Like Some Junkie Cosmonaut
if you’ve been paying any attention, you’ll have figured out that my musical tastes basically fall into a triangulation between the loud / scary / dark / angry, the artsy / intellectual / hi-brow, and the meditatative / psychedelic / trance-inducing.
Thus you’d probably not guess how much I like the band Cracker.
Well, I love ‘em, and I just got back from a fantastic performance by them, and fuck you Nashville for not making it a sell out, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good crowd — just shoulda been packed.
I don’t know what it is about them I like so much. I mean I’m not particularly into country, and there are hundreds of bands that do it better than them, nor am I really into blues, and still there are hundreds of bands that do that better; I do like a fair shake of angsty alternative, but here again there are plenty of bands more ‘alternative’ and more ‘angsty’. But these guys seem to catch just the right intersection of the three to get me. Maybe I just like David Lowery’s voice. Maybe I’m giving ‘em the benefit of Camper van Beethoven’s cool points — I mean, come on, you write a song like “Take the Skinheads Bowling“, you’re just going to be on my list for life. Or maybe I just totally identify with his quest: “I’ve searched the world over / for my angel in black / I’ve searched the world over / for my Euro trash girl”. Well, whatever it is, it works.
Funny thing was noting just how much ‘country’ there really is in their sound, being that we’re in Nashville and all. They did one number during which I could have sworn the whole club got transplanted down to the honky tonks on Lower Broad. Funny thing is most of the people in attendance would never be caught dead in those clubs. Hell, I almost never go to ‘em. But hittin’ those clubs & killing a bottle of whiskey with Lowery? Now that sounds like Good Times.
I’m not a fan of their new record. However, the rest of their catalog kicks ass.
I saw them at Exit/In about six years ago. Great show.
Now everybody wants to be our friend
so we act real Zen
and hang around with movie stars
I haven’t heard the new album yet. They played songs from it last night and I liked everything I heard, though of course even mediocre songs are usually better live.
I will GIVE you my copy. That’s how much it doesn’t do anything for me.
Undoubtedly, the live versions would be better.