LOCAL EXPOSURE: The secret's out, and it's magical.

(The sheer awesomeness of Adam Sabla's rock stance often drives Suzy Q into coughing fits. © 2009 Jennifer Perutka.)

Friday night’s Junior Major show at the Biltmore Cabaret was a classy affair. With the miniature chandeliers and moody lighting, the Biltmore can make you think you’ve time-warped back to the 40s and that some Sinatra-style crooner is about to hit the stage. Of course, overhearing some well-sauced girl behind me talk about how she “felt so indie” soon dispelled that illusion. But even being stuck here in the twenty-first century, it was still a night to remember.

The Good News kicked things off with some danceable and very catchy indie pop (sounding not unlike a drastically less annoying and more musically varied Hot Hot Heat) and The Paper Cranes came over from the Island to close the show, but with Junior Major giving their debut album Secret Magic a physical release, the night belonged to Suzy Q, Katy Major, Adam Sabla (now on bass), and their kick-ass new drummer Tony Dallas.

The show was billed as a CD release party (with the first 50 people in the door getting a free copy of Secret Magic) but when Junior Major took the stage, it was clear they had their sights fixed on new horizons. The band played only 5 of the 11 songs on their debut album (sadly, no “Dirty Birds”), instead concentrating on a slew of newer material as they prepare to start recording their second album in February. A lot of these newer songs see Junior Major breaking from the so-catchy-it-hurts formula of tracks like “Fool’s Gold” and embracing more melodic possibilities. In part, this might be because of new compositional methods - Suzy told the crowd that “Runaway” was originally written for the piano - or the new band dynamic, but I think it’s likelier Junior Major are eager to evolve as a band, throwing new curves into their songs just to see what works. “Hungerbabies”, which was introduced as “another song about lust; surprise, surprise”, certainly succeeds on this front. It’s just as rambunctious as the best Junior Major songs, but sleeker and more sophisticated in its execution.

That said, it was the classic Junior Major songs that carried the show on Friday. Mic problems haunted the set-opening “Boa Constrictor”, but were thankfully corrected in time for “I Still Don’t Hate You” (still Junior Major’s best song, and even better live with Katy Major adding a venomous “motherfucker” to every line in the verse). Meanwhile, “Surface Socket”, a song that was released on their MySpace long before Secret Magic came out, seems to have taken on new legs thanks to their enhanced rhythm section.

Though the show was a celebration of past triumphs, it’s clear from both the set list and the lineup changes that Junior Major is ready to machete their way out of the wilderness of Yeah Yeah Yeahs comparisons into a future more distinctly their own. Bring on the sophomore album.

LIVE WIRE: Jenny Lewis in an after-school special.

(Archive photo: Jenny Lewis playing with Rilo Kiley at The Showbox in Seattle, WA. © 2007 Benjamin Luk.)

No, that’s not a photo taken from her show at Western Washington. Sadly, Jenny Lewis' show at WWU had a strict no-photo policy. At first, the disappointment of not being able to shoot after going to all the trouble of bringing my camera down from Vancouver had me in a foul mood, but when I finally understood how intimate the concert would be, and that it was Jenny’s second solo show ever, I was content to sit back and let her alluring country chanteuse voice wash over me.

The setting couldn’t have been any better. The PAC Concert Hall is an orchestral 650-seat venue with hardwood floors and a soaring ceiling, complete with sound deflecting panels high up in the air. In a space like that, and with Jenny’s ability to fill any room with her voice alone, it was hard not to feel as though you’d been best friends with her all your life. No glitz, no glamour here. Following an astounding performance from Portland folk-rockers Norfolk & Western, Jenny emerged from stage right, humble but confident in tight-fitting jeans and a threadbare white T-shirt so old, the holes in it lent the evening an odd sort of quiet sex appeal. Alone, onstage, Jenny opened with a soulful rendition of “Rabbit Fur Coat” to a spellbound audience, and unlike the lyrics of many other bands and performers I’d heard in the past few years, I listened to every word.

