It’s always neat in Asheville when an event allows me to actually meet and have fun with people I’ve seen/kind of known for years.. the Villages show did that for me, as well as creating some really beautiful moments in Diana Wortham. The combination of visuals, setpieces, and composed sound left me in a trance-like state for much of the set. p.s. for those of you involved, please let me know how you want to be credited and if you have any pertinent website/artist info.
I had never heard Steve Gunn before this weekend and am so glad to have seen him live in this context. Gunn is honest in his performance and offers so much of himself while playing live, I felt a bit voyeuristic. I truly enjoyed his set.
So at the last minute, Brightblack Morning Light cancelled, and Meg Baird stepped up to the rescue by playing a sweet solo set. It was a delicate and gentle ease into what was going to be a very long day. Baird has just the most angelic voice, and with the addition on a few songs of Jesse from The Violators and Espers on haunting electrified Harmonica, the sound was ethereal and took full advantage of the Diana Wortham Theatre’s acoustics.
I have been waiting a long time to see espers. In fact, when writing this piece, I sat on the patio of the Admiral for hours drinking bourbon and writing. and listening to I & II.
Hailing from Philadelphia, a city ripe with artistic and musical talent, Espers achieves a sense of familiarity with their music, the feel of an aged photograph in one’s hand, a recurring dream. The lo-fi feel of their self-titled 2003 release is a study in contradiction, well-mixed but still raw, crisp but fuzzy. Brooke Sietinsons, Greg Weeks and Meg Baird are masters of duality, achieving both indulgence and affliction. Delicate vocals from Baird and Weeks, surprising string arrangements and a lack of traditional percussion combine to create a nostalgic and ephemeral end, an exquisite cascade of harmony. In fact, other than percussive elements created by flute, recorder, keys and stringed instruments (everything from dulcimer, autoharp, bass, violin, cello, and viola to traditional six- and twelve-string guitars both plucked and bowed), the only real percussion comes from finger cymbals and chimes.
After releasing a record of cover songs entitled The Weed Tree (2005), their second record of original material, II (2006), feels darker, and, still achieving the duality of their 2003 release, a slightly more electrified sound. The use of a buzzing, droning tone under many of their arrangements pushes a vibration through the layers, creating a full-bodied effect, and with the addition of Otto Hauser, Helena Espvall, Chris Smith and an even wider range of instrumentation, their ability to be extremely versatile and maintain a distinct style endures.
— Lydia See
here are some of my fav shots from the Espers show, and you can click HERE for a slide show of ALL ESPERS SHOTS or HERE for a slide show of ALL TRANSFIGURATIONS uploaded thus far. (begins with Espers)
ALSO: while you do that, you could stream some tracks from the show from my friend Andrew’s Blog
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Speedsquare (By Dominic Bracco II)
In Asheville, music is everywhere. From church bells and buskers to pipe organs and drum circles, the city pulses with soundtracks as different as the experiences it has to offer.
On a warm summer night, I could hear the drums from blocks away. Instead of a steady bum-bum, though, the sounds drifting through Asheville’s downtown core made an exuberant cacophony: the thump-a-thump of hands slapping djembes, the ching-ca-ching of tambourines, the dong-dong of a cowbell and the shuff-a-shuff of shakers, the toc-toc of claves and the broo-roo of a didgeridoo, plus the sound of many hands clapping. It’s all part of the eight-year-old Friday night drum circle that takes place in Pritchard Park, a little landscaped triangle in the middle of this western North Carolina city.
On brick steps and boulders ringing the park sat silver-haired matrons in preppy knits, young Rastafarians in dreadlocks, elderly Asian ladies, bearded white men in dashikis, young kids with their parents and teenagers in flip-flops. In the center of the park, a handful of drummers manned huge kettle drums, and others shared congas or passed around beaded gourds, wooden blocks and bells. Dancers twirled, swayed and bounced in the warm summer breeze.
click-through for rest of article
[article found on awesome, friend-run PollinatingAsheville.com]
Rocket Club · Asheville, NC
BY LYDIA SEE
It is refreshing to stumble upon music of high quality made by bright-eyed, bushy-tailed young bucks on the scene, as it serves as a reminder that essential music traditions are not dying off with the aging greats, but rather being appropriated respectfully for a new generation of ears.
The thing that separates aforementioned young-bucks like Caleb Caudle and the Bayonets and the Lonely H from the rest of the copy-cat trash emerging in the rock and alt-country realm right now is a sense of authenticity stemming from an obvious commitment to originality yet an ability to feature an homage or two to the musicians and bands who’ve inspired them.
At the Rocket Club in Asheville, NC last Thursday night, Caudle and his Bayonets had the difficult task of rowdying up a nominal crowd, but met it head-on, with such enthusiasm and ferocity that the large room felt at once full and alive. Set opener “So Gone” was ripe with jangly, back-porch-cum-whiskey-fueled-speakeasy guitars echoing Ryan Adams and Jeff Tweedy. “Throw me to the Wolves,” awash with a vintage Stones meets Benji Hughes feel, juxtaposed the high-energy “Our Heaven,” which is “around two minutes and forty seconds, so you know it’s from the heart,” according to Caudle. An impeccable “Dead Flowers” was a standout, with help from Mark Fredson from the Lonely H, followed by the ‘90s prog-rock feel of “As You Please,” with a grand finale of rough and raunchy “Corners” finishing out the tight set. Caudle’s sharp songwriting is brought to fruition by the diligent talents of the Bayonets: Kyle “Hacksaw” Caudle on bass, Chad “Gruesome” Newsom on Drums, and Stephen “Make em’ Holler” Pollard on guitar, and their chemistry live is articulated seamlessly.
The Lonely H quickly took the stage, and shook the whole of West Asheville with the explosive opening of “Out West,” during which Fredson croons “we could make love with our starry eyes” like a young Robert Plant without an ounce of pretension. The Lonely H’s sound is emulative of the great classic rock bands of the ‘70s, made all the more impressive when considering that no member of the band was alive during the genre’s hey day.
“Other Side of the Water,” with its catchy build up, begs to be listened to while dancing on a bar, with bangin’ rhythm work by Ben Eyestone (drums), and Johnny Whitman (bass). The doo-wop slowdance stunner “White Horse Tears” is the perfect soundtrack for a solo bike ride through the rain, thinking about the girl that got away. A joint effort between both bands on The Lonely H’s beautiful “The River” from their new album Concrete Class and The Band’s “The Weight” closed out the set.
The impossible culmination of the evening, however, was a post-breakdown private acoustic rendition of the supergroup (a composite of all eight musicians) The Rebel Bandits’ ballad “Outlaw My Dick” which demonstrated the ability of two groups traveling together to truly push the envelope of tour bromance, and actually write some pretty good tunes in the process. (See photo, above.) This show marked the last night of The Rebel Bandits’ run together, meaning that The Lonely H will continue on with the rest of their tour, eventually ending up back in the Pacific Northwest, and Caleb Caudle and the Bayonets will resume charming the pants off the Southeast.
[Photo credit: Lydia See]
to stream the new album: Love and Curses
I love the whole thing and have been listening to it over and over, but my favorites are Break It, Trash Talk, Call Me, Only Want You More, aw hell, I really do love them all..
here’s some shots from the Grey Eagle show with Thomas Function on August 6th:
rest of slide-show here
We will be adding Transfigurations pictures as the rest of the weekend unfolds!
Here’s a Slide Show from last night: Floating Action, Coathangers, Kurt Vile & the Violators (plus some behind the scenes and after-party stuff!)
(click image above for slide show!)
and some of my personal favs thus far:
