R. Stevie Moore, Pong, Jad Fair and Tropical Ooze [Show Review]

R. Stevie Moore

On Friday night, Emo’s hosted an evening of musical idiosyncrasy that included performances by longtime locals Jad Fair and Pong, Brooklyn’s Tropical Ooze, and one of American music’s more purposefully obscure and astonishingly prolific recording artists, R. Stevie Moore. Over the course of his nearly five decade career, his live performances have been some of the most consistently elusive phenomena on the roads he’s determinately not taken. Also, it’s altogether too uncommon to see Jad Fair play a downtown venue, so as is often the case on weekends booked full of shows, Emo’s was the place to be.

R. Stevie Moore’s backing band Tropical Ooze opened the show with a short set of bubblegum garage pop that primed the audience for the more established artists on the bill, or - depending on your perspective - painfully prolonged the wait for Jad Fair to take the stage.

When he last played a downtown Austin venue back in May, Jad performed a solid solo set that verged towards the good side of performance art. Playing revealing songs of frustrations and determined endurance, he culminated that set at The ND with a rather inspired deconstruction of “Route 66.” But on Friday, we got to see another side of Jad. His set list was mainly comprised of more humorous material, and he played with a three-piece backing band, freeing him from shouldering most of the instrumental load. After just a few songs, he tore the neck from the body of his guitar (they’re fastened together with rubber bands). With apparent expectation that the contraption would hold together a little further through the show, he threw his hands up, laughed and moved on to the next song. What was most likely a happy accident was probably the best thing that could have happened to Jad. It left him free to sing, and as it turns out, he’s just as skilled and engaging when he acts as a frontman as he is when he performs solo using the same guitar, but played more conscientiously as well as with remarkable effectiveness for such a unique (and untuned) rig. Jad Fair played a thoroughly refreshing, funny set that makes one wonder how many more facets he might reveal if he performed more often.

Pong has been playing twisted retro dance rock for several years now, and they’ve devolved in a very good way. They’re melding their decadent electro-boogie with a touch of scuzz rock, and it works very well with their sometimes twisted lyrics. They aim for and appeal to the weirdness in everyone, but like the show’s headliner, either you get them or you don’t. Pong appropriately set the mood for R. Stevie Moore with their somewhat unconventional sound and warped funkiness.

It’s highly unlikely that any artist has made records in as many genres and with such a variety of styles as R. Stevie Moore. After all, the guy has released over 400 albums, cassettes and CD-R's. One of the more common characteristics of his music is his application of somewhat unusual song structures and musical progressions to easily recognizable genres. His work isn’t alienating, but it is often as eccentric as it is eclectic. What he was to perform on this particular evening was anybody’s guess. After coming onstage wearing Minnie Mouse pajama pants, Moore and members of Tropical Ooze quickly and surprisingly clicked into a slamming, tight rock quartet. Tropical Ooze’s guitarist, synth and guitar player and drummer locked right in with Moore’s damn good bass playing. The band sliced and diced some particularly tricky arrangements with startling deft flexibility.

Moore’s mockingly contemptuous attitude towards popular culture, trends and banal music was not out in force, but it was there in the subtext of his performance and in some stage banter. Predominately, he performed with laconically derisive expression that brought to mind Frank Zappa’s vocals on the earlier The Mothers of Invention albums. For a guy who very rarely performs live, much less embarks on world tours, Moore is an impressively engaging performer. As for his overall effectiveness at playing to the house, R. Stevie Moore is genuinely, if not a bit exaggeratedly, peculiar. He appeals to some die-hard fans, and some people are absolutely turned-off by his material. By his own admission, his music is an acquired taste. Did his set get old; was it a little too monotonous? Yes. Although Moore has left very few styles untouched during his long career, his set did not reflect it. Nevertheless, his performance was full of impressively accessible and complex arrangements that walked the line between sophistication and amusicality. He seemed to leave both curiosity seekers and diehard Moore fans equally confounded - an oddly apt predictor of Moore’s legacy - which probably left him entirely satisfied with his self.

R. Stevie Moore: [Official]
Jad Fair: [Official]
Pong: [Official]
Tropical Ooze: [Myspace]