Mumiy Troll - Run Run Run -- Black Cat - Aug 11 2010

Run Run Run - I remember a guy from high school saying that he and some friends were stoned and walking around telling everyone they just heard Hocus Pocus by Focus and Run Run Run by Jo Jo Gunne. Of course this has nothing to do with this band who possibly named their band for the Velvet Underground song and not the Jo Jo Gunne song or the Supremes or whoever. This five piece from LA had keyboards and a couple of guitars. Ergo, the sound is full and pretty slick for the most part. At times it is too slick with song writing that seems awfully commercial, middle of the road sounding. But there is enough garage rock and interesting guitar moves to keep me from becoming too jaded. They have a decent amount of energy and perhaps if they can come up with more intriguing songs, they could be quite good. They are decent enough now, though, and like many bands I sort of like, they closed with a great raucous song.

Photo by Michael Muller.

Mumiy Troll - This four piece from Vladivostok dates back to 1983, although only their singer/guitarist/synth player was in that band. The remaining three members have all been around for a decade or more, so it is well established combo at this point. They have been touring hard in the USA, as I believe this is the third time they have played here in recent years. I recall the first time I saw them, they said that they could play the east coast and just do the bigger shows (larger cities and larger Russian population), but they wanted to hit smaller clubs all across America. Well, apparently like many hard working bands, that had some success as they are still hitting clubs all over, but I see they are much larger clubs in Denver and perhaps other cities. But tonight, it was the beginning of the tour in front of a large, very excited, and heavily Russian crowd at the Black Cat. There was also significantly more women than men and a pretty good range of ages. The band came out rocking and it was a solid show. I would say their sound mostly reminds me of the more mainstream aspects of British post-punk. They have sort of Bunnymen/Teardrop Explodes moves, but with rhythms out of the reggae/dub Stiff Little Fingers style. They began one song which was clearly a hit as the crowd exploded at the opening chords. This one sounded like a Gogol Bordello song, except that it was probably written before much of Gogol Bordello material was. This is certainly a fun band, although I would be curious to see the reactions in Denver or Kansas City. It must be good, since they are headed there again.

Movie Review: Pianomania played at the Goethe Center Monday to a packed house. It was a very funny movie about a piano tuner/technician from Steinway and how he caters to professional players for live shows and recordings. Although seeing perfectionists at work can be exhausting, there was a lot of humor here and good personalities, so it was a really nice documentary. There are new movies every Monday this month, so check them out.