REVIEW: Samantha Crain and Indian Blanket, Tuesday, February 19 The Gramophone

Restlessness is a torment best faced with a smile. Thus is the lesson proffered by Samantha Crain, the Oklahoma-based Americanarian whose spirited sermon resonated through the Gramophone Tuesday night. “I feel like I lived here at some point,” she said with a sly grin. “I probably did.”

The lively evening celebrated the release of Ms. Crain’s new album, Kid Face, the latest roadmap to the feisty folksinger’s unending quest to find a muse that will help her escape her hometown. Graciously treating the packed crowd to several of her new tunes, Ms. Crain’s wondrously commanding voice rose up over the band’s Wurlitzer keys and cigar-box guitar as she left no rootsy cornerstone unturned.

Highlights abounded, from the sweepingly beautiful title track from Kid Face to the Frisco-jam “Equinox” to the fervent “Devils in Boston.” Ms. Crain explained how the latter is actually a geographical misnomer—New York City is even too large syllabically—and song after song, she proved herself the latest in the Sooner State’s long tradition of wordsmithery. “I’m almost young this year, now that I’m older,” she crooned in the dusty blues-infused “Paint.” Somewhere, Woody nods.

Earlier in the night, reclusive St. Louisian Joe Andert made a rare appearance as the crowd warmed up beneath Indian Blanket’s masterfully woven aural tapestry. Layered strings, each with its own purpose, entwined in plateaus of anticipation until the band allowed itself resolution, always in an unexpected direction. Andert displayed a sharp folksinger’s ear for entering each song just before the audience expected it and then turning the rhythm on its head once they caught up with him. Indian Blanket flaunted boundless creativity throughout in a set that culminated fittingly in a cover of “Moonshiner,” the woefully wily lament penned by one of Woody’s best students. 

Kyle Kapper

>>PREVIEW: White Mystery, The Brainstems, Dad Jr, Bruiser Queen, Animal Talk, Skarekrau Radio Tuesday, March 5 at mushmaus

Alex White has been shaking her kinky red hair for years now, fronting a variety of different bands in Chicago. She’s a garage-rock dynamo who always seemed like she should be playing to bigger crowds than she was—it was clear she had a vision for her shows, and just needed a crowd who could keep up,

Turns out the secret was to turn up the red: White Mystery is a two-piece band with her brother Francis Scott Key White, who sports just as much ginger shag and shakes it just as hard. Their hair is as eye-catching as any light show—moreso, because anyone can throw up some lights. They rock in a brash and bratty way, and their songs rain down like body blows. They did a ton of touring last year in the US and abroad, including a long stint with the legendary Shonen Knife. 

This show celebrates zine releases by both Mr. Ben of Freezer Burn, and the goofballs behind Acid Kat Zine. Both have been livening up the STL music world for awhile, and this is a perfect opportunity to get in on the joke. 

by Evan Sult

DIVINO NIÑO New Video for "Woman"

Divino Niño, playing tomorrow night at Eleven's WHERE IS MY MIND TONIGHT? party at mushmaus! Though it sounds like a smoky slow-burner from the '60s, this video for "Woman" is brand new. If you enjoy Sixto Rodriguez in "Searching for Sugarman," and/or Tuneyards' loop-savvy percussion, plan on enjoying yourself at the party. Divino Niño's first up!

>>PREVIEW: Vintage Trouble, February 15 at The Demo

OK, first off: have you heard about the newest joint in town: The Demo? Well, The Fox Hole at Atomic Cowboy is being transformed into the new venue, which will be run by some familiar folks: bookers from both Lola and Firebird will be pitching in to bring more live music life to the Grove’s nightlife. This should be good news for the nieghborhood, and should be welcomed by the Gramophone, an excellent but sometimes undertrafficked venue that could use some live-music neighbors to help spur audiences over thataway.

But have you heard about their opening night show? Vintage Trouble is a searing hot slab of showmanship, bringing James Brown’s twitch and jive (and tightly tailored suits) to the modern era. Singer Ty Tyler is a spinning, wailing, mesmerizing dervish, and the whole band burns down every song in their repertoire. It’s that same old revelation: truly great moves make a truly great show.

