Concert Reviews

The Los Angeles based band Dengue Fever played to a packed house near downtown San Diego, on a beautiful night in late January. For those not familiar with this unique outfit, they are comprised of a group of American musicians with xenophile and psychedelic tendencies fronted by Chhom Nimol, an exotic female vocalist from Cambodia. Michael Fremer reviewed their latest CD, Cannibal Courtship, here http://musicangle.com/album.php?id=1015. Sound funky? It is, in the most delicious way.

Listening to Spoon is best done as described in singer/songwriter Britt Daniel’s own words: “You gotta feel it/ Don’t take notes/ Just clear out your mind.” Fans of Spoon’s five albums and two EPs, issued over the past twelve years know very well the feelings brought to mind when listening to these songs: they range from yearning, heartbreak and frustration, to isolation and desperation, to tenderness, lust, and satisfaction from a job well done.

Old-Time Standards the Old-School Way
With the eclipse of the Olympia Brass Band, it is generally acknowledged that the Trémé band, in all its multiple configurations, has now become the symbolic parade marshal for the Crescent City’s historic “street” jazz tradition. The mainstay of Trémé’s songbook are well-known New Orleans jazz tunes and old-time spirituals. With the rain pummeling the big tent into which maybe 500 or more of us had managed to jam ourselves, the band carried on as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

In the shoulder-to-shoulder crush I found myself standing beside a middle-aged woman with a tiny baby sleeping on shoulder. Behind her, a rugged-faced man stood guard at the helm of an empty baby carriage.