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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Useful Noise: Let's get Twin Town High!
Wednesday 02 May @ 11:23:06 |
 by KEITH HARRIS
Keith Harris' "Useful Noise" column ran in Pulse in the early years, and Harris has gone on to be the music editor at City Pages and The Chicago Reader. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Slate, Spin and The Village Voice. This column on the second Twin Town High release show appeared in the Nov. 25, 1998, edition of Pulse.
 Is it still shameless self-promotion if we plug our own event after the fact? In any case, the CD release party for Twin Town High Music Yearbook, Vol. 2, held last Friday at the Turf Club in Saint Paul and co-sponsored by the very newspaper whose ink currently smudges your fingers, was as consistent a four-and-a-half-hour slab of live sound you could cram together on one stage. Due to technological and logistical glitches beyond our control (aren't they always?), fewer copies of the spiffy compilation of local music whose release was being celebrated were available than intended. (Fear not--the disc will be available early December). But with the acts assembled (Love-cars, Dynospectrum, The Glenrustles, Mark Mallman and the Heat, Popcycle and John Devine) consistently outdoing themselves, the night accomplished its true objective--to showcase the accomplished variety of Twin Cities music in its many variations.
The evening began with the free jazz solo compositions of John Devine. Devine blew swift intricate leads, then processed them through a variety of electronic effects. Using samplers and delay effects to duet with himself, Devine twisted his extended lines around one another to create densely knotted cords of sound. The hearty folk who made it out to the club early were rewarded with music that was technically difficult, aurally sensational, and as noisiliy exhilarating as any rock and roll. Next up were Popcycle, sharing their ability to make you care about pop culture ephemera they're driven to sing about ("Good Times'" Esther Rolle, for instance) atop a quick-footed, historically aware skiffle bottom. The Twin Cities certainly have no shortage of pop bands, but few of them craft hooks as indelible.
Time had come for the attention-grabbing tics and antics that Mark Mallman has developed as part of The Odd to take center stage. As a solo showman, Mallman alternately battered and caressed discordance and melodicism from his long-suffering keyboard while his band, The Heat, kept the steady groove necessary to hold it all together. With lyrics that were hysterical in every sense of the word, Mallman examined subjects as disparate as tender necrophilia ("I Married a Skull") and a fascination with himself (nearly every other song), taking his tweaked theatricality as far over the top as you can without sliding down the other side. Mallman's set must have foritified the alcoholic buzz percolating through the crowd, because by 11 or so, a wave of mass inebriation had taken hold--just in time for local veterans The Glenrustles to storm triumphantly onto the stage. Their fiery set burned away all their jangly or rootsy mannerisms in a staggering, joyous punk intensity that amazed even long-standing fans.
Despite the fact that "two of the members of Dynospectrum were abducted by aliens" (or so Slug reported from the stage), the latest offshoot of the Rhymesayers Collective kicked the night into a different gear. Following an introductory display of turntable dexterity, the crew took off on a tongue-twisting a cappella flow that kept the beat with nothing more than the meter of their rhymes. The set then expanded into dense freestyles augmented by the hard-hitting subtlety of Happy Apple drummer Dave King. King remained onstage to play his part in the area's finest Robert Lowell tribute band, Love-cars. Combining finely-honed pop textures with well-wrought earnestness, the band created an emo intensity and multi-layered sound expansive enough for a much larger venue. And I'm grateful to frontman/music scribe James Diers for proving that rock critics do so have feelings, just like normal people.
In any local music scene, after all, the ever-present danger is homogenization--music tends to stagnate when hermetically sealed subsets of audiences and performers rarely stray from their designated circles to encounter different styles and approaches to music. Last Friday, this problem seemed nowhere in sight. This night at the Turf Club did much more than just hint at the musical possibilities that develop when an eclectic mix of artists share the same stage, and the crowd turnout proved that there is a supportive audience eager to hear what's happening out there. Thanks to the musicians who participated and all the people who attended for creating not just a night of high energy creativity but also a glimpse into a future of exciting potential. ||
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