REVIEW: Best Coast @ Exit/In | 5.29.13

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BestCoast1

Best Coast
w/ Lovely Bad Things, Bully
Exit/In; Nashville, TN
May 29, 2013

Review and photos by Philip Obenschain (@pobenschain).

I first saw Best Coast in 2010, at a small bar in a small town. Performing at Clementine’s, as part of the MACRoCk festival in Harrisonburg, VA, they were a distinctly different band back then. In a room of barely 200 people, the group brought to life songs I had only heard in lo-fi, buzzy blog-ready formats prior. Many of these songs would end up on the group’s debut, The Only Place, later that summer. They were a DIY, internet-bred band Hipster Runoff loved to hate, but I knew they were destined for bigger, better things.

In the time in between that show and now, Best Coast’s career has progressed at a pace even I couldn’t have anticipated. They’ve shared the stage with bands such as Weezer, The Decemberists, and Green Day. They’ve made an album with Jon Brion and a music video with Drew Barrymore. They’ve collobared with Iggy Pop and rub elbows with the likes of Hayley Williams and Donald Glover. Best Coast are truly riding high and, though I’d seen them a couple of times in the interim, their performance last week at Nashville’s Exit/In was my first chance catching the group headlining in a smaller room since that first show at Clementine’s. Needless to say, time has been good to the California duo, and they performed with every bit of energy and sincerity- with a road-polished layer of added expertise and professionalism- that I remembered.

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Ill Patriot, Sexx, The Tendoor, and McKenzie Gregg & the Tangles @ Exit/In Tonight

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Ill Patriot

Ill Patriot is bang-your-head, politics-on-your-sleeve punk/hardcore music that is reminiscent of the melodic in-your-face approach of punk rockers Propagandhi, although Ill Patriot certainly has an aggressive hardcore side that sets them apart. I can see the mosh pits forming in my mind, and I’m trying to avoid them until I can’t take it anymore and I must release my inner political angst. I’ll just have to wait until tonight I guess.  Their band interests include human rights, social equality, freedom, and thrash. No, I’m not talking about angry social workers. Or maybe I am. They are also influenced by soccer tennis. Have I confused you enough?  Check out the songs “Ed Brown” and “Our Time” below.

The Tendoor

The Tendoor is led by the vocal tag-team of Donnie and Roonie Appletooth, who have chosen to recruit their closest and most talented friends to form an unsurmountably fun indie-folk rock ‘n’ roll group. As a tag-team would suggest, Donnie and Roonie work well together, switching off as the vocal lead and complementing each other with distinct yet soothing harmonies. What do they like to eat? Asian or Thai when they’re feelin’ fancy, but normally Wild Cow. What do they do in their free time? They go to Las Maracas for big beer, cheap burritos, and to play UNO. Check out my favorite track “Clear” below. Expect some new tunes at the show.

I tried my damndest to look far and wide through Google search pages filled with porn sites to find the music for Sexx, but no such luck. I’m hope they’ll forgive me, and change their band name. Just kidding, but I have no idea what they sound like. I’ll find out at the show, since Sexx has mastered the element of surprise.

*Update* I found some Sexx, the music that is. Check out the video below:

McKenzie Gregg & The Tangles

McKenzie Gregg got soul. The Tangles got class. We got ourselves a blues-folk indie-rock kinda thang and a powerful opener. Check out the song “Cold-Blooded” below. It’s certainly one of those songs that strikes a cool groove, yet still showcases interesting dynamic changes.

Get your tickets here.

Reverend Horton Heat w/Hillbilly Casino and Rickett Pass @ Exit/In Tonight

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Even though I’m not a modern country music fan, lately I’ve been a fan of musicians with tasteful and/or jaw-dropping chops that make their living playing offshoots of country music, which include bluegrass, Americana, Western swing, and rockabilly. Reverend Horton Heat has those types of musicians, and certainly could be called rockabilly. But they’ve taken the “rock” in rockabilly and replaced it with psycho. And it became psychobilly, characterized by gritty and rock-induced electric guitar riffs with a backbone of rockabilly and sometimes punk-rock rhythm provided by uptempo drums and slap-happy upright bass. Some even call it punkabilly because of its fast-paced nature. This combination means a rewarding live show. RHH weren’t the inventors of psychobilly, but they provided their audience with their own interesting interpretation of it through constant touring during the last 25+ years. When you’re touring profitably for that long, you’re doing something right, and they are. Despite having multiple label changes throughout their career, Reverend Horton Heat is still rocking and they’ve chosen Exit/In to release their psycho vibes in Nashville. They just recently signed with Victory Records. Check out a short band interview and some live footage in the video below.

