Actually, the first part of that last article- again: I wish I could write reviews like this; I enjoy them immensely......

Small Axe, Altered Statesmen, Lone Official, The Duke Spirit and more
Published on December 03, 2008 at 10:28am
Official businessA sizable and pleasantly diverse crowd shook off their tryptophan-induced comas and braved the gloomy weather to join Altered Statesman and Lone Official for their 7-inch release at The Basement Saturday night. We entered to the hyper-funk sounds of Small Axe, a slick five-piece armed to the teeth with sticky chops and a smooth-ass front man. Seeing a funk rhythm section—and believe us, this was the genuine article—was somewhat refreshing, and we thoroughly enjoyed their song "Pimps," a tune about the rigors of pimpology in which Small Axe's trumpet-toting lead singer warned us to "watch out for them pimps," because "a pimp gotcha lookin' for the king and queen while he's sitting on that ace."
Photo: Tanya Wright
Button Fly Lone Official

Lone Official
By the close of Small Axe's set, The Basement was mostly packed, with members of Lambchop and Silver Jews making up a good portion of the crowd. Altered Statesman set to their hypnotic, practiced grooves with singer Steve Poulton leading the pack and local jack-of-all-trades Luke Schneider kicking ass on vibraphone.
Altered Statesman's energy definitely isn't through the roof—they're more " 'n' roll" than straight up "rock"—but their ethereal soundscapes are certainly impressive and atmospheric. Folks drifted back and forth between the smoking porch and the bar throughout the set, but we were dismayed to see that the cash bar up front—one of our favorite Basement features—was unmanned (or unwomanned). As the Statesman wrapped up their set, Poulton left us with his sales pitch for the split: "Buy one of those damn records."
Lone Official's set-up was a bit delayed as Grimey fiddled with the bass settings and blasted the vocal mics with a healthy dose of disinfectant. (It is cold season, after all.) We noticed immediately that Lone Official was missing the ivory-tickling of one Mr. Ryan Norris, but L.O. still worked as a no-frills, streamlined four-piece. Guitarist Sami Elamri and lead singer Matt Button's riff-swapping was pretty handy, though occasionally not perfectly in tune, on favorites like "Amelia Earhart" and "Le Coq Sportif."
For a band that constantly seems on the verge of no longer being a band, Lone Official definitely sounded well rehearsed. Button's wife was front-and-center for most of the evening dancing her ass off, which set the tone perfectly. We can't say the same for The Basement's hitherto unnoticed disco ball, however, which inexplicably kicked on mid-set, casting its bizarre sequined glow over the room and sending out vibes not unlike that of a middle-school dance. By the time Lone Official started in on their last song, we decided to slink back outside into the shadows—far from the dazzling lights that threatened to shatter our anonymity.
Dukes of hazardWe almost didn't make it to Exit/In Sunday night. With the rain, the cold, the Sunday-ness and the end-of-holiday-weekend blahs, it was almost too much. But we got it together enough to show up late, as usual, and when we walked through the door, openers The Black Fortys were in the middle of what turned out to be their last song. It didn't do much for us anyway, so we tried to shake off the cold with a cold one and do the attendance math. That didn't take long because the place was mostly empty. Which didn't surprise us, really, what with the rain, the cold, the Sunday-ness and the end-of-holiday-weekend blahs.
After setting up their equipment, which included a gigantic old Slingerland marching-band bass drum, the unfortunately named Eulogies came on and did a lot of things we like—poppy eighth-notes, major chords and straightforward drumming—without ever adding up to anything. All line and sinker, no hook. Kinda like Grandaddy lite (and that's saying something), with a bit of Arcade Fire smoldering over the top. If it's shallow to say the singer's fedora tipped us off that this band was not going to rock us very hard, then fine. We said it. We were slightly rocked, if at all, but we were at least distracted by the band's "lead" guitarist, who bore a real resemblance to a certain actor. "I feel like that guy's gonna try to sell me a Mac," one of our companions said.
People started showing up as the Eulogies drew to a close, including both Little Jack Lawrence and, oddly enough, a Little Jack Lawrence look-alike. Someone to our right (who is new to town) said, "Did you see there are two guys here who look like Garth?" Party on, dude to our right. Between bands, Modest Mouse's The Lonesome Crowded West played on repeat. We really don't need to ever hear that album again, much less three times in a row.
When The Duke Spirit finally took the stage, they did so to a canned recording of "I Do Believe," the a cappella opening salvo from their latest album Neptune. They threw on their instruments, got in place, and then, just as they do on the record, blasted into "Send a Little Love Token," which brought people to the front of the stage. Where they would stand mostly motionless for the rest of the night like—well, like a Nashville audience.1 2 Next Page »