LABEL-HOPPERS

Sub Pop isn’t exactly a label known for dropping bands. In fact,
over the years, it has retained some fairly mediocre acts a bit longer
than it probably should have.

Portland, Ore.’s, The Thermals is not one of those bands.

Brought to Sub Pop by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, The
Thermals signed only four months after they formed, in 2002 (or, as
they put it in their self-written bio, “the summer of fear and hate”).
The group released a trio of fine albums for the label, all of which
were well received.

Which makes their recent jump from Sub Pop to Kill Rock
Stars—a great label, sure, but one with a lesser profile—a
bit hard to grasp.

Maybe it’s because KRS recently relocated from Olympia, Wash., to
Portland, making it a hometown label for the band. (Sub Pop is, of
course, based in Seattle.) In that bio, the band makes its love for
Portland pretty obvious. And it’s not as if Sub Pop treated them
poorly—at least not that they’re willing to admit. In an
interview with Pitchfork last year, frontman Hutch Harris said that the
label “treated us incredibly well, and we never had anything less than
full creative control.” Instead, the group just seemed to think Kill
Rock Stars was the right label, at the right time.

“(Bassist) Kathy (Foster) and I make decisions on instinct, on
feeling. We go with our hearts. Kill Rock Stars showed an enthusiasm
that was unrivaled, and they offered us everything we wanted in a
contract.”

Now that that’s settled, let’s have a listen to the band’s first
album for KRS, Now We Can See, released in April of this year.
In short, this album could have come out on Blue Note, and it would
still be a Thermals record—the label may have changed, but the
band remains the same, even if it has matured a bit. And that means 11
short, sharp, punky pop tunes bursting with hooks. Sure, they’re no
longer the scrappy kids they were back in 2003, churning out
rambunctious, lo-fi ditties. They’ve cleaned up their act a bit, but
it’s happened progressively enough that Now That We Can See seems like a fairly logical next step.

The album is good, but part of me still misses that youthful
exuberance, that ramshackle quality that set the band apart. By
contrast, there’s not a whole lot that’s original on Now We Can
See. (Perhaps the most notable step—forward?—is the
slow-building near-ballad “At the Bottom of the Sea,” the most
down-tempo song I’ve ever heard by The Thermals.) It sounds like just
another decent indie-rock album by another decent indie-rock band,
albeit one that knows how to write a tune. But it veers a bit too close
to the middle of the road, and that’s not why we all signed on in the
first place. Perhaps there’s a lesson in there somewhere about growing
up too soon.

The Thermals perform at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.,
on Wednesday, Sept. 9. RCougar opens the show. Doors open
at 8 p.m., and tickets are $10 in advance, or $12 on the day of the
show. Call 622-8848 for more information.

THE RETURN OF EEF

Three years ago, Nashville-by-way-of-Brooklyn’s Clem Snide broke up, and its frontman, Eef Barzelay, embarked on a solo career,
releasing two albums and touring by his lonesome. Which was slightly
odd, since Clem Snide could have easily been called “The Eef Barzelay
Band” from the start, and no one would have noticed. Which is to say,
Eef Barzelay is Clem Snide.

In an interview last year with the Tucson Weekly‘s Annie
Holub, Barzelay explained the change: “I think the decision to finally
put the name to rest was more psychological and symbolic. I just really
wanted to start over, to wipe the slate clean for myself, because it
definitely felt like it had ended.”

So it seemed a bit odd when, earlier this year, a re-formed Clem
Snide played in Tucson on the heels of a “new” album, Hungry
Bird (429)—”new,” in that it had actually been recorded three
years earlier. It also marked a drastic change from the band’s early,
twangier work—ironically, the band grew less country-influenced
after its move to Nashville from Brooklyn. Barzelay is nothing if not a
gifted songwriter, and early in Clem Snide’s career, he used those
gifts to spin humorous yarns, about junkie Jews and innocence lost,
that were filled with pathos—humorous, yes; funny, no.

But in recent years, especially on Hungry Bird, much of that
twang and humor has been gone, leaving refinement and maturity in its
wake. Still, Barzelay’s talents as a songwriter are undiminished, even
if his M.O. is a bit different these days.

Just five short months after its last Tucson appearance, Clem Snide
returns to Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., on Wednesday, Sept.
9. Showtime is 9 p.m. Opening are the Parson Red Heads, from
Los Angeles, and Tucson’s Low Ones, who will be releasing a new
CD that night. Cover is $8. Call 798-1298 for further
details.

SHORT TAKES

One of the last acts signed to Atlantic Records by its co-founder,
the legendary Ahmet Ertegun, before his death in 2006, Paolo
Nutini is a young, Scottish folk-pop singer who injects more soul
into his songs than most in the AAA format. Since his last Tucson
appearance, as part of 2007’s South by Southwest festival, the “New
Shoes” singer has released a fine second album, Sunny Side Up (Atlantic, 2009), whose disposition largely matches its title, and
opened for the only show Led Zeppelin has played in almost 30
years.

Paolo Nutini performs at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress
St., on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Anya Marina opens the all-ages
show at 8 p.m. Tickets are $21 in advance, or $24 on the day of the
show. For more info, call 740-1000.

Tucson isn’t exactly known as jazz central, but a pair of notable
shows in that genre hit town this week.

In case you hadn’t heard, 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of
Motown Records, and at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 5, a
band made up of keyboardist Jeff Lorber, saxophonists Kim
Waters and Dominic Amato, singer-songwriter Leon
Ware, bassist Mel Brown, guitarist Thano Sahnas,
flutist Alexander Zonjic and drummer Ira King will
convene at the Westin La Paloma Resort Ballroom, 3800 E. Sunrise
Drive, to pay tribute to the venerable soul label. Tickets are $35 and
$75, available at azentertainmentandevents.com.
For more details, call 429-9803.

Meanwhile, smooth-jazz saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa takes a break
from a reunion tour with his band, the Rippingtons, to front his own
band at 7 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 6, at Loews Ventana Canyon
Resort, 7000 N. Resort Road. Tickets are $25 for the general
public, $20 for Tucson Jazz Society members, and $10 for students and
military. They’re available in advance at Bookmans, or by calling
903-1265, the same number to call with questions.

Rapper, songwriter and Dr. Dre collaborator Knoc-Turn’al will
perform at Sharks, 256 E. Congress St., at 9:30 p.m., next
Thursday, Sept. 10, in anticipation of a new album set for October
release. $10; 791-9869.

Local combo Sleepy Cheeks—Jonny “Chico” Mueller, Tony
Rosano, Ari Posner and Christopher T. Stevens—bring their
self-described “alt-soul” sound to the lounge at Plush, 340 E.
Sixth St., at 9:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 6. Their last performance
was recorded by Nathan Sabatino, and is being prepped for upcoming
release. Free; 798-1298.

ON THE BANDWAGON

B-Side Players and The Hounds at Plush next
Thursday, Sept. 10; Lynyrd Skynyrd at AVA at Casino
del Sol on Tuesday, Sept. 8; Tumbledown and John
Nolan (Straylight Run) at The Rock on Wednesday, Sept.
9; Mostly Bears, the Boxing Lesson and Four Five
Six at Plush on Saturday, Sept. 5; Heathen and
others at The Rock on Friday, Sept. 4; Glow Music
Launch Party with Triple Double Band, Small Leaks Sink
Ships and Race You There at Plush on Friday, Sept.
4; Tucson Rock Alliance launch party with A Search and
Rescue and Juicy Newt at The Bum Steer on Friday,
Sept. 4.

See y’all at the TAMMIES tonight, Thursday, Sept. 3!

This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2009.