 |
  |
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||
|
Soundscapes Some exciting events kick off the week's entertainment here in Eugene. First, on July1, cram into the dark but inviting space of the McDonald Theater Lounge for The Slip. Having played in Eugene many times, the name is familiar to fans who crave this trio's shifting soundscapes of jazz and funk.
Brothers Brad and Andrew Barr and friend Marc Friedman have been playfully concocting jazz cocktails together since their jazz band days in high school. After graduating, the three moved to Boston and briefly attended Berklee before leaving to pursue their own goals. The Slip is one of those rare bands that is accepted by the jam band world for its prowess at letting the music flow without holding back, while the jazz world has supported its rebellious approach to breaking traditions. Touring consistently over the past six years, throughout the U.S., as well as Japan and Canada, the group has produced six albums and has mastered the ability to combine rhythms from many lands and shape them into grooves that merge and grow. Each element — vocal, percussion, a guitar riff or drum line — is allowed to fully expand and assert its presence, yet always remain part of a conscious whole. The Slip has recently released two live albums on its own label in addition to its studio recordings. With one being acoustic and the other electric, each disc offers insight into a different aspect of the band's approach. Also on July 1, Roy Book Binder will visit Café Paradiso. This folklorist, comedian, blues singer, storyteller and guitarist from Queens, N.Y., has been performing for more than 30 years and worked closely in the '60s with blues masters Rev. Gary Davis and Pink Anderson. A recognized and respected expert in the Piedmont style of blues playing (a traditional form involving intricate fingerpicking and ragtime-based rhythms), Book Binder has the authentic air of a true traveling bluesman. He spins tales of life on the road, stories replete with the road-weary blues, the lonesome blues and the lost-love blues. Book Binder brings the music to life with the skill of the pupil having become a master, and he plays his own tunes as well as those of his musical progenitors, masters of the rural pre-World War II sound he has devoted his life to. He plays a beautiful vintage guitar and has a distinctive style, letting his guitar work and half-spoken vocal delivery intensify the emotional impact of a song. Book Binder performs not only in coffeehouses and blues rooms, but at prestigious storytelling festivals, including the 2001 Jonesborough, Tenn. National Storytelling Festival, where a concert video entitled Roy Book Binder In Concert: Roy, The Reverend and the Devil's Music was filmed. The video shows Book Binder delivering an oral history of his favorite blues guitarists and anecdotes from his relationships with Davis and Anderson. His ragtime and country blues tunes sprinkled throughout the performance make it entertaining as well as educational. Additionally, for guitarists who like to emulate, the video gives viewers a front-row seat where Book Binder's fretting and fingerpicking are clearly visible. New York's Suffrajett and Portland's Man of The Year will perform July 1 at Indigo District. Suffrajett's Jason Chasko on guitar and front-woman Simi on vocals and violin, drummer Danny Severson and bassist Kevin Roberts (formerly of Elysian Fields) make raw, unpretentious rock that, well, rocks. (Incidentally, Chasko co-wrote and co-produced Liz Phair's whitechocolatespaceegg.) Simi's gritty vocals are delivered with attitude and power but with a catchy quality you can't help but latch onto. The foursome creates music with a strong pop backbone, but thanks to the rough guitars and aggressive tendencies, it veers away from sweet and sentimental. Songs like the opener "Love Me More" show Simi tearing up the love letters with lines like "I want to let you know that you're acting like an asshole." Her vocals can be girlish or biting, and, along with the fully enmeshed rhythm section, are a big appeal. Should be a rockin' show. Suffrajett is touring with MC5 and will be appearing with them at their Portland gig, but, alas, MC5 will not stop here in lil' ol' Eugene. The Black Forest is hosting Seattle's The New Mexicans on July 7. With song titles like "I'm Going to Go Put On My Cape and Go Jackoff to Some Beat Happening CDs" and "Lesbian Llamas Are The Fruit Of Gnomes," you know you're in for some weird shit with the New Mexicans. They fully admit that taking anything too seriously sets the stage for mockery, and they mock themselves, just to make sure we don't get all politically correct and blame them for society's woes. Difficult to pin down musically, the band has a hard and fast approach that comes on strong and ends as quickly as it began. When the guitar, bass and drums play together nicely, the effect is brutally strong. The rest of the time, it's stop-and-start that can be dizzying. Though technically proficient and musically synchronized at times, they are not a "technical" band. If you're into Fugazi and other Dischord bands or just like tight, forceful rock music that isn't awfully self-aware, this will satisfy without leaving that icky neu-metal taste in your mouth. This band has a reputation for playing short, fast, shitstorm sets that end abruptly, so don't be late to the gig. The WOW Hall is taking its summer break and will not be hosting any events from July 1 through July 12. Also, if you're looking for a way to be entertained and support visual art at the same time, check out the 21st annual Art and the Vineyard, taking place July 2-4 in Alton Baker Park. The event features food, music and art and benefits Eugene's Maude Kerns Art Center.
