Clem Snide has a new mail-order-only live album available, Have a Good Night: Live Recordings 1999-2005. Details are sparse on the shows this disc draws from, but it's a pretty representative mix of Snide classics performed both solo and with a full band, along with some covers and unreleased tracks. The covers are worth more than a few spins, especially Neil Young's ever-covered "Cortez the Killer" and Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia". And hearing solo acoustic versions of band songs like "Fill Me With Your Light" is a reminder of what an amazing vocalist Eef Barzelay is, especially when singing an unguarded song like this one.
His tone is rich and distinctive, but most of all it's elusive, shifting between irony and sincerity in a single breath. This quality, along with a degree of showmanship and storytelling in concert, reminds me most of Loudon Wainwright III.
New song "Enrique" scores with a classic power-pop descending vocal melody in the chorus: "It may have been the last hope for our poor empty souls/Enrique Iglesias' mole". Eef admits to being an US Weekly fan, too. The album's available via their website.
Clem Snide, in both band and solo Eef forms, have some upcoming dates:
Band Shows:
3/8 - Nashville, the Basement
3/15 - Austin, Emos (Onion Party, SXSW, 3:15 PM)
3/16 - Austin, Buffalo Billiards (SXSW)
Eef Barzelay Solo (opening for Ben Folds):
3/24 - Worcester, MA, Plourde Recreation Center
3/25 - Allentown, PA, Memorial Hall Gymnasium
3/27 - Blacksburg, VA, Burress Hall Auditorium
3/28 - Chapel Hill, NC, Memorial Hall
3/30 - Indiana, PA, Memorial Fieldhouse
4/2 - Normal, IL, Braden Auditorium
4/3 - East Lansing, MI, MSU Concert Auditorium
4/10 - Harrisonburg, VA, James Madison University
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