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DESCRIPTION:Event Name: LANGHORNE SLIM & THE LAW\, HA HA TONKA\, KINGSLEY F
 LOOD\nEvent Url: http://www.artsboston.org/event/detail/441606051/LANGHORN
 E_SLIM_THE_LAW_HA_HA_TONKA_KINGSLEY_FLOOD\nEvent Date Begin: 2012-05-25\nE
 vent Date End: 2012-05-25\n\nLanghorne Slim & The Law\n\nThere is nothing 
 like the challenges and camaraderie of the road to inspire a songwriter wh
 o thrives upon the emotional energy and exhilaration only travel can deliv
 er. Some singers are devoted to the pursuit of perpetual motion\, and Lang
 horne Slim releases his wild soul in ways that come out of the discipline 
 of live performance.\n\nThe 13 songs that compose Langhorne Slim & The Law
 's new The Way We Move are road-tested\, rollicking and very rock 'n' roll
 ing tunes that the songwriter perfected with his loyal band\, and come out
  of the kind of good times and bad experiences that songwriters of Langhor
 ne's lofty stature can turn into life-affirming rock 'n' roll. You could a
 lso call what Langhorne Slim does folk music\, but then there's his sly\, 
 charming and open-hearted feel for pop music&mdash\;those summertime melod
 ies that nudge you into a grin even when the song is about something bad.
 \n\nFor Langhorne Slim&mdash\;Pennsylvania-born self-taught guitarist who 
 moves to Brooklyn at 18\, begins feeling out his place in a burgeoning pun
 k-folk scene\, wends his way to the West Coast\, and finds himself celebra
 ted from Newport to Portland as one of today's most original singers and s
 ongwriters&mdash\;The Way We Move represents the sound of a band devoted t
 o living in the moment. Riding the success of his 2009 full-length Be Set 
 Free\, Langhorne went through some changes over the last three years&mdash
 \;he lost his beloved grandfather\, who is the subject of the new record's
  moving &ldquo\;Song for Sid\,&rdquo\; and moved on from a relationship th
 at had lasted five years.\n\nAnd there was the physical moving&mdash\;the 
 literal side of the record's title. Pulling up stakes from his home of two
  years\, Portland\, Ore.\, Langhorne also has been touring non-stop with T
 he Law. As he says\, &ldquo\;I'm in a bit of a transitional period&mdash\;
 currently\, the road will be home. That's just kind of my spirit\, to be s
 lightly restless.&rdquo\; Perfecting their rangy sound out on the endless 
 grey ribbon\, Langhorne and The Law&mdash\; bassist Jeff Ratner\, drummer 
 Malachi DeLorenzo and banjo player and keyboardist David Moore&mdash\;went
  down to rural Texas in the summer of 2011 to work on new material. With s
 ome 30 tunes to consider\, the quartet soaked up the Lone Star sunshine an
 d developed arrangements and approaches for Langhorne's latest batch of so
 ngs.\n\nJeff Ratner had joined the group at the time of Be Set Free\, and 
 brought on multi-instrumentalist David Moore not long after. Moore and Rat
 ner go way back\, having moved to New York around the same time\, and they
 've played together in what Jeff estimates are 15 bands. Langhorne's assoc
 iation with Malachi is equally deep. As the group played together through 
 tours with the Drive-By Truckers and the Avett Brothers\, and made appeara
 nces at the Newport Folk Festival and Bonnaroo\, their bond became ever st
 ronger\, their music more confident. This is what you hear on The Way We M
 ove&mdash\;forward motion meeting deep cohesion\, all in the service of La
 nghorne's amazing songs and compelling vocals.\n\n&ldquo\;We wanted Langho
 rne's songs to shine\, and be as raw as the creatures that we are\,&rdquo\
 ; Jeff says of the recording process. The band set up in the Catskill\, N.
