two pieces in this week's Seattle Weekly:
Scream Club, Northern State, Gravy Train!!!!
Dykehouse
Am mostly happy with the girls gone wild one, though I wish I had time to talk about how performance figures into these lady's music, and how that might be the best venue for experiencing them (at least in GT and SC worlds, Northern State wound down miserably when I saw them live). Caryn asked "isn't it okay for these bands to just be fun" and my answer is yes, of course, though in the case of the Club, it seems impossible to have it both ways -- spending 3/4 of your album taunting invisible foes of minority identities and the other quarter mouthing off-key r&b hooks while never bothering a moment of self-reflection on where you as queer/female/white/middle class person fit into the world - nuance, i suppose, is what is lacking. An earlier draft went off a little more about the self-styling of Scream Club as 'superheroes,' which reinforces one of my reasons for disliking them - they erase more shadows than they make, and not by shedding light on the corners either, but by turning their world into a cartoon.
I am actively seeking feedback on the piece - so please comment here or email me! pinkgerl@yahoo.com
Also, from last week:
Bumbershoot Box starring also Amy Phillips!
DJ Shadow's Live! In Tune and On Time
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