his metaphorical sleeve, if you will.

The show got me thinking about performance practice. All of these guys subscribe to the aesthetic of the furrowed brow -- grimacing, sweating, and otherwise letting the audience know quite clearly that they are working very hard. I don't mean to suggest that they were putting that on - I think it was genuine and authentic, but it got me thinking. Are there "signifiers" that guitarists use to show that they have virtuoso technique, and therefore all the "outside" stuff is to be taken seriously? I think some of the flashy runs served that purpose.

In this case, these questions were somewhat exaggerated by Björkenheim's on-stage histrionics. He may or may not be a rockstar - but he certainly thinks of himself as such, complete with: scarf (not for warmth), slack-jawed guitar face, knees bent just so (see photo), some slight head banging, and even a little jumping up and down. And if that wasn't enough, he had a different guitar for each piece: Parker Fly, some kind of electric viola da gamba, a strat, and then to really put it over the top, an electric 12 string. The 12 string seemed kind of unnecessary, I didn't hear any new material, or musical ideas that needed it, so I felt like it was really overkill.

Keep in mind, all of this criticism is within the context of: Scorch Trio was awesome. They totally rocked - RAWKED, even. Show was great, this nitpicky stuff is really secondary. Maybe sour grapes because I'll never have chops like that?

Kristin Hersh and Bob Mould

at The Birchmere, 11/29/2005


Kristin Hersh is an incredibly meticulous performer. I think I'm a huge fan of hers primarily because of her compositions, but this show really made me think more about her chops as a performer. Her guitar playing is incredibly clean, and unlike most solo acoustic performers (i.e. singer-songwriter types) she is very intentional about articulations. Her right-hand technique is really well developed. She has extraordinary dynamic control - exploiting the wide range between soft and loud - something most singer-songwriters can't quite demonstrate, especially in concert. Another indicator of her chops was in the endings of each song. She was very careful about letting the last notes ring just so, or muting the strings suddenly. None of the sloppy final "thwacks" that make so many rock players sound dumb at the end of every song.

And her vocal technique... well, she has been singing songs professionally for over 20 years so maybe it should come as no surprise that she's great at it. Her voice has changed over the last few years, but she has a rich variety of sounds, and great control. I've seen many critics write about her performances and her distant focus. It looks like she's got her eyes fixed on some point far off on the horizon. I suspect she's not focused on her eyes at all, but she's listening so carefully - and concentrating really hard on both her guitar playing and her voice. I guess I could keep gushing about her playing and singing... but that's enough for now.

Ok, the songs... Her songs are often quite thorny, lyrics are abstract enough to be baffling at times, but still give enough concrete details to be deeply engaging. At one point she said, "I keep telling you the songs are about something and then they turn out not to be so much about it. Well, I'm as confused as you are." (ok, that's a bad mis-quote, I'm doing this from memory a few days later) She played "Pearl" from the Throwing Muses album "Red Heaven" and offered some explanation before-hand about her childhood friend, Marie. Didn't really shed any light on the song, though... She played a few Throwing Muses songs. "Hook in Her Head" was nicely arranged for the solo setting. Musically, her songs really blow me away. She has a unique harmonic vocabulary, and puts together disparate and angular elements into songs that flow so nicely, but seem like they shouldn't. It's magic, I guess. Let's call it "artistry."

Her current work is tremendous. Hopefully her current band, 50 Foot Wave, will be in DC sometime... still looking forward to seeing them live. The show wasn't at all about hearing the old "hits," it was very much a case of hearing an artist at the top of their game -- rare for someone who's been churning out work as long (and in such quanitity) as she has.

Bob Mould was a different story. I don't want to write anything critical of him in public... he's been such an important figure in my own musical development and I feel like I "owe" him so much. My bands in college played Husker Du covers, not so much in concert, but we cut our teeth on his songs and did our best to copy them when we were writing our own material. Maybe it was just hard hearing him after Kristin Hersh, since their work is so different. Mould is famous for power. His songs come at you hard. I think that makes solo performances challenging, but he's been doing this for a long time - it's the third time I've heard him solo and the first time I had mixed feelings about it. I think this has lots to do with nostalgia and being wrapped up in hearing my favorite old songs, and this time I think I was more present to the performance, less to the warm fuzzies generated by hearing his old songs. Highlights, for me, were the songs where he was joined by Amy Domingues on cello. "Poison Years" sounded especially good in this setting. Amy played the juicy disonant lead guitar parts, and added beefy low end, making the song nice and heavy. Before that one, they played "See a Little Light" and her behind-the-beat phrasing kind of bugged me, I wanted to hear it more crisply... but that's really nitpicking. I hope those two do some more playing together - they worked well.

PS. Birchmere is a scam. To get a good seat, you have to get there early and buy dinner from them. Not much in terms of vegetarian options, and nothing vegan. They should take a lesson from Black Cat and Food for Thought... after all, the DC straight-edge kids are grown up now and have decent jobs (disposable income) and wide musical taste. Also, they tried to take a percentage of Kristin's CD sales - not unusual for a large venue, but I think they had made some prior arrangement and then acted dickish about it.