Jul 23
DaraBluegrass
they were providing the musical entertainment for a special exhibit at the Museum of Natural and Artificial Ephemerata, an adorable example of Austin quirk – the exhibit was cave-themed and so they played old mining songs – I have become a fat sucker for Appalachian style music and this was a close approximation – I was in love forever when they explained to me that there’s a difference between bluegrass music (finger picking) and “old-time” music (hand strums more like a claw) – apparently what I like is the latter – the band consisted of three hobbyist musicians: a fiddle, banjo and guitar – I’m not sure that they play too often
Jul 01
AndrewFolk
The Chapin Sisters can harmonize. They can belt it with the best of them (including Zooey Deschanel). The best of their opening set was Let Me Go which crashed over the crowd like a tidal wave. The worst was their set closer, a creepy song Digging a Hole, which transformed them from Cinderella to the evil step-sisters.
Jul 01
AndrewFolk, Indie Rock
That She & Him (Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward respectively) are darlings of the indie circuit is without a doubt. A sold-out all-ages show at the House of Blues Boston and an audience that was down with the duo’s plush, folky arrangements was all the proof necessary.
The first half of the set was rough. Deschanel seemed to have somewhere else to be and rushed through a dozen tracks in nearly as many minutes. They were pitch perfect, sounding just like the album and it was so disconnected, I might as well have been listening to the album. Great studio tracks like Lingering Still and Black Hole came off lacking any sort of warmth. Deschanel channels Peggy Lee like nobody’s business. Waid played his slide guitar with a bottle of Sam Summer, and just about everyone took turns on the keyboard at one point or another. With the Chapin Sisters providing background vocals – and a stellar backing band – it should have been anything but boring.
To be fair, the sound at the show wasn’t great. The backing vocals were hard to hear except when they shouted and given the talents of the Chapin Sisters, they weren’t given much to do anyway. The energy from the stage was lackluster at first and the audience was attentive the way you would be watching television. But it wasn’t until they sent away the band that the remarkable attraction between Deschanel and Waid was apparent. And then sparks flew.
A three-song solo set just She and Him, including a gorgeous duet on Smokey Robinson’s You Really Got a Hold On Me, changed up the energy of the show and proved why people love this band. After that, even with the band back on stage, the entire template for the night shifted. Deschanel seemed to have warmed up, and the audience warmed up to her. Hearing Waid’s unique, muscular vocals was a treat (shame he waited to the last song of the night to take up a lead vocal on a rollickin’ Roll Over Beethoven). They rocked out once or twice too, notably on their singles – a spastic, thumping version of In the Sun and an enthusiastic run through of This is Not a Test. Everything worked better in the second half, including a playful interlude during Sweet Darlin’ where Waid and Deschanel played the same keyboard simultaneously.
The show ended on a proper high. It was a shame they couldn’t capture that energy from the start, but they got there all the same.
She & Him setlist
Black Hole
Thieves
Over It Over Again
Lingering Still
Take It Back
Home
Sentimental Heart
Change Is Hard
I Thought I Saw Your Face Today
Brand New Shoes
You Really Got a Hold on Me
Would You Like to Take a Walk?
