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Wednesday, September 04, 2002
The Great Purge of 2002
Fittingly, Labor Day weekend was filled with a whole lot of actual 'labor'... and I don't mean birthin' no babies. Amie and I dug in and dug out our apartment over the course of a couple days, and we're all the better for it. Five bags of trash and enough recycling for three or four bins. I tell ya, the garbage guys can't come soon enough. We've also got a few boxes full of donations or yard-sale possibilities. Take it away, please! It feels so good to reject your inner pack-rat and just let go. Enough with the stuff! Billy Bragg said it best... "You keep buying these things but you don't need them But as long as you're comfortable it feels like freedom." Back to basics, indeed. Discovering Darren The long weekend wasn't all about cleaning, though. Managed to catch six, count 'em six, different bands (and one freakish, squawking, bird-like woman who shall go unnamed), with shows at the Roxy, the Middle East, and the Kendall Cafe. The standout was an Australian gent named Darren Hanlon. But more about him later. First up was Le Tigre and Mary Timony (and the aforementioned spastic-flamingo-lady) at the Roxy...   Mary cut her backing band down from a five piece to a three piece since I saw her amazing set at 608 a few months back, and it definitely took away from the sound and impact of her normally great songs. (Although, given the horrible mixing job by the resident Roxy mullet-masters, there's no guarantee you'd be able to hear the extra guitar and keyboards even if they were there). The memory and magic of the 608 show sits so strongly in my brain, that I'm not sure seeing her again will ever measure up. Le Tigre, on the other hand, were a pleasant surprise. Not in the "I'm going to go out and buy all their stuff now" kind of way... but in the "Boy did they just entertain the hell out of me" kind of way. Total showman, ur, showgirl-ship, packed with energy, enthusiasm, and some killer crazy-ass off-kilter dance moves. I'd never seen anything quite like 'em, and I stood there with a smile on my face the whole time, not only from watching them enjoy the hell out of themselves, but watching the crowd do the same. From the Roxy over to the MidEast I went, and after some student-induced parking difficulty, managed to catch the last half of Jr. Corduroy's set, followed by another all-pro performance by Wheat.   Jr. Corduroy was plagued by technical difficulties, and while there were some 'you got me' moments during the build-ups on a song or two, overall they left me a little bit bored. Blame it on the fact that I'd just seen Le Tigre, 'cuz I know they've got the songs (check their latest disc on Sealed Fate Records), and I really liked Mark's solo stuff at Eric & Ellie's BBQ last summer. I'll have to catch the full band again sometime... Next up, Wheat. Y'know, sometimes I almost feel dirty for liking Wheat. Not when I'm listening to them... their last album is excellent, and their new songs are sounding just as good. It's only when I'm watching them. There is this fine line between sincerity and cheeze, and they walk it like a shaky tightrope. Questionable outfits, sunglasses on stage, the dreaded 'guitar-face'... but y'know, the songs are good enough to cancel all that out. Glad to hear their long-awaited third album is finally on the release schedule, slated for early next year. Fast forward to Sunday... an evening at the Kendall Cafe with visiting friends, who drove far for, and spoke highly of, Mr. Darren Hanlon. This was the first night of his U.S. tour, so he was a bit jetlagged from his Australian flight the day before... but I tell ya, you wouldn't have known it. This man turns a phrase like McQueen turns a corner, and has got songs so catchy that they're still in my head, days later. He's toured with the Lucksmiths, and they share a certain style... but I'd almost say that Darren is like a dose of concentrated-Lucksmiths. There's a little more thought in his pop, if you get my meaning. Well, if you don't know the Lucksmiths, you have no idea what I'm talking about. And you're also missing out... but that's besides the point. So, yeah, Darren floored me. His between-song banter was pretty damn funny, including his first experience with Everquest, and his post-set Eli Wallach-stalking story was both hysterical and slightly disturbing. I bought his debut EP, which includes set-faves "Video Store" and the beautiful, banjo-based "Falling Aeroplanes", and I can't wait to pick up his just-released full-lengther (also on Australia's Candle Records), which contains the pop-gem "Hiccups". Hooray for Darren Hanlon, and hooray for good friends with great taste.  |
 neil halstead live in cambridge, ma on november 14th, 2008 previously: joy formidable - boston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac...
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