Okkervil River/The Walkmen; September 14, 2008; Barrymore Theater

The last time Okkervil headlined in Madison it was a sold-out show at the High Noon Saloon, so it was obvious that they needed to play a larger venue the next time through. At over twice the capacity, the Barrymore seemed a big jump but rumor was only a hundred tickets remained at show time. Not bad. Having gotten a taste of what it is like to play at the Orpheum Theater while on tour with the New Pornographers, they are probably eying the 1400 capacity venue for their next stop. They are probably doing this well everywhere, but Okkervil does have a few ties to Madison that have always made them popular here. For one, always entertaining drummer Travis Nelsen called this home for more than a few years, while the venerable Crystal Corner bar gets name checked in the lovely “Girl In Port” from last year’s stellar The Stage Names.

Last time through Charles Bissell of the Wrens was filling in on guitar, and he joked to me that he was only replacing “half of Brian” Cassidy, the multi-instrumentalist who left the band after the birth of his first child. They now have a new full time member with the addition of Lauren Gurgiolo, who switched between all manner of stringed things. Granted anyone would have been a disappointment after Charles, but her complete lack of stage presence was even more noticeable in comparison. Just last year in Milwaukee I commented that the line-up finally seemed to have cemented, it seems I spoke too soon as only half of that band remains. I miss Jonathan, but at least Scott Brackett and his trumpet as well as nothing-but-trouble bassist Patrick Pestorius remain. The latter stood in remarkably well for Jonathan’s Stephen Merritt impersonation on “Lost Coastlines” from the just-released Stand Ins.

Not that it really matters. Okkervil has always been and will always be all about lead singer/songwriter Will Sheff. A gangly, awkward sort, he always seems a bit embarrassed to be up on stage until he removes his glasses, leaving the audience a near-sighted blur, and throws himself into the music. The singer songwriter genre may be the most accepting of the non-traditional singing voice (starting with Bob Dylan on) but that has never been an issue for Sheff, he has one of the purest, most lovely voices I’ve heard, perfectly suited for the drama he infuses into his songs. This makes songs like the intense “A Stone” an easy sell. The mellow tunes such as that one that populated the middle of the set may have made for a sleepy interlude for those further back (a friend in the balcony fell asleep), but from our spot near the front of the stage I couldn’t have been more engrossed. And it was only a matter of time before “For Real” and “Westfall” upped the energy level again.

Though I can’t be happier for their increased popularity, they certainly deserve it, I can’t help but think there may come a point when Okkervil gets too popular for me. I can’t imagine seeing a band that I used to see in the tiny Catacombs at a place like the Overture Center where bands like Wilco and Ryan Adams sell several thousand tickets. But for now as long as they keep making records that make me want to see them, I’ll keep going.

Midwest Beat/National Beekeepers Society/Cribshitter (triple release show)/Whatfor; September 13, 2008; The Frequency

This may have been a first. Even with four local bands on the bill the last of them, Midwest Beat, announced their final song at 1:30 AM. Usual Frequency timing would have dictated that they had only just started their set at that time, but there they were leaving the stage well before bar time. So what to do? Well, come back and start playing a lot of obscure Nugget-esque covers of course. The extra set was just frosting on the cake of what may have been the most enjoyable set I have seen the Beat play. After several false alarms, tonight was finally the release show for their 7 inch vinyl, a record already released last year on CD. Hopefully one of these days they will get around to releasing the record they have been recording with Kyle Motor. While Motor assured me several times that it is totally kickass, he seems to doubt most of us will ever hear it. I’m not sure why, but it would be a shame because the songs he identified as having been recently recorded are pretty terrific.

The usual trend at the Frequency seems to see the crowd thinning after midnight, but tonight it actually seemed to expand just before the Beat played their set. In addition to Motor, who spent much of the set bemoaning the sale of “Airwolf,” the van that was supposed to be the Motorz touring vehicle, several other folks showed up seemingly for the last band. Pete suggested he would love to get a copy of their record into the hands of Little Steven, so convinced was he that the champion of the garage band would be able to break them on a national level. It’d be worth a try, their brand of rough and tumble pop is certainly easy to like. Of course, it would be hard to dislike any band with a guy who only plays the tambourine.

Openers Whatfor certainly had their fans even though they were the only band not celebrating a new release, having just put out their very entertaining debut Sooner Late than Never only a handful of weeks before. The band consists of the core trio of Sleeping in the Aviary with Michael Sienkowski stepping from behind the drum kit to front the band, playing a little keyboard on the way. His band seems equally steeped in the sounds of the 60’s, though more of the pop variety than the underground garage type. All three of them are equally entertaining no matter what position they play. Guitarist Elliot Kozel (lead singer of SitA) contributes backing vocals in addition to stylish headwear. Tonight he was sporting a Viking helmet which was not only dehorned several times during the set, but also made the rounds of the fans right in front of the stage. Sienkowski hinted this may be the last show for awhile, I hope that isn’t true.

