Albums: Friendo - Cold Toads

Album: Cold Toads
St Ives, 2010
Rating: ******* (7/10)

I wish I knew quite what to make of Friendo's album, but then again, I wouldn't want a Women side-project to be straightforward. And Michael Wallace has delivered.

Cold Toads weaves strange soundscapes using that palate of notes most notably developed by Sonic Youth - strange out-of-key-signature notes used to make chords that are not so much discordant as they are disorienting. The record is full of exploring electric guitar lines winding and grooving and twisting through just enough reverb and distortion. Sometimes the guitar is swirl and at other times it rocks out on thick, gritty chords, but no matter where it leads, the rest of the music follows.

But that doesn't mean the rest of the music should be ignored. The understated vocals lace the album with a sense of mystery and a sense of human connection. Most lines are chanted, but melodically so and with a subtle pop sense. Female vocals pop up now and then too, most notably on "Hailey Oman," where Nic Greedy (I am assuming that's the woman, since the other two members on myspace are listed as "Michael" and "Henry") shouts out her words like punchy slogans in a way that is simply impossible not to compare to Kim Gordon.

But although Sonic Youth is the obvious reference point for Friendo, they aren't pure imitators. Friendo is focused with hands-on mixing that throws in some unexpected sounds (like the hint of electro in track one) and some unexpected noise shifts (like the guitar cutting in and out at the beginning of "Hailey Oman"). The Velvetoid "Young Fellows" flips back and far as though Wallace is standing across the room, then suddenly directly in front of you and then across the room again. Even within this single song, one can spot a myriad of influences. The jerking opening bars of "Young Fellows" seem to nod to the American indie experiments of the early 90's - Slint and co., for example, while the melting sound in the final minutes of the record recall MBV's Isn't Anything.

Cold Toads is an album of remarkable restraint. The entire thing seems hushed, almost muffled. Even when the distortion kicks in, it does so with a weird feeling of distance. The dark, tightly wound "New Sibley" is the album's most aggressive track but the band doesn't need to shove their music in your face to captivate and unsettle, and indeed, the sense that something is being held back is part of what gives the album its nervous edge.

Although Cold Toads is a dark album, it is not intensely so. Some of the melodies are downright foot-tappable and a hint of brightness shows around the edges. "Liners" tumbles through a ringing major key and the guitars in "Oversees" are nothing if not warm. At the same time, however, something is always off and whatever that something is, it's been carefully crafted by the band to never resolve. As the album goes on, it just gets better, while you slowly sink into the band's otherworldly terrain. It may not grab you from note one, but keep listening - I promise you.

[myspace]

Album: Holy Fuck - Latin

Album: Latin
Young Turks/XL, 2010
Rating: ******* (7/10)

Although I'm not really a fan of instrumental music nor of electronica, I've long been a fan of Canada's Holy Fuck, a (now) quartet who proved to me that electronic groups could put on a live show worth watching. Their recorded material, however, I've always been able to live without - it's not bad but it rarely holds my attention. Still, I thought I'd give their new LP a listen - third time's the charm, right?

Well, Latin doesn't really contain any surprises. It may well be the group's most direct album today, with focused songs mostly sticking well under the five minute mark. However, despite scaling back some of the repetition and other indulgences, any LP without melodies (vocal or otherwise) is going to struggle to keep its audience's interest. That's not to say Holy Fuck should add vocals or even extended instrumental melodies - that's not who they are. It's jut to say that who Holy Fuck are puts them in a tough position from the start.

They do have a few new tricks up their sleeves this time around. The opener, "1MD," builds gently from silence into a hum of noises. While this does demonstrate more restraint than the band usually shows, if we've learned one thing from post-rock, it's that no matter how well executed, any slow swell of noise is an easy and predictable trick.

Speaking of post-rock, the album's two calmest tracks, centerpieces Stay Lit and Silva & Grimes, are oddly post-rock-esque. There's a similar feeling of measured exploration and winding, indirect structure. I haven't decided yet whether this is a good or bad thing.

"Red Lights" and "Latin America" (which, incidentally, does not use Latin rhythms, as one might expect) get the album out to a strong start, but the sequencing is a bit surprising, since two of the coolest, slickest tracks come near the end, "Stilettos" and "Lucky." All four of these songs keep head-bobbing beats at the fore while adding some surprisingly beautiful noises to the mix.

Closing things out, "P.I.G.S." is the album's longest and most unruly track - and that's fine, every decent band gets at least one song like this per album, and especially as a closer, it works. The band lets lose a little, moves between sections and really shows their chops.

All in all, it's an album I wouldn't mind not owning. It's not bad - in fact, it is Holy Fuck's most consistent and disciplined effort to date. If you like pulsing electronica and excited noise, you'll like this. But personally, I'm going to hold out for the next time they come through town.

Album: Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring

Album: Romance Is Boring
Wichita/Arts & Crafts, 2010
Rating: ********* (9/10)

Friends, the news is bittersweet: Los Campesinos! are cute no more. That shouldn't be a big surprise, given the leaps in maturity the band made within the few months between Hold On Now Youngster and We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. Here, with over a year under their belts, Los Campesinos! continue on their dramatic trajectory. But even with the band's explicit attempts to distance themselves from their twee past and their glockenspiel, it would have been hard to see the trajectory reaching quite as far as it has on Romance is Boring, which often barely sounds like an "indie" album at all. Instead, you can hear echoes of every UK pop great of the last 30 years and could almost imagine this band taking their place among them.

Although their compositions and arrangements have grown, the most noticeable change is in the voices. Gareth (gotta use first names, the band doesn't use their last) has changed in his boyish holler for a professional, adult sound - not that the pitch has changed, just the tone. For her part, Aleks has also found a bit richer, more developed voice. Los Campesinos! are all grown up.

And the lyrics are grown up too. The band revealed their darker side on We Are Beautiful, but here, it hits full force and in the context of a fully developed LP (We Are Beautiful was more like an LP-length EP). In a minor key breakdown in "Media Res," Gareth announces "I'm leaving my body to science / Not medical but physics." Maybe this line could have fit with the band's indie pop days, but the delivery makes clear this is no joke but rather a serious meditation on mortality and physical decay. Later in the album comes its masterpiece, "The Sea Is a Good Place to Think About the Future." This track has been floating around for a while so maybe you've heard it. But if not, and especially in the context of the full album, it hits like a ton of bricks. Describing a self-destructive friend, the narration comes restrained, matter-of-fact tone with which we have to deal with life's most horrifying tragedies if we are going to survive them.

It's a far cry from "You! Me! Dancing!"

The musical developments keep up with the emotional strides. Much of the credit must go to producer John Goodmanson (Blonde Redhead, Death Cab, Nada Surf, Sleater-Kinney, etc.), who has beefed up the band's sound from the tinkering twee-punk of 2008 to an almost grandiose sound. The complex parts are still there, but even the glockenspiel solo on "Media Res" does not sound toyish, it's dark and alarming. Who knew glockenspiel could be dark and alarming?

