Envy the Night (deadboy & the Elephantmen/The Comas, Northsix)

If you’re like me, you see warning flags all over these guys.  Little red and white ones.

So let’s get this out of the way, rightfirst:  deadboy & the Elephantmen are not The White Stripes.  Yes, they’re a two-person band.  The singer-guitarist is a guy; the singer-drummer is a gal who hasn’t been at the kit long.  They have a go at roots-based music.

It doesn’t help that the kick-drum is red.

But for those who stop counting at two:  Dax Riggs isn’t near the virtuoso Jack White is; Tessie Brunet can actually sing.  No one’s pretending to be anyone’s sister.  They’re playing different stuff, in a totally different stijl.

And they’re good.

deadboy – that ridiculous name is another flag, its goofball tone, its haphazard capitalization, its too-cute acronym, its plurality (c’mon, there’s only two people in the band, and there are at least three in the name) – drags us where the sun don’t shine, sloshing deep in Loozyanna swamp-stomp.  Dash all that candy-colored Stripes optimism; the red here is plasma, and it comes down like rain.

deadboy & the Elephantmen – Blood Music (wma)

And the second track on their album is called “No Rainbow.”

But before you reach for that razor, know there’s a delicate balance kept.  Most songs have enough drive to get you through the day; when stripped down, Brunet’s harmonies brighten things up.  And there’re enough textures to keep you guessing.  My favorite song on their CD We Are Night Sky, “Walking Stick,” would be at home wandering the hills of Appalachia.  I love how, near the end, the harmonies flutter like we’re deep in one of Philip Glass’ -qatsi soundtracks:

deadboy & the Elephantmen – Walking Stick (wma)

That smacks abruptly into “Kissed by Lightning," a thumping, screaming song that might well be a remnant from Riggs’ days with the renowned metal band Acid Bath.  “Ancient Man” starts with vocals that fall somewhere between Jeff Buckley’s “Morning Theft” and Bowie; “How Long the Night Was” is (distractingly) forced into a wolf parade, the production giving the song a booming echo and some unnecessary synth-stuff.

deadboy & the Elephantmen – How Long the Night Was (mp3)

If that’s starting to sound a bit factory-assembled, you’re letting the method get in the way of the madness.  There were some unfortunate choices made with the production.  But these kids are the real deal.

Instead of a reupholsterer and his ex-wife, we’ve got a high school drop-out and an orphan.  Read their too-lengthy bio if you must, but if you’re looking for cred, just look to the label:  The duo are on Fat Possum, home to R.L. Burnside, Solomon Burke, the very scary Junior Kimbrough.  And another wildly different bluesy duo, The Black Keys.

Still harboring doubts?  See them live.  The songs hew closer together in tone, there, but with this type of music and the minimal instrumentation you accept that.  Riggs switches back and forth between acoustic and electric.  Sometimes Brunet (your New Indie Crush) sings, sometimes not.  Some songs don’t even have drums... but man, can she wail on them things.  Vocals are, naturally, less exact, but there’s a presence that more than compensates.  Riggs howls, mournfully.  This isn’t the comparison that I want to make, but he’s going for the same stuff Kurt Cobain had when he covered Leadbelly. 

That’s not to say they’re attempting to be Cobain, or Leadbelly, or Jack and Meg White.  They’re not trying to be anything that they aren’t, and  they’re quite good at being what they are.

They’re at the Mercury Lounge, tonight (tix); other tour dates are here.

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Riggs and Brunet ended their set with a cover of “Wave of Mutilation” – which worked, but was an uncharacteristically playful choice.  It would have seemed more natural in the hands of The Comas, a relatively new NYC-transplant I’ve been meaning to see for some time (I caught 3/5 of the band doing a subdued set during CMJ).  Recently signed to Vagrant Records, the former-North Carolinians do the loud-soft-loud thing particularly well.

This might not have been the night to catch them; technical difficulties led to some onstage frustration.  They started in fine spirits – frontman Andy Herod introduced the band as “The Wolfity Wolf-Wolves” – but guitarist Nicole Gehweiler had some problem with her pedals; the entire band turned its back to the audience while sorting it all out.  Herod introduced a song as something like “Stone Cold Dead – what Nicole’s going to be;” later he gave a condescending intro wherein he challenged the audience about its knowledge of the capo.

Herod gives great Rock Face, seriously sells his songs; he struck me as an unhappy perfectionist (is there any other kind).  There weren’t any hooks that throttled me, and I’m not one for spacey lyrics, but I liked the energy a lot – even if that might have been rooted in Herod’s dissatisfaction.

The Comas – The Science of Your Mind (mp3)

The Comas – Invisible Drugs (mp3)

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I only caught two songs by the Royal Arms, and they don’t even have a website yet (UPDATE:  they do have a myspace page) , but:  That girl (yes, another one) can play her some drums.

tags: the comas  deadboy and the elephantmen  

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