The strangely fascinating Cribshitter was up next, celebrating the release of Cry a Little Rainbow, a 30 song $5 epic that tries to capture the weirdness that happens on stage. Lead singer Diaper Daniels told me once that a fan told him the reason he came to the shows was the same reason he watched NASCAR, he was just waiting for the crashes. That fan has to be disappointed as of late, because the last couple Cribshitter shows I’ve seen have run fairly smoothly, which isn’t always easy when your set uses a number of samples and a Power Point presentation. Working without the graphics tonight, they instead substituted a fog machine and more lights than I’ve seen used at the relatively new club.

I’m not quite sure why I like them, but I’m not the only one. Justin Bricco, the Blueheels animated guitarist, claims they are the only real band in town. Sure, their songs can be pretty offensive, both lyrically (“War Torn Vaginer” and “She Charges $25 for a $5 Blowjob”) and musically (the bursts of noise and screaming that punctuate “Jared’s Different Around Girls”) and sometimes both (the ragged screamer “We Fuckin’ Suck”), but the cover of Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad” and a handful of genuinely melodic songs make up for it. Then again, maybe their offensiveness is part of their charm (the rest is tuba player Danika). All I know is I no longer avoid them.

Third on the bill and also featuring a new release was the National Beekeepers Society. I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t seen them since they opened for Head of Femur in the basement. To be fair, they don’t play that many shows, and I have gone out of my way to see lead singer Nick Whetro do his solo thing, the intriguingly titled Icarus Himself. In addition to featuring NBS’s songs, it also includes Daniels on a number of songs. While the Beekeepers debut CD wore its influences proudly on its sleeve (Weezer and Pavement the most obvious), the solid sophomore record is more subtle, blending those bands into their catchy pop. Whetro doesn’t have an amazing voice, but neither does Stephen Malkmus, it is, however, perfect for their tales of disillusionment and angst. And then there’s that moustache… it’s tempting to call it cheesy, and it might be on anyone else, but on him it’s somehow gallant, almost as if he’s going to save us all from generic, boring music. I feel safer already.

Robbie Fulks w/Robbie Gjersoe; September 12, 2008; Kiki’s House of Righteous Music

Proof positive that it never hurts to ask. Usually when Robbie Fulks plays Madison he can be seen at the 400 capacity High Noon Saloon, having recently upgraded from the cozier Harmony Bar, but tonight he was seated in front of a much smaller, but still capacity, crowd in my basement. How did I pull that one off? Pretty simple, I asked him. Word got out pretty quickly and I was turning away people by the beginning of the week. No fan wanted to miss the chance to see Robbie play unplugged in such an intimate space.

It gets even better. Earlier in the week Fulks had made mention of “the other Robbie,” which I dismissed as being part of his off-beat sense of humor, a reference to another side of his personality rather than even considering the possibility of a second Robbie. So I couldn’t have been more surprised when Robbie Gjersoe walked in my front door. “Oh, I know who you are,” I stuttered when he introduced himself. I had most recently seen him play with Fulks at the Black Orchid in Chicago for the taping of the acoustic half of last year’s double live album Revenge, but even before that I had seen him play with some of Austin’s more notable musicians, Kelly Willis, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and The Flatlanders (who apparently have just finished a new record according to Gjersoe). I once saw him single-handedly save a Gilmore show at Luther’s Blues that seemed in danger of jumping the tracks for most of the night.

While he calls Texas home now, he has spent his fair share of time in Wisconsin having gone to school right here in Madison. I barely remember a guitar player in Robbie’s band before Grant Tye- that would have been Gjersoe. I’ve heard he also put in time with Paul Cebar, though I am not sure I ever saw that incarnation of the band. A wonderfully talented and diverse guitar player he always seems to be having a blast playing no matter who it is with. With him on hand in such an intimate environment, Fulks was able to indulge in a few things that stray from his usual band show. The pair started both sets with intricate instrumentals and throughout the show played off each other. Robbie was still recovering from an illness that had laid him up the day before, so I’m sure he appreciated the break from singing. He had passed on my offer of a PA, and knowing his usual forceful style, I wasn’t surprised. Even though he didn’t have his usual power, the attentive crowd never had a problem hearing.

