1
In Tune SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2010 The Daily News IT C Section DUM DUM GIRLS, “I Will Be” (Sub-Pop) ✰✰✰ 1 ⁄ 1 1 2 ⁄ ⁄ — Kristin Gundred already had displayed her swagger in short-lived, under-appreci- ated Grand Ole Party, but now under the simple moniker Dee Dee, she’s the driving force behind garage-psyche, girl-group revivalists Dum Dum Girls that’s a safe bet to surpass her previous project. OK, so there are a lot of bands doing this very thing. But not many do it as well as Dum Dum Girls on their debut full-length “I Will Be,” a compact array of simply- delivered, yet infectiously effective songs that sure stick with you. Gundred’s yowl of a voice is smoothed out for the most part, fitting better with the blissed-out material that was co-produced by Richard Gottehrer (he wrote like-minded hits such as “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “I Want Candy” and produced Blondie and the Go-Go’s). Gundred visits the timeless coming-of-age tribulations on hand-in-hand pair “Yours Alone” and “Blank Girl”; stokes tenders embers on “Rest of Our Lives”; puts a vintage wash to sing-along “Bhang Bhang, I’m a Burnout”; and shows some teeth on “Everybody’s Out,” where she coos, “My baby’s better than you.” (Brian Krasman) * * * Dum Dum Girls play Mr. Smalls Monday at 8 p.m. in support of headliners Girls. Tickets are $15. Call 866-468- 3401. JEN OLIVE, “Warm Robot” (Ape House) ✰✰✰ 1 ⁄ 1 1 2 ⁄ ⁄ — It can’t be terribly easy to turn the head of XTC front- man Andy Partridge. It’s probably even more difficult not only to get him to notice but to devote time, effort, and his label’s money to your cause. Yet off- kilter, indie-folk upstart Jen Olive got through, and with some polishing by Partridge, it resulted in her first official release, “Warm Robot.” Olive’s patterns are different, that’s for sure. The songs are instantly likable, yet you have to spend time with the tracks to feel OK sharing your secrets with them. And that’s fine, because it’s fun to have to “earn” a record emotionally, and you’ll enjoy exploring tricky paths, with her sometimes quivery, sometimes straight-forward voice on sweet “Robot Boy,” where she dreams, innocently, of a machine-made companion; poppy “Set It on Fire,” where she boasts, “I can stand higher than Superman”; crazy curveball “Franscrams!” that opens with an MIA-like chant; and “So Funny,” an inventive, soulful little piece that would make Shara Worden proud. I bet Partridge is beaming too. (BK) SEABEAR, “We Built a Fire” (Morr Music) ✰✰✰ 1 ⁄ 1 1 2 ⁄ ⁄ — To say that Seabear doesn’t show any signs of being Icelandic would be something of a stretch, but not much of one. Sure, their gentle indie pop, and of course their accents, make it easy to believe, yet they wouldn’t have a difficult time pulling off the Americana tag either. If you read Jeffrey Sisk’s Mumford and Sons review a few weeks back, and his surprise that the British band could pull off such patently American-bred sounds so effectively, you can apply that same idea here. “Wooden Teeth,” “Leafmask,” and the excellent “Warm Blood,” with its fluid, damn-near-Neil Young-esque guitar solo- ing, wouldn’t sound out of place while roaming the prai- ries. Their other tricks should be comfortable for fans of Arcade Fire’s emotional dramatics and Shout Out Louds’ heart-on-sleeve devotionals, made obvious when you try “Lion Face Boy”; the hushed, horns-risen ballad “Cold Summer”; and “In Winter’s Eyes,” which could make energy surge in the stodgiest of listeners. (BK) DAN PRATT ORGAN QUARTET, “Toe the Line” (Posi- Tone Records) ✰✰✰ 1 ⁄ 1 1 2 ⁄ ⁄ — It’s a curious name really, Dan Pratt Organ Quartet, considering Pratt is an impres- sive tenor sax man. Seriously, Pratt’s got energy to blow buildings down with his horn and a style that’s so elastic he can wrap it all back up together again when he’s done. The nod to the organ here goes to one Jared Gold, who, as he’s done on a number of other Posi-Tone releas- es, keeps the vibe ever chugging along with a big, funky Hammond B-3. But don’t go thinking the other guys are slouches just because they’re underbilled in the band’s name slot. Drummer Mark Ferber bangs out a tight, complex per- formance here that keeps the group flying along on eight cylinders. The overall force of the outfit clears the way for trom- bonist Alan Ferber to lay down some luxurious and oddly laid-back licks. Overall, “Toe the Line” is a pretty hot record. (Eric Slagle) — Photos Courtesy of Alan Lee g Mr. International is performing tonight at Heat Nightclub in the Strip District as part of season 2 of “Making The Next Hit,” hosted by DJ Farenheit. Keeping it real Homewood’s Alan Lee — aka Mr. International — is looking to find stardom in reality show Alan Lee — aka Mr. International — wants to find fame beyond the Pittsburgh scene. By MICHAEL DIVITTORIO Daily News Staff Writer [email protected] A local artist is taking a chance at keeping Pittsburgh hip-hop on the map through an online reality show. Production is under way for “Making The Next Hit” Season 2, hosted by DJ Farenheit. The show focuses on singers, producers and rappers collaborating to make a hit record. It features Lil Wayne, Jagged Edge, The Ying Yang Twins, and many others. Its second round, called “The Showcase,” takes place tonight at Heat Nightclub along Nineteenth Street in the Strip