A couple friends of mine from Milwaukee came into town Friday night for the Jim White and The Handsome Family show at the Orpheum Stage Door. I'd never heard any music by either prior to the gig but had at least heard of The Handsome Family whilst lurking on alternative country websites. So I kinda sorta knew what to expect. Kinda. We arrived rather early, I guess, because we were amongst the first folks there and had our choice of seats. (After grabbing a couple beers first, of course.) I'd never been at the Stage Door before and it was a nice intimate venue. And, considering it is a cinema, the sound was quite good.
My fellow Madisonian, Ryan, has a brief review of Jim White's set over at Muzzle of Bees with some pictures. Looking back, I'm kind of ambivalent about White as I found his set to be hit or miss. I liked the songs he did on his Banjocaster but found some of his other tunes to be mediocre. While I liked his minimalist approach with just his reverbed-out guitar and sampling equipment, there was very little that really jumped out at me. He would sample something from a melodica or a vocal and set it on a loop which he'd play guitar over and sing. I thought the samples were really effective but much of his guitar playing just came across as noodling to me. Still, I would like to hear more of his stuff as some music just needs time and repeated listenings to grow on me.
On the other hand, I was immediately drawn to The Handsome Family. THF are Brett and Rennie Sparks along with a rotating third party. Brett plays acoustic guitar while Rennie plays bass, banjo, and melodica. On Friday, they were given a hand by a guy's whose name I cannot recall - Steve something-or-other, I believe. Mr. X played pedal steel, violin, and mandola. THF play a very dark and off-kilter brand of modern Americana. Brett reminded of Penn Gillette with his rather large stature. He and Rennie (of smaller stature) engaged in quite of bit of between-song banter which was quite funny with a very weird and, at times, morbid twist. Their music, which was augmented by a drum machine on a Mac, was simple but fantastic. Very melodic with the contrasting harmonies of Brett and Rennie. There's a very gothic element to their music - a bit like 16 Horsepower - but it's more goofy, more eccentric. The lyrical themes are familiar, such as drinking in "So Much Wine" to the darker realm as with "Down in the Ground". THF definitely revel in the murder ballad but, with lines like, "Cry for the toy trains lost in the snow", you know you're not dealing with folks who are content merely rehashing traditional songs and themes.
I liked THF so much, I went out and got some of their shows and I'll be posting one of them soon. Very soon, in fact.
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