July 26, 2009

Mark Mallman @ Berbati's

Although I've been a fan of Mark Mallman's piano mauling since I first heard "Death Wish" off Between the Devil and Middle C, I had no idea that his live show was so wild. Even in the cramped front window of Berbati's, Mallman put on a show – banging around, jumping up and down, and at one point riding his keyboard like a horse with his microphone cord as a lasso. While his albums are full of energy, they don't come close to capturing the punk rock attitude of his live show. Lyrical ineligibility and chord precision are thrown out in favor of leg kicks and mid-song disrobing. It's awesome. Download his free career-spanning sampler and go check him out.

4 Comments:

awmercy said...

He has a new album, Invincible Criminal, coming out in August. He actually was selling it at the show, but unfortunately I didn't bring enough cash, so that review will have to wait.

awmercy said...

War Machine, I know you like videos, but I couldn't find one that did both his performance and the song justice.

Mona said...

Was this part of PDX pop now?! How was that, btw..

How come he didn't play at Hawthorne? I figured that was the punk-friendlier venue...

awmercy said...

Nope. This was on Thursday. PDX Pop Now! was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was pretty fun.