The Dandy Warhols shamelessly embody almost every rock-band stereotype.
They’ve got a hipster lead singer with a vacant stare who looks as if he spends 20 minutes perfecting his messy coif. They’ve got a token girl, who shakes her hips and plays the keyboard and tambourine. And then there are the aloof guitarist and trumpet player, who spend most of their time hiding behind their respective shaggy locks and cowboy hat.
But somehow, when the Dandy Warhols play live, you can’t help but fall for all of it.
Songs that only tingle on the Dandys’ three albums come to full climax onstage, taking on a more textured, ethereal dimension. Atmospheric sound, mood and visuals meld together to elevate fairly simple music to the level of a powerful multi-sensory experience.
Chicago audiences got a taste of the band’s somewhat contrived spell on Sunday, when the Dandys played the WXRT-sponsored double bill with Smash Mouth at the House of Blues. Though technically a “free” concert, everyone in attendance either skipped a day of work to score a ticket on the radio or paid a high price for the not-so-free tickets scalped outside the club.
Before the Smash Mouth fans swarmed, a crowded but comfortable throng surrounded the Dandys, who tore through a set that wavered effortlessly from animated to mellow to mildly psychedelic. The band flawlessly delivered with appetizing energy, from the undulating, layered melodies of “Godless” and “Be-In” to the punchy Bowie-esque “Shakin'” and the sweaty “Get Off.”
The pop number “Boys Better” had the audience most energized, prompting the crowd to bounce en masse with the saccharin energy of a Gap ad, which, incidentally, was probably the first place most non-fans heard this track.
Though the now-commercial jingle doesn’t exactly showcase the band’s complexity, their live act proves the Dandy Warhols quite capable of reaching far deeper. nyou
Medill senior Nancy Einhart is the editor of nyou. She can be reached at [email protected].
The Blacks keep it raw, real with original set at concert
By Dylan RisDeep into the Blacks’ Saturday night set at Schubas Tavern, guitarist and sometime trumpeter Danny Black acknowledged the sold-out crowd: “We want to thank you all for coming out and making us feel good. We’ve been feeling like shit for the past three months.”
On cue the band launched into a raunchy country-blues stomp from a yet-untitled new album, spewing 12 weeks of rancor onto an obliging audience.
Black — born Danny McDonough — and bassist Gina Black — born Gina Black — shared lead vocal duties on an extended romp through a mostly original set. They even included a blistering cover of Tom Waits’ “Goin’ Out West,” with Gina Black on an amplified bullhorn. Drummer James Emmenegger, armed with just a three-piece set, rounded out the trio.
Promoted as an alternative-country band, the Blacks’ recent material owes less to the twang of Willie Nelson than it does to the dirty blues of Waits and even PJ Harvey. Gina Black’s singing particularly recalled the coarse emotion of the latter on raw lines like “I look good without a shirt on.” Danny Black’s sanded-down voice was less striking but blended better with the gritty music that drew largely from last year’s Just Like Home album on Bloodshot Records.
The opening act, Detroit’s Blanche, began the evening with a set of straight-laced numbers that conformed more to the country categorization than the Blacks themselves did. But the evening was one of rock and blues, delivered by the headliners with power and moody bliss. nyou
T-and-A-filled album not even close to upper crust
By Chris VlassesSome of you may know this, but perhaps not all of you have been fortunate enough to encounter the phenomenon firsthand.
When an up-and-coming band releases an album, they send it to colleges along with a “press kit” full of “information” drowned in a sea of brainwashing buzzwords and catch phrases. It’s a spin doctor on paper — and when I received the Boston rock band Seventeen’s new album Bikini Pie Fight, I was fortunate enough to receive just such a pack.
Allow me to share with you some of its morsels of wisdom with a bit of editing of my own:
— “Their songs are written with equal parts of hooks and clever humor.” (translation: Their songs are equal parts boring and stupid.)
— “Bikini Pie Fight will have many jaded rock listeners whipping out the prayer rug and shouting hallelujah.” (translation: Bikini Pie Fight will have tasteful rock listeners ripping off their headphones and shouting, “ouch.”)
— “as inventive as it is energetic!” (translation: as inventive as it is an effective form of birth control!)
— “OK, so BPF isn’t exactly the intellectual manifesto you’d expect from a band of Ivy leaguers.” (translation: OK, so BPF is exactly the intellectual manifesto you’d expect from a band of 12 year olds who watch Cinemax while taking steroids.)
Ah yes, it’s got tunes about porno getaways, mountains of coke and good old-fashioned T and A!
No one should buy this album. nyou
