4.23.2010 - Chris Pureka and Nicole Reynolds @ Radio Radio

We'd been looking forward to this show for weeks.  I'd heard Chris Pureka via my Brandi Carlile channel on Pandora probably over a year ago and haven't stopped listening since.  What I wasn't aware of is that the event was put on by Cathy and Joyce of indyindie.com - a local group who promote independent female artists in music, poetry, and art.  Unfortunately, after 7 years of doing this, we only happened upon them at the second-to-last show.  They are "retiring" - but as Cathy mentioned onstage later, eventually they'll be back at it after an extended break and some good R&R.  It was also Cathy's annual birthday show - so Happy Birthday Cathy!

I'd say 98% of this crowd was female, which wasn't at all surprising after discovering it was put on by a group promoting independent female artists.  My rough estimate would be that about 75-100 people showed up - and that's a very rough guess.  You could definitely tell that Chris has a following - there was a line of probably 15-20 people at the door when we arrived a little before doors opened at 8.  Haven't seen a line at Radio Radio since back when we saw a Griffin House/Green River Ordinance/Needtobreathe show there in the Fall of 2009. 

This was the most laid-back crowd I've ever seen at a show...everyone remained seated and was fully respectful of the artists at all times.  This was such a great break from the normal concert-going crowd we've encountered.  At one point, Chris Pureka even commented that people should come to the front and form a mosh-pit, saying she'd even smash a guitar if they did - then quickly changing her mind saying it makes her angry when people do that - "someone could've used that guitar". 

Nicole Reynolds was up first.  I'd be surprised if she is a centimeter over 4'11".  She has a great whimsical/old-timey voice, which reminded me instantly of Katie Herzig.  Her songs are reminiscent of poems set to music, rather than songs.  She also has a fantastic sense of humor - her stories between songs had the entire room cracking up.  We really enjoyed her set, and can't wait to hear more of her music.  Here are some highlights:
  • Whiskey - Nicole mentioned her girlfriend quit smoking very shortly after she played this song in front of her g/f's Baptist Minister father - I believe the line was "You accept my bullshit, I accept your smoking".  Enough said.
  • Earthworms - How can you beat a song with a line about hermaphrodite sex being great?
  • Wonderin - "Do you know that your kisses are like windows I fall through" - great line
  • We Could Have Met
Chris Pureka then took the stage.  One of the first things you notice when the music starts is that she is an amazing guitar player.  Then you hear her voice...full of emotion, soulful, haunting.  It instantly pulls you in and takes you along for an emotional ride through what must be autobiographical stories of love and loss.  I'd describe her genre as Indie-Folk.  Her songs just ooze with melancholy - you can picture her sitting in front of a window on a cold and rainy New England fall evening pouring her heart into writing these lyrics.  She has a brand new album out, click that link below and buy it, you'll be glad you did.  Some highlights from her set:
  •  California - From her Chimera EP
  •  Barn Song - From her newest album, "How I Learned to See in the Dark".  She wrote this after taking a walk with Lyndell Montgomery, bass and fiddle player in her band, while visiting at her Canadian home.  They walked out to an abandoned house and barn, then while passing back by the house, Chris found a bell sitting next to the front door.  Lyndell convinced her to take it, and the bell is now immortalized on the cover of the new album.
  • Shipwreck - "Sometimes I wish that tide would take me" - hearbreaking lyrics.
  • Wrecking Ball - Contains the album title lyric "How I learned to see in the dark".  Has great radio-play potential.
  • Swann Song - Written for her grandma.  From the Dryland album.
  • Encore of Porch Songs - One of my Chris Pureka favorites form the Driving North album.
I'm not sure the night could have gotten any better (except maybe if she'd felt inclined to sing Burning Bridges, another favorite).  Both Chris and Nicole hung out back by the merchandise table after the show to meet everyone.  Thanks to Cathy for strongly expressing her desire for Chris to play "more, more", so we could hear a live version of Porch Songs.  And huge thanks to Cathy and http://www.indyindie.com/ for putting the show together and getting Chris and Nicole together in Indianapolis.  Perfect night - go see Nicole Reynolds and/or Chris Pureka if you ever get the chance!

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Monday, April 26, 2010 Posted in | , , , , , , , | 0 Comments »

4.22.2010 - Martin Sexton and Ryan Montbleau @ The Vogue

When we arrived at The Vogue for Martin Sexton, there was a line forming outside, but it was substantially shorter than the line that formed for Clutch, thank goodness.  After our eyes adjusted to the dim lighting inside, we noticed the most welcomed surprise - they had moved some of the tall tables and stools down from the balcony to the floor, a matter of feet from the stage.  And there, off to stage right, was an open one!  Finally the lovely combination of experiencing the music from the floor and saving our feet from the pain caused by 4+ hours shifting back and forth on them! 

