Han Bennink is playing at UVA tonight, and you should absolutely go and see him because he is one of the best live performers I have ever seen.

If you already know his name, then I’m sure you’re already excited about this show, but I’m betting most of you are wondering, “who the heck is Han Bennink?”

Han Bennink is an experimental percussionist and avant-garde jazz drummer from Holland, who has been playing and touring restlessly for several decades now, and collaborating with everyone in his path; this is his 70th Birthday Tour (!!), and he has shown no signs of slowing down.

He’s not only tireless and prolific, but wildly entertaining as well; he’s well known for his endless drum solos that often involve Bennink leaving the drum kit and wandering around the venue, finding any and all other percussive objects on which he can continue his restless performance; I’ve seen him play drum solos on a microphone stand, a variety of trashcans, an expensive wood-and-leather chair belonging to the University, and his own body. Further internet research results in footage of Bennink playing jazz-drum-solos on everything from a mop handle to a large wheel of cheese.

So he’s not only wildly talented, but also really inventive and entertaining and often hilarious. I’m kind of worried that I’ve made him sound like some sort of wacky-Buckethead-like gimmick character here; a wacky-yet-boring charade win which serious chops are dressed up with goofy presentation, but let me assure you that Han Bennink is at the other end of the spectrum. The unexpected and unusual aspect of what he does is at the very heart of his performance. He seems to have the need to constantly re-think whatever it is that he’s doing; there’s a kind of restless investigation in his improvisations, and an almost child-like sense of experimentation and discovery, which is really inspiring and wonderful. It’s as if he’s taking the audience through his thought process of considering each object in the room as a potential percussive sound-maker, and trying them all out; it’s like he has an inability to stop thinking outside the box (both figuratively and, in the case of his drum kit, literally.)

So, I highly recommend his performances; I could compare him to other great contemporary avant-garde percussionists like Tatsuya Nakatani and Chris Corsano, if you’re the sort of person who recognizes and is impressed by those names — or I could just show this clip and assure you that this show will be really wonderful:

He’s playing tonight with the violinist Mary Halvorson, with whom he’s collaborated often — she herself is a wonderful improvisor, and also appears on this lovely record with the aforementioned Tatsuya Nakatani — and a selection of local musicians, who have not been identified in any of the promo materials.

That’s at Brooks Hall on UVA Grounds (I’m fairly certain that’s the big stately building East of the Rotunda –  it’s in a lovely field right across the street from Mincer’s and Bodos on the corner). The concert starts this evening at 8pm sharp. There’s no advance sales, so get there early; tickets are $5 for students, $10 for members of the Charlottesville Jazz Society, and $12 for the general public (kinda steep, I know, but trust me — it’s worth it.)

Quite the badass rock and roll show going down at the Tea Bazaar tonight. Invisible Hand headline tonight, and this’ll be something of a farewell-for-now show to Adam Smith, who’s headed off to NYC for a while.

The Hand is joined tonight by The Babies, a Brooklyn-based band featuring Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls, Kevin Morby of Woods, plus a couple more folks. If you’re a fan of either of those other projects, The Babies should definitely be up your alley.

And leading off are some of Charlottesville’s elder statesman of punk/indie rock, a Maynard Sipe fronted project called Girl Choir. Maybe you caught their debut show opening for Dump last August, but if not, they’re fun up-tempo rock and roll.

Show starts at 9PM and costs $7.

Sorry for those unhelpful and ambiguous descriptors up there, but I assure you the bands playing at the Tea Bazaar tonight are interesting and worthwhile;

Mister Baby are the well-established local group fronted by Meg Huddleston, with various folks backing her up (traditionally including Jesse and Ferd, Hackensaw Boys both). They sound like a more country-ish PJ Harvey, or maybe Janis Joplin fronting the Bad Seeds; somewhere along or between those trajectory, I think.  I have a great affection for them, not only because my first professionally published bit of music journalism was a review of one of their earliest shows, but also because they are charming and good. Recommended for fans of both Sarah White and the Fire Tapes.

Old Calf are another solid local act, fronted by the duo of Ned Oldham (of Anomoanon and Palace Brothers fame) and Matty Metcalf, though I believe they’re actually a full quartet these days. I could say all sorts of nice things about them, but it might be both more effective and more succinct if I just pointed you to the fact that their album was the favorite album of 2011 of Nailgun founder John Ruscher (who also reviewed in the C-Ville upon its release).

