Live Review - Throwing Muses at Great American Music Hall, 16 Dec 06

Kristin Hersh is a goddess. The woman has been making intense, emotional, consistently engaging music for over 20 years. She's had 4 children, and never allowed pregnancy to stop her from touring. She STILL tours like a madwoman (this show was at least the 6th time she's played in San Francisco in 2006). And, she still puts on one hell of a show - whether playing solo acoustic, with her new band 50 Foot Wave, or, as we had the privilege to experience on 16 December, on a reunion tour for her first, lamented band - Throwing Muses.

Oh right... check the name of this blog you're reading... nope, I'm not "objective" when it comes to Kristin or her music. But of course that intense subjectivity cuts both ways... Throwing Muses' first four albums ruled my teenage years. I had high expectations for this show and it would have been easy to walk away disappointed for whatever foolish reason. Believe me, I'm extremely critical of live shows (which thankfully doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of them, or stop me from continuing to attend), and this one had a lot to live up to. Chances are decent (?) this might be the last time I get to hear some of these songs live. Well, this was frankly the best show I saw this year.

To add to Kristin's godhead, consider that she and Bernard (funky bassist extraordinaire) were also two-thirds of their own opening act! 50 Foot Wave's show honestly felt a bit "flat" to me, compared to the other two times I've seen them this year. I suspect that they've been practicing (or in Bernard's case - learning?) the old TM songs so much lately in preparation for this tour, that it took a while for the 50FW songs to gel. Kristin's voice is an absolute marvel... how can someone shred that much, and still manage to sound sweet when she chooses? I can't recall any of the details, but was left with the impression that the band were tighter and more intense when they opened for Mission of Burma in the exact same space a couple months ago.

I'm afraid I can't really comment on second opening act the Moore Brothers. Most of the audience seemed excited to see them - two guys with acoustics who do really pretty vocal harmonies. Not my speed, and especially incongruous stuck between the very-electric 50FW and TM. Still, these guys were hanging out at Kristin's solo show last January, and I suspect they're personal friends. Me and my group of friends went to the back of the venue and had a beer.

Kristin and Bernard came back accompanied by original Muses drummer David Narcizo, one of the most inventive drummers ever and a personal favorite. David used to be a real hottie back in the day; it's a totally irrelevant (and perhaps needless) comment, but he's kind of looking his age these days. Fortunately that had NO bearing on his performance - the central role of the drumming in songs like "Hate My Way," "Pearl," and "Soul Soldier" was spot-fucking-on. And he looked like he was having a blast.

Frankly, as were we all. The setlist was exquisite; Kristin really delivered on her promise to play a lot of the "old stuff". Here's the list, in chronological order of release:

From the self-titled debut: "Soul Soldier," "Fear," "Hate My Way," "Vicky's Box"
From House Tornado: "Colder," "Mexican Women"
From Hunkpapa: "Bea," "Mania"
From the Real Ramona era: "Cottonmouth" (was the "Counting Backwards" B-side)
From Red Heaven: "Pearl," "Furious"
From University: "Shimmer," "Start," "Hazing," "Bright Yellow Gun"
From Limbo: "Shark"
From the untitled 2003 album: "Mercury," "Pretty or Not"

There were so many tiny little details about Throwing Mus-ic that I love, and the band managed to nail them ALL. Some examples:

"Soul Soldier" - the tempo abruptly shifts in this song at least three times. Not only did they nail it musically, but Kristin's voice also modulated accordingly. You'd never know she'd been howling out 50FW songs roughly an hour and a half earlier, she sounded so "sweet" during the quiet parts.

"Fear" - among the most chaotic of TM songs, and I wouldn't have believed that it could be pulled off with one guitar.

"Mexican Women" - another one with a sneaky tempo change (or maybe even a time signature change?) about two-thirds of the way through. Live, this was more muscular and more intense than I could have hoped. As stoked as I was to hear "Hate My Way" and "Vicky's Box", I had at least heard those two songs played live a decade or so ago. Never never never could I have hoped to hear this gem from my favorite Muses album, House Tornado. The addition of "Colder" from that album was like the cherry on the sundae.

"Shark" - Bernard is a really funky bassist, and this late TM song (from the album on which he joined the band) really shows him off at his best. That said, he did a damn fine job with the more fluid basslines of the older material also.

"Mania" - I never liked this song until the first time I heard it live. But I've never LOVED this song until this show. Kristin didn't just tear through the vocals, but used some inflection and some passion and some variance in the delivery to turn this into the scathing indictment of mental health care that the lyrics have always suggested. I have no clue what I mean by that, having just written it... it's just that this song has always struck me as stream-of-consciousness, but something in the presentation at this show made it "click" for me.

"Hate My Way" - an obvious and long-time fan favorite. David's drumming on this is exquisite, perhaps his best.

"Pearl" - except I have to say that David completely stole the show during the furious breakdown near the end of this song. I swear Kristin has played this song every single non-50FW time I've seen her, but the acoustic version just can't compare with the full band version.

Any quibbles I have about the show are minor. The sound quality was fantastic - at no time muddled, or with one instrument overpowering the others. K forgot the words to one song (don't remember which now), and probably intentionally left out a couple sentences from the end of "Vicky's Box" (which I imagine given the screaming in the middle is a difficult one to perform?) I remain unfulfilled in my desire to hear "Soap and Water" in its full chaotic electric version. None of these are complaints - the show was fantastic!

And as an extra bonus, after checking the boards at throwingmusic.com, I discover that a guy named Steve filmed the entire thing, and is slowly posting songs to YouTube!!! To wit:

"Start" (frankly, not a show highlight, mostly because of the song itself)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSVvANPzZ2A

"Cottonmouth"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfeJcVHeP-M

"Hate My Way"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EoXZKIpa8o

"Pearl" (second half, including David's amazing drumming!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggGSbgZ_lAE

Geez, can you tell I really liked this show?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Happy 2007!!!!

