Tag: catfish haven

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Pink Mountaintops and Black Angels at the Empty Bottle

Black Mountain’s self-titled CD was one of my favorites in 2005. This year, I discovered Pink Mountaintops, sort of an alter ego of Black Mountain. Both bands are led by Stephen McBean, and both bands are dominated by his great groove guitar riffs and his vocals, which seem to me to have a certain hippy/slacker vibe. Pink Mountaintops is not as heavy as Black Mountain, but it’s not exactly a lite-rock version of that band. I’ve yet to hear the first album by Pink Mountaintops (Jessica Hopper wrote an illuminating commentary on both of the band’s records in the Chicago Reader, and now I’m eager to hear that first record). The new one is very good, though, and this concert was, too.

Given the fact that this band is mostly Stephen McBean (or so it seems), it was interesting to see so many musicians crowding onto the stage – seven. Plus, a number of musicians from the two opening acts got onto the stage at times, giving the whole concert a weird party-like atmosphere. McBean is reserved onstage, saying little between songs but letting his singing and guitar riffs say a lot. 
SEE PHOTOS OF PINK MOUNTAINTOPS.

One of the opening acts, the Black Angels, practically stole the show. I’ve been wanting to hear this Austin band since I missed them at SXSW. What I heard tonight: intense, psychedelic guitar playing, and more than a few yelps of intensity. Great stuff. I picked up the two Black Angels CDs at the show, and after a couple of listens, the 2006 full-length Passover is sounding outstanding.
SEE PHOTOS OF THE BLACK ANGELS.

The first act of the night was Chicago’s Catfish Haven. I’ve said before that I can’t quite get into this band. I like their sound for a song or two, but then it wears thin – I think because they don’t vary their hard-strummed acoustic guitar/spastic bass/drums formula from song to song. That said, I can hear some good songwriting going on in there, and the spastic bass playing was more spastic than ever.
SEE PHOTOS OF CATFISH HAVEN.

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The Reigning Sound at Subterranean

JULY 1, 2005
THE TOUGH & LOVELY
CATFISH HAVEN
THE REIGNING SOUND
at Subterranean

Pity the band with that first opening-act slot… The musicians walk out onto the stage in front of a mostly empty dance floor, which will be packed with people later on the same night. Or so I was thinking as the first group got ready to play tonight. I wasn’t even sure what they were called (and despite the lead singer’s saying the name a couple of times, I wasn’t sure that they were the Tough & Lovely until I stopped by the merch table later).

But tonight it took all of about five seconds to recognize that the lead singer of the Columbus, Ohio-based Tough & Lovely, Lara Yazvac, has quite a voice — big and brassy, and totally in her control. And the band sounded pretty tight as it played some darn catchy songs, very much rooted in the sound of the early ’60s. With Yazvac on vocals, it was hard not to think of the classic girl groups from that era, though, not suprisingly, the Tough & Lovely are contemporary enough to add a touch of punk here and there. Some fine organ playing was part of the mix, too.

It was clear the Tough & Lovely won over the crowd, even though most people at Subterranean had never heard their music before.I just had to stop by the merch table afterward and buy a copy of the Tough & Lovely’s 2004 CD Born of the Stars. Sounds good on first listen. One standout track is the one called “Tough and Lovely” — carrying on the odd tradition of songs with titles that are the same or similar to the band name. This is definitely a band to watch.

Catfish Haven had the middle slot. I’ve seen this Chicago trio a few times, usually as an opening act, and I have trouble mustering much enthusiasm for their music. If I heard a short snippet from one of their songs, I think I’d say it sounded good, and some of the snippets might even sound great, but the lack of variety in their songs becomes a little tedious after a while. It’s all song at the same intense pitch, with lots of heavily strummed acoustic guitar on top of the bass and drums. I kept thinking that I might like this music better if these three musicians had some additional helpers to balance out the sound — maybe a real lead guitarist who could take solos, or a keyboard player, or a female singer. Anything to add something different.

The Reigning Sound are also a trio, and like Catfish Haven, they don’t really change up their basic sound that much during the course of a show. But their sound is so good, and their songs are so good, that it hardly matters.

Singer-guitarist Greg Cartwright plays with a no-frills set up — no effects pedals, no electric tuner. At the end of the show he played about four songs without bothering to fix a broken string. He didn’t even have a set list on the floor in front of him. He occasionally consulted a song list sitting behind him on an amp, but it seemed more like he was running through a list of available songs to see which ones they hadn’t played yet. A couple of times, the Reigning Sound obliged audience requests, and during the encore, Cartwright had to come over and tell the bassist the chords for a song they hadn’t rehearsed.

The fans loved it all, singing along with the Reigning Sound’s garage rock anthems. I can’t wait for their new album.

SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THE TOUGH & LOVELY AND THE REIGNING SOUND.