By Adam Schragin
Published on November 19, 2008 at 1:41am
The Mohawk stacked their bill last night, giving attendees much more than their money’s worth for six bands on both stages. Attendees could choose to show up early for Danielson and two more bands on the outside stage, or just pop in later for the inside show, starting at eleven. To those who stayed for each and every band: congrats, that’s a lot of standing and listening, and you have remarkable musical depth. Some of us, however, cheated and came late, less excited about seven-piece Christian family bands than hard rocking power trios. Speaking of hard rocking power trios, the description fits both Marnie Stern’s band and Ume pretty well, which is why the sensitive sounds of locals The Sour Notes seemed an odd fit (what, were Those Peabodys booked already?). The quartet did make a fine opener, if not an obvious one, working within the framework of singer-songwriter rock centered on lead singer Jared Paul Boulanger’s heartfelt confessions and, on occasion, slightly off-key but sweet vocals. Assisted by an army of effects pedals and more keyboards than there were band members, The Sour Notes introduced new material from what is likely to be their forthcoming record, Received in Bitterness and turned the nozzle from slow and sad to fast and jumpy enough to keep it interesting.
