Sown 
1/12/01 @ Insomnia Coffehouse

Despite a misleading flyer -- “ Sown is a Japanese rock band” (nope; try Rio Rancho)-- this short, set-long show was out of the ordinary for a number of reasons:

1) From what I understand, Insomnia rarely has shows of anything but folkie coffeehouse style (however, a flyer on the door proclaimed another show the following night: four acts whose names didn’t quite sound folk-- one was Queer something-or-another).

2) Although this five-piece wasn’t from Japan, they are heavily influenced by J-rock and maybe just a teeny bit of J-pop. Singer Yumi is indeed from Japan.

The long silvery powder blue wig she wore for half the set made her look just like Cibo Matto singer Miho Hatori from the cover of their 1999 release Stereo _* Type A.

The best of their tunes (maybe half) are sung in Japanese. This is good not only because it’s out of the ordinary (well, out of the ordinary for New Mexico-- probably not for, say, Boston or Los Angeles) but also because Yumi seemed much more confident, her voice stronger on these.

I’m assuming she writes most of the lyrics but if I heard correctly, drummer Paul (who is a dead ringer for Bud Cort in cult classic flick Harold & Maude) wrote one called Haru No Matsu. Maybe he’s a student of Japan or, as my escort Nueve suggested, hapa (mixed Asian heritage). His synth drum kit was a bit disconcerting though; watching someone slam a rubber pad and hear toms or a crash was a little weird.

My favorite tune of the set was Samui Asa (sp?). It was encouraging because it was their most powerful song but disappointing as it was their last. I thought they had finally just warmed up.

Although I enjoyed the show, much of the music sounded like a cross between L.A. bar rock and swirly pop like Tangerine Dream.

3) We don’t get many Rio Rancho bands on this side of the river, especially ones that aren’t cover band crud.

Lots of us Albuquerquenos tend to discount Rio Rancho or, at best, just forget about the place. As NM’s first (but surely not the last) pre-fab city, I know I want nothing to do with it. Although there’s no college there, there must be plenty of high school kids bored out of their skulls, rocking out in garages everywhere with parents yelling at them to “keep it down in there!”. If so, there’s hope for the place yet.

Pavo, Rhythm of Black Lines, Knife in the Water
1/13/00 Launchpad

Fooled again by an early start (and wasting time driving around downtown looking for a parking place that, free last week, didn’t now cost five bucks. Thank you, Banana Joe’s! Jerks).

I missed half of Knife In the Water (and all of openers Icelandic). Their sound is soft & relaxed: an old & mellowed acoustic Guild guitar, understated keyboards and male vocal echoed by female vox. The anchor is the drum work that, while driving, never overpowers the songs.

The LP I picked up (Red River on Overcoat Records) actually features a pedal steel guitar as third instrument. While nicely played, it lends a different feeling than the keyboards partly because no matter how a steel is used, it’s difficult to shake the twang connotation; like a banjo in the symphony orchestra. While I actually love good twang (there’s nothing like true bluegrass & country music), here I prefer the keyboards.

The 99.9% instrumentals of Rhythm of Black Lines are quite driving. Clint Newsom’s guitar work is reminiscent of fusion jazz but with little distortion or reverb.

The songs are more like compositions with variations on a theme. They are driving and gently forceful. Their opening song was striking because Newsom was fingerpicking (featured especially in bluegrass & country, this is using three fingers in a sort of roll, rather than a plastic pick held between thumb & forefinger). Another song that caught my attention may have been intentional or possibly because of where I was standing close to the stage: the guitar was echoed by itself coming through the stage monitors at a slight delay. In either case, it was striking.

Former homeboys Pavo finished out the night with their fine & full instrumental arrangements, guitar and drums with a few opening numbers with a cellist.

Not a night of driving rock, there was a thread of consistency running through the bands. Besides the fact that all are based in Austin TX, each band (while quite distinctive) has similar approaches to writing but not in the execution of their music.

the Causey Way, Manplanet, Derelectrics 
12/15/00 @ Launchpad

This was definitely the Night of the Concept Bands—I swear, they must all be art students. No normal person would bother with all this shit.

Shades of Jet Jaguar! Why have I never seen locals the Derelectrics after picking up their 7” almost two years ago at Relapse Records (RIP)? Is it just me or have they never (rarely?) gigged around here? Who knows! All I can say is that that they put on a cool set-- in the dark under a black light with day-glo paint on their clothes, laser pointers shooting thin red beams as well as having some soft-glow neon trim onstage.

