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Make-Out Room August 17, 2003 Review by Jake Thomas When I got to the Make-Out it was already packed – not bad for a Sunday night. My assumptions that everyone would be there early for the first opening act and current 'it' girl about town, Jolie Holland, were easily proven true. A number of my friends (including Daz, queen bee of this here site) have been going on and on about her for months now, but this was my first experience – and I was floored. Amazing, dynamic, beautiful, inspiring…any number of adjectives would suffice, but none would do justice to what I heard. Other than Jolie, she had a number of folks helping her out with percussion and additional guitar and any number of other goodies. My natural inclination is to compare her to Gillian Welch, but she really sounds nothing like Gillian at all; rather, Gillian Welch fans would be remiss in not checking Jolie Holland out, because I would be willing to put a lot of money on the fact that those fans would really dig Jolie's music. With her recent signing to Anti- (the Epitaph off shoot that puts out Tom Waits and Tricky records, among others), it's only a matter of time before seeing her open for other folks at the Make-Out Room come to an end and she's headlining big shows at large venues; so see her now while you've still got a chance of being up close and personal with her. Sidenote – after the show, I picked up Jolie Holland's self-released CD 'Catalpa', and it's pretty damn good, but lacks some of the dynamics that made the live show so engaging. I've still listened to it a bunch of times anyways, and I'm eager to hear how she'll come across when she releases her major label debut sometime in the near future. Following Jolie Holland was the Crooked Jades, another band that was new to me. This show was a CD release party for their new album 'The Unfortunate Rake, Volume 2'. They referred to their music as 'old-time', and I suppose that's a good a description as any. This was music done in a traditional manner, played on fiddles, banjos, guitar, stand up bass, etc. The only thing electrified on stage was the microphones. Being from the mountains of North Carolina, I grew up around this type of music, listening to it come from ever nook and cranny you can think of. I'm by no means an expert, but I'd like to think I could spot someone bastardizing my heritage if I ever heard it; and even if I wanted The Crooked Jades to fail in their attempt to play the old-time music that was a part of my childhood, it didn't happen – they were great. I really enjoyed their performance and songs, some of which were covers and others were originals. I think if they were to play for some of the old folks back home, they could even fool some of them. I look forward to checking them out again in the future, and on CD as well. --- Read our previous Crooked Jades review: April 21, 2001 @ Bottom of the Hill ©2003 playinginfog.com |