However, while Goodmanson's skills did push the band to the next level, they can take even more credit themselves - their songwriting has become infinitely more sophisticated. The downside is that some songs are not quite as tight as the band's poppier material, but finally, the band's post-rock origins shine clearly, with swells of noise, counterpart melodies, vast choruses and subtle instrumentals. As with much post rock, the compositions seem to closer in mindset to classical than to the rest of pop/rock, but it's not overkill. The band reigns it in and keeps every song focused, without crossing the five-minute mark even once. The album even includes a short instrumental track ("200-102") and a distant, echoey post-shoegaze interlude with vocals ("Heart Swells/100-1").

I'm not entirely wild about the unison on the title track and I have trouble following some of the songs early in the second half, but even despite its rough patches, the album is a powerful statement. From the hyper-distorted, raging opening of "Plan A" (the group's most aggressive song to date) to the gentle ebbing of the guitars in "The Sea Is a Good Place," from Aleks's cynical "We've Got Your Back" (which lyrically and musically revisits and seems to attack "Drop It Doe Eyes" on the band's debut) to the understated closing track, burned on the edges with static, Romance Is Boring is an album to be reckoned with. Hold on now, young and old alike.

[myspace]

Album: Dinowalrus - %

Album: %
Kanine, 2009
Rating: ******** (8/10)

When I first heard Dinowalrus recorded, I wasn't taken with the music. I didn't understand it and I couldn't digest it. However, after seeing them live, I began to grasp what they're all about. And I decided with their album release this week, it was time for me to give their recordings another go.

From a relatively young band with a name like Dinowalrus, you'd certainly be justified not expecting a particularly mature album. But for a very indie Brooklyn band, Dinowalrus proves with % that they are as grown up as anyone. The record is sophisticated and polished and is certainly a serious and substantial undertaking. This isn't scene, it isn't attitude, it's music. And maybe that sounds obvious in a music review, but it's really not - most bands are at least partially about something other than the music - and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. But if Dinowalrus has another motive, it doesn't show here.

Peter Feigenbaum, Dinowalrus's frontman, told me he doesn't listen a whole lot of to contemporary music, partly "in order to maintain aesthetic sovereignty." And that clearly works for Dinowalrus, because % sounds like no one else. It's dense, spacey psychedelia with deep grooves, raging guitar riffs and a million noises you can't quite identify. The songs are epic and multidimensional but rock hard. Sounds here are clearly a medium, the album a collection of art pieces, but that makes this sound pretentious and burdensome. Instead, it's fun and beautiful and badass, all at the same time.

My main criticism of Dinowalrus in the past has come from a certain amorphousness and I still see that here to some extent. It's not defining of the entire album, but there are certain places where I wonder if a particular chorus or verse might work just as well in a different song. The large components of each song aren't always glued together as well as I'd like.

But on a smaller scale, it would be impossible to fault the band for their arrangements. Each song is a complex mesh of sounds, painstakingly engineered and carefully, dynamically mixed. The songs are at once wild and disciplined, improvisational and meticulously planned.

Though the band's sonic palate is uniquely their own, it sometimes seems to want for breadth - every song is slathered in a similar dark, reverbed haze. However, there is always a trade-off between cohesion and variety and % manages a better balance than most. From the tightly-wound half-kraut, half-punk "Electric Car, Gas Guitar" to the bluesy riff of "Cage Those Pythons" to the warm, dreamy "Haze on the Mobius Strip," the songs create their own rich space for the listener to crawl inside.

It's hard to pick highlights from the album. "BEAD" may be the big hit song (err...) but its psych-funk groove (think ESG, Liquid Liquid or Konk on acid) is matched by the monumental krautrock-influenced anthem "I Hate Numbers." "Nuke Duke 'Em" burns like a fuse to a block of TNT, twisting and turning as it consumes itself.

% is original to its core. Though you can spot plenty of reference points in it, you won't see anything resembling imitation. There is simply no substitute. If you like this, you better get your hands on it because it's one of a kind.

Live: Fiasco + Unstoppable Death Machines

When: 12/18
Where: Death By Audio

Upon entering Death By Audio for the Fiasco show, we were greeted by a delightful sludge-racket called The Unstoppable Death Machines, with a set-up basically equivalent to that of Lightning Bolt (drummer and bassist, effect-laden vocals through mics strapped right on/in the mouth). However, the music isn't so much Lightning Bolt-esque beyond that. Sure, it's heavy and blasted with distortion, but Unstoppable Death Machines rely far less on complexity and speed than their older Rhode Island counterparts. Instead, they base their music off of simple, crushing riffs. That's not to say there isn't a high level of musicianship, but just that these songs would be learnable to most bassists - Lightning Bolt's music, not so much. While not the greatest or most original band on earth, UDM were pretty delicious. They want to rip your face off. [MySpace]

The young Fiasco took the stage next. And "young" is the operative adjective when it comes to this band. Their mistakes are all characteristic of young players, but so is their particular brand of pure enthusiasm and concentration. Musically, the band plays an involved post-hardcore, with little focus on vocals and a whole lot on complex time signatures, technically difficult riffs and DISTORTION.

At times, their music seemed unnecessarily complicated. I've seen young bands do some crazy stuff just because they can. And I like technically sophisticated music, but only if all the time signature changes and high-speed riffing strengthen the songs instead of gumming them up. Fiasco were hit and miss in this regard.

They also made errors in stage presence. First of all, they allowed way too much downtime between songs - I don't know if this was a product of technical difficulties or just poor planning, but they need to work on closing those gaps - if you can't shorten them, fill them up with something, please! Otherwise, all that momentum that builds during the songs - and they are great songs! - gets lost. Second, the band apologized for being underrehearsed and messing up. They were clearly underrehearsed, but apologizing for it just drew attention to it. If you mess up, you just have to own that as part of the show, say "this is how we play, so fuck off." That's much more fun for the audience than being told they spent their time and money to see something subpar.

Jonathan Edelstein and Lucian Buscemi switch on guitar and bass and alternate vocals, and while I enjoy the variety that adds, it did highlight the discrepancy in skill between the two players. When Edelstein played guitar, guitar led the songs. When he played bass, bass led the songs. His vocals were strong and melodic, while Buscemi could only sing whatever note he was playing. Edelstein also had a more engaging stage presence, while Buscemi looked like he might rather hide behind an amp. Musicians in a band certainly don't have to be equal, and sometimes what a particular musician has brought to a band can't be seen on stage. However, I was a bit surprised at the difference and frustrated by Buscemi's many missed opportunities.

