Saturday, September 29, 2007

Rilo Kiley

Rilo Kiley may have seemed on the verge of splintering last year, as its two main members released albums outside the band -- singer Jenny Lewis's solo project and guitarist Blake Sennett's group the Elected. On Wednesday night at the first of two sold-out shows at the 9:30 club, though, Rilo Kiley was as cohesive as ever during a 90-minute set that made no reference to those separate journeys.

Despite Lewis's attention-grabbing silver hot pants, the show felt more like a group effort than an extension of her solo work. Her bewitching voice was still the band's greatest asset, whether gliding over cascading notes ("Close Call") or choking out lyrics (the anti-Bush number "It's a Hit"). The lady singers from opening acts Grand Ole Party and Art in Manila often joined the quartet onstage. Their harmonies with Lewis were stunning but sadly wasted on such vapid lines as the over-repeated ending to "Breakin' Up": "Oooh, it feels good to be free."

That carefree attitude made for a night of songs that sounded pretty but never seemed fully committed. Even "15," with its lyrics about underage promiscuity, seemed breezy and sweet under Lewis's breathy coo. The group did finally connect emotively on the last number, "Does He Love You?" The band's gradual crescendo captured the heartbreak that climaxed with Lewis's final gut-wrenching realization, "He will never leave you for me."

-- Catherine P. Lewis

The Dirty Projectors' MySpace page describes their sound as "nu-jazz/2-step/regional Mexican." If it were only that simple. The Brooklyn outfit -- essentially Dave Longstreth and whoever's around -- make records that are highly personal and often difficult to listen to. The Yale-educated singer-guitarist favors eccentric time signatures, glitches imitating beats and cut-and-paste indie rock patched together with surreal soul vocals, then jammed into a Cuisinart. Art rock without much rock. Not much fun.

Which is why the band's show on the Black Cat Backstage Wednesday was surprising: Longstreth led a remarkably supple four-piece rock band through a set that turned his quirks into strengths. Opening with Black Flag's "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie" (a track from the latest Projectors dispatch, which "reimagines" Flag's hardcore classic "Damaged"), Longstreth's vision made immediate sense.

Guitarist Amber Coffman and bassist Angel Deradoorian cooed like new wave Crystals, and drummer Brian McOmber pounded a sense of order into Longstreth's guitar, which scrabbled right along, at times spraying riffs that resembled African pop. So whether it was more blurred interpretation of Black Flag ("What I See," "Rise Above") or tracks from 2005's "The Getty Address" ("Not Having Found"), the set put muscle on Longstreth's brittle recordings and instilled some swing into his herky-jerky rhythms. He proved a savvy showman, too: The 40-minute set was the perfect length and the Projectors' refusal to play an encore a nice break from stale rock-show protocol.

-- Patrick Foster