Hipstercana Wednesday: Sidewalk Dave & Elison Jackson

Wednesday, May 25

Elison Jackson, The Donkeys, Citay @ BAR, New Haven

Sidewalk Dave @ The Half Door, Hartford

Competing-for-our-affection on a Wednesday? Guys, really?

We've seen Elison Jackson twice, but both gigs were in private basements which we didn't feel comfortable telling you about (like anybody listens to us anyway...) and we liked them live even better than what we've heard of their recordings, which are nice and all, but don't quite convey Sam's delicate Thom Yorke/guy from a band you've never heard of-esque vocal delivery or the chemistry of the current band lineup. So we're looking forward to their upcoming release, which is now in the works with that guy from M.T. Bearington we met that one time. We'd see them again, in a basement or wherever they may roam! In a box, with a fox, etc.

Elison Jackson will be the local boys on a gig with Californians The Donkeys and Citay, who we are too lazy to check out in the context of a post about our CT hipstercana favs. This Wednesday night indie rock interlude is brought to you, as always, by Manic Productions.

Do you ever notice how we plug the same stuff over and over again? That's on purpose. You want to know every crap thing going on at every club with no regard to quality or style? That's somebody else's actual job. This is our passion, and there's only so much of it to go around. And there's only so many people of taste in the state. We can't be spreading them too thin either.

Speaking of passion, Sidewalk Dave returns this week for their monthly Half Door gig. They are celebrating their new EP release, Can't be Your Friend (which you can preview right there at the link). We're sufficiently turned on by Dave's explicit lyrical references to sexual acts and bloody dismemberment set to pleasant, jaunty indie/alt-country melodies, but have to admit to being less than enamored with this cover art. 

(appetite for self-destruction)

We hope you appreciate the depth of artistic integrity it takes for us to unfavorably critique our favorite things - even just the CD cover. In point of fact, the Scenics have a well-documented history in support of women disrobing (and most recently, a song about a Disrober - we're all about that shit!), but this particular composition of vacant-eyed chicks as visual props just leaves us flat. It's also weirdly familiar.

(I think we've seen this movie too)