Macabre -  New York 3/24/01 (video)

I’m surprised a band like Macabre exists given the fact they’ve carved out a niche within a niche, they’re death metal for sure, but death metal with a morbid sense of humor, creating lyrics based on various murderers. Sinister Slaughter is generally consider an old school classic, although it’s one that didn’t impress itself too much on me, given that it’s difficult to understand lyrics in this format on one hand and that their songs are generally short, not quite tech, not quite standard, and usually unmemorable. Still it’s hard to fault the talent of the lead guitarist and vocalist who sings and plays some rather tricky stuff without missing much of a beat, even if his weird guitar solos often leave me wondering whether they’re genius or accident. Entertaining overall and a little off the beaten path, it’s probably a good thing it was about 40 minutes.

Joanna Newsom - The First Unitarian Church Sanctuary, Philadelphia 11/16/06 (video)

It’s taken me a little while to check out Newsom’s music, and clearly a lot as been said around the net about her extremely idiosyncratic style, but where I was expecting something related to indie rock, I ended up watching a virtuoso harpist and band play a unique blend of folk music, classical sophistication and modern song stylings. Vocally she reminds me quite a bit of a nascent Alanis Morrisette although a Morrisette infected by some old Appalachian folk singer. It’s clear she’s a prodigy and while I was warned about her voice, which must have spawned from the fact she hadn’t started singing until recently, I found her style to be warm and intimate. Her harp playing is another matter, it at least seems masterful, an adjective I’m hesitant to use being that I can count the harpists I know on one hand. But this is skill, just watching her two hands, as independent as a good drummer’s, play counter melodies and rhythms, often changing or doubling tempos within an overall 4 beat itself, was mesmerizing. It’s kind of baffling she has the popularity she does, although her combination of accessible songcraft with virtuoso musicianship is a rare one. I was surprised to hear she grew up in Nevada City, a town less than an hour from where I live where I used to visit once or twice every summer as a teenager, hell, I’d have guessed the Appalachian part without hearing her had I just known that. :D Anyway, on the other side there’s maybe a touch of the formal and classical, I know at about 30 minutes into this 90 minute show I was thinking about saving the last hour for later, but the harping on a microcosmic level (not to mention the fine camera work) was the overall tip of the balance. It’s easy to see what the fuss is, plus the band’s mellow and celtic enough to possibly appeal to a more conservative generation, provided they can get past the vocals. I can imagine, having heard the album in its entirety on this, that I’d probably give it a 10 and have it stick. Was interested to hear Newsom was a big Nabokov fan as well, something that if not obviously from the lyrics, isn’t a surprise given the lyrics intricate and interesting wordplay. Quite a talent here…