Red Hook Bait and Tackle
320 Van Brunt St.
Saturday, March 3, 9:00
www.rotaryclubnyc.com
www.redhookbaitandtackle.com
Among the many ways iTunes and other internet-based programs and websites have changed how we listen to music is by allowing us to create massive, nearly endless playlists of thousands of songs that just keep going. While there are some people out there who still flip over an LP to hear side two or eject one CD to put in another one, most of us double click and just let the music play, and play, and play, sometimes without even knowing the name of the band or the specific song rumbling through our heads. The art of the album has gotten lost in the shuffle. So when we were listening to Rotary Club’s new record, Second Year in Swine (Woodside, February 28, 2012), we found ourselves letting the music drift into the next band on our playlist, not realizing it until several songs in. But we are not pointing this out to say that Rotary Club does not have its own distinctive sound; in fact, they play a wide range of infectious indie pop that makes it hard to pigeonhole them into the flavor of the day. And it just so happens that we have taken to that next band on our playlist much as we have taken to Rotary Club, whose self-professed influences run the gamut from Syd Barrett and the Beatles to Love and the Kinks, from John Fahey to Brian Eno and Pere Ubu; to that mix we’d throw in Steely Dan, Thunderclap Newman, Cracker, and Richard Thompson. In fact, their previous record, 2007’s Vis-à-Vis, and the new one were produced by bassist extraordinaire Tony Maimone, who has worked over the years with Pere Ubu, the Mekons, They Might Be Giants, Ani DiFranco, Bob Mould, Frank Black, Megan Reilly, and many others, creating his own wide-ranging iTunes playlist. The result is a diverse little gem that is like its own iPod shuffle playlist; you never know what you’re going to hear next as Second Year in Swine veers from jazzy interludes and southern blues to wah-wah instrumentals and bright, cheery pop. “You know you want that second cup / of diminishing returns / Determined to repeat yourself / watch your flagship crash and burn / Rewards are worth the work / for these laurels can’t be bought / pushed or shoved or slipped / between the cracks / out a welcome that you’ve worn,” leader Tom Devaney sings on “Diminishing Returns,” and indeed, multiple listens to Second Year in Swine offer no such diminishing returns, instead providing plenty of rewarding moments. Rotary Club will be celebrating the release of the new album on March 3 at Red Hook Bait and Tackle, featuring former Boston boy and Fung Wah regular Devaney, who plays guitar with a unique finger-picking style, along with drummer Mike Savage, cellist Mike Lunapiena, bassist J. Johnson, and keyboardist Billy Donahue. Oh, and that next band on our iTunes? Actually, we’ve just circled back to the beginning of Second Year in Swine, starting all over again with “Get a Room,” so we can’t remember their name right now.