[music]
Bluegrass blitzkrieg Kitchen Dwellers take mountain music higher When, over 30 years ago, country legends Alabama sang, “Oh, play me some mountain music/ like Grandma and Grandpa used to play/ then I’ll float on down the river to a Cajun hideaway,” the band had no idea that the Kitchen Dwellers would one day come along and turn that idea on its head. Oh sure, the Bozeman bluegrass band—and winners of this year’s Zoo Music Awards in the Country & Bluegrass category—has a mountain music feel to it, and its eponymous debut album ebbs and flows like a river, but with song titles like “Redneck Bastard,” this is definitely not your grandma’s old-time music. What the band does is take you on a ride that feels more like a rush through a Class V rapid then a languid float. The instrumental track “S.I.R.” is a blitzkrieg of fiddles, banjos and acoustic guitars, and it represents both the album’s biggest strength and
photo courtesy of Frank Douglas
weakness: The rapid-fire solos are great, but Kitchen Dwellers contains a ton of these, so it suffers at times from Too Much of a Good Thing Syndrome. That said, the band can surprise you. Singer Kyle Shelstad’s voice sounds like Gomer Pyle with a nasty cold (which is oddly fun to listen to) and there are a couple of nice upright bass solos—particularly on “Mississippi Delta Queen”—that occasionally give the album an unexpected jazz tone. (Brian Palmer) Kitchen Dwellers plays an album release show at the Top Hat Fri., Sept. 20, at 10 PM. Free.
Rose Gold Rose Gold is the sort of pop music picnic that most would call “indie,” but don’t let that nomenclature dissuade you from taking in this outfit fronted by stylish bassist and vocalist Birdie Bowie. On a track such as “Ghosts,” the trio’s sound would fit well on any ’90sera episode of MTV’s “120 Minutes,” with repetitive, squawking guitar hooks reminiscent of The Edge’s better work, and Bowie’s voice making pretty little noises. While “Ghosts” and the other tracks available on the Rose Gold bandcamp page are raw and underproduced, the songwriting skills are evident and the earworm riffs will follow you to the grave. “Atom Bomb” slowly builds momentum with some sneaky
drum work and repetitive guitar riffage. Here, Bowie does her best Heavens-to-Betsy-era Corin Tucker impersonation, and that ain’t a bad thing. “Bruised Fruit” continues the riot grrrl feel with atmospheric and fuzzed-out guitars buzzing over Bowie’s refrain, “Purity is easy when they hang you from the tree / I’m starving.” The musicianship is generally more adept than most of those celebrated riot grrrl outfits. While the influences of that movement are obvious, Rose Gold is its own thing, ready to move on to the big city. ( Jason McMackin) Rose Gold plays Stage 112 Fri., Sept. 20, at 9:30 PM with Monks on Fire and Swamp Ritual. $3.
Citizen Cope Clarence Greenwood—aka Citizen Cope—has been combining rap and rock for well over a decade, and more recently has made his mark on the singersongwriter landscape with molasses-thick vocals and soulful tracks perfect for outdoor concerts in the dead of summer. Historically, Cope’s recordings have aimed for positivity while simultaneously mining the depths of human struggles—like the ambling orchestral title track from 2012’s One Lovely Day, which offers a ray of hope for the downtrodden. But some of his best work comes via gritty, unsettling social commentaries, like when he
sings about people’s fruitless efforts to get out from behind “life’s Eight Ball” on the hip-hop-tinged rock track “Bullet and a Target.” Cope acts as a messenger of sorts with his music, proclaiming an uplifting gospel of possibilities and also providing chilling reminders of the crushing obstacles that lurk around every corner. He does so in a diverse way that listeners of a number of genres can get behind. (Brian Palmer) Citizen Cope plays the Wilma Wed., Sept. 25. Doors open at 7 PM, show at 8. $31/$27.50 advance at Rockin Rudy’s and ticketweb.com.
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Adventure Club Unless you’re into the EDM scene, you probably can’t tell one DJ/group from another. You also might need to know that EDM stands for electronic dance music. Well, here’s something for both the discerning electronic ear and the occasional dancer. Leave it to Canada to fix what has become a haphazard style in Britain and the United States. Instead of trying too hard to change dubstep, Montreal’s Adventure Club is sticking to its roots with predictable rises and falls, good glitchy leads and a knack for fitting the wibbly-wobbly in the right places. With half a million Facebook likes, it still makes the kids dance. Adventure Club tends to the treble end of elec-
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tronic, which is a nice break from the bass-heavy hits in its BPM range. The DJ duo takes on plenty of remixes, from the post-hardcore Alexisonfire to the softer side of Metric. From its online collection, the re-imagining of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps” is the most creatively conceived track for its soft edges and hard drops. If Adventure Club could shed the urge to overly distort and reverberate as the dubstep scene requires, it would deserve a 10. But these guys are good DJs, so they’ll keep putting out what people are buying. (Brooks Johnson) Adventure Club, Kai Wachi and Lecture play Stage 112 Thu., Sept. 26, at 10 PM. $25/$22 advance. 18-plus.
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missoulanews.com • September 19–September 26, 2013 [19]