The Brooklyn Circus came to town, bringing only a central attraction: J*Davey. They landed and raised a ruckus for the normally not so unbound party spot that is Yoshi’s SF. The last shows we saw at that venue were Roy Haynes and John Zorn’s Electric Masada, so this was indeed a notable departure.
The show began just before 11PM and carried on for 90 minutes, starting with a better-than-the-original rendition of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, taken from its Pixies inspired grunge dynamic to a kind of bump and grind electro-funk dirge. Almost melancholic and detached, yet seething.
From there, or supercharged duo covered a pretty broad swath of material from their earlier output like The Beauty in Distortion/Land of the Lost, some new cuts from their forthcoming major label LP New Designer Drug and a scorching rendition of Get Together from their just released (and free to download) 5 track EP, Boudoir Synema: The Great Mistapes.
The only tracks I would have liked to have heard and didn’t was Mr. Mister and their cover of Zappa’s Dirty Love.
K & I sat front row and almost center and were treated to a full frontal attack by frontwoman Jack Davey (real name Briana Cartwright), whose retro-futuristic sleazy punk-funk divadom recalls aspects of Jody Watley, Dale Bozzio and Sheila E (and by proxy Gwyn Stefani and even Toni Halliday).
The pair together seem like characters created by Charles Bukowski or Warren Ellis, and given a record contract and a license to make mayhem on stage…which in this case they did at regular intervals:
- Shifting between slinky poses and caroming into mic stands in an almost drunken punk rock fashion, Jack Davey could be called an elegant mess.
- Jack Davey singing a song while perched on top of the table next to ours and drawing attendees into orbit around her, trying to vie for her attention.
- Allowing a few dozen members of the audience to bum rush the stage and dance shamelessly like everyone is watching and none of it matters.
A highlight was the campy torch-song approach that had Jack Davey writhing on the stage next to Brook L’Deau playing acoustic piano. I took enough reference shots that an illustration of some kind will get out for public consumption soon enough. BTW Brook, I dug the WWI era airmans cap and the Municipal Waste t-shirt; that’s some style right there.
Now beyond all the antics and performance, the most important part of all this is that they make some of the best new pop music out there. You can hear all of it being condensed into an tweaked out, kinetic planet of the inherently eclectic, but still cohesive enough with solid beats and melodies to have not lack any commercial accessibility. The songs are fun, and impeccably produced. L’Deau uses a battery of sounds that really does evoke both Larry Blackmon and Brian Eno, yet sounding totally new and non-derivative too. Davey can sing well, but opts for creating a full overall presence rather than beating an audience into submission with belting laryngular seizures.
Go get the EP, then go buy the previous releases, then go buy the new album when it comes out, then go see them live. Actually, you do not have to do the above in that order, just do them all.
There is already posted footage, although the quality is a bit lacking.
On a side note, we ate at Yoshi’s restaurant, and they have a desert with creme fraiche ice cream covered in toasted rice. That is some next level addictive a la mode-ness.