“This song is about a guy who just lost his job two days ago,” Jenny said, smirking. “He’s from Washington [DC]. Maybe some of you know him.” The opening chords to “It’s A Hit” rang out to a roomful of cheering. Throughout the night, Jenny kept a friendly banter with the crowd and even Johnathan Rice eventually won me over with his charm and wit, though his Elvis Costello impression from “Carpetbaggers” was downright offensive, not just to Costello but to the entire idea of singing. (This is gonna sound bad, but picture Sean Penn from I Am Sam singing karaoke to The Sex Pistols.) But what surprised me most about the night was how well Jenny and Johnathan interacted onstage, casually flirting back and forth and playing off each other’s chemistry. It was as though because they each knew each other so well and understood the secret hidden meanings behind each lyric, they bared a part of themselves to us that night. Their duet of Gram Parsons’ “Love Hurts” was one of the most moving concert experiences I’ve ever been privy to.

Jenny later said that playing solo shows was intensely different from playing with the safety net of a backing band: “[The songs are] stripped down… makes me remember what they were really about when I first wrote them.” I could see that. “Silver Lining” was no longer a 90’s pop hit, but a ballad about ephemeral love. And “Rise Up With Fists” was no longer about personal empowerment, but about human weakness. But what I remember most was Jenny coming right up to the front of the crowd during “A Better Son/Daughter”. Being in the front row, there was a moment when I could have easily reached out to touch her. There’s something about the energy she gives off during a performance that makes her seem almost superhuman. As far as I’m concerned, Jenny Lewis will always be rock royalty.

Jenny Lewis' WWU Set List:

• Rabbit Fur Coat
• It's A Hit
• Pretty Bird
• Carpetbaggers
• The Charging Sky
• Paradise
• Melt Your Heart
• You Are What You Love
• End of the Affair
• Rise Up With Fists
• Silver Lining
• A Better Son/Daughter
• Happy
• Love Hurts
• It Wasn't Me
• Godspeed*
• The Big Guns*
• Acid Tongue*

* Songs marked with an asterisk were played during the encore.

Special thanks to Ali of 3D Management.

OFF THE RECORD: Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

(Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records.)

This album really shouldn’t be anywhere near as good as it is. I mean, historically speaking, when singers take time away from their main band to tinker away at solo albums, the results usually pale in comparison. Oftentimes, the chemistry provided by other band members proves irreplaceable, as was readily apparent in a great many post-Beatles McCartney or Lennon efforts. It can also mean that there’s no one left to say no to bad ideas. (Just listen to any Richard Ashcroft album.) Which makes it all the more astounding that Acid Tongue is not just a great solo album, but also a better album than anything Jenny Lewis has released with Rilo Kiley.

One reason for this is that Acid Tongue is far more eclectic than Under the Blacklight (where Rilo Kiley seemed hell-bent on sacrificing artistic success for commercial glory). Within the first three songs, Acid Tongue veers from the straightforward balladry of “Black Sand” to the chilled-out bass-heavy “Pretty Bird” to the ten-minute(!) bluesy bluster of “Next Messiah”. Even within the songs themselves, Lewis seems more willing to take risks. By the time you’ve gotten used to the faux-Latin flavour of “See Fernando”, she pulls the musical rug out from under you by reverting to a bare-bones handclap and vocals bridge.

Another reason Acid Tongue succeeds is the musicianship on display. Clearly, Jenny has met a fair share of talented individuals throughout her nearly ten-year musical career (in fact, Rolling Stone recently ran a feature on a “new scene” emerging in the Laurel Canyon which includes Lewis), and Acid Tongue certainly doesn’t lack guest appearances. Matt Ward of She and Him lends some moody guitar licks to “Pretty Bird”, Zooey Deschanel supplies backing vocals at odd intervals, and even that wily old codger Elvis Costello gets a verse in on “Carpetbaggers”.

But the star of the show is always Jenny, whose voice is maturing into a distinctive and powerful force. She can show restraint, as on the beautiful piano-led “Godspeed”, or howl and holler with the best of them on the thrilling blues ripper “Jack Killed Mom”. Her songwriting has also clearly grown since the early days of Rilo Kiley, when the sheer number of syllables sometimes got in the way of the melody. On Acid Tongue, she uses her lines economically by loading them with evocative images instead, like this memorable couplet from the closing “Sing a Song For Them”: “For the little girls with the carousel eyes / And the bric-a-brac finding housewives losing their minds.”

If there’s a problem to be found with Acid Tongue, it’s that it lacks that magical sonic cohesion that marks truly classic albums such as Blonde on Blonde or Astral Weeks. And yet, the musical tangents are what make this album such a fresh and exciting listen. Besides, to fault Ms. Lewis for opening herself up to new artistic territories seems like poor criticism when she succeeds so well, song after song after brilliant song.

