Handsome Furs & Daniel Martin Moore ~ Escape Club, St. Julians, 18/12/2010

{Published in The Times of Malta, 22/12/2010}

Sub Pop not Subpar

The Sub Pop record label has become synonymous with innovative artists and music over the years, having signed critically and commercially acclaimed artists such as Nirvana, Soundgarden and Fleet Foxes. Last Saturday, serious Maltese music enthusiasts had an isolated opportunity to experience live two of the renowned label’s current acts at the Escape Club in St. Julians.

Hailing from Kentucky Texas, folk singer-songwriter Daniel Martin Moore claims he has wanted to visit little old Malta for the best part of 20 years and he looked genuinely honoured to be able to perform to the gathered crowd, even if there was less than fifty people in the room. “Thanks for coming out to see me’, he announced in his hushed Kentucky drawl after opening number Stray Age.

Armed solely with a small acoustic guitar, Moore shared tales from his hometown. He drew attention to how lucky Malta was for what he put as being “mineral poor” unlike Kentucky, where every year streams are buried and poisoned, and nearby towns threatened due to the rubble sent flying due to mining explosives in the Appalachian Mountains. On the following protest song Flyrock Blues he sang, “People praying don’t you land on me, don’t you bust my house, just let me be on my own ground.”

Moore also played other traditional and contemporary Kentucky penned tunes to the audience, including a beautifully wistful cover of Kentucky Waltz originally by father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. As one of those old heads resting on young shoulders, Moore’s music falls under the tradition of American folk music, where songs are passed down from generation to generation, each new song drawing from the rich social narratives of heartland America. For a short but magical forty minutes, that tradition came alive at great geographical inconvenience in Malta.

Canadian husband and wife duo Handsome Furs were greeted on stage by a much healthier numbered crowd. They kicked off with a super-charged live version of Legal Tender, complete with an ear-pounding electronic drum beat and industrial guitar squeals that sounded like Godzilla smashing through the techno-obsessed sprawl of Tokyo city. Their sound could not have been further removed from the gentle organic elements of fellow Sub-Pop label mate Daniel Martin Moore.

The duo seemed enthusiastic to be playing their last gig of a lengthy tour in Malta from all places, both of them joking and bantering with their audience in-between songs. “Our plan tonight is to get drunk enough to burn our passports as a joke,” lead vocalist and guitarist Dan Boeckner semi-joked after expressing how his wife and himself were having a great time here.

While their studio albums are somewhat lacklustre affairs, Handsome Furs’ sound came into its own in the live scenario, easily working up the crowd into a sweaty bouncing frenzy. Perhaps the highlight of their set was penultimate song Serve the People; a thumping two-chord techno-infused number that forced all present into a euphoric trance. Cheers and chants all around the band returned for a final encore of new song No Feeling, keeping the atmosphere electric until the very end.

It might have been a low-key affair, but those who were there got to see something a bit different from the usual suspects who are invited to perform on Maltese shores. From ageless folk to post-industrial electronic rock the Sub Pop artists gave live testimony as to why their mother label remains one of the music industry’s most intriguing modern success stories.