 Y. Old Soul Studio\, a 100-year-old Greek Revival house retooled for recor
 ding. With studio owner Kenny Siegal co-producing\, Langhorne & The Law fe
 arlessly ran through an astounding 26 songs in four days\, with Langhorne 
 putting finishing touches on new tunes as they recorded. Langhorne says it
  was an intimate affair in Old Soul\, with Moore's &ldquo\;banjo room&rdqu
 o\; in a coatroom and the piano in the living room.\n\nIt comes through on
  The Way We Move&mdash\;the live feel of the sessions\, which found Langho
 rne singing along with the band on every track. &ldquo\;Singing with the b
 and that way\, it's almost like I was performing on stage\,&rdquo\; he say
 s. Cutting everything live to tape gave the band exactly what they'd been 
 looking for: a super-charged evocation of their raucous\, friendly stage p
 erformances. Langhorne and Jeff value in music for its rawness\, and it do
 esn't matter whether that rawness&mdash\;the insurgent spirit that unites 
 the Clash and Charlie Poole&mdash\;comes from in punk\, country\, soul or 
 folk. Langhorne is a fan of Porter Wagoner\, Jimmie Rodgers\, Waylon Jenni
 ngs\, and early rock 'n' roll in general. But there's nothing referential 
 or detached about the music Langhorne & The Law make. Langhorne writes son
 gs that are yearning\, sad\, happy\, defeated and optimistic\, with hints 
 of '50s rock 'n' roll balladry.\n\n&ldquo\;We all love Wu-Tang Clan as muc
 h as we love Bowie\, or Brazilian psychedelic pop\,&rdquo\; Langhorne says
 . On The Way We Move\, David's probing piano often provides focus for Lang
 horne's tales of love and loss. &ldquo\;On the Attack&rdquo\; begins with 
 a delicate\, watercolor section that turns into an ingenious variation on 
 a classic soul ballad&mdash\;Solomon Burke meets punk blues in a smoky fol
 k club. Langhorne addresses it to a current or past love. Similarly\, &ldq
 uo\;Past Lives&rdquo\; sports a piano introduction that gives way to a mel
 ancholy 6/8 ballad that perfectly supports lyrics about possible past live
 s and their interaction with the present.\n\nIt's a spirited\, inspired sl
 ice of real rock 'n' roll&mdash\;exuberance meets hard-won experience in a
 n explosive combination. David's banjo and Malachi's walloping drums add u
 p to a new kind of folk music. The music drives\, but there's no loss of s
 ubtlety. And when the group lays into the garage-rocking &ldquo\;Fire\,&rd
 quo\; with its funky electric piano and supremely callow lyrics about firs
 t kisses and the hot-burning passions of adolescence\, it's clear Langhorn
 e is one of the great rock 'n' rollers of our or any time.\n\nRoad-tested 
 as the band is\, the new music also shows just how far Langhorne Slim has 
 come as a singer. He croons\, exults and sings the blues throughout The Wa
 y We Move. And there are his lyrics\, which are about strange dreams featu
 ring women who want him dead even as he desires them\, the pressures of sm
 all-town life\, ambition\, and how much he appreciates his mother's love a
 nd support. That's all Langhorne and his life&mdash\;his mother\, he says\
 , really was amazingly supportive of his ambitions to become a musician\, 
 as was the rest of his family.\n\nIt comes through as you listen to his vi
 rtuoso demonstration of a singing style that seems alive to every fleeting
  emotional shade of meaning. Langhorne puts you in mind of John Lennon's s
 inging from time to time&mdash\;it's nothing exact\, and Slim doesn't do m
 uch music that is very Lennon- or Beatle-esque\, but it's something in the
  timbre\, and the openness of his vocals. It's worth repeating here that L
 anghorne learned Nirvana songs as he began to explore the guitar and songw
 riting\, and Kurt Cobain's intense singing is another reference point.\n\n
 But these guys don't play the reference game\, and like to keep it raw. Th
 e new record moves in ways that are fresh for Langhorne Slim & The Law\, a
 nd demonstrates all the ways we can go forward while keeping an eye on the
  mirror.  They're laying down the law.  It's very American\, and when Lang
 horne Slim contemplates whether or not he fits in to any narrow-cast defin
 ition of this country's music\, he replies with a perfect\, laconic joke: 
 &ldquo\;I think we fit in most places that would take us.&rdquo\;\n\n&mdas
 h\;Ed Hurt\, 2012\n\nStart time: 8:00 pm doors
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SUMMARY:LANGHORNE SLIM & THE LAW\, HA HA TONKA\, KINGSLEY FLOOD
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