THE DAVID WAX MUSEUM: MEXIMERICANA RAGTIME SOMEWHERE BETWEEN CALEXICO AND THE BOWERBIRDS
As a New Yorker, I have spend many irritating minutes trapped in a crowded train car with a mariachi band. We’ve all been there: exhausted from work, standing in a stranger’s B.O and having intimate iPod time interrupted by 2 guitars and an accordion. Until one snowy evening in early January, I hadn’t really ever put much thought into Mexican music outside of those horrible commuter moments. As I discovered, with my tail between my legs, some of those traditional Mexican melodies can strike a pretty sweet tune.
I am referring to the Boston based indie-folk band, David Wax Museum, which combines elements of Son Jarocho music from the Veracruz region of Mexico with traditional American folk and bluegrass. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the beautiful home of chef Juliette Shimkin of Rad Dish Catering to see an in-home concert of DWM. The resulting evening was nothing short of a true pleasure. The core band members are David Wax and Suz Slezak, who are accompanied by various friends in different cities, meaning that you get a little something different every time you see them. This particular evening they were accompanied by Alec Spiegelman on baritone sax and clarinet and Greg Glassman on drums. I would call the result Meximericana ragtime, with Spiegelman’s pearly clarinet adding a swinging old-timey feeling to the tunes.
I had to assume DWM were going to be pretty good based on the compliments bestowed upon them by the Boston media, but I wasn’t really sure that Mexican inspired music is really my jam. Apparently, it is. From the melancholic folky Look What You’ve Done to Me, to the upbeat Son Jarocho ass-shaking Yes, Maria, Yes, I found that the two forms of music work together like a they were old pals. Part of what seems to be working are the combination of instruments. Sometimes Suz Slezak plays the quijada (the lower jaw bone of a donkey, teeth in tact) which can be shaken like a rattle, or struck for a hollower chatter. David Wax is known to play the 8 string Jarana instead of the guitar, and Alec Spiegelman’s sax replaces the bass guitar. The result is a happy marriage of Americana and Son Jarocho, with prattleing bones instead of hand clapping, and metallic Jarana instead of acoustic guitar. The melodies are sweeping and sweet, and will give you the urge to dance (along with David and Suz) to every quijada shake and violin riff.
Their new record “Everything is Saved” is available 2/8 as a self released record. If you need a little February pick me up, go check them out at Joe’s Pub on 2/9 (really, not to be missed). In the mean time, you can satisfy your curiosity with their Tiny Desk Concert and their Daytrotter Session and of course, the below Mp3’s.
-Rachel Covert
