Middle States CD Release w/ Superman Curl and Self Sound Orchestra at Stasiu's on 2/6/09
By: David de Young
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Superman Curl plays dirty old school rock and roll with a definite punk flavor. This sort of music is something the Twin Cities has always been particularly good at, and as long as it’s done by folks with passion for the heart of the music there can never be too much of it. Authentic-sounding music of any kind is always refreshing.
Superman Curl’s set Friday didn’t include “Dressed to the Nines,” the song I’d picked out for our November, 2008 podcast, but they did bounce around between most of the other songs on their five-song EP as well as older songs I had not heard. Nearly every song reminded me of one of my favorite bands from “back in the day” (“back in the day” being an expression I loathe, btw, because who says “the day” is gone.) For the most part, they play basic 3-chord rock that is one part The Ramones and one part Soul Asylum with bits and pieces of bands like The Psychedelic Furs, and The Clash thrown in here and there for good measure.
The band claimed their fourth song, “Back Where You Belong” from their 2008 EP had been a big hit in Belgium. My guess is we were being told only part of the story when they added they’d been invited to in the home of the EU after the song became a hit on Belgian National Radio in Ghent but couldn’t get passports. They then jumped back 15 years – and in rock and roll years, that’s like 106 - in their catalog for “Look Away,” a song that was one of the most passionate in their set. Like Kruddler, Superman Curl is a band that is necessary and relevant, and, like Kruddler, I hope they never go away.
Middle States took the stage around midnight and for the most part played their new awesomely-titled album Happy Fun Party straight through. This is the second release by the band on effen records, or at least the second I am familiar with, having received a six-song EP from them called Great Portland Street a few years ago. Front man and songwriter Wes Morden is laid back in a Dave Grohl sort of way, casually chewing gum during the set, yet still mustering up the passion when the songs called for it. It was refreshing to see Ben Glaros, whom most people probably know as a “sensitive acoustic guitar player-type” really rocking out on electric. (Glaros’s no frills rock guitar style is perfect for the slacker feel of this band and contributes to the lack of pretension of Morden’s music.)
Wes Morden of Middle States - Photo, Barnett
Morden writes catchy great songs, some reminiscent of classic big rock, alternatively reminding me of The Who, The Only Ones or even Robyn Hitchcock. There are an abundance of fun catchy tunes like “Thought Control” (“I never thought that thought control would affect my life.”) and well as plenty of pretty punk pop. Middle States are a bit of a throwback to a simpler time in music, or maybe I just think of them that way because I remember Morden from “my previous incarnation” as soundman and booker for the 24 Bar in the early 1990s. (Though Morden insists he never played as “Wes Morden’s Exquisite Corpse,” I vividly remember seeing that on a 24 Bar calendar once. If it was a typo or a bizarre misunderstanding then I have single-handedly made it into an urban myth by now.)
I really like what Middle States are doing, and their album Happy Fun Party grows on me with each listen. (I swear, if I was doing “recommended tracks” for radio, about 7 of the 10 songs on the disc would be checked.) But I think they would benefit tremendously if they were to take this show on the road and tighten up the energy of their live performance. They closed with “All the Voices” from their previous CD Great Portland Street with great harmonies by Glaros and the whole song came off as the most inspired song of the entire set. (A whole set that good as that last song and they’d be blowing bands like The Hopefuls off the stage.) There are several songs on the new record just as good, but it was the performance of the older song that put the set over the top.
Closing out the nightwas Self Sound Orchestra headed up by Danny Sigelman on drums and Terry Eason on guitar. They played a short four-song set of what, with my meager music vocabulary, I can only call space jazz. It was definitely some weird and complex shit, man, but I mean that in the best possible way, and people clearly dug it and were listening out of more than just respect for these already well-liked musicians. Whether I understood it or not, I also dug it. And how can you go wrong with an encore “in the key of loco?”
Location Info:
Stasiu's
Artist Info: Middle States, Superman Curl
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