In the world of marketing, it’s said that no press is bad press. Seattle’s Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band is testing that truism in its own, indie-rock way.
Looking at the mastheads of the rags and blogs that have weighed in on the band’s sophomore album, “Where the Messengers Meet,” one would assume MSHVB is a new darling of the indie music world. Pitchfork weighed in, as did Paste, Spin, and the Onion A.V. Club.
Not bad for a five-piece band signed to Dead Oceans, a small Indiana-based label.
Or is it? [Read More...]
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
Last week, I revealed my longtime dislike for the sound of saxophones. Since then, I’ve realized I’m hardly alone. There is a Facebook group devoted to the anti-sax “cause,” and a lovely song by Sean Na Na, and a pretty awesome tee-shirt…It seems “I hate saxophones” almost qualifies as a meme.
Perhaps not surprisingly, a handful of local saxophonists responded negatively to the column – one in private email; two in a joint letter to the editor of the Missoulian.
As is customary for matters covered in the paper, I’ll let that back-and-forth stand on its own, with one minor clarification: I’m right and they’re wrong.
Kidding!
But I do think the conversation reflects two broader points that are near and dear to my heart. And if you’ll hear me out, I promise a fun little treat at the end! [Read More...]
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
Every true music-lover has an indefensible pet-peeve, and this is probably my biggest one: There isn’t a song in the world so beautiful that it can’t be ruined by a little saxophone.
Oh, I’ve heard the squawk-back: The sax is the most expressive of the woodwind instruments, the closest mechanical approximation of the singing voice, yada yada. I suppose I could name a couple of sax-soaked tunes that don’t annoy the crap out of me (Coleman Hawkins’ “April in Paris” springs to mind). But I can name ten times as many songs that might have been bearable if the reedman had only called in sick. (I’m apparently not the only one who feels this way.)
It is for that reason that I find a certain double-negative allure to Rob Verdi’s upcoming concert at the Ronan Performing Arts Center, next Thursday, Jan. 18.
Titled “Saxophobia,” the concert figures either to be my worst nightmare or best proof of bias. [Read More...]
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
I received a rather baffling press release recently, about a show coming up next week at the Badlander.
Witness the one-sentence pitch:
“Deleted Scenes are an interesting DC-based quartet with occupations outside of the band ranging from medical research to stop severe bleeding to teaching English as a second language.”
Okay, forget that band names are singular rather than plural, thus demanding is rather than are. And let’s try not to get caught up in whether that list includes two professions or three (is “stop severe bleeding” a job?).
Here is the thing that really gets me: Is this band so musically uninteresting that their main appeal is the stuff they do when they’re not on stage?
Hardly, it turns out. [Read More...]
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
Earlier this week I wrote a preview of a fascinating performance that will take place tonight (Thursday) at the University of Montana. The UM Symphonic Wind Ensemble will perform composer Craig Naylor’s “Chickadee Symphony,” which drew its inspiration from real biological research done on the vocalizations of chickadees — including, notably, research done [...]
Share on Facebook
Every classical music concertgoer learns that there are things one simply does not do during a performance. Among the no-no’s that will typically get you tsk-tsked: laughing at the visiting soloist while he is playing, standing and cheering between movements of a longer work, and clapping while the orchestra is still playing.
All of these things happened in the auditorium of the University Theatre on Sunday during a performance by the Missoula Symphony Orchestra.
And all of them merely amplified the raucously joyous sense of occasion in the hall. It was a concert so stuffed with highlights, humor, brash power and ravishing beauty that the packed house of listeners found it necessary to create its own opportunities – before, during and after the music – to show its enthusiasm. [Read More...]
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
There has always been an element of storytelling in the music of local chamber-folk band Stellarondo (the band is, after all, named after a character in Eudora Welty’s short story, “Why I Live at the P.O.”). And there has always been a lilt of melody in the short stories of Yaak Valley-turned-Missoula author Rick Bass.
Next Wednesday, that middle ground will be mapped out when Bass and Stellarondo join together for two performances of songs and “scored stories.”
But please. If you come, don’t wear a beret. [Read More...]
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
On Wednesday, concert promoters Knitting Factory Entertainment and Jade Presents separately announced a pair of performances that will take place within two days of each other in late October. But it seems unlikely that penny-pinching music fans will need to make a tough decision between the two, as they represent far poles of the contemporary popular music realm. [Read More...]
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
The first time I saw Mark Heimer, he humped my leg as he sang about taking me to church. The second time, I walked away with my shirt soaked by his sweat. The third time, we actually talked with one another.
There is nothing awkward about our relationship. Really, he has always treated me the same way he treats everyone else at his performances: with a hyper-intimacy that might be creepy if it weren’t so comically over-the-top and equitably distributed with the rest of the innocents on hand. [Read More...]
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
Recent Comments