Only Son @ Riviera 5/13/2007

Jack Dishel's biography reads like a great treatment for an indie film, from his family's migration from Russia, to the adoption of the name Jack from his childhood nickname of "Jack the Ripper", his adoration for heavy metal giving way to rap giving way to indie rock, to his residency playing guitar with cult icons The Moldy Peaches. This former graffiti artist turned musician, has been making noise by himself for the past few years under the moniker of Only Son. His debut album The Drop to the Top was released last fall on Cassette Recordings, and he landed himself a top notch gig opening for Regina Spektor on her UK and American tours, which stopped off at the Riviera this past Sunday.

I have to admit I was looking forward to his set on Sunday, after listening to The Drop to the Top, this bender of an album clocking in at just over 34 minutes, is filled with some really great pop tunes, that skip from the upbeat to the melancholic, layered over drum machine/synth symphonies, with an acoustic guitar riffing right along. His lyrics are at times creative and funny, yet maintain a very elementary subtext and structure. Overall, there is a great sense of creativity and self awareness, which proves for a very fine debut album.

On stage: Only Son kept his set short and to the point, bringing to life his songs with the help of his iPod backing band, pre-recorded backing tracks that were pumped through the Riv's sound system, as he sings and strums his acoustic guitar. In theory, the idea of being able to reproduce fuller sound without the weight of other band members and the mobility of pre-recorded mp3 tracks serving as accompaniment is definitely enticing, but in practice the majority of these attempts do the music an injustice. Such is the case with Only Son, on CD Dishel creates these little pop gems, but onstage this past Sunday, it was somewhat disappointing. The audio levels sounded a bit off, causing the backing tracks to overpower Dishel's guitar playing and causing him to push vocally as well. It made me wonder if Only Son, would benefit from the help a few friends backing him up instead or even a smaller venue. It was a valiant effort, but seemed out of place on the massive stage of the Riv; this solo artist jamming out on an acoustic guitar with an iPod on a stool and an elaborate light show happening all around him. It was almost comical, perhaps this is the future of low maintance indie rock, technology is making it easier to ditch the full band. Despite these minor qualms, Dishel proved to be an interesting performer and showing a bit of his sense of humor, ending his set with an advertisement promoting the sale of his record after the show, in a creepy voice-over announcer voice. Next time, he comes through let's hope he'll hit up one of our fine club venues and be sure check out The Drop to the Top it's worth a dedicated listen.

Check out the video for Only Son's "My Museum"!

You can sample more Only Son music on his Myspace page.

Video: Fujiya & Miyagi - "Ankle Injuries"

Taking (a lot of) inspiration from Michel Gondry's White Stripes video for "Fell In Love With a Girl", Fujiya & Miyagi, the new wave 70's Krautrock duo have released the video for their own personal anthem "Ankle Injuries", proving that is possible to create a catchy hook comprised of the chanting repetition of your band name. Preview more music on their Myspace page.

Check 'em Out: Cake Bake Betty

There is a inescapable beauty and attraction to the sweet, bizarre music created by Lindsay Powell as Cake Bake Betty. This multi-instrumentalist originally from New Jersey, now resides in Chicago via Nashville and is part of the Infinity Cat collective, the micro-label created by Jake and Jamin Orrall, who also now live in Chicago and perform as JEFF. (Factoid: Jamin was the original drummer of Be Your Own Pet.) If we're lucky, the boys will be backing up Lindsay for her set at Subterranean this Saturday, when she peforms as a part of Bandwidth.

Lindsay is currently working on recording the follow-up album to her 2006 release Songs About Teeth,
which not only delivers what it promises "teeth songs", it is also filledwith sad and delightful tracks about desperation, hope, spines, and cannibals. At the heart and soul of this album is Lindsay's piano
playing and elegant voice (think Regina Spektor), which she is not
afraid of pushing to the limits, but with the help of some friends on cello, violin, mandolin, and drums the captivating sound of Songs About Teeth is achieved. She is armed to the teeth with an arsenal of quirky pop songs chock full of imaginative lyrics that we surely make you smile and squirm.

Here's the disturbingly, hilarious video for the catchy as hell song "64 Little White Things" Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Cake Bake Betty - "Samo & Grace"
-from Songs About Teeth (buy here)