PAINTING THE TOWN BROWN
The Browningham demo CD somebody gave me has the following scrawled on it in black marker:
Wack-ass white guy singin' like Prince, playin' BeeGees keys and cheerleading.
That about sums it up.
Browningham (
), who played the now shut-down Half Rack Studios several months ago, is indeed an Arkansas wack-ass white boy with an affinity for Kraftwerk, Chaka Kahn and Billy Ocean and a penchant for Har Mar Superstar falsetto and mastering cheesy, catchy, accidentally soulful synth.
I should make clear, when it comes to Browningham, I use the term "band," but I use it loosely. He's a one-man show, almost in an old Vaudvillian way, combining his delightful keyboard-based ditties with an energetic penchant for, yes, leading rock 'n' roll cheers, jumping around and randomly employing the "hand claps' button on his synthesizer. He simultaneously has a mature appreciation for oft-derided, definitely underappreciated synth-pop of the '80s and a sophomoric sense of humor. Case in point: His song "Gotta Get it Outta Here" is a fun tune, poppy and anchored by a funky keyboard line, but it's about shitting in your pants.
There's also "Urban Lyrics," a song that sounds like the music playing over an '80s movie montage of someone preparing for a street fight. The allusive tune springs along as Browningham lyrically ruminates over a life "in the city/stealing cars/flashing titties." Lifted from an aesthetic about 20 years old, it's tough to tell if it's homage or parody, immaturity or brilliance. I suspect a little of all four.
Since the death of Half Rack Studios, that harbinger of risk-taking and bratty absent-minded art-student musical weirdness, folks like Browningham haven't really had a spot to play here in Santa Fe. Though it wasn't as long-lived, large, or on-the-radar as the Paramount, Half-Rack's closing left a hole in our struggling musical world. Many times it's easier for low-budget, low-hassle bands like Browningham to play house parties or tiny off-the-grid venues like Half-Rack, rather than try to book at a bar or club so, while it was alive, Half-Rack hosted some of the best unknown musical acts in the country and in Santa Fe.
Thankfully, since Half-Rack's demise, College of Santa Fe junior Paul Collins has picked up the freak flag and run it up the pole. Collins, a sweet kid with giant (ironic?) square-framed eyeglasses, has booked a lineup of edgy acts to play at the CSF Sub building, starting off with Browningham (8 pm Friday, Feb. 24. $5 public, CSF students free. 1600 St. Michael's Drive, 473-6011).
Along with Browningham, Collins' others shows this year include Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and the Donkeys (March 7); the Marriage Records Revue Tour with the Watery Graves, A John Henry Memorial and Privacy (March 20); Old Time Relijun (April 27); and the CSF Battle of the Bands (April 28). He also informs me Quadfest will happen again this year, perhaps with a more, uh, relevant headliner (last year's Arrested Development performance, while funky and fun in and of itself, didn't exactly fill the lawn). "This year it's gonna be better," Collins assures me. "Arrested's great but they're a little past their prime. So this year it's gonna be an independent rap group or rock group of a higher echelon than what we normally get." (Stay tuned to J spot and Hear, Here in the coming weeks for details on all these shows.)
So far, Collins has pulled off some of the most important concerts of the past several months. "Last semester we had some really big shows," Collins says. "D Numbers was really big, we had a Beirut show that was really big, we brought Calvin [Johnson, founder of legendary K Records]."
Collins connection with the latter is emblematic of his youthful resourcefulness, which also may be read as just not knowing any better: "I'm from Oregon and when I was living up there I was in a town of 17,000 people and we basically had to create our own scene," he says of how he established a relationship with Johnson's influential label. "We wrote an e-mail to K Records, an open e-mail, and said, 'If there's anybody who will play down here, we can't give you any money or anything.' A few people responded and Old Time was one of those bands." The rest has snowballed, fortunately for Santa Fe independent music fans. What remains to be seen is whether non-CSF folks will take advantage of the college's attempts to make something happen. Let's hope so.
WEST BY SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST
Collins also plans to put on a show by Santa Fe's Beirut. A date hasn't been set yet, however, because Beirut happens to have scored a slot at South by Southwest (March 13-19). Though Beirut is the only local group to be an official act for the giant music fest, eight other New Mex bands are putting on a satellite showcase-the Mindy Set, Of God and Science, Hundred Year Flood, Joe West, the Dirty Novels, Unit 7 Drain, Foma and Darlington Horns will show off their skills (check
for upcoming information). So if you're headed to Austin in the coming weeks, check out the showcase and show them some local love.
