So, Wednesday January 30th at 10 pm I headed downtown Madrid to the Wurlitzer with a couple of friends. I was rather excited, because we seldom get music that I actually listen to (and have albums of) here in Madrid... Though I hadn't heard this incarnation of MV & EE, I have been a fan of them with the Bummer Road and by themselves for a while now. I knew the basic sound to expect: off-kilter singing, psych-folk, heavy on the improvisation....
While these elements were there, what surprised me was the rock & roll and the blues...
The Wurlitzer was definitely not the place to see this band, though. First, it's a long, corridor-like venue where the stage is at one end and is not elevated at all. So it's difficult to see the band, even if there aren't that many people there. Second, the sound guys didn't know how to treat them. This is a venue where loud Spanish indie and punk bands blast it out with everything just pushed to the max. So a lot of the musicality was lost, and there wasn't a very good balance in the mix.
But. It was still a great show, and I had a good time. The Golden Road was an excellent backing band for Matt and Erika's new songs, which were more country-rock and blues oriented... Samara Lubelski played bass, and she was really the perfect foundation for the extended psych/drone jams that most of the songs ended up as. (and you'd be a fool not to check out her amazing solo work, look for some on Sub Pop) They had a good drummer whose name I can't remember, with a fairly simple drum kit that sounded great and fit in with the overall country sound. And then they had what for me was a real treat: Doc Dunn, a pedal steel player from Canada. He really formed an integral part of the band, soloing and adding esoteric space-country touches all over the place. Occasionally he'd put on the echo effect and really make my day:-) If only the mix had been better and we could have heard it more....
And Matt and Erika were great. He sounded like Neil Young never did... Just-off-key high-range wailing with a southern drawl... with some interesting guitar solos and some solid country picking and strumming. Erika played an electric mandolin, with the distortion to the max... Again, the sound guys didn't do her any favors, especially with the vocal mic. Plus, she had a sore throat... though it didn't stop her from a killer performance of "Hammer" which is one of my favorites off their album. "Hammer" and "Easy Livin'" were definitely highlights of the show...
There's a bootleg circulating out there somewheres.... going by the name of "Ringside Seat Nosebleed Tour". It's quite good, but doesn't really reflect the Madrid show's sound. What we heard was much louder, and rocked pretty hard. Which was great, but it would have been nice to be able to pick out some of the subtleties that make MV & EE with the Golden Road magical.
Their album "Gettin' Gone" is out on Ecstatic Peace!
3 comments:
If "Ringside Seat Nosebleed Tour" is a bootleg, it's an MV sanctioned one. I picked up a copy at an MV/EE/Willie Lane gig in San Francisco in November , 2007. It's part of a series on C.O.M. "from the tapers pit" which seems to be part of MV's grand plan to align with / pay homage to the Grateful Dead (e.g. naming the band The Golden Road). Only you'll never see the MV/EE shows showing up on Archive.org ;-).
Great blog. Always good reading.
Actually, not so (!) : hopefully more to come...
http://www.archive.org/details/VSEA_09-05-05
aha! thanks anonymous!!
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