The course of the set veered from favorites to new songs. For every “Dirt Mouth Flo” there was a brand new German beer hall style song. The latter of which his wife Donna had deemed “his worst song ever,” though Robbie seems to love it. Crowd opinion seemed to be split. He asked for requests early in the second set, but didn’t seem particularly interested in playing the ones he got. A particularly good request was “Parallel Bars” a duet that on record was done with Kelly Willis, but that I had seen him do once with Anneleis Howell who happened to be in the audience. “Let’s Kill Saturday Night” was one of those shouted out that actually made the cut. The traditional set closer was every bit as danceable played by the duo as it is with a full band, though with the room full of chairs that wasn’t likely to happen.

With no opener the end of the night came far too soon, despite the fact that he did play two sets and an encore. It was certainly the house’s biggest triumph, a sold out show for the biggest name (at least around here) that I’ve had play. At the end of the night I told him to let me know if he ever wanted to do another one, to which he responded “I will and I will.” Good.

Ha Ha Tonka at the SoCo Music Experience; September 6, 2008; Willow Island

It may not have been the best spot in the line-up, but Ha Ha Tonka’s opening set on Willow Island did position them on a bill with some really big names, including WuTang’s GZA, the Black Keys and the Roots. The vast, grassy outdoor area at the Alliant Energy Center was set-up like a miniature Lollapalooza with two temporary stages, several bars (which served only Southern Comfort drinks and beer), and an interactive tent where attendees of the free fest could try their skill at Rock Band and computer games, plus a few special touches. One of those was several sets of Baggo boards. The well-liked backyard beanbag game proved to be equally popular with this crowd, and all five games were full most of the day. The other was a sod carpeted lounge area with SoCo umbrellas, inflatable couches, and gigantic foam-filled bean bag chairs you could lose yourself in. If I had one of those in my house I would never sleep in my bed again.

Unfortunately, despite all the big names on the bill, the only band I was even the least bit interested in was Ha Ha Tonka. This was at least their third trip to Madison in the last year, and they will be back this Friday for a show at the Annex with Backyard Tire Fire, yet this was the first time I had seen them. One of Bloodshot Records’ recent signees, I had initially dismissed them as Kings of Leon wannabes. There’s still some merit to that comparison, they do like to rock and they do love their harmonies, but ultimately their set was far more affecting than the Leon boys had been either time I’ve seen them. To be far to those more hirsute rockers, those times were an early afternoon set at the ACL festival and opening for Bob Dylan in the vast Sears Centre. Neither of which is the ideal place to win over listeners.

With the field in front of the stage basically to ourselves and two dozen others, we had the chance to get closer to the band than we would at any point later in the day. The thing about the Ha Ha Tonka boys is how genuinely likeable they are. Lead singer Brian has a boy-next-door charm about him that was only magnified by his plain white T-shirt, aw shucks grin, and strawberry blond hair. Lead guitarist Brett is the darkly handsome type, quiet but expressive. Bassist Luke is, well, a bass player. I could tell he was nothing but trouble from a mile away. He was also the comic relief, making comments that had to occasionally make the band wish they hadn’t given him a microphone. “Two more songs and I’m dropping my pants,” he claimed. When Brian noted that they actually had three more songs left, he amended the statement, “Four more songs and the pants are coming off.” Drummer Lennon was the sweet-faced guy behind the kit smiling contentedly throughout the set, maybe to disguise the hangover remnants from a birthday celebration the night before.

Most importantly, they all can sing, and I mean really sing. There were hints of it early in the set; Brett’s backing vocals that perfectly harmonized with Brian’s lead for example. But it wasn’t till they went acapella for the old traditional “Hangman” that it became clear how damn good they sound together. Unlike the Fleet Foxes they realize that there is such a thing as too much harmony. Equally inspired was their somewhat surprising cover of Ram Jam’s “Black Betty,” which Brian introduced as “seeming appropriate” for the SoCo Fest. I didn’t see that one coming, and I certainly didn’t anticipate liking them as much as I did. I wish their next trip to town didn’t have to be the same night as my next house concert. Hopefully I can get them to play the basement sometime soon.

Josh Harty (CD release show)/Dietrich Gosser; September 5, 2008: Café Montmartre

On paper it looked like a brilliant idea. Get folks to buy advance tickets to Josh’s CD release show by hosting a pre-show party featuring free Furthermore beer. Everyone loves free beer right? In practice, it may not have made for the best listening environment for a show with two solo performers scheduled. You can’t feed people free beer for an hour and then tell them, “OK now quiet down and listen,” but at maybe they should have tried. Perhaps an introductory announcement would have persuaded the extremely chatty crowd to quiet down a bit for Dietrich’s characteristically gorgeous set. But then again, seeing as how they were just as loud during Josh’s solo songs, it probably wouldn’t have made any difference.

