Old Time Relijun was funner than hell, as Early Cuyler might say, and a reminder of why being alive is something to celebrate. Thanks for the hijinx, Bradley!!!
What are you doing on Wednesday night? If you don’t have some really awesome plans already, or if you’re looking for something to do after stuffing yourself silly at Guerrilla Cuisine, come to the The Map Room to see what is probably going to be one of the best, most unique shows in Charleston this year: FINAL FANTASY and CADENCE WEAPON.
Final Fantasy is really just one man, violinist Owen Pallett. If you’ve listened to the Arcade Fire album Funeral or Beirut’s new (and excellent) The Flying Club Cup, you’ve already heard his string arrangements. Live, he loops his violin parts (much like Andrew Bird and Tin Cup Prophette), sings, plays keyboard, and demonstrates why Canada is probably going to eventually take over our lazy country. His latest full-length album was 2006’s prize-winning He Poos Clouds and in case you can’t tell from that title, he really doesn’t take himself too seriously.
Cadence Weapon is a rapper, blogger, ex-Pitchfork contributor, and apparently has an ass like a shelf (oh, you message boards!). His 2006 album, Breaking Kayfabe, was nominated for the same prize that the Final Fantasy album won (Canada’s Polaris Prize) and for you Buster Bluth fans out there, one of the songs on his first release (cassette only) Cadence Weapon Is the Black Hand is called “The Gorilla Is For Sand Racing”.
For a taste of how awesome their collaborations are (the two guys are friends and have been playing together on this tour and earlier), check out any of the tracks from a CBC Radio 3 session they did back in April of this year (I highly recommend “Sharks” and “This is the Dream of Win and Regine”) here: http://www.box.net/shared/lmbjl1as6z (via The Torture Garden)
I only write this much because I think the show’s going to be amazing (I personally have been looking forward to it for months) and totally different. Also because there were like maybe 25 people at the Celebration/Dragons of Zynth show at the Map Room a few weeks ago and it was SO GOOOOOOD and frankly it sucks that so many of you, whom I know for a fact love music, miss out on these rare opportunities to see nationally touring bands when they come through our out-of-the-way coastal town. I know the Map Room is way the fuck out in West Ashley and it’s a school/work night and etc. etc. etc., but you can punch me in the arm as hard as you want if you come to the show and hate it. Seriously, you can.
MP3: Cadence Weapon – “Sharks” (from Breaking Kayfabe)
MP3: Cadence Weapon – “Black Hand” (from Breaking Kayfabe)
MP3: Final Fantasy – “Many Lives 49 MP” (from He Poos Clouds)
MP3: Final Fantasy – “Please Please Please” (from 2005’s Has A Good Home)
Lindsay Holler & the Dirty Kids @ The Map Room, 07/12/07
If I had a back porch, I’d put some speakers out there to blast Lindsay Holler & the Dirty Kids — they’re the perfect accompaniment to Charleston summers, all enveloping humidity and unpredictable storms that seem to come out of nowhere.
Sure, there were no lawn chairs or mosquito zappers, but The Map Room was a fine venue for Holler&Kids last Thursday night. The crowd wasn’t huge, but a large chunk of Holler’s core audience was most likely over at Cumberland’s watching Lucero. In fact, Holler herself “snuck” down to Cumbie’s to throw some notes in with Lucero openers Shovels & Rope (Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent’s new baby band — and, ooh, their MySpace picture is saucy as Mephistopheles himself).
Back in West Ashley, Ilad were a great listen but not exactly adrenaline rush-inducing. Holler&Kids got the sleepy crowd up and hootin’ from the get-go (I’m looking at you, overjoyed barfly who seemed quite surprised that the band was so good), playing for an hour or so. After they finished and the bar united in their demand for an encore, an interband debate resulted in one more song: a fine rendition of Tom Waits’ “Gun Street Girl.” But, in the words of Levar, you don’t have to take my word for it: click here to download an mp3 of “Gun Street Girl” from Thursday’s show, or check out the, um, light-challenged video footage.
–sm
Filed under: Charleston, Cumberland's, Lindsay Holler, Live, Local, Lucero, Morimoto, The Map Room
Even though Prince, Al Gore, and Eye might argue otherwise, three is the magic number.
The enchanted digit rears its head in Charleston tonight with a trio of promising shows downtown and in West Ashley:
Morimoto’s experimental fusion-y jazz will be accompanied by the crunch of tortilla chips at Yo Burrito (downtown at 86 Wentworth St.) from 7-10 p.m. (free show!)
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Cary Ann Hearst’s countryfied Cold Heart Thursdays at Cumberland’s (downtown at 301 King St.) continue to make patrons dance, laugh, and maybe shed a beer tear or two with a special appearance from Memphis-based alt-country/southern rockers Lucero. Tickets for this show were going fast; if there’s any left tomorrow night, they’ll be $15 (+ $3 if you’re under 21) at the door. I missed Lucero last time they came to town, but heard about how fantastic they were for weeks. Recommended for fans of Drive-By Truckers, The Damnwells, longnecks, good ol’ Whiskeytown, The Replacements — any diggable rock with a bit o’ twang. (Check out “I Can Get Us Out of Here Tonight” from last year’s Rebels, Rogues, and Sworn Brothers)
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Aaaaand, local chanteuse Lindsay Holler headlines at The Map Room in West Ashley with her band, The Dirty Kids (hey, if drummer Nick Jenkins and guitarist Dave Linaburg, also in Morimoto, can make it to both shows, who can’t?). Holler’s haunting voice must be heard live to be fully appreciated, and her band seems to be settling further into a pleasing instinctive cohesiveness with each show.
Holler and the Dirty Kids just put out a new CD (Love Gone Awry) that I’ve got to pick up, stat. She’s got the first track from the disc, “Dirty Kids”, up at her website — check Michael Hanf’s delectable vibraphone solo in the bridge. I’ve always loved the earthiness in Holler’s voice, and “Dirty Kids” highlights it nicely with Coke-bottle percussion and Linaburg’s honky-tonk geetar.
Drinking buddy, drum teacher, and all-around fine fellow Ballard Lesemann wrote about the three other bands on the bill with Holler: Ilad, Mic Harrison & the High Score, and Magnolia Network — this Carolina collective lists “Round Swamp Symphony (of birds, insects, weather, automotive transport rumbles & sighs, rustling trees, silence, etc…)” under their Influences on MySpace…sounds promising. Can’t deny that simmering Carolina pride! Tickets to The Map Room four-band-a-ganza are a mere $5 — so, $1.25/band for all this fortifying folk.
It’s almost criminal, to be able to see six different, equally interesting bands in one night for $20 — but it sure makes a triple-showgoer’s wallet happy.
–sm
