Smells Like Pop

David Byrne, accompanied by St. Vincent,
re-establish music as art

Usually the mention of choreography isn’t what makes something a “must-see” in regards to live music.

However, certain artists and their music lend themselves to larger-than-life spectacle – case in point being David Byrne. On tour with singer/guitarist Annie Clark (ne, St. Vincent), the two mesmerized their sold-out Arlene Schnitzer Hall audience with music from their recent collaboration, Love This Giant, while mixing in a handful of Talking Heads classics, as well as material from Ms. Clark’s 3-album catalog.

The music – and musicianship – was stellar…the marquee artists supported by a 10 piece orchestra (including, at any given time, trumpets, trombones, flugelhorns, flutes, french horns…). This helped take the solid studio-craft of Love This Giant to a superior level – making one feel that the record was simply an excuse to get incredible musicians together to wow audiences live. And it worked, in spades.

Starting with punchy and solid new track “Who”, it was apparent immediately that not only could these folks PLAY their instruments, but that the audience was in for a treat of bodies synchronized in an organized – if not tongue-in-cheek – manner. The musicians were clearly having fun, while bringing a sort-of “Bourbon Street-meets-the-Brooklyn-Bridge” cultural framework to the songs.

But this was no gimmick. The brass and woodwinds not only accentuated the craft of the new material, but fleshed out everything from St. Vincent tunes (like their stunning take on “The Party”, which I suspect never sounded better) to some Byrne solo work (“Strange Overtones”, from a recent collaboration with Brian Eno) to – OF COURSE! – some Talking Heads classics (“This Must Be the Place”, “Road to Nowhere” and – particularly – “Burning Down the House” would sound flat after this line-up’s renditions). But perhaps the strangest, and most subtle, sonic beneficiary was a piece performed for the band’s third encore, “Open the Kingdom” (which, according to Byrne, hadn’t been performed until this evening); it’s a composition by Philip Glass that Byrne – at Glass’ request – contributed vocals/lyrics to. Simply stunning, if not an abrupt, change in direction.

I’d like to think that in an age of homogenization, this was their special nod to Portland. Ms. Clark has been in a couple of skits on Portlandia (modeling police “fashion”, and as a cop), and Mr. Byrne has been in town to promote his literary craft, as is the case this time through.

Unfortunately, I am not part of the other sold-out audience Mr. Byrne will see in Portland this week; he’ll discuss his new book, How Music Works, with Portland’s contribution to music/performance art, Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Portlandia) tonight at the Baghdad Theater.

Without any evidence of conflict between the former members of Sleater-Kinney, here at SLP we’re all about possibilities. After Carrie Brownstein got our hopes up last year with the announcement that Sleater-Kinney might get back together “in the next five years,” we were taken aback when they launched their separate ventures shortly afterward. Corin Tucker took off with her namesake project, and a few months later Brownstein and third member Janet Weiss scrapped together their own group—as if to say “Oh yeah, take this”–and walked right onto stage at SXSW and into fanfare across the country. So, like über-cool fantasy footballers, we decided to match up the hypothetically estranged bandmates from their debut albums – mano-a-mano, boca-a-boca. And we have to say, with the differing strengths of both albums, it’s something of a toss-up.

Corin Tucker arguably had the more difficult task of defining a unique sound, as her voice is so distinctively Sleater-Kinney, wailing and raw. But from the start of 1000 Years, the listener is confronted with a stripped-down guitar-and-vocals approach that is bare, even vulnerable: “My own family didn’t know me/ Anymore/ Who is the zombie/ That is wearing Mommy’s clothes?” While her backing instrumentation picks up the tempo, for the first part of the album Tucker is seemingly restrained, with lyrics and tone evoking Kristen Hersh at her most down-beat (but decipherable). Wild Flag, on the other hand, kicks off in the listener’s face with Brownstein’s herky-jerky vocals. “Romance” demonstrates its pop single-aspiring quality with keyboard and guitar straight out of 60s Britpop, sporadic echo, and an 80s girlgroup chorus complete with hand-claps. While the lead shifts to ex-Helium’s Mary Timony and back again, the tone is consistently driving and insistent, blazing through the addictive sugary-punk number “Boom.”