So the bouncers decide to just close the balcony since there weren't all that many tickets sold for this show. Which I can't blame them for doing, but I'd bet that everyone could have had a seat if they had allowed people to go upstairs. And interestingly enough, we weren't met with the metal detectors and strict ID policies that we were becoming accustomed to at The Vogue...plus actual beer bottles were handed out during the evening, instead of pouring it into a plastic cup.  Certainly says something about at least the perception of hard rock/rap crowds vs. singer/songwriter crowds...

There were downfalls, however, to choosing the seated option, to be discussed in detail later...
 
Ryan Montbleau is up first.  His sound is very old-timey/jazzy.  He had what seems to be a typical five piece band set-up - keyboard/drums/bass/fiddle/guitar.  Ryan is a great guitar player, and beyond that, had the ability to keep up great Jason Mraz-esque (if we can make that a word for a second) wittiness between songs.  Martin Sexton actually produced Ryan Montbleau's latest album, and they have toured together before.  Ryan is a great entertainer, with some very catchy tunes.  Some highlights from his setlist:
  • Songbird
  • Grain of Sand
  • 75 and Sunny - From the album Sexton produced
Then came Martin Sexton (whom we heard a few audience members refer to as "Marty", like a favorite uncle).  If you aren't familiar with Martin Sexton's music - the guy has a big voice, and can even act as a human drum-kit when necessary.  He doesn't require a band at all, but integrated the Ryan Montbleau band into some of his songs seamlessly.  Martin's singer/songwriter style definitely has a blues and soul vibe to it.  He's a great musician, and kept the audience engaged and entertained throughout the entire set plus an encore.  Some highlights from his set:
  • Can't Stop Thinking About You
  • Chasin' Dreams - About a guy quitting a high-paid job to do the job he always dreamed of as a kid.
  • Stick Around
  • My Faith Is Gone - Sexton wrote this when he was a hungry street-singer in Cambridge in 1991, and the government told them they couldn't sing on the streets anymore.
  • Beast in Me - This was part of the encore, and he broke into a version of "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" by The Jackson's in the middle.
A great show...with some low points involving the crowd, which was surprising.  As I mentioned earlier, one downside to snagging a table was that it naturally became a gathering point for others, so at one point we had two converging groups of people surrounding us.  They were also chatting loudly throughout the entire show - which is still a phenomenon I have yet to understand, though it happens everywhere.  Why pay money for a concert if you really just want to drink and catch up with friends?  And having a horizontal surface in front of you in a bar means it becomes a place for everyone to dump their empties.  Rude.  But I guess we shouldn't complain - a mere 5 days prior to the Martin Sexton show, we were watching Clutch concert-goers being dragged off of that same floor for moshing too violently.  We'll certainly settle for the Sexton crowd anyday...

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4.18.2010 - Caverns, Danko Jones, and Clutch @ The Vogue

This show was our first show back at the Vogue following the Bone Thugs show that ended up being quite the letdown. As we started walking towards the venue, we noticed that there was an impressive line forming before the doors opened. It was quite the interesting crowd, made up of mostly guys in their 20's and 30's. The ladies were pretty seriously outnumbered and I could only imagine that the ladies that were there were probably dragged to the show by a boyfriend. So, the doors open and we are once again wanded down by the metal detector and patted down for security. This time we had to produce two pieces of identification to get in and Erica and I hypothesized for a while why this might have been.


We grabbed a couple of seats in the balcony, which has kind of become our favorite place to be in this venue come lately, plus, I think we knew in the back of our minds that being on the floor amidst the moshing and insanity of the crowd that we would be seriously out of place. Another interesting thing to note was that at some of our other experiences, particularly for Brandi Carlile, there is always a group of women that run to get the coveted places at the very front of the stage. In this situation, we found that it was all men at the front of the stage from the second the doors opened, and they were some pretty big dudes.

The first band to come up was Caverns, a sort of progressive/math rock band from D.C., made up of 3 guys who played piano, drums, and electric guitar. First thing we obviously noticed if anyone else out there is familiar with this band, is that there are no words. These guys were interesting in the fact that it is pretty obvious that there are classical elements that they insert into their music. I think what I liked about this band, other than the fact that it was something different, is that the use of the piano was not afterthought or a gimmick. In fact, I think the piano element is the strongest part of their live presentation; it thunders throughout the guitar riffs and makes the music work. I understand that this is a relatively new band and they certainly have a few technical aspects of their music to tighten up, but it's pretty obvious that they have some potential to offer. After all, the headliners, Clutch, invited them to be a part of the tour because they genuinely like their music. Their first album is called "Kittens!," so check it out and keep an eye out for these guys.

