Eric R. Danton | Sound Check

Review: The Dirtbombs and Kelley Stoltz at Cafe Nine

Having two drummers and two bass players on stage means a lot of rhythm, which underpinned the Dirtbombs’ show Tuesday night at Café Nine in New Haven.

Instead of going for contrasting polyrhythms or contrapuntal bass parts, though, the Detroit garage-rockers used all that low end in tandem to create an extra solid bedrock for the band’s big, tough sound.

And the Dirtbombs sound tough. In fact, the five-piece band sounds like Detroit: loud, fast and a little gritty on songs mixing fuzzed-out garage-rock guitar riffs with old-school soul melodies in a mash-up that evokes both Motown and the MC5.

The National stars in making-of movie

Speaking of movies about bands, French filmmaker Vincent Moon has made a  film about the National.

"A Skin, A Night" chronicles the making of the band's outstanding 2007 album "Boxer," which topped my best-of list last year. 

"We're very much in the middle of something, and we don't know where we'll end up," one of the band members says in the trailer.

The 60-minute movie is scheduled for release as a DVD May 20 on Beggars Banquet. "A Skin, A Night" will be packaged with "The Virginia EP," a 12-track collection of b-sides, live versions, demos and radio sessions.

Here's the track listing:

1. You've Done It Again, Virginia (previously unreleased)
2. Santa Clara (UK b-side)
3. Blank Slate (UK b-side)
4. Tall Saint (demo)
5. Without Permission (unreleased cover)
6. Forever After Days (demo)
7. Rest of Years (demo)
8. Slow Show (demo)
9. Lucky You (daytrotter session)
10. Mansion on the Hill (live)
11. Fake Empire (live)
12. About Today (live)

Patterson Hood's favorite records

In a recent interview with Drive-By Truckers singer Patterson Hood (center), we got to talking about Big Star's third record, "3rd," as an example of records that are perfect musical snapshots of a moment in time.

"It may not be the most user-friendly thing they did — certainly ‘3rd’ isn’t compared to the first two records, which are so lovable and accessible and immediately-reach-out-and-grab-you-
pop-records," Hood said. "Then that third record is so inside and turbulent and chaotic, but those of us who fall for it, it’s like, goddamn, it’s one of my favorite records ever made."

The album has been repackaged several different times, but a vinyl reissue a few years ago reverted to the original track listing, which Hood said made a huge difference.

"That sequence makes it all make sense," he said. "That’s the first time that record, to me, really made — I mean, I loved it all along, but when I heard that sequence, it was like, wow. No. 1, it’s the weirdest sequence I’ve ever heard. Starting it out with ‘Stroke It Noel’ makes no sense whatsoever, except it’s perfect."

Read more about the Drive-By Truckers here.

CD Review: 'Volume One' by She & Him

When last we saw Zooey Deschanel sing, she was Will Ferrell’s reluctant duet partner in the 2003 movie “Elf.” She’s been singing off-screen, though, and writing songs, too, and she’s good enough at it to have enlisted indie-savant M. Ward as a musical partner. Together, they are She & Him, a duo comfortably ensconced in the classic sound of ’60s pop on their debut, “Volume One” (Merge).

Featuring 10 originals and three covers (including an unlisted version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”), the album is a showcase for Deschanel’s pipes and Ward’s clever musical arrangements. Her voice isn’t classically pretty, and she sometimes sounds a mite self-conscious — no surprise, given that writing songs was a private indulgence she would probably have never made public without urging from Ward. Yet she sings with expressive warmth, layering her voice in sweet harmonies on “Sweet Darlin’” and letting her voice soar just a bit on “This is Not a Test.”

Merge opens an online store

While the major record labels continue to flounder, the indies are showing brains and adaptability: Merge Records, for example, today announced it will begin selling mp3s and lossless FLAC files through its own digital store.

"While we still view physical record stores as our favorite place to buy (and sell) music, for those who prefer to get their music digitally, we want to make the experience as close as it can be to 'the real thing' with all the convenience and speed of a download," reads an e-mail from the North Carolina label.

Along with releases by Merge bands including the Arcade Fire and Spoon, the label's online store will feature exclusive, rare and otherwise out-of-print offerings, starting March 4 with "Superchunk Clambake Series Volume One: Acoustic in-stores East and West," released in its original form in 2002 as a super-limited edition of 1,500 copies.

Merge promises that its downloads will soon come complete with full album art and liner notes.

Mates of State's new record due in May

Mates of State, Connecticut's premiere husband-wife indie-rock duo, returns with a new album May 20 on Barsuk.

East Haven residents Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel recorded "Re-Arrange Us," their fifth full-length, at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport. This time, they've replaced Kori's organ with piano and synthesizers, and Kori and Jason each sing lead as well as the lovely vocal harmonies that have become something of a trademark.

An e-mail from their publicist announcing the new record hints at even greater changes, saying that a few shows last year where the band was accompanied by cello, trumpet and backing vocalists make it "very likely that they'll be taking additional instrumentation on tour for the first time when they hit the road later this year."

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Fraud in the '80s

(Photo by Terri Loewenthal)

CD Review: 'For Emma, Forever Ago' by Bon Iver

It’s spelled wrong on purpose. French for “good winter,” the phrase is correctly written “bon hiver.” For singer and songwriter Justin Vernon, though, the misspelling fits the broken-down aesthetic of his full-length debut.

Harrowing in its stark intimacy, “For Emma, Forever Ago” (Jagjaguwar) is a close, quiet set of songs Vernon wrote and recorded while living alone for three months in northwestern Wisconsin. All that isolation evidently sparked a catharsis, and Vernon sounds wrung out at times as he exorcises heartache and regret in a voice that often quavers on the verge of falsetto.

CD Review: 'Lucky' by Nada Surf

There’s won-the-lottery lucky, and then there’s healthy-with-a-reasonable-standard-of-living lucky. Nada Surf is preoccupied with the latter on its fifth full-length album.

It’s a buoyant collection, hopeful yet measured on songs full of jangling guitars and sweet melodies with layered vocal harmonies. It’s also a deceptive record, spinning lyrics that are fatalistic on the surface into positive lessons about finding silver linings and making the most of any given situation. Nada Surf has been doing that since its ill-fated major-label flirtation in the mid-’90s ended, as so many do, with the band getting dropped.

CD review/podcast: 'Old Growth' by Dead Meadow; 'In the Future' by Black Mountain

Some musical trends never fade completely away, they simply lurk below the surface and evolve without the pressure of prying eyes. Stoner rock is one of those trends, and Dead Meadow and Black Mountain are two of its best bands.

The former has been developing for a decade. “Old Growth” (Matador), the fifth studio album from Dead Meadow (shown at right), is a collection of rugged tunes that glower through sludgy guitar riffs and laconic vocals from singer Jason Simon. Much of the melodic movement comes from the bass parts, and the musicians fall into deep, hypnotic grooves, broken by a shuddering guitar effect on “What Needs Must Be” and a spare acoustic arrangement on “Down Here” that’s as heavy as any of the more amplified songs.

Review: Neko Case at the Calvin Theatre

Instead of introducing her songs by their names, Neko Case mostly went with descriptions during her performance Saturday night at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton.

“This is a sad song,” she said about midway through her 80-minute set.

It wasn’t the only one.