Neko Case concert notes from her gig at The Queen.
First off, I LOVED her opener the Des Demonas!
They're a DC band that said my city reminded them of sketchy DC in the 90s. Accurate! Check them outtt:
The crowd was great. We were lucky to get a spot at the rail. I've seen Neko many times over the years with and without the New Pornographers and her voice is still so warm and powerful. She's leaning into country again with serious Lucinda Williams vibes that blended jazz and even a little punk.
I don't have photos since phones were banned during her set. They were recording the performance and taking a bunch of professional photos. I'm sure we're in them. Being less than 20 ft away was so cool and I didn't miss it.
Neko is Mr. Fauxhawk's Band Guy and it was a joy to see him be that excited (especially after he went to 3 Pulp shows with me in the past 2 years, most recently at the rail in September). Despite our differing opinions on Oasis we really like the same music and it's awesome.
After the show he got a setlist!
Hearing At Last - with a corresponding call to protect your people, make your circle of people bigger, and fight all the shit in the world - warmed my heart. Live music is magic.
Des Demonas — Apocalyptic Boom! Boom! (In the Red)
A late year banger comes from DC’s Des Demonas, a band of friends powered by squalling farfisa, pummeling drums and political rage, poetically expressed. “The Duke Ellington Bridge” is one of 2024’s very best songs, wheeling in on a blare of organ, pursuing a rock ‘n roll grove that circles rather than progresses. It would be very, very good, just in musical terms, but the words are top-notch as well. Atop it all, one Jacky “Cougar” Abok reads the scriptures in a Kenyan cadence, unspooling visionary rants about all the things he is (“a necromancer,” “a black dictator,” a “head tranquilizer,” a “D.C. sniper”).
This is only Des Demonas’ second full length, following a 2017 self-titled debut, but its members have long histories in DC punk, Abok in the Foul Swoops and Thee Lolitas, guitarist Mark Cisneros in various Kid Congo outfits, the Make-Up and the superlative post-punk Hammered Hulls. Paul Vivaree, whose wailing Farfisa is so integral to this band’s sound, plays with Benjy Ferree and drummer Matt Gatwood is a member of Two Inch Astronaut. So, while not a supergroup on the level of, say, the Hard Quartet, these are seasoned hands, and you can hear it in how tightly, hard and selflessly they play.
You can hear all manner of classic punk influences in these songs, the dub-touched anthemry of the Clash in “Fascist Discotheque,” reeling Steve Nieves’-style keyboards in “Restructuring,” the stinging offbeats of two-tone ska in “Angola.” The title cut slithers ominously a la certain African Head Charge cuts, resounding with thunderous bass. Rhythms clank and groan ponderously, then cut whip switch turns, gloriously heavy, furiously agile.
Still no matter how great the rest of the band is—and make no mistake, it is pretty great—the spotlight rightly falls on Abok. His rough-cut poetry comes in an incendiary stream, touching on arts, politics, activism and revolutionary economics. He spits out phrases, howls disjointedly and sometimes hazards a wandering melody in an acrobatic vocal performance. It goes pretty fast, and a lyric sheet would be helpful to decrypt the words, but even snatches caught on the fly illuminate and provoke.
These songs careen wrecklessly, bouncing off music history and rebounding to the present. Song titles nod to Arthur Lee, Miles Davis, Elvis and Duke Ellington, bringing the rage and resistance and creative resilience of the past into the now, where it slaps as hard as it ever has. Fucking A.
The CTMF - A Certain Boy
Des Demonas - The Duke Ellington Bridge
Thee Cha Cha Chas - Don't Lie To Me
Thee Headshrinkers - Motorbike
Lambrini Girls - Love
Sex Mex - I Love Everyone
David Nance - Pure Evil #9
TVOD - Car Wreck
Sleaford Mods & Hot Chip - Cat Burglar
Last Quokka - OTC
Daffodil Pill - Swallow Song
Ismatic Guru - Manic Vision
Benzin - Krise
Heather The Jerk - Parasites
The Men - Pony
The CTMF - Shapes Of Things
Thee Headhrinkers - Derivative
Advance Base - The Tooth Fairy
1. THE AND BAND - "Home On The Range" Outhern LP (Spacecase, coming soon!)
2. TOMMY JAY - "I Was There" Tommy Jay's Tall Tales Of Trauma LP (Columbus Discount, 2007)
3. JEFF AND JANE HUDSON - "Los Alamos" Flesh 2xLP (Captured Tracks, 2011)
4. CERAMIC HELLO - "Climactic Nouveaux" The Absence Of A Canary LP (Mannequin, 1980)
5. CHANDRA - "Kate" Transportation LP (GO GO, 1980)
6. THE PHILOSOPHIC COLLAGE - "Toxic Poppies" Genius 7" EP (BDR, 2012)
7. DES DEMONAS - "Psychedelic Soldier" Des Demonas LP (In the Red, 2017)
8. CHEATER SLICKS - "Erotic Woman" Erotic Woman 7" (Columbus Discount, 2009)
9. THE GUN CLUB - "A House Is Not A Home" Lucky Jim LP (Bang!, 2011)
10. FRANCE GALL - "Les Sucettes" Best Of France Gall 2xCD (Polydor, 2002)
Top3 delle cose che in questo specifico caso mi fanno venire un boresso level pro 🔥:
1. il nome della band;
2. il tiro della band;
3. il maglioncino con cravatta indossato da Jacky.
