quickcrit - music reviews

I caught Austin Lucas' set in the lounge at the Hawthorne Theater on Sunday. Although he tours with a band, this was his final show in town before heading down to South by Southwest, and it was just him and his guitar. It'd been a while since I went to an acoustic one mic show, but his charisma filled the room, as he bantered with the audience between songs and even interjected humorous antidotes into the middle of a couple of them.

As you can tell from his press shot, his roots aren't purely country and folk. However, little of his hardcore roots are present in his current songs. They range from the lovelorn to barroom rave up, strummed with an intensity that'll fire up your drinking but not quite get you off the bar stool. He's got a good voice, and while he'd likely admit to stumbling a bit, he plays well too. I look forward to catching him next time he passes through, with or without his band in tow.

Oh man, I'm spent. Slabtown's Bender was like gorging on an appetizer platter. You knew you were getting nice selection deep fried Northwestern rawk, but if you came to hear a specific band, you went home wanting more. The sets were short, with little time for filler. Even so, I didn't have the stamina to see all 38 bands. Here are the ones I'll remember after the beer gut wears off:

The Girls
A charismatic frontman and a bashing keyboard combined to create awesome high energy punk rock and incite confrontational dancing.

Ty Segall
A creative, catchy, fun, and sonically dynamic set.

Coconut Coolouts
There was nothing subtle about this boisterous dance party. The two drummers front and center led the way, demanding cheap beer and good times.

Thee Headliners
During a way too short set, they pounded out gritty, powerful, and just plain great rock n' roll. Plus they covered the Sir Douglas Quintet.

Shannon and the Clams
They added yelps, yips, and a ton more reverb to classic early '60s pop.

Sir Lord Von Raven
I thought it'd be more glam, but was totally cool with the Faces-loving pub rock.

King Louie and the Missing Monuments
Shredded vocals, punk riffs, and Saints jerseys. Plus the guitarist played a flying-V and sported Jay Reatard shirt.

Pure Country Gold
A garage duo cranking out a killer mix of the blues, country, and rock n' roll. Also, the band I most wanted to see, so of course it felt the shortest.

I'm on the fence with Jones Street Station. On one hand, they write catchy country rock that's immediately accessible. I liked the casual back porch harmonies and banjo right away. On the other hand, the music is scrubbed clean in places where it could use more riffs and grit. The final chorus on the pretty "Evergreen" hints that the lyrics might sound better as a guttural howl. On "The Just Keep Disappearing on Me", it's apparent that the soaring yet gravely voice was made for southern rock. A couple songs start slow, but build up to anthemic country rockers featuring a wailing harmonica. I love the punk group shout along at the end of "Neville", while"Winter Waltz" reminds me of the Band and features some soulful country vocals. But overall, they stop short of letting loose and as a result the album sounds a bit tame. They clearly are accomplished musicians, so maybe they need to be seen live.

Months after absolutely loving their sampler EP, I finally picked up the full album at Amie St. "Calling Us All Back Home", "Better Way" and "Shaking Like A Leaf" are still the standout tracks, but the scratchy and shouted vocals, wailing harmonica, and pounding riffs of "Hey Hey Hey" and "Take It Away" make it well worth picking up the rest of the album. While most of the songs still pull heavily from classic rock, tracks like "Sweet Love" and the country "Two Dollar Bills" reveal a softer side. However, I still prefer the faster bar room stompers, like "Bobby Havis", which adds metal guitar licks to the mix. I'd love to see them live, but unfortunately they seem to mostly tour in and around the South.

Like Howlin' Rain, the Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound play psychedelic rock I can get into. Probably because, for all the jamming, the songs on When Sweet Sleep Returned never slip into a dirge or get bogged down in slow muddy riffs. Sure, there's a hell of a lot of wailing guitars and pounding drums -- and listening to this album will likely get you stoned -- but even at 7 minutes, songs like "Two Birds Sang" keep me interested. It and "Kolob Canyon", one my other favorites, both incorporate in bits of Gram Parson and the Byrds' country sound of Southern California. The songs ebb and flow between harder and lighter fare creating a very cohesive album.

Wheels On Fire remind me of the Reigning Sound, especially on "I'm Turning Into You", which is really to say that they sound like a lot of great bands and fuse country, soul and punk into the rootsy garage rock I love. That and Michael Chaney's voice has that same soulfuly strained quality as Greg Cartwright. When I looked up more about them I wasn't at all surprised that their bio mentioned playing a show with Jack Oblivian and now they are on the same label. Ha! They do love the same bands. I immediately liked just about every song on this album upon first listen, and after that it just got better. Check out "Too Stubborn To Fold" and the great orgran workout that is "Metal Mandy".

I came across Death On Two Wheels' free EP after reading a review of their album Separation of Church & Fate in Paste. All three songs are pretty fantastic if you like gritty and amped up classic rock n' roll. "Calling Us All Back Home" is my favorite, with it's throbbing chords and 70's rock chorus. I need to head on over to the record store and see if I can pick up the rest of the album.

More rock fiction. This one bums around with a blues cover band as they run a circuit through dives and roadhouses up and down the East Coast. Madison Smartt Bell's story follows a young bassist as confronts his fathers abuse, enjoys the late night/early morning attentions of various women on the road, and nurses the repercussions of an encounter with violent frat boys. I guess it is a coming of age story, if learning to write songs signifies maturity. Although there are some dark moments, those are mostly just ruminations on the characters' pasts. It reads fast and fun - a simple story spiced up with a couple colorful characters, plenty of band decisions washed down with rail whiskey, and lots of music talk. The characters are all fans of music they cover as much as they are musicians. Their ruminations on topics like Emmylou Harris' voice and guitar solos, were some of my favorite sections. Oh, and the lead character's name is Jesse. Cool.

For seven years I have partied, road tripped, rocked out, and then recovered with the southern-rock offerings of the Drive-By Truckers. However, the post-Jason Isbell hangover is evident on Brighter Then Creation's Dark—a country-rock marathon with hints of previous DBT releases on quaaludes. The rumbling hooks that drove Southern Rock Opera and the sing-along refrains of Decoration Day and The Dirty South have been replaced with dreary reflections on alcoholism, loneliness, death and other human struggles that never accomplish the meaningfulness of DBT’s previous character pieces. With a few exceptions, Creation's Dark is an unfortunate slip towards mediocrity—a veritable tragedy when you consider the talent of this group. Don't get me wrong, I don’t entirely dislike this album, but in light of the lofty expectations that I have developed over the last quarter of my life, there were quite a few disappointments and only a couple tracks that excited the senses.

Diamonds in the Rough: "Self-Destructive Zones," "3 Dimes Down," "Perfect Timing"