I went to a friend’s wedding recently, and at said wedding there was a DJ (a.k.a. a guy with a laptop) playing stringed versions of old standards throughout the night. T’was nice and appropriate. It’s too bad Joey Molinaro didn’t get a call, though, ‘cause that would have been a WAY different reception. Reeeeal intense and sweaty and scary. Instead of throwing the bouquet, the bride could have thrown Joey’s goat hoof leg rattler. Allow me to clarify. Last time I saw him, I nearly got smacked in the face by his homemade tambourine after it flew off his leg and was launched into the audience.
But enough about his crowd work; let’s talk about the man’s tunes. His latest CD — Say at Last- Who Art Thou? – is available now, and is a total burner. Out of all the controlled chaos, “The Don Quixote Youth Brigade” takes the wedding cake, ‘least for me. Vocals of fucking menace, bursts of drum violence, dissonantly distanced guitars, and Mr. Molinaro’s signature rapidfire foot stomps and corpse-nails-on-a-chalkboard violin squeals fill each second with terrifying madness. But that ain’t nothing new from the rest of the disc… so it must be… the variety of changes? Yeah, that’s why I really dig this one. Wow! A personal musical revelation right before your eyes.
He’ll be galloping around the US this summer, so try to catch him live, ‘cause if you haven’t had goat hooves almost hit you in the face, then you haven’t lived. Or maybe you have… how the hell should I know?
• Joe Molinaro: http://joeymolinaro.com
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