Finn Riggins, Jared Mees and Lionsweb @ Neurolux (8/1/13)

As I've written elsewhere, Finn Riggins was the band that sparked my interest in the Boise music scene.  After I saw them play the VaC one night (opening for tUnE-yArDs, if I recall correctly), I thought, "Wow, if a band like this calls Boise home, what else could be out here?"

This band represents another first for me: I wrote my first Boise Weekly feature about them recently.

So with all of this going for them, no way was I going to miss their last show for the foreseeable future.  As an added bonus, this concert presented me with a couple more firsts--specifically, the chance to see Portland musician Jared Mees and local act Lionsweb for the first time.

The audience at Neurolux already numbered about sixty when I arrived.  When Finn Riggins took the stage, there were so many people that I didn't even bother to count.  Unsurprisingly, I saw quite a few familiar faces in the crowd (Kelsey Swope, Sun Blood Stories, Lori Shandro, Sam Stimpert, Stephanie Coyle, etc.).

Lionsweb a.k.a. Bronwyn Leslie kicked off the show.  I'd heard good things from quite a few people about this local musician.  As soon as she launched into her a capella opening number, I realized that they weren't jiving.  Leslie's bluesy, powerful voice silenced all of the chatter in the room within seconds.  Her vocals and her haunting, Appalachian-esque songs sounded just as impressive bedecked with her simple guitar and piano (even if the chatter picked back up by the bar).  Andy Rayborn contributed some tasteful clarinet.  Some oddball black-and-white montages by Tyler Walker complemented the music's ominousness.

I'm lucky that I got to see her here; she and Kelsey Swope will be going on tour soon with their new project, Psycho Adorable (which, incidentally, I also wrote about in the Weekly).

Jared Mees played next.  When I interviewed him for the Finn Riggins piece, Eric Gilbert urged me to check out Mees's music.  Said he thought it'd be just my thing.  I doubt that he said that because Mees runs Tender Loving Empire, the label which Finn Riggins is signed to.  Anyway, he wasn't wrong.  The slight whine in Mees' rough tenor just added a little flavoring to his conversational delivery.  His punky folk/country tunes and smart, no-bullsh*t lyrics hit the part of me that admires Patterson Hood and Jason Isbell.  "Hiccup drunk in a pickup truck" has to be one of the best rhymes I've heard in a good while.

Finn Riggins' performance wasn't the most intense I've heard from them.  The set's casual feel didn't seem like a bad thing, however; it was like they were saying, "Hey, we're not going anywhere."  Besides, it's not like they didn't sound good: Lisa Simpson's pregnancy didn't seem to have affected her pipes much, Eric Gilbert's keyboards clanged and droned nicely and Cameron Bouiss was as smooth, precise and hard-hitting as ever (I feel kinda bad that I didn't include more about him in the Weekly article).

Anyway, what came through strongest during this set was the groove, the rapport both between the three bandmates and between the band and their audience.  This was especially true at the end, when Jared Mees came onstage to play a loose, loping jam with Finn Riggins.  The crowd cheered and whooped when the band finished and Bouiss wrestled playfully with Mees on the floor.  A good farewell (for now).

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside and Finn Riggins @ Alive After Five; Radiation City, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside and Death Songs @ Neurolux (6/26/13)

I'd liked what I'd heard by Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, but I'd never seen them play live.  When I saw that they'd be playing Alive After Five, then, I marked it down on the calendar.  I just hoped that I'd take enough notes before converting into liquid form.

There were so many people when I got down to the Grove that I didn't bother trying to count them.  I'd guess that there were at least a couple hundred folks.  When Sallie Ford played, there were maybe a couple hundred more.

I got there in time to catch about half of Finn Riggins' opening set.  Lisa Simpson's voice and guitar sounded as melodious, Eric Gilbert's keyboards as textured and Cameron Bouiss's drums as propulsive as ever.  It made me smile to see about a dozen people dancing, especially a couple of young girls and an elderly Asian lady with a tan Army hat.  The set's last song, "Pannin' For Gold," went out to Eric Gilbert's mom, who couldn't make it to this gig.  Nice fella, that Eric Gilbert.

