Author: john-ruscher

music

Let’s start off with the good: The highlight of the night was a two-person mosh pit that broke out during a rendition of what I believe was the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” theme song. Another memorable moment was a guy hopping up from his bar stool to accompany the Screaming Infidels’ guitarist in singing the theme song from “The Addams Family.” You may notice a trend here: It’s not typical for a punk rock show to peak with themes from TV shows.

Turtle power! The Screaming Infidels hit the Fellini’s crowd with some memorable TV theme songs during a Wednesday night set.

But the Screaming Infidels’ performance at Fellini’s #9 on Wednesday was full of atypical things. An array of barflies that appeared more in line with “Cheers” than the Dead Kennedys bobbed their heads eagerly to the trio’s dissonant clang. A band described as “punk rock” played a two-set show in a sleek Italian restaurant (and they’re regulars). A bartender attentively brought me fresh bottles of beer just as I was finishing the previous one. This is not what I’m used to at a show. I’m used to cross-armed foot-tapping hipsters, stretching on my tip-toes to see the stage, jostling to the bar to grab another drink and no TV tunes whatsoever.

I’m not against places where everyone knows your name, good service or TV themes, but not long after the Infidels began playing, I was bored. Despite the decibel level, the show dragged along and the band failed to jolt me from a few beers’ worth of grogginess. Beyond the theme songs, the night was a blur of plodding rhythms, loudness and mediocrity. I watched the passersby who gawked through the open windows and wished that, like them, I could be on my way home.

But, recognizing the chance that something amazing could happen if I left, I stuck it out to the end. Unfortunately, nothing topped the “Turtles” theme. If scheduled openers Accordion Death Squad had showed up, the variety might have made for a fun evening. Or if the vocals hadn’t been drowned out by the treble guitar, maybe the band’s lyrics would have struck me. But, as it was, I left unimpressed and happy to be set free into the summer night.

music The Battles show on the night of June 13 saw both familiar local characters as well as fresh faces from nearby metropolises like Richmond and Lynchburg. The span of ages was also wide, ranging from the eager high schoolers who perched front-and-center to the drunken 40-something with a tweed jacket and unnecessary sunglasses atop his slicked back hair.

Whatever hometown or age, the crowd was there to see some smart, talented rock music, and got what they came for. Ostinato, recently returned from a trans-European trek, tossed down a hard-hitting set. Drummer Matthew Clark and bassist Jeremy Ramirez propelled the evening into high gear, and David Hennessy got things off the ground with his spacious guitar work. The trio’s mostly instrumental epics provided a perfect liftoff for the night.

Ostinato’s Jeremy Ramirez drove the local band’s set at the Satellite Ballroom, where they opened for the brilliant-if-late Battles.

Due to their late arrival, Battles took the stage and ran through a mid-show sound check. Though some of the night’s momentum dropped during this unplanned intermission, it gave the crowd time to gawk at the band’s astounding set-up: An ominous mountain of amps backed a vast landscape of pedals, laptops and knobs. The members stood over it like titans prepared to shake the countryside.

Battles are titans indeed, consisting of former members of seminal rock bands Don Caballero and Helmet, as well as Tyondai Braxton, the son of renowned jazz saxophonist Anthony Braxton. On the Ballroom stage they put this breadth of experience and talent to good use. Drummer John Stanier sat in the center and kept the complicated beats with robotic precision; around him, the other three members juggled guitars, keyboards and samplers like it was nothing. Braxton occasionally picked up the microphone, but his vocals were rarely lyrical, instead melting into the group’s complex and calculated combo of rhythm and melody.

While Mirrored, their first full-length, is solid, and the video for the single “Atlas” is quite a sight, Battles were even more impressive live. And with Wednesday’s show as only the first date of a massive three-month tour, they will only get better.

music By the end of Animal Collective’s performance at the Satellite Ballroom on May 30th, the condensation on the room’s air ducts was dripping onto the audience like a refreshing indoor rain shower—a telling sign of the group’s typical live experience. Animal Collective saturated the evening in almost every way. They easily filled the Ballroom to capacity, and fans were still lined up into the parking lot until just before they took the stage. Enthusiasm was rampant and infectious: Impromptu handclap ensembles popped up around the room before the music had begun. The crowd was so excited that they even greeted the contemplative, raga-style guitar of opener Sir Richard Bishop with stomps, hoots and hollers.

Stampede! The critic-pleasing critters of Animal Collective brought a packed Satellite Ballroom to ecstatic heights on Wednesday night.