Dare Dukes is the unknown, out-of-town element on the bill this evening; he (that’s the name of a fellow, not a band) is a songwriter from Savannah. I’m not sure if he’s playing solo, or with his backing band the Blackstock Collection, but I do know he’s just released an album that has members of Sufjan’s band, of Montreal, and TV on the Radio playing on it, so it sounds like this guy keeps good company wherever he goes.

That starts at 9pm (soon! sorry for the late-post…) and the cover charge is $5.

I’ve just received word that there’s a show at Magnolia tonight; Dangerous Ponies, the Co-Pilots, and Bailee and Danny from Northern Diver.

Reportedly it begins at 9:30pm, and I’m sure the touring band would appreciate it if you brought some bucks.

As with all last-minute show info, I can’t guarantee that this is 100% correct, so if you have any corrections or updates, please let us know in the comments!

—–

I should also note that recent Brooklyn transplant Diane Cluck is playing at the Tea Bazaar tonight; Nailgun founder John Ruscher gives us the scoop in his old Feedback column at the C-Ville this week; among other things, he says: “Since 2000, Cluck has made six of her own albums and contributed to many other releases, including the popular Devendra Banhart-curated compilation The Golden Apples of the Sun, CocoRosie’s Noah’s Ark and the soundtrack from Noah Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding. One of her first collaborators was New York songwriter and comic book artist Jeffrey Lewis.”

She’s playing tonight with Elliott Harvey, a Philadelphia-based songwriter who’s a member of the band A Stick and a Stone, and I believe Indee Mitchell is also on the bill.

That starts around 9:00 and costs $7.

Sorry for the last-minute posting again; I seem to be the only one behind the wheel these days and my Friday was a busy as ever. Anyhow…

Tonight’s Tea Bazaar show features CJ Boyd, whom I’ve been a fan of for a while now; he’s an experimental solo musician and stand-up-bass player, originally from Chicago, who’s basically been touring more or less non-stop for the past few years.  He does loop-pedal based stuff that is sometimes drony and minimal, and sometimes rhythmic and dense; I highly recommend checking him out, especially if you’re a fan of Animal Hospital, Dustin Wong, Wes Swing, or Arthur Russell.

The show is being headlined, I suppose, by the local group Lester Seal and the Point. I’ve only ever interacted with Lester in the context of crowded concerts, but I’ve got to admit that I’ve always found his behavior — both during his own performances and during other people’s — to be pretty obnoxious. But he’s got some local fans, and I haven’t heard this particular band; who knows, they may be good? (If I’m not mistaken I believe the group also features a former Red Satellite.)

Rounding out the line-up is Robert Shropshire, a musician with whom I am not familiar and thus have no opinion whatsoever. {Actually, I’ve just double-checked the listing and apparently that third band is now Behipster Horrors — dont’ know anything about that group either, but I’ll avoid judging them for their use of the H-Word until I’ve heard them.}

So there you have it, folks: One act I give my most glowing and enthusiastic recommendation, one act I’ve admitted to not being enthusiastic about, and one on which I’m totally agnostic. But, either way, it’s another fun Friday night at the Tea House!  They’ll start setting up / collecting door around 9pm, and the asking price is $5.

Here’s an event that was only announced a few days ago, but it’s definitely one of the things around town that I’m most excited about; a screening of George Kuchar films at The Bridge!

George Kuchar is a legend among filmmakers, for his groundbreaking aesthetic sensibilities, his bizarre sense of humor, his irrepressible charm, and and his prolific output. He began making films as a teenager in Brooklyn the Bronx in the late 50’s with his twin brother Mike, shoddy 8mm would-be epics; they continued their work consistently throughout the 60’s and 70’s, reveling in trash culture and Hollywood excess, and trying to replicate that same glamor and glory with zero budgets in clearly hand-made productions starring themselves and their often vain or untalented and unprofessional friends. Their work — George’s in particular, as he was definitely the most prolific and irrepressibly gregarious of the two brothers — is widely considered to be the birth of the whole idea of “camp” or “kitsch” culture, and their films have been cited as a crucial influence on generations of iconic artists; the ones that get mentioned the most often are Andy Warhol and John Waters.

