XL WEEKEND REVIEWS

XL Reviews

M. Ward, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Sean Perry, 'As You Like It,' The Gossip

Monday, September 25, 2006

Indie rock

M. Ward gives his folk some growl

Judging from the sold-out audience Saturday evening at the Parish, the formerly well-kept secret concerning indie rock/folk music troubadour M. Ward is out.

Portland, Ore.'s (Matt) Ward has been simmering in the underground scene for the past six years, steadily increasing his fan base and his powers to write sublimely transcendent folk ballads. The fall and winter of 2004 saw him gaining thousands of new fans during his "Monsters of Folk" tour with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James and Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst (the touring trio even taped an "Austin City Limits" segment after their Paramount Theatre performance).

This time around, Ward took off his acoustic guitar balladeer shoes, appearing just as comfortable in rock boots. His live-show rock 'n' roll quotient grew exponentially with the addition of two drummers, a bassist, and a second guitar player to his touring lineup. The effect gave his crestfallen folk ballads more muscle than they possess on his records.

Ward played selections from all of his albums, but it was his slowed-down, soul-wrenching cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and the songs from his latest release "Post-War" that garnered the most inspired treatments. By the time Ward played "Chinese Translation" — one of the most familiar-sounding, heart-achingly beautiful stories in his repertoire — the audience was rapt. The song simultaneously pays homage to Johnny Cash, the person that last broke your heart, and the nostalgically universal air of campfire songs.

Ward's deep vocal timbre, his heroic yet melancholic stories and his soul-ache/heartbreak vocal melodies had the audience's collective heart melting right out of its chest, straight down to the Parish's wooden floor.

— V. Marc Fort

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Symphonic music

Symphony provides kaleidoscopic sounds

Perhaps the biggest star of Austin Symphony Orchestra's all-Shostakovich program Friday night at Bass Concert Hall was the selection made by music director Peter Bay. Excerpts from the score for the film "The Gadfly," the passionate and exuberant Piano Concert No. 2 and the elegiac Symphony No. 13, also known as "Babi Yar," together suggested the Russian composer's extraordinary — and complex — range and diversity.

Most importantly, Bay coaxed a complex and nuanced sound from the musicians that expressed the multifaceted, ever-changing melodies, moods and rhythms of Shostakovich's kaleidoscopic compositions.

Movie music was an economic necessity for many a serious composer of the last century, and Shostakovich vastly exceeded expectations with his score for the tragic Soviet drama "The Gadfly," ladling on soaring romantic tropes and catchy folk song-inspired melodies in equal doses (portions of the suite have often been co-opted for television shows and ads).

Pianist Melissa Marse joined the orchestra for the Piano Concerto No. 2, ably tackling the rollicking, sometimes flashy, piece that Shostakovich wrote for his son's 19th birthday.

It's a shame the audience thinned somewhat for "Babi Yar." Set to selection poems from Yevgeny Yevtushenko — including the famous "Babi Yar," which pays homage to the tens of thousands of Jews, Russians and Ukrainians who, in 1941, were killed and buried in a mass grave by the Nazis outside Kiev — the symphonic song cycle is at once mournful, absurdly direct and utterly, totally Russian.

While his timbre may be a tad rough, Russian bass Nikita Storojev nevertheless gave an impassioned flair to the emotionally tumultuous libretto. And the chorus of bass singers from Chorus Austin and Southwestern University Chorale provided a sturdy backdrop. In the end, it was again Bay who triumphed, matching Shostakovich's broad orchestral palette with a forceful sound.

— Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

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PHOTOGRAPHY

A closer look at Austin's architecture

"Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence," Minor White once said.

Surely Sean Perry possesses the stillness that White extols. His photographs on view at Stephen L. Clark Gallery demonstrate that focusing on simple forms from one's local landscape may reveal newness, grace and elegant beauty.

Here most of Perry's images abstract by isolating details of Austin architectural sites. Take "Revelation," which lends the exterior of Royal-Memorial Stadium's upper deck a dramatic feel remote from what goes on inside. Or "Night Into Day," which turns a section of the Frank Erwin Center's façade into a yin and yang struggle between bleached white stone and moody dark sky. Perry's works are black and white, and he uses light to full advantage — both in shooting and in printing. He also maximizes line — both straight and curved. Results resemble modernist photographic predecessors, Paul Strand as well as precisionist Charles Sheeler.

