Photo by Valerie PaschallA man, his amp, his pedals and his guitar: it’s a sparse setup usually common to acoustic singer-songwriters. That said, the Dirty Beaches set felt a world away from an episode of VH1 Storytellers. Much as a good filmmaker uses elements that the audience can’t see to create a sinister atmosphere, Alex Zhang Hungtai’s economical setup effectively created an eerie soundscape moreso than if he’d overwhelmed us with dense layers of sound.
Part of this eeriness came from the fact that Hungtai seemed to have awakened the ghosts of rock and roll’s past. As he swung his guitar around during “Sweet 17,” and growling and howling into his microphone, he gave the impression that he was in fact the heir to either Elvis Presley or Jim Morrison. Even his cover of Mattress’s “El Dorado” sounded like a lost Tom Waits song. The only thing that obviously placed the Dirty Beaches songs within this decade was the use of reverb — and that, when combined with standard rock progressions, hearkened back to Suicide.
Yet, what belies Hungtai’s dedication to rock and roll’s earliest generation was his magnetic stage presence. There may have been no obvious chain of influence in his music, but it was all present in his delivery. Yes, he combed his hair back like a greaser, but he also fell into epileptic freak outs with his guitar more reminiscent of the punk era. His vocals had Elvis’ syrupy swagger, but he also screeched intermittently like he was Frank Black. The result was a mesmerizing display that at only thirty minutes, left the crowd wanting more.