Magic Trick
Gonna Get Along Without You Now
In The Sun
Don’t Look Back
This Is Not a Test
Riding In My Car
I Was Made For You
Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
Sweet Darlin’
Encore
Fools Rush In
Roll Over Beethoven
May 08
DaraCountry, Garage Rock, Punk
[?] I am a fat sucker for this band despite their silly rockstar posturing – they act like pretentious partiers and play like rockers and it works – it’s the over-the-top tongue-in-cheekness of it that makes it hilarious and then suddenly I’m kind of believing it – even falling for the sexy LA sunglasses at night – plus, like other long-playing bands, they’re just so fast and professional and… tight (I don’t know another word for it) – they totally reminded me of The Hellacopters (I forgot they did last time too) which is such a good good thing – if you’re going to rock, then don’t mess around = garage punk
May 08
DaraCountry, Latin, Rock and Roll
[Texas] this band was all defamed before the show as a pop-country nightmare but they weren’t all that bad – upright quick-paced snare drum country with loads of Latin influence, particularly mariachi brass – none of us really liked him even so – and he won a Grammy too
May 07
DaraAmericana, Jazz
[Austin, TX] so all the young people and the hip people cleared out before this show, leaving the middle-aged and old people and the genuinely cowboy hatted people, and the mildly embarrassed remains of some young or at least younger people – this band is mildly legendary in Austin but pretty much just among the adult contemporary set – I found out at the show that they’d won a Grammy and was prepared to still not be impressed but they were just so polished and pretty, I couldn’t help it – it was kind of country swing but very sophisticated with hints of old-timey jazz – besides being all shiny, the music was complicated with little surprises at every turn and lots of heart – not to mention that I found myself wildly attracted to the lead guy, a mammoth long-legged old mountain-porch of a man – maybe I was being delusional but I recognized both his name (Ray Benson) and him… past lives
May 07
DaraCountry, Rock and Roll, Rockabilly
[LA, CA] I came into this show all prejudiced because Rockboy (a HUGE fan) links this band back to the 80s LA cowpunk scene and I hear their songs and get disappointed because to me the only thing punk about them is that they hung out with X and Gun Club – you know how people sometimes get confused when they love too much… anyway, their music was as expected, an slightly edgier rockabilly-tinged bluesy country rock with a slightly nutsy lead singer (less famous Alvin brother) – BUT they were just fantastic: guys who have played for so long and so often that they’re astounding simply because they are the definition of tightness – while Alvin was the supposed main attraction in his long red coat, I stared at the bassist and lead guitarist who strummed hard in perfect synchronicity with legs spread, no show, just business – they also had Nick Curran, a local growl-voiced blues singer recovering from tongue cancer, playing with them – he sang one song, his first since treatment, and it was inspiring and heartbreaking all in one
May 07
DaraCountry, Swing
[Austin, TX] retro music bores me more quickly than some of my associates but Wayne was kind of gripping – his voice was so quintessentially twangy and old-timey country, even though he’s not, plus he had an assortment of minor face ticks that kept you watching – very good ‘juke joint swing,’ as he terms it, with lots of Hank Williams in there – will remain forever baffled by the Hawaiian-sounding lap steel accents of country swing music
May 07
DaraCountry, Rock and Roll
[San Antonio, TX] we didn’t get to this band ‘til about their last song because of the multitude of logistical problems at this way too expensive little festival – regardless, all of the music was of high caliber – these guys seemed to be pretty standard country rock with some retro overtones – I did appreciate the lead singer’s rock leg kicks and flexibility
Apr 13
DaraAmericana, Country, Jam Band, Southern Rock
former member of The Weary Boys, a band that never impressed me as much as they did the general Austin populace – I wasn’t feeling moved by this incarnation until I realized I really liked them, I did – they’re founded in harmless country rock but there’s just enough Southern rock and jam band posturing to make them just up my alley
Mar 20
DaraBluegrass, Country, Folk, Jam Band
[San Luis Obispo, CA] no mystery here: boys in plaid shirts and worn jeans from a coastal California town playing party-time jam band country – I would assume, with my own prejudices and on the basis of the row of fancy guitars that outnumbered the people in the band, that they’re well off kids ‘dropping out’ for a bit before they become well-respected businessmen – they were fine musicians but just ordinary, singing songs about 12-pack time instead of 9 to 5 time – amusing part was the guy, who after dozing on the side of the stage before the show, transformed into the band’s showman, jumping into the crowd and then playing from the balcony… like a wicked evil badass
Mar 19
DaraAmericana, Goth, Rockabilly
[Denver, CO] a top show – they were weird in just the right ways – their frontman was a white guy with a gold tooth, a baseball cap and thick-framed glasses – their guitarist and co-vocalist was a gothic man with slicked back hair and dark-rimmed eyes who made me want to laugh because he seemed to see the humor in being a gothic man – I had a bad view but there was an extremely short man playing a double-necked red velvet guitar and supposedly an old old man playing a lap steel – the more unremarkable bass player and drummer round up the group – just looking at them immediately made me think of Nick Cave and gothic country and rockabilly – and so went their sound, a gothic hyped up Americana with gospel influences – dynamic stage presence and a seemingly adoring fan base – the two vocalists together inspired all kinds of visions of debauchery – also got a visit from HBomb and TheSpunkyOne
