The Future Is the Future

Sandra Black are in a way my first Morgantown band. I heard them before I ever moved here, and nearly everyone who's ever been in the band went to my high school in Charleston (current and ex-guitarists Brian Newruck and Corey Bicanich being two exceptions). They've been around far longer than that, but I picked up on them a while after their first album's release, and when I moved here 4 or 5 years ago I remember them as a band who made complex, layered shoegaze, a genre named for the tendency of its member bands to stare at their feet instead of moving around on stage.

Five years or so later, and a matured Sandra Black took the stage at 123 Pleasant Street this past Friday to promote their second album, The 40 Ounce Confession. Describing Sandra Black to someone has gotten harder as they begin to sound more and more unique. Songwriter Billy Zweiner
has hollowed out the layered washes of his previous influences, leaving only gently throbbing bass lines and alternately chiming and jangling guitars. At times the guitarwork suggests the wintry pristine quality of Scotland's Cocteau Twins, others the gleeful gooey guitars of early-90s indie rock groups like Boston's Drop Nineteens, who remind me of a kid stealing the sugary icing off of the My Bloody Valentine cake.

But it's not 1992 anymore, it's 2005, and Sandra Black have melded the moody, taut emotions of bands like Reagan-era darlings Echo & the Bunnymen and their modern descendants like Interpol. Mind-bendingly complicated drums form a rickety skeleton rhythm which the band tightly stretch their melodies along. The tension and driving pace of the music makes numbers like title track "40 Ounce Confession" and "Evil" the perfect soundtrack to night driving. Zweiner's smoky voice gets so hot it practically sears the words into the song. Meanwhile, "AM Rock" breaks down into a stripped down acoustic guitar and piano jam that would have made the Bunnymen smile ear to ear with pride.

But all is not dire in the world of Sandra Black. Happiness has reached into their songbook and helped pull out songs like the unabashedly titled "Love," and the practically bouncey "Eighteen." My own personal favorite is the gentle, graceful "Downer Hill," a sweet interplay of Cocteau guitar chime and piano and a sprinkling of sleigh bells slip effortlessly down into drummer Billy Zweiner's hyperactive pummel and then back to a snail's pace which Sandra Black heap their guitar and piano melodies back on until it slides back into silence.

As far as I can tell, most of the songs on the new album had been played at Sandra Black shows in the past, and they all made an appearance at Friday's show. But beforehand the band wisely asked local one-man band J. Marinelli and four-piece Librarians to open. J. ran through a quick set including a couple new songs and covers in front of a rapidly growing audience, and Librarians swelled the ranks of the crowd with their glammy danceable grooves as anticipation mounted.

But it was Sandra Black who were the stars of the show Friday night, and as they comfortably worked their way through their set of new material, I remarked upon how amazingly tight they are, and always have been. Drummer Daniel Zweiner and longtime bassist Jason Henry's rhythmic interplay set the stage for the guitar fireworks by Bryan Newruck and Billy Zweiner's vocals and synth work. I won't go into the live show too much since I've written so much about the album, but the final treat came in the encore. It began with a personal favorite of mine, "Change of Atmosphere," and included two more songs from their first album that I can't remember them playing for ages. The pinnacle was surely "Nyabinghi Dancehall," ironically a song named after the club 123 used to be, years ago. And with that final closing number, the tale of a band who must by now be 10 years into their career came full-circle. Here's to waiting for the next chapter.

Show Review: 11/12/05: Wailin' Elroys, Billy Matheny, Latvian Radio

Everyone in this town knows we have shows. Good shows and bad shows. Shows that run late and shows that end early. Shows that start on time, and shows that never start at all. Loud shows and quiet shows. Out of town bands, and in town bands. Shows that are packed and shows that are empty. We’ve got it all, and see enough of them, and you can get jaded to the point of thinking you know what kind of show equals what kind of night. Sometimes you end up wrong.

This Saturday’s Wailin Elroys / Billy Matheny / Latvian Radio show at 123 Pleasant Street was the worst kind of show: it was fantastic and there was no one there. It could be wrong to compare it to the Billy’s 21^st Birthday Bash from a few months prior (also with Matheny and the Elroys) but this show brought my ears hours of music that I wished could be shared with more people.

The show was opened by Latvian Radio, a once and awhile group fronted by former Morgantown resident Patric Westoo and flanked by venerated pillars of Morgantown Matheny, Monday, and Porterfield. Westoo’s tunes walked that fine line between indie pop and alt country each had their moments, and all of them were highly accessible to those who (like myself) had no idea what to expect. Though only a once and awhile project, it was hard to tell. Save for one slightly botched ending, the tunes were tight and compact, Westoo’s vocals delivered with gusto, Porterfield’s solos driven and concise, and the Matheny and Monday rhythm section pushing everything along at just the right pace.

Matheny and his new band consisting of Adrian Larry, Haley Slagle, and Woody O’Hara (of American Sound Syndicate) are beginning to gel in all the right ways. Haley Slagle’s vocals are absolutely to die for and she adds so much to Matheny’s tunes that I don’t even know where to begin. “Reckless”, a slow and torchy Slagle-sung number opened the show and I’m still trying to get my mind around it. Every once and awhile you hear a song at a bar that is so good all you want to do is go home and put it in the CD player on repeat. This is one of those songs. As the last notes of “Reckless” hung in the air the band crashed into “One Story Town” and we were off. The rest of their set passed in a blur of twangy guitars, screaming vocals, and Matheny’s high energy stage persona. This kid never ceases to amaze. Most of the tunes from his self-titled EP made their appearance, but it’s the new songs which truly impress and make this reviewer salivate at the thought of a full length release from one of Morgantown’s brightest talents.

The Wailin’ Elroys were up next, and closed out the show. This Athens, Ohio trio does country the way country should be. The Elroys are not the tight jeans and big hat wearing country music of radio and video. They are the dusty, twangy, liquor and heartbreak filled music that the term ‘country music’ still evokes for me, but for few others. I stumbled randomly into their last Morgantown performance and found myself blown away by Bram Riddlebarger’s tunes and Johnny Borchard’s smoking steel guitar. I was sure that this town would take to the Elroy’s and they could build a loyal following here. I don’t think I was wrong, but it seems that the sparse crowd at Saturday’s show was a step in the wrong direction. The band was hot, and they didn’t let the lack of attention stop them from ripping through their set, consisting primarily of tracks from their Rhythm Bomb released Route 33. Their sound is classic, Riddlebarger with a vocal style that begs for a yodel here and there, and Borchard’s mellifluous licks melts your ears and breaks your heart. This band deserves your attention. Hopefully when they return to Morgantown, more of you will turn out for it.