They ripped out some rock n’ roll-y retro-future hits that reminded me of the great Luxo Champ (former ‘burque band—well, former band, period). I have seen the Derelectrics’ name out & about recently and promise to pay more attention next time.

Manplanet blew in from Minnesota in vinyl jumpsuits that matched each members’ hair & equipment color. Very nice. And nice boys they were, playing nice gentle rock.

Start with the concepts of Man Or Astroman? and what would happen if their spaceship collided with the N’Sync tour bus outside of Minneapolis while a Look Out! comp cassette was spooling out from someone’s walkman with dying batteries. Plus there were fireworks in the driver’s shirt pocket.

Or locally speaking, this is what would result if the Young Adults had merged with Luxo Champ.

Although its nothing I would listen to often, it sure makes you wanna hop up and down a lot. Without the visuals, however, I’m afraid it isn’t inventive enough to stand alone for long.

The pyrotechnics were fine, not over or under done. Two sparkler fountains started the set; a loud & extremely bright popper dazzled the eyes while accenting a single beat and the blue guy shot sparks out of his guitar’s peg head (newborn Manplanet groupie Nola told me a drunken story about how she now owned him due to some perverse pact and tax returns. I didn’t quite follow but it was an entertaining tale nonetheless).

Of interest was the drummer’s kit. It was standard but hybridized with an electronic kick & tom. The electronic parts were covered in many coats of red house paint and looked as if they were constructed of old drive-in movie speaker parts -- futuristic like out of a bad 1950s sci-fi flick.

By the time Manplanet’s slot was over, everyone in the crowd was primed for the Causey Way. A plywood church cut-out stood at stage rear while three serious young ladies in black heels and sterile white skirts took the stage to noodle around on two keyboards & bass. They soon introduced Causey himself, also in white. The hook here was Causey cult worship (dude look like David Koresh), faith healing and the big sign onstage, C.I.A. : Causey Is Awesome.

I would’ve liked more vox from the bassist (what little I heard of her voice sounded like Elysian Fields singer Jennifer Charles: smoky, smooth & humid) but she, like the rest of the band, was there to serve Causey and the cult-leader concept. Theatrics like this (as well as that of Manplanet) are entertaining & cool fun but I couldn’t imagine enjoying it over & over. These kinds of things can trap a band in a rut if they’re not careful.

Put-on & posturing was the order of the evening but the Causey Way’s kickin’ trash-rock element was what pulled it off. This music does stand alone. And being liquored up in the front row enhanced my enjoyment quite a bit too. 

Starsky, Pilot To Bombardier, GoMotorCar
1/19/01 @ Sprockets

This must be the fourth or fifth time I’ve heard GoMotorCar but so far the loosest and best. Maybe it was because everyone was in good spirits tonight. The house was packed; Sprockets usually doesn’t draw that size of crowd except for (ugh) DJ nights.

At first I thought it was merely that UNM was back in session but one look around showed few student types but lots of local scenesters that are maybe fed up with the new five-dollar parking fiasco downtown. Another round of applause, please, to Banana Joe’s and the “revitalizing” Downtown Action Team!

Pilot to Bombardier too were just loose enough to keep things interesting but tight enough to deliver a first rate set. And!!! The debut release is done, awaiting mass pressing. Come to think of it, so is GoMotorCar’s. Warm up your CD players. I’m gonna have these two in heavy rotation on mine!

No word from the Starsky boys about any recording but they too pulled off a fine set-- but what was the deal with the over-abundant smoke machine? People in the crowd were misplacing beers and kissing the wrong pair of lips.

Luckily, things cleared up soon enough to enjoy the set, winding down an exceptional Sprockets show.

Special props to soundman Rod Parker of the Expatriates, Backseat Rockers, ex-Impatients & father-to-be any minute now. Congratulations to Rod & Gretchen!

Left Unsaid, Pilot To Bombardier, Dorian, GoMotorCar
1/26/01 @ Launchpad

What a killer line-up of opening bands! No dis to Left Unsaid (not a musical style I really care for) but GoMotorCar, Dorian and Pilot to Bombardier are to me the heart of everything new & exciting on the local scene these days.

The type of music these bands play is synonymous with good musicianship, structure and heart. You can almost always count on well-practiced clean tunes. But tonight, they were all just sloppy enough to really rock out.

I missed most of GoMotorCar but the few tunes are caught were GMC’s rock n’ roll best.

