Nipped in the bud
It's not often your more makeshift venues (dive bars, coffee shops, clothing stores, etc.) are able to offer up the intimacy of a DIY punk den without giving up the sonic comforts of a proper PA. In fact, it pretty much never happens. Hence, we weren't surprised at the lack of audible vocals upon walking in on Cheap Time's set at East Side dive Dino's on Friday night.
At the risk of sounding like whiny show snobs, another quirk of a successful show at Dino's is the total lack of stage visibility for anyone beyond the third row. We've heard, however, that when one is robbed of one of their senses — in this case, sight — the others are heightened. So when we stared at the head in front of us hard enough, we could almost kind of hear frontman Jeffrey Novak's snotty croon over the band's slick and glittery glam-punk riffing.
During the break, we learned we'd missed local openers The Black Faces — an ear-splitting, noisy rock three-piece featuring show organizer Ben Swank along with Jemina Pearl and Chet Weiss — and so we drowned that particular sorrow while supplementing Dino's absence of hard booze next door at No. 308. We made it back over in time for the introduction of Cleveland, Ohio's Obnox. Singer/guitarist Lamont "Bim" Thomas has spent the past 20 years drumming for some of Ohio's most notorious underground rock 'n' roll bands — none of which we can actually claim to have seen, and therefore it's not too strange for us to see him step up to the mic and belt out a furious combo of Detroit soul and Memphis garage punk. He was armed with a lone drummer as backup, and we gotta say, for a drummer, Thomas' banter was almost as entertaining as his tunes — which we also gotta say were among the most invigorating and enjoyable of the evening. We could even hear him sing a little.
Next up, Thomas returned to his better-known role behind the kit with headliners Puffy Areolas. While we doubt that's anyone's favorite moniker in rock 'n' roll, this Ohio trio droned out on a jazzy, fuzzed-out, feedback-infused, virtually instrumental (see first paragraph) psychedelic punk trip for a solid half-hour or so. When all was said and done, we'd seen a good show, and we got drunk for less than $10 — so we've basically forgotten whatever it was we were bitching and moaning about earlier.
Bon to pick
Exit/In filled its vault to nearly full capacity Saturday night by scheduling Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, an early-Aughts SXSW sensation who wooed journalists and music execs alike in 2003 when they detected heavy traces of Lucinda Williams. Now, as the female market trends away from alt-twangers (it's been 20 years since Sheryl Crow's debut, you know), Edwards has decided to rip it up and start again, and on her fourth release (the barely fortnight-old Voyageur) she is not alone. Voyeur indeed, Edwards stares through the lens of Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) — the album's producer and Edwards' recent romantic interest — whose presence permeates Voyageur. What's funny is that the word "voyageur" literally refers to a woodsman who used to trade fur along the U.S.-Canadian border — clearly a metaphor that summarizes their back-and-forth visiting of late — but there's also Bon Iver's music, which possesses the haunting yet chilly eloquence one might associate with a woodsman crossing frigid waters. Chilly and chapped cheeks might explain why Vernon sings in a pained and spooky-high falsetto. Wisconsin (Vernon's home turf, where Edwards recently moved) does seem very cold.
Edwards first played "Empty Threat," an easy-to-like, Tom Petty-style rock song that perked up an audience made drowsy (if pensive) by opener Hannah Georgas. However, the next tune, "Chameleon/Comedian," started as a smooth yet dark country tune and ended in a cathartic blues freak-out, immediately reminding The Spin of post-Buckingham and Nicks Fleetwood Mac. After we detected optimistic synth-pop on "Change the Sheets," Edwards then performed "Goodnight, California," a despondent and mournful mid-tempo ballad that ends with the same redundant and furiously blazing solos present on "I'm So Afraid," from Fleetwood Mac's self-titled album — which, the previous night, was performed by Nashville institutions The Long Players over at Mercy Lounge. Oh, and guess who then got onstage to perform! Justin Vernon! Guess what he played! A badass guitar solo that melted faces while channeling Lindsay Buckingham! Mystical.
Despite the presence of Vernon — a four-time Grammy nominee — the main event of the night was definitely Edwards' catharsis: Not only does she rock out like Neil Young, but given some of the crass comments she made during the performance, it seems she's embraced what appears to be a mean case of the don't-give-a-shits. "I'm a born-again drinker," Edwards said as she sipped whiskey from a coffee mug and belched. When her tuner wouldn't work properly, she called it a "dickhead." And she twice silenced a chatty audience member, punishing the crowd with a little inevitable awkwardness. With her new sound, Edwards is definitely going places. She then told us that in 2008 in the Mercy Lounge parking lot, she felt hell-bound. "I was in a really bad place at the time," she recalled, "and I wrote this song right before I got onstage," playing the revealing "Going to Hell" to close her set.
Email thespin@nashvillescene.com.
