CMJ 2007, Night 4: Dirtbombs, Intelligence, Sahara Hotnights, 1900's, Drug Rug

Sahara Hotnights; 1900s; Drug Rug
@ Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY - October 19, 2007

Sweden's Sahara Hotnights were once a punk band then popped it up in subsequent years and they sounded fine either way. The new songs continue the pop trend and while it is unclear if this band will ever have another hurrah, it's good to have these ladies around.

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The 1900s are really inspired by a host of 70's country-rock and pop bands, from America to the Eagles (ugh) to Marshall Tucker Band to John Denver and so on and so forth. It may not be the most exciting brand of rock to draw from, but they pull it off with finesse and legitimacy. And for a pretty serious band, they seem to be having fun. Just don't venture into Fleetwood Mac territory kids (ahem, Rilo Kiley, ahem) and you'll do just fine. For the money, nothing beats "Georgia".



Drug Rug, as the name may suggest, is a hippie-ish jam band. As a general rule nowadays, this is kind of a bad thing. But unlike other jam band acts, Drug Rug doesn't squander good songs on boring long jams. The band takes mediocre to half-decent tunes and turns them into into solid, fun, foot stompin' jams. The jams are actually the best part, maybe because it's based in a general band-wide country freakout rather than a series of show-offy solos. And for the record, the girl in this band, may just be about the most cutest thing on the face of this planet. Seriously. So cute that it needed to be mentioned in serious consideration of this review. Cute shouldn't be this beautiful. It's almost scary.

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The Dirtbombs; The Intelligence
@ Southpaw
Brooklyn, NY - October 19, 2007

Tonight's show is noteworthy in that Mick and the gang attracted both a legion (hehe) of new fans and found some old ones not seen in awhile. It was good times all around, up front, in the back, and all over. Tonight's version of "Candy Ass" wasn't as sexed up as the night before, but it was still the Dirtbombs at their best.


A second helping of the Intelligence left a satiated but not entirely satisfactory feeling. There's got to be something untapped that needs to bust out to make this one work 100%.

SPTV: CMJ Music Marathon 2007
Photos
Great Dirtbombs photos here