Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Robyn Hitchcock and Joe Boyd at Largo

THURSDAY night sees one of the season's most intriguing bills: Joe Boyd, who produced folk-rock gods like Richard Thompson and Nick Drake and wrote a wonderful book about his early years, which I described here, will appear at Largo with neo-psych demigod Robyn Hitchcock. Both will appear -- with Boy's reading and telling stories, Hitchcock playing the songs described -- at the Largo at the Coronet.


(Both men have a pretty strong R.E.M. connection, as well.)


I've been into Hitchcock's surreal, chiming music since I was a teenager in the mid-'80s, and it was a pleasure to speak to him a few years back for this story:



"I tend to sing about things I like the look of," he says earnestly. "I sing about segmented creatures, like crabs and lobsters, wasps and bees, things with a head, thorax and abdomen -- that kind of thing."
"And imagining, if people were transparent, what their digestive systems would look like, or what it would be like seeing babies gestating inside other humans. Sometimes the whole thing horrifies me, other times it's rapturously beautiful."


Let me again commend Boyd's chronicle White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s. I concur with Brian Eno that this is one of the best books about music in ages, and its charting of the social rupture of the period is among the best I've ever seen.


Photo courtesy Yep Rock
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 23, 2010 at 11:47 AM

    Hey,

    This is Chrysti Walters the independent music coordinator at Platform One Entertainment a music and event marketing company based out of Chicago. Not too long ago I introduced to you one of our bands bands from Northern California Lloyds Garage.
    They have a sound similar to that of The Black Keys and The Raconteurs with that intermingling feeling of indie rock and alt. country.
    I was wondering if you had a chance to listen to some of their tracks, specifically “First Fight”
    They can be found at http://www.myspace.com/lloydsgarage
    I’d love to hear your thoughts and even if Lloyd’s Garage isn’t your cup of tea, I would still like to hear the type of music you’re into and see if any of our other artists will fit in with your site.

    In the meantime I invite you to check out our website http://www.platform-1.com/

    Thanks for your time and hope to hear from you soon!

    Best,
    Chrysti

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pete BilderbackSeptember 24, 2010 at 8:32 AM

    Scott,

    You are lucky to be able to see this show, it looks like it won't be coming to the East Coast. I expect Robyn will play a good amount of Incredible String Band tracks in his set.

    Also, I have a sound similar to The Raconteurs and The Black Keys when they are not making any music. Just saying.

    ReplyDelete