Barbara Lynn came out of Beaumont, Texas, with her left-handed guitar and a song about an ex called that pushed Ray Charles out of the #1 spot on the R&B chart. She’s a soul legend for about six reasons at once and she’ll be performing with Wild’s Gizzelle and more this Friday and Sunday. Clifton Weaver (of Funky Sole and Aquarium Drunkard’s awesome Clifton’s Corner) interviewed her with help from Nick Waterhouse.
Live reviews
NICK WATERHOUSE @ EAGLE ROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Waterhouse has been on this planet for a mere 25 years but his homage to vintage soul feels like that of a lively octogenarian. This, indeed, was a happy nerd gathering of all things retro.
OFF! @ WHISKY A GO GO
This foursome bring out the 18 year old, under-aged drinker in all of us. Part reverie and part release, an OFF! show is a lesson in musical history, a spectacle of punk-rock appreciation, a walk through the mosh-pit of memory lane.
DEER TICK + TURBO FRUITS @ EL REY THEATER
On a night that promised tequila-filled amateurs roaming the streets and a “super moon,” many people were barring their doors, stockpiling ammunition and preparing to spend a quiet evening alone, but those brave souls who ventured to Deer Tick at El Rey Theater on Saturday night were handsomely rewarded.
DESERT DAZE FINAL NIGHT: AKRON/FAMILY, ENTRANCE BAND, PITY PARTY, HERE WE GO MAGIC, NATURE’S SON, TROPICAL POPSICLE, INCAN ABRAHAM, BARBARIANS
Testicles do NOT equal great rock ‘n’ roll. Can I just say “swollen labia” instead? As in, “Sure, on some late 70s recordings, Mick Jagger successfully mimicked the staccato exclamations and off-key groans of Richard Hell and Stiv Bators–but he never had their swollen labia!”
STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK @ THE SATELLITE
It may have just been the special “incense,” but as they sang “There’s no place that can be better, when you’re up in clouds forever,” a certain presence filled the room, and the band’s pure magic was fully realized.
Album reviews
ADAM HARDING: STRANGE BEAUTY 7″
This 7″ is a coup-de-grace for Harding, who has the rhythm section of Dinosaur Jr. playing on the somewhat poppy A-side (think late-era Hüsker Dü or Gumball, but dirgier), and Emperor X helping out on the B-side’s “Pure Reason,” a screamo-hardcore punk track with the same kind of smirk as you’d find on the Beastie Boys’ Some Old Bullshit.
GALAPAGOOSE: COMMITMENTS
“One Who Can’t Move” is so sweet, Julie Andrews set it as her ringtone.
GIZZELLE: RHYTHM & SOUL
When she’s up, she’s angry, and when she’s down, she’s despairing, and although Gizzelle touches other kinds of songs, those are the ones that will stick with you most.
RALEIGH MONCRIEF: WATERED LAWN
This album starts with a male chorus, echoed finger-snapping, and an occasional flamenco guitar strum—fuck, it could be a spaghetti western ballad (or, more likely, a Spindrift song) if it didn’t also have some electronic beats behind it …
HEROES + HEROINES: “TWO WEEKS” 7″
Channeling recent heroes Thee Makeout Party but reaching back as far as those pre-British Invasion American party poppers the Rivieras, Heroes + Heroines is here to stay.