Those comparisons definitely valid ones, but it’s also important to note that their movies have none of Warhol’s aloof sarcasm and little of Waters’ vulgar pranksterism — although the Kuchar’s films do involve off-color humor and scatological interests more often than not. But for all of the excess, mayhem, and sometimes-deliberate “bad”ness, their films never feel cruel or even mischievous; they’re also charmingly honest and straightforward. There’s an inherent charm and honesty to them, and it’s incredibly inspiring and fun to watch.

I was lucky enough to meet each of the Kuchar Brothers a number of times, and they were an absolute joy to be around, too; (most recently during the 2008 Film Festival, when I helped screen some of their films at the McCormick observatory — George arrived with all of his 16m reels wound tails-out, so while Jeanne Liotta and I rewound them, George and Mike regaled their audience with their respective UFO abduction anecdotes). They were two gruff, no-nonsense working-class New Yaawk dudes whose inner hysterical queens came out through their work, and it was pretty much impossible to meet them and not adore them. Mike is still alive and involved in the film world in New York City, and has recently begun making working again after many years of dormancy; George remained a prolific teacher and video diarist right up until his death late last year.

If you’re already familiar with the Kuchars, surely you know how fun and great their work is; if not, tonight’s a great chance to catch up, especially since The Bridge will be screening a nice selection of George’s classic 16mm work from the 60’s and 70’s. Also, it’s important to note that, in classic Bridge PAI promotional fashion (due to “a scheduling snafu of the first order“), there has been a wealth of disinformation about the time and location of this show; rest assured that it is most certainly happening at The Bridge (not at the Pink Warehouse) and that it is happening at 9pm (rather than the earlier-reported time of 7:00). Jordan says: “The running time is just over an hour so it shouldn’t go too much past 10:15.” They’ll be asking for a $5 donation at the door.

Afterwards, you’ll be feeling irrepressible, joyous, and ready to dance, so head over to The Box to catch Colin and Robin at the Grits & Gravy Soul & Funk Revue; Colin’s poster for this month is below.

Two of Charlottesville’s strongest and most beloved local bands will be playing at The Jefferson tonight:

Both Invisible Hand and Astronomers been playing regularly around town and elsewhere for a few years now, each earning a strong local following, so it’s only fitting that, in a season when there’s not much else exciting going on, they’re headlining a show together. In fact, Astronomers have been doing a fair bit of traditional pre-bout goading of the opponent, asking everyone who’s better, predicting who will win the “match,” etc. In a rare display of tact, and in the spirit of bipartisanship, we here at Nailgun will avoid weighing in on this particular match-up, and just say that you should go see both bands tonight. (Come on, they’re both good, it’s cheap, and it’ll be over early!)

It’s also, reportedly, the final/farewell show for Astronomers (I’m not sure of the details, so I believe a key band member(s) is/are moving away?) so it’s definitely your last chance to catch them.  And, I’m told Adam of Invisible Hand is heading up north for a few months, so there may not be a great many Invisible Hand shows around here in the near future either. At $5 this is the cheapest Jefferson show I’ve ever heard of, so there’s no reason not to come check it out tonight!  Doors at 8:oo, with the show at 9:00, reportedly — remember, shows at the Jeff are on the early side, so don’t be late! No idea what the band order is.

[Just a reminder, don't forget to also check out James' list of 2011 favorites!]

Top 10 Albums of 2011
I suppose those who know my musical tastes won’t find many surprises in this year’s list. There are, indeed, some reappearing artists from years past. But that’s mostly because a lot of the same folks who were making the best music over the last couple years are still holding it down with newer and, often, better releases. That said, here goes the list!


Real Estate – Days
I’ll admit, it took me a little while (but not too long) to warm up to the fancy studio production and ever-so-slightly brisker tempos, but Real Estate’s latest effort tops their also-great debut pretty handily. Effortless, breezy, pop gems, one after another after another.

Julian Lynch – Terra
It’s a strange concoction of sounds Julian Lynch brings to the table. While there’s an element of the reverb-laden haziness of his Jersey peers, there’s also a whole range of instrumentation and styles that presumably point to his background as a student of ethno-musicology. Also, I just don’t think us indie-rock kids are very used to hearing woodwinds of any kind, so it all sort of sounds a little otherworldly to begin with. In any event, it’s calm, grounded, thoughtful, and plenty different from what anybody else is doing right now. Really looking forward to his upcoming doom metal LP this year (no, not kidding!).

