Eugene weekly., June 07, 2012, Page 49, Image 49

music
You’re the Guy from the
Hamburger Train, Right?
Gwenyambiras, At Large
Musekiwa Chingodza is an international phenomenon occuring every other year in the U.S. and Canada. Chingodza, a
dancer, singer and mbira master from Murehwah, Zimbabwe, is known for his teaching and spirited performances all over
the U.S., and particularly in Eugene, where his protégé Bud Cohen lives.
So, how does a white kid from Eugene, Ore., team up with a Zimbabwean gwenyambira (great mbira player) and create
the world-music duo known as Mhofela? The story goes like this: In 1997 Cohen’s parents, serious world-music lovers with
a taste for adventure, traveled to Zimbabwe with the specific intent of finding gwenyambiras to help promote mbira music
and build a scene back in the states. With them, they brought their 17-year-old son, who possessed the same passionate
love of music. During this journey, Cohen met Chingodza, who took the teenager under his wing and schooled him in mbira
playing.
Cohen lived with Chingodza in the rural village of Mwangara. “It was an eye-opening and life-shaping experience for
me,” Cohen says. “I was humbled by how people treated me and encouraged my playing [of mbira].”
Not necessarily a household name in the U.S., the mbira (also known as a thumb piano) is an instrument composed of
a wooden soundboard and hard steel keys that is then placed into a “deze” (a round gourd) that acts as a resonator.
Though usually promoted through the college and cultural-center tour circuits, mbira music has large fan bases in the
urban communities of Colorado, New Mexico and California’s Bay Area.
Since their initial meeting in ‘97, Chingodza and Cohen formed Mhofela, and they have toured both coasts and the
Midwest, bringing mbira music to the masses. The duo recently released the 9-track album Tomutenda Mambo and
continues to play live shows together when Chingodza is in country.
“This music is very spiritual and very authentic,” says Cohen. “I always look forward to Musekiwa coming to town.”
Mhofela’s album release show is 6 pm Thursday, June 7, at Cozmic; $5, free entry with CD purchase. — Dante Zuñiga-West
Blooming and Booming
I feel old. Young bands are listing “mid-aughts indie” as their influences — groups like Pavement, Guided By Voices,
etc. The stuff that was new and cool when I was in my twenties is now establishment. I suppose I should be glad that
music is still inspiring new bands like Eugene’s Groundblooms to pick up guitars. But to quote James Murphy of LCD
Soundsystem: “I’m losing my edge, the kids are coming up from behind.”
If I’m going to be the grey-haired dude at rock shows, Groundblooms are a band I’ll be seeing. The group, featuring
brothers Max and Michael Knackstedt, has just released its debut album You’re A Free Spirit, and it’s a solid piece of
artistry.
Groundblooms want you to think they’re not as good as they are. Tempos lag, guitars dip slightly out of tune, the
production, plain and unassuming, at times captures the sound of “a band in a room” — and other times, is awash in
messy guitar-skronk.
You’re A Free Spirit is deceptively lo-fi, cloaking solid songwriting with a hook-filled “we-could-care-less” attitude.
The songs often flirt precariously with mayhem, but they always pull out at the last second, seeking refuge in Michael
Knackstedt’s rich and melancholy baritone. Lead track “Pidgin English” recalls Weezer or Pavement at their best —
jingle-jangle guitars meet layers of noise, cascading and calamitous drums and a tune that would fit nicely on
Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted or Weezer’s Pinkerton.
Someone who went to college in the '90s or mid-2000s might feel a little “heard this all before” about
Groundblooms, but this is the sound of vintage college rock. Here’s hoping it never goes out of style and we continue
to hear good things from a young and vital band with tons of potential.
Groundblooms play with Royal Blue 10 pm Saturday, June 9, at Luckey’s; $3. — William Kennedy
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
Writ ing about Primus is like trying to stuff a baboon
into a sack — there’s no right way to do it. What can be
said about a band that so distinctly filters out any
shades of gray? How many times can a writer sit down
and type out how Les Claypool is the Zappa of the MTV
generation? Few prominent bands have inspired such
fervent devotion or dismissal. If you’re not thinking (as
the band would say) “Primus sucks!” you’re probably
thinking Primus sucks. Fence sitting is a relatively
unknown phenomenon in the Primus universe.
After a career spanning three decades, these guys
are as Primus as they’ve ever been. Claypool and Co.
show no signs of shutting down the ride, as they
prepare to come to town next week in support of the
group’s latest album, Green Naugahyde. For those of
you already familiar with the band, nothing written
here will change your mind — you already have your
ticket or you’re busy winding your cassette copy of
Kill ‘Em All. (Fun fact: Claypool tried out for Metallica
after Cliff Burton died only to be told that he was “too
good”).
But for those of you with ears free of sonic beef
and cheese, I say this: Primus is the soundtrack to a
sixth-circle carnival designed by Tim Burton and the
Swedish chef from the Muppets. This band is what
would happen if a young Tom Waits listened to Black
Sabbath and replaced his usual junk and whiskey with
a steady diet of psychedelics and speed. If you want to
see one of the most original bands of the last 30
years, led by one of the greatest bass players to ever
walk the earth, go to this show.
Primus plays 7:30 pm Tuesday, June 12, at the
Cuthbert Amphitheater; $39.50 adv., $45 door.
— Mark Sullivan
Head-banging and Heroines
When Portland folk move to Eugene, a common
complaint is that there’s not enough punk rock. Jean
Grey provides something we don’t get enough of here
— loud, angry punk music that gives you a feeling in your
gut that can only be quelled through moshing.
Reminiscent of the authentic garage bands we all loved
in high school, Jean Grey is a group formed in 2006 and
named after a voluptuous super-heroine.
The band’s new album comes with the ominous title
Abysmal. After setting such a dark stage for their debut,
the members of Jean Grey step up to the plate, creating
a diverse set of songs with names like “Ovarian Cyst”
and “Dissection of a Human Body.” The band is
impressive in its ability to pair fast drumbeats, heavy
guitar parts and lyrics that sound as if Steven King got
hold of a microphone.
Comparable to groups like The Black Dahlia Murder
and Beneath the Massacre, Jean Grey has already
achieved its own version of local fame right here, and
the group has national tour chops. Formed by drummer
Charlie Wilson, these guys have been playing up and
down the West Coast for years. The band is currently at
work on its first concept album, based on the Cthulhu
Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft.
Priding itself on a professional approach to
showmanship, with wild thrashing and synchronized
head-banging, Jean Grey puts on a show that is not to
be missed.
Jean Grey plays 8 pm Thursday, June 14, at WOW
Hall; $5 adv., $8 door. — Hailey Chamberlain
EUGENE WEEKLY
JUNE 7, 2012 49