Monday, October 29, 2007

Swerve the Swervants

I fulfilled a long-held desire by attending the Gogol Bordello concert in Atlanta, and I would recommend their live show to anyone. Even if you are not familiar with their songs, the musicians and dancers create a carnivalesque spectacle onstage, and they encourage the crowd to shout and stomp along. It was like standing in front of a parade.

Eugene Hutz suggested that those of us who didn't know the words could simply shout "taranta, taranta" during "every fccking song". "Start Wearing Purple" seemed to be the crowd favorite, perhaps because it was featured (along with Hutz himself) in the film Everything Is Illuminated. The show ended with an epic and exultant version of "Baro Foro".

I decided against driving down to the Fest, mainly because the Figgs and the Marked Men played at the same time (in two different venues). I do wish I could have seen Baroness at the Fest. Baroness is a metal band from Savannah; they have a modern sound, without the cookie monster vocals, but they occasionally harken back to the Southern boogie bands that had twin-guitar and triple-guitar lineups. Check out the guitar leads that start around the 2:15 mark of The Birthing. If you like it, pick up The Red Album, the new debut album by Baroness. Check out the beautiful album cover art at the band's myspace. More art by Baroness frontman John Dyer Baizley is on display here. Some of the art he's done for Baroness and other bands can be purchased on t-shirts here.

Awesome news: Swervedriver will reunite and tour next year! Dates and venues TBA. Coincidentally, the blog Wilfully Obscure recently posted a bevy of Swervedriver rarities. Sweet!

2 Comments:

At 10/30/2007 2:05 PM , Blogger grigorss said...

I missed Gogol Bordello's recent performance here in La-la land; as well as that of Beirut, who I think I would have enjoyed seeing live even more -- perhaps I start start reading music blogs written by somebody who lives closer than 2000+ miles away from me...

 
At 10/30/2007 9:02 PM , Blogger jonder said...

There are some great blogs out there.
Try Medication (from LA):
http://buddyhead.typepad.com/medication/

Or Lil' Mike's Last Known Thoughts (from SF):
http://lilmikesf.blogspot.com/

 

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