Mar 18
DaraFolk, Modern Rock
[Portland, OR] beautiful, some sort of Irish flavor, complicated and sophisticated indie folk
Mar 18
DaraCountry, Lounge, Rockabilly
[Los Angeles, CA] small hot blonde woman in weird strappy red and black corset outfit singing in a strong voice to music that revives rockabilly, country and lounge sounds in a moderately punked up style – although she spent half of her show pouting and cooing, Rockboy did not find her pretentious or disingenuous
Mar 18
DaraFolk, Singer/Songwriter, World Music
[Toronto, Canada] singer/songwriter with a piano – her voice is nice but doesn’t bring a lot else to the music like inventiveness, passion, etc. – like I told her, SingingSociologist is worlds better – Basia’s got more of a world-folk sound on MySpace and I think she might not have her full band with her for SXSW since she was only (I think?) accompanied by her piano
Mar 17
DaraAmericana, Gospel
[Lexington, KY] all American boys doing rousing roots rock, strong vocals, charismatic lead singer with the air of a revivalist, really likeable
Feb 24
DaraAmericana, Psychedelic, Southern Rock, Thrash
so here’s the story – I came to love one song (“Good Bye Mary Lou”), a punkish bluegrass song, by this no-name band called Angels of Light and propagated it through all mixes therewith – I had a vague notion of Akron/Family but didn’t know they’d been the backing band for Angels of Light until I read their show bio – the show bio also mentioned Michael Gira as the lead singer of Angels of Light which got Rockboy excited because he knew him as the lead singer of the Swans – anyway, we went to this show because of a string of distant associations – I was mostly pleased and the anti-anything-remotely-psychedelic Rockboy was not – they are in essence a jam band, tapping such a wide variety of sounds that I characterize them officially as a schizophrenic band – they literally have no distinguishing characteristic which, even if I am a girl who loves variety, may not be a good thing for a band looking to make a name for themselves – they began with a song that made me love them: a more psychedelic Songs: Ohia (melancholy folk) – suddenly it was thrash which firstly is a signature move of this generation (to intersperse loveliness with hardness) and secondly seemed an misguided attempt to prove they’re not soft or that they’re hip to all aspects of our culture – but in sum, it didn’t sound good and it didn’t sound organic – they then proceeded into the other tagsound of this generation of music, Afro pop, which they did very well, reminding me of Paul Simon – in the end, I believe that they will return, if they want to endure, to the sounds that are their strength: very pretty and sophisticated pop – if it matters, they dress like 70s road hippies with t-shirts and bandanas which seemed to me a lame attempt to suggest campfire jams
Jan 29
DaraCountry, Goth, Rockabilly
formerly in Flat Duo Jets – night and day, fantastic guitar player and great singer, gothic rockabilly?, this raucous acoustic set was accompanied only by his junkie sister on a weird box-drum that she tapped and thumped very well – made me think of Italian operas (dark emotion in his voice), David Lynch (had a song that quoted Blue Velvet), Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus (gothic country), Jonathan Richman (mixed trinkling melodies with odd singing),…
Jan 29
DaraAlt-Country
sang in X, The Knitters, and The Original Sinners – I know her distinctive voice but walked out of her set at SXSW because it was so dull, I was able to figure out why at this show, the woman writes two-chord trite love songs with unimaginative lyrics and melodies, she frankly doesn’t have a lot of talent or skill but there is still something about the tinge-of-crazy wail in her voice and her fierce wacky persona (even at 50+)
Jan 25
DaraCountry, Rockabilly, Swing
a fine boss-girl of a lead singer in her red dress with zig-zagging fringes and scattered arm tattoos – in addition to her solid version of low-toned female rockabilly vocalizing, she handled DJ responsibilities in between sets – the band was completed by an upright bass guitarist, drummer, and lead guitarist – some covers, old country, rockabilly, swing; and then a song where the vocalist left and the musicianship was turned up and it was very exciting psychosurf; and then our personal finale was a song that started like the Flipper song with “HA HA HA HA HO HO HO…” lyrics, was dedicated as “The Laughing Song” to the upright guitarist’s “partner,” and has been determined by the wonderous Google to be a The Residents song of the same name that is described as sounding like The Flipper song – it must be noted that the venue was satisfyingly swanky rock club and the environment on their ‘Swing Night’ was earnest, clean dance devotion with a crowd of youngsters, hipsters, oldsters alike
Jan 18
DaraBluegrass, Country
A new band formed from members of The Maybelles and Jenny and the Corn Ponies with a regular Monday evening gig at the Hole in the Wall for the foreseeable future. Despite newness and fluctuating membership, they have a sound – pop-bluegrass/country – and they have a shtick of sorts. There’s Mama on the fiddle, Sister on the guitar, Daddy on the upright bass (Ani DiFranco looking female), and a sometimes lap steel guitarist whose baby-face serves well as the little brother figure. Sister’s voice is pleasant but is at its best when being harmonized with by Mama’s deeper voice. Daddy’s my favorite, though, with her genuinely twanging voice, fierce stage energy, and her own songs that blend light lesbian politics with traditional bluegrass sounds.
