Live: Cory Branan @ Mercury Lounge 12.11.11

Cory Branan is JS-NYC favorite, a proud son of Mississippi current residing in Austin. He has a couple full-lengths under his belt, with his most recent release being a 2009 split with the great Jon Snodgrass. Record number three has been rumored for some time, and was even alluded to again at this show, but at this point appears to be the Chinese Democracy of the singer-songwriter set.

This tour was with Dave Hause and Laura Stevenson and had Cory in the midcard slot. I showed up early to find that things were about an hour and a half behind schedule, prompting a return to the couch that resulted in my missing Laura Stevenson and presumably The Cans as well. I swanned into a not-especially full room and Cory was up in short order. He played solo, opening with the great Survivor Blues and romping through 40 minutes or so of his back catalog, including Prettiest Waitress In Memphis and Tall Green Grass. All in all, a pretty good showing for a long-hair. I recorded the Branan set, so if you'd like a copy, hit me up via the e-mail and I'll mail you a link. I didn't stay for Hause, as I much prefer my own and its companion couchery.

R

Live: Ian Cheap Girls and Mikey Erg with Dave Hause @ Cake Shop 5.1.11

As regular readers may surmise, I was in this for Ian Graham of the exceedingly awesome Cheap Girls. Beyond that, I wasn't sure how the evening would present itself. Given the three parties and their usual go-to instruments, I thought we might have ourselves a little ad-hoc rock band with rotating singers, but I came in to a fourth dude doing a Rocky Votolato kind of thing with another dude on electric. As it was a school night, I wasn't all that enthused about the addition, but he was decent enough and Ian appeared soon after, knocking out twenty minutes of fucking great tunes that I have a not-great but decent recording of if anyone wants. E-mail me.

At this point I was pretty stoked. It was still early, so I figured I'd catch a couple Mikey Erg tunes and bail. Post-Ergs, I've grown so accustomed to seeing him play drums in almost every band that would allow him behind a kit that I forgot what a great songwriter he is. His half-hour set featured the cream of his namesake's output performed on solo electric, as well as a pretty aces run through your favorite Cee-Lo Green chestnut. Yannich is one talented dude, and perhaps one who has moved back to NJ? Off-hand banter seems to suggest as much. It's hard not to see him, but see him sing sometime soon, if you can. I got a recording of that set, if you are of a mind, so holler if you'd like a link. I didn't stay for Hause, nor did it seem a lot of others, but I did see Franz on the way out and still made it home early with embarassingly rudimentary recordings in tow. If you missed this and are going to find yourself in the Northern climes this summer, Mikey and Dave Hause are doing a Canadian spin later on this year with Tony Sly, so keep an eye out.

R

The Loved Ones - Distractions

The Loved Ones are a decent band. That's kind of hard to say, as it's really Dave and whoever he's got playing with him at the time. At this point, I think it's still Mike and the guys from The Explosion. Distractions is a six song EP that pairs three new tracks with three covers. The new songs are as decent as any Loved Ones songs. They are hooky as hell, but as Hause gets closer and closer to his solo singer-songwriter turn, they sound more and more like The Gin Blossoms. I almost always point that out, and always feel the need to qualify that it's not a bad thing at all. For the record, it's still not. There are some odd missteps, like the keyboard parts cobbled on to Last Call that shoot for E Street and end up Diesel Boy, but Distracted is as good a tune as The Loved Ones have ever had, and they sure have some good ones.

Hause has a solo record coming out soon. It makes sense. We've seen all the signs of him moving away from the punk rock thing. (That's an observation and not an out and out judgement, although me being kind of a dick, I can see reading something that there). Case in point would be his jocking of The Hold Steady in a fashion that makes my unabashed sycophancy seem understated and charming. It's a lofty aspiration, and I'm not saying that Hause isn't going to be able to pull it off, but the three covers show the threadbare secondhand rock t-shirts these Emporers are dressing in. When The Loved Ones set the bar high, like on the cover of Springsteen's Johnny 99 that comes off bar band at best, you see where they aren't quite there yet. It just comes off Gaslight Anthem, and nobody wants that. To be fair, the Billy Bragg cover comes off pretty well, and the Strummer tune splits the difference enough to make this a pretty good EP. If you're old like me, you'll probably roll your eyes at the covers, but Distractions is only $6, and the three new tunes are worth that at least, so pick it up here from the kids at Fat. The Loved Ones are hibernating, but Hause is playing some solo shows, including one at the Unitarian Church in Philly on 3/26. You can get tickets for that here.

R