Live: Shellshag, Unstoppable Death Machines, Fiasco, Chicken & Whiskey

When: 7/2
Where: Silent Barn

There were so many things to be confused by upon walking into the latest Shellshag-curated show at Silent Barn, it's hard to know where to begin.  The band playing first (mid-set when I walked in) consisted of a couple of 250 lb, heavily tattooed, heavily tanned biker-ish dudes playing a bass guitar and a keyboard respectively (and their less noticeable but similarly presented drummer).  And when I say keyboard, I don't mean synthesizer.  I mean electric piano.  The gentleman on the bass had long hair and was wearing overalls with one side undone, and no shirt, while the keyboardist (and lead singer) sported a wife-beater and mullet.

Their small audience, who on average were about fifteen years their juniors, were jumping around enthusiastically when they suddenly plunged into a brief but surprisingly faithful cover of "A Whole New World."  The song from Aladdin.  Aside from the singer's gruff voice, it was pretty true to the Disney original, but somehow fit with the rest of their blue collar hair-punk (like hair-metal, get it?).  The band, as it happened, were called Chicken & Whiskey and it was one of their first ever shows (or so I was told).  And you know what?  They were good.  Everything about them was just right - their not-so-typical-for-the-Brooklyn-DIY-scene appearance, the balance of their masculine sound and look with their not-so-manly keyboard and cover song selection, effortlessly tight, effortlessly and subtly melodic.

It's no surprise that when they finished their set, the audience called out for more songs.  They're exactly the kind of songs you want to hear more of when you go to a place like Silent Barn.  Then several audience members began calling for the band to "freestyle."  And guess what!  They did, and they were good at that too.  [old video]

I've seen Fiasco many times and for all the band is impressive, the most enduring impression they made on me was as being a band of unequal skill.  Not unequaled, unequal.  While Jonathan Edelstein and Lucian Buscemi split guitar, bass and vocal duties, Edelstein's parts always outmatched Buscemi's.  The band was great but it was frustrating to think how much better they would sound with two Edelsteins.

I didn't really have that issue at Silent Barn.  Silent Barn is a stageless and equipment-strapped DIY space and while there are certainly worse acoustics to be found in the city, the audio isn't exactly pristine either.  As such, I couldn't hear the minutiae that revealed the band's lopsided skills and was free to simply enjoy their energy.

All that aside, Fiasco are good at what they do.  And what they do is awesome.  Their incredibly fast and complex parts (often involving finger-tapping on guitar) flip between time-signatures without losing their brutal force.  It's not the newest trick in the book, but it's a pretty good one.  And one that's beyond the technical prowess of most bands as young as Fiasco.

I've only seen Unstoppable Death Machines once, and that was also with Fiasco.  They are a duo with a setting that's nearly identical to Lightning Bolt - two guys, one bass, one drum kit, an echoey mic in the mouth and a whole lot of distortion.  For all that, though, they sound pretty different from Lightning Bolt, who thrive on sheer speed.  UDM's songs are more like, well, songs.  Their tempos are slower and their rhythms simpler.  Of course, they don't have the sheer originality of Lightning Bolt, but on the other hand, their music is easier to enjoy.  And regardless of who they're not, they are pretty fucking ferocious.

Amid the massive distortion and skull shattering feedback, an interesting thing happened - the audience lifted the drummer and drumkit in the air at the end of the set.  The drummer hopped on someone's shoulders while various other people lifted his snare and cymbals in reach.  It reminded me, oddly, of the dinosaur rock bands and their interminable drum solos, during which the drummer's platform would rise up above the stage for an unlistenable ten, fifteen or twenty minutes.  But while the drummer's levitation evoked such concerts, in a strange way, it was exactly the opposite.  This is DIY and it's the opposite of a Rock God solo.  Not only did the bass continue in its assault, but also those drums that could not be lifted were taken over by various audience members who pounded wildly on them for a good ten minutes.  While the aerial rock drummer rises above the audience a show of superiority and separation from mere mortals, UDM's altitude was a part of the absolute annihilation between performer and audience. [video of a previous show at the same venue]

Or, more to the point, it was fucking fun.