Next up was Danko Jones. I had heard of this band before, but this was my first experience seeing them live. The band has a lot of energy and it's contagious. The crowd seemed really into the band and seemed to be familiar with the songs. The frontman, who lends his name to the band, knew what to say to this crowd to get them going. He told us before a song called "Rock Shit Hot" that the song was supposed to give us rock n roll hemorrhoids. The crowd responded pretty well to any sort of profanity. Danko Jones showed us some pretty great guitar playing and definitely knew how to get the crowd revved up for Clutch. Perhaps my favorite song of theirs from the set was "Makes Me Forget My Name." Danko is definitely a top notch performer and his voice is actually quite good underneath the typical screaming and yelling that this genre of music presents. I mean, the guy even has a spoken word album, which doesn't happen unless you have a voice that is as great as James Earl Jones. The band has quite a following in Europe and has played a number of well known festivals. They put on a good show and I think I'm actually pretty interested in hearing more from them and maybe even getting some music from them. Mission accomplished.

So Clutch takes the stage and launches into their set with a pretty long musical intro. It was easy to pick out that they have some blues roots and folk elements in their music. This really isn't your typical heavy metal band. To be honest, I think there is a lot of intellectual aspects of their music and people are starting to catch on to that, even though the band has been around for over 10 years. They have some pretty dark and yet humorous lyrics...and we heard a little of that as they played a song about anthrax. Their most recent album was released in July of 2009 and is called "Strange Cousins From the West".  The album design and the new logo of the band is a play off of middle eastern culture and language. It apparently got pretty decent critical reviews at the time of release and the band has moved quite a few copies of the album since.

Some things to note about this point of the show is that I was completely distracted for a number of reasons. First of all, there was a pretty distracting couple dancing in a ridiculously raunchy manner up in the balcony next to us. Second, a couple of fights broke out on the floor when some guys were moshing and pretty much running wild into a couple of girls on the floor. But the quick security guys at the Vogue had it handled within minutes, by means of dragging the guy out of the venue. There were a couple of crowd surfing incidents, with one failing when the guy who was surfing fell through a hole in the crowd. At this point, I was just watching the crowd, which seemed more entertaining than the band at times. When I listen to "Strange Cousins From the West" on my iPhone, I really enjoy it. However, upon hearing it live, I kind of felt like all the songs sounded the same. I'm not sure if this is because their music does have that intellectual element to it, which for me, lends itself towards a more personal environment where I can take it all in.

One of the coolest things about this band is that it seems that anyone you talk to who does know Clutch and their music...well, they just have nothing but good things to say about the guys. You hear things like "They have integrity," and "They are the real people," which I think is probably hard to come by in this genre. And after seeing this show, I would have to say that I can see that in them. They are not too showy, they don't have some crazy dramatic production, or even jump around the stage as one might expect. They play solid music and interact with their fans. It was refreshing in a sense to experience this at a rock show. Overall, it was a pretty good show and though I'm not 100% sold on going to see them live again, I think I am interested in Clutch's music and look forward to what they can create in the future.

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4.11.2010 - Randy Travis & Collin Raye @ The Murat (Old National Center)

Well, this wasn't exactly a show we had planned to go see. My aunt, who should be labeled a professional contest winner, won tickets from the local radio station, then also managed to get tickets from a friend who works for Randy Travis. We later found out that this show was actually a benefit show for the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, which is a foundation that raises awareness for people with cognitive disabilities.

I thought it would be really interesting to see this show. After all, I grew up loving country music and one of my first concerts was seeing Randy Travis when I was in 5th grade. I feel a bit lame admitting this now, but really, Randy Travis started a bit of an obsession with me and country music. I'm talking this was a serious obsession...I had mix tapes.

The show starts out with Collin Raye, who had a number of top 10 country hits in the 90's. One of his most well known songs is a song called "I Can Still Feel You," which was actually a number one hit in the summer of 1998. He took the stage with just a guitar and was accompanied only by his guitar player and a lady playing the keyboard. One of the things that I loved about Collin Raye's music is that it was always positive and had a great message...combined with his outstanding voice, his songs still remain powerful. I always thought that Raye's voice was almost too clear for country music. The guy could be in any broadway show; it's that powerful and that dramatic, in a sense.

What I appreciated about this opening set from Raye was the fact that he is very honest about his career and how he performs his songs. He let us know at the get-go that he would be performing a lot of his hits that people know and would maybe throw in a couple of new songs that he has been working on. He made jokes about getting old and being in the business for 20 plus years. Raye played hits such as "Little Rock", a touching song about a man recovering from alcohol addiction, "That's My Story", a song Raye admits is a bit shallow, "I Want You Bad (And That Ain't Good)", "The Gift",and arguably his most popular hit, "Love, Me".Raye has always been an energetic performer and still puts forth the effort to be very entertaining. We found out just hours before the show that Raye's granddaughter had died just weeks ago, yet the guy was there performing at a benefit show. He still has the heart and energy that I remember from the 90s and I felt a sense of gratitude towards him for having the courage to perform in the midst of his own tragedy and for contributing so much to the period of country music that shaped the way I listen to music today.

