Review
Live Review - Jose Gonzalez
- Author:
- Review Date:
- 12/09/2007
What’s not to like about a band whose upright bass-player looks Amish? Cass McCombs and his band bring the gypsy-rock with that kind of step-aside Bob Dylan confidence that can only be honed by professional musicians with a wealth of touring experience.
Visually, the small collective fits behind McCombs whose on-stage persona brandishes something of the smoky-jazz club panache of a young Tom Waits. Their 8 song set featured tambourines, sparse snare slaps, and some of the droner-stoner chill rock you associate with smoking pot. Standing out for me was Lionkiller, which more or less encapsulates what a troubadour can and should do in 2007. But they can do more—check out That’s That, a groovy Doo-Wop-meets-Band-of-Horses track on Myspace. They transfer it faithfully live, preferring to keep the minimalism rather than kick in to overdrive.
The night, however, belonged to Jose Gonzalez. If you know Gonzalez, you know that minimalism, whispers, and subtlety are the brushes he paints with. That’s not easy to do live. For a point of contrast, I recall seeing Jonah Matranga in Anaheim back in 2003. One of the standout moments of the show was when Matranga had to beg his small following to ignore the loudmouth drunks in the back who weren’t paying attention. Gonzalez had no such difficulties. Every eye was fixed on him, every ear attuned. No small feat has been accomplished when you can audibly follow each and every note.
The third song in the set gave Gonzalez a chance to show off instrumentally. He vamped for a bit, picked for a bit, flew all over the fretboard. And then he let his chops melt into Heartbeats where he won over every heart in the place. It’s cool when an artist croons “We had a promise made” and you’re pretty sure he’s talking to you.
Gonzalez invited out the djembe (…and was that a dulcimer?) for the rest of his set when he introduced Killing for Love. But let’s be clear. He had back up singers and their instruments but they added a sliver of sonic atmosphere and nothing else. Just as on his albums, the star is Gonzalez’ guitar. All the most interesting melodies are handled there; his voice (and everything else) plays second fiddle. There is something disconcerting about an inaudible djembe, but that’s Gonzalez’ vibe and he recreates live.
Now, this is not a criticism. The mind boggles at the level of dynamic control he exercises with that classical axe. This was nowhere more evident than on In Our Nature and Come on Over, both off of the new album.
I was worried when he ended the set with Teardrop; I’m a firm believer that any band that ends on a cover is lame, but after 15 songs I couldn’t imagine that he would come back for an encore. Wrong! Gonzalez ran through three more after the Massive Attack tribute, including an epic, and I do mean epic rendition of Cycling Trivialities.
Jose bleats his hardcore lyrics with an odd combination of passion and distance. His delivery is cold, but his facial expressions earnest. There’s something delicate about what he does—I’m glad the crowd was patient, gave him space. In other circumstances much could have been lost, but here, thankfully, it wasn’t.
Visually, the small collective fits behind McCombs whose on-stage persona brandishes something of the smoky-jazz club panache of a young Tom Waits. Their 8 song set featured tambourines, sparse snare slaps, and some of the droner-stoner chill rock you associate with smoking pot. Standing out for me was Lionkiller, which more or less encapsulates what a troubadour can and should do in 2007. But they can do more—check out That’s That, a groovy Doo-Wop-meets-Band-of-Horses track on Myspace. They transfer it faithfully live, preferring to keep the minimalism rather than kick in to overdrive.
The night, however, belonged to Jose Gonzalez. If you know Gonzalez, you know that minimalism, whispers, and subtlety are the brushes he paints with. That’s not easy to do live. For a point of contrast, I recall seeing Jonah Matranga in Anaheim back in 2003. One of the standout moments of the show was when Matranga had to beg his small following to ignore the loudmouth drunks in the back who weren’t paying attention. Gonzalez had no such difficulties. Every eye was fixed on him, every ear attuned. No small feat has been accomplished when you can audibly follow each and every note.
The third song in the set gave Gonzalez a chance to show off instrumentally. He vamped for a bit, picked for a bit, flew all over the fretboard. And then he let his chops melt into Heartbeats where he won over every heart in the place. It’s cool when an artist croons “We had a promise made” and you’re pretty sure he’s talking to you.
Gonzalez invited out the djembe (…and was that a dulcimer?) for the rest of his set when he introduced Killing for Love. But let’s be clear. He had back up singers and their instruments but they added a sliver of sonic atmosphere and nothing else. Just as on his albums, the star is Gonzalez’ guitar. All the most interesting melodies are handled there; his voice (and everything else) plays second fiddle. There is something disconcerting about an inaudible djembe, but that’s Gonzalez’ vibe and he recreates live.
Now, this is not a criticism. The mind boggles at the level of dynamic control he exercises with that classical axe. This was nowhere more evident than on In Our Nature and Come on Over, both off of the new album.
I was worried when he ended the set with Teardrop; I’m a firm believer that any band that ends on a cover is lame, but after 15 songs I couldn’t imagine that he would come back for an encore. Wrong! Gonzalez ran through three more after the Massive Attack tribute, including an epic, and I do mean epic rendition of Cycling Trivialities.
Jose bleats his hardcore lyrics with an odd combination of passion and distance. His delivery is cold, but his facial expressions earnest. There’s something delicate about what he does—I’m glad the crowd was patient, gave him space. In other circumstances much could have been lost, but here, thankfully, it wasn’t.