Which is a shame of course. I can’t seem to get enough of Dietrich’s new record, What the Buzzsaw Sings, a meticulously labored over, but effortless sounding, studio masterpiece, well worth every minute spent. Surprisingly, Dietrich picked tonight to talk more than usual, maybe because he knew no one was listening. “If you missed it earlier… which is understandable, I’m Dietrich Gosser,” he slyly admitted halfway through the set, before introducing a song that he wrote while still in Madison. He introduced the light-hearted, nonsense chorus song (I’m pretty sure there was something about “Jackaroo”), as being written when he was still convinced he would be a children’s author. The sheer effort it took to listen over the noise was exhausting but worth it. He’s been playing Madison more frequently as of late, hopefully it won’t be too long before I get to see him again. Hopefully then I’ll be able to hear as well as see him.

Tonight’s show seemed to be more closure for Josh than a celebration. His (self-admitted) appropriately titled A Long List of Lies was recorded six times over the last three years. A combination of his own perfectionism and just plain bad luck, it seemed at one point it was fated to become a singer/songwriter Chinese Democracy. The end product is a slick sounding, fully instrumented affair which bears little resemblance to the solo live shows I’ve become accustomed to. Tonight he recreated the sound of the record with a full band backing him. Not, however, the band that played on the record (add that to the list). With the drummer of record in New York, Chris Sasman filled in on drums. Since Sassy is the drummer for the Classic Tawnies (Josh and Blake Thomas’s cover band) it was easy for him to step into the material, especially Tawny favorites like Ryan Adams’ “A Kiss Before I Go” and the Charlie Daniels Band “Trudy.”

Equally well-suited to his job was Blake Thomas who plays bass in that band as well as being the voice behind some of the Tawnies more inspired covers. Bobby Hart was on hand again tonight to lend backing vocals. The band was rounded out by a surprising pair of musicians. Eric Anderson, who played keyboards on Flatlands, brought his keyboard skills to the show, not to mention his keyboard. Only a few songs into the set, Montmartre’s house Hammond organ bit the dust, or maybe it was its Leslie amp. Either way, Eric had to go home and get another keyboard so they could finish the set. The biggest surprise though was John Beck on guitar. As much a fixture at Blueheels/Josh/Blake/etc shows as I am, I had no idea he even played. Up until this point the only solo I’d seen him take was on the ATM. He acquitted himself nicely, making me wonder why I’d never heard him play before.

While the crowd may have been socializing during Dietrich and Josh’s solo set, they hit full party mode during the full band set. They crowded the floor in front of the stage, dancing and toasting, in short, just having a really good time. “How many people showed up here tonight thinking there was going to be a shootout?” Dietrich queried during his set, referring to the show posters which feature a smoking gun. Nope, no shootout, just a lot of people having a lot fun; I guess at the end of the night that was the most important thing.

Cameron McGill & What Army/Gabriel Reed; September 4, 2008; Café Montmartre

Perhaps the best thing about Cameron McGill is his band name. A truly talented pop songcrafter, his ability is sometimes obscured by all the pomposity he surrounds himself with. His outfit this time (and yes, it really is an “outfit”) was better than the contrived looking costume he had put together the last time, an elbow-patched jacket and scarf, but the bandanna he had tied around his head on this visit was really just too much. It didn’t work for Justin Jahnke and it doesn’t work for him. I’m pretty sure Neil Young is the only person who can get away with that look. Also dialing down the melodrama was the considerably less flamboyant and perhaps more talented Dan McMahon (of the Wandering Sons) on guitar who took the place of Noah Harris. Amusingly, McGill has duct-taped over the “This Machine Kills Hipsters” inscription that used grace the front of his acoustic guitar. Perhaps he realized the hypocrisy.

I shouldn’t be too hard on McGill, after all, he’s a much better songwriter than much of the population that falls under that heading, and he uses the word “beholden” correctly in a song. And besides I wasn’t really there to see him. It was the opener that got me there. It has been ages since Gabriel Reed has played a show in town. He splits his time between Madison and Argentina, so I can only guess that he was wintering in another hemisphere. He’s returned with a few new songs that he brought out at the top of his set. Lyrically simple, they succeed more the expressiveness of his voice than on the much repeated lines. In addition to new songs, he also has a new backing singer, Bobby Hart, who sang with him for most of his set. She’s no Jentri Colello (who accompanied Gabriel on one occasion), but Hart does have a lovely voice that blended well with his.

Old favorites were also on display, the perfect pop song “Give Me the Sun” showed up early in the set while “I’m Not Afraid of the Radio” settled in near the end. Gabriel claimed that the latter was a rock song and he wasn’t sure if he could do it solo, but decided to give it a shot after Tag gave him the thumbs up. Honestly though, the song which tells of the trouble with having ex-lovers connected with songs is just more of the ear candy pop that he trades in. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.