Monthly Music

Two Saturday nights ago (August 19) I went to the Crocodile Cafe to see the Young Fresh Fellows (links to eMusic) with the Paul Lynde Fanclub and the Nice Machine. All of these bands are pretty much just plain old rock bands, of no particular subgenre. I ended up bored by the show.

The Nice Machine were a quartet playing early-80s-style top-40 rock, resembling Pat Benatar, or Foreigner, or even Kiss. In fact, they quoted from Kiss’s “Rock and Roll All Night” in one of their songs. Although they deserve credit for playing their own original music (despite the Kiss reference), they never sounded very interesting to me - and it’s well-known that I have plenty of love for modern takes on music from that era. The lead singer played up her reasonably-attractive appearance with gestures and attitudes that were meant to be sexy, but felt like she was play-acting at being a rock star. In short, the whole band came across as pretentious, acting at being a serious, genuine rock band but not making me believe it.

Of the three bands, I enjoyed The Paul Lynde Fanclub the most. The Fanclub are a trio of guitar, bass and drums, with the drummer serving as lead vocalist as well. Unlike the Nice Machine, they conveyed both a sense of quiet competence and genuine musicianship, and also a sense of wit and humor. Unlike the Young Fresh Fellows, they showed some inventiveness in their music. Although I wasn’t inspired to pick up their CD, I’d still like to hear them again at another show.

I’m familiar with the Young Fresh Fellows for two reasons: they were name-checked by They Might Be Giants in the song “Twisting” off Flood (”she doesn’t have to have her Young Fresh Fellows tape back”), and they have a catchy theme song that KEXP has played before. I was looking forward to hearing the theme song, and hoping that their other songs would prove to be just as catchy on first listen. Their music was generally uptempo and good-spirited, and I enjoyed it at first. As it turned out, about halfway through their set I realized I was simply bored, tired of the series of similar-sounding unfamiliar songs. The crowd around me was clearly having a great time, but also pretty clearly consisted of people who were in college back when the Fellows got started. When they finally played their theme song toward the end of the regular set, it was good, but not worth the long wait through the rest of the material. They proved to be a decent good-time college-bar band, but they’re not my thing.

Thursday, July 27, I went to The Sunset Tavern to see Tara Jane O’Neil, with Nick Castro and the Young Elders and Jen Wood. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in time to catch opening act Jen Wood. I’m sure I’ve heard her on KEXP and liked what I’d heard, so I would’ve liked to see her in person. Instead, I arrived just before Nick Castro took the stage. Nick plays British-style folk music in the vein of Dead Can Dance, playing guitar and singing, and playing a recorder for a couple songs. For this show his backing band The Young Elders consisted of just one person, Wendy Watson, on harmonium, bells, recorder, and backing vocals. They seemed like they would’ve been more at home in a coffeehouse, or even a goth club; while they weren’t out of place at the Sunset, the majority of the patrons paid no attention and continued their loud conversations. I enjoyed their music and would’ve bought a CD to see what it was like, but I didn’t have enough cash to spare, just enough for TJO’s new EP, A Ravelling.

Given that most of the patrons ignored Nick Castro, I was surprised that the entire bar became quiet when Tara Jane O’Neil began playing. While some of the noisy people may simply have left, it also seemed that a small crowd really had come out to see TJO; certainly she had more of an audience than the last time she played the Sunset two years ago. Accompanied by Kristina Davies on drums and occasional backing vocals, TJO played several of her recent songs, including “The Poisoned Mine” and “Howl”, and a couple new ones. The set felt shorter than I would’ve liked, and she didn’t do much with guitar loops or sonic-experimental instrumentals this time, but it was still good to hear her as always. TJO’s next full-length album, In Circles, is due out in mid-September on Quarterstick Records, and she’s doing extensive touring after that. I’m looking forward to the new record and to seeing her again later in the year.