Jan 15
DaraBlues, Country, Indie Rock, Soul
Although it was the first time in some ten years that both primary contributors to Concert Central were actually at a concert together, we only saw a couple of songs. But the band still managed to make their goodness clear. A rootsy indie sound and fronted by a very lovely young girl with a great voice. Originally from Alabama but now in Austin
Oct 30
DaraAlt-Country, Bluegrass, Rock and Roll
Those Darlins aren’t so darling anymore – they done went and grew up into proper rock stars and will probably continue on to implode like real rock stars – these three girls and a drummer sing deceptively simple and fun sing-along songs about being slightly trashy and Southern – their music’s actually not so simple though… it’s rooted in authentic country, honky tonk, Southern rock and even some blues but performed (especially tonight) with rock ‘n roll and even garage rock swagger and snarl – they confessed midway through their set that they’d performed and drank beers earlier in the evening at another Austin venue and it was pretty clear that they were still feeling the effects – the blonde one with long curls was slit-eyed and repeating herself – her performance was most affected – the resident ‘bad girl’ with the husky sexy voice eventually spewed beer on the crowd and bit pumpkin meat from a jack o lantern on the stage and spewed that too – the smallest one with the short curly black hair and the Janis Joplin maleish voice had changed the most in appearance (more bold) but was the best behaved – they opened with an instrumental surf rock song – they sing about getting drunk and eating a whole chicken, being a “snaggle-toothed mama” in a trailer far away, and warning her boy that he knew she was wild one all along – they made me nostalgic for my 20s, when being a wild one was only fun, but then they made me remember that I’m happy to be in my 30s – I still really like this band but, as their senior, I am worried for them 
Oct 28
DaraBluegrass, Folk, Punk, World Music
I loved this show and so did the crowd –I think this band is basically the foundation for slam-grass and the gypsy punk movement – impossible not to dance to a rowdy accordion – and then the old Irish ballads communicate a sense of warmth and companionship – although not always the vocalist, Shane McGowan was the center of the show – the band wouldn’t be half as interesting without his slurred snarling vocals – having just watched the movie biography of his life (Should I Fall From Grace), I was firstly amazed that they were charging so much to see a man who was such a high liability for not showing up or not being able to perform and secondly felt a kinship with him like I kind of knew him – I figured he must have sobered up if they were touring like this – not a bit – his spoken words were so unintelligible (partly because of his accent but mostly because of intoxication) that a band member would translate what he was saying for the audience – funny and horrifying all at the same time – like the irresistible draw of looking at a car wreck – he frequently left the stage between songs and progressively relied more on the microphone to hold him up – despite all of that, his singing was mostly on target–it was disturbing or touching that his band members accommodate him as he is so that he can perform and that his fans almost celebrate his self-destruction – part of his mystique – oh and he’d gotten his first set of false teeth recently but didn’t wear them to perform…. someone said the movie about his life should be shown to kids to terrify them into sobriety – “hghgthzzz” as Shawn would say
Sep 09
DaraAmericana, Bluegrass, Country, Jazz, Swing
the more that I understand the sound of Texas swing, the more I appreciate this band – they elaborate on the sound and play intelligently and creatively – always based in country but sometimes leaning more toward the bluegrass then toward a solid swing song and then a waltz and then almost jazzy – they’re very good musicians and make the song their own while maintaining its integrity – Jeremy, the lead singer’s, voice might not be remarkable but what is remarkable is his deft management of the band and dedication to the music he loves
Jul 23
DaraAmericana, Rockabilly
the lead singer of this band annoys me to the point that I can’t fairly judge their music, she is so unjustifiably full of herself and blatantly self-aware on the stage, we were semi-positive that we were giving this band a second chance and they got the same rating they got the first time: unsatisfying rockabilly poseurs, perhaps because they’re from Seattle and don’t have the Texas roots as a foundation
Jul 21
DaraAlt-Country, College Rock, Hard Rock, Punk
