Woods @ Turf Club
[Leisure Birds]
There is certain sense of pride in the local music scene when a national band comes to town and there are more than enough great local groups to serve as opening acts. The local music scene in the Twin Cities is so strong and diverse right now that it is always a good feeling when you know that the headlining band will be leaving town talking about the great talent in the community. Saturday night at St. Paul’s Turf Club was one of those nights, with three excellent local bands opening for Brooklyn’s Woods for what turned out to be a great night of music.
[Leisure Birds]
First up was the newest band of the tree local bands; Leisure Birds are a four-piece band that play noisy, buzzing rock and roll. Their sound was based around incessant bass lines and scuzzy guitar freakouts with some layers of keyboard flourishes; unfortunately the vocals were nearly inaudible. Even if the band were not interested in the lyrics being heard, the vocals were so low in the mix that they were not even usable as an added dimension to the layers of melodies. Even with the muddled sound, the band had some great songs and offered up a great start to the night. The group has a lot of potential and can be added to the list of up and coming bands in the Twin Cities music scene.
[Daughters of the Sun]
Next up were Daughters of the Sun, who had the unfortunate news that this show would be the last for their multi-instrumentalist Ryan. The band took the sad occasion to play the best set I have ever seen from them. Their multiple percussion attack and buzzing electronic fused tribal rock was powerful and concise throughout their 40 minute set. The group had the crowd’s attention right from the start with their propulsive rhythms and psychedelic songwriting. It is too bad to see another great local group lose an integral member, but I am hoping they will be able to keep moving forward making exciting new music.
[Daughters of the Sun]
[Daughters of the Sun]
[Vampire Hands]
Third on the bill was Vampire Hands, a band who know first hand about having to forge ahead after losing a band member. This was my first time seeing the group as a three-piece after losing singer/percussionist Colin Johnson, who moved to Montana last month. The group, who recently released the great album Hannah in the Mansion, have been one of my favorite local groupss, so I was very interested to see the new version of the band. Unfortunately, I barley recognized the musicians that were up on stage. They played songs from the Vampire Hands records (in addition to new songs), but they sounded more like a cover band than the group that had become a leader of the local scene. Gone were the wild, eclectic pop songs, which were sadly replaced by more placid and generic fare. Having only one drummer really takes away from the energetic nature of the group and forces them into a much more conventional box. The new group’s sound was closer to the more classic rock influenced sound of bassist Chris Bierden’s Invisible Boy project than the Vampire Hands we had come to know. While I was genuinely disappointed by the band, I think it was less about what they were and more about what they were not. The band, who have not played together a lot recently, did not sound bad by any stretch of the imagination, they just weren’t Vampire Hands. It will be interesting to see where this new band goes and the direction that they take their sound in the future.
[Vampire Hands]
[Woods]
[Woods]
Going into the night I was wondering how Woods brittle, lo-fi music would hold up in the live setting, but the band played an amazing set that showed why they have become a pillar in the lo-fi folk scene. The band revolves around the standard guitar, bass and drums setup with augmentation from a fourth member who manipulates sounds and provided electronic textures. The strangest part of the setup was hearing singer Jeremy Earl’s glassy falsetto and looking down and seeing G. Lucas Crane on all fours looking like a demented animal turning knobs. He used old headphones as a microphone where he screamed along with Earl’s pristine vocals. Like the main crux of Woods’ sound and ideas, there was lots of different ideas bouncing off each other, held together by the band’s tight melodies and strong songwriting chops. The band’s set, which was disappointingly cut short due to bar close (they didn’t start until after 1:15 a.m.), featured songs predominantly taken from their excellent fourth album, Songs of Shame. The songs from the album, which are generally lush folk songs that are equally pretty and bitter, came across strong and full at the Turf Club. Highlights included “To Clean,†“Rain On,†and the band’s subtle but powerful cover of Graham Nash’s “Military Madness.†Woods made clear why they have received so much attention and capped off a great evening of wildly inventive music with their great set, even if it ended up being shorter than I had hoped for.
[Woods]
[Woods]
[Photos by Jon Behm, review and videos by Josh Keller.]
Woods: Purchase | Official | MySpace
Vampire Hands: MySpace
Daughters of the Sun: MySpace
Leisure Birds: MySpace
