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June 10, 2012

“I will try and know whatever I try, I will be gone but not forever”

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Pickwick Cataldo
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Cumulus ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

The real truth about it is no one gets it right The real truth about it is we’re all supposed to try

- “Farewell Transmission”

For those who gathered on stage and off Tuesday night at The Barboza to honor the contributions that Jason Molina has made to all of our lives, the feeling in the room was distinctly different from nearly every benefit show I’ve attended. Those that I spoke with almost all had a personal story to relate about what Molina’s music meant to them, or having met the man himself in past years. He and his bands have provided inspiration for so many, and for many others at a critical time in our lives his songs were an indication that we were not alone in our deepest of miseries.

I walked in on Bellingham’s Keaton Collective tearing through a set of Magnolia Electric Company jams, the three electric guitars ably matching the density of the original songs. Someone remarked that the covers up to this point had been pretty straight. I responded that though that might be so, and as much as we’re drawn to his lyrical output, for over a decade Molina has been also cultivating a muscular guitar-driven aesthetic that at least to my mind wasn’t simply a retread of the previous three decades. That the Keaton Collective were reverently flexing their own muscles in this way felt right. As the night went on though, bands who weren’t equipped with all those axes began taking more liberties to customize their covers while still meeting the substance of the songs head on.

Prior to Cataldo’s set, benefit organizer Mark Baumgarten related that he’d received a call the day before, and that none other than Molina himself was on the end of the line wanting to send his appreciation for everyone’s concern and efforts. Then the reading of a message of assurance and thanks that Molina had later posted to Facebook marked a public acknowledgement of our concern that amounted to a strange moment of triumph and a lifting of the spirits in the room that I’ve never experienced at a benefit show like this. I think everyone just wanted to know Jason was okay, and now we do.

The generally acoustic Cataldo appropriately seized the energy of the moment, lead singer Eric Anderson at times bouncing around on stage and singing with more grit than we ever see from his mellow acoustic pop outfit. Their chosen four songs represented a batch of what I think are some of Molina’s most iconic in both sound and state of mind. The opening duo of “The Dark Don’t Hide It” into “Doing Something Wrong” are two of my all-time favorites, and when sung by Anderson it seemed like they could’ve been written by him and come from the same cycle of songs as his most recent record Prison Boxing (Sound on the Sound’s #4 Best Northwest Record of 2011). Closing with “Farewell Transmission” Cataldo delivered the song of the night, in that moment fully transforming from a subtle pop band into psych experimentalists.

Headliner Pickwick’s two songs were both deep cuts they’d reworked, and by their treatment you’d never know they were a soul band. Still present was the dark cloud, but they’d taken liberties and were going full on psych, a lot like they did for a Damien Jurado cover earlier this year. Their first song saw almost the entire band in a percussion role and getting weird, working on a throbbing rhythm with wood block and cowbell for the entire length. After telling a nice story about how Molina’s music brought this band closer together, the night’s closer of “Pyramid Electric Company” saw the six going on a full on acid trip (see the video of the story and the song below) channeling something like a Fear of Music era David Byrne and Co doing “Memories Can’t Wait.” They keep warning me that their new record won’t be quite like what anyone expects. Their approach to this song is the strongest indicator of that impending change yet.

A huge thanks goes to Mark Baumgarten for making this happen. It was a night for the ages. A full setlist of songs is below the fold.

 

 

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Cumulus ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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Mark Baumgarten reads a message from Jason Molina himself ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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Cataldo ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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Jason Dodson ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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Ben Fisher ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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Cumulus and Ben Fisher ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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Pickwick ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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Pickwick ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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June 4, 2012

In Tribute to Jason Molina this Tuesday at Barboza

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Pickwick Cataldo
molinabenefit

 

Under what I wish were better circumstances a group of Seattle musicians is doing what they can to help a fellow songwriter by singing his songs. Known as Songs:Ohia, Magnolia Electric Company, Pyramid Electric Company or simply as Jason Molina, since 1997 with the support of Secretly Canadian Molina’s been pursuing his own vision of American music, often working with Steve Albini and sometimes releasing multiple records in a year. A few years back his band Magnolia Electric Co. lost it’s bassist to a house fire, and following a tour in his honor this previously prolific figure essentially wasn’t heard from since. In the time that’s past folks have learned of Molina retreating from view to recover his own well-being.

As a close follower of his music, it’s certainly no surprise to me that Molina is no stranger to struggle. Songs:Ohia and his voice therein is a document of tortured soul, one searching for meaning among pain. As I explored my own internal turmoil along with him over the course of years, I learned many of these songs myself singing alone in my bedroom, and as a result to this day I probably know more Jason Molina songs on guitar than any other single artist. If I still feel his songs deeply in my bones, I rarely ever play those songs with the fervor I used to. Though that time of struggle is largely past for me, it’s not yet for Molina himself.

Hearing of Molina’s situation local music scholar and scribe Mark Baumgarten (seen his Song Show or his new K Records History?) gathered local musicians with a similar reverence and this Tuesday June 5th at Barboza are saluting Molina’s career and sending all proceeds to his medical fund. We’re pleased to see a bevy of familiar faces among the lineup including Pickwick and Cataldo.

