<< Yeah, he was the best part of the show. His stuff reminded me of Graham
Parker, only a little more dark in content. Varnaline had some decent
stuff,
but Sparklehorse was horrible. I'm getting tired of bands being labeled
"alt-country" just because there's a doghouse bass or a fiddle. Believe me,
it was noise. >>
Noise, he says, sitting in his rocking chair, soaking his dentures. Man, what
old man possessed you? Sparklehorse last month in San Francisco was one of
the best gigs I've seen in over a year. I'll accept the tag alt-country, at
least the more rock ND definition of it (as opposed to the country version
that might mean Don Waller, Wayne Hancock, etc), but it has less to do with
the fact that there is a upright bass and fiddle than the fact that their
quiet acoustic songs are as human as they come. Besides, I prefer to think of
them as folk-punk, whatever that means. Either way, Mark Linkous is one of
the best things to happen in my musical life in several years.
Anyhoo, that's the great thing about this list, one man's noise is another
man's savoir. Although someone please slap me across the face if they ever
catch slipping into geriatric mode and calling cutting edge music "noise."
I'm not interested in growing old and becoming my parents just yet.
Noise-ally yours,
Neal Weiss
