Rolling Stone Review of SXSW Show

[cmccubbin@work]

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/03/14/sxsw-my-morning-jacket-debut-new-songs-bring-the-thunder/

SXSW: My Morning Jacket Debut New Songs, Bring the Thunder
3/14/08, 12:50 pm EST

During SXSW, Austin, Texas is the center of the indie-rock universe, overrun with singers and bands deserving of wider attention and a fair payday but, with the major labels in free fall, more defensive than ever about creative purity and corporate sabotage. The headlining set by indie-scene graduates My Morning Jacket at the Austin Music Hall, on the second night of SXSW '08, proved that they became arena-worthy and pop-smart without selling out or diluting their Southern-gothic boom.

Like R.E.M. the night before, My Morning Jacket devoted nearly half of their generous set — sixteen songs and four long encores over close to two hours — to their imminent new album, Evil Urges, including the heavy funk and wah-wah city of "Highly Suspicious" and the disco-pulse Armageddon of "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2." The record features singer-guitarist-songwriter Jim James in a bold, R&B frame of mind, unleashing his inner Earth Wind and Fire — particularly his strong, piercing falsetto — over oceans of guitar fuzz and John Bonham-thunderclap drums, and it was all there, at maximum volume, on stage.

James has been going forward into the past for some time. "Wordless Chorus" from 2005's Z, featured slick sheets of storefront-church harmonies over a stuttering-calypso rhythm. The band beefed up the elephant-walk reggae time of "Off the Record" with lion-roar guitar quotes from "Hawaii Five-O" and furious, dueling breaks by James and guitarist Carl Broemel.

But My Morning Jacket are an R&B band the way Led Zeppelin made mountains out of the beats and meters of Sixties New Orleans singles and James Brown records. "Aluminum Park," from the new album, opened with jackhammer riffing and blew up into nuclear garage rock. And much of the set's monster-guitar drama came from the band's 2003 major-label debut, It Still Moves. What once sounded like Lynyrd Skynyrd-to-the-moon — and that is a high compliment — is now even bigger in heave and bolder in color and texture. At the Austin Music Hall,"Run Thru" was a Kentucky "Kashmir" and "Whole Lotta Love" combined: a slow, heavy riff; a hellbent middle of unison-guitar excitement; and a hard u-turn back to that messy, majestic grind. You could keep biting your nails, waiting for a Zeppelin-reunion tour. Or you can see My Morning Jacket, here and now, make their own Physical Graffiti in your face.

[Photo: Steve Hopson]

David Fricke

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wow...Zeppelin comparisons!

[ms. yvon]

*just a cut and paste from the other thread*

really complimentary review but i get so bored with reviewers leaning on describing bands by comparing them to someone else.  seems a bit on the lazy side.  (who is kind of tired this morning?    ;D )

side note:  was just watching sam jones' film about wilco.  david fricke is one of the interviewees.  perceptive dude.

[cmccubbin@work]

*just a cut and paste from the other thread*

really complimentary review but i get so bored with reviewers leaning on describing bands by comparing them to someone else.  seems a bit on the lazy side.  (who is kind of tired this morning?    ;D )

side note:  was just watching sam jones' film about wilco.  david fricke is one of the interviewees.  perceptive dude.

yeah...RS reviews are bad about making comparisons and not being original.

however, Fricke is pretty old school in that he loves older bands (hence the Zeppelin comparison).  to compare Evil Urges to Physical Graffiti and MMJ to Zep is pretty d*mn impressive (whether you believe it or not), especially coming from Fricke!

[Don Dante]

This is certainly high praise.  Fricke has been around and seems like a cool guy, so it is real neat to see him speak of my favorite band this way.  I love the last sentence.

[CC]

Highly Suspicious video:
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/03/14/sxsw-my-morning-jacket-bring-the-heat-on-new-song//

[ycartrob]

indie-scene graduates

arena-worthy and pop-smart

Southern-gothic boom

heavy funk and wah-wah city

disco-pulse Armageddon

R&B frame of mind

inner Earth Wind and Fire

oceans of guitar fuzz

John Bonham-thunderclap drums

slick sheets of storefront-church harmonies over a stuttering-calypso rhythm

elephant-walk reggae time

lion-roar guitar quotes

Led Zeppelin made mountains out of the beats and meters of Sixties New Orleans singles and James Brown records

jackhammer riffing

blew up into nuclear garage rock

monster-guitar drama

Lynyrd Skynyrd-to-the-moon

bigger in heave and bolder in color and texture

Kentucky "Kashmir"

a slow, heavy riff; a hellbent middle of unison-guitar excitement; and a hard u-turn back to that messy, majestic grind

You could keep biting your nails, waiting for a Zeppelin-reunion tour. Or you can see My Morning Jacket, here and now, make their own Physical Graffiti in your face.

(I love this stuff!)

[weeniebeenie]

Very nice review. Or as we say in Aus, NOICE!!! :)

[.Walt]

i'm loving all the great pub for the boys. mtv, rollingstone, ifc, etc etc i'm really happy for them and keep it coming!

[JerseyDan]

David is a great man, loves all the right bands. via fricke!@

[Jaimoe]

Fricke is one of the only good writers left at that once important music rag. Good review along with a lofty comparison with Zeppelin.

[Cvillepong]

This show was absolutely fantastic.

[dragonboy]

Wow! That's the kind of review that needs to get framed  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[Wardog]

Great link, but damn it... I tried to avoid it, but I ended up reading the comments left by others at the bottom of the Rolling Stone page... Ity pisses me off when they make unintelligent comments like how stupid MMJs name is.