Austinist Artist Profile: The Wedding Present @ Emo's

In 1986, London-based music magazine New Musical Express (NME), legendary for its influential hold on the British musical imagination, released a limited edition mixtape entitled C-86. Containing early singles from a number of chamber and guitar jangle pop groups such as Primal Scream, The Pastels, The Wolfhounds, and The Shop Assistants, the notoriously difficult-to-obtain cassette encapsulated a newly popular fusion of danceable, rhythmic post-punk and edgy English verse.

One of the strongest tracks from the compilation -- most of which has been remastered and reissued on the Rough Trade collection, Indiepop I (2004) -- was a single ("This Boy Can Wait") from Leeds-based group The Wedding Present. In the context of the hair metal-ridden, Paula Abdul-laden technothump of the late 1980's MTV scene, the band's independently produced music* today conveys a vision of joyous, aesthetically-stimulating pop music.

Their engaging performance style and dark lyrical expression separates them from both the Madchester sunny pop scene (Happy Mondays, The Charlatans UK, Inspiral Carpets, The Farm) and early shoegaze (Lush, Ride, Slowdive, and any number of Loveless-oriented dream pop outfits), even as they expand upon musical elements from The Buzzcocks, Gang Of Four, and The Fall. While all of the original C-86'ers -- The Loft and The Wolfhounds, as well -- are worth discovering for their songcraft, which delicately modifies and expands upon traditional song structures, The Wedding Present have preserved their charm and uplifting musicianship in reuniting for a tour this spring. Join Austinist as we celebrate the long-awaited return of The Wedding Present, tonight at Emo's.

[Myspace]

The Wedding Present
February 28, 2006
Emo's
$12.50
With Tim Fite and Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves
Show 10pm

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By John Greek in Arts & Entertainment on February 28, 2006 11:45 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Declan McManus

Not really my cup of tea for $12.50, but what I've heard, I've enjoyed.

Same with Sally Crewe and her band -- though, her first album with Spoon as her backing band was significantly better (and I don't even really like Spoon all that much).

Should be a fun show, if it doesn't get fucked up because of Fat Tuesday. A few years ago when Desparecidos played at Emos during Mardi Gras, the fire/police buckaroos made them enforce the capacity of the venue -- which meant a fuckload of people were left standing outside even though there was plenty of room inside. The whole limited amount of exits makes a larger room become a whole lot smaller apparently!

Of course, if you're frozen out of the show for these circumstances it means there are probably a lot of unattractive girls flashing their flabby frontal areas at 17 year olds with pawn shop video cameras. Which can be entertaining if you're creepy enough.

truecraig

Good job there ron "hater-tastic/played-out-pseudo-name" mexico. If names are truly relevant, they'll get dropped. Many people appreciate it when dots get connected. That's how data becomes information. That's how your anon name becomes entertaining.

It's science.