District. The Showcase is part of a contest geared toward discovering new talent, with a grand prize of a $100,000 recording contract. Homewood resident Alan Lee, stage name Mr. International, is one of several contestants making a push for stardom in the Strip this weekend. He has gained much Pittsburgh success and plans on taking it to the next level via this contest. “There’s going to be a lot of unknown talent,” Lee said of the event. “There’s going to be a lot of people you haven’t heard of. Some good, some bad. I have profes- sional dancers coming in to do some stuff. A big thing for live shows is a lot of video production. I always try and make sure to get the audience involved.” Tickets are $20 in advance and are available through the show’s Web site, www.thenext.tv . Tickets to Tonight’s showcase also can be found online at yesgirlmovie.com. It is an all-day event in which contestants will perform a 3 1 ⁄ 1 1 2 ⁄ ⁄ minute set, and will be judged on a point system. Contestants can receive 500 points for their perfor- mance, 10 points for attendance per person, 10 points for absentee votes per person, five points for votes and a bonus 1,000 points for artists who turn in a package of a press kit, the top five reasons why they should represent Pittsburgh, a 30-second radio jingle for UTubeRadio.net and sell 20 tickets. The bonus point prize will be deducted if the complete package is not provided. Auditions took place March 6. Lee said he was informed of passing the first round of eliminations on March 16, and began thoroughly preparing for his chance. “I figured it was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up,” he said. “So far I think everything’s going good with it. It’s definitely a good opportunity. It’s kind of like ‘Making the Band’ meets ‘The Apprentice.’” Winners of the showcase go on to produce a music video, and the best artist goes on to make a song featuring a beat by DJ Farenheit, and the grand prize is given to the maker of the best song. “There’s always different types of things in Pittsburgh,” Lee said. “Most don’t seem too legit. When this one came in, they already done the first season. They didn’t ask for any money up front. Everything seems like it’s legit.” Lee noted the show also serves as an education in the entertainment industry, and offers a lot more than just a grand prize. More information about “Making The Next Hit” as well as clips of the show can be found at the show’s Web site. Performing was something that seemed to come natural to Lee. “Since I was a kid I would be doing musical theater,” he said. “I got into deejaying when I was 17. I was always rapping and whatnot, but never took it serious till 2005.” He also performed at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in 2006, performed in Clairton during the filming of “My Destiny,” a film written and directed by Deidre Howard, and was involved in promotions at Kennywood. The name “Mr. International” came after several stage names for Lee. He began as “Automatic,” and changed it to “The World” after a contest in the spring of 2006. That name lasted about two years before the artist said he “wanted something that was less ghetto and demanding, and kind of adds more respect.” DJ Farenheit will host an after party for anyone who attends the event. Season 1 footage will be combined with Season 2 and will be aired on www.thenext.tv. The show also will be shopped to MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central. Mr. International also is expected to release his latest album, “The Metamorphosis,” toward the end of this month. More information about Mr. International is available online at yesgirlmovie.com, myspace.com/automatic412, or by searching for Mr. International via Facebook. Dee Dee gets Dum Dum off to rousing start By MARY FOSTER Associated Press Writer “A Dead Hand” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 279 pages, $26), by Paul Theroux: Instead of exploring an exotic land- scape, Paul Theroux, who is known for his travel books, explores the strange world of human emotions in “A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta.” American travel writer Jerry Delfont is wasting time, maybe even wasting away, in Calcutta, India. Delfont, a writer of mar- ginal talent, is now worried that even that is gone. He has a “dead hand” — writ- er’s block. One day Delfont receives a letter from Mrs. Merrill Unger, a mysteri- ous American also living in Calcutta. She writes of a horrifying experience that Rajat, a friend of her son, has had. Rajat woke up in his room in a seedy hotel and found the corpse of a young boy on the floor. Rajat fled in panic. Mrs. Unger wants Delfont to find out what happened. She believes his skill as a writer makes him the perfect person to solve the mystery. Delfont is no detective, but he agrees to investigate so he can maintain a link with Mrs. Unger. His admi- ration of her soon becomes infatuation — helped along with steamy sessions of tan- tric massage. Delfont makes slow prog- ress in his investigation, but he steadily unravels the secret of both the dead boy and Mrs. Unger, although that takes longer than it should, especially after he attends a sacrifice to the goddess Kali with her. The book hardly qualifies as a mystery, but that won’t matter to Theroux’s fans.. Theroux takes a turn at fiction with ‘Dead Hand’