The most astounding aspect of the night’s atmosphere, however, was the sound that emerged once Avey Tare, The Geologist and Panda Bear tweaked some knobs, pushed some buttons and began their set. The three members have a way of using mostly electronic instruments and effects to create organic, liquid songs. Drenched in echo and reverb, Animal Collective’s vocal melodies sounded like they were sung in a gigantic metal storm drain. The rhythms that pulsed from multiple drum machines and other digital gadgets were part tribal cadence, part acid trip. When all of the parts came together, they collided in a disorienting but beautiful mess of shifting tones and textures that resembled a musical Niagara Falls.

The already energized Ballroom became even more frenzied as the group spun their simple loops and yelps into gigantic surges of sound, and the crowd contributed passionate choral accompaniment during familiar songs such as “Who Could Win A Rabbit” and “Leaf House.” Animal Collective, not a group prone to precise replication, injected their album songs with updated orchestration and improvisational twists. Their new songs, from the upcoming album Strawberry Jam, proved that they have continued to hone their unique brand of psychedelic animal pop. The material they unveiled draws from members’ recent solo endeavors, including Panda Bear’s Brian Wilson-esque Person Pitch and Avey Tare’s experimental Pullhair Rubeye.

The set came to a resounding end and, despite the crowd’s rabid desire for more, the animals did not return for an encore. This made perfect sense, as the Animal Collective experience, like a mighty waterfall, cannot stop and start, but must unfold as one gushing, epic event.

UVA’s Old Cabell Hall brings to mind piano recitals, string quartet performances, and the occasional comedian or lecturer, but the historic building also houses one of the University’s newest and most eccentric programs. Tucked away in the room B012 on the basement level is the Virginia Center for Computer Music. Strange but inviting noises often emanate from the room, and inside you will likely find the smiling face of Associate Director Matthew Burtner.

Burtner, an Alaskan native, came to UVA in 2001 to join composer Judith Shatin on the faculty of the VCCM. When asked to teach a new class, he started Interactive Media, a course that he developed while finishing his doctoral degree at Stanford. In the class, students create instruments and software programs that generate sound and exchange musical data between computers. “The class allows them to learn how to compose, program, and interact with real-time audio,” he says. “Part of the goal is to show how these aspects can all be one concentrated effort.”

Associate music professor Matthew Burtner’s pet project, MICE (short for Music for Interactive Computers Ensemble), performs on the UVA Lawn.

Burtner’s class might seem like something for only computer geeks and advanced graduate students, but with only one prerequisite course required he welcomes almost any level of experience. “It’s very empowering,” says Burtner. “You don’t have to be a virtuosic performer. No one can say you are playing it badly, unlike with a violin or trumpet.”

He speaks with experience. Though many of his students are novices, Burtner himself has spent the past couple decades studying, composing and performing computer music at places like Stanford, St. Johns and Johns Hopkins’ Peabody Institute. He developed the Metasaxophone, a version of the normal instrument that extends its capabilities with electronic sensors and a computer chip, and he recently produced Kuik, a multimedia opera composed of electronic sounds, sculpture, dance and drama that premiered at Staunton’s Blackfriars Playhouse last fall.

Though enrollment in Interactive Media does not require expertise, Burtner’s main focus has been creating a dynamic relationship between musician and instrument. “As a saxophonist, performer sensibility drove me towards interactive media,” he explains. “Peabody has a unique computer music performance program, so when I was there, that really influenced me. In Interactive Media the computer must respond with the performer.”

The culiminating effort of this two-way relationship between musician and computer is a final group performance as the Music for Interactive Computers Ensemble, or MICE.

On May 1, this year’s MICE performed at Digitalis, an annual festival showcasing experimental music by UVA students. Always eager to try something different, Burtner and his VCCM colleagues staged the event on the Lawn in front of Old Cabell Hall. This risk paid off, as a clear sky and perfect temperature made for a wonderful evening. As MICE’s 15 members hunched over their instruments and computer screens and began their performance, it was clear that the sounds from the speakers were not coming directly from the instruments. There were three electric guitars, but no recognizable guitar sounds. Two members played a Theremin (the ghostly-sounding instrument used in The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”), but its signature warble was absent. Instead of creating an independent sound, the performers and computers were exchanging and manipulating sounds into one collaborative mess.

And a mess is no problem, as any unanticipated results are merely part of Burtner’s vision. “MICE is one step past free jazz. Since no one person controls the sound, you are taking away the ego from the performance. Unlike free jazz, it’s not about the solo, but the complex sound that arises from a community.”

