OCCB

Thursday, March 11th, 2010
The 'Sco, 10pm, $3 with OCID, $5 without

BOWERBIRDS' debut album, Hymns for a Dark Horse, was nearly one hundred percent focused on the thesis that the earth is a sacred place with merit beyond us, and that humans are just visitors here. Its contrapuntal harmonies documented a moment in the life of the songwriter and the life of the band - Beth Tacular and Phil Moore living in an airstream in rural North Carolina, building a cabin of reclaimed boards by hand in the woods - but did so without, as far as we could tell, delving into their lives at all. While these weren't protest songs, per se, they had the wry anger of a 'Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.' The songs were interconnected, both musically and thematically, a musical whitepaper of the very best, most listenable kind.

So it was a big surprise when we heard the songs collected on Upper Air. Bowerbirds were revealing more, writing from a personal voice, exploring love and human emotions in ways that have never been fully fleshed-out in their songwriting before. They have not abandoned their worldview from Hymns, but the lyrics are no longer just observational. These are songs written from a personal place, examining the contradictions inherent to a conscious life, and this emotional depth makes for an undeniably powerful collection of songs.

Upper Air is the product of months spent away from nature and away from home, touring endlessly with the likes of Bon Iver, Phosphorescent and John Vanderslice and on their own, on both sides of the Atlantic. The fodder for songwriting has changed, and so have the songs. Upper Air moves away from the singular sound and sentiment; each and every song on Upper Air is a journal entry that stands on its own, each a unique, beautiful piece. The arrangements are subtle: acoustic guitars, organ, piano, autoharp, violin, percussion, upright bass and more are used throughout the recording. Usually though, it is just a few of these instruments delicately supporting Moore's voice, the anchor of every song. Everyone struggles when they try to describe this music, including us, but we'll try: it has the spirit of Richard and Linda Thompson, the currency of Devendra Banhart, the addictively sweet melodicism of Iron & Wine, but it churns with an underlying energy closer to a Beirut or something farther out, more raw, more wild.

The most notable part is this: The songs don't hide behind the instrumentation, the deontological conviction, or, frankly, anything; and that is what makes Upper Air undeniable, simple, and breathtaking.

Monday, April 5th, 2010
The 'Sco, 10pm

XIU XIU has long been known among the music bloggers as prolific, bordering on crazed, but with this new 14-song album, each song so different from the next and so fully realized, their creative ferocity is simply astonishing and rapidly taking on new dimensions.

With a heart too sensitive to accept humanity's darker side yet also unable to flinch from it, Xiu Xiu is a way of "owning your own shadow." Jamie Stewart has a novelist's eye for juicy details, and a poet's ability to wring impossible emotions out of the English language, finding black humor where there is usually horror, finding horror where there is usually apathy. And Stewart's history-spanning visions of birth and death have never come across more clearly.

The performances, led by Stewart's one-of-a-kind voice, are intense, virtuosic and painted in a spectrum of acoustic and electronic colors that one would be hard pressed to find equaled on any album. Many of the songs feature what is now officially the live line-up of the group, with Stewart and Caralee McElroy joined by Ches Smith on drums and Devin Hoff on bass. Women As Lovers marries the ancient with the futuristic, each in all their beauty and terror. Traditional gongs collide with a rat's nest of computerized layering.

Many a commentator feared that the "democratization" of recording technology would result in a profusion of mediocre music with substan- dard production values, and while this is largely true, they failed to see another more exciting outcome. The ability to create music at home with no clock ticking has allowed for a new level of care that would put to shame the production tour de forces of another era. In the past couple of years a new sound in popular music is being created, and new masters of this unforeseen style are emerging. And Xiu Xiu is fast becoming the standard against which any claims of meticulousness must be judged.

Make no mistake. No other Xiu Xiu album has ever been more approachable or communicative on a basic human level. What people sometimes fail to recognize is that Stewart is writing about all of us, not a freak writing about freakish things. He voices what the rest of us have a hard time voicing and the feelings in the music are ones that we can all relate to.

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
The 'Sco, 10pm

Crafting a lasting personal aesthetic in the midst of our ephemeral music culture is as rare as it is cause for celebration. With the release of City of Straw Brooklyn's SIGHTINGS can be counted among the few contemporary bands who have forged a unique voice amongst the racket. Recorded over a number of months in 2009 at The Ocropolis (Oneida's Brooklyn, NY studio), the band's seventh studio album becomes the crucible from which their grandest and most coherent statement finally emerges.

Sightings has never presented a particularly welcoming façade and their sui generis music has perhaps been passed over by less discerning listeners over the eleven years of their existence, but throughout this they have created a singular body of work appreciated and touted by the likes of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Andrew WK. If you've missed the boat up until now City of Straw is the ideal venue to experience the band's mastery of extreme timbres, astounding instrumental prowess and yes, extraordinary song-craft.

"Roman Holiday is Houston's BALACLAVAS finest recording to date, and truly showcases the band's unique sound. While the band makes nods to the dub punk of Public Image Ltd., the rhythms of Can, and the coldness of Killig Joke, they are able to keep things wholly unique and create an original, highly melodic sound. The band makes an awfully big sound for a 3 piece, supplementing their traditional rock setup with electronic drums and synthesizers. Hop aboard the death train."

Sunday, April 25th, 2010
The 'Sco, 10pm

There was a time, in the '70's and '80's, when regional America threw up amazing rock 'n' roll bands every few months. Akron, Detroit, Seattle, Boston, Washington DC, Chappell Hill, Memphis, Dallas, the country kept turning out wayward visionaries, grounded in rock 'n' roll but telling singular stories. In the 21st century, media-watchers keep telling us we're becoming more and more alike. They are completely wrong, of course, and here's the latest piece of evidence. THOMAS FUNCTION love punk rock, but they love country, blues, new wave, garage rock, and the shit happening up the street, too. It comes out sounding like a bunch of earnest, severe songs from the foothills of Huntsville, Alabama, full of anger, clarity, and bourbon. Is America on the brink of a new rock 'n' roll renaissance? People who snapped up their instantly OOP singles, saw one of their chaotic shows, or participated in the fervid blogging about this bunch aren't betting against it.

A casual glance at the group TYVEK when they first take the stage might disarm you. Where's the egos, where's the Marshall stacks, where does the drummer sit? Who cares? Rock and roll music should be enjoyed; dance, laugh, make merry. By the end of the set you will have forgotten these trivialities. In the words of Haphash and the Coloured Coat, "a mind blown is a mind shown."

Songwriter Kevin Boyer recruited friends Matt Ziolkowski and Larry Williams, who had never played music in a group before, to form a band back in 2004. After a few months of training in the attic, Ziolkowski (drums), Williams (bass), and Boyer (vocals, guitar) unleashed Tyvek on the city of Detroit and discerning listeners around the globe have perked their ears. The relatively untutored nature of the group laid out a course both similar to, and influenced by, the free-spirited world of sixties and late seventies/early eighties DIY punk. Simple and relentless rhythms provide the perfectly raw backdrop for a frenetic style of singing and the unhinged and jagged guitar lines that almost careen out of control. Instruments drift in and out of the intended tempo, psychedelic vertigo may occur, and yet well-crafted and eminently catchy songs keep things, just barely, from descending into madness.