 Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele at the 400 Bar, Minneapolis (05/03/09) ♥ photo by BrodyTour Dates 03/11/09 Lee’s Palace (w/ A.C. Newman) Toronto, Ontario
03/12/09 Il Motore (w/ A.C. Newman) Montreal, Quebec 03/13/09 Club Hell (w/ A.C. Newman) Providence, Rhode Island 03/14/09 Paradise (w/ A.C. Newman) Boston, Massachusetts 03/15/09 Bowery Ballroom (w/ A.C. Newman) New York, New York 03/19/09 SXSW San Jose Hotel Austin, Texas 03/19/09 SXSW Paw Tracks/Carpark Showcase @ Antone’s Austin, Texas 03/20/09 SXSW Other Music Lawn Party @ The French Legation Museum Austin, Texas 03/20/09 SXSW Forcefield/Asthmatic Kitty Junkyard Piznik @ OK Mountain Austin, Texas 03/20/09 SXSW Billions Showcase @ Antone’s Austin, Texas 03/22/09 The Trinity (w/ Animal Collective) Bristol 03/23/09 Rescue Rooms (w/ Animal Collective) Nottingham 03/24/09 The Forum (w/ Animal Collective) London 03/25/09 TJ’s (w/ Animal Collective) Leeds 03/26/09 The Static Gallery (w/ Animal Collective) Liverpool 03/27/09 Tripod (w/ Animal Collective) Dublin 03/28/09 Stiff Kitten (w/ Animal Collective) Belfast 03/29/09 Captain’s Rest Glasgow 03/30/09 Cumberland Arms Newcastle 03/31/09 City Screen York 04/01/09 Trof Manchester 04/02/09 Clwb Iforbach Cardiff 04/03/09 Betsey Trotwood London 04/04/09 Queen Kong Club Neuchatel 04/05/09 el Lokal Zurich 04/06/09 UT Connewitz Leipzig 04/07/09 West Germany Berlin 04/08/09 King George Cologne 04/09/09 Bitterzoet Amsterdam 04/10/09 Motel Mozaique Rotterdam 04/11/09 Plan B night Reading 04/12/09 Bird On The Wire London 04/13/09 Duke Of Uke instore London 04/16/09 Revolver Oslo 04/17/09 Strædet Bergen 04/18/09 Debaser Stockholm 04/19/09 L’Aéronef Lille 04/20/09 Interface Gallery Dijon 04/21/09 Magic Magazine Party @ La Fleche D’Or Paris 04/23/09 Sasquatch Music Festival @ The Gorge Ampitheatre George, Washington |
Dent May knows he sorta-kinda-maybe sounds like Jens Lekman, thank you very much. He also gets the Stephen Merritt reference, and although the mild-mannered Mississippi native is flattered by the association, it’s obvious he wants to distance himself just enough to establish his own niche. It makes sense, though, the comparisons; all three artists share a tongue-in-cheek humor that glorifies a very specific eccentricity—a silly reverence for serious subject matter and an almost-cutesy collection of cultural references. On top of that, May plays a ukulele, one of four instruments that are funny simply by existing (the other three are the kazoo, the recorder and the rain stick; the keytar was also hilarious until hipsters embraced it).
Dent May opened for A.A. Bondy on Thursday at the 400 Bar. It’s an interesting pairing: May with his magnificent ukulele and songs about Michael Chang; Bondy with his average-sized guitar and songs about heroin. When May stepped on stage he looked like a used bookstore employee/lover of Tron; when Bondy stepped on stage he looked like maybe he’d had a rough night. A 21st century odd couple, wherein May’s neurotically specific prose complements Bondy’s sloppy-sad loner blues, and the rest is beautiful history.
After all, who writes about Michael Chang (“God Loves You, Michael Chang”)? Obviously, the same person who bemoans the banality of being an understimulated intellectual stuck in a small town (and stuck in apathy): “college town boy get off your ass and do something / college town boy, how does it feel to be nothing?” It hurts in a familiar way, doesn’t it? I remember when I graduated college with a stupid art degree and was forced to get a “real job” and, as a result, essentially wasted four years of private education to collate paper. This must be why May’s music is appealing to us average, middle-class Midwesterners: we’re the new breed of Benjamin Braddock—dissatisfied with life for no valid reason; bored because we have too many options, none of which require much effort or struggle (the idea of blood, sweat and tears is romantic, but getting our hands dirty is gross). When May sings “I’m over, being sober / I’m an alcoholic / I think I’ll get drunk tonight” (“I’m An Alcoholic”) it doesn’t have the same weight as when Bondy sings “Sweet, sweet heroin / won’t you be all mine / I don’t want to feel a thing / want nothing on my mind” (“Vice Rag”). This is my one criticism of May: occasionally his kitschy wit borders on tacky; and while satire is always a little derisive, it’s more effective if the satirist is truly a part of the group he’s mocking, and May seems just on the outskirts of authenticity.
However, believability aside, May certainly charmed the crowd, what with his adorable smallness, dorky-cool spectacles, crazy stage antics (jumping! While holding his ukulele!), and a genuinely feel-good aura. By the time Bondy took the stage and strummed his first bleak note, the small standing room was full and the overall mood had changed. I was immediately reminded of that period in my life when I would drive around the lakes late at night—one continuous loop around and around, chain smoking, listening to Dusty in Memphis, and doing a lot of non-thinking thinking (you know, when your brain totally mellows but you still feel anxious); watching Bondy brought back those feelings, which sounds far too emo to take seriously, but I’m serious. I was there, man. I think this explains my current infatuation with “new” Americana/gothic alt-country folk (some day I’m going to find a perfectly succinct term for “new Americana gothic alt-country folk”; not this day). Although lyrically Bondy describes a world-weariness that comes with painful experience, the honesty and blunt poetics are capable of tugging even the purest heart. Ignoring the fact that Bondy used to front the Nirvana-esque grunge band Verbena, I’ll say this too: where May lacked some hard-luck legitimacy, Bondy completely pulled off the “I caught my wife cheating on me, my truck broke down, I have $2 in change, how much for a swill of the cheap stuff?” look. Perhaps it was the disjointed between-song rambling; rambling never implies a confident, sober, emotionally sound psyche (I wish I could remember, verbatim, the unintentionally amusing things that came out of his mouth). Whatever the reason, thank you A.A. (and also thank you, Dent) for helping me to confront cheerless self-realizations and loserish tendencies. It’s like discount therapy (with beer).
Dent May + magnificent ukulele are currently on tour with AC Newman (through mid-March) followed by SXSW and a mini-tour with Animal Collective (!). Unfortunately, for Bondy fans, it seems his only upcoming show is Bonnaroo in June. For more information on either musician, see links to their respective websites and Myspace below.
Addendum: my concert date, Kate, would like it to be known, throughout the e-world, that she would not refuse sex from any of Dent May’s band members, if they offer.
03/11/2009 02:34:08 ♥ lara (
/lara206.vox.com) ♥dentmay.com ♥ myspace.com/dentmay