Monkee
Torture, Too Cheap for Vinyl, 2003,
Self-Released Many styles are represented in this debut from Monkee Torture: From '50s rock and British metal to American punk and '60s fairytale psychedelic-metal (think Spinal Tap/Stonehedge). It's a punk/metal marriage presided over by the ominous character of the Baron Von Torture. The strength of this record lies in the musicians, as evidenced on "Release the Hounds" and "Uncle Metallica." The band really sinks its teeth into the Baron Von Torture songs, "What Would Baron Von Torture Do" and "Christmas at Von Torture's." There is some guitar work in the finest metal tradition, and although these songs seem to bring the band focus, there is a bit too much dependency upon the character of Baron Von Torture. Too much of a good joke can be a bad thing. Also, the vocals come across as rather one-dimensional, featuring gargled shout-outs, `a la the Dropkick Murphys. This vocal technique, however, will definitely appeal to a certain type of listener. Fans of The Misfits, The Ramones and Iron Maiden will appreciate this CD. Standout tracks are "Release the Hounds," "Teenage Dumbshit" and "WWBVTD."
Ween, Live
in Chicago CD/DVD, 2004,
Sanctuary Records
Here is a concert video so superfluous that it is necessary. With three official live albums and a liberal taping and trading policy, it's difficult to swing a net without catching a Ween bootleg. Nevertheless, the production quality alone on Live in Chicago is reason enough to add it to your collection. But why care about production milk when you have the cream resting atop two nights of a Chicago, Vic Theatre three-night Weenie binge? The show begins sober and standard enough; Ween kicks out the jams. But at a third of the way in, Dean Ween steps to the mic and announces a sing-along. "It goes like this," Dean says, "one, two, three, AIDS!" From that point, welcome to Ween's world. The musicians show off their inner Gene Autry with "Chocolate Town," their Rainbow Child on "The Argus," and their horny teenager on "Touch my Tooter." While it wouldn't make up for missing your next Ween show, Live in Chicago works as a between-tour supplement. It brings back concert images audio cannot, and those your mind couldn't hold while you were there.
Armored Frog,
Ghost Cow, 2004,
Sleep Sound Records Since bands like Smog and Low launched the slow-core revolution in the early part of the '90s, countless others have tried to march boldly forth in the "I love depressing music" parade. Eventually you run out of ideas until a band like Armored Frog comes along. Here emotions are scraped raw between cementing bass, whispering mystery synths, languid guitars and scraps of found sounds. Some of this could be postmodern pop, and a good deal of it is lushly instrumental minimalism. The closest thing I'd put it up against is Arab Strap (sans the beer-soaked Scottish accent). Even with all the sorrow stitched throughout these songs, it's far from just soul-freezing desolation. It's like driving alone through Nebraska at night and realizing how much you actually love life. This is totally original and searching. Unlike the oceans of "volume" bands that ceaselessly hit the campus airwaves, these songs require your attention and are seriously worth every last bit. After Automated (2002), this sophomore effort is going to hit some nerves. Bleak never felt so good.
The slick production of Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea is gone and this is a welcome change. Harvey seems to have gone back to the bare basics found in older releases like Rid of Me. On songs such as "Bad Mouth" and "The Darker Days of Me & Him," Harvey seems betrayed ("You were an unhappy child / That doesn't make your lying tongue alright.") She's even a little threatening in the song "Pocket Knife" ("Can you see my pocket knife? / You can't make me be your wife.") Despite some very bitter songs, Harvey doesn't lose her sense of humor, making use of hand claps in "Who the Fuck" ("Who the fuck you trying to be? / Get your dog away from me.") Is Harvey sliding backward into a hole of hysteria? Possibly, but if she's falling, it'll be on her own terms and you believe her when she sings, "I'm not trying to cause a fuss / just wanna make my own fuck-ups. / I'm not trying to break your heart / I'm just trying not to fall apart."
BLACK FOREST CAFE PARADISO CLUB ROCK CLUB TSUNAMI COFFEE GROVE COOPERATIVE COUNTRY SIDE RESTAURANT
COZMIC PIZZA@THE STRAND All
Ages DIABLO'S DOWNTOWN LOUNGE DUCK INN EARLY RISE CAFE EL REY'S EMBERS SUPPER CLUB GOOD TIMES
INDIGO DISTRICT JOE'S BAR & GRILLE JO FEDERIGO'S JOGGER'S BAR & GRILL JOHN HENRY'S LAVELLE'S WINE BAR & BISTRO LONE STAR BAR AND GRILL LUCKEY'S CLUB CIGAR LUNA MCDONALD THEATRE MORNING GLORY CAFE MULLIGAN'S PUB THE O BAR OUR PLACE TAVERN OVERTIME TAVERN PERUGINO PLANET GOLOKA QUACKER'S RAMADA INN
SAM BOND'S GARAGE SAMURAI DUCK STACY'S COVERED BRIDGE THE TANGO CENTER TAP 'N' KEG 942-8713 TAYLOR'S BAR AND GRILL WETLANDS WOW HALL All Ages YUKON JACK'S
CORVALLIS FOX 'N' FIRKIN INTABA'S KITCHEN MURPHY'S |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From
an origin of two teens and a drum machine, Ween has grown into a rock
beast with fervent fans, sold out theaters and festival appearances.
One of the few success stories of the '90s, Ween rose from Beavis-esque
retardation to owning the most devout fans and spewing the most excellent
rock. Live in Chicago secures its special place in rock history.
PJ
Harvey, Uh Huh Her, 2004,
Island Records
