Tonight’s episode: Luna with Midnight Movies
A few months ago, Dave went to see Prince and later wrote a long and detailed review of the show and sent it around. I loved it, so when I saw Neko Case with The Sadies I decided I’d do the same thing. I sent my review to some of you and got mostly positive feedback, so now I’m feeling inspired to write a review for yet another show. If you weren’t there, it may not have that much value since you can’t hear the music, and if you were, you already know what happened, so read at your own risk. In any case, here is the second installment:
Luna played their “farewell” show last Thursday night at the Casbah here in San Diego, with Midnight Movies opening. Many of you were there, and it wasn’t planned that way, so that was way cool. I expected a third act as an opener, but it was just the two bands. I had heard Midnight Movies on iTunes and liked them, so I was looking forward particularly to their set. In fact, they turned out to be more interesting than I anticipated. The recordings I had heard sounded like a kinder, gentler version of Throwing Muses with a little synth and eerier, spacier melodies. Turns out they’re a trio, and I’ve got a special place in my heart for good rock trios. Everyone has to work extra hard to make it work. In this case, the girl drummer was also the lead singer, and for my money she gets the MVP award for the evening. Unlike lesser drummer/singers (Don Henley, the dude from the Romantics), Gena Olivier didn’t settle for a standard trap set, but had several additional floor toms, riding tams and other accessories I couldn’t see, and played more complex rhythms than I could ever do while singing, despite lots of practice on the steering wheel. She also closed her eyes while playing, which is something I also do as a concentration thing. But what impressed me was that on top of this she had a good ear: the songs often hit unexpected and sudden chord changes and her voice was right there. The keyboard player spent about half the time on rhythm guitar, and I was glad to see the lead guitar player only switch to bass for some of that time. This meant several songs with two guitars and no bass, and the lead guitarist deftly filled in both top and bottom. I still felt something was missing without the bass, but the swift drumming and spacey vocals kept my mind more focused in the midrange, where all the sound was concentrated. It helped that the singer’s voice is a low alto. Some of their songs led well into expanded jam endings, sometimes on one chord, which ain’t easy – they played these for exactly as long as was necessary, possibly due more to time constraints than musical considerations, but OK either way. The lead guitar/bassist often applied the old Joy Division trick of intensifying the jam by bringing the drone bass line up an octave. Unfortunately, they played a short set – maybe 30 minutes at most – and I would have liked to hear them more. The tunes were creepy but not slow, and the odd melodies and chord and tempo changes helped to make them an interesting live act. But they played the part of the good opener, and were off the stage as quickly as they had come on to make room for the big kids.
The word for Luna’s set, at least the first half, is “restraint”. They’ve been around for like twelve years and I don’t think I had ever heard them before. One of those bands that just slipped through the cracks while I was paying attention to other things. The show was sold out, which is not too surprising if they really are the indie rock darlings they seem to be. They came on with a solid, well-balanced 4-piece indie rock sound that rivals anyone’s. What they lacked was verve. There are probably scores of hardcore Luna fans out there in grad student pubs and New York coffee shops who would defend them tooth and nail, and I can understand why. Take smarty poetic lyrics and sing them in a low deadpan voice that sounds like Jeff Tweedy from Wilco (minus emotion) and play some major chords like you mean it - but with a heavy dose of angst – and you’ve got a formula for popularity among the over-educated. I would bet their albums are…nice. Steady, predictable, and understated, so you can put it on later in the evening when you want something to read a book to, or play it for your friends and they nod approvingly but never say “Damn, that’s cool”. But this does not a live show make. The compositions and the delivery just were not interesting enough. It was like Guided By Voices, but with less compelling songwriting and not enough, hmm, vitamins in their diet maybe? It seemed the band was either bored or tired (drove up that day from Tuscon, which may have been the only thing the lead singer said). They didn’t bother to establish a rapport with the audience, which might be the prerogative of a band on a farewell tour but is still something I like to have. Occasionally the lead guitarist uttered non-sensical inanities into his mic and chuckled quietly, and the biggest fans let themselves in on the joke. It was lost on me. They did have some catchy moments: I enjoyed their rendering of Edward Lear’s 19th century poem-story “The Owl and the Pussycat” (I have it in a children’s book – that’s how I know), and a song about the Bonnies and Clydes of the world was fun. Like their predecessors, in the second half of their set they ended most songs with a jam, although in every case I can remember it was a I-IV-I-IV chord thing (think “Bad” by U2) – no other variations. Fine, fine. Just not that exciting. And when the sexy bassist (who was the only one I could see, when I could see anything, thanks to the two tallest motherfuckers in California) and lead guitar sang backup, the vocals did sound sweeter. I bet there’s more of that on their albums. Nothing too risky, though. None of the bass-playing, drumming, strumming or singing really stood out, not that they were trying. They have their mid-nineties indie sound and they stick with it. I never once thought “Whoah!”, but more often was thinking “yup”. It was a little like living in San Diego. There was nothing offensive, really, but by the end I was terribly bored. So here’s my formula:
((Wilco + Guided By Voices)/Poster Children) – Enthusiasm = Luna
If it hadn’t been at my favorite club, with some of my favorite people in the audience, it would have been a tough show. Next time, more Midnight Movies, more moxie, less tall motherfuckers. I’m serious: that one dude must have been 6’9”. Asshole.
-Larry
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