Page 33 - the NOISE September 2012

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“Milk” started getting more and more epic. I’d seen them perform this one a few times and always wondered what was going on. It was always the moment when I realized their in- sane amount of gear and their live mix was a massive handicap. Here, the song makes sense, and when they follow it with the brutally raw, “Sliding! Oh No!” I realize it’s their sense of ad- venture that keeps this band interesting. They actually SEEK originality.
Think about that for a moment. How rare that really is. Think about how unpopular this makes pop bands. I mean actual originality, not some tag a publicist throws on, but something that literally sounds like something you’ve nev- er heard before. Buck! fail most of the time; it’s a difficult thing, this originality. The very next track, “Fabric” could almost be on Anticon, it’s a weird mash up of Atari vibes and quasi hip hop verses.
The nerdy abrasiveness of Half Japanese and Pussy Galore are the only bands I can compare this album to. It’s that sense of punk that’s actually exciting- still exciting, will always be, and why it seemed so “dangerous” in the first place. It wasn’t the safety pins and the vomit, it was that scary sense of “new,” that sense of,
“I’m going to explore this super hard” that just makes these knuckleheads so damn loveable. Not that their live show is any more or less strange and alienating, it’s their failures that I enjoy more than their successes, and especially when those terms become useless for what they are doing. Epic ender, “Space Lunch,” be- ing the perfect example. I consider the process of mixing this track and I wonder what kind of things these fellows have been imbibing. My reactions to this one track range from “Huh?” to
“Yes!” to “What? Really?” to “Hmm...” to “I can’t tell if that was impressive because it was prob- ably an accident, or if it really wasn’t impres- sive... or, wait... what?”
Isn’t that what art is supposed to do? — FC
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
Now Here’s My Plan
Drag City
jjjj
Another best of collection from a guy that can really recycle material. Except this one is re- ally good. Like the epic, Greatest Palace Music, this little EP really all sounds worth it. It’s five Billy tracks and a tasty cover of “No Gold Digger,” which makes sense in its own way. The only track on here that doesn’t is yet another ver- sion of “I See a Darkness.” What are you going to do, Will? Improve on Mr. Cash’s version? You’ve al- ready won the gold medal! Johnny Cash did your song! Why? Are you going to upstage him? I don’t think so. This one is kind of upbeat, a really nice electric organ, Steely Dan version, I’ll call it. It’s nice enough, but still. Johnny Cash already did your song, dude. Just call it good.
Also, Angel Olson, who accompanies Old- ham here, she’s amazing. I crush. I crush hard. Ol’ Bonnie can go tour Europe. Forever. An- gel, come to Arizona. I am also a somewhat
strangelooking white man getting awful close to middle age, with curious facial hair. Come hang out. — FC
[Normally Colorado would be out of our pur- view, but we’ll make an exception this month for hopefully obvious reasons. –MFTM Ed.]
Lucinda Williams
Lincoln Performing Center: Fort Collins July 20, 2012
Chaser claims that following a break-up she once listened to Lucinda’s “Joy” on repeat, up- wards of hundred times as the story goes, until a guy at work told her for the love of all that is good and pure in the world would you turn that damn thing off. Lucinda sings it here to- night and cute little Chaser’s face cringes a little. She laughs when I point out what’s for sale, ri- diculous black black t-shirts that say, You stole my joy/I want it back — Lucinda Williams. So ridiculous, I almost buy one for myself. Instead I save my cash to spend on beer. It’s what the beautiful losers Lucinda writes about would do too, except they would somehow write the greatest country song and then die the great- est death, while I sit here at the Econolodge at 4.23am and write about it.
No one buys Lucinda’s records anymore, at least no one we know, ever since she got happy and married her manager. Elvis Costello, who incidentally made a record called Get Happy, plays guitar on her latest one, Blessed, and sings, though you can barely hear him on it. Prior to the show, I was prepared to say her re- cent output is the musical equivalent of a lot of the avocados I’ve been squeezing at the super- market lately: too small, green and unripe, etc. but I picked up Blessed and it’s been quite the blessing in my house.
She’s got her singer/songwriter tropes sure. I count her standing in the shower in two dif- ferent songs and leaning over the toilet bowl in at least three, but there’s sad cowboy songs too and catchy melodies packing high-fidelity muscle.
Lunal Nature by Tom Ogburn JEROME ARTWALK
FIRST SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 1ST
Tom Ogburn Contemporary Arts Studio, located in the Old Jerome High School, showcases the artist’s digitally crafted Myth Series and Vir- tual Palladium portraits of other con- temporary artists.
Zen Mountain Gallery is pleased to host local painter Sally Murphy as she completes a painting using sub- tractive paint techniques; once her painting is finished it will be auctioned to the highest bidder. Also: jeweler Matagi Sorensen, printmaker Brice Wood and many others.
The Pentimento Gallery at The Wary Buffalo announces Jeffrey Ford, an award-winning author of sci- fi, fan- tasy and interstitial fiction.
At the Jerome Artists Coopera- tive Gallery, “Signs and Wonders 2012” continues, presenting Rick Lovelace’s surreal cross-cultural mash-up of Asian, Native American and pop cultures.
Cody DeLong Studio features the music of Jazz musician Duane Ewing, who also creates ceramic work and detailed pen and ink drawings. Cody will be at the easel as well, working on some new Grand Canyon paintings.
September is a special month at Casa Latina. It’s our 3rd anniver- sary! The 16th of September, an ob- servance called El Grito (the Cry of Independence), marks Mexico’s inde- pendence from Spanish rule and is cel- ebrated by Mexicans all over the world.
Come meet the artist Brian John- son at SkyFire from 5-8 pm. Mr. John- son, a local Arizona artist, will be show- ing and demonstrating construction of his new wall art — sculptures with contemporary Southwest design.
Pura Vida Gallery will be debuting work by Payson ceramic artist Gary Houston, who has been throwing pots for over 30 years and has been represented in many fine galleries across the state. All of Gary’s pieces are functional and glazed in simple earth tones. Join us in welcoming Gary Houston to Jerome with a cham- pagne and chocolate celebration!
Gallery 527 ends the summer with The Dogs Days of Summer and jewelry by Marian Ward. Stop by this lovely gallery and meet some of the Verde Valley’s finest artists.
| jeromeartwalk.com
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news magazine • SEPTEMBER 2012 • 33
Lucinda is genuinely busted up about the movie massacre down in Denver she tells us, and the band splendidly feeds off this need for redemption. For half a set, it feels historic. We’re emotionally slain and a little drunk, Chaser and I. Lucinda plays her most well-known album, Car Wheel on a Gravel Road, almost in its entire- ty. These are bona fide classics; whole worlds open up of modern cowboys slinging guitars and writing songs like legendary gunsling- ers who wrote their own myths spelled out in gunfire. I’m too captivated to notice Chaser is crying next to me. Can’t say enough about the band, who outlast us, and Lucinda sounds bet- ter than ever, but we are buggy from all the gin and double pilsners and slip away giddily into the night.
... And you will know us by the trail of deaf music@thenoise.us
— Shane Moritz