Live: The Karl Hendricks Trio at Leftfield 10.19.12

There is nothing like the announcement that it has been a decade since Karl Hendricks played in NYC to make a jaded scenester feel a wee bit aged. Of course, JS-NYC was at that show, and all of the ones previous dating back to the mid-90s, so it wasn't hard to figure where JS-NYC would be on this evening. I caught the back end of the Choo Choo La Rouge set and then posted up frontish for the KH3 set.

Once JS-NYC processed the bizarre eventuality of three females attending a Karl Hendricks Show, it was a pleasure to enjoy the nine tracks we were afforded. As this was a Comedy Minus One showcase, the new The Adult Section figured prominently in the proceedings. Hold On, Cool Breeze opened the set and a broodingly rowdy romp through the Neil Young chestnut that is Thrasher capped things, but we also got a couple deep cuts, including You're A Bigger Jerk Than Me. While the set was typically criminally underattended, hopes are high that we'll see Karl & Co. back in NYC in the very near future.

Get The Adult Section here from the Comedy Minus One web presence and keep track of all other things Karl Hendricks Trio here.

R

Bottomless Pit - Lottery (2005-2012)

While I was over at the Comedy Minus One web presence grabbing the new Karl Hendricks Trio record, I was also greeted with the exciting news that CMO were re-releasing some of the Joel R.L. Phelps catalog and a Japanese label was releasing all of the Bottomless Pit releases to date as a limited two-disc set called Lottery 2005-2012. Even better, there were three unreleased tracks.

Small progress was made in the JS-OCD in that I didn't get Lottery 2005-2012 for nerd completist cred, but I think we both know that the three new tracks were not not going to be coming down the pike to JS-NYC HQ. They did, and I suspect that there might actually be a small insurrection in my building if they have to hear me play them any more. I'll give the nod to the amped-up version of Winterwind as the best of the three, but the other two only serve to assert that Bottomless Pit are a band with few peers in the rock landscape of today.

Buy the Bottomless Pit catalog as Lottery 2005-2012 or separately here.

R

The Karl Hendricks Trio - The Adult Section

It's always a good day at JS-NYC HQ when there is word of a new record from Karl Hendricks. Coming, as is becoming the norm, courtesy of the estimable Mr. Jon Solomon and the good folk of Comedy Minus One records, The Adult Section weighs in with nine shots of the hooky, guitar-driven indie rock we have come to expect from the proud son of Pittsburgh and whomever is backing him at the time.

The Adult Section finds Jake Leger entering his tenth year as KH3 skinsman and Corey Laman entering his seventh, making this one of the more stable Trio lineups. The songs are damn strong. Hendricks hasn't lost a beat, and while I miss the old school Wayno vibe of the past releases, the aces songs more than make up for any (mis) perceived shortcomings. I'd call the opening The Men's Room At The Airport and closing Hold On Cool Breeze the top honors, but the simmering mid-tempo After Four Beers shouldn't be give short shrift. Trust me, you want this.

Keep track of Trio tour dates and day-to-day goings-on at their social media interface here. Buy The Adult Section and everything else on Comedy Minus One here.

R