Brooklyn’s O’Death is one of a very small set of bands that can ably play on a bill with either bluegrass or punk acts. But to be honest, their rattling, chaotic and offbeat performances of their skewered take on Appalachian music would probably put a lot of Bill Monroe fans into cardiac arrest, so bluegrass purists beware. For the rest of you, imagine Modest Mouse covering the Blue Sky Boys and you might begin to be ready for the places that O’Death goes. With growing notoriety and regard, O’Death has been steadily garnering praise in underground music circles, particularly online at tastemaking sites like Pitchfork and Daytrotter. Lead singer Greg Jamie’s voice has that spookiness that pervades the most chilling corners of the Anthology of American Folk Music, but as a whole band O’Death’s conjuring of a backwoods past goes hand in hand with a sensibility and fervor that suggests a breeding ground strewn with hardcore bands and Tom Waits records. This summer, following their string of US dates, they head to Europe. But first O’Death will bring what they call “part southern gothic spiritual, part moonshine fueled hoedown”—fittingly on a Sunday—to Buffalo. Support comes from Tracy Morrow and his Magi Chippie, and A Hotel Nourishing.
—donny kutzbach
8pm. Mohawk Place, 47 E Mohawk Street (855-3931/mohawkplace.com).
Questions or Comments for Artvoice? Send e-mail to editorial@artvoice.com • Article last modified 5/14/2008
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