Lux Perpetua – Delux Perpetua EP / Heavy Shreds The Left Hand EP
C-ville native Justin Wolf has been making some great, if still fairly unknown, home recordings for several years now (at least seven proper full-length albums by my count). But this year’s two EPs take his work to a higher level. Delux Perpetua and Heavy Shreds The Left Hand are tight, polished, and a step beyond the charming but ramshackle home-recording that defined his earlier records. While the EPs do feature a couple mellower tracks, eventually he goes for broke with epic stoner rock, heavy guitar-riffs, and big harmonies. You start to get the feeling that it’s what he’s been going for all along, it just took a little while to realize it.

Stephen Steinbrink & French Quarter – Desert Wasn’t Welcome
Again this year, Stephen Steinbrink released yet another set of gorgeous bedroom-pop songs (two, in fact). The difference this time is that Desert Wasn’t Welcome was recorded at K Records’ Dub Narcotic Studio in Olympia, WA, and while this album stays true to his prior home-recorded work, the studio treatment adds a few additional colors to the palette. But all in all, it’s the same increasingly refined recipe — simple, honest, light, melodic.

Marissa Nadler – s/t
Marissa Nadler is just beginning to hit on something really exciting. It’s certainly no secret that she ‘s got an incredible, striking voice. Her songs are so delicate and somber, though, that they can require some patience to come around to. The amazing thing about her new self-titled album is how the backing instrumentation and production lend real weight to her airy, ethereal tunes. See, for instance, the long build and climax of ‘Baby, I Will Leave You In The Morning’, which should be a serious contender for 2011’s Best Track. This may not be a perfect record — Nadler could use some more variation in her songwriting, perhaps — but it’s a damn good one.

Bobby – BOBBY
So is it just me or has everybody been sleeping on this one? I certainly haven’t seen Bobby’s name popping up as much as I’d expect to. Bobby are a band (not an individual) from New England who are clearly influenced by a lot of psych-folk artists like Animal Collective, Espers, and the like, but the vocal duo (featuring Molly Sarle from Mountain Man and frontman Tom Greenberg) is killer, with a variety of rich synth sounds mixed in, adding some interesting flavors. Really looking forward to seeing what comes next from this very new band.

Jonny Corndawg – Down On The Bikini Line
Charlottesville native Jonny Corndawg, took a promising step forward with his newest album, Down On The Bikini Line. As we’ve come to expect from The Corndawg, it’s fun, tongue-in-cheek, and Jonny has some stellar backing musicians to fill in the blanks. There’s lots of humor, but it’s the more sincere moments like truckers’ anthem ‘Night Rider’ when the album really comes to life, and it’s a good reminder that he’s not just a joke band. He’s made the full transition from performance artists to a talented, nuanced, thoughtful songwriter.

Tune-Yards – Whokill
If I were asked to name somebody who’s doing ‘important’ work musically right now, Merrill Garbus (aka Tune-Yards) would be one of the first to come to mind. Her last album, Birdbrains, was plenty ambitious, but Whokill is the product of an artist operating at a wildly high level of skill and ingenuity.

La Sera – s/t

So I always kinda preferred the dreamy 60s pop aspect of Vivian Girls to the punk-rock side, and Katy Goodman’s side project, La Sera, is just that. A nice collection of short, melodic, fun songs.

Bill Callahan – Apocalypse

Bill Callahan is such a weirdo, but damn if he doesn’t have that inexplicable something that so many great actors have — an ability to command one’s attention by sheer presence alone. Not that he isn’t also a great songwriter. He’s something of an innovative lyricist, for sure, but he’s also developed an ability to sow intensity and drama into his songs that far outstrips the lyrics and melody alone. If anybody but Bill Callahan were singing Bill Callahan songs they’d kinda sound like pieces of shit, but when he does it they’re masterpieces.

