KANGA at Reggies

  So unfortunately, I missed Amelia Arsenic. It would have been very nice to have seen her and Kanga. So, I hope she will come back.  Ms Kanga I recall seeing last year at Cold Waves. She played G Man Tavern right next door to Metro and it was no cover. Hell, no one at the door checked my ID. It was a Sunday night.  I went with a slight headache that I took care of with Motrin and...I took care of it. The very night of the massacre in Vegas is when I saw this.  That sounded wrong, allow me to explain.  You always remember where you were when something of that tremendous terrible weight occurs. I was coming back from seeing Kanga with a long gone headache as my only trouble and I turn on NPR, they were reporting it. And it was as if they were doing so as it was happening or shortly there after. I drove home in a shock. This could have happened easily where I went, and the thought of that  was unsettling. The weight of guilt, feeling unworthy of the good fortune kept me from just switching to music during the drive home. It felt like seeing the wrong side of the hand of an angry God at work...helpless. And so its difficult at least for me to disconnect these separate moments. Kanga at Cold Waves and Vegas. I just can't. It feels cruel to seem oblivious. There is a time and place to write and dwell on this, and here  I feel it is safe to do so. Let me tell where it is not cool. If I was doing a straight review of her show then for a magazine....hell no! I would strictly concentrate on the show. But this here is my space and this is where I can't ignore shit.  And I feel bad for bringing this up, here where the express purpose is to go on and on about the fucking bands I see. Yet this is where my mind brings me. Hmmm, and now I lock it up, here, never to mention it again...I had to put it somewhere and now I gotta move on.
  A signature move of Ms Kanga during her live shows is bending backwards like a possessed Linda Blair. I fucking love seeing that. What's cool is how the intensity manifests on her. With her it's bending backwards and hearing her say "I'm On Fire!!...I don't belong her anymore!!" and sweating, and rolling around. With other performers its how controlled they are as you are taken by the music, dancing and all that. Not Kanga, she gets herself all disheveled and its part of what makes her shows great. Her songs are resonant both in words and music. Songs that come with that easily and genuinely combustible kindling. Its that dance floor friendly industrial and her lyrics you can hear clearly without having to read them.  Her songs are distinct from each other.  I can't say that about HIDE. Her songs are difficult to distinguish. To enjoy a HIDE concert, is almost to like it as a whole without knowing which end is up. I still like HIDE, even after saying all that. I would go see her show tomorrow. But right now we are going on about Ms Kanga, here.

  So she is performing from her self-titled CD. Her picture on it, she looks relaxed with otherworldly eyes.....ahhhhhh. I have to say, she is an otherworldly beauty.  No seriously, if them eyes were any wider I would get visits from Men In Black over seeing seeing her shows. No, I'm not referring to the bloody movie. Her songs easily distinguishable from each other, their separate reasons for you to like them. Vital Signs is different from Going Red and so on( and they are both great songs). I hope I see more work coming from her in the future.
Zig