Imagine, if you will, an Asian Minnie Mouse being stuck in a Cuisanart and frapped and you have one of the sounds All girl Atlanta, Ga quartet the Coathangers excelled at.
At the Studio At Webster Hall last Friday, the Coathangers were proto-feminist experimental weirdos, hard rocking multi-instrumentalist, post-new wave girl band, riot grrrl antecedents and modern day Raincoats hangers and they were very good in spots.
The band of four,. Julia Kugel (guitar/vocals), Stephanie Luke (drums/vocals), Candice Jones (keyboard/vocals), and Meredith Franco (bass/vocals) came across as nearly leaderless. Bassist Meredith jumped into the audience at one point and shared vocals with keyboard player Candice who took over the bass so drummer Stephanie could take over lead vocals and tambourine and later guitar from, really, when all is said and done, leader Julia, who went behind the drums.
Some of the songs are real good, "not doing very well," Candice and Meredith harmonize at one point, "because we stayed up all night and into another drunken fight" sung as deadpan as their "well, alright" chorus on a Julian song. Julia is even better on "My Baby", a lovely come hither dedicated to Michelle.
This is a tightly knitted and oddly individual gang of four: Stephanie looks like a refuge from a hardcore band circa 1987, Julia the girl next door, Meredith a High School Junior, and Candice a very bored supermodel. The Coathangers play with these stereotypes very well, merging and disrupting concepts of sexuality and rock and roll.
I should like them more, the Coathangers are very good on stage and, though I didn't know a single song, the 45 minute didn't stall. But some of their songs are a little twee for my tastes.
Grade: B+