Saturday, July 31, 2010
Weather: , °

How I Became the Bomb/ So Many Dynamos/ The Instruments, Popfest 2006, Little Kings, 8/9/06

by The Bridge
08/10/2006

How I Became the Bomb

I spent the beginning of Day Two of Popfest stuck at work, wondering how Flash To Bang Time's set was going (awesome, a friend assured me). So when I got there, all puffed out from a frantic bike ride, and heard that the next band was called How I Became the Bomb, I took it as a good sign-"bomb" sharing some semantic ground with "bang." Hey, I like omens, and I make 'em up whenever I can. Anyway, the Bomb are apparently a personal favorite of the Happy Happy Birthday To Me folks, and I figure they know their stuff. And indeed they do.

The name, of course, just begs to be spoofed, and my vote is that the band members' mothers should start a How I Became the Bomb cover band called, that's right, How I Became the Mom. (I know it's a lame compulsion. I can't HELP it, it's a SICKNESS.) Anyway, they apparently became the Bomb by buying the lead singer some cool pants, listening to a lot of Cars records, and getting a keyboard player who knows how to take up sonic space. I dug the guitar player, too - he had a rockabilly sort of sensibility that somehow didn't clash with the frequently art-disco synths. As for the front guy, he seemed to understand that versatility equals stronger vocals, even if you're pipes aren't made of gold. You know how yodeling is composed of a fluid alternation between a loud, booming chest-voice and an airy, flute-like head voice? This dude was doing something like that, only he was vacillating between a purposely whiny, emo-nerd voice and a smoother, deeper, tone, with occasional Ric whassibutt (of the Cars) hiccups. The lyrics - the few my poor confused ears could decipher - sounded like a defiant teen aged boy: "You think you're so much better than me (repeat ad infinitum)!" Great for chanting.

How I Became the Bomb

photo by Waites Laseter

Next up was So Many Dynamos, who are an endearingly excitable art-punky outfit, featuring loads of energy and a drummer that sounds like arrhythmia, in a good way. They even had a couple of catchy songs, which is often not the case with the young syncopated types.

And now a few words about Heather McIntosh: she is damned good. This chick has been around town, increasing the property value of various Athens bands for longer than I've known this town, and while she is much respected and admired, there's something about her no-frills demeanor that seems to discourage the blatant displays of adulation she deserves. The Instruments are her flagship band, made up of various Elephant-6ers, which might lead one to think of it as a side project. But you rarely see as much audience devotion for a side project as this. It's always tough to get folks to pay attention to softer, subtler, headphone-type music, but the Instruments have got their whole hypnosis trick down pat. It's such an aptly named band, as each song is cleverly structured to make your hear the forest for the trees. Each individual sound, be it a voice, a tambourine, a horn, a sigh, is given its proper weight, and yet nothing in the mix sticks out - it's perfectly pasteurized, with the lucid resonance of McIntosh's lyrics about longing and letdown rising ever so slightly, ever so infrequently, to the top. The next time you're driving on 85 in the dark and wishing you had the energy to cry about something that happened when you were five, you should listen to the Instruments (that's a compliment, I swear).

Technorati Tags

Comments [post a comment]

Comments are closed

more popfest

more from the bridge