It would seem that the two albums go in opposite directions, with Corin Tucker playing the more somber note to Wild Flag’s easy joviality. But somewhere in the middle, these two albums cross paths. In “Doubt,” Tucker lets loose with her familiar vocal range, rising up and slamming down against a fast drum and electric guitar backdrop. The sound and intensity resonates with that of Wild Flag, a glimpse of the two bands’ common language and history. The chorus of Tucker’s “Riley” sounds a lot like the early verse of W.F.’s “Glass Tambourine.” But the latter song veers off onto a 60s Nico-esque psychedelic side-street, raising the question of whether this and other parts of Wild Flag should be taken with a grain of salt (“Play the part of the dragon slayer”??). While it’s not much of a stretch to imagine such lines in an ironic episode from a certain Brownstein TV project–and the band’s music videos do little to dispel such a notion–even if the songs were entirely tongue-in-cheek it wouldn’t negate their captivating frivolity: “Let the good times toll.” Tucker’s project is a stark contrast; enjoyable, yes, but far from frivolous. With stuff like “Thrift Store Coats,” a song that could be an anthem of the Great Recession, The Corin Tucker Band asks for a bit more.

In reality, it’s hard to imagine these talented former band-mates in much of a dispute, even with the enviable bombshell reception greeting Wild Flag, for whom the attached descriptor “supergroup” is already overused. The two bands recently played nearly back-to-back dates at the Doug Fir, and as some of Portland’s most admired public personas, the former band-mates surely cross paths. But for all the fine qualities of these two albums, to this writer the real supergroup was without a doubt Sleater-Kinney. If these two bands need assistance in working up to touring together, I’m sure there’s a mediator out there who could help them decide which plays first.  Just for the possibility of getting them back on stage together again.

Wild Flag– s/t: ★★★★★★★★★★
Corrine Tucker Band – 1,000 Years: ★★★★★★★★★★

You decide! And, is that Dave Depper’s garage sale?

As these Portlandia (airing Friday nights on IFC) reviews reveal, I have a love-hate relationship with my home town. I am conflicted about both my relationship with Portland, the city, and Portlandia, the show. I am further conflicted about my (somewhat subconscious) absorption in the way of life here versus my hatred for so many of its clichés, wannabes, and judgmental new transplants, but I consider myself a Portlander at heart. Having been all over the U.S., I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I suspect I am such a Portlander I can’t even see it anymore, but obviously am a bad judge of that myself.

The main portion of the episode and its title was “Aimee”, after Aimee Mann, whom Carrie Brownstein & Fred Armisen’s SE Lincoln Street characters hire to clean their house. This sketch was well done. Their declarations to Mann saying they hate her contemporaries (Suzanne Vega & Tori Amos) made me giggle. Even taking their declaration to the point of making a Sarah McLachan piñata to beat on was funny. The Sarah McLachan portion goes from the sublime (if you can call her piñata likeness sublime) to the ridiculous (I won’t give it away)…and ended up being entertaining and unexpected.

The “Dumpster Divers” sketch, which I wasn’t a fan of, is undoubtedly based on the real people that do this. Several months ago, there was a story on one of the nighttime news programs about this very thing. I did a quick Google search. Not surprising to me, and please refer back to episode one’s review if you don’t get the reference, but a place where this was done in a very artful way just last summer was Williamsburg/Brooklyn, as reported here, in the Brooklyn Journal Section of the New York Times.

The one and only time I “dumpster dove” was in a New Seasons parking lot, coincidentally. New Seasons Grocery is where the show’s characters did the diving. In my case, there were piles of the current week’s magazines on top of the dumpster, totally clean and untouched enough for my OCD brain, sticking out and teasing me. I took some. I took an Us Magazine and an OK. I admit to reading Us Magazine. While I am secure in my like, actually love, of celebrity gossip and related magazines I have had more than one Portland friend justify to me their reading of these magazines. One person explained to me that she gets them for her husband’s waiting room. He is a doctor. I guess it’s more socially acceptable to read them if you are reading them as seconds from your Medical Doctor Spouse’s waiting room?

