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Upon arriving at the Gothic
right on time to catch Darker My Love’s
set, the place was already packed out.
Either people were getting there early to miss
The Dandy Warhols rush, or they
were all waiting in anticipation for the Cali
quintet opener.
It was obvious after a few
seconds of watching the room move in waves that
it was the latter. All eyes and ears were on
Tim Presley (guitar/vox), Rob
Barbato (bass/vox), Jared Everett
(guitar), Will Canzoneri
(keys), and Andrew Granelli (drums).
I’ve always had a yearning
to time travel to the era of psychedelic ‘60s
rock era, wishing I could have been present
when Velvet Underground made its first splash
at that Warhol’s groundbreaking, multimedia
"Exploding Plastic Inevitable" extravaganza.
Or been a witness to what I can only experience
through the pictures that line the walls of
The Fillmore in San Francisco.
Drinking in the rich textures
of DML’s “Northern Soul,”
an intentional or non-intentional ode to early
‘90s Manchester, as Presley played with
guitar shored up high, I realized that we had
our own rock legends in the making right here,
right now.
With every multi-layered,
harmonious and glorious song that escaped from
the stage and rose to the Gothic’s gilded
rafters, the exchange between the band and fans
increased. Towards the end and when DML were
wrapping up, I saw the guy next to me shaking
his head in utter disbelief, “Wow. Amazing.”
And as Presley bid farewell to the crowd, “Thank
You!” and the same guy replied, “No!
Thank You!”
Dude read my mind.
It was a tough act to follow
for the Warhol veterans, but nonetheless exuberant.
It was only when I was down closer to the crowd
that I noticed a twist to the normal folks that
show up for a Dandy time; feeling a bit like
Delta Chi was in the house. Even Courtney
noticed, making an offside comment with his
signature sly grin.
The lead man also took the
opportunity to announce that they were, once
again, an indie band, recently releasing ...Earth
to the Dandy Warhols... on their own label
in May. Appeasing fans (like me), they pulled
tracks “Lou Weed” and “Genius”
from the first album archives, along with “Heroin
Is So Passe,” “You Were The Last
High,” and “We Used To Be Friends.”
Upon the introduction of a
song off the new album, “Welcome To The
Third World,” one guy from the crowd beckoned
Courtney to sing it in French. Always the showman,
he complied, rattling off the lyrics quickly
in spoken word in the Parisian foreign language.
The request may have been triggered by another
song on …Earth, "Musee d'
Nougat," a French flavored experiment that
goes on for 14:46 minutes, something more akin
to a Phish set. And just maybe, it was the tongue-n-cheek
nature of “Welcome…” that
drew the college frat crowd, which is ironic.
I’m a big supporter of artists expanding
their horizons. There’s nothing more boring
than hearing an album with a different title
and cover with tracks that sound the same as
the last album. But in this case, something
just didn’t click with that one and some
of their other yee-haw ditties.
In a very informal poll (like
we need more polls these days), one that I didn’t
ask for but was given to me by nearly everyone
I knew at the show, Darker My Love did steal
the show and then some. It’s only a matter
of time before they’re headlining the
Gothic, and bigger venues in cities near you.
Darker My Love released 2
on Dangerbird Records this year on August 5.
www.myspace.com/darkermylove
http://blog.filter-mag.com/darker_my_love_tourzine/
www.imeem.com/darkermylove
-Kim Owens, September
29, 2008
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