Movie Review: The Fountain

Warning: SPOILERS! Don't read if you haven't seen the movie and/or don't want the plot given away.

I'd read a fair amount of press on this movie and was already familiar with both the praises and the criticisms it had garnered. After seeing it last night I pretty much have to agree with both. Visually, it's beyond stunning, and I'm glad I saw it on the big screen. It has that trademark Aronofsky obsession with pattern, with multiple short sequences whose visual composition is initially abstract then resolves itself into something identifiable. (My favorite of these turned out to be the inside of an elevator). The stop-gap editing that made both Pi and Requeum for a Dream so lurching to watch has been abandoned for a calmer, more linear flow. Apparently he felt he had more of a story to tell this time around. I really can't exaggerate how much emphasis is placed throughout the movie on detail. I could watch it all over again and pay no attention to the people this time through, but just look at the sets.

The people give mostly great performances. As an excuse to look at (drool over) Hugh Jackman for two hours, you can't go wrong (though the shirtless quotient is a bit low for my taste), and as usual he's more than just eye candy. Rachel Weisz I can always take or leave, but she was convincing in the role as a woman dying of a brain tumor. Ellen Burstyn was fantastic in her cameo role.

Much has been written about the supposedly confusing story of the movie, and I'm puzzled by how literally many of the critics have taken its "three time periods" conceit. Presumably the movie is about a couple who are continually reincarnated throughout time, always to be separated, always to be reunited. I'd like to offer a much more prosaic explanation of what's happening. The movie spends most of its time on the modern-day couple: the dying wife and her biochemist husband obsessed with finding a magic drug that will cure brain tumors. Given that this part of the movie is set in present day, we're meant to find it believable. Well, it's all pretty ludicrous. The "conflict" between Hugh Jackman's character and the other people in his lab is inflated for maximum emotional effect, but the fact is, no serious research scientist, no matter how consumed he is by his wife's approaching death, could believe if he just works hard enough and keeps inventing new combinations of drugs, he'll find a "cure" for something as nebulous as brain tumors. As visually and aurally arresting as the lab scenes are, they're utter fluff. Much more convincing is the love and concern between the couple. She's ready to die, he's not ready to let her go. The night before she actually does die, she passes to him a manuscript she's been writing called "The Fountain," a romantic historical fantasy set in whatever-th century Spain, and asks him to "Finish it." This exchange between the two of them figures prominently throughout the movie: "Finish it." "I don't know how it ends."

OK, so what about the other two couples - the "historical" one and the "future" one? The first are the characters in Izzy's manuscript. I thought the movie made this explicit, albeit not right away... but from the first time Hugh's character picks it up and reading, we are repeatedly thrown back into this historic world where the Queen of Spain sends a Conquistadore to the New World to find the hidden Mayan pyramid that houses the Tree of Life. Sure, Aronofsky uses a pile of symbolism and congruent dialogue to suggest that the Queen/Conquistadore couple are just an older incarnation of the modern-day couple... but I interpret this as Jackman's character simply superimposing the imagery and dilemmas of his present life onto the characters and story in the manuscript. There is no reason to believe that the Queen, the Conquistadore, or the mysterious Mayan shaman guarding the pyramid are "real" people.

As for the "future" Hugh Jackman, and his dying tree in a flying soap bubble... again I see no reason to believe that this is meant to be a real person. The entire scene is too fantastical, too over-the-top, and the movie provides NO explanation for how a bald man and a tree could come to inhabit a soap bubble that is whipping through a nebula toward the dying star at its center. (At least the "historical" sequences have a narrative, no matter how silly or historically inaccurate). I interpret these sequences as the present-day character's allegory for his central dilemma: he can't accept death. And he REALLY can't accept his wife's impending death. In his head, the whole thing turns cosmic and grand, suffused with symbolism from her manuscript. Her voice and visage continue to haunt his bald doppelganger as he wrestles with "the answer."

So, the basic message of this film is, we have to accept death as a form of rebirth. Stated so simply, the sheer lavishness and over-romanticization of the film feel like so much pomp and circumstance to me. I can't help but wonder how the Aronofsky of his previous two movies would have told this story - the research scientist, the dying wife - if he'd stayed true to the unrelenting gritty realism of those films. Instead we're given a fable set within an allegory that the main character has created to distance himself from the gritty reality of what's happening to his wife. I don't really blame Aronofsky for taking this gamble - but I think it all detracts from what could have been a much simpler, more effective film.

I'm giving it a 7 out of 10, a bit higher than I'd like given my criticisms of it... but it is absolutely gorgeous and the nonlinear weaving of the three narratives did a good job of delaying my inevitable disappointment with the simplicity of the story/message at its center.

Review: Live Show, Asobi Seksu, Great American Music Hall, 22 Nov 2006

I hoped this show might lead to a re-assessment of "Citrus", but unfortunately I'm still as underwhelmed. I went into it knowing that shoegaze is ridiculously hard to pin down live - that hazy wall-o-guitar sound more often than not comes out as formless feedback that does nothing but drown out the bass and drums. While Asobi didn't fall into that particular trap, the guitar was still usually a buzz instead of a shimmer. Probably the best part of the show: Yuki was dead on with her vocals. The band had a strobe light on stage, which the management of the Great American Music Hall were required to warn us about beforehand - but it's kind of besides the point to have a strobe and then not turn down every other light in the house. I can admit to zoning out and nodding my head a bit by the end of the show ("Red Sea" managed to achieve its atmospherics - but only because of the organ)... but I think that was just the beer on an empty stomach.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5