Two years ago, Kristeen Young stood on the stage of the Paramount in heels and a dress made entirely of plastic bubbles, pounding on her keyboard to make distorted melodies pour out and wailing her powerful, unsettling, sexually charged tales like a deranged hybrid of Tori Amos, Siouxsie Sioux, and Polly Jean Harvey while drummer Baby Jef White bashed away on his kit to her right. They were opening for Morrissey, who had hand-picked them for a year of touring an odd combination, but then again, as a master of theater and spectacle, the ex-Smiths singer knew a kindred spirit when he saw one. Several months afterward, Ms. Young was fired from the tour for making what was perceived as an insulting comment about the Moz onstage (she allegedly said something along the lines of: Morrissey gives good head, I mean, er, cunnilingus.) That experience seems to have informed her raw, dramatic new album, Music for Strippers, Hookers, and the Odd On-Looker, at least judging by this quote in the albums press kit: For the first time in my life, someone was very giving and loving toward me in a very obvious and public way. It softened my heart a bit. And then, when things went the other way, it destroyed me. I’m better and stronger now. But, during the year it took me to recover, I made this record and it represents the arc of that time. A cover of Girlfriend in a Coma probably wont be happening tonight
Fri., May 15, 8:30 p.m., 2009
