The Big Green House

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

 

From Blown Speakers

New Pornographers, Cinerama, The Organ, Showbox, 6/14/03
(OK, yeah, I know I said I was gonna put this up last night. It�s hot, I�m cranky, I had several unexpected jobs given to me last night, and, uh, the dog ate it. Anyway, here it is.)

I�m not really sure what to say about The Organ. The vibe coming from the stage was one of incredible nervous tension � it was, after all, their first show in Seattle. They came all the way down from Vancouver, BC. They sound a bit like Morrissey fronting an amalgam of The Cure and New Order, if you can picture such a thing. As I see it, they�ve got two stumbling blocks in front of them at the moment: none of their songs venture far from the same incredibly slow tempo, and the band don�t move on stage, at all. Seriously. It was like putting on a CD and staring at a Colorforms rock & roll set. They sounded fine, but I found my attention wandering toward the end of their set. It doesn�t take musicians jumping around the stage like amphetamine monkeys to keep my attention (mind you, it doesn�t hurt), but it�s nice when the musicians look like they�re at least somewhat engaged in what they�re doing. There was no interaction going on anywhere � band with audience or musician with musician. Nada. The keyboardist looked like she was trying to remember which chord came next, the guitarist appeared bored out of her brain, the bass player was busy watching her left hand, the singer was stiffly androgynous (not a bad thing, necessarily � the androgyny, that is; stiffness is always bad onstage), and I couldn�t see the drummer. I dunno; maybe it was just nerves, or maybe that�s their act. That tempo thing is a killer, though. Slow slow slow is no way to pace a show.

Now, Cinerama is all about dynamics. Songs build and crash, starting quietly only to end in a frenzy of loudfastchords. It�s kind of like if you opened up the denser pieces of The Wedding Present, singer/guitarist David Gedge�s previous project, and let in a little more air. I personally prefer his more-tightly-packed sound, but intrigued enough to attempt to approach him at the merch table as we were leaving to ask which of their CDs would be a good place to start. Since there were two young (mid-twenties?) women in front of me, gushing all over Mr. Gedge, (who seemed very amused by it all), I was unable to attract his attention & consequently gave up. I thought it might be interesting to get the artist�s perspective on the question, but I wasn�t gonna wait around all night for it.

But that was after the show. We�ve still gotta get the New Porno guys through their set.

(I should mention, before we move on, that the female half of the Cinerama rhythm section prompted SG to mention that she wanted to be, and I quote, �a cool bass player chick with hair hanging in (her) face�. I think we can all get behind that sentiment, eh?)

Well, it was apparent that something wasn�t quite right from the first New Porn song. Both Neko Case and singer/guitarist Carl Newman were having trouble with their monitors, and as it turns out, their regular soundman wasn�t there. As Ms. Case said at the end of the show, he�d thought that the previous night was the end of the tour and flew back to Edmonton that day. While things were being adjusted, she and Newman improved some �spoken word� (�less rock, more talk is our motto�) culminating in their capping on both Henry Rollins (�Motherfucker�s got no neck. What can I say?�) and Jello Biafra (�It was a dark day for talking when he got beaten up; I was afraid to speak for days afterwards�) While I�m totally down with mocking Rollins, the Biafra stuff seemed a little over-the-line to me; it ain�t no fun getting the shit kicked out of you. Jello deserves some respect for The Dead Kennedys, if nothing else. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Once the sound problems were sorted out, the band took a few numbers to loosen up; by the end of the set, everybody seemed to be having a good time. Highlights included, well, just about everything. C�mon, it was three says ago and I�d been drinking. You expect me to remember every detail? Not without a paycheck, my friend. I can tell you that the set was pretty evenly split between material from their two albums, plus a cover of The Sweet�s �Action�, no less. The band was tight, as were the harmonies. And I�m always impressed by drummers who can sing (and harmonize!) while playing.

The first time I played The New Pornographers for Science Girl, she said that she could picture herself in a club, seeing them live and hopping up and down for joy. I�m here to tell to that the hopping was rampant all night.

So, yeah. Good show. I�d go see �em again.

bmarkey 6/17/2003 06:16:00 PM