I have nothing new to say about Shellshag, having reviewed them 8,000,000 times before.  If they don't make you smile, your face is broken.

Live: Songs for Moms, Future Virgins, Landlords

When: April 29
Where: Silent Barn

Another very tardy live review (and now several days more tardy thanks to Blogger's disappearing act last week).  There was a showcase of sorts for Shellshag's Starcleaner Records at Silent Barn a couple of weeks ago.  Shellshag canceled their own set at the last minute, but the rest of the bands were plenty to carry the show.

Landlords had played energetic punk that was just a bit country-influenced.  Honestly, I don't have that much to say about it (I know!).  It was very enjoyable.

Future Virgins were even better.  They started their set at full tilt and hit that perfect balance of hardcore and pop (perfect balance is not the same as an equal balance - they are way more hardcore than pop).  They were tight, they were aggressive and they were fun.  This is one of the best punk bands I've seen in a long time.  They're fairly traditional, but they've got their own voice

Of course, the highlight of the night was Songs for Moms, a trio of ladies from California.  They've got this feminist cow punk thing going on that, while maybe not musically revolutionary, sounds very fresh.  There is a country twang in all of their songs, but the cues they take from country are the genre's greatest strengths, often overlooked by rockists who like "everything except country."  Country music has a long history of powerful women with powerful voices and it's an appropriate reference point for the tough wail of SFM's two frontwomen.

The band is more punk than country, though.  Their songs are loud, aggressive and often shouted.  There's a lot of anger in their music (several songs are about the band's personal experiences with rape and sexual assault) but also a lot of compassion and depth.  Their lyrics on their album We Used To Believe In the West are some of the best I've heard in recent years - courageous, personal, insightful, simple yet oblique enough to leave them open to interpretation.

The band is tight.  Although their music is purposefully simple - SFM don't need any trickery - their arrangements are deceptively difficult.  The band has an exceptional ear for songwriting and arrangement, with instruments dropping in and out, answering back to the vocals, breaking into split seconds of silence, cutting or doubling tempos and cutting through some breakneck licks without ever making a big deal of it.  Their melodies are also consistently excellent, very catchy but still interesting.

My only disappointment with the show is just that the band didn't play many songs off We Used to Believe.  I love that album and there's not a song on there I wouldn't like to hear live.  But the band hit a few of them and their other songs, both older and newer, were of equal caliber.

Songs For Moms aren't cutting edge in sonic experimentation or anything like that - that's not what they're about.  They're about seeing how they can carve a space for a new voice using traditional country and punk frameworks.  And while they aren't off exploring music's frontiers, they don't sound quite like anyone else I've ever heard.  They are a group of rare talent and rare heart. [myspace]

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Upcoming Shows: Wavves, Werewolves

Not a lot of good shows going on this week, at least not inspiring enough to override my lazy desire not to write up shows this week. But this weekend...

Friday, September 25

Wavves @ Market Hotel | Bushwick, Brooklyn
Wavves suck and can barely play their instruments. But they are so fuckin' awesome. They are nice kids who write catchy little songs full of distortion and play them with enthusiasm and energy. One of the best. [MySpace]


Saturday, September 26

Werewolves @ Market Hotel | Bushwick, Brooklyn
WEREWOLVES!!!!!!!! Man do I ever love this band. They are hard to describe, because their music spans the entire psychedelic spectrum, from late 60's rock and early garage rock to post punk and shoegaze. If you can imagine Kevin Shields playing guitar for the Doors, that's getting close. Basically, they've got walls of sound, shifting pitchings, measured tempos, catchy-but-weird melodies, weighty beats and a sense of humor. From noise experiments to pop tunes, Werewolves cover a lot of ground, all of it good. [MySpace]


That's it for the week, unless you want to trek out to see Stupid Party at Silent Barn on Sunday, but that's such a long trip for such a crappy venue, I can't recommend it.