Apples in Stereo
[02.12.2007]
Assembly of Dust
[02.04.2007]
The Hackensaw Boys
[01.27.2007]
Paul Luc
[01.20.2007]
Local Honey / Slim Cessna
[01.13.2007]
Bob Seger
[12.14.2006]
Skinks / Rahim / Transcontinental Booze Hounds
[11.25.2006]
The Big Sleep
[11.18.2006]
Local Honey / The Izzys
[11.10.2006]
Cloud Cult
[11.07.2006]
Grand Buffet / Magnolia Electric Co
[10.31.2006]
Norman Nardini
[10.28.2006]
Wilco
[10.20.2006]
Wilco
[10.18.2006]
Kid Congo Powers
[10.12.2006]
Dave Alvin
[09.23.2006]
Wolfmother
[09.22.2006]
Mountain Goats
[09.20.2006]
World Party
[08.27.2006]
Gil Mantera's Party Dream
[08.16.2006]
Whiskey Daredevils / Local Honey
[08.11.2006]
The Silver Jews
[07.28.2006]
The Bottle Rockets / Marah
[07.27.2006]
Slim Cessna's Auto Club
[07.15.2006]
Alejandro Escovedo
[07.10.2006]
Cat Power
[07.09.2006]
Life In Bed / The Transcontinental Booze Hounds
[07.07.2006]
Violent Femmes
[07.01.2006]
Guitar Zack Wiesinger / Pittsburgh Pirates Loss # 54
[06.30.2006]
The Black Crowes \ Robert Randolph \ The Drive-By Truckers
[06.25.2006]
Pearl Jam
[06.23.2006]
The Octopus Project \ Black Moth Super Rainbow \ Amoeba Knievel
[06.19.2006]
The Bottle Rockets
[06.14.2006]
Govt.
Mule / Local Honey / Wil E. Tri
[06.08.2006]
Tehran Iran
[06.03.2006]
Astronautalis
[05.25.2006]
Grand Buffet / Cobalt Black
[05.19.2006]
Phil
Boyd w/Manny Theiner & Weird Paul / The Codetalkers feat. Col. Bruce
Hampton
[05.15.2006]
The
Four Seasons Boys
[05.11.2006]
The
Supersuckers
[05.02.2006]
The Breakup Society
[04.28.2006]
The Four Seasons Boys / The
Gris Gris
[04.19.2006]
Rhett Miller & The Believers
[04.14.2006]
Good Brother Earl
[04.08.2006]
Slim Cessna's Auto Club
[04.03.2006]
"Guitar" Zack Wiesinger
[03.25.2006]
The Minus 5 / The Silos
[03.24.2006]
The Mendoza Line / Great Lake Swimmers
[03.12.2006]
Dave Alvin
[03.10.2006]
Apollo Sunshine
[03.07.2006]
Lyle Lovett / John Hiatt / Joe Ely
/ Guy Clark
[02.14.2006]
Marah
[02.12.2006]
Marah / Slim Cessna's Auto
Club
[11.12.2005]
Ted Leo + Pharmacists / Sharon
Jones and the Dap-Kings
[11.08.2005]
The National
[11.02.2005]
Modey Lemon
[10.07.2005]
Gang of Four
[10.04.2005]
Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers
[09.24.2005]
Thunderbirds Are Now!
[09.22.2005]
The Walkmen
[09.17.05]
Circle
[09.15.05]
Akron/Family, Great Lake Swimmers
[09.05.05]
Los Lobos
[08.21.05]
Grand Buffet, Magnolia Electric
Co.
[08.20.05]
Joe Ely
[08.19.05]
Solomon Burke
[08.14.05]
Billie Joe Shaver
[08.11.05]
Robert
Randolph & The Family Band
[08.07.05]
Oneida
[08.06.05]
Richard
Buckner
[07.13.05]
NYC Road Trip
[07.08.05]
Stars
[06.23.05]
Aimee
Mann
[06.19.05]
Bobbie
"Blue" Bland, Michael Penn, Erin McKeown, OPEK, The Mavens
[06.18.05]
The
Holmes Brothers
[06.15.05]
Drive-By
Truckers, Deep Purple
[06.11.05]
Los
Lonely Boys, Martin Sexton
[06.10.05]
Marah
[06.08.05]
Brant Bjork & The Bros.
[06.03.05]
Railroad
Earth
[05.20.05]
Andrew
Bird
[05.17.05]
Ryan
Adams & The Cardinals
[05.13.05]
Rosavelt
[05.12.05]
Green
Day
[04.23.05]
The
Shins
[04.15.05]
Bonnie
"Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney
[04.14.05]
The
Beakup Society, Whiskey Daredevils
[03.25.05]
Apollo
Sunshine
[03.12.05]
From The Jayhawks: Gary Louris
and Mark Olson
[03.11.05]
Clem Snide, Archer Prewitt
[03.07.05]
Norman
Nardini
[03.04.05]
The SPUDS, Norman Nardini
[02.18.05]
The Comas
[02.15.05]
Tarbox Ramblers
[02.12.05]
Black Tie Revue
[01.28.05]
Elvismas, Shade
[01.08.2005]
Chalk Outline Party, Comrad
[12.18.2004]
One Star Hotel
[12.10.2004]
Ted Leo + Pharmacists
[12.03.2004]
Thanksgiving Eve / The Italian
Club / Blairsville, Pa
Sue Foley
[11.20.2004]
The Whiskey Daredevils
[11.19.2004]
The Arcade Fire, The Cynics
[11.15.2004]
Steelers v. Patriots
[10.31.2004]
Mike Watt
[10.21.2004]
Magnolia Electric
Co.
[10.14.2004]
The Mendoza
Line
[10.09.2004]
The Black Keys
[10.07.2004]
The Secret Machines
[10.06.2004]
The Fiery
Furnaces, Charles Bissell (The Wrens)
[09.23.2004] |
Richard Buckner
07.13.2005 / Club Cafe / Pittsburgh, PA
On
Neil Young’s Year of the Horse live disk you hear Neil, surrounded
by reverb, proclaim to the crowd, “It’s all one song.”
And nowhere is this more true
than a Richard Buckner show.
I had to literally drag my
ass off the couch after the first Daily Show segment and head down to
Club Café because I’ve been a fan of Buckner for a good eight
years now, ever since his release of Devotion + Doubt, and I
figured I’d regret missing this show every time I listen to his
excellent new disk Dents and Shells.
I caught the last couple of
songs by opener Anders Parker, formally of the band Varnaline. He sounded
quite good and, moving from the keyboard, he was able to brew up a swirl
of guitar noise on his last song to close out his set.
The reason I felt I might have
been able to skip this show is that I’ve seen Buckner before and
it’s often a somber, low-key affair. After the show The
Man, who got bored, asked him if he ever plays with a band and he
said, “Not since 1995.” And to me this kinda sucks. Sure his
songwriting is interesting and even challenging but just once I would
like to hear him reproduce live some similarities to his recorded work.
It frustrates me when the guitar solo on the song that I’ve played
countless times off his disk never materializes.
His extensive use of layering
helps and initially I was mesmerized, as he must have recorded six different
samples in a row, changing guitars each time. It was like we were watching
a fucking studio recording. As he moves from song to song he wraps the
interludes in an atmospheric haze of sounds cued from his samples.
He played a number of songs
of Dents and Shells including an upbeat “A Chance Counsel”
and a poignantly hushed “Firsts.”
As long as he keeps releasing
great albums I’ll keep coming but just once I’d like to see
him rock out a bit.
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