You may remember Hillbilly Casino from our write-up about last summer’s Black 13 Tattoo Birthday Party at Mercy Lounge. It’s absolutely fitting for them to be on this bill, and I couldn’t be prouder that they’re from Nashville. (Did you just witness a Nashville transplant from D.C. say that? Yes, you did.) It’s also awesome that they embrace the DIY (do it yourself) approach. They may be slightly more traditional rockabilly than RHH, but they’re just as likely to ignite a liquor-slaying, tattoo-sporting good time. Check out the title track off their 2010 release Tennessee Stomp below.

I don’t know much about opener Rickett Pass, but you can listen to the music here. I haven’t listened enough to form an opinion.  And get your tickets for the show here if you haven’t yet.

The Dancing Outlaw: Jesco White w/ Birdcloud, Phil Hummer & the White Falcons | Exit/In | 12.13.12 | Tonight!

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Oh lord, lock up your inhalants, Jesco White’s coming to town. What can I possibly say that has not been said about (or by) the Dancing Outlaw? Some days you feel like Elvis, some days you’re Charles Manson, right? You feel it, too? Sure, we all do. Well, if you have no idea what we’re taking about and haven’t met Jesco yet, just trust that he is 100% NSFW or possibly NSFH (humans). Seriously, don’t view any of this media at work unless you KNOW your boss actively watched The Wild And Wonderful Whites of West Virginia at your house and then immediately gave you a promotion for your fine curating of what amounts to the longest episode of COPS: East TN meets Hoarders meets Intervention ever.

If you don’t already know, Jesco White has been the subject of numerous documentaries including the aforementioned, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, The Dancing Outlaw, The Dancing Outlaw 2: Electric Boogaloo (just kidding, it’s subtitled, Jesco goes to Hollywood) and more. He’s both famous and infamous, beloved and begrudged, at once a celebrated talent and a cautionary tale.

Here’s the man himself on his unique world view:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/E0Ei6VnvFrw]

Here he is clackin’ his heels with Hank III:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/WXubnIUrnpE]

And here we have him in his natural habitat, the Tattoo Parlor:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/5TDlaijtCl4]

Openers include Birdcloud. And, wow. Just, wow. The Scene did a nice feature about them you can check out here and hailed(?) them as “your average comedy raunch-folk band composed of two women who disliked each other for years, got their start singing an impromptu ditty about cunnilingus, and had been invited to play a show before they had written a single song.”

Their video for “Saving Myself For Jesus” was rather notably banned from YouTube for being too explicit (though you can still check it out on Funny or Die). Apparently you can’t make jokes about Jesus and vaginas if you’re a woman on YouTube, but you totally can if you’re a dude. So for the embed, here’s their visual accompaniment to the more subtle, “F*ck You Cop” featuring The Protomen’s Justin “Spice-J” among other familiar faces.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/63tKCTchc70]

Phil Hummer & The White Falcons are also on the bill. They “write and play American music.” That’s all they have to say about that, so here they be.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/4He1Y8uhPo0]

If you’re looking to get into trouble tonight, you’ll find it with this line-up for sure. Tickets are $15, show starts at 8 (if no one’s jailed) and you can buy in advance here. And if you want to join the Jesco Nation, you can do so at the site or hit the hillbilly up on Facebook.

Oh, and if you’re at the show, PLEASE Instagram that experience #NCFNN because we know it’s gonna’ be unreal.

Rumor mill: The Black Keys & Sheepdogs at Exit/In

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Rumors started swirling last night that The Black Keys were going to jam with The Sheepdogs during their Exit/In gig.  While, The Keys were supposedly in attendance, they did not take the stage.  You can follow the very short, but momentarily thrilling, rumor mill via the tweets below.

P.S. We were at Mercy Lounge for The Walkmen last night too, and would have had a hard time leaving such an awesome show… even if The Black Keys were performing only blocks away.

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