Listening Booth

Artist:Fugazi Album: The Argument

Fugazi, the last of the independents. DIY from day one, they've created a rabid following by keeping show prices low and refusing to sell out. And of course by making purely good music. Their latest, The Argument is one of their best in years. It bristles with energy, keeps to their roots while moving forward at the same time. The songwriting is strong and the band is tight. Songs like "Cashout" and "Epic Problem" do the loud/soft thing just right, easing you in before unleashing a fury of guitar noise, exploding out of the speakers. "Full Disclosure" dives right in with a rolling bass line and stiff riffing before punching things wide open, all while still pulling off a polished melody. Drumming is crisp, clean and spot on, especially on tracks like "Ex-spectator". Fugazi tends to expand their sound with every album, never making the same one twice and this is no exception. This one was worth every bit of the wait, quite possibly my favorite CD to come out all year. Best of all you can get it shipped to your door for $10 total from Fugazi's label Dischord. What are you waiting for?
- Joe Whitehair

Richie Havens show - Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel, MD - September, 2001

I Saw Him for the First Time...

...when I was a young kid. It was the original Woodstock. No not the Woodstock where punks burned the place to the ground. He was the opening act at the original, in 1969. Ok I wasn't at the original Woodstock but I saw the tape many years later and was completely entranced by his performance. Richie Havens played for nearly three hours as the first act on stage. None of the other groups had arrived and as a result, every time he walked off stage he was asked to play a little longer. Having played everything he knew, he improvised "Freedom" perhaps his best known song.

Years passed and occasionally I would hear a song or see him on television. This past September I was finally able to see him live at The Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, Maryland. I wasted no time in reserving a ticket. The show took place in a small room that sat about 60 people. Arriving early, I managed to get a seat in the front row which was literally jammed up to the edge of the stage. Seeing the stool he'd eventually sit on not five feet from me, I realized immediately, this is a good seat! A couple sitting next to me, having never seen a live show before asked if they might be sitting too close. Too close! "You're too close only if he asks you to move", I said. I was able to see him prepare an acoustic guitar in an adjacent room, thanks to the reflection from a long window along the back of the stage. More tense moments passed. At last he took the stage. A tall guy, he towered over us from the stage. He plays the guitar in his unique way, mostly bar chords that he "fingers" with a massive thumb, his instrument thoroughly "de-tuned" to match his incredible technique. With my knees against the stage, as he pounded his left foot to the beat, I felt I was absorbing his music directly into my body. After every song the crowd roared out their approval, only stopping when finally forced to by the start of the next song.

Richie played for an hour and a half. He is about sixty years old now. His amazing performance would have been hard for someone half his age to achieve. When he came out for his encore he sung "You are so Beautiful to Me", acappella. He was so completely drained he needed to steady himself on his stool. On the other hand I was totally energized by him. On a hard ride you come back with nothing. You leave it all out on the road. That night Richie Havens had nothing left; he left it with the crowd.
- Joe Sommers

Twinemen show - Fletcher's, Baltimore, MD - October 22, 2002

The three piece band Morphine laid down a smokey blues/jazz/rock hybrid that was dubbed low rock. A few years ago, singer/bassist Mark Sandman had a heart attack on stage and died, bringing this great band to an end. Rising from it's ashes is the Twinemen, named after characters in Sandman's artwork. It consists of the two remaining members of Morphine, Dana Colley on Sax and Billy Conway on Drums as well as vocalist/guitarist Laurie Sargent. The Fletcher's date was the first on this part of the tour, but it didn't show. Traveling with them was a bassist to round out the live team. The intimate setting of this small venue suited the band and their style well. Taking cues from the old band Morphine, with the low end covered by bass and various saxaphones, Laurie added an underlying layer of guitar work that served to accent but not over take the rest of the music. No guitar solos here. Billy's snappy, understated drumming held things together like glue and he had a grin plastered on his face the whole time. The set covered most of their self-titled debut album and even had a few Morphine tunes thrown in at the end. Overall, the set rocked out more than their recordings, full of energy, blasting sax solos and full on jamming. Most of all, you could see the band was having fun and enjoying themselves. It showed in the music. The roots of Morphine run deep, but things move forward and the Twinemen have their own thing going. Check 'em out.
- Joe Whitehair

Sonic Youth show - Recher Theatre, Baltimore, MD - November 24, 2002

The Recher Theatre show was sold out and vultures were circling the outside looking for tickets. It's well earned though, Sonic Youth isn't exactly young anymore, but you'd never know unless you've been listening to them for all these years and know the depth of their catalog. They are old enough to be parents to a lot of the kids that come to the show and if they were, they'd be damn cool parents. Any band that consistently creates walls of sound that invades your brain and leaves your head swimming is young at heart. If you are a fan and have never seen this band live, you don't know what you are missing - they are meant to be seen live. There are things they do that can't be conveyed on a recording. SY has been together so long they operate as a fine, well tuned unit. They dug deep in their catalog, pulling material from albums like Evol, Daydream Nation, and Dirty as well as a nice handful of tunes from their latest, Murray Street. Steve Shelly may just be the most under-rated drummer in rock, his choice of drums and cymbals pins down the sonic confusion that swirls through the room, giving the songs the backbone they need to keep things together. New member Jim O'Rourke adds a third guitar to deepen the layers of noise. Bassist Kim Gordon and freak out guitarist Thurston Moore share most of the vocal duties. Lee Renaldo provides his own guitar assault that defies description as well as some of the vocals to round out the team. Together they created a sound of controlled confusion that is better experienced than described. What should in theory sound like an annoying racket, instead is a symphony of white noise and strange tunings that comes out of the speakers sounding like sweet nectar. They blew the doors off for over an hour, came back for a quick two song encore and then left us wanting more.
- Joe Whitehair