Don't get me wrong, the band is great. Their effort and focus on stage is clear and their music is explosive. They just have some growing up to do - and just think how good they'll be when they get there! [MySpace]

Live: The For Carnation

When: 12/17
Where: Knitting Factory

Mountains openned the show last night. They play ambient, instrumental noise-folk with acoustic guitars and crap ton of electronics. At first, I enjoyed the rise and fall, the noisy dissonance and the sheer volume. However, with no melodies, no rhythms and no real surprises, I got pretty bored and left after ten minutes. [MySpace]

I came back just in time for The For Carnation, the band of ex-Slint/Squirrel Bait experimental rock genius Brian McMahan. Squirrel Bait's hardcore punk forshadowed Nirvana-style grunge back in the 80's. By the time Nirvana started changing in the indie scene, McMahan had moved on to the highly experimental, angular, sends-chill-down-your-spine music of Slint, helping spark (for better or worse) the post-rock movement.

After Slint, McMahan formed TFC and began creating much more subdued, gentle music. That may sound like a terrible direction, but it isn't always bad. When TFC is at its best, it has the same disturbing tension of Slint, but without ever providing release - the music just retreats further into its own sinister mystery. Unfortunately, TFC hasn't been that consistent - in fact, there's so much variation, I have to give you a song-by-song review.

Songs #1, 4 and 8 were TFC at its best. Minimal, desolate pieces with hints of jumpiness, these represent the logical sound of grown-up Slint. Song #7 was similar but got a little dreamer and sweeter in places. But still, something unsettling was lurking beneath the surface.

Song #2 was a bluesy number with an almost avant-garde guitar solo. Not my favorite.

Song #3 was folky and featured McMahan's lyrics sticking way out in front. They were about finding stuff in your house that reminds you of your long-gone wife. It would be banal even if it weren't cliche.

Song #5 sounded like Yo La Tengo being extra chilled out. Yawn.

Song #6, I've just forgotten.

The hit-and-miss set was made worse by McMahan's choice in bandmates. Certainly, with his reputation, he could put together a good band, right? But instead he's playing with these guys. The bass player seemed pretty solid and did a lot of strumming very well, which isn't easy to make sound good. Because of the style of music, I couldn't figure out the guitarist's skill level, but at least he didn't do anything offensive.

The real problems were the synth player and the drummer. The synth occasionally worked, but at other times, it stuck out like a sore thumb. It basically destroyed the last song (#8, which otherwise was great). Holding down the root in a hyper-oscillated, slow-attack setting just distracted from the music. Maybe if I didn't know about synthisizers, it wouldn't have bothered me so much, but I just kept imagining what was going through the keyboardist's (or songwriter's) head when he thought that'd be really cool. I love me a good slow attack, but because the sound itself was so stark, fading in on every note just drew attention away from the song itself.

And worst of all, the drummer! Brian McMahan, why are you playing with this guy? The dude is awful, seriously awful. Okay, I have a hang-up about playing cymbals with timpani mallets because it sounds like crap. You don't have to be a trained percussionist to listen to something and realize it sounds terrible. Even when he hit the cymbals with real drumsticks, they sounded bad. The toms also sounded like shit, and he abused his hi-hat in a way I haven't seen since high school (i.e. using it as a crash cymbal). I know I sound like a snob, but this isn't about following arbitrary rules, it's about making the instrument sound good.

His beats were also pretty lame, though not as bad as his tone. He wasn't the world's steadiest, but I only heard him screw up the beat badly once. As a time-keeper, he was perfectly adequate, but there were so many missed opportunities for better beats and fills. Sadly, his failings distracted me from the music and cost me a lot of enjoyment.

McMahan, on the other hand, is great. He's been in music long enough that he seems semi-comfortable singing, but still delivers a lot of his vocals in vaguely tuneful spoken monologues. I've never heard anyone pull this off but him, and he still does it, just like he did with Slint. His voice is simple and soft and his manner of speaking renders the songs even more uneasy. With Slint, he established himself as an enigmatic, haunted figure, and with TFC, when they're good, he's only buried himself deeper in his psychological darkness. He's still the real thing. [Fan MySpace]

[Note: I accidentally spelled Brian McMahan's last name "McMahon." It's been corrected now. Brian McMahon was a guitarist in the Electric Eels, also an amazing but obscure experimental musician from the heartland, but definitely a different dude.]

Album: Grooms - Rejoicer

Album: Rejoicer
Death By Audio, 2009
Rating: ******* (7/10)

Grooms (f.k.a. Muggabears) release their debut LP this week on Death By Audio Records, the label's first seriously promoted release. But despite being a young label, the name Death by Audio caries a lot of weight, arising from the same effects pedal factory, venue, studio and artist collective that gave us A Place to Bury Strangers and Dirty on Purpose. It's also home to two of my most recent most favorite bands, Coin Under Tongue and Sisters. So there's some pedigree.

In any case, Grooms, under their former name, have been around the city a while and have cultivated a lot of local respect. Their sound is noisy, experimental American post punk with some very weird-sounding guitars. For the indie fan, Sonic Youth is by far the easiest and most accurate reference point - the alternate guitar tunings and unusual effects generate a strange, ringing sound, and the band certainly doesn't let tired conventions like, you know, key signatures get in their way. As the guitar wanders through arpeggios, it rarely stays in conventional scales and chords for more than a bar.

Like the key signatures, the band's rhythms and song constructions are organic, drifting from one place to another with few markers. This makes the album a frustrating listen - using songs as units to divide the album seems almost arbitrary, as each section is just a jumping-off point for the next. Without trail markers like choruses and verses, it's hard to digest. Especially since there isn't huge variety between the tracks, it's easy to get lost and difficult to see the band's larger vision.

However, there is a lot to praise as well. Sonically innovative, Rejoicer certainly knows how to rock hard from time to time, but also contains plenty of intellectual appeal. And though Sonic Youth may be the easy comparison, the emotions here are far more raw and less analytical. In other words, the music is more personal. There's a lot of sadness in the poignantly titled Rejoicer.

Tracks like "Acid King of Hell" show hints of Pavement-esque ramshackle pop. Throughout the album, bursts of noise are heavy and careful enough to avoid sounding dated. Near the end, "She-Bears" is built around an eerie siren that recalls creepy songs from the likes of Radiohead far more than anything by Sonic Youth. "The Nights Were Walls (We Climbed Them All)" ends the album at its darkest. With heavily reverbed vocals, minimal guitar and no drum beat at all, the song is a portrait of utter isolation, tangible enough to send a chill down your spine.

On the whole, Rejoicer is an interesting, creative and meaningful effort, but it lacks the mature musician's sense of a larger-scale vision (or at least the ability to communicate that vision). Why this song and no other song? Why this sound and no other sound? Answers to these questions should be apparent in the music, but here, it's not clear. The record is all good but it falls short of its potential. Grooms is easily worth a listen, but are they worth freaking out over? No. Not yet.

[MySpace]

Album: Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights

Album: Earthly Delights
Load, 2009
Rating: ******** (8/10)

Post-hardcore duo Lightning Bolt debuted ten years ago, and they seem to get better with each release. The last we heard from the band, recording-wise, was their 2005 masterpiece Hypermagic Mountain. It's been a long four years, but it's worth the wait. Their new LP Earthly Delights, out tomorrow, may be their album best yet.

