|
Scissor Sisters with VHS or Beta :: 12.04.04 :: House of Blues :: New Orleans, LA
Deep in the south there exists a land of mudbugs whistling Dixie; where beer flows freely and funerals are celebrated with jazz parades. Nights melt into days and the party continues. Revelers travel many miles each year to partake in the New Orleans night life: an experience not easily forgotten when your head is pounding and your vision is blurry from a long night spent imbibing alcohols you can't rename. This is the New Orleans one might find in the description offered by a travel brochure: wild and inebriated, animalistic crowds, slopping their way through puddles of mud and horse manure. Or, perhaps, jazz gods: fingering 200 year old instruments for hushed crowds amidst the dark corners of the French Quarter. These images, while true, do not depict the soul of New Orleans; that which keeps its neighborhoods and families together through hell and high water, from one hurricane to the next. It is this soul which offers, to those who believe, a deeper appreciation for all that is New Orleans. And in this vision of the city, drunk with the perfume of the Magnolia trees that line the avenues and the boulevards, one will experience heightened pleasures: in body, in beauty, and in music.
There are few bands that can satisfy the highly sophisticated palate of the true New Orleanian. Most bands fail to grasp the essence of Southern decadence and pride, offering a sound that is typical and trite - mundane melodies lacking imagination. Within the walls of a city inundated with such extreme talent and decorum, musical normalcy falls quite far from the greatness required by New Orleanians. It is the inability to personify that which makes this city fabulous that separates the haves from the have nots. Scissor Sisters, a paradigm of musical grace and innovation, combines the fabulousness of Roxy Music or the B-52's with the utter decadence of Elton John or George Michael. Its music epitomizes that which is truly New Orleans, from the sexually absurd to the fabulously glamorous; the stage names alone attest to the degree of musical outré: Paddy Boom (drums), Babydaddy (bass), Jake Shears (vocals), Ana Matronic (vocals), and Del Marquis (guitar). Testing the limits of society's ability to cope with the unfamiliar and occasionally obscene, the Scissor Sisters defy industry standards, both lyrically and musically. The band's self-titled album does not do them justice. To attend a show is to experience an intense amalgamation of time and space: from 1970's disco and New York glam rock to New Orleans decadence. The Scissor Sisters have established a new standard of live performance to which others must strive; because, as they say, "there ain't no tits on the radio."
VHS of Beta by Ian Koss |
Opening for the Scissor Sisters, VHS or Beta proved themselves to be no less worthy of that soul which personifies New Orleanian greatness. The quartet from Kentucky, Craig Pfunder (guitar), Zeke Buck (guitar), Mark Palgy (bass), and Mark Guidry (drums) are no virgins of the scene. Playing together since 1997, VHS or Beta's sound could be interpreted as the musical romance between Massive Attack and the Bengals. And with vocals that are undoubtedly Robert Smith-esque in emotion and in style, VHS or Beta successfully blends three decades of music into one specific and distinct style, rendering previous labels useless. They encompass the glamour of disco in flashy and rhythmic guitar riffs, the distinct emotion of 80's pop in vocals capable of moving the listener to tears in a breath, and a style that is unmistakably modern and quintessentially hip.
To be New Orleanian is to satisfy every humanly desire; southerners first and foremost, these gourmands deal in the pleasures of the mind, the body, and the soul. No phrase is too flashy, no hour is too late; time is a seductress that holds its prisoners 'till dawn, reveling in good spirits. The palate of the New Orleanian is highly trained in the culinary and musical arts, unyielding in its search for beauty in the most enigmatic of corners. Few have appeased the gods of revelry, with their insatiable thirst for beauty and pleasure. Scissor Sisters and VHS or Beta, however, in their celebration of physical and aural delights, have truly seduced the natives of New Orleans with their beauty, their bodies, and most of all, their music.
Listen to Scissor Sisters on Rhapsody.
Listen to VHS or Beta on Rhapsody.
Sara Estes Cohen
JamBase | New Orleans
Go See Live Music!
|