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside played next.  Rarely do formalists have both the heart to fully embrace their chosen traditions and the smarts to put their own stamp on them.  One part Wanda Jackson, one part Liz Phair, one part the vinyl-collecting librarian of my dreams, Ford is one of those few.  Originals such as the swaggering "They Told Me" and the sassy, surf-tinged "Bad Boys" sounded right at home next to the cover of Loretta Lynn's "Fist City."  Ford seemed a bit subdued, but her pinched, squealing snarl still struck a nice balance between geeky and sexy.  Her bandmates pitched in with strong, swinging rhythms and yowling guitar.  And if their "Heart of Glass" cover didn't quite fit, who cares?  It's a wise formalist who knows when to leave formalism alone.

Miraculously, I stayed close enough to solid after Alive After Five to make it down to Neurolux.  The show there excited me because it featured Death Songs, an act I hadn't seen in well over a year; the Cave Singers, a Treefort 2012 act I'd missed; and Radiation City, one of my top 10 Treefort 2013 acts.

Unfortunately, I learned when I got there that the Cave Singers' van had broken down, forcing them to cancel their appearance (lotta that going around, seems like--the same thing happened with the Nekromantix about two weeks before).  Radiation City and Death Songs were still on board, however, and Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside jumped on the bill to fill things out.

Death Songs played first.  I likened Nicholas Dellfs to Skip James in my review of his April 2012 performance at the VaC.  Hearing his eerie, quavery tenor and ominous but catchy tunes here, however, I thought that he sounded a bit too pop for that analogy to work.  I toyed with comparing him to Travis Ward at first, but Dellf's sharp cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Lungs" brushed that one aside too.  Works for me: I dig Skip James, but nowadays, I play "Snake Song" and "To Live is to Fly" more than "Devil Got My Woman."

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside played next.  Third time's the charm: I don't know if it was the air conditioning or the beer or the two-set warm-up, but Ford stepped up her game considerably here.  Her vocal attack had more bite ("You may thinkofmeas just some littlegirlyoumet..."), and her interactions with the crowd felt more open and comfortable.  She even told a joke: "Don't have phone sex; you might get hearing AIDS!"  Meanwhile, the band sounded as smooth and strong as they did a couple of hours earlier, and the enclosed space seemed to give the music more concentrated force.  The dance floor filled up early on and stayed full for the duration of the set.

Radiation City closed out the show at Neurolux.  Their shiny tunes, chiming guitar and misty keyboard sounded just as dreamy, but their lithe, bouncy rhythm section sounded much funkier and more rocking than I remembered.  Also, while I'm loath to call someone's singing "soulful" (really, the word gets used way too damn often), Elisabeth Ellison's moans, coos and wails all but demand it.  "Heart of Glass" would've made more sense coming from them than from Sallie Ford.  Given the savvy elusiveness of their lyrics, however, "Happiness is a Warm Gun" worked just as well.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate.  Even $5 would help.

Built to Spill, Finn Riggins and UUVVWWZ @ Neurolux (2/12/13)

Shocking as this may be, I'd never seen Built to Spill before.  I know--I'm pretty sure there's a law against that in Boise if not Idaho as a whole.  Anyway, this show gave me a chance to correct that egregious error.

I did a quick headcount when I arrived at Neurolux and came up with about a hundred and forty people.  I don't know exactly how many people were there when Built to Spill played, although I heard that the show sold out.  I can say that the crowd was about the size you'd expect for Idaho's most renowned export besides potatoes.  (Sigh... Yeah, and Youth Lagoon.)

UUVVWWZ from Lincoln, Nebraska opened the night.  I only caught the tail end of their set, but what I heard didn't sound bad at all.  Jerky rhythms, discordant tunes and riffs, playfully yelped vocals--what's not to like?  Stuff was like candy for a guy who has listened to Richard Hell, Gang of Four and the Minutemen as much as I have.

Finn Riggins played next.  They seemed to be in a good mood as they joked around with themselves and the crowd during soundcheck (I got a chuckle out of seeing Lori Shandro mock-flash her tits at Lisa Simpson).  Those high spirits could have fed into the ebullient assurance of their performance.  They raved up, grooved out and mixed some screeching distortion in with their irresistible tunes without stumbling in the slightest.  It seemed to take the crowd a little while to get warmed up (maybe they wanted to save their energy for the headliner), but they gave the band some suitably loud applause at the end.

