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FEBRUARY 12, 2005
Bettie Serveert
Abbey Pub, Chicago
OK, I will admit up front that writing about this concert
is putting my critical faculties to the test. You see, I spent the whole show
looking at up at Bettie Serveert's lead singer, Carol van Dyk, and taking photos
like this.Yes, I am smitten.
But, believe me, the music was great, too. Really. What is there to say about
it, though? It's simply hard-rocking and catchy indie pop songs, sung by one
very sexy gal from Holland. (The band definitely rocks harder in concert than
some of the pop songs with techno touches on the new CD from Minty Fresh,
Attagirl.)
Wearing Buddy Holly glasses and a cowboy hat, Peter Visser plays the kind of
kind of guitar riffs that will knock you in the head. I mean that both literally
and figuratively. I was standing very close to Visser (but paying considerbably
more attention to van Dyk), and at one point, his guitar brushed against the top
of my head. Ah, the perils of concertgoing. If I were a centimeter taller, it
might have hurt, but as it was, it was just a close call. I wasn't sure Visser
even noticed what happened, but then he leaned down and apologized before
leaving the stage at the end of the set.
One surprise selection on the new CD is a cover of the Bright Eyes song "Lover I Don't Have
to Love." As they introduced it, Visser commented in his Dutch accent that he
didn't understand the title. "I'll explain it to you later," van Dyk promised.
SEE
MORE PHOTOS... MANY MORE PHOTOS OF BETTIE SERVEERT. (I plead guilty to
focusing nearly all of my photographic attention on Ms. van Dyk. Can you blame
me? And how am I supposed to edit this down to a reasonable number of pictures.
Sheesh...)
Want to see EVEN MORE PHOTOS and another concert review? Check out the pictures
from Bettie Serveert's February 10, 2005, concert in Toronto at the
www.chromewaves.net blog, which managed to get more
photos of Peter Visser than I did.
Low
Metro, Chicago
The
monks have broken their vow of silence. Low, the Duluth trio famous for
its quiet, slow music, has gradually moved toward more aggressive sounds,
culminating with the excellent new album The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop).
The mix of quiet, delicate moments and louder rave-ups sounded great in concert.
Low still knows how to bring a hush over an audience. Low's strength lies in
compelling melodies, putting them across with cool harmonies and a minimum of
musical accompaniment. How many other bands have a drummer who plays the whole
show standing up?
Alan Sparhawk dedicated the new song "Death of a Salesman" to Arthur Miller, the
author of the play of the same title, who'd died earlier in the day. He also
noted he was playing it on a guitar signed by Chuck D. It's a lovely and
haunting song, performed solo by Sparhawk, in which the narrator gives up his
efforts at writing music after being told by friends: "Music's for fools, you
shoul go back to school, the future is prisons and math." It's not the only song
on The Great Destroyer about negation or abandoning music. Another track
wistfully imagines the day "When I Go Deaf," before erupting into a chaotic
guitar solo.
Opening act Pedro the Lion played a solid set of tunes, sticking close to the
band's signature sound, pausing for a peculiar question-and-answer session with
the audience (in which one man asked permission to use Pedro the Lion songs in a
movie he's making). The band cut loose on a cover of Neil Young's "Revolution
Blues," joined by Sparhawk on guitar.
Pedro the Lion was preceded by an interesting solo performance by Tim Rutuli of
Califone, who proved himself adept at both folksy blues and impromptu sonic
experimentation (building layers of sound with a Casio "Rap Man").
The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Poll — a survey of critics
on the best music of 2004 — is out... and even though I thought I might have
missed their deadline, my ballot apparently got to the Voice in time.
See here for the winners of the poll. (Kanye West? Yeah, it's good, but just
not my thing, I guess.)
See here for my own ballot. Any regrets? My list would be a little
different if I compiled it today, but not that much different.
The Arcade Fire's
still tops in my book for 2004.
I will admit my singles list is sort of half-baked,
compiled on the spur of a moment when I realized I had to get my ballot in ASAP.
Most of these songs were not even real singles, but then, I don't think that
really matters these days. Looking at this list now, I'm thinking: Man, I've got
to hear those songs again.
Overlooked CD of 2004? It may be Bamnan and Silvercork by
Midlake. It placed at No. 570 in the Pazz & Jop Poll, but I'll venture a guess
that its would have ranked higher if more people had heard it. Yet another band from that font of
musical creativy known as Denton, Texas,
Midlake is from the same school of high-voiced modern art-rock grandeur as
Grandaddy, Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips.
This slightly lo-fi but
highly listenable rock opera is set in some mythical place ruled authority
figures known as "Monicle Men." The good guys are trying to escape in baloons
and coping with the unpleasant work conditions in the particle-separation room,
which make it difficult for them to bake "kingfish pies." The story, such as it
is, reminds me of "Yellow Submarine" (the movie, not the song) and that British
TV show "The Prisoner." The most compelling songs are "They Cannot Let It
Expand" (which repeats the title line over and over), "Kingfish Pies" and
"Mopper's Medley," but there are many catchy tunes here, and the whimsical
worldview gives it the appeal of a good puzzle.
Six degrees of Golden Smog? Now here's a cool Web site for rock-music nerds,
www.bandtoband.com. I played this very game as a teen, trying to draw lines
from one rock group to another by the musicians they've shared. It's the musical
equivalent of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon."
Until I alerted the fellows who run this Web site, they had overlooked the
connections from Sonic Youth to Loose Fur to Wilco, and hence to many
alt-country artists and Chicago underground bands, not to mention Big Star. It's
fun to see the convoluted chains that connect some groups. It's 16 steps from
the Allman Brothers Band to Wilco, with Guns N Roses as one of the stops along
the way. Thank goodness for "super groups."
Many, many more bands are waiting to be added to this fabulous site. Contact
these guys yourself if you have any suggestions, but make sure you read their
stringent rules. They were very receptive to my submission.
Lately, some folks have been suggesting this site should
contain some actual content pertaining to
bees or beekeeping... topics of which
I am fairly ignorant. Bee experts, feel free to send me your ephemera. (I have a
feeling I'm going to regret having said that.)