Lightning Bolt is "post-hardcore" in that it rests with a group of bands that borrowed the frantic speed and intensity of hardcore punk but melded it with metal-influenced technical skill and a heavy, dark sensibility akin to post punk and industrial. Lightning Bolt, featuring two boldly uncompromising and jaw-droppingly skilled musicians, on drums and bass respectively, fits this mold, using relentless distortion and speed, but with music far too complex to be classified with punk proper.

On Earthly Delights, Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson amp up everything that makes their band outstanding - it's faster, louder, heavier and meaner than anything they've done yet (granted, Hypermagic Mountain came close). For a casual indie rock fan, Lightning Bolt might not be a favorite - it's not an easy album by any means, and this latest record is especially ill-suited for the casual listener. The first two tracks are lost in their own vortex of distortion and noise, and though the more subdued, ominous opening notes of Colossus let us come up for air, we're plunged almost immediately back into the cacophony.

One of the only real complaints to make about Lightning Bolt is that they don't provide a lot of variety, and here too, the sonic landscape is mostly limited to the band's usual distorted shredding and speed drumming. It's still valid because no one else is doing this, not with this intensity, volume and speed - but you won't find a lot of big surprises.

One of the few moments that does stand out is "Funny Farm," the sixth track. Here, Gibson breaks into a tongue-in-cheek hoedown, his bass stepping as nimbly as any fiddle. Despite the inherent joke, though, the melody is stunningly charming, and it fits comfortably between the skull-splitting noise of the rest of the track and album. This is followed by the arty ambiance of "Rain on the Lake I'm Swimming In," the record's one real break from its own fury. Here, the band shows excellent restraint in limiting themselves to two minutes before kicking back in with their slightly more musical sound.

"The Sublime Freak" also provides a point of contrast, allowing more subtle sounds to permeate the song. The record closer, the twelve-minute "Transmissionary," is classic Lightning Bolt, barreling through the mammoth fuzz and feedback with speed freakouts and sludge-metal dirges.

As a whole, the album does what Lightning Bolt have always tried to do - consumes itself in its own noisy flames. At times, it's difficult to hear what's actually going on, not because anything is mixed low but because the magnitude of the sound obliterates everything and everyone in its way. Listen to a few tracks before you buy it - many people would consider it unlistenable, and certainly, it is not an album for the faint of heart. But if you're into having your eardrums annihilated by the sonic, artistic equivalent of a hydrogen bomb, this is the album for you.

[MySpace]

Album: Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains

Album: Why There Are Mountains
Sister's Den, 2009
Rating: ******* (7/10)

Earlier this year, the name Cymbals Eat Guitars suddenly began appearing in unlikely places, thanks largely to a slot on Pitchfork's "Best New Music" list. I was pretty surprised, given that when I'd first heard of the band, quite a while ago, I'd stumbled upon them entirely by accident on MySpace and had thought of them a unnotable local act, one I would have forgotten entirely if their rather unusual/annoying name hadn't stuck in my head.

Of course, when this album surfaced this spring, I was confused and surprised. And since Pitchfork said it was good, my instinct was to hate it. But I thought I'd give it a chance and review it fairly upon its rerelease. (It was self-released in January and released again on a proper label this week.) And that's what I'm doing now.

But I've struggled with what to say about this album. I'd like to simultaneously give it a score of 5/10 and 9/10 (so 7/10 is the best compromise). It's bursting with creative energy and some great moments. On the other hand, it's green from end to end. Even the album cover seems amateur and rushed.

Mountains starts off sounding pretty much like a slightly "off" copy of Modest Mouse, with a series of sudden bursts of yelling and noise. Modest Mouse remains the best reference point throughout - probably because Joseph D'Agostino's slightly-too-quirky, slightly-too-young voice is a convincing impression of MM's Isaac Brock. Obviously, I don't mean that as a compliment, but it's not the worst thing either.

As the album wears on, it sounds increasingly like a mash-up of well-selected and well-executed highlights of indie rock/pop's last fifteen years. From the Strokes-esque slick melody and guitar crunch of "Some Trees" to the lush indie pop of "Indiana," CEG cover a lot of ground and master each style with proficient musicianship and strong writing.

Unfortunately, that strong writing only exists on the smallest scale, section to section. Each longwinded track leads nowhere in particular, and the album as a whole is far more confusing that satisfying. You could cut each section out of each song and rearrange them in almost any combination for the same effect. An album should be more than just a collection of good ideas; the whole should be more than the sum of its parts. And this isn't.

There are also quite a few bad ideas thrown in, and while these are outnumbered, they will further frustrate the listener. There are way too many horn parts on the album and as in the subdued "Share," they often just don't fit. The lyrics (where I can hear them) are similarly contrived and overwrought.

What all of this boils down to is that nothing quite comes together - phrases don't form songs or songs an album, words don't quite meld with music, instruments don't lock in sonically with others, beats don't match melodies, hooks and noise don't reveal a larger vision. Everything begs the question "what's the point?"

CEG sound like a band with great promise, but one who have barely begun to iron out their identity. From moment to moment, they sound a lot like a lot of different bands, but never really sound like themselves. The band is clearly experimenting and at the same time holding something back. Mountains gives us every reason to believe this could be a great band in the making. But whether they can complete that process after being shoved into the spotlight a such a tender age remains to be seen. Let's hope so.

[MySpace]

Upcoming Shows: Kurt Vile, Pterodactyl + more!!

TOMORROW! Wednesday, June 24

Asa Ransom, Spanish Prisoners @ Southpaw | Park Slope, Brooklyn | $8
Asa Ransom are such a cool band. They play art-punk with lots of keyboard and lots of energy. It's been ages since I've seen them, but when I last did, they were outstanding. [MySpace]


Thursday, June 25

Dinosaur Jr @ Music Hall of Williamsburg | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | SOLD OUT
Dinosaur Jr made their reputation in the 80's by simply playing way louder than anyone else. Their music was probably the most important factor in the advent of shoegaze. They also cleared the way for technically skilled lead guitar playing in American punk. In sum, their impact on indie music has been profound. Plus, they hate each other so there's the thrill of seeing if the show will end in homocide. [MySpace]


Friday, June 26

Kurt Vile, Real Estate, Girls @ Secret Project Robot | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | $8
These are some of the hottest bands out of the lo-fi movement. Headliner Kurt Vile (now Matador label-mate of Sonic Youth) is at the folk end of the spectrum. The other two are pretty trendy at the moment too, so check them all out while you can still see them in a small venue. [KV MySpace] [RE MySpace] [Girls MySpace]

Antlers @ Rooftop Films, Open Road Rooftop | LES, Manhattan | $9-$25
Well, it's nice to hear bands play on roofs. And there's no doubt the Antlers will be considered one of the best bands of 2009 after their rerelease of Hospice this August. Their music is sad but breathtaking, like a lo-fi version of Radiohead. Then again $9 minimum for a half hour of music and having to show up at 8:30 PM for the band kinda makes me not inclined to go to this one. [MySpace]