Built to Spill closed out the night with a set that justified the love that this town has shown them over the years.  Their setlist ran the gamut from Ultimate Alternative Wavers' "Revolution" to There Is No Enemy's "Pat" (nice touch: Brett Netson wore a State of Confusion T-shirt with a dedication to Pat Schmaljohn on the back).  It also included covers of Bob Dylan's "Jokerman," Captain Beefheart's "Abba Zabba" and Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" (which featured Finn Riggins' Cameron Bouiss on cowbell).  Throughout, Doug Martsch pushed out the charming, idiosyncratic tunes with his light, limited, friendly tenor and traded lyrical, scorching solos with Netson.  Meanwhile, the gliding basslines and muscular drums kept the music from feeling too top-heavy.  The crowd roared, bubbled, swayed, headbanged and sang along.

Hmm.  So that's what everybody's been talking about.  Pretty neat.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert.

Finn Riggins, And And And and Little Tiny Little People @ Neurolux; the Hardluck Cowboys @ the High Note Cafe (12/8/12)

This show interested me because it featured the return of yet another Treefort alumnus, And And And, and a headlining set by Finn Riggins, who probably don't need an introduction.  Part of me was tempted to head across the street from Neurolux and check out the Idaho Songwriters Association show at the Gamekeepers Lounge.  I'd already made arrangements to attend this one, however, and I figure that a man oughtta honor his commitments.  Besides, I can't complain much about seeing Finn Riggins again.

Apparently, not many others can complain either.  I counted around seventy people when I made it down to Neurolux.  By the time that Finn Riggins played, there had to have been well over a hundred.

Kicking off the show was a new local group, Little Tiny Little People.  Their music proved about as cutesy-poo as their name: fragile vocals, jaunty folk melodies, gently swinging beat, pleasant trumpet and straight-ahead, down-strummed guitar.  Maybe a bit too twee for my taste, but not bad.  At least they've got a decent drummer.  Also, the crowd certainly didn't seem to mind.  Especially the ladies--got a little swaying going.

And And And played next.  This Portland band's jangly drones, whooshing distortion, bouncy basslines, malleable drumming and solemn trumpet all sounded as pleasant as I remembered.  Unfortunately, Nathan Baumgartner's pitch-challenged whine also sounded as irritating as I remembered.  Don't get me wrong, I got nothing against pitch-challenged whines in themselves (I'm a huge Neil Young fan, remember).  The rub, I think, lay in a certain smug insularity that seemed to lurk behind it.  The man sounded too cool or too bored to bother with staying on key.  Just as it did at Treefort, however, the music saved the day.  And this night, it got help from some trippy, creepy montages from antimagic, which helped give the set a 90's alt-rock video feel.

Finn Riggins took the stage next.  It occurred to me that up until this show, this group hadn't played a headlining slot around these parts in a while.  They took the opportunity to stretch out and experiment, tossing in some marimba, some moaning and screeching distortion, some dub-like echo and some extended instrumental passages.  No matter how far-out the music got, however, the songwriting and the playing held it all together.  Aside from a slight stumble and some unintentional feedback in the middle of the set, all three members brought their A+ game.  The videos playing on the screen behind them, which came courtesy of antimagic and others, knocked the energy level up a couple of extra notches (I especially liked the dancing children and elementary school paintings for "Benchwarmers" and the 8-bit incarnations of FR for "Big News").  The mix of sound and vision whipped the crowd into a nice frenzy--lots of dancing and cheering.  Overall, an outstanding performance.  I just wish I had a picture of the little dancing miniature of himself that Eric Gilbert placed on his synthesizer.

After Finn Riggins wrapped up, I headed over to the High Note Cafe to catch part of the set by the Hardluck Cowboys a.k.a. local musicians Johnny Shoes and Speedy Gray.  It was a great pleasure to hear these gentlemen trade songs and solos again (especially in Johnny Shoes's case--hadn't seen him in way too long), but it was an even greater pleasure to see a solid crowd of people applauding the same.  Speedy Gray unveiled a song from his upcoming solo album, Z.V. House and Karen Singletary stepped up to play a couple of numbers, a young musician did some pretty good Tom Petty covers and Johnny Shoes wrapped his sly, weathered vocals around my favorite Townes Van Zandt song, "To Live is to Fly."  A wonderful coda to my night: warm, loose, collegial.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.

mr. Gnome, Finn Riggins and the Gunfighters @ the Red Room (11/1/12)

This show marked the return to Boise of the Cleveland rock duo mr. Gnome.  I'd caught their Treefort set, and they hadn't sounded like any other band I'd heard before.  So I was interested to find out how they would strike me on a second go-round.

There were over seventy people at the Red Room when I arrived.  Another fifty or so would show up by the time that mr. Gnome played.  Pretty fantastic for a Thursday night.  Guess I wasn't the only one who'd been impressed at Treefort.

