Friday, April 13, 2007

Rock N Roll Without The Irony

The Hard Lessons; The Subway Band
@ Pianos
New York, NY - April 12, 2007


The Hard Lessons may have single handedly (or six handedly) brought me back from the grave, rock n roll wise. They give it their all and no foolin'. They started off their short set with a spate of hard rockin' numbers recalling classic rock greats spun through the garage. They polished off the set with a series of power pop songs that tingle under your skin. They finished off the night with "Milk and Sugar" (with some unexpected Raconteurs lyrics thrown in) one of the best songs you have probably never heard but should and their take on Neil Young's "Hey Hey My My". Having just rediscovered Neil myself a little (thanks to a friend), it was a fitting end to the night. They are playing tomorrow night in Long Island City so go check 'em out.
The Subway Band spin a series of well crafted tunes in the vein of what is the latest New York thing, ethnic/world music (think Devotchka, Golgol Bordello, Beirut, etc). In this particular case, it is accordion-led Spanish-style melody. It makes for interesting twists and turns and leaves the listener at times thinking of walking through some old Mexican one-horse town or in some spoken-word bohemian adventure involving some sort of spy. I'm not joking. And no I am not on crack either. It's good stuff.

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