MONDAY FEB 19, 2018
529 Presents:
529 & Irrelevant Music Present:
Busman's Holiday
Jesse Nighswonger
Spooky Cool | Dead Neighbors
Busman's Holiday
"A Busman’s Holiday performance begins with the thump of kick-pedal on suitcase and the tuning of acoustic guitar strings, two affable brothers quietly considering where to take their audience first. They may begin with an exultant and driving harmony or a ballad in a melancholy mode, but not before they have laughed and shared stories with their audience, patient and cheerful, assuring the crowd that they are in good hands. As Lewis and Addison begin to sing, their voices together evoke the Southern Indiana where their music was born. One can’t help but feel the presence of the songs’ characters in the room beside you, the music offering intimate details from vivid strangers. The Rogers brothers’ appeal has never been limited to a niche audience. Tested on the road for years, playing music at honky-tonks and roadhouses, moth-eaten lounges crawling with night creatures, punk palaces, last-wave folk huts, they’ve honed their skills and free-flowing banter to the point where they’ve been able to endear themselves to all corners."
"A Busman’s Holiday performance begins with the thump of kick-pedal on suitcase and the tuning of acoustic guitar strings, two affable brothers quietly considering where to take their audience first. They may begin with an exultant and driving harmony or a ballad in a melancholy mode, but not before they have laughed and shared stories with their audience, patient and cheerful, assuring the crowd that they are in good hands. As Lewis and Addison begin to sing, their voices together evoke the Southern Indiana where their music was born. One can’t help but feel the presence of the songs’ characters in the room beside you, the music offering intimate details from vivid strangers. The Rogers brothers’ appeal has never been limited to a niche audience. Tested on the road for years, playing music at honky-tonks and roadhouses, moth-eaten lounges crawling with night creatures, punk palaces, last-wave folk huts, they’ve honed their skills and free-flowing banter to the point where they’ve been able to endear themselves to all corners."
Spooky Cool
"Have you had this experience at a karaoke jam? You decide to sing this super catchy smash hit pop song because you’re sure everyone’s going love it. It was the song of the summer. It’s a lock. But once you’re singing it, you realize you’re just repeating the same couple of phrases over and over again. It’s super awkward. You look out at your friends, and they’re all thumbing through the karaoke books, totally nonplussed by your boring song. This is the insight I was happy to take away from Spooky Cool: most popular music and for that matter, “indie” music is repetitive and dull. The original rock songs from the ‘50s all cut out after about two minutes because the bands knew that after they squeezed in a sax solo and sang the chorus, there wasn’t a lot left to do. In the case of Spooky Cool, they eschew this sort of minimalism in favor of a complex maximalism. Challenging themselves to emulate composers like Tchaikovsky and Schubert in a rock-type context, the five musicians create music that has been called challenging or mathematical, but might better be simply called interesting. Singing Hryciak lyrics complement the music by being similarly unexpected."
"Have you had this experience at a karaoke jam? You decide to sing this super catchy smash hit pop song because you’re sure everyone’s going love it. It was the song of the summer. It’s a lock. But once you’re singing it, you realize you’re just repeating the same couple of phrases over and over again. It’s super awkward. You look out at your friends, and they’re all thumbing through the karaoke books, totally nonplussed by your boring song. This is the insight I was happy to take away from Spooky Cool: most popular music and for that matter, “indie” music is repetitive and dull. The original rock songs from the ‘50s all cut out after about two minutes because the bands knew that after they squeezed in a sax solo and sang the chorus, there wasn’t a lot left to do. In the case of Spooky Cool, they eschew this sort of minimalism in favor of a complex maximalism. Challenging themselves to emulate composers like Tchaikovsky and Schubert in a rock-type context, the five musicians create music that has been called challenging or mathematical, but might better be simply called interesting. Singing Hryciak lyrics complement the music by being similarly unexpected."