Having now seen these characters in two episodes, the Sex Couple are not funny to me. I mentioned last week’s skit involving them because I liked the Portland details in it. The premise of having a safe word and using it repeatedly (“cacao”), though, got tired. I liked Carrie’s man. I liked both Brownstein and Armisen’s abilities to make the characters fairly realistic Portland archetypes, but the plots of the two skits have been boring thus far. This week, where Armisen’s woman was obsessed with making items from the packaging in which the sex toy came, was even more boring than last week’s.

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I liked Portlandia’s second episode (airing Friday, January 28, 2011 on IFC). I was bored halfway through the first one. I called it tedious. I feel guilty saying that because so much of the material is clever. It’s smart and different than a lot out there. Even so, I couldn’t commit to liking episode one. I enjoyed the second episode, though.

I loved the accuracy of the types portrayed in this installation of the show, the couple outside the Firehouse Restaurant being poster children for the typical Portlander…right down to the woman’s fleece vest. Painting the picture for those of you who have not viewed the episode yet: Carrie Brownstein’s character wore a lavender polo shirt, light blue fleece vest, rolled up khaki’s, and Teva sandals. She wore a baseball cap, but a dainty feminine one. She had the obligatory pony tail hanging out the hole in the back of the cap. The cap said “Kauai” on it. Of course it did. Just like Portlanders don’t vacation in Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta when they go to Mexico – they visit Sayulita – Portlanders also travel to the more “quaint” Kauai as opposed to the Big Island or Oahu.

As proof that the fleece vest pegged a Portland fashion I’ll never understand: my employer is recognizing my work group this quarter with a fleece vest embroidered with company logo, our choice in color. No joke. I have been given two fleece vests in the last five years at my very Portland company, neither of which I plan to wear.

The Firehouse scene was also funny to me, because it’s located very close to my childhood home, where my parents still live. That was clearly the worst neighborhood for crime in Portland for all of my 70’s & 80’s childhood and until the last five years at most. At best, it was a close second to the North Portland neighborhoods of St. Johns or Columbia Villa (aka Portland’s Projects now called the New Columbia neighborhood). When I went to high school in downtown Portland, not at my neighborhood school, many classmates seriously asked if I was regularly shot at and/or stole from while living not far from the Firehouse Restaurant. I’m still wondering why it’s all of a sudden acceptable to CHOOSE to hang out in these neighborhoods. Don’t get me wrong: I walked around them when they were considered “the hood”. It’s just hard for me to wrap my mind around them being cool, hip, and desirable.
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I watched the first episode of Portlandia, a six episode series debuting this month on Independent Film Channel (IFC). Carrie Brownstein (mostly known for her music) and Fred Armisen (mostly known for being an SNL player) play all of the main characters, with a supporting cast of many … according to Brownstein 98% of them are Portland residents.

As a native Portlander (I’ve been here since 1975, when I was five years old), I’m in agreement with the stereotypes that exist here. People hate stereotyping, especially politically correct Portlanders, but they exist for a reason. I heard Carrie Brownstein interviewed for an entire hour on NPR (I am from Portland, so I am quite the stereotype myself), and she’s right on the money. She knows the program is over the top. She knows their show takes Portland-types and makes them more extreme than they already are. She is aware that these are not the exact types you find here, but extreme versions of them. Well, in most cases. Be clear, the women’s book store owners exist here. They probably would just be smart enough to have made the sale to Buscemi’s character much more quickly. Undoubtedly, inquiries into a soon-to-be-digested chicken’s upbringing have been asked in a Portland restaurant, although I suspect the diners asking would not promptly depart the restaurant to verify the information given. Portlandia’s creators are aware. I made the assumption that because Armisen and Brownstein did not grow up here, they would not get the extremes they are representing.

It’s been hard for me to put into words my thoughts about the show. There are more extremes in Portland all the time, but not anymore than other, similar cities. Thankfully, Brownstein pointed out that fact as well in at least one interview, explaining that residents of Brooklyn, Austin, Denver, and San Francisco would all recognize the characters parodied in the show. I say thankfully because I was afraid there was some perception that Portland was entirely unique. Well, it’s unique in that there is only one Portland, Oregon but any progressive city in America could be substituted for the Portland represented in Portlandia.

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