Music For Lovers (Of Music)

Salt Lake City Upcoming Concerts: Ben Kweller, The Roots, The Shins

By Brian Staker, 2-13-07

	Staker Pick O' the Week: The Shins

Ben Kweller

Good things come in threes, as was demonstrated by the 2004 collaboration The Bens, consisting of Lee, Kweller and Folds combining their pop songwriting crafts into more than the sum of its parts. The first two have been barely-out-of-teens phenoms, while Folds recently folded into his forties. And while Lee has the ‘land down under’ mystique going for him, Ben Kweller has the musical pedigree of a sort, as his father was friends with Nils Lofgren during the guitarist’s tenure with Springsteen. Once he started writing his own songs in his teens, his voice rang out with Beatlescent gestures for a new generation.

At the cusp of the new millennium, Kweller signed with Island Records as he was barely two decades extant, cutting his teeth on a number of bands in his native Dallas area. His fourth, self-titled release (ATO, 2006) finds him playing all instruments and finding the freedom, having avoided the sophomore or any other slump so far, of expressing himself to the fullest. Earlier this week his webpage had been hacked, but it’s back up now.

February 13, In the Venue

Also appearing: Aspen, CO (Belly Up)

Clumsy Lovers

Vancouver, BC’s Clumsy Lovers’ musical style is so eclectic that initially they hadn’t even intended on forming a band. The group of musicians that eventually coalesced into vocalist and bassist Chris Joad, flame-fingered fiddler Andrea Lewis, guitarist and harmonica player Trevor Rogers, banjoist Jason Horney, and drummer Gord Robert self-released several recordings that showcased their vivacious live show appeal, until they were signed by Canadian megalabel Nettwork in 2004. Their second release on the label, 2005’s Smart Kid, sustains comparisons to fellow Canucks Barenaked Ladies, with its wry humor and self-effacing yet disarming lack of affectation.

February 16, Suede (Park City)

Also appearing:
February 14: Gallatin Gateway, MT (Half Moon)
February 15: The Post (Morgan)
February 17: Pocatello, ID (First National)
February 18: Hailey, ID (The Mint)

The Roots

The Roots exhibit one of the best trends hip-hop music of the past few years: that of a return to live instrumentation, as opposed to beat boxes and DJ mixing that can be astoundingly creative but can also come off very canned, unspontaneous. Their 1993 Remedy Records debut, Organix, was truth in advertising, and they entered the field at a propitious moment when ensembles like A Tribe Called Quest were exploring their ‘roots’ as well. And a stint at recent Lollapalooza gave them crossover audience exposure.

Although the huge success of some combos hasn’t quite been attained, their move to Def Jam for their most recent album, Game Theory, (2006) just confirms the cred they already have ably demonstrated time and time again in a genre were posers prevaricate. With compositions like the ironic “Living in a New World,” it’s also their most political release yet, which again shows the group is right on the pulse of the times.

February 16, Harry O’s (Park City)

Also appearing:
February 17: Denver, CO (Fillmore Auditorium)

The Shins **Staker’s Pick of the Week!**

Sometimes the side project eclipses the main group. So it was with Albuquerque singer/guitarist James Mercer’s extracurricular effort the Shins, initially a break from his main muse Flake Music. Time in indie music land passes just as fast as in the rest of the cultural ideosphere, and it’s somehow been ten years since the Shins started, a couple of singles barely under their belt and an opening slot with Modest Mouse leading them to signing to Sub Pop, who in the years since Kobain has definitely been emphasizing the ‘Pop’ part of their name. Oh, Inverted World has since become one of the hallmark collections of early 2000’s indie rock, and will come to be seen as one of the great releases of the period, period.

Even if you’re not a habitual peruser of slacker stacks of tracks, there’s a fairly decent chance you’ve heard their music, whether on a McDonald’s ad a few years ago (“Baby’s first fries”—one of the most despicable fast food shills ever) or on the soundtrack to the indie film Garden State, in which Natalie Portman’s character even enthuses, “the Shins will change your life!” And hot on the heels of their latest, Wincing the Night Away, the debate is hot and heavy in indie circles over which is their best: either of these or their sophomore set Chutes Too Narrow. Their mainstream success has allowed them more sophisticated production compared to their relatively lo-fi opener, to weave their pop music dreams.

February 16, In the Venue

Also appearing:
February 15: Denver, CO (Fillmore Auditorium)
February 17: Boise, ID (Egyptian Theater)

Patty Larkin

Boston is kind of a counterpart to Austin, as far as music towns go. They are both very regional, both producing more musicians per square mile than probably anywhere else in America, yet they also travel well, partly due to their home genres’ pliability: for Austin, country music and for Boston, New England folk. And partly it’s also due to the fact that those two genres are so deeply ingrained national styles as well.

That explains why, in addition to a large New England base, Patty Larkin is also fairly popular in the west as well. Ten releases in over twelve years has honed her style into a more introspective version of Bonnie Raitt, at least in terms of her guitar playing and compositional style, but her longevity is due to putting her own individual stamp on the singer/songwriter form.

February 16, United Church of Christ

Also appearing:
February 13-14: Mancos, CO (Millwood Junction)
February 15: Cedar City, UT (The Grind)
February 17: Denver, CO (Daniels Hall)
February 18: Colorado Springs, CO (Concert House)

For more events check out our event calendar.  www.SaltLakeCityEvents.net

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