Live: Palomar, Tom Heidl, Holly Golightly
August 12, 2005, Ottobar, Baltimore, MD
I'd been looking forward to this show since I saw it on the Ottobar site a few months ago all because of one Holly Golightly song, "Your Love is Mine." The song is just that good. It's probably hard for a show to really live up to the expectations of one great song, but tonight, no one song could prepare me for this show.
Brooklyn-based Palomar opened to a sparse crowd. I read a little about them before hand and expected that I'd like them. What I didn't expect is that I'd love them. They didn't exhibit tremendous technical prowess, but that was the beauty of their music. It's always more fascinating to be blown away by a band's intangible skills than by their overt talent. The rhythm section was deceptively strong. THe drumming was sharp and precise, but never flashy. Every song rode on the back of the bass lines, yet they were subtle enough that I had to really pay attention to realize it. The interwoven guitar parts were sparse with simple but well-phrased leads. Much of the time this presented itself as pleasant, layered indie pop. But other times, it turned into a wall of fuzzy garage sound. The vocals were always great, sometimes including punk rock "whoa-oahs" and sometimes including 60s girl group pop. Palomar played perfect pop with a manic undercurrent reminiscent of the Fastbacks (if I'm forced to make some comparison). I liked them from the start, but liked them even more with each song they played, culminating in a cacophonous jam break in their second to last song. The subtleties of Palomar's performance is what makes it so amazing. They were so good that I seriously wondered if the subsequent acts could measure up the the standard they set.
The best word to descibe Tom Heinl is "bizarre." He was like some crazy combination of Johnny Cash and Jonathan Richman. At times I thought he could play children's birthday parties and at others I was a little bit afraid that music was the only thing that kept him from being dangerous. He played guitar on the same number of songs during which he wore a Grizzly Adams beard - one each. The rest of the time, he played backing tracks on a tape deck and sang along in his deep, rich (and rather good) voice or read from his 5th grade journal (and I really think it was his 5th grade journal from 1976). Heinl is a novelty act, but he's a good one. He's funny and oddly genuine and he's a fine singer. Best of all, he was such a change of pace from Palomar that he minimized any let down that he or Holly Golightly might have suffered from following Palomar's incredible performance.
I went to this show to see Holly Golightly, but by the time she went on I wasn't sure she'd be able to overcome the strength of Palomar or quirkiness of Tom Heinl. She'd have to be as good as I hoped just to live up to the standard. It only took her a few seconds to prove she up to the challenge. From the start, Holly and her band were cooking and they seemlessly shifted from simmer to boil. Her drummer was amazing. He was loose, but kept his playing tight at the same time and he got visibly excited when his parts picked up. In a strage twist, he gave up the drum chair to play organ for the second half of the set. The guitarist took his place and was clearly a step down, being adequate, but not outstanding. The step backward in drumming was more than made up for in the sheer soul coming from that Hammond organ though. The guitarist, before moving behind the drum kit, was a well-versed blues player. He didn't break new ground, but played with an intensity and understanding that escapes most guitarists. The bass lines were all solid, but unspectacular. The bass player would actually show his strength on guitar (in yet another instrument switch) during the encore. The band was good, but the Holly's voice is the main attraction. She can go from delicate and breathy to bold and powerful from phrase to phrase with such ease that it moved me without shaking me. She's a blues singer through and through, but has an incredible Patsy Cline quality as well. The set ranged from slow, intense blues numbers (including "Your Love is Mine") to upbeat rockabilly tunes and they throw in just a dash of psychedelia that would have rivaled the Doors at their bluesiest. The set was strong enough that I hoped she would let it stand and skip the encore, but she didn't. She came back for a couple songs, all of which made me glad she returned, and finally finished with just her and the bass player on guitar. It was even more stripped down than the rest of the set and ended a fine performance (actually a fine night of performances) on a very poignant note.
Both Palomar and Holly Golightly gave performances worthy of headlining and Tom Heinl was an awful lot of fun, so I had a pretty great Friday night for the $10 price at the door.
