Black Cat, David Nance Group, Axis: Sova, Hex House
Mickey's Tavern 1524 Williamson St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Andy Lachance
David Nance Group
press release: The new record from Omaha's absolute boy and his band, David Nance Group (Peaced and Slightly Pulverized) is out Friday, Oct. 5, via Trouble in Mind Records. Over the course of the past six years, he has released three full-length albums for labels Grapefruit and Ba Da Bing, a 7-inch, numerous cassettes, CDRs, and unlicensed "cover albums" of artists like Lou Reed, The Beatles, Rolling Stones (for which he was issued a cease and desist by their lawyers), and Doug Sahm. He's also collaborated with people like Simon Joyner and Bill Direen, and was recently tapped to open a stadium show for Jack White. But today is all about Peaced, which is streaming in full at Stereogum alongside a Band To Watch interview.
Nance has an enviable way of conveying intensity and pathos in his music without necessarily resorting to clicking on a distortion pedal, instead relying on the build-up and tension from the interplay of his bandmates with his cracked, impassioned wail. And, well, he can also absolutely flip the switch and jump from Bruce Banner to sonic Hulk in a moment, if the occasion calls for it. But don't trust these words; Trust your ears.
Axis: Sova has always been a rock band, even when the “band” was just Brett Sova and his Roland TR66 creating a surging maelstrom of reverberant fuzz, with guitars foregrounded and wailing at length, while beats distended the depths. But Shampoo You sounds the arrival of the trio version – Sova and live mainstays Tim Kaiser (guitar) and Jeremy Freeze (bass) -- in trademark Axis style: relentless tempo with distorted, interlocking guitar concussions, and vocals that howl of other worldly mutation. It’s the first Axis: Sova album written, performed, and recorded live to tape as a three piece. They’ve honed in on a sleek transport for their new sounds, with tightly conceived power-punk and classic pop touches creating memorably melodic (and harmonic) contours.
Shampoo You is the third Axis: Sova album, following 2015’s Early Surf and 2016’s Motor Earth. With each succession, the Axis sound shape morphs in subtle, yet definitive ways. Now, with Shampoo You, the impact is unprecedentedly direct and connective, the amusement of rock-making turned thrillingly alive, in the present!
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Linda Falkenstein