Randy Travis was up next and opened the show with his hit, "Better Class Of Losers (Album Version)", a great country song about a country man who finds that his uptown living is not as great as the simple, down-home life he left behind. I probably shouldn't have been surprised that Travis has aged since 1993 when I first saw him, but for whatever reason, I was shocked to see that his hair is greying and he's not quite the "hunk" that I remember everyone made him out to be in the 90s. Travis was accompanied by an 8 piece band, many who have traveled with him for many years. Randy Travis was considered to be the leader of the movement of the "New Traditionalists" in country music when he hit the scene in the 80s. His voice isn't too far from sounding like George Jones and though he had the looks of a modern day movie star at the time, his music was not as pop sounding as other country artists were sounding in that era. He kind of brought back old school country and made it cool again. He played many of those songs I remember growing up to and loving. He made jokes about his lack of technological knowledge, though it should be noted that he has a Twitter. He joked about the difference between men and women, and cracked a couple of jokes you could find on the back of Laffy Taffy pieces. It was obvious that Travis still has a hardcore following and has opened up his demographic towards people who love inspirational/contemporary Christian music.

I found it surprising in a couple of his songs to hear him struggle with his lower register, which had always been his trademark. That low baritone is so much a part of what set Travis apart from all other country artists in the 80s. Also, in a number of songs, he pulled what I call a "Christina Aguilera:" he went from the very bottom of his range, making a winding journey all throughout his vocal ability, to finally hitting some high notes at the end, which I didn't think he pulled off extremely well. If he were a contestant on American Idol, he would have been chewed out for that. All in all, I think it's great that Travis gave his time to a cause and I think it's great that he still tours. He certainly has the audience for it. But, it's also clear that he is aging and in a small way, it seems that he will never be able to break free of the fact that people will always want to hear the hits from decades ago. It made me wonder how difficult it must be in the music business, particularly in the country genre, to break free of your shell and try to create new and relevant music when your audience only wants to hear the songs they hear on the radio every day. Regardless of all this, Travis put on a solid performance with a couple of vocal hitches here and there, but the man still draws a crowd and still seems to love what he does, and perhaps that is all that matters to him.

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Friday, April 16, 2010 Posted in | , , , , , | 0 Comments »

4.1.2010 - Mayer Hawthorne and The County and The Mudkids @ Radio Radio

You may recall (if you've been following the blog, nudge nudge...) that The Mudkids were one of many opening acts for Bone Thugs N Harmony at The Vogue a couple of weeks ago.  Lets just say that experiencing them onstage alone was a much more pleasant experience.  If you don't already know, The Mudkids are a local independent hip-hop group consisting of Rusty Redenbacher (Lead Vocals) and Elp-Mass (Turntables).  These guys are good - their songs are catchy and they put on a heck of an energetic live show.  Check out their latest EP here:  Mkep.  Go see them live if you get the chance - you won't regret it!

The crowd, mostly made up of 20- and 30-somethings, was definitely excited for Mayer Hawthorne to take the stage.  The standing-room section in front of the stage, while far from vacant during The Mudkids set, filled up quickly.  The guy has quite a following, which isn't surprising given his quick rise to relative fame and the fact that the guy seems to be a bit of a conundrum.  He's a 29-year-old white kid from the suburbs of Detroit who somehow manages to channel the spirit of soul legends like Barry White and Smokey Robinson through his vocals and musical arrangements.  If you close your eyes while listening to him, you can almost picture yourself sitting in a smoky club in the Motown of the 60's.

Mayer Hawthorne, real name Andrew Mayer Cohen, is quite the entertainer.  Even if you weren't into his music, you'd still enjoy the show.  He showed up on stage wearing a shiny red suit, red and black Nike's, and dark plastic-rimmed glasses.  Try as I might - the camera just wouldn't do justice to the brilliance of this outfit.

Mayer's energy in front of the crowd pulls you right in - you can't help but feel a connection to his songs.  He's interactive and unpredictable.  At one point, he asked the audience what their favorite type of music was, listing of a variety of genres and receiving applause as feedback, before breaking into Biz Markie's "Just a Friend".

Some setlist highlights, most from his album A Strange Arrangement:
  • I Wish It Would Rain - The first single off the album
  • One Track Mind - Motown throwback
  • Love Is Alright
  • Just Ain't Gonna Work Out - Was the iTunes free single of the week a few months back.  It got over 300,000 downloads.
So probably needless to say at this point, this was a good show.  It was high-energy the entire time, the hours flew by like minutes, and we left feeling good about what we'd experienced and were very interested in hearing more from both The Mudkids and Mayer Hawthorne.

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