With each year’s group of students, Interactive Media produces a new and unique MICE performance. For students, the class is a way to gain new skills and perspectives on music. For Burtner, it is a way for him to take advantage of the latest technology and continue to hone his innovative musical ideas. “Each year MICE gets better,” he observes, and he shows no intention of stopping. Look for future MICE incarnations and other fascinating projects from the Virginia Center for Computer Music.

cd

Only a year old and Kate Starr’s three-piece band has already reached the finals of Lollapalooza’s Last Band Standing contest, opened for acclaimed shoegazers Asobi Seksu and played New York City nearly as many times as they’ve played Charlottesville.  Starr has an impressive array of artsy publicity photos, and she’s built a distinct image around black-framed glasses, striped tights, and early ’90s girl-rock. With all of this, her quest hasn’t been very chaotic. It actually seems quite calculated. Kate is aiming for…well, her namesake.
But to “make it,” you need quality tunes to go with that snappy image, right?  So here is Questing Through Chaos, her first EP. She makes a good choice in keeping her debut short and sweet. Production by local music extraordinaire Lance Brenner provides a crisp, full sound, and Starr serves up six numbers that prove she’s really got something.

Opening track “Little Miss Liberty” is the record’s least inspiring song, but its garage rock energy packs an appropriate first punch.  With “Ruby’s Remembrance,” Starr heads in a more jangly direction, but keeps the throttle open.  As the drums pound and Starr shouts “I can’t get you out of my head,” you might have that exact problem with the song’s catchy hook. The trumpet, whispers and cymbal washes of “A Short Song for Nick” provides an apt segue into the EP’s gentler side, and the crescendoing “Say Something Beautiful” follows with lyrical shifts and melodic build-ups that balance its sappy theme.

Like rain on your wedding day, Kate Starr’s new record is a little bit chaotic—don’t you think?

Starr’s final two tracks are the most promising.  “Dream/Not Dream” fits its title perfectly, fluctuating between a surreal softness and a soaring anthem.  The album comes to a close with “Ache,” a restrained tune that rises up out of subtle feedback, gets your head bopping, and then dissolves in the atmosphere.  Though clearly a descendent of P.J. Harvey and The Breeders, on “Ache” Starr’s voice resembles the warble of Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O.

Questing Through Chaos is a solid first effort, and it will be interesting to see where future travels take Kate Starr. A big label or an indie outfit?  Charlottesville or a transplant to New York?  Regardless, you will likely hear more good things from this ambitious, bespectacled songstress.

music

In high school, I played the Tokyo Rose basement for my one and only time as the bassist for Moments Without. That band now goes by the name Worn in Red, and  on Friday night I saw their show at the renovated Tokyo Rose.

The Rose basement is a much different place than when I was 16 years old. Stainless steel and tile have extinguished the comforting red glow, and a karaoke projection screen hangs in place of the stage that once welcomed the likes of the Dismemberment Plan and Elliott Smith. Despite these conditions, the three bands on the bill did their best to put on a quality rock show.

House of hues: Tokyo Rose, a classic Charlottesville rock room, offers a brand new range of colors, from sterile, blue-lit tiles to jagged rockers Worn in Red.

Richmond’s Fred Gable opened the night with a trashing but anticlimactic set.  Whether it was the limitations of their amps or beginning-of-the-night PA problems, the songs didn’t deliver the punch that their build-ups promised.

North Carolina’s Thunderlip was the highlight of the night. The band’s tight, unabashed jams struck a careful balance between chops and playfulness, and the result was perfect for rocking out. Lead singer Chuck Krueger donned a purple dress and alternated between floor sprawls, mock menacing looks and vocal lines like “I’m just a man in leather pants.”

With the show scheduled to end at midnight, time constraints restricted both the length and energy of Worn in Red’s performance.  This was a shame, considering the band’s proven sock-knocking abilities.  While they set up the show and are one of the first local groups to give the new Rose a try, Worn in Red got the short end of the stick on Friday. 

In between songs, singer and bassist Eric Farr made a quip that summed up the evening.  “There used to be a stage here, I think.” The show was not bad, but it certainly wasn’t like the old days.

cd

A friend recently mentioned how he couldn’t help but listen to depressing music. “I try to find upbeat stuff, but I always end up going back to really sad music,” he said. “It’s just better.” He has a point. Unless you’re out for a rousing night on the town, pensive and existential music is usually more fitting.

Local label Yer Bird puts out a stirring compilation of songs about our only friend, the End. For more on Yer Bird found Morgan King, see Plugged In.

Charlottesville-based Yer Bird Records has just released a compilation of songs that fall into this category. Morgan King, the label’s founder and owner, came up with idea for doing an apocalypse-themed album a couple years ago, and has spent the time since contacting artists and gathering songs. Receiving more than enough material, King picked tracks that affected him the most and aptly titled them Folk Music for the End of the World.

