Jennifer O'Connor
w/ Kevin Devine, Koufax and Pablo
Wednesday, February 14 @ 40 Watt Club
originally published February 14, 2007
Debra Francis
Jennifer O'Connor
It’s easy to draw superficial parallels between Jennifer O’Connor and Cat Power's Chan Marshall. Both ladies honed their chops in Atlanta and later found homes on Matador Records. But the similarities end there. O’Connor channels raw emotions over sweet melodies that flip between delicate acoustic arrangements and lo-fi power strumming, bending a ‘90s-centric take on Liz Phair / Pixies-esque pop and alternative rock leanings. Her 2006 Matador release, titled Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars, was not her debut, but it was something of a new beginning. After self-releasing her first EP and full-length, and a second full-length for the obscure NYC indie label Red Panda, an offer from Matador wrenched her profile to a much higher level. This is a journey that’s hinted at in the record’s namesake.
“Matador legitimized what I’m doing,” O’Connor says, adding that prior to Over the Mountains, her recordings were there, but didn’t go much farther than the hands of friends and folks who already knew her. “It was a dream come true to be part of a label with a roster of such fantastic artists and to know that I’d made a record that people will actually hear,” she says.
Her latest offering is digital EP Another Side of Jennifer O’Connor which is available through www.emusic.com. The disc features a gracefully understated rendition of Bob Dylan’s “To Ramona” from Another Side of Bob Dylan, and its release commemorates a New York Dylan tribute from last November at which O’Connor performed alongside Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Patti Smith. When she performs at the 40 Watt, it will be as a solo act, drawing attention to her own songs and powerful voice that have earned her a place amongst so many others.
Jonathan Richman with Tommy Larkin
w/ Poor Boy & Poor Kid
Friday, February 16 @ 40 Watt Club
originally published February 14, 2007
Kenny Hatchett
Jonathan Richman
For many years, I considered Jonathan Richman as a kind of anomaly. In my mind he was similar to Manchester, England’s beloved oddball poet John Cooper Clarke. Lately, though, I’ve come to regard Richman as less of a happy, boyish goofball and more as a songwriter on par with two of my favorites: Richard Thompson and Randy Newman. Richman, now 55 years old, has retained his sense of humor since entering public life 27 years ago, but there’s a serious, deeply felt humanity about his work. One must know about life in order to make fun of it.
Richman for many years would use the moniker of his original band The Modern Lovers, even though much of his work was not with any band at all and, indeed, nearly none of it with any original members. He finally retired the name in 1988. Since then, his forays into country and western music and Spanish language albums have been earmarks of his true artistry, and evidence of a curious similarity between relative obscurity and massive success: when a man finds himself in either situation, his freedom to produce what he wants when he wants is nearly guaranteed. Richman’s appearance in the miserable 1998 film There’s Something About Mary certainly raised his celebrity profile, but did little to expose more people to his music, and it’s the music that matters here.
Richman’s simplicity in tune composition led a generation of punks and rockers to cover his tunes, notably, Sex Pistols and Joan Jett. Richman isn’t an adolescent at heart or in style, but the semi-permanent young wonder of his lyricism and his touchingly honest assessment of the world remind me of nothing so much as those precious, unguarded teenage years of defiance and heartbreak. He's currently touring accompanied, as he was when he visited Athens in mid-2005, by drummer Tommy Larkin.
The Leavers
w/ Rockinwood
Friday, February 16 @ Tasty World Upstairs
originally published February 14, 2007
The Leavers
Local blues-rock band The Leavers just finished wrapping up its recordings for Collect THIS, a compilation album which will be the first release from The Ivywood Collective, a local group of like-minded musicians and artists. Recently the band added Mike Walliser on guitar, rounding out the current line-up of James Cowart (guitar), Eric Dawson (drums) and Owen Hunt (bass, vocals). Formed in 2002, The Leavers were intent on making music that was confrontational yet engaging. The band adopted its name from Daniel Quinn's idealistic 1992 book Ishmael, taking the categorization of a group of people who, rather than cultivate and overwork the Earth, use only what is necessary and leave the rest alone.
The Leavers' sound relies on heavy blues rock and bass-driven melodies, sounding a bit like The Black Crowes at times, but utilizing weird distortion and reverb in a more old-school style like that of Cream or King Crimson. Singer Owen Hunt's lyrics can be introspective, but more often than not they appear abstract and taunting. Hunt's vocals are expressed in a spoken-word manner, rather than sung in any normal sense of the word. Musically, the band's creativity flows onstage, favoring long and extended jams over short songs, and often shifting gears frantically in the middle of song.
The intensity and zest in a Leavers show can often wear out a crowd as well as the band. The Leavers run the gamut of styles from Gestapo march-themed "Fractal" to slow power ballad "Little Biddy People." Recently, the group was recorded for the Athens Music Foundation podcast, and copies of Collect THIS - which also features Rockinwood - should be available at tonight's upstairs show.
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