Saturday night Rob and I went down to the Mystic Theater in Petaluma to see an old fave band. Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker is really two bands with some interchangeable members centering around main man, David Lowery. Camper Van's been around since the early Eighties which was when we got to know them. We had an odd mix tape of their stuff and liked their sound so much we wore it out. They're hard to describe. They've called themselves "surrealist absurdist folk" and they do mix it up. Punk, ska, alt rock with a country folk twang. Some high energy violin weaving throughout and occasional accordion flourishes thrown in give a kind of Eastern European flavor. Lowery's got this boyish voice with a nice flat edge perfect for deadpan delivery of dryly goofy lyrics. (Unfortunately, several shows I've seen at the Mystic have had poor sound mixing and the vocals were a bit too receded and fuzzed out for my taste. That's my one complaint). Their songs are funny with dark undertones, political threads and bright flashes of stark beauty. It was like a teenage dream to be at front and center watching music you love breaking over you three feet from your face. Too cool. After a break, they reconvened in a new constellation as Cracker and played a satisfying eclectic set. Highlights included audience faves "Eurotrash Girl" and "Low". These guys together can really build a wall of sound. For the encore they did a hypnotic Brides of Neptune and then segued into an unknown (to me) song that waxed into a sonic juggernaut. I swear, it was like the launching of the mothership. Needless to say my ears were very wacked afterwards despite earplugs but oh so worth it.
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