And speaking of old-school legit: their gig at The Demo is squeezed between arena dates on their US tour opening for The Who. Even if you don’t take my word on Vintage Trouble’s moves and grooves, I happily defer to the wisdom of Pete Townsend and crew. Considering they’re playing such an intimate room, this is one case where you’ll want to be there when it goes down.
Evan Sult

>>PREVIEW: dada, Jerad Finck, 7Horse, This City of Takers, Sunday February 10 at Old Rock House

When it comes to well-crafted 90's/early 00's power-pop that has withstood the test of time, it really doesn't get a whole lot better than dada. The Los Angeles trio, consisting of guitarist Michael Gurley, bassist Joie Calio, and drummer Phil Leavitt, created some of the most melodic and memorable music of that era; served up with tight three-part harmonies and more hooks than most coat racks. Best known for their hits “Dizz Knee Land” and “Dim”, both off of their debut (and arguably finest) release Puzzle, dada also has a strong reputation for playing marathon-length shows, which generally last about two and a half hours (almost twice as long as most rock groups play these days, outside of the jam-band category). After a several year hiatus from national touring, they are currently making up for that lost time with an impressively extensive (and most likely exhausting), six week, 34-date tour that is a well-deserved celebration of dada's 20th anniversary.

What separates this monumental tour from others before it is that the band will be (a) playing towns that it has rarely, if ever, played before, and (b) performing songs that it has seldom, if ever, performed live. According to the band's website, Calio promises they'll be “digging deep into our roots—examining and celebrating them."

Another intriguing aspect of this tour is that one of the two opening acts (both will play on every date) is a countrified blues, drums/electric guitar/harmonica duo comprised of Calio and Leavitt called 7Horse. This isn't just dada reworked or revamped; it's a totally new, fresh-sounding project that Calio says “allowed two friends to discover radically new sides of each other.” In addition to arriving early enough to catch their set, you should check out their highly addictive song “Low Fuel Drug Run” online—it's pretty damn great.
Michele Ulsohn

>>PREVIEW: Tift Merritt, David Wax Museum, Saturday February 9 at Off Broadway

By trading a youth spent in archetypal Smalltown, USA, for a studio space shared with Yim Yames and Andrew Bird, Tift Merritt went from a place where everybody knew everybody to a place where everybody wants to know her. On her fifth and latest album, Traveling Alone, she tells us how she knows herself, exploring loneliness, loss, and ultimately, perseverance—darker themes than one might expect, given her laidback persona.

Merritt didn’t have a label or a manager when she recorded Traveling Alone, but when you can borrow guitarists from Dylan and drummers from Calexico, and when Emmylou Harris dubs you a “diamond in a coal patch,” magic can be expected. The album does not disappoint. Recorded in just eight days in Brooklyn, its tales fuse the steely confidence of Judy Collins with the dreamy desperation of Ryan Adams at his best. It’s unsurprising to learn that Merritt is also a writer and photographer, as her artistic fruits brim over with a southern-fried edge that leaves no doubt she can stand alone when the time comes.

Setting the stage for Ms. Merritt will be David Wax Museum, at its core the unlikely pair of David Wax and Suz Slezak who came together—he from Harvard and she from Columbia, MO—by bonding over a shared passion for Mexican Americana. A performance from David Wax Museum has that vivacious anything-can-happen (and anything-can-be-an-instrument) quality that makes the stage even better than the studio. Just when you’ve accepted that the jawbone of an ass can provide raucous percussion beneath horns and strings, DWM transcends into lush back-porch gospel harmonies.
Kyle Kapper

>>PREVIEW: Water Liars, Angel Olsen, February 7 at Off Broadway

The first time I saw Water Liars, I wished desperately for a whiskey—their road-weary songs and highway-hypnosis reverb of the alt-country via rock ’n roll duo just seemed to be calling for the heat of liquor in the throat. This was in the basement of a local college where The Mountain Goats were scheduled to play. Preparing the way for John Darnielle’s literate poetry set to music is a tall order, but Justin Kinkel-Schuster and Andrew Bryant were more than equal to the task. Thundering opener “$100” from their debut album, Phantom Limb, introduced their head-nodding barnburner of a set, a grunge-tinged slab of drone-rock between passages of ear-bleeding country.


2012 went by quick, and included the death of Kinkel-Schuster’s previous hometown hero band Theodore, the formation of Water Liars, the debut album on Misra, touring the US most of the year, and signing with Fat Possum Records for their second effort. It’s that highly anticipated record, titled Wyoming and coming out March 5, that will be showcased at this homecoming Off Broadway stop. If you haven’t seen these busybodies yet, catch them now—before they’re selling out The Pageant.

Jason Robinson