Balmorhea @ Le Poisson Rouge | Greenwich Village, Manhattan | $15
If you are looking for something more conservative, something your grandparents would approve of and that won't give you a horrible headache, check out Balmorhea. Despite the terrible name (or am I the only one who pictures a really horrifying STD?), the band is very lovely, playing ambient classical folk music, mostly instrumental. It's post-rock minus most of the rock, but it is extremely beautiful music. [MySpace]


Saturday, June 27

Pterodactyl, A Sunny Day in Glasgow @ Death By Audio | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Two Three of my favorite bands, one of my favorite venues, what could be better? Pterodactyl are one of the best NY bands I've discovered recently, and definitely one of the most original. Their post-punk barage is nothing short of thrilling. If you want more info, read my recent live review. It's been much longer since I've heard electrogaze kingpins ASDIG; in fact, I haven't seen them since my very first post on this blog. At that point, they were getting more agressive and even louder, so let's hope they've kept on in that direction. [Ptero MySpace] [ASDIG MySpace]
**UPDATE** Somehow, I overlooked the fact that Grooms are also playing this show. That or they were just added to the line-up. Either way, now it's even more important that you go to this show. Grooms (fka Muggabears) are some fucking cool post-punk. At once angular, gloomy and melodic. Mmmmm... [MySpace]

Dust It Off: A Minor Forest - Inindependence

Album: Inindependence
Thrill Jockey, 1998

I know I'm prone to a lot of nostalgic comments about really obscure math rock bands from the early 90's. And it's time to tell you about one of those bands in more detail!

Math rock is a pretty narrow little genre in indie rock, mostly inspired by Slint, whose masterpiece, Spiderland, was the subject of a previous "Dust It Off." It involves complex, changing time signatures and rhythms, little to no vocal melody and extreme loud-soft contrast. Math rock songs rarely follow conventional song structures; they are more often winding compositions drawing from classical, jazz and prog influences. The genre embraces dissonance, distortion and sheer volume.

OK, enough of that! A Minor Forest are a little-known math rock band (as if there was any other kind!) from San Francisco, far-removed from the Louisville scene that gave rise to their main influences. But musically, they aren't such outliers. No, they didn't invent much new or revolutionize music. What they did was simply to hone a style, put their own little stamps on it and then play it better than pretty much anyone since Slint.

Inindependence is the closest thing to a proper release the band ever had, even if it wasn't out until the very time the band called it quits. Only seven songs long, at times it feels like an extended EP, but due to a twenty minute song in the middle, it runs to nearly an hour.

Though not an instrumental band, AMF puts little emphasis on singing. There are some good melodies, but there's just as much yelling and even more without vocals at all. I know that sounds boring, but it's not - the guitars are crisp and heavy, the drums tight and intense. The songs jolt between hushed beauty and discordant freak-outs with no warning - when they're nice, they're very, very nice, but when they're nasty, they're nasty.

It's an indirect album that's best heard while your mind wanders - too much concentration and you'll be frustrated with the lack of structure, but if you're patient, moments of stunning beauty will surface, one after another. From the satisfying crash at the close of "Erik's Budding Romance" to the swelling soundscapes of "Discoier," there are amazing parts around every corner.

The album's finest moment may be the massive dissonance supporting the vocal melody about two and a half minutes into "...It's Salmon!!!" But it's hard to pick - unlike math rock's offspring "post rock," AMF isn't afraid to blast your eardrums at full force when the time is right, and the perpetual contrasts (harmony-dissonance, loud-soft, syncocopated-steady) keep it interesting. Unlike later Slint-imitators like Mogwai (ughhhhh), AMF has control over their use of contrast, taking it just far enough, while keeping beats and melodies going. Well, that and they have balls.

Though maybe not for everyone, Inindependence is a remarkable accomplishment and remains one of the best albums of its genre.

Dust It Off: Blind Mr. Jones - Stereo Musicale

Album: Stereo Musicale
Cherry Red, 1992

I haven't been doing enough shoegaze in the "Dust It Off" feature and Salvador thought I should write up Blind Mr. Jones this week. I agree.

The way people talk about things now, it sounds as if there were only ever about a half dozen influential shoegaze bands. But the style is more than just My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive and among the oft-forgotten is Blind Mr. Jones. This band, like most classic shoegazers, formed in England in the early 90's, put out a couple of albums and dissolved into obscurity.

Stereo Musicale, their first album, stands out from the shoegaze pack through its use of flute, but it also distinguishes itself by hinting at Celtic and Nordic roots, folk music and an overall sense of wintry isolation. It sounds like it could have been written in a snowbound cabin at the edge of the sea. That said, it's still uptempo noise-pop - moody, perhaps, but not depressive.

The album opens with a beautifully dense instrumental before the vocals enter in "Spooky Vibes." The male vocal harmonies and subdued melodies distinctly follow British tradition, but the prevalence of minor keys adds an unusual urgency. The songs get a little "samey" as the album wears on, but the stormy soundscapes are fantastic throughout.

From the remote "Small Caravan" to the sweeping sounds of "Unforgettable Waltz," Stereo Musicale is must-have for shoegaze enthusiasts and, at the very least, a great listen for everyone else.

[MySpace]

Live: Cinemasophia, Ceremony

When: 4/25
Where: Cameo

When I headed over to the Vanishing Point Presents show at Cameo, I was hoping to catch the second act, Ceremony, but when I arrived, the set was already running behind and the opener, Cinemasophia, was still on stage. I’d had no intention of checking the band out, but I was pleasantly surprised to find I quite liked them!

They have a shoegaze side to their music, which is undoubtedly how they ended up on this bill, but their post-rock rhythms set them apart from the pack. The band’s male-female vocals were lovely, contrasting dissonance with harmony to propel the music forward. Crashing, heavy jolts give way to sweeping melodies. Shimmery guitars and ricocheting drums kept the music lively.


Cinemasophia
But even during the set, I had the sad thought: “I really like this! I wish I would remember it a month from now.” Although lovely, Cinemasophia doesn’t offer much you won’t forget. The statements simply aren’t extreme enough and even though there may not be too many bands that sound just like this, the components are all so familiar that they fade into the background. Cinemasophia is a great listen, but they’ll need to push their own boundaries if they want to make their impact last. [MySpace]

The next band was the well-loved duo Ceremony (not to be confused with the hardcore band of the same name) on a rare trip up from their home in Virginia. I was excited to finally hear them live, but I must admit, I was slightly disappointed. Though the dark, heavy, shoegazey beats and noise were as great as anticipated, I was expecting a whole hell of a lot more reverb. I’m not sure if I just had the wrong idea about what this band would sound like or if the venue simply couldn’t or didn’t put the proper effects on the PA.

