Live Review: My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket
Greek Theater
Berkeley, California
9.19.08

You know a band is special when they can control the weather.

Just prior to taking the stage, My Morning Jacket was able to convince Mother Nature to stop the rainy mist that had enveloped the Greek Theater in Berkeley for much of the past hour and allow the band to play a stunning 3 hour rock show for it's ever growing legion of fans.

Touring in support of 2008's fan-dividing Evil Urges album, My Morning Jacket ripped the studio sheen off the new songs and exposed each song's raw rock 'n roll nerve as well as treated fans to early-career gems like "Phone Went West" and "War Begun".

After an overture blast of loud feedback and crashing percussion, the band locked into the proggish reggae rhythm of"Evil Urges" followed by the electronic pulses of "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 1". Like Radiohead did with the electronic leanings of Kid A, MMJ applied their manic stage energy to each electronic bleep and beat from songs off the new album, revealing a band that has added some new colors to their already colorful musical palette.

These new musical textures that began to appear on 2005's Z have taken full bloom in concert: Reggae, Prog, 80s R&B, and Psychedelia have joined MMJ's trademark brand of celestial southern rock to create the BIG rock show. Combined with an impressive light show, MMJ made a case for being one of the most ferocious live bands out on the road today.

Expertly controlling the pace of the show with a nice balance of rockers like "Aluminum Park" and "Off the Record" and drifty songs like "Librarian" and "Golden", My Morning Jacket took the Bay Area crowd on a rollercoaster ride through their musical discography.

Songs are now epic hurricanes of sound and emotion. "Smokin from Shootin" "Run Thru" and "Dondante" filled the amphitheater with swirls of guitar, piano and percussion. And the bass. The BASS. Like medievil cannons firing on the hillside, sub-sonic booms from bassist Two Tone Tomm rattled the concrete slabs of the Greek all night.

"The Bay Area looks like a glossy, misty Scottish battlefield." said lead singer Jim James, referring to the rainy mist from earlier. Through out the night, James often donned a black cape while singing his R&B inflected falsetto vocals on songs like "Wordless Chorus" and the electro-funk of "Highly Suspicious", before grabbing his Flying V guitar and ripping into a guitar shredding dual with fellow guitarist Carl Broemel.

The years on the road have transformed MMJ into a finely tuned musical engine. It's indescribable how effortless things appear to be when watching the band perform. Drummer Patrick Hallahan's Keith Moon like energy, keyboardist Bo Koster's electronic symphony of beats and sounds, Carol Bromemels saxophone and pedal steel flourishes on songs like "Dondante" and "Cobra" and Jim James control of his otherworldly vocal reverb are reasons why this band's following continues to grow while the music business falls further and further apart.

Ending with the one-two punch of "Anytime" and the epic "One Big Holiday", MMJ sent fans and new converts out into the streets of Berkeley with big wide grins and a beautiful ringing in the ears.

Ignore the mixed reactions to Evil Urges and get out there and see these guys live.


set list
evil urges
touch me pt 1
off the record
aluminum park
way that he sings
im amazed
wonderful man
sec walkin
war begun
dancefloors
thank you too
mahgeetah
golden
librarian
phone went west
gideon
dondante
smoking from shootin
touch me pt 2
run thru
---------
wordless chorus
highly suspicious
cobra
rollinback
laylow
anytime
one big holiday

Download a live recording of this show from Archive.org

Photos courtesy of MyMorningJacket.com

Album Review: Evil Urges

My Morning Jacket
Evil Urges
ATCO Records

When My Morning Jacket's new album leaked on the net a full month prior to the official release, excitement was replaced with a gasps of frustration as fans who downloaded the leak discovered that their favorite rock 'n roll band had made a rather large stylistic departure from the signature MMJ sound that initially attracted them to the band. Naturally, the internet lit up like a California wildfire with cry's of mutiny and horror.

Imagine that, a band not doing exactly what you wanted them to do. Shocking.

While Evil Urges is a challenging record upon first listen, some patience and repeated spins reveal a band that has not abandoned it's core musical traits, but instead has opted for a widescreen musical lense that opens up their sound to new possibilities.

Expanding their sonic pallete to include elements of Soul/R&B, Prog Rock and 80s pop, MMJ have sent a message to critics and fans that they are not content being the Kentucky space rockers who sounded like Neil Young & Crazy Horse fed through the atmospherics of Radiohead. The move was a wise one, with up-and-coming bands like Band of Horses and Fleet Foxes obviously utilzing MMJ's musical blueprint, the time to move on is now, or forever risk being stuck in a creative cul-de-sac.

Title track and album opening song "Evil Urges" picks up where the experimentations of previous album Z left off: alternating between proggy keyboards and a bouncing reggae rhythm, lead singer and principal songwriter Jim James lets his Prince-like falsetto fly until mid song where a Who-like guitar battle erupts leading to rocking finale.

The experimentation continues with the electronic/keyboard-heavy "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 1" that sounds like the band OD'd on 80s synth pop and production techniques. It's not until about two and half minutes into the song that the emotional payoff of the vocals and the keys swell to the bursting point and reveal a glorious emotional collage of harmony vocals and keyboard flourishes.

Of course, the song that initially sounded the alarm bell for die hard fans is "Highly Suspicious". With it's Devo keyboards, robotic like chorus and Jame's falsetto singing about peanut butter pudding surprises, "Highly Suspicious" is actually a fun robo-rock song. Fans of the band should be used to MMJ's odd brand of humor by now, and besides, the real audio atrocities of Evil Urges are just a few songs away.

While I praise the band for the experimentation and musical risks they take on Evil Urges, I just cannot get into songs like "Thank You Too" and "Sec Walkin'" that sound like bad 80s Billy Ocean/Air Supply pop ballads . Evolving their drifty country ballads to pop schmaltz just doesn't work for this fan and these songs are the music risks that didn't pan out.

Cleansing my musical pallette from those two songs with rockers like "I'm Amazed", "Aluminum Park" and "Remnants" remind me of the power MMJ has in the live setting- a place MMJ has always ruled. But those didn't prepare me for the true sonic gems of the album.

The hauntingly lovely "Librarian" is the natural evolution from previous drifty epics like "Dancefloors" and "I Will Sing You Songs" off It Still Moves. "Librarian" is almost cinematic in matching the music to James' tale of a young man's crush on an older woman. It's not the most original story, but the sum of its parts creates an MMJ classic.

Hiding at the end of the album is the one-two punch of "Smokin' From Shootin'" and "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2". Beginning with an electro pulse, "Smokin'" evolves from an emotionally raw beginning to a satisfyingly epic orchestral finish that would make Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood smile. "Touch me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 2" succesfully melds the electro pop influences found elsewhere on the album into a head-bobbing finish to the album that will leave a smile on your face and your toe tapping.

Along with the title track, these last two songs represent to the true evolution of MMJ's sound and should calm any nervous fan thinking the band has lost its marbles. For all the musical risks the band takes on Evil Urges, the real payoff is in creating one of 2008's most exciting albums.