Man Is Man

Man is Man, Christa Mayer's new band had their first performance at The Whistler this past Tuesday 18 May. Her previous band Puerto Muerto performed their last at Empty Bottle on February. The Whistler is perfect for Man Is Man. It's small. The capacity is I think 50 to 70 people, and there is no cover. The bartenders really know how to make their drinks. You can get drunk cheap on PBR's. It's seen all kinds of action from all kinds of bands. The building is a curious one. The stage looks like it was once a store-front. You walk in and immediately on your left is the stage where the store front once was, not at the far end of the bar. Depending on the band sometimes there are small tables in the very front of the stage. In this evening for Man is Man there are them tables. While Christa was in Puerto Muerto, her work was fairly consistent, yet not formulaic. The many CD's that they put out are not radical departures from one another, and you keep wanting more of it. Rustic, and dark rock with a rural edge. Once you are a fan you cannot get enough of it. When Tim Kelley played Whistler I was there to see him, and on Tuesday 18 May I saw Ms Christa. You just trust that you will like what you hear, or at the very least are curious. I arrive early enough.

Man Is Man is just two people; Christa and a cellist whose name I forgot. I feel bad about that, 'cause the guy was awesome. She played what looked to me like a zither. So straight away if you are already a fan you are curious. How different will it sound? Such instruments have not been heard from Christa's previous band. I did not wonder if I would like it. I walked into Whistler as a fan of Ms Christa. She wore all white, casual sporty clothes. Remember Uma Thurman in Kill Bill with her yellow jump suit? Well, Christa didn't have that, but at least to me had that sporty vibe to her, form fitting white jeans, and a wife beater tank top. Like Brando in "Street Car". This was their first gig. I don't even think they have anything recorded at the time. So it's important to go see them perform.

Alright so on they go. There is a reason why I turn my nose to some metal. They are so damn obvious and campy. They need to call out their daddy Satan because by themselves they are not dark enough, not cool enough. Cool is when you don't need to prove it. And Man Is Man is cool, and dark.....Nick Cave coolness all the way. The Cello is something that I have not heard with Christa's voice before. I didn't know that she can play the zither. In her previous band she often played the drums. No drums here aside from her stomping her feet. That means a huge parking lot for the instruments they got. Less is more. With less instruments you have more intimacy, and more space between the instruments, more tension between the spaces. This kind of reminds me of post-piano PJ Harvey. Christa in her previous band did a lot of that already. Rural and dark is something she's owned for a long time, and I never tire of hearing that from her. She has become one of those recording artists that I am a fan of no matter what they play.

Zig

Natalie Grace Alford

So I saw Natalie Grace at Beat Kitchen....I forgot exactly when. I first saw her on youtube, and I forgot exactly what prompted me to see her then but I was impressed enough to want to see her live. The youtube videos have her without her now signature whig. Many of the artists that I like are solo artists, people that just go it alone on stage without a backing band. They take the entire burden of performing exclusively on their own shoulders. Some performers keep it simple with just themselves and one instrument, Pezz and her accordion, Eliza Rickman and her toy piano. Alright, them two have played alone but they have also performed with a full band.

Natalie Grace plays her keyboard and divides the other tasks among her different voices. Some songs like "Caroline went past my window" need setting up. On her demo CD it starts off but it's fun to see it build. Each vocal is added one at a time, looped until the entire barber shop troupe is present and then the song begins. And "caroline" sounds deep. There is this massive payoff for seeing it build. There are artists that try your patients by setting up nothing but their own displayed self indulgence. Ms Natalie is not that kind of artist. She had on this huge multi-colored wig on. It's awesome. You just get really curious. So I'm fascinated with seeing Natalie Grace set up her songs. Within two her signatures become apparent, and endearing. An entire female, well honed barber shop troupe resides in Ms Natalie Grace. There's this strong motown feel to her. She seems to toy with the conventions without sounding dated, or contrived. So there are these two conventions that I see in Natalie Grace, the motown and the barber shop styles. Or at least that's how I begin to describe her. Her voice is not one instrument but many, like in "Oblivion". You hear the different ranges in her voice simultaneously; middle girly to deep womanly. And then there's the technicolor wig she so casually carries on with. You will remember what she sounds like and you will remember what she looks like.

Zig