Whatever the case, the vocals were delivered dry and had a rough, indie rock sound to them. It might have been cool if done differently, but the contrast of the ragged vocals over the highly polished and mechanized sound was awkward and dampened the music’s strengths – in other words, the down-home vocals took the bite out of the sound.

Also, it was disappointing to see how much of the band’s music was prerecorded. The night’s headliners, Screen Vinyl Image (whose set I missed this time) make similar music and manage to create a great deal of it live instead of just hitting a “play” button. Hearing so much of overall product pre-made took some of the excitement out of the show, making it rather dreary.

That’s not to say Ceremony is bad! Their recorded material is strong and their live performance has a delightfully massive sound, like running your eardrums over with a steamroller – earplugs are required. The beats, though pre-programmed, were strong and kept the music tense and dynamic. Despite disappointing my admittedly high expectations, the band’s got a lot to feel good about. [MySpace]

Live: Wavves, DD/MM/YYYY

When: 3/30
Where: Mercury Lounge

After numerous failed attempts to see Wavves live, I finally caught them last week at Mercury Lounge. Wavves, the ultra-lo-fi punk/surf/pop of San Diego's Nathan Williams, has been one of the most exciting musicians to appear in the last few years.

The band (Williams and a touring drummer) slammed out a short set of many of the best tunes off both his recent albums, along with one or two I didn't recognize. As I was hoping they would, Wavves struck the perfect balance of cool and enthusiasm, devoid of the lazy, entitled attitude of some of their colleagues (cough cough crystal stilts cough cough). They had energy, but still had a confident ease that's particularly striking given their obvious youth.

Technically, Williams is terrible - he's been touring for two months and still, his simple guitar parts aren't quite down pat. He's got a nice voice but had trouble more than once hitting the right notes. And all of this just makes him even more awesome. Because this is lo-fi, this is punk rock, and that's what makes Wavves so great - they are exactly what punk is about - kids flipping a finger at convention and pretension and just rocking the fuck out!

Of course, that's not to say Wavves is without talent - quite the opposite! They are not technically proficient instrumentalists, but Williams's songs are outstanding pieces, little fragments of pop that never overstay their welcome. And while his use of noise is definitely not new, he somehow manages to deconstruct even further the sounds of his noise-pop antecedents (Jesus & Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, Guided By Voices) and his loud-as-hell minimalism is the most youthful, badass, refreshing music I've heard in ages.

Between two songs, Williams's phone started ringing. The audience, heckling him about his youth, asked if it was his mother. It was. For anyone nostalgic for the good old days of the early 80's, when second generation American punk was still pure, when it symbolized an alternative world for misfits just coming of age, Wavves may well be the greatest thing since the Wipers and Minor Threat. [MySpace]

Next up, the confusingly titled DD/MM/YYYY, a math-rock ensemble from Canada. Their jarring experimental sounds were heavy and fast, but despite that, I couldn't get interested, just annoyed. That's because a whole generation of bands, among them some of my favorite groups ever, played exactly this style of music - only way better - back in the early 90's. Any of these bands could kick DD/MM/YYYY's ass - June of 44, A Minor Forest, Chavez, Polvo, Rodan, Bastro and of course Slint, to name a few. But most of these 90's bands never got due credit and have been almost entirely forgotten in the years since their demise.

So, while DD/MM/YYYY may not be bad, they seem like a big step backwards to anyone versed in the history of this style of music. Yes, they play tightly through ever-changing time signatures, they make nice noises and slam out some sweet dissonance. But it's only a weak imitation of what came before. If you need to see this kind of music live, I guess it's the best you'll do. But on record, this is kid's stuff - hit up the old catalogues at Touch & Go and Quarterstick for the real deal. Trust me. [MySpace]

Live: Efterklang and Shilpa Ray and more

When: 3/28
Where: Mercury Lounge

Oh Land, the opening act, featured three female vocalists singing over mediocre electronic beats. The whole thing, right down to front woman's Nanna Oland Fabricius's avant-garde fashion, seemed like an overwrought Bjork reference. It wasn't a bad listen - they are all good singers - but it was way over the top. [MySpace]

As you might guess, I really went to the show to check in with Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers after their triumphant week at SXSW. Though down one Happy Hooker (Soft Blank's Vincent Cacchione was not present), the band rocked harder and tighter than I've heard them before. Some of the antics were slightly toned down, since they weren't the headlining act, but Ray did spend a lot of time screaming "fuck you" repeatedly into the microphone - not at the audience, but rather with them (at least in spirit).

Ray's music doesn't sound weird at all, but it's surprisingly difficult to classify. It's a distillation of everything from blues, soul and jazz to punk rock. The band was tight last time I saw them, but this time around, they were even more engaging, with the remarkably talented rhythm section knocking out some smooth grooves under Ray's Joplin-esque growl. The melodies and songs, even those I'd heard before, seemed more focused, and the set's momentum made the final numbers feel simply immense.

All was delivered, of course, with the band's characteristic energy, intense yet fun. Ray engaged her hecklers between songs and when not playing her hand-powered harmonium, danced around the stage with some classic Shilpa moves - that is, the moves you'd imagine from a seven-year-old who's just downed a cup of espresso. After SXSW, the general consensus is that this band is headed for great things. I told ya so. [MySpace]

Next up was guitarist and singer Peter Broderick. Sorry to be harsh, but yawwwwn. If you're into pretty singer-songwriter stuff, I don't think it was bad. But personally, I was bored after the first two bars.

I'd never heard the headliner Efterklang before, though I'd gathered they were some sort of Scandanvian post-rock ensemble. I was prepared to be bored, but several people encouraged me to stay. And it was apparent Efterklang is a favorite among fellow musicians - the audience included members of Los Campesinos! and the National among others.

I've said many times that post-rock is a largely played-out style, so I was surprised to hear Efterklang breathe new life into the music. Not that they are doing anything completely original, but they are certainly doing it better than most. Their vocal harmonies are stunning and their math rock tendencies are first-rate, grooving naturally in time signatures like 9/4 and 13/8 (I think). The songs are also well-written and unlike most post-rock, don't wear on interminably - they explore an idea to its fullest, then stop.


Efterklang (photo by Nan Na Hvass)
As I had been told, Efterklang's live performance was excellent. At first, it seemed like the band (swollen to seven members on stage) was taking itself rather seriously, but between songs, their banter showed them to be approachable, sweet and not without a sense of humor. The music's complexity required concentration, but there was still a decent amount of movement and the band's energy and focus was plainly visible. Also, as with a band who knows how to get innovative sounds of a slew instruments, it's fascinating to see how their affects are accomplished, using everything from trumpets to kazoos. [MySpace]

Though Shilpa Ray was an odd pairing with the rest of this experimental Dutch set, I'm glad they chose it - I not only got to see a great show but also discovered a new band I'll be listening to for a long time.

* * * * * * * * * * *
P.S. >> I forgot to tell you the best part about Efterklang! They are the first rock band I have ever seen use proper technique on the jingle bells. Seriously!

