Star Tribune: New local bands pass First Avenue checkup
by Chris Riemenschneider

Published Jan 25, 2002
Performing in the "mainroom" at First Avenue is the brass ring that many Twin Cities rock bands reach for, especially those that toil on the club's tiny 7th Street Entry stage. Seven of those acts earned their chance Wednesday with the Best New Bands of 2001 showcase, a great annual checkup of the music scene's creative pulse.

Although short on diversity -- its all-male cast of arty indie-rocker types seemed to come from the same in-crowd -- the show was not lacking in creativity. From the excited melodic songs of opener Mike Brady to the moody alt-country of closing act Ashtray Hearts, the tempo and styles shifted wildly.

The sharpest sonic transition was pulled off by one musician, Andrew Broder, who played a languid solo set as his alter ego the Fog and then joined the ridiculously talent-packed Lateduster for its climactic instrumentals.

The Fog has earned a strong dose of industry attention, especially in England, where Broder has a record deal with a techno label and many press clips. His solo set was devoid of the ambient electronic touches of his recordings, though. Instead, he offered a jagged, edgy folk performance that included his icy single "Pneumonia" and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The River."

While Broder peeled off layers, Kid Dakota's Darren Jackson added them. The South Dakota native normally performs in a haunting duo act, but Wednesday his core group was a quartet. It added a snakey, wicked sound to Jackson's delightfully warped songs without sacrificing any of their charming oddness. The finale, for instance, involved an eight-piece rhythm section performing on, of all things, plastic ice-cube trays.

Unpredictability also was the aim of the post-punk quartet Exercise. Although its ragged, punchy sound is not all that inventive, recalling fIREHOSE or Mission of Burma, the group's frontman made things interesting by delivering a bare-chested impression of Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard, complete with blabbering commentary. Predictable or not, the music would have been better without the rock-star act.

Amid all the strange sets, the poppy foursome Divorcee sounded refreshingly strait-laced. A last-minute fill-in after Work of Saws canceled, the group added melodies and hooks to the show and came off as the one band deserving of FM radio play -- that is, if any FM stations decently supported new local talent.

Credit goes to First Avenue for giving these bands some much-needed exposure (the club was barely half-full). After all, you never know when the next great ice-cube-tray player might turn up.