Tag: American rock

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Live music galleries

Live music galleries: The Breeders [2013]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

The Breeders at Osheaga 2013

Artist: The Breeders
When: August 3rd, 2013
Where: Green stage, Osheaga, Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal
Context: Ten years ago this summer, I attended Montreal’s Osheaga arts and music festival with my good friends Tim and Mark. It was an unforgettable weekend and we saw countless amazing performances over the festival’s three days. I’ve already posted photos* from some of the weekend’s sets and plan to share a few more of these in the months leading up to this year’s edition, which I will sadly not be attending. Some of these posts will have fewer photos than my normal galleries, including today’s, but this should not be taken to be indicative of the quality of the performances, but of the difficulty of obtaining quality pics while being so completely in the moment.

The Breeders were touring in support of the 20th anniversary of their huge sophomore album, “The last splash”, and were performing it from beginning to end on each stop on the tour. They had recently reformed the lineup that had recorded said album, and had even brought violin player Carrie Bradley along for the ride, so theirs was a set we definitely wanted to catch. My friends and I arrived at the stage just in time to hear them play “Cannonball”, the second track on the album. So, yes, we dutifully danced around. It was refreshing to hear the Deal sisters joking around and truly appearing to enjoy themselves but even though I was familiar with their singles, I was still a year to removed from finally digging into the album in earnest. Admittedly, this was also the point in the evening when the drinking started to get serious and we became friends with the shooter waitress. At the end of their set, Tim made us all laugh by quipping, “This band? They’ve got a big future ahead of them.”
Point of reference song: “Cannonball”

Kim Deal and Jim Macpherson of The Breeders
Kelley Deal of The Breeders
Carrie Bradley on the violin
Kim Deal rocking out!

*Past galleries from this festival weekend have included the following:

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Tunes

Eighties’ best 100 redux: #95 The Nails “88 lines about 44 women” (1982)

<< #96    |    #94 >>

After all the talk about “99 luftballons” appearing at spot #98 on this list (close call, that one), I found myself looking ahead to see where The Nails’ “88 lines about 44 women” would land. As you can imagine, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief that it’s not track #88 but arriving a bit earlier at spot #95.

Nonetheless, I’m sure you’ll remember this one.

Of course, you do. If not when it was first released, you definitely would have heard it when it enjoyed a resurgence due to its use in a Mazda car commercial in the late nineties. If you’re not convinced, here’s said commercial:

The Nails were a 6-piece American new wave band that got a surprise hit out of this very track. It was first released on a 1982 EP called “Hotel for women” and then re-recorded for their debut LP “Mood swing” in 1984. They released another album two years later and then, recorded another that was released without the band’s approval in 1993. Both of The Nails’ proper albums were critically acclaimed but the band was never able break the “novelty” die cast by “88 lines”. To be honest, this is the only song by The Nails I have ever heard but from what I can gather, their other work is much darker than this.

“88 lines about 44 women” has always been a guilty/not guilty pleasure of mine and always reminds me of my friend Zed and dancing at retro night at Whiskey Saigon. It’s not only just a fun song to bop along to but it also has smart and funny lyrics: 44 rhyming couplets, each about a different woman, many of whom I think I would have been interested in meeting (and some, perhaps not). If you’ve never had a good listen to the lyrics, pay attention when you press play below.

Original Eighties best 100 position: #96

Favourite lyric:  “Terri didn’t give a shit / was just a nihilist”… We believe nothing, Lebowski!

Where are they now?: The Nails officially broke up many moons ago but frontman Marc Campbell released a solo album called “Tantric machine” in 2010.

For the rest of the Eighties’ best 100 redux list, click here.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2020: #22 Say Hi “And then some miniature golfing”

<< #23    |    #21>>

I had never heard, nor heard of, Say Hi prior to 2020 but this album called “Diamonds & donuts” came across my radar in the early days of the pandemic and it hit all the right notes with me. As it turned out, I would spend many hours listening to it over my headphones, while working away at my dining room table, while my lovely wife was doing the same across from me*. And this track, “And then some miniature golfing” was the album’s opening number.

Eric Elbogen started this project, originally called Say Hi to Your Mom, in Brooklyn back in 2002 and then, relocated operations to Seattle in 2006. He is the main creative force and its only real full-time member, though he has sometimes enlisted musicians to help realize his work in a live context. He has recorded and mixed pretty much all of the project’s 13 (!) albums (including this one) from the comfort of his home studio**, performing it all by himself. Word has it that a fourteenth album is due to be released later in 2023 and I would hazard that it would continue the trend as a real DIY bedroom pop project.

According to Elbogen himself, “Diamonds & donuts” was influenced by the idea of a series of psychological focus group tests, with each of the thirteen synth pop songs on the album representing a different experiment. “And then some miniature golf” posits the theory that “the saddest experience achievable by a human being is to be jolted awake from the false belief that you’ve truly found your soulmate.”

Oh, you even met her parents
And talked about traveling the world
‘Til she said “No matter what you think
I will never ever be your girl”

It’s 80s synth new wave with layers upon layers of hurt and pain, like they stuck Duckie Dale in the friend zone, but rather than at the prom, OMD is performing at a downtown New York punk club and the vocalist is channelling Joe Cocker and the Boss. It’s nostalgic and wistful with sidelong and knowing glances. Elbogen knows this kind of hurt and knows the only cure is more synths.

*Minus the earphones and the Say Hi album

**A laptop on a small desk in a bedroom

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2020 list, click here.