Dust It Off: Ut - In Gut's House

Sorry folks, Dust It Off is a day late this week - I had no internet access for most of yesterday. Here goes...


Album: In Gut's House
Blast First, 1987

Formed at the tail end of New York's late 70's No Wave scene, Ut captured the avant-garde noise of their colleagues, but throughout the 80's, they tightened the sound and perfected the use of contrast - dissoanance and resolution, melody and drone, composition and improvisation. The all-female three-piece didn't release much recorded material in their early years, but in the second half of the 80's, they put out a series of excellent records showcasing the style they'd spent half a decade crafting.

In Gut's House is the peak of their efforts. Technically a double EP, the album kicks off with "Evangelist," one of the group's most accessible and best tunes. It may be a misleading as most of the following songs are considerably less melodic, but on the other hand, it warms the listener up, easing them into the angular experimentation of the subsequent tracks.

Ut's music draws heavily on Sonic Youth and particularly the Velvet Underground, and manages to predict the sounds both of early 90's math rock and early 90's riot grrrl, two genres usually considered miles apart. In Gut's House has the jumpy, sparse guitars of the soon-to-be-invented math rock, accompanied by pounding toms that never fall into a set rhythmic pattern for more than a few bars. The vocals are sometimes coherent, welcoming melodies, but at other times, they are yowls, screeches or chants, much like the young feminist bands that would form in the Pacific Northwest just a few years down the road.

And despite all the flexibility of their relatively unstructured songs, Ut maintains coherence and a sense of focus throughout the album - the tension and release, the sudden veering from beauty to ugliness, the detailed arrangements, everything indicates that this was an album made with a unified vision and careful planning.

"Homebled" is a particularly interesting track. It sounds like a completely fried Velvet Underground trying to play a folk ballad. It even includes John Cale's signature electric viola sound. (Well, in this case, I think it might be a violin, but same idea.) The vocals would be conventionally pretty if they and their backing instruments didn't keep falling apart.

While confrontational like their No Wave peers, Ut also gives the listener more inroads and moments of true beauty than the orginal New York No Wavers, perhaps translating the movement's experimentalism more accessibly than anyone besides Sonic Youth. And unlike Sonic Youth, Ut never enjoyed commercial success and certainly never scored a major label deal. But despite their unending obscurity, the band has made its mark upon modern indie music and should be a feature in every art punk fan's collection.

MySpace (fan page)

Live: Crystal Stilts, Blank Dogs, Women

When: 3/14
Where: Music Hall of Williamsburg

First of all, what a line-up! Three of the hottest bands to break out in the last year, all one bill, for one ticket - perfect for someone cheap and lazy like myself.

Naked On The Vague - When I arrived at the venue, the second of two relatively obscure openning acts was on stage. Simply put, it was one of the worst bands I've ever heard. It sounded like they were trying to imitate Sonic Youth's most avant-garde material - particularly due to the female vocalist's clear channelling of Kim Gordon's monotone rasp. But Sonic Youth and other good bands that have delved into noise-rock have control over their sound. I'm a big fan of dissonance when it's used innovatively. There is nothing innovative about hammering on diminished fifths and seconds for half an hour - hundreds of thousands of angsty teenagers have already done the same thing, and if it was ever "art," it's definitely not anymore.

I actually had to go downstairs after a few songs, where the music was still piped in, but at least was much quieter. :: MySpace

Women - This seemed an odd pairing with the final two bands of the night - Crystal Stilts and Blank Dogs both have a lo-fi sensibility, while Women seek a much more polished sound. Their music seems a close cousin to early 90's math rock, with ever-changing time signatures and complex, spiky melodic lines from each instrument. But Women infuse this sharp, clean style back into the indie rock from whence it came, corralling it with coherent song structures and topping it off with some vocal melodies you could even sing along with.


Women (photo by Lindsey Baker)
Both elements are displayed even better live than on the group's recordings - you can see the care and prowess that goes into their sonic experiments and feel the tension building. I would bet money that at least some members of Women have had significant training in music. That's not a value-judgment one way or the other, but it certainly affects their sound and enables them to make their music unfailingly interesting. :: MySpace

Blank Dogs - Because Blank Dogs run with the ultra-lo-fi crowd, I was expecting something raw and chaotic. But Blank Dogs aren't that - despite their squealing feedback and distorted vocals, they present themselves like a Real Rock Band. There's nothing wrong with that, but I had been looking forward to more youthful spontenaity and indie-punk spirit, and I admit I was a bit disappointed. Their sound is tight to the point of feeling cramped - these are not kids fresh from rehearsing in their parents' garage, that much is for sure.

The sound was a bit off balance for the Blank Dogs set, with the synth too loud. This wouldn't have been so troubling if it hadn't served to draw attention to the band's poor arrangements. The synth constantly stepped on the toes of guitar and vocal parts.

The performance was good but not outstanding. The five members played well and were clearly enjoying themselves and their songs. In an ideal world, the band would step it up visually and pare it down musically, but they've got a lot they're doing right - sweet melodies, roaring distortion and technical prowess. I see why everyone's so excited. :: MySpace

Crystal Stilts - Allow me, first, to give you a timeline of my relationship with the Crystal Stilts.

• Some time in 2008 - RFR hears "Converging in the Quiet" and freaks the fuck out because it's the best new music in years and years and years.
  
  
• Shortly thereafter - RFR listens to the entire 7-song Woodsist release and continues to freak out.
  
  
• October 2008 - RFR gets Alight of Night and slowly is forced to admit that it's not that interesting.
  
  
• December 2008 - RFR sees Crystal Stilts open for Love Is All and is underwhelmed by the band's lazy-ass performance (including one member being seated the entire time).
  
  
• Later in December 2008 - RFR listens to Alight of Night some more and realizes all the songs sound the same.
  
  
• February 2009 - RFR hears from Top Secret Sources in Europe that Crystal Stilts were pulling stunts like playing twenty minute sets to sold out venues, then retiring because they were "tired."

I know this sounds stupid, but I actually felt betrayed as I watched the Stilts plummet from being the most exciting band of their time into apparent apathy. So it was with much cynicism that I attended Saturday night's show.


Crystal Stilts (photo by Lauren Bilanko)
I wish I could say the band either fully redeemed themselves or fully validated my disappointment. But in the end, the show was just middling. They played a nice long set and played it well. They were more energetic than when I saw them last, although keyboardist Kyle Forrester is the only one with any real sense of stage presence.

All in all, the Stilts weren't bad, but they weren't special either. It was just an indie rock show. I'll keep listening to "Converging in the Quiet" but beyond that, I can't put too much energy into this band. It's just impossible to passionate about music, no matter how good, when your passion isn't even matched the people who made it. Bummer that. :: MySpace

Dust It Off: Slint - Spiderland

Album: Spiderland
Touch & Go, 1991

Among indie rock geeks, Spiderland is far from obscure, but I've been surprised a number of times recently by musically literate people who have simply never heard of Slint. Here's what you should know: Slint was the first and best of the "math rock" bands, a genre known for changing time-signatures, angular guitars, dynamic contrast and complex composition. It was also essential in kicking off "post rock," making way for bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros and Mogwai.