This was (finally) the first time I heard Dorian, thanks in part to Rodney (guitar & vox; ex-Evelyn) gently reminding me by thrusting a flyer into my hands the day before at the post office. I was quite impressed as, for some reason, I expected mellower stuff. Those driving sweet melodies (with his fine vocal work) were inspiring.

It was interesting to hear Rodney nostalgically dedicate one song to Albuquerque bands now departed or split up. He named a few groups like Fever Hot! that were around just a year or two back. Me, I was thinking of the Drags, Jacobins, Word Salad, Honeys, Scared of Chaka, Jonnycats, Hudson Wake and many others that made up the scene when I first jumped into it.

Being somewhat settled (okay, okay-- old) and not a transient student, it’s amazing to see how fast bands, scenes and people pass through here. I feel like I just barely get to know some of you guys before y’all split town, you snot nose kids! (that’s meant in the nicest way possible).

Strap yourself in for the side trip: This is reflected in the national music scene as well. It’s rare to see bands stick it out for more than a release or two unless they sell like eight zillion records. The industry doesn’t support and nurture its artists anymore (even the totally non- commercial Stooges and Velvet Underground got major label backing for three or four money-losing releases each). The biz is just looking for the next #1 selling clone.

And quality steadily sinks deeper. I recently unearthed Green Day’s 1994 release Dookie, the one that broke punk (or something like it) into the mainstream. Christ! Compared to current punk-lite clowns like Blink 182, Dookie sounds like fucking Slayer or something. Weird.

Back to tonight’s show (yes, I know I need an editor) : The rockin’ continued unabated with Pilot, especially the couple of set-closing tunes that Rodney jumped in for. Second lead guitar and third harmony vocals? Incredible stuff!

I went home that night a very happy man.

Hip Hop Prophets 
2/1/01 @ Theatre X, Popejoy Hall

This was just what I needed although I didn’t know it beforehand. I would have never attended this production on my own because (1) I don’t like plays, (2) It’s hip hop, and (3) I don’t like plays.

It figures that it took my teen kids to get me to something like this. After all, they’ve grown up with hip hop as a part of the culture. I was already out of high school when I heard my first rap, Blondie’s half-hearted 1980 hit Rapture (a poor example but that’s as close as most white folk got in those days).

I grew up with rock n’ roll, soul and the blues. The cool, understated in-control confidence of the black man and jazz & beat culture was the role model. It’s hard for someone raised on that to appreciate the arrogant boasting of MTV hip hop, the misogynistic materialism of gangsta rap.

Look, I’m just a suburban-raised white boy. Hip hop doesn’t speak to my experience -- I’ve got no ghetto rage. And while the beats are more complex than they appear, face it: rap don’t rock. The question does it rock? is my bottom line just as my parents’ generation asked does it swing?

I do have a few things in my collection like Public Enemy’s 1998 It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back-- that shit I respect ‘cause its political as hell and they don’t rap about gold chain or ho’s.

Not being into the scene, the only raps I hear are the commercial stinkers that gets loads of airplay and are unavoidable on city streets from assholes with testosterone-bloated car stereos.

Just as there’s true rock n’ roll in the clubs below the media radar, I’ve guessed all along that somewhere underground there must be some true hip hop with something real to say.

And that’s what I heard in this UNM student production by Ross Kelly. Not in any recorded artists (I guess it’s up to me to find them in the same way I dig around everywhere for obscure punk) but I heard it in the freestyle rhymes & flows of the characters in Hip Hop Prophets. 

I was reassured that there is soul left in rapping.

There were excursions into Shakespeare, zen (lots!), and smooth jazz along the lines of Miles and Bird.

Curtis Childs was exquisite as Ben the poetic beat prophet. Although I could barely comprehend the character’s soliloquies, (I don’t like poetry either), he was the essence of cool (cool as in “cool & collected”, quietly confident. yeah). Jayro Nious as Chris the ex-banger yearning to play Hamlet was also a stand-out in the fine cast.

Special mention needs to be made of the steppin’ and breakin’ crews who opened the show, bustin’ their impressive moves on the floor to set the mood.

Reading back that last paragraph, I feel kinda silly using those words. Honestly, I’m embarrassed hearing whities say things like yo! and Word! and What up, dog?

Hmmm. I guess all those early honkie rocknrollers must’ve sounded silly back then too saying cats & chicks and Hey man and in the groove.

It’s just my age, man, you dig?