Was once a podcast with Elwood D. Pennypacker (@oldtimeelwood on the Twitter) that went by the old expression "Punk Isn't Dead, It Just Goes to Bed at a More Reasonable Hour".
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Conor Oberst @ Battery Park
Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band @ Battery Park New York, NY - July 4, 2009
Let's not dance around it. I missed Jenny Lewis. As unpatriotic a thing one can do on Independence Day, I missed America's second finest redheaded alt-country singer (y'all know who's number 1). I did, however, catch a decent chunk of the set by the pride of Omaha, Conor Oberst. Bright Eyes never truly became my thing until "Four Winds" came out a couple years ago. When Oberst put Bright Eyes on the backburner to work on something called the Mystic Valley Band, I thought "Oh know what hippie dippie mess is this going to be?" But alas, the Mystic Valley Band project is an alt-country-with-a-twist-of-rock machine. The ballads are pure country, but a lot of the more swingin' songs can be real barn burners. Perhaps best of all, Oberst has tamed his voice, a voice once so shrill that many dubbed Bright Eyes to be an emo thing. But Oberst has come a long way, playing very digestible music and having an easy-going presence on stage.
How impressive is Barack Obama (even with his Jerusalem flip-flop pandering)? He even has Bob Dylan speaking out in support of him, and in uncharacteristically (for Bob) direct, blunt, non-cryptic, non-cynical terms.
Amazing.
Could the Dylan/Springsteen/Bright Eyes/Arcade Fire/Decemberists/M. Ward concert for Obama be not far off from now?
“Four Winds” by Bright Eyes The best song yet from this frantic alt-country dynamo. Conor Oberst’s voice is still something to be desired but he made it work with this one.
Going Way Out With Heavy Trash by Heavy Trash One of the best albums of the year. More bluesy than Blues Explosion ever is (was?), Jon Spencer’s collaboration with Matt Verde-Ray not only dodged the sophmore slump, it kicked its sorry ass to the curb and back again. “Outside Chance” and “Crazy Pretty Baby” are the two most shining examples of this little dollop of near perfection. Tom Waits gone rockabilly is one way to describe this whole thing and that’s a very good. "Outside Chance"
Gogol Bordello
Live Show
Record: Super Taranta
Song: “Wanderlust King”
Eugene Hutz’s Gogol Bordello would be the best band in the world if they weren’t so exhausting. The good stuff is so intense, so ferocious, so skilled, and so much, that after just a few short bursts, it’s enough already. Super Taranta was far from perfect, like their previous material, but the lead single got the job done. More important, the live show was historic. 3,000 intense maniacs from all walks of life turned Terminal 5 into a giant Eastern European wedding. All that was missing was the marinated herring. And it's going to happen again on New Year's Eve.
Grinderman
Live Show
Record: Grinderman
Nick Cave took the rump of the Bad Seeds, slapped some mustaches on them and himself, and churned out the top tier candidate for Best Album of 2007 (if the old system was still in place). If that wasn’t enough, Cave and the band went to Madison Square Garden, opened for the White Stripes, and stole the damn show. The raw, pounding concussion of the sound is matched bizarrely well by Cave’s rich lyrics, a poetic mess of Alvy Singer-like laments sung humorously in a confident, cocky manner. Being an aging hipster doofus never sounded so cool. On Later, "Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)":
Those incorrigible Hard Lessons were at it again in 2007, sporting not one but two stellar singles that showcased on record what the band has been doing live. New York got tore up a bunch of times this year, including three times in the Autumn. It was a very good year for this very good band. "Wicked Man" at Union Hall:
“Hate It Here” by Wilco Well look at that. Wilco. After years of being found rather dull, this recalling of 70’s singer-songwriter pop finally made ol’ Pennypacker take notice for the first time since “Casino Queen”. Sky Blue Sky as a whole allowed for a new look at Jeff Tweedy and it’s looking good from here on out. Wilco – Hate It Here
