BOOGIE SHOES 9/5, DURTY NELLIE’S, PALATINE What they play isn’t quite acid jazz, nor is it really funk, and I think it would be stretching it to call it hip-hop. But just about every one of the 23 tunes on their overly generous Bust It…Bust It…Bust It (Novo) sounds like it’s trying to be all of these things all the time. The chops are there, but Boogie Shoes ought to go back to their extensive record collections and listen for dynamic range. I also wish they’d drop the boom-box retroisms–we’ve got to leave something for future generations to rip off.
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TOASTERS 9/5, MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART Let Billboard hype the revival of ska (or was it the revival of the revival?)–I’ve yet to see any hard evidence that it ever went away. New York’s Toasters, out in support of their sixth LP, Hard Band for Dead, have kept the faith ever since their early-80s debut. Their retail shop and label, Moon Ska, has provided a center for the northeast scene for a decade and a half, with a diverse roster of releases by everyone from Connecticut teenage ska-punk bands to 2-Tone veterans to original rudies like Laurel Aitken and members of the Skatalites. They interrupt their west coast tour to fly in for the first-anniversary bash of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s First Fridays series–apparently their dedication has earned them fans in strange places.
HARPER 9/6, FRANKIE’S BLUE ROOM, NAPERVILLE Peter Harper, the serendipitously named harmonica player and vocalist for this Aussie R & B outfit, has a sonorous soul belt, and his band gives up a functional groove, like the Commitments without the movie. Their CD Live at the Soup Kitchen (recorded in Detroit for authenticity) features a serviceable Sonny Boy Williamson cover and a jammy Bill Withers one, showing that their hearts are in the right place–even if the rest of their bodies usually aren’t.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Auntie Christ photo by Viggo Mortenen.