The Gunfighters opened the night.  I'm not exactly sure why their music sounded quirkier here than it did at any other time that I've seen them.  Their costumes can't account for it, I think (though their lead singer's black mask and makeup were kinda bizarre).  The new horn parts could partially.  Whatever the reasons, I didn't consider the slight uptick in weirdness a bad thing.  On the contrary, it just gave the music more character.  Of course, it helped that their guitars sounded as sharp and Katie Vant's harmonies as sweet as ever.  Now, if someone could tell me what was up with the guy off to the side painting a picture...

After the Gunfighters came Finn Riggins, who may have taken their supporting slot as a dare to really kick out the jams.  Lisa Simpson in particular whipped up one helluva racket on her guitar, carving out some terse solos and cranking out the distortion as if she were planning to audition for Sonic Youth.  Meanwhile, Eric Gilbert made his keyboards clang and wail, and I could feel Cameron Bouiss's drums trying to punch a hole through the back of my skull.  For all of the noise, however, they sounded as charming and melodious as usual.

Speaking of charming...

This just made me smile.

mr. Gnome's headlining set reinforced my good impression of them and then some.  They remain the only band I can think of who can evoke Valhalla and Sesame Street in the same song and sometimes in the same measure.  Nicole Barille cooed, sighed and yelped while her guitar tinkled one moment and went nuclear the next.  Sam Meister's drums stomped, bounced, skipped and pulverized.  "We really do love this town," Barille said before their encore, "so thank you guys for treating us so well."  The crowd earned the compliment: they swayed, threw up the horns and headbanged throughout much of the set.

You can look up info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.

Learning Team, Finn Riggins, Tartufi and No Paws @ the Crux (8/26/12)

Sheesh.  I know Tartufi likes to play Boise, but this was just ridiculous: in addition to headlining last Tuesday's Radio Boise show at Neurolux, they picked up this gig at the Crux.  Like I said once before, oughtta just buy a house here.  But hey, I wasn't gonna knock seeing them and one of Boise's finest again, not to mention a couple of out-of-state acts who were new to me.

A friend and I got down there good and early, having seen an announcement on Facebook that the show would start promptly at 7.  That may have been the plan, but I should've trusted on one of the cardinal rules of rock and roll: no concert EVER starts right on time.  On the plus side, the extra hour that it took for things to get underway allowed me to watch a very respectable crowd build up.

The Bellingham, WA band Learning Team kicked off the evening.  I might need to doublecheck some of the science trivia that they dropped thoughout their set (can you really train a dog to sniff out lung cancer?), but the high quality of their music was unquestionable.  Alex Vlahosotiros's warm cello added a serene, yearning tone to this group's mix of dreamy melodies, jangly riffs, zooming basslines and no-nonsense drumming.  Their confident groove got the people dancing and clapping to the beat.

After Learning Team came Finn Riggins.  The bit of touring that they've done around the Northwest lately seems to have tightened them up but good: Cameron Bouiss's full-throttle drums, Eric Gilbert's flowing keyboard and synth and Lisa Simpson's strong, lovely voice and guitar all sounded in peak form.  This night's set provided ample proof, were any needed, that this trio is still one of Idaho's flagship bands.  They skanked through the inexhaustible "Benchwarmers" without the technical difficulties that marred their Pre-Fat Block Party set, and their instrumental barn-burner and "Big News" got everyone in the Crux moving.

Tartufi followed Finn Riggins with a slightly mellower and more playful set than I was used to from them.  Of course, that doesn't mean I wasn't grateful that I brought my earplugs.  Their serene melodies and harmonies rode atop undulant guitar lines, thick basslines and powerhouse drumming.  A highlight of their set was one gorgeous number where they invited Finn Riggins back onstage to play and sing along.

Oh yeah, and about that pink gorilla outfit... If you go to Finn Riggins' FB page, you'll have a nice chuckle.  That's all I'm gonna write.

Not many folks stuck around to watch No Paws, which was really too bad.  To their credit, however, the Riverside, CA band didn't seem to let the reduced crowd faze them and turned in a rousing finale to the night.  Their charmingly plain vocals, gentle keyboard parts, airily chiming guitar, tuneful basslines and fierce, unstoppable drumming made me think a little of what New Order might sound like if they tried to recapture the raw energy of their Warsaw days.  A nice combination: rowdy yet soothing.

You can find info about all of these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.