November, 2005 | KISSES & NOISE

Last updated by at November 13, 2012.

Tegan and Sara at The Social 11.25.2005

Nov 252005

Couldn't find any nude images of these two going butt-to-butt so this will have to do.

We know what you’re thinking: They’re gay and Canadian … great. Actually, neither of these contribute greatly to Tegan and Sara’s sonic integrity; it’s just that obnoxious music types like us feel the need to attack easy targets (especially the Canadian thing). Between their Lilith-Fair / Ani DiFranco-ish beginnings and their present manicured power-pop delivery, the sister’s Quinn must be doing something right. After being discovered by Neil Young, they were hand-picked to open for the likes of Chrissie Hynde, Ryan Adams, and Rufus Wainwright. Their latest album, So Jealous, is a well-crafted, punky, pop-y, low-fi gem, produced in part by the New Pornographers’ David Carswell, with musical contributions by Matt Sharp (Weezer, the Rentals). Even mainstream garage Goliath’s like the White Stripes covered T&S’s “Walking With a Ghost” and screwed it up.

A T&S show should include folksy but gutsy acoustic duets, charged and catchy garage pop and, of course, their infamous onstage banter. Rumor has it these yummy twins can get a bit blue during their act. Behave, ladies – don’t make us discipline you.

Article originally appeared in the Orlando Weekly, November 24-30 2005

The Rebirth Brass Band at The Social 10.19.2005

Concert Previews No Responses »

Nov 172005

The Rebirth Brass Band

If this years trip to the Big Easy, for let’s say the Voodoo Fest or Mardi Gras, is cancelled due to fears of inept government infrastructure or possibly being shot in the face because you were mistaken for an aid worker; have no fear a fat slice of N’awlins is visiting O-Town. The vivacious sounds and raucous rhythms of RBB will stomp and march their way through The Social extolling the virtues of brass band tradition with a twist. They blend their traditional feel with contemporary sensibilities. Booming up-tempo tunes, spirituals, rags, and marching numbers are infused heavy funk, pounding rhythms, and pop, rock, and rap nuances. Like fellow New Orleans progressives the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, RBB invokes a cocky and cool redesign of the brass band.

Each tune starts with the tuba, but not your chubby cousin Clarence’s tuba, but thick rhythmic notes that sound more like hip-hop bass lines than a high school marching band. Bright vivid horns soon follow with a booming bass drum and cadence driven snare, creating a sound that is more foot driven than heady. Their music is true and honest, graduating from the streets of New Orleans to play theatres and festivals world wide. So we advise you to come and listen to the music that started it all in America and feel what it was like to be a rocker at the turn of the twentieth century. Think of the beauty of the Mississippi River Delta, get drunk, get beads, (ladies) take off your shirts, and give room service a jangle to fetch you some etouffee.

Article originally appeared in the Orlando Weekly, November 17 -23 2005

Sage Francis at The Social 11.8.2005

Concert Previews No Responses »

Nov 142005

Vicious vegan

Normally, we would rather stay home and remove our own pubic hair with a roll of masking tape than listen to a white, straight-edge, vegetarian, political rapper from Rhode Island. Every deliciously painful yank of the tape would be a symphony compared to the lame droning of emo hip-hop, except for the overwhelming fact that Sage Francis is for real. He is a battle hardened, road tested MC and spoken word poet. As the first rapper signed to Epitaph records Sage brings wicked beats and scathing, insightful rhymes to his brand of DIY hip-hop. Francis on-stage with an 808 makes Eminem’s arena show seem like the Muppets on Ice. On topics like George W. Bush and globalization Sage’s venomous lyrics will have independent thinkers, libertarians, Green partiers, and cry baby Kerry supporters licking their chops, while the conservative right will cluck disapprovingly (or have absolutely no idea who Sage Francis is).

As part of the KnowMore.org Tour with, among others, our own Sol Illiquists of Sound, you will know more with all the science they be droppin’ Witty verbal sparring, political potshots, and dope beats will prevail making our heads bob regardless of our meat consumption or political affiliation.

Article originally appeared in the Orlando Weekly, November 3 – 9 2005

Gov’t Mule at The House of Blues 11.15.2005

Concert Previews No Responses »

Nov 102005

Mule in Chief, Warren Haynes

Ah, the Mule. I can’t remember the last time these guys toured, oh wait, it was like four seconds ago. A cursory glance at Government Mule’s website is proof they are a perennial touring machine. The News tab and Tour tab display virtually identical content. There is no news. No drunken car wreck or supermodel marriages. How can there be when you never stop playing? Honestly, I think these guys stand on the roof of their tour bus and play for traffic en route to their next gig. One advantage to nonstop touring is developing cohesion that few bands ever attain. Although they attract twitchy Phish-heads desperate for a noodle fix, the Mule possess a powerful, majestic southern sincerity that leans more toward the grittiness of rock than the kitsch of hippy-dippy.

So wear comfortable shoes, dump a bottle of patchouli on your head and do the hippy freak-out dance until you puke up your psychedelic mushrooms because the versatile Warren Haynes and co. are going to let it rip in the state where the Mule was born.

Article originally appeared in the Orlando Weekly, November 10 ‚ 2005