Rasputina - A Radical Recital

At a recent show in Seattle, Invert cellist Steve Berson called his band’s music “chambercore.” This moniker, campy as it may be, is an apt description for the many talented bands of string musicians who’ve abandoned orchestra pits in favor of smoky rock clubs. A forerunner of this genre is Rasputina, a trio formed by cellist Melora Creager in 1991. Fourteen years later, the band has a handful of impressive studio albums and collaborations on their resume (the band has worked with Nirvana, Marilyn Manson, Belle and Sebastian, Bob Mould, and many others). Creager, backed by drummer Jonathon S. TeBeest and the band’s current 2nd chair cellist Zoe Keating, has created the heaviest band of Victorian minstrels ever to grace a concert hall. Rasputina’s new live album, A Radical Recital, was recorded at Mr. Smalls’ Funhouse in Pittsburgh on “October 29th, 1804.” The 19-song set features fan favorites “Hunter’s Kiss,” “Wicked Dickie,” and “A Quitter,” along with suprisingly tight covers of Heart’s “Barracuda” and Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.” The pauses between songs are spliced with Creager’s eccentric humor; she speaks conversationally about governmental identification implants, Hitler’s missing testicle, and her mother’s “fat ass and foul drug habits.” The recording is sharp, well-mixed, and honest. All the raw energy and weirdness of Rasputina show is captured as one remembers it; there is no detectable artifice save that which comes from the performers themselves. This brings us to the album’s unavoidable flaw: Listeners need to see Rasputina live to fully appreciate the band’s live album. If someone with no prior knowledge of Rasputina hears “Rats,” or another hard-rocking track from this show, he or she will probably visualize cranked Marshall Stacks, the unbathed players pummeling out power chords on Big Muff sodden Les Paul’s, while a background cellist toddles along with the mojo. The real impact of Rasputina comes from witnessing two cellists produce this enormous sound, and thus the enjoyment A Radical Recital might be restricted to ardent fans. Hope remains for new listeners with a vivid imagination, for they are the people most likely to appreciate this imaginative band. [www.rasputina.com]