Will Oldham, aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and the band he toured with earlier this fall threw a concert/pajama party last night at Chattanooga, TN’s Discoteca for the first of a string of dates as The Babblers. Based on two reports from the show, via Chattarati, the set was apparently a slightly heavier version of the intimate gig I saw and mentioned back in October. Michael Kendall notes that while there “were ballads that had the traditional downbeat-as-checkpoint, poised Oldham feel,” the set also included “charged-up punk that featured Angela Babbler screaming down the throats of the front row.”
Angela Babbler, aka Angel Olsen, actually performed a tune that loosely fits that description both at Cavallo Point and in San Fransisco’s Golden Gate Park with Oldham’s latest troupe: a cover of Kevin Coyne and Dagmar Krause’s “Sweetheart.” While Olsen’s brilliantly blood-curdling take on Krause’s original vocal came out of the blue during those sets, perhaps it was, in fact, a preview of what’s to come from Oldham and friends.
In a rare interview with Chattarati, Oldham said: “We don’t have anything right now, but we are hoping to record these songs soon in either Little Rock, Ark., or Chicago, Ill., soon. We’d like to release them.” Check out a video clip of “Sweetheart” performed by Olsen in Chicago, as well as a snippet of “Go Folks, Go,” from the stunning show I attended, below:
*Update: Pitchfork picked up the story and posted a YouTube from the show…