Variety - Wiltern Review

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932407.html?categoryid=34&cs=1&nid=2562

My Morning Jacket
(Wiltern LG; 2,100 capacity; $27)
By STEVEN MIRKINPresented by KCRW/Live Nation. Reviewed Jan. 6, 2007.

Band: Jim James, Two-Tone Tommy, Patrick Hallahan, Bo Koster, Carl Broemel.
Also appearing: Elvis Perkins.

There's something comfortably old-fashioned about My Morning Jacket. Kentucky quintet harkens back to classic guitar rock, as Jim James' ethereal, ancient sounding voice and proudly handmade songs can trace their bloodlines to Neil Young, the Allman Bros. and the Band. At the Wiltern Saturday night, on a stage decked out with a backdrop that made it look like the band was playing in a middle of a forest as overgrown and tangled as James and Carl Broemel's guitar lines, a thick patina of reverb adding an extra layer of mystery and atmosphere, it was easy to feel the earnest heart beating underneath My Morning Jacket.
It's a heart that's been growing stronger since the release of 2005's "Z." With that album, James started writing material that matched his voice's depth and emotional temperature, and the songs became almost operatically fervid; live the band turned into a solidly built unit. "Okonosos" (ATO), a live album and DVD recorded last year at the Fillmore, shows a band exalting in its command. A year on the road has only added muscle to the band's playing, and the best songs Saturday night flaunted My Morning Jacket's power.

It has become a band whose flexibility matches its heft. "It Beats for You" couples a jittery post-punk rhythm to a dreamy psychedelic vocal, with its billowy guitar arpeggios leading into a driving riff; "One Big Holiday" starts off like Television's "Marquee Moon"; the stuttering keyboards of "Wordless Chorus" lean toward soul (with James dropping to his knees for the song's keening coda); while "I Will Sing You Songs" has the druggy languor of Pink Floyd. It is a band whose reach is only limited by its ambition.

But one thing My Morning Jacket does not do is jam. The songs may be expanded slightly, giving the guitars a little extra room for solos, but the structure sticks pretty close to the recorded versions. There's never a moment when a solo threatens to deviate from the pre-ordained route; no matter how frenetic the sound becomes, the band is in control.

My Morning Jacket is obviously a band with large ambitions; if members haven't quite reached them yet, they're within shooting distance and it's certainly one of the best live bands working today.

[ms. yvon]

nothing but love!

yay!

[JazzCat]

What the hell is music critics big opposition to "jamming."  They act as if its a cancer.  At one time, improvisation was considered a skill in music.  Hipsters can really piss me off sometimes, especially LA hipsters.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Well, there's "jamming" and then there's "JAMMING".  I think what they're afraid of is a thirty minute drum solo, or a Phish-esque drawn out guitar solo that goes on until your bladder bursts or you get bored.  There's jammin' out and feeling the moment, and then there's audio masturbation.  MMJ walk the line between the two, never veering too close to the presipice that is wankery, but rather staying the course ever so skillfully and making it work.

No offense to Phish fans, but damn.

[ultravisitor]

What the hell is music critics big opposition to "jamming."  They act as if its a cancer.  At one time, improvisation was considered a skill in music.  Hipsters can really piss me off sometimes, especially LA hipsters.

Improvisation is still considered a skill.  I think the criticism of jamming is directed towards the kind of jamming that doesn't go anywhere and/or completely veers off track and away from the rest of the song.

And what do hipsters have to do with anything in that article?  The people who write for Variety aren't exactly hipsters.