Mixed Bag

(Killbot photo courtesy of MySpace)

Here are some quick thoughts for a Sunday night:

1) Neko Case at The National in Richmond April 6. Case's voice is a wonder. In Richmond last week, it sounded as good -- possibly even better -- than it does on record. While the pace of her show was jerky due to between-song dawdling, her songs, her singing and her excellent band made for a fine night of music. My only other minor complaint was that some feedback problems marred at least one song. Beyond that, I was thrilled by the show. It was my first trip to The National (even though the place has been open about a year). Seeing how much it has to offer, I'm sorry I didn't cruise up to Richmond much earlier. As an aside, I'll point out that Neko is, in fact a Virginian, even though she's lived in many places across the nation and even in Canada. She was born in Alexandria.

2) "Locals Lounge," the radio show hosted by Alfredo Torres, featured Freedom Hawk live in the studio tonight. Great to see Torres still flying the flag for local music by asking one of the area's top hard rock acts to stop by his show. While not every band Torres spins on his show is a favorite, he does hit a home run from time to time. I understand he's even spun "My Brain" by Hampton's Uglyography -- for which he deserves my admiration and yours.

3) Speaking of Uglyography, Matt Thomas' solo project spent last week on a regional tour -- an impressive feat of logistical planning and utter gumption. I'm hoping that the tour pays dividends for Matt, who's been making great music and paying his dues for years -- including many in Hampton's wonderful Outer Loop. Matt's MySpace page includes some blog posts about his tour, which has included stops in Washington, D.C., Chapel Hill, N.C., Charlestown, W.Va., Richmond and Johnson City, Tenn.

I know next to nothing about Johnson City, but it seemed to be one of the highlights of the tour. Matt played with Johnson City's own Killbot, who made quite an impression. Here's an excerpt from Matt's blog:

*******************

After me was another solo act called Killbot. This guy (Daniel is his name) was really off the wall and pulled off some rad stuff. His setup consists of a suitcase. It is a magical suitcase and I'm still not sure exactly what was in it. He performed with his back to the audience for the majority of the time, leaning into this suitcase on a table, and pushing buttons, tweaking stuff, doing something, I don't know what, performing magic. The result was the ultimate in noisy distorted dance music freak out with all sorts of samples and synth sounds and super nasty vocal tones ... it is difficult to describe without a sample of the music. Check out his myspace profile for a taste. To top it off, he jumped around in a quick step troll-like dance, which again, is impossible to explain. I'm not sure if troll-like is the right description, but I do not mean that as an insult, dude! It is the highest compliment.

**************