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Next up: Ben travels south of the border to Bellingham to see Jenny play live! Humour the poor bastard by following him on Twitter starting 10 a.m. on January 22nd. He'll be tweeting from the Greyhound, the border, Bellingham and everywhere in between.

LOCAL EXPOSURE: There's just no Parallel for good TVee.

(Kyle "Bullitt" McQueen of The TVees isn't really a singer. He's just trying to catch Skittles in his mouth. © 2009 Benjamin Luk.)

What started as a casual night of drinking at The Beehive (Honey Lounge) soon became yet another fantastic Vancouver indie night for us at the blog to remember for months to come. Kaleena, Pearce and I hunkered down in cushy seats the moment we arrived, and the ambiance was immediate: 50s-style dresses, Audrey Hepburn-esque updos and fedoras all made appearances within the 20-something crowd. At first, the atmosphere was decidedly chill, with Katie GoGo and Suzy Q singing sultry jazz room duets just over the background noise. We all carried on a conversation at first, and though neither Katie nor Suzy explicitly requested that we pay attention, we gave it to them willingly.

When The Parallels came up, it was like they were made of magnets. The entire room gravitated towards the improvised stage, and I put down my beer and fished out my camera. Being faithful to the spirit of 50s and 60s rock in this day and age of overindulgent electronica and hip-hop pop excess is like an oasis in the desert. “Arms to Hold You” reminded me of The Who, the electric keyboard set to Organ brought to mind The Zombies, and over it all, the way they spat out each line like a shot of whiskey made me think of The Hives. Pearce mentioned that they even had their Beatlesy moments, covering “One After 909” successfully and with panache. See a short clip of The Parallels performing below.

Note: Please excuse the poor sound and subpar video quality. We're learning to optimize in coming weeks.

The TVees continued the vibe with tunes like “My Baby” and “Stranded”, which could all just have easily been a Kinks B-side. The bouncy bass rhythms and bright catchy hooks kicked me ass-backwards about three decades, back to an age when mushroom haircuts were all the rage and everyone dressed like a prep school bookstore clerk. It was just the kind of thing to get us all moving. Easily one of the best indie live acts Vancouver has to offer, and immediately approachable, meaning they’re just as likely to get your mom all hot and bothered as they are your sister in junior high. It’s honestly refreshing to see this generation of youngsters picking up on the music of decades past and making it their own.

It was over a year ago ThatRockBlog.com first found out about Katie and Suzy and the musical shindigs they throw. Even after all these months, the magic is still there, and for only a fraction of what you’d pay anywhere else to see something just as good.

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For all you Flickrites out there, be sure to add both Benjamin Luk and ThatRockBlog.com as Contacts so you can see our concert shots in all their full-resolution glory. Ben is also on Twitter.

General update #8.

(Exactly like the iPod commercials. Only with no iPod. Or funky silhouettes. © 2008 Ami Sanyal.)

Hm. That didn’t go as planned at all.

If you’re here reading this right now, it’s most likely because you’ve clicked a link from Twitter or Facebook informing you ThatRockBlog.com isn’t the rabies-infected Labrador Retriever you thought it was, so you can probably put down that rifle now. In fact, we’re busier than ever. Our work just doesn’t necessarily end up on the site.

True to his word, Pearce has actually been busy churning out album reviews but alas, the cruel hand of crappy PC fate slapped him right in the vas deferens when it crashed horribly last month, taking all his hard work with it. Since the tragedy, Pearce has been working on lining up shows for our kick-ass little band, The Best Revenge. We’re headlining a show at The Balmoral with local weirdos Elton Bong and Tight Solid on the 17th, and this is your exclusive invitation. Doors at 9, only $7 (more info).

Meanwhile, I’ve been sowing the seeds for coverage on the West Coast south of the border. As you may have noticed on our sidebar, we’ll be covering the upcoming Jenny Lewis show at WWU on the 22nd, possibly with guest photographer Krystin Norman! We’ve also been staying up to date on various local artists, and Pearce, Kaleena and I will all be at The Beehive tonight, partying with Katie GoGo and Suzy Q of Junior Major. To top it all off, I’m finally getting paid for my work: Check out this outstanding Glasvegas review from Exclaim.ca, complete with – though I can’t prove it – my shot from Richard’s last Sunday.

It’s just a clusterfuck of music mayhem these days, and I hope you’ll stay with us in the months to come as we plow towards 2010. We’re really not going anywhere. We just like taking extended naps.