Alright, I shoulda got some pictures sorry. The Shaky Hands were Willy Week's new band of the year, and they had a Pfork review, so they were on my periphery but I hadn't gotten a chance to hear them. So Ian, Cynda, and Doug joined me under the westward on-ramp of the Hawthorne Bridge to check them out on Sunday of PDX Pop Now!
The two guitars, two percussionists, and bassist of The Shaky Hands played a fast, rhythm-heavy five songs that seemed interchangeable in their mod-surf approach, slowed down for one weak song, and then played a Holy Jesus of a Zeppelin-fronted-by-Tom Waits doozy to kick us in the ass on our way out. The crowd was Crystal-sized and mostly dug it. Though the lead singer to audience back to lead singer banter was painful to witness. Very good, short and FREE set. Only here.
PS: We didn't stay the two hours for Blitzen Trapper like originally planned. The new venue on 3rd and Madison, Audecity or something, is pretty sweet. No Loveland, but hey.
Rating: MmGravy-mMmGravy
Anyway, I had been more than a little excited for another Portland band to hit it big and my hopes weren't quite met by a huge outpouring of originality, so I rushed home to grab their new, self-titled album (from emusic you cynics) to figure these guys out. While I waited on my irritatingly slow DSL, I loaded up the aforementioned review, and saw a pretty different take on the band. More laidback folky, apparantly. Not all their songs had enormous beats, evidently. Weren't even all plugged in. A couple flutes and violins lightly interspersed. Was this the same band?
Their Beach Boys-meets-garage earnestness was refreshing on that warm summer night, but on the source material, the songs are peeled back and show a band with legs to stand on, and a future beyond openings for mid-level indies. "The Sleepless" and "Summer's LIfe" are just perfect, in their own poppy right, and are basically Ben's Own Mixtape Fodder. "I'm Alive," "Sunburns," and "We Will Rise" are really good short happy little jams. Even the sad ones are just lightly bittersweet, and mostly hopeful. Just right for the last weeks we have. Of this summer at least.
RIYL (In decreasing order of relevance, as always): Rogue Wave, Peter and the Wolf, Fruit Bats, Johnny and the Moon, The Robot Ate Me, Danielson, M. Ward, Sufjan, feedback-less Yo La Tengo songs, The Shins, The Decemberists, Califone, The Magnetic Fields
Rating: mMmGravy
Hit me or Ian up and we'll burn you a copy.
2 comments:
The venue is AudioCinema and I'd add Okkervil River to that RIYL(at least for The Stage Names). Probably between The Shins and The Decemberists.
Some pics:
The Shaky Hands
AudioCinema
I'm right with you on the cd and The Sleepless and Summer's Life are definitely the songs I keep playing over and over.
could you figure out that last song they played on the live set? he said they don't do covers but i definitely don't recognize anything even close from the album.
i tried to remember some lyrics, but i didn't write them down. most of it was unintelligible whispers crescendoing into wails anyway.
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