Honorable Mentions:
Emperor X – Western Teleport
Jeremy Faulkner & The Final Dorm – Shadow Music Of The Country
Julianna Barwick – The Magic Place
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
Lower Dens – Twin Hand Movement
Mark McGuire – Get Lost
Naked Gods – No Jams
Widowspeak – Widowspeak
Woodsman – EP
Wye Oak – Civilian

Favorite Live Shows of 2011

As near as I can tell, I attended 200+ shows this year. (Crazy!) Here’s a few that stood out:

1/1 – Real Estate, Julian Lynch, Titus Andronicus – 285 Kent
1/15 – Buffalo Stance, Lux Perpetua – Johnny Brenda’s
2/21 – The Beets – Tea Bazaar
2/26 – Tristen and Cinnamon Band – Tea Bazaar
3/17 – Sharon Van Etten – French Legation Museum at SXSW
3/17 – Gary Wilson – Red 7 at SXSW
3/18 – Wild Flag – Urban Outfitters at SXSW
3/30 – Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard – Magnolia
4/1 – Screaming Females, Turbo Fruits, Pujol, Heavy Cream – Clementine’s at MACRoCk
5/29 – Peach Kelli Pop – The Box
6/20 – The Coathangers – Tea Bazaar
7/10 – Dent May – Red Palace
7/23 – Dustin Wong – Shea Stadium
7/31 – CSC Funk Band, Colin L Orchestra – Alhamraa
8/13 – Dump – Tea Bazaar
9/9 – Swans – Fletcher Opera Hall at Hopscotch Festival
9/20 – David Bazan – House show
10/13 – Invisible Hand, Naked Gods, Bronzed Chorus – Blue Nile
11/15 – Austin Leonard Jones and Brass Bed – Tea Bazaar
12/5 – Prince Rama, Hume, Matt Northrup – Blind Tiger

As James said in his post, we’d love to hear from you all in the comments! What were your favorite shows, songs, albums, or anything else from this year?

Happy New Year, Nailgun Readers!

As in past years, I thought I’d turn our attention away from the Charlottesville community for a minute to address the contemporary music world at large, as we participate in the silly-but-fun tradition whereby I enumerate my favorite releases of the year.

No matter whether these artists are all familiar names to you, or if 99% of the references I make below sound like alphabet-soup music-terminology-bingo; either way, I give these albums my highest recommendation and I assure any adventurous and open-minded listener that they will find plenty to enjoy in the records listed here.

Incidentally, I’ll be playing a few tracks from each of these albums on my radio show late tonight; if you’re up late you can tune in to 91.1FM (or listen online from out of town) from 1-3am tonight, if you’d like to hear a sample of these releases… or if you’re not the type to stay up late, you can always stream the show from the website later on (the archive will be up through the 16th, I believe — click on the Jan. 2nd edition of “the Madame Psychosis Hour”)

Anyhow, here’s the list.

Mist – “House” (Spectrum Spools)

I’ve written in the past about the greatness of the Cleveland-based retro-synth trio Emeralds, and their most recent full-length made it onto my top-5 last year; in the time since, they’ve only gained notoriety and exposure — although they’ve yet to release a full-length follow-up, they’ve seemingly expanded in all directions all of the past year, with literally dozens of solo records, side-projects, and re-issues of past installments of the same.

So people are really liking and paying attention to Emeralds right now; in particular, a wide cross-section of folks really seem to be going crazy over the solo work of Emeralds guitarist Mark McGuire… and while his stuff is very lovely (don’t get me wrong, I’ve been rocking Young Person’s Guide all fall!), some of his stuff can get too “pretty” for me, sort of lapsing into the that late-period Popol Vuh type of unconvincing sentimentality. If you ask me, right now the smart money’s on John Elliott, the more prolific of Emeralds’ two synthesizer-wielders.

Mist is the duo of John Elliott and Sam Goldberg (operator of the Pizza Night label), and “House” is their third full-length in as many years. The same key elements that make Emeralds great are here in abundance, but also both simplified and expanded into a fuller, more lush and inviting record. The bulk of the alvum consists of cold, arpeggiated analog-synthesizer bloops that run full speed ahead into lush, pleasant fields of warm droning electronic sound — the same strategy that Tangerine Dream both pioneered and popularized decades ago, but stripped down and robbed of any embarrassingly dated hippie/new-age signifiers, and also layered more heavily to achieve a dreaminess that is comparable to what the shoegazer movement did with guitars.

The result is both dorky and totally bad-ass, both coldly alienating and charmingly lovely all at the same time.  [Read more →]