Listen to the kid's music. Way too ahead of his time.
Little Birds | Madeline | Fancy Fist (Amsterdam Bar) As far as singer songwriters go, these are three of some of the least grating and most easily digestible. This is especially the case with the always underrated vocal ability of Mckinney's Brooke Opie, of Little Birds, who just might steal the show. This event also celebrates the group's new record, A Secret In Your Ear.
The Angelus | Sans Soleil | Waterfalls | Jenn Gooch (Rubber Gloves) This is the second show put on conjunction with an opening at The Meme Gallery, located right next door to Rubber Gloves.
Momus "Tender Pervert" 1988 Creation Records snag it
"God is a tender pervert, and the angels are voyeurs" is the first line on Momus' 1988 album Tender Pervert. The opening song places God firmly in the role of pervert. Like a demented Rembrandt painting brought to life, Nick Currie vividly describes his aforementioned protagonist as he masturbates in the heavens, his sperm spewing across the Earth as a sort of cruel joke upon us mortals and "the way we hold out coffee cups, the way we choose our word".
Much Like God himself, Curry populates his album world full of lurid characters. With each song the listener is brought into the twisted and often brilliant mind of a dirty insecure Englishman. Some of these characters you might meet include the following. We have the closeted gay figure dancing team in "Love on Ice" who must deal with their repulsion of the opposite sex, their PR agent's cocaine habit, AIDS tabloid rumors and of course landing the perfect figure eight. There is the bitter young man of "The Homosexual" who uses his feminine charms (and advise from a homosexual gynecologist) to tease and fuck the wives and girlfriends of the men who mock his limp wristdness. Need something a little more political? Then you can hear the rise and fall of the protagonist of "I was a Maoist Intellectual" I won't even attempt to explain where that one goes.There is a bit of relief mid-album with the coupling of Ice King and Right Hand Heart. Two romantic and sweet but still fucked up love songs. He can do it all.
Synth-pop has often been utilized for it's sensual elements. Warm Leatherette and the like. Albums prior to this one found Momus writing magnificently twisted affairs, but ones that had a tendency to ramble on and becoming more of spoken word piece than actual songs. A fine example of this would be his debut Circus Maxmus which includes exasperating sex and violence filled yarns all about figures in the Bible. Here using the medium of "synth pop" has helped him to focus his songwriting energy and create what stands as still as one of if not his best work. Why is it out of print?
It's not hard to see why Momus has never received the accolades in America as he has in places like Japan. His music questions authority, sexual convention, intellectualism and most importantly the dark side of human desire. I am a fan of Momus's entire discography which spans nearly thirty years and almost every release finds Momus inventing, reworking or augmenting a style or convention and making it his own. Momus is a pervert and he is not afraid to let you know. I am not just speaking of pervert in the sexual sense, but also in the musical.
Momus has no respect for pop conformity or stupidity. It may isolate him from the majority of America (if they even had a chance to hear him)but time will show Nick Currie to be one of our generations greatest musicians.
It has always baffled me how Athen's Madeline hasn't made it to the ranks of the indie elite singer songwriters. She is popular and has been constantly touring since the release of her brilliant debut Kissing and Dancing but hasn't made that break through into the minor major league like some comparable artist (St. Vincent, Norah Jones,Regina Spector) Madeline's voice is beautiful. Crystal clear yet still emotive, lacking the hollow theatrics of some lesser performers. I would listen to her if she just did covers, but luckily she is also a very talented songwriter. Her songs are smart and confident with out being smug which can be tough. Her most recent work has become much richer musically with the aide of a bigger band. This new direction seems to have interfered with some elements of the songwriting that keeps out of print copies of Kissing and Dancing close to a select few hearts. It is still strong but some of the loose and abstract qualities shown on those earlier recordings seem to have been tamed in favor of the "band" sound. Which while a tad disappointing is cool by me and it seems like a natural progression. Her most recent album came out on Orange Twin records. Should be a good show.
This is the first of thirteen days of consecutive shows at Rubber Gloves, thanks for keeping us busy.
Very little going on this evening, and it works out quite nicely for us since we're working on other content and events at the moment... stay tuned, and stop by Cool Out tonight.
The Fever With DJ El Macho (Tradewinds Social Club)
Big J | Hot Britches (The Basement at Plush) Apparently you have to tell the door-person "The Basement," or you'll have to pay fifteen dollars otherwise.
Spring Affair Park Party with Brett Johnson | Luke Sardello/John Walker/Matt Thompson/David Lewis (Reverchon Park located at 3505 Maple Avenue in Dallas)
In other Denton house show news, we wanted to give you a heads up that the wonderful Majestic Dwelling of Doom will be hosting its own little 2 night festival this month entitled FEST x FEST FEST, taking place on Monday, March 15th and Wednesday March 17th at the venue located at 731/729 Texas St., near the corner of Texas and Mingo. Here's what the line ups look like at this point:
^^^FEST BY FEST FEST DAY ONE: march 15th, monday^^^
