The Duhks
The band managed to overcome any pretensions by playing their tunes with abandon, as if they themselves couldn't wait to hear "Du Temps Que J'etais Jeune," the country-flavored "Dance Hall Girls" or the impressive show opener, a blistering instrumental called "Legos."
The Duhks are in a fortunate place: They can pass for a folk band, a jam band or a traditional acoustic band, and impress any audience with their easy virtuosity. It will be interesting to see how big the audience is on their next visit.
-- Buzz McClain
Bleach
About 15 years ago, Tokyo popsters discovered an exotic new style that was, in a sense, indigenous: Okinawan folk music. There's one folkie ballad on the latest album by Bleach, an Okinawan trio, but it wasn't performed Tuesday night at the Velvet Lounge, where the young women evoked Osaka's noise-rock scene rather than any tropical clime. Shifting styles at high velocity, Bleach seemed to invent a new subgenre with each song: speedfunk, arena rockabilly, blitzkrieg reggae and so on, until a feedback blare abruptly ended the set after barely 40 minutes.
All three members of Bleach sing, but the essential contrast was between girlish guitarist Kanna and tomboy bassist Shuku-Suke. Although both sometimes interjected pop-rock ooh-oohs and dah-dahs, most of Shuku-Suke's vocals were raw screams that complemented her breakneck (yet precise) bass flailing. Feet planted far apart in a good-rocking-tonight stance, Kanna sang the vocal melodies of songs such as "Sun-Dance -- Moon Dance." Even her most tuneful passages were usually followed by hardcore punk flourishes, no-wave breakdowns or even jazz asides.
Bleach showed more energy than a dozen American post-hardcore bands combined, and that was entertainment enough for a 40-minute outburst. But the musicians were also adept and versatile, with the chops to negotiate their sudden stylistic twists. If this all-woman Okinawan trio is a novelty act, the novelty is how skillful it is.
-- Mark Jenkins
