I believe
The mighty Kid Congo Powers drives on the odd side
of the road. There’s more to see there and the music sounds better, too. Powers
and his group The Pink Monkey Birds are the type of band that can be mentioned in the same breath — or bark —
as Beefheart, Waits, Cohen, and Cave. In fact, Powers
did a three-album stint with the Bad Seeds as well as The Gun Club and The
Cramps. It’s the teenaged Power’s twang on The Cramps’ 1983 live Smell Of Female album that baptized me
into church of the lo-fi — probably because it was
the first thing I could actually play along to and the fact that it sounded
like the ladies in the magazines hidden under my bed looked. I still feel this
way, but the ladies are on the coffee table now.
Powers’ Saturday show
at The Bug Jar had a bit of a ’60s pop sound to it; however, the lyrics ran
deep and Beat. Really cool. His music was like
postcards from an edge we should all visit more often. I’ll drive.
Also on the bill was Blasรฉ Debris, a rock (in the spirit of
Electric Frankenstein) band from Albany.
It was plain to see these dudes really, really dig The
Misfits.
Bludwulf warmed up the floor, not the stage, for AtlantaGeorgia’s Jucifer last
Thursday, because there just weren’t no room what with guitarist Amber
Valentines amps and all. Bludwulf is a band you can
enjoy. Bludwulf is a band you can believe because
they believe. They use the same product they sell. I mean, you want your barber
coifed, your drycleaner in clean duds, and you wouldn’t trust a skinny chef. So
why take your rock ‘n’ roll from a band that doesn’t believe? Bludwulf believes, baby… and so do I.
— Frank De Blase
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2006.
