Page 31 - the NOISE March 2014

b Ugh
bb Eh
bbb Solid
bbbb Gold bbbbb Total Classic
The Janks
Hands of Time
REVIEW’D
Little Wild
Victories
The Janks
er leave the influence of the Beatles, Stones, and Yardbirds too far behind.
They also tap into something that we here in gun-filled, war-starting, ultra-capitalist dog- eat-dog America often forget is out there: FUN. Any show that winds up with someone crowd surfing with maracas or bashing pinatas is so off the charts fun, even Joe Arpaio would crack a grin before deporting them back to the Hap- py North. Completely off topic, you have to wonder if Sheriff Joe gets a weird “switching it up” thrill from deporting Canadians, like some get from smoking a Cuban cigar after years of Swisher Sweets or attending keychain swinger parties.
Both bands are playing SXSW Fest later in the month, but the fortunate NorAz residents can catch them early on March 8 at the mighty, mighty Main Stage Theater in Cottonwood as part of their SxSMain Fest. If you’ve been bit- ten by the retro-rock bug a badly as your hum- ble narrator, go check this out.
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Sometimes, you get bands to review with a sound that hits you just right based solely on a weird rabbit hole of music you’ve dived down recently. I’ve been utterly hooked on the Sab- bath worshiping tunes of Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats and the British Invasion influenced sounds of the Black Lips for weeks now and
*BAM! Minutes to spare on a looming deadline, The Janks and Little Wild arrive just in time to fill two massive, gaping voids in my most re- cent sonic tangent perfectly.
The Janks from LA sound like straight up New Age hippie rock to me and, while my mountain of punk points may never recover, I dig it. This immediately makes me want to sell all my square trappings, move onto a painted schoolbus, and start telling people about how the journey is the destination. Mornings would be spent with gurus changing your whole perspective, afternoons would be spent on various art mediums, and nights would be accompanied with other stinking, nude peo- ple all also sideways on drugs. Somehow, we’d change the world and, undoubtedly, have to eat a lot of lentil soup while doing so.
These songs would be a perfect soundtrack for that scene in Fear and Loathing where the good doctor is reminiscing about the 60s and he drops that line about the wave rolling back and the first time you see it, you’re just like,
“F*ck, that’s some purdy word talkin’.” Accompanying the Janks is Abbotsford, BC- based rock outfit Little Wild. Despite unfortu-
nately being from the same country as East Vancouver, these folks play some righteously catchy blues-influenced rock. (Short summary of East Van, imagine the bad part of Kingman but with way more population density. And add heroin onto the meth problem giving you all the junkie drama but no one ever sleeps.)
Naturally, you can’t judge them based on one part of one city that happens to be some- what close for the same reason it’d be unfair to judge the entire Great Lakes region based onJohnWayneGacy. LittleWildpullsoffsome upbeat, catchy tunes that are anthemic at times, butt-shaking groovy at others, and nev-
— Mike Williams
Angel Olsen
Burn Your Fire For No Witness
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Jess Williamson
Native State
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I live in dirty, sh*tty Tucson now. It’s nice. One of the things about living here is that you have to like sad sack country and acousta- song writers, much like in Flag, where you have to like white-guy-in-dreads reggae and funky jam bands. (Love of rock n roll and cumbia are shared between the two regions.) The main thing Tucson offers, over all of Northern Arizo- na, is an exponentially larger set of opportuni- ties to see and hear rad live music.
I recently caught Jess Williamson, on tour with RF Shannon (who was fantastic as well, incidentally) at Club Congress, and was blown away. I purchased her record on red, white, and blue vinyl.
Last year, I reviewed and proclaimed my love for Angel Olsen’s Half Way Home. I was lucky enough to catch her live twice since, and with the recently released BYFFNW, my nearly inap- propriate fandom has only become grosser.
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