Tickets are $8 ahead of time online, or $10 at the door.

September 2, 2007

A Brief Photographic Recap of SOTS’s Bumershoot Day 1

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Our best day at Bumbershoot…ever? Just might have been.

Magnolia Electric Co.:

Magnolia Electric Company at Bumbershoot 07

The Lashes (hands down the show of the day):

Eric and Nate of The Lashes Ben Lashes at Bumbershoot 07

Menomena (with full, rag-tag choir):

Menomena at Bumbershoot 2007

Bumbershoot 2007:

Bumbershoot 2007

all photos by Josh of Sound on the Sound

November 3, 2006

Friday News

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John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats was old school Batman for halloween. (HT: largeheartedboy)

Jason Molina has released on emusic a Songs:Ohia album called “Protection Spells” that was a tour only album with a limited printing of 500 copies. My Jason Molina related collection is by far my largest and still getting bigger. This guy and the aformentioned Darnielle are two of the most prolific independent musicians of the last 10 years and incidentally are two of my all time favorites.Lineout tells us about a photography exhibit about local bands and their off stage life called “The Way We Get By.” Lineout highlights local band The Divorce’s lead singer who from the picture appears to work at the local free trade coffee shop just around the corner from my day job . I guess I will have to stop over and say hi.

October 11, 2006

Magnolia Electric Company – Neumos – October 10, 2006

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Magnolia Electric Company with Soft Drugs, Bottomless Pit Neumos, Seattle October 10, 2006

As I begin to write this review, within minutes of returning home from the show, I am completely satisfied yet hotly dissapointed at the same time. How can this be? Let us start with the dissapointment: None of my all time favorite songs were played. “The Dark Don’t Hide It” or “Werewolves of London” or even “Doing Something Wrong.” None of them. I only say this because if anyone is a Jason Molina superfan, it’s me, and if I am not hearing any of the favorites, something is very wrong with the situation. Maybe that is just what happens when you have such a prolific writer, as Molina is, who writes enough new material for multiple albums each year.

While I may not have heard my fantasy setlist, Molina and his bearded band of merry men were certainly having fun and turned in a quality performance. Turning on with “Hammer Down” was a crafty maneuver, drawing the rather sparse crowd right in with an old favorite, and starting off with one of their strongest songs. To be perfectly honest I’m still only lukewarm on their newest Album “Fading Trails” as no song stands out, and in general it just sounds softer and less rough edged. Live though, the edge comes out, and I wasn’t left feeling like Molina had gone soft. No song, new or old, sounded the same as the album recording, and most have a more uncontrolled lets-have-fun-with-this-song-and-play-around-on-stage feeling when played live.   The highlight of the show turned out to be “Riding with a Ghost” which was played with a potentially never-ending intro (a la “Cortez the Killer” Built to Spill Style) and a vigor that produced the biggest cheers of the night from fellow mustache club attendee’s. I was definitely not wearing enough facial hair or western attire to fit in to the normally overgroomed Capitol Hill hipster crowd. The dude to chick ratio was 8-to-1 in my totally unscientific estimation, and with confidence I can say more than half were hiding behind a cookie duster of some sort.

After arriving late and missing Soft Drugs I was introduced to Bottomless Pit, a prog-rock outfit with no real singers, just two dudes who were basically talk-singing. The crowd seemed to be really into them, but at the risk of sounding pretensious and snide as other music bloggers so frequently are, I haven’t seen a more boring band in a long time. Boring music. A boring performance. And let me tell you folks, two borings do not negate one another. But everyone else seemed to like them and people were buying plenty of stuff at the merch booth, so who am I to say really.

October 9, 2006

Shows this Week: 10/9-10/15

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Here are the SOTS recommended shows of the week:

10/10 – Magnolia Electric Company – Neumos

10/10, 10/11 – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Architecture in Helsinki, Takka Takka – The Showbox

10/12 – Joseph Arthur – The Crocodile Cafe 

10/13 – Visqueen – The Crocodile Cafe

10/13 – Bob Dylan, Kings of Leon – Key Arena

10/14 – Math and Physics Club CD Release Party – Sunset Tavern (also at Ballard location of Sonic Boom at 6pm)

10/15 – Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond - The Paramount

That is like a show a day. No complaining about being bored this week! Next week should be just as good with Beirut, Ghostland Observatory, Cursive, and The Hold Steady. Then again it will be tough to top Sufjan Stevens, Jason Molina, and Bob Dylan all in the same week.  

August 26, 2006

Sound Bites

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John Darnielle Writes a column about his new album. Via largehearted boy

Sterogum reviews the recent Bookeater benefit in NYC with a performance by Sufjan Stevens and David Byrne together. The Bookeater event that is happening during Bumbershoot this year doesn’t have nearly the lineup.

The ever prolific Jason Molina released new his solo album “Let Go, Let Go, Let Go” on Tuesday August 22. The new Magnolia Electric Company album “Fading Trails” is available online. It should be available offline Sept 12. Via skulls across america.