I'd been looking forward to this show since I saw it on the Ottobar site a few months ago all because of one Holly Golightly song, "Your Love is Mine." The song is just that good. It's probably hard for a show to really live up to the expectations of one great song, but tonight, no one song could prepare me for this show.
Brooklyn-based Palomar opened to a sparse crowd. I read a little about them before hand and expected that I'd like them. What I didn't expect is that I'd love them. They didn't exhibit tremendous technical prowess, but that was the beauty of their music. It's always more fascinating to be blown away by a band's intangible skills than by their overt talent. The rhythm section was deceptively strong. THe drumming was sharp and precise, but never flashy. Every song rode on the back of the bass lines, yet they were subtle enough that I had to really pay attention to realize it. The interwoven guitar parts were sparse with simple but well-phrased leads. Much of the time this presented itself as pleasant, layered indie pop. But other times, it turned into a wall of fuzzy garage sound. The vocals were always great, sometimes including punk rock "whoa-oahs" and sometimes including 60s girl group pop. Palomar played perfect pop with a manic undercurrent reminiscent of the Fastbacks (if I'm forced to make some comparison). I liked them from the start, but liked them even more with each song they played, culminating in a cacophonous jam break in their second to last song. The subtleties of Palomar's performance is what makes it so amazing. They were so good that I seriously wondered if the subsequent acts could measure up the the standard they set.
The best word to descibe Tom Heinl is "bizarre." He was like some crazy combination of Johnny Cash and Jonathan Richman. At times I thought he could play children's birthday parties and at others I was a little bit afraid that music was the only thing that kept him from being dangerous. He played guitar on the same number of songs during which he wore a Grizzly Adams beard - one each. The rest of the time, he played backing tracks on a tape deck and sang along in his deep, rich (and rather good) voice or read from his 5th grade journal (and I really think it was his 5th grade journal from 1976). Heinl is a novelty act, but he's a good one. He's funny and oddly genuine and he's a fine singer. Best of all, he was such a change of pace from Palomar that he minimized any let down that he or Holly Golightly might have suffered from following Palomar's incredible performance.
I went to this show to see Holly Golightly, but by the time she went on I wasn't sure she'd be able to overcome the strength of Palomar or quirkiness of Tom Heinl. She'd have to be as good as I hoped just to live up to the standard. It only took her a few seconds to prove she up to the challenge. From the start, Holly and her band were cooking and they seemlessly shifted from simmer to boil. Her drummer was amazing. He was loose, but kept his playing tight at the same time and he got visibly excited when his parts picked up. In a strage twist, he gave up the drum chair to play organ for the second half of the set. The guitarist took his place and was clearly a step down, being adequate, but not outstanding. The step backward in drumming was more than made up for in the sheer soul coming from that Hammond organ though. The guitarist, before moving behind the drum kit, was a well-versed blues player. He didn't break new ground, but played with an intensity and understanding that escapes most guitarists. The bass lines were all solid, but unspectacular. The bass player would actually show his strength on guitar (in yet another instrument switch) during the encore. The band was good, but the Holly's voice is the main attraction. She can go from delicate and breathy to bold and powerful from phrase to phrase with such ease that it moved me without shaking me. She's a blues singer through and through, but has an incredible Patsy Cline quality as well. The set ranged from slow, intense blues numbers (including "Your Love is Mine") to upbeat rockabilly tunes and they throw in just a dash of psychedelia that would have rivaled the Doors at their bluesiest. The set was strong enough that I hoped she would let it stand and skip the encore, but she didn't. She came back for a couple songs, all of which made me glad she returned, and finally finished with just her and the bass player on guitar. It was even more stripped down than the rest of the set and ended a fine performance (actually a fine night of performances) on a very poignant note.
Both Palomar and Holly Golightly gave performances worthy of headlining and Tom Heinl was an awful lot of fun, so I had a pretty great Friday night for the $10 price at the door.
posted by bob_vinyl at 11:31 PM
1 Comments:
Your reviews are a joy to read; it's like being there. Well, almost. You know what I mean.
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