sported the polish and confidence of a band who has performed for years and years – almost want to write them off as silly party boys but they managed to pull off sunglasses at night, coordinated movements, and holding the guitar up for the audience to worship because they are sincere in their worship of rock and because they can back it up with some really good music – very nearly 3 separate bands within one: they had very tight garage punk songs that were distinguished by short punctuated segments a la The Hellacopters, they had songs that were spot-on expressions of the nichey genre ‘punk n’ roll,’ and they have their country a la Cracker – lots of wah wah pedal too – they’re fun for the whole music family
Jun 13
DaraAmericana, Blues, Folk
a lot of prep work went into this show: discussion, watching of the biography, etc. and it made it all the more exciting to see the actual 77-year-old man walking down the little aisle – the charm that won him 5 (plus?) wives is still apparent – he just opens his mouth and amusing folksy tales pour out, that’s his “ramblin’” part – the names of celebrity pals were dropped left and right (Kris Kristofferson, Woody Guthrie, etc.) – he’s a good guitarist, trained by Woody Guthrie and acting as mentor to Bob Dylan eventually, as informed by the movie – he doesn’t write too many of his songs and talked about the person who wrote each song before playing it – style ranged from bluesy to Guthrie-esque to Townes-esque folk-country – overly-delighted fawning middle-aged crowd that is typical to the Cactus Café – the downside was that Jack was struck with allergies or a cold and his voice kept getting scruffy to the point that he eventually cut his second set short – his first set wasn’t even that long –RamblinBoy reported that he actually played more songs than what he did in Marfa the weekend before possibly because he didn’t have enough of a voice to chat too much – we got to talk to him on the way out after waiting out a very old hippie who actually had a twig sticking out of his hair
May 21
DaraFolk, Gypsy, Jam Band, Punk
I was annoyed at first with their youthful self-important casual-hipster postering. They were basically gypsy-punk-lite with a folky-campfire bent. If they were being serious, they started the band when they were biking to Mexico and Canada together and “are still friends.” The vocalizing and music was intentionally messy but the 8-band-member choruses were engaging. I was especially charmed that their second song was “Daisy, daisy, give me your answer true…” Some of the band members were of questionable talent (spoon guy), but some had former band geek potential.
Apr 16
AndrewFolk, Southern Rock
The Indigo Girls came to Boston for a brisk two-hour set that covered their career of classic tracks and the full breadth of their new album Poseidon and the Bitter Bug. The Indigo Girls have polished their performance to the point that their songs stand as a testament in their own right, even stripped of all the flash of the full band performance like on the heavenly version of The Wood Song. Backed only by Julie Wolf on keyboards, accordion and vocals, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers scorched the stage with their trademark vocals and gospel harmonies. The crowd embraced old and new songs, lending their voices to Power of Two and an enthusiastic rendition of Closer to Fine (one verse of which was given to opener Lucy Roche who couldn’t compete in personality or stage presence with Ray or Saliers). The highlights included a jam on Shame on You that brought the crowd to their feet, and the live debut of the scorching ballad True Romantic to lead off the encore.
Indigo Girls setlist
Love of Our Lives
Sugar Tongue
Fill It Up Again
Dairy Queen
Power of Two
Driver Education
What Are You Like
Reunion
Run
Yield
Get Out the Map
Shame On You
Fleet of Hope
Moment of Forgiveness
Digging for Your Dream
Ghost of the Gang
The Wood Song
Second Time Around
I’ll Change
Land of Canaan
Closer to Fine (w/Lucy Roche)
Encore
True Romantic
Galileo
Mar 31
DaraCountry
straightforward country but then did a gorgeous spaghetti western song, basically a more country coherent version of Dirty Three, think it was mostly the pedal steel guitar, otherwise not really my style
Mar 21
DaraCountry, Folk, Singer/Songwriter
I’ve seen her before in The Knitters – suppose I developed an affection for her because of Rockboy’s minor obsession and because I am fascinated by people who traverse from the world of punk (X) to the world of country (The Knitters) – the crowd was a lot of late-middle-aged men with badges…. ech – Exene looked ancient… maybe 60? – she had attitude in abundance in demeanor and speech but her music was just blah – singer/songwriter with a slight country-folk twang – we left for hotter waters
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