Various Artists - Burn To Shine (DVD)
Contents:
Spook The Horse - Another New Year
Harvey Danger - Little Round Mirrors
Tiny Vipers - On This Side
Blue Scholars - Morning Of America
Dave Bazan - Cold Beer And Cigarettes
Benjamin Gibbard - Broken Yolk In Western Sky
Eddie Vedder - Can't Keep
Minus The Bear - Arctic Knights
The Cave Singers - Called
The Long Winters - Departure
Kinski - Crybaby Blowout
The Can't See - Barfight
Triumph Of Lethargy Skinned Alive To Death - Big Bed
Jesse Sykes And The Sweet Hereafter - The Air Is Thin
Seattle is the fifth stop in this music series that selects a city, some of its best local artists and an empty old house ready for demolition. From within those dilapidated walls each act delivers one live track, before the ‘venue’ is ultimately disposed of.
Alas there’s no Mudhoney or Supersuckers here but an otherwise quality roster (chosen by Death Cab For Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard) brings the synonymous-with-Seattle Eddie Vedder, whose white-knuckled ukulele workout pales in comparison to some peer group performances. Take for example Dave Bazan, one of many that appear as if they’d just surfaced from the surrounding woods, before his flighty vocals and unconventional lyrics take a sudden, effective hold.
Sub Pop label mates Kinski and Tiny Vipers cut a stark contrast to each other musically, though both nail their target with an equal sense of foreboding, symbolic of the disc’s brooding nature. More consistent than the average compilation, the day is well captured throughout with Christoph Green’s skilled direction, editing and a proud lack of overdubs; from Spook the Horse escalating to within an inch of their lives to Harvey Danger’s sublime blend of Ben Folds-like sounds complete with cheeky Gunners phrasing.
There’s also the eerie, precarious beauty of The Cave Singers, the catchy retrospective groove of hip hop duo Blue Scholars, fuzzy punch-drunk guitar genius from Minus the Bear and some delightful alt.country closure care of Jesse Sykes & her band The Sweet Hereafter.
As the college slacker / hip feral juggernaut plays out one by one virtually live in your lounge room, you realise there are no documental insights and/or extras except for a slideshow, so these gloriously bare recitals are pretty much it. When it comes to “the building’s destruction” as the cover states, there is none. But we do see an alternative outcome, set in slow-mo to the sounds of producer and ex-Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty’s perfectly intoxicating score.
This DVD suggests the Seattle music scene is still strong, cool and slightly flaky. An eye and ear opener in many ways, Burn to Shine puts the ‘demo’ back in demolition.
