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Mark Kozelek
Wednesday · Southgate House
Considering the variety of band personas that Mark Kozelek surrounds himself with, one might be tempted to believe that he’s trying to cloak himself behind obfuscating group names in order to shield his creative and emotional psyches from closer scrutiny. And if it was anyone but Kozelek, it might be a makeable case, but that is most obviously not the situation here. First with the Red House Painters and now with his latest musical project Sun Kil Moon, not to mention a triptych of albums under his own name, Kozelek has always utilized a baldly confessional tone in his work, playing out his personal demons against a wonderfully charged Folk/Pop soundtrack that perfectly matches the harrowing mood of his lyrical constructs. On his latest album, last year’s Sun Kil Moon debut, Ghosts of the Great Highway, Kozelek channels his inner electric Neil Young and acoustic Mark Eitzel in the service of some of the greatest songs of his storied career, resulting in an album that stands equally with the best of his often uncomfortably honest catalog. The only question remaining about Kozelek’s current tour concerns his name on the marquee. What will the solo Mark Kozelek reveal in his time onstage? Will there be spirits of old RHP tracks resurrected in an intimate setting? Will new Sun Kil Moon material be given a stripped down, acid-washed treatment in the harsh glare of the solo spotlight? Or will he draw his set list strictly from the three albums that bear the name on the ticket for the evening’s performance? The answer to all of these questions is likely “Yes.”
And the result is likely to be breathtaking. (Brian Baker)
Patty Griffin
Thursday · 20th Century Theater
In the sadly voluminous roll call of artists who have been gutshot and left for dead by a creatively indifferent and hit-obsessed music industry, no name looms any larger or potentially sadder than Patty Griffin. Two major labels have manipulated Griffin into making albums that were unsatisfactory to everyone involved and then refused to release them when Griffin wouldn’t compromise further by manufacturing more “hits.” It seems an odd tactic, to browbeat an artist whose songs have been covered by the Dixie Chicks, Emmylou Harris, Reba McEntire, Bette Midler and Martina McBride. But Griffin, to her credit, kept plugging away at the formulaic songwriting demanded of her by cloth-eared major label suits. Once Griffin was released from the bondage of her last label contract in 2002, she translated that heady freedom into the basement recordings that ultimately became her third (or was it really her fifth?) album of textural Folky brilliance, 1000 Kisses. With no label interference to disrupt the energy flow of her creative process, Griffin assembled a stellar array of bruised and brooding songs with her guitarist Doug Lancio and a sparingly utilized band, giving the stark yet warm album a tangible atmosphere as well as an emotional weight. Signing up with Dave Matthews-imprint ATO Records to release 1000 Kisses, Griffin finally found a sympathetic home for her unique yet universal brand of emotionally charged Folk/Pop. After 1000 Kisses, the label released a backstage peek DVD and a live album of the 2003 Songwriters tour featuring Griffin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin and Dar Williams. And now comes Griffin’s stunning new album, Impossible Dream, a work that will find her rightly measured against the greatest contemporary songwriters. After the stunning results of the past two years, there can be little doubt that leaving Patty Griffin to her own devices is the only logical course from here on out. (BB)
Antietam with The Ass Ponys
Saturday · Northside Tavern
It barely seems possible that nearly 20 years have passed since the first sonic assault by Tara Key and Antietam exploded out of Louisville-by-way-of-NYC onto the national scene. Over the subsequent two decades, encompassing Antietam albums, a pair of impressive solo works and countless side projects, Key has proven to be one of the most consistent and expressive guitarists on the planet, wrestling tormented and excruciatingly passionate sounds from her guitar in the studio and then translating those same sounds to the stage with an almost incomprehensible ferocity. Part of Antietam’s live reputation is clearly the power and visceral energy that Key exhibits every time she plugs in and shreds at will, but just as important is the almost intuitive communication between Key, her bassist/husband Tim Harris and drummer Josh Madell. With Antietam’s lineup stable since Madell’s arrival in 1990, the chemistry between the three principals has evolved and deepened, making the trio one of the most formidable live acts in Indie Rock. On Victory Park, the seventh album of their career, Antietam follows a familiar path of writing songs that are gently powerful in the studio while merely hinting at the primal shriek that they will morph into when Key plugs into a stack of amplifiers and plays with a force concussive enough to move anything that’s not nailed down. Reviews of early Antietam albums invariably referred to Key as a great female guitarist, but that praise was and is sadly lacking. Tara Key is a guitarist of jaw-dropping intensity and subtle ingenuity, a master of pacing and a shrewdly improvisational soloist. (BB)
Sloan
Tuesday · 20th Century Theater
Canadian Pop Rock quartet Sloan has the kind of career that just might have saved the life of their former labelmate, Kurt Cobain. While they’ve attained legendary, superstar status in their homeland, if you head out to a Sloan concert stateside, you’ll probably be joined by 100 or so diehard fans. If the pressures of fame ever got to the members of Sloan, the group always has the option of heading south and reveling in their cult-like status. Beats a shotgun.
After misguidedly being snatched up by DGC in the middle of their “sign anything remotely AltRock” phase and inadvertently and unavoidably being pinned as one of the label’s next Nirvanas, Sloan took back their careers by releasing numerous critically-acclaimed albums on their own Murder Records. Albums like One Chord to Another and Navy Blues are Power Pop classics, loaded with vintage-minded power-riffs and an aggressive display of Classic Rock appreciation and knowledge that is encyclopedic … not to mention some of the finest “can’t get you out of my head” melodies ever sung. Sloan is really four bands in one, with each member taking turns writing songs and fronting the group. And, while every fervent Sloaniac probably has a favorite Sloaner, there’s no Ringo in the band; each one of them has the songwriting chops of a master. That’s not to say that every song’s a gem; Sloan albums have always had their share of clunkers. But after being consumed by the four or five brilliant songs on each disc, even the not-so-hot ones start to ring in your head as classics.
For their latest album, Action Pact (which was just recently released in the U.S.), Sloan leaves behind the Folk and Soft Rock forays of their past couple of releases and keeps the Rock knob turned up to “Arena.” Working with a producer (Tom Rothrock) for the first time might have something to do with the album’s focus. Whatever was behind the new consistency, it’s a good move, resulting in a leaner, meaner sound that helps make it a welcome entry into the band’s already sparkling discography.
As far as their live show, every Sloan concert comes off like one of those “fan-club members only”-type parties some groups throw. With winking Rock Star moves, a brash dynamic (members switch instruments from song to song) and playful between-song banter that would charm the panties off of the most hardened music snob, the joyousness of Sloan’s live show is inescapably infectious. (Mike Breen)
This article appears in May 12-18, 2004.