Spiderland, Slint's haunting masterpiece, has only six songs, each of them telling a different dark story. Brian McMahon's vocals are mostly spoken or screamed (though at times inadvertently tunefully), allegedly because he was too insecure to sing them. This delivery would be annoying in most contexts, but here, it's extremely powerful - McMahon simply lays the dark corners of his mind bare for his audience, without hiding behind a forced melody or song structure. Spiderland is a window into a deeply damaged psyche and its immediacy is startling and deeply unsettling.

Unlike many later post rock bands, Slint never used electronics or orchestral noise, instead focusing on traditional rock-band palette of electric guitar, bass and drums. This makes the music heavy-hitting and aggressive, an effect enhanced by the band's technique of dropping everything to a haunting whisper before slamming more out at top volume. Meanwhile, though the structures borrow more from prog rock than pop, they are clearly conceived with great care, each providing a new alien landscape against which McMahon's stories unfold.

Rumor has it that members of Slint were in and out of mental institutions throughout the recording of Spiderland, and whether or not that's true, Spiderland is one of the most anguished, painful records ever made. "Breadcrumb Trail" tells a story of an innocent romance with a fortune-teller, but the tale is shrouded in ominous details, while "Don, Aman" seems to be a harrowing if enigmatic account of mental illness.

Most chilling of all is the closer, "Good Morning, Captain." Based loosely on Coleridge's "Rime of an Ancient Mariner," the song tells the story the sole survivor of a shipwreck, an old sailor shunned when he seeks help or even witness on shore. Near the end of the song, however, McMahon seems to break down and instead of finishing the narrative, he just starts screaming "I miss you" over and over at the top of his voice until the album's close.

It's a staggering work that sounds like nothing before or since. Musically, it is a pivotal experiment in the use of changing time signatures and contrast dynamics. Emotionally, it protrays agony, horror and dispair with unsurpassed intensity. A landmark album in indie rock, Spiderland should be required listening for everyone.

Live: Mexico 1910

When: 2/22
Where: Brooklyn Women's Shelter Benefit @ Vanishing Point

Once again, a benefit from the Brooklyn Women's Shelter. Once again, I can't find much information online, so if anyone wants to send me information about how to donate, I'll post that here. In the meantime, I did find this page for volunteers, so please consider giving some of your time.

And the music...

When I walked in, the last band of the night was already playing. Mexico 1910 (or at least, I guess that's who it was) is a four-piece band who performed wearing headlamps. It's not totally original - as someone pointed out to me, Animal Collective has done this - but it was still a pretty cool effect.

The first bars I heard were promising - triumphantly building major chords just the way I like them. I thought, 'I'm gonna like this!'

But I was wrong. It turned out the band's swell wasn't leading up to anything, just the rise-and-fall sounds that seem so integral to post-rock instinct. The music tumbled down from the momentum it had built, wandering aimlessly for the rest of the set. Any given minute of the sound could certainly be called beautiful, but strung together, the beauty was overshadowed by monotony. After a couple of minutes, I was very ready for the band to stop.

Although it can look complex and interesting, post-rock is one of the easiest kinds of music to write and play. It requires minimal songwriting skill, minimal vision and minimal true originality. Yes, it requires strong instrumental prowess, and certainly this band was talented in that regard - their equipment gave them a full palette of lovely sounds, and they found and used each one well. Moreover, it was clear the band had spent enough time playing together that they could anticipate and compliment one another effectively. All this leaves no doubt all four are musically talented, but unfortunately, they just don't live up to their potential.

It's not that post-rock is a dead end or that traditional song structures are the only way to hold an audience's attention. But finding something engaging in the wandering, instrumental post-rock is exceptional, and unfortunately, Mexico 1910 is not the exception.

Live: Weird Owl, Insouciant, Gunfight! and more

When: 1/30
Where: Vanishing Point

In case you haven't noticed, I always make a point of going to shows that have anything to do with the BNS Sessions family. The main reason is that when the Werewolves aren't playing, they usually go and hang out, and I can be in the same room with them and pretend I'm their friend.

So that's how I end up at the shows of a bunch of bands I just heard, like this one, which featured Gunfight!, the Soundscapes and Quiet Loudly. Luckily for you, dear readers, it also featured two bands brand new to this author, so let's start there.

Insouciant - This band hails from New Jersey and while I may have heard the (rather poorly chosen) name before, I knew nothing about them. And in theory it was the kind of music I should have liked - experimental, with definite allusions to math rock and Sonic Youth. But so many bands have made just this type of music that it's become entirely cliche. It came off as disjointed and unfocused, a mush of 90's pre-post-rock influences, swallowed and spat out undigested. (Sorry, that was a gross metaphor, yeah?). They also had four people on stage and it took me a while to even notice this because I could only hear three parts at a time - the band definitely didn't use its resources (i.e. four people) effectively.


Insouciant
The one really good thing I can say about this band is that their delivery was surprisingly aggressive. They yelled and howled, smashed their drums and cranked it up loud. Without that, the set would have been miserable - instead it was enjoyable, if unmemorable. ::MySpace

Weird Owl - Now, in contrast, here's a band I theoretically shouldn't like. Weird Owl basically plays Southern/hard rock, which is a genre whose most classic albums I might dabble in but that I would otherwise never seek out. But Weird Owl made me think twice about that attitude - they played tightly and confidently, and their songs were solid. I was surprised when I realized I was actually really enjoying their set.


Weird Owl (photo by Miss Molly)
After a while of listening, I also realized that this wasn't exactly your typical hard rock, because the band uses a wall-of-sound technique. The friend I was watching with said it was kind of psychedelic, and I definitely agree. There's some Pink Floyd in there, in the density of the sound. Whatever the combination of styles, it definitely works. ::MySpace

Gunfight! - I reviewed these guys not too long ago. This show was the same, only better - louder, more energetic, much tighter and with even better stage antics. Those included one member standing on his amp, and amp-climbing always wins me over. Also, last time I wrote them up, I wavered on classifying them as "cow punk," because it wasn't quite punk rock. But this time around, even though the band still doesn't fit neatly under a label, there was no doubt they could out-punk most of us any day. ::MySpace

Soundscapes - They haven't changed much since last time I wrote them up. They are still amazing. The only thing that has me slightly worried is that they have a little less energy on stage than they did when I first saw them a year ago. I hope it was a one-night fatigue and not a sign that their shows are becoming too routine to them. But anyway, "less energy" is a relative description, and compared to a lot of bands, these guys are still bouncing off the walls. ::MySpace

Quiet Loudly - Quiet Loudly, whom I reviewed not long ago at all, debuted a bunch of songs at this show. I'll wait until their next album is finished (it's already in the works