CONCERT REVIEW
Jim Infantino's Id Vies with His Big Ego at North Adams show
by Seth Rogovoy(NORTH ADAMS, Mass., Oct. 28, 1996) -- The name of his band may be Jim's Big Ego, but Jim Infantino's irrational id vied for top billing with his rational side in his performance in the Chaise Lounge Gallery at Milltown Studios on Sunday evening.
Indeed, Infantino's pure pleasure instinct was invoked in the very first tune he played, a parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that name-checked Guy Lombardo, Yoko Ono, Sonny Bono and Bono, as well as Infantino and his libido, while wrapping the whole thing in "Kumbaya." My Lord!
Infantino aptly described his music as "folk that's fuzzy around the edges" and "acid-folk, kind of like acid-jazz, but folk," and indeed, most of his material is acidic, if not downright volatile. And like acid-jazz, it also samples -- literally, if not figuratively -- a panoply of found sounds, from opera to answering-machine messages to the detritus of '70s pop music, with a savvy, funky arsenal of melodies and rhythms bubbling over from streetwise hip-hop and cerebral, Laurie Anderson-style art-rock.
Infantino's show was a journey through his warped sensibility -- a sort of dark ride through his dream-world, where submarine pilots run aground and become coldly mechanical killers on the surface ("Normandy"), where a lonely Greek deity at the bottom of the ocean pines for company ("Down Here"), and where the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe becomes a protagonist in a saloon gunfight ("The Ballad of Tycho Brahe").
Other highlights included "She Rules," a send-up of Gen-X lingo, "Butthead," a plaint of those coming up behind the Gen-Xers (Gen- Yers?), "Bite Me Hard," a bit of ferocious, psychotic hardcore punk, and "She Said He Said," which name-checked the royalty of Boston's alternative-folk scene and featured some of Infantino's best, white- boy rapping.
The intimate, funky, coffeehouse-like setting of the Chaise Lounge Gallery -- with provocative, large-scale, slightly off-kilter nudes adorning the walls -- was perfect for Infantino's edgy brand of alternative folk. Infantino was more than ably assisted by John Kiehne on Chapman stick and Hillary Koogler on drums. Kiehne's stick is a 12-string electronic, guitar-like instrument which is tapped instead of being picked or strummed, and which fills quadruple duty as bass, guitar, keyboards and sound manipulator. Koogler's bouncy, jazzy touch well-suited Infantino's carefully-wrought compositions and provided the necessary kick when called for.
There is an emerging genre in popular music which combines the lyrical focus and intensity of singer/songwriter folk music, the sonic and rhythmic experimentations of hip-hop, and the melodic, post- modern orientation of alternative-rock. Among the best-known proponents of this new-folk alternative are Beck, G. Love, Soul Coughing and Ani DiFranco. Among the most creative, original voices in the field is Jim Infantino.
[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Oct. 30, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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