Compilation discs often reek of marketing and self-promotion, but Yer Bird’s collection has a deep, heartfelt aura. Though the compilation brings together artists from across the country, it maintains an intimate warmth and wholeness.  Beautiful artwork by Kathleen Lolly and a thoughtful introduction by King perfectly round out the eerie theme of the album. 

Some of the songs shine brighter than others, but none feel out-of-place or forced. Alina Simone’s “Gunshots” showcases the Ukrainian-born songstress’ heavenly voice and tells a familiar tale of modern life and change. Charlottesville’s own Sarah White contributes “Part of the Story,” a sparse, lo-fi tune that is grittier than her latest full-length, White Light, but with the same relaxed, front-porch sincerity. NYC’s O’death offers “Angeline,” an upbeat piano and strings affair that shares the album’s theme through a frighteningly beautiful lens. Lines like “Now the worms they feed/And go around your feet/As you walk your naked path to hell” read like a grim declaration of death but sound like a joyous apocalyptic celebration.

The album concludes with Hezekiah Jones’ “Mississippi Sea,” a story set in the year 2043 that imagines the world after global warming has turned much of Mississippi into a body of water. Each song offers a valuable interpretation of King’s theme, but Jones’ song hits closest to home, as it builds on the hot political issue and tragedy in New Orleans. Folk Songs for the End of the World conjures grave thoughts, but its diverse beauty and loving effort proves that the world still has hope and camaraderie.

music

The Hackensaw Boys have played with Modest Mouse and The Flaming Lips, and have traveled to far off places like the Netherlands and France, but nothing beats a hometown show.  Just as most of the Boys hail from nearby burgs like Crozet and Waynesboro, a good portion of Saturday night’s crowd came from the surrounding countryside.  One girl sported a shirt with the slogan, “Nelson County, Keepin’ It Rural,” and when openers Jim Waive & the Young Divorcees mentioned Orange County, the audience erupted in cheers.

Naturally, two local Americana groups opened the show. NYC-Nelson County hybrids Casa de Chihuahua, who tour in the old Hackensaw bus, kickstarted the evening and got a nice buzz going in the crowd. Then Jim Waive & the Young Divorcees put on a great set, bringing the charismatic country twang that they regularly deliver at Atomic Burrito.  The absence of fiddle player Anna Matijasic was notable (she’s on a European tour with local rockers Ostinato), but the Divorcees filled out their sound with the help of mandolin phenom Andy Thacker. 

Charlottesville can leave their Hacks on: Local honky tonk success story the Hackensaw Boys return for a rip-roaring set at Starr Hill.

After the two opening bands and some fine brews had primed the audience, the Hackensaw Boys took the stage.  With most people ready to get down, the Boys became less a stage act and more a house band churning out dance numbers.  The six members occasionally traded instruments, but they kept the songs coming, the hands flailing and feet stomping.  At times it felt like the floor of Starr Hill might give way under the pounding feet, and dance moves ranged from excited hops to couples swinging arm in arm.

Before wrapping up their extensive set, the Boys jumped down into the sweat-soaked crowd. As everyone gathered around them, they busted out a few more rousing tunes and turned a good night into a great hoedown.

music

September 11th could have sidelined Explosions in the Sky.  Their breakthrough album, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever, was released less than a month before the attacks and featured a picture of a plane with the caption “This plane will crash tomorrow.” This unfortunate coincidence, coupled with their name, made the Austin-based quartet an easy target for the paranoia of the time.

But instead of cowering or apologizing, the band has held their ground, releasing another full-length in 2003 and scoring the soundtrack to blockbuster football flick, Friday Night Lights.  This year, Explosions have continued their crescendo with a tour supporting February’s All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, and Friday night they played a sold-out show at Starr Hill.

Between long album titles and longer eruptions of guitar racket, Explosions in the Sky filled an already sold-out Starr Hill to capacity.

The music hall filled up early, but neither opening band was able to command the audience’s full attention.  Eluvium started the show with shifting ambient washes accompanied by a projected film of birds, but the chatter of the room killed the vibe.  The Paper Chase followed with a set that occasionally approached the tight kinetics of At the Drive-In but mostly offered a sad imitation of Brooklyn mainstays The Hold Steady or Les Savy Fav.

Then came Explosions in the Sky.  Their ambitious instrumental rock is good on headphones or as a big-screen soundtrack, but it reaches full potential on stage.  The band alternated between beautiful, reverb-drenched landscapes and walls of sound built with cymbal crashes, snare cadences and gritty distortion.  The audience was happy to be along for the ride, and it was a great one: somewhere between an interstate road trip and a snaky roller coaster. As the night ended, Explosions resisted the demand for an encore, a fitting decision for a group that capitalizes on anticipation.  “Don’t worry,” reassured guitarist Munaf Rayani. “We’ll come back soon.”