Perry's education includes three years at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Perhaps the lyrical quality of line and arrangement in his imagery can be attributed to his musical background. He strikes a tangible note to what may seem fleeting, as the "Transitory" title of this exhibition suggests.

Along with large chromogenic prints and silver gelatin prints on view, a limited edition book, "Transitory: Abstractions," published by Austin's Cloverleaf Press is available. Whether mounted on pages or hung on walls, Perry's images allow silent structures to emote, to resonate or in cases to sing. As they say, still waters run deep.

("Sean Perry: Transitory" continues 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays-Saturdays and by appointment, through Oct. 19. Stephen L. Clark Gallery. 1101 W. 6th St. Free. 477-0828.)

— Erin Keever

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COMEDY

Theater you'll like a lot

I've been going to the Austin Shakespeare Festival's performances at Zilker Hillside Theater since my parents wheeled me in on a wagon to watch until I fell asleep. But the company's new "As You Like It" — playing a truncated run after leaving Austin Playhouse — is easily one of my favorites.

This scaled-down performance teems with Shakespearean comedy essentials: playful interaction with the audience, improvised joking among the cast, moments of tenderness between lovers and catchy, live music.

Under the direction of Guy Roberts and benefiting from design by Amiya Brown, the cast remains onstage, constantly contributing to the performance, from the time the audience enters the small, walled-off section of the theater until they leave.

Jill Blackwood finds the range of Rosalind, the exiled, cross-dressing daughter of a banished duke, from melancholic depression to giddy love to knowing wisdom — all paired with a sweetly innocent charisma. Accompanying her into the woods is Andrea Osborne, whose pleasantly frivolous Celia could easily be a more intelligent Hilton heir instead of the daughter of the usurping duke.

The entire ensemble rolls with the energy of the two women, each player contributing a spot of anarchic energy, delightful doddering, or country copulation. Capping it all off is accompaniment by Ed Kliman, whose gravelly drawl and country plucking wouldn't be out of place 100 yards across the park at the Blues on the Green.

The program notes that the unpaid company put on this short run for the love of the play. Here's hoping they can afford to bring it back, for the love of the audience.

("As You Like It" continues at 8 p.m. nightly through Tuesday. Sheffield Hillside Theatre at Zilker Park. $10-$20. 350-7540. www.austinshakespeare.org.)

— Joey Seiler

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ROCK

Ditto's punk prowess worthy of seconds

Singer Beth Ditto might be underground rock's reigning diva, a gay icon for kids who listen to queer-punk bands and wouldn't know Liza Minnelli if she passed out in front of them.

After the Arkansas act the Gossip decamped for the more tolerant climes of Portland, Ore., Ditto, a funny, zaftig gal with a soulful nuke of a voice and charisma to spare, and her band (drummer Hannah Blilie and guitarist Brace Paine) moved from primitive dance punk to something more precise.

The set at Emo's on Friday was best when it was funkiest, as with the single "Listen Up!" and the hard-swinging "Yr Mangled Heart." But one wishes they'd break down and add a full-time bass player, the lack of which, once probably economic necessity, feels like an affectation.

Ditto is clearly conflicted about her roots; she's Southern to the core, but remembers why she left. "You know what's better than a progressive town?" she said, "A progressive Southern town. We don't have many." Now and then, you can go home again (or at least, home as you wish it was).

Middle act Mika Miko was the buzz band, the Los Angeles gals all the hard-core punk kids wanted to see. They were a bit of a mess, screaming and flailing and causing minor-league chaos. Sporting two singers — one punk and one who looked like the mathlete who helped everyone with their homework — and a drummer at her best when she stood up and whaled away.

Openers Swan Island almost walked away with the show, despite a set cut short by Emo's, thanks to a time crunch. A fairly new band, the five-piece blended the New Wave guitars of Sleater-Kinney with proggy song lengths, lyrics that combine feminism and mythology, and singer Brisa Gonzalez's breathy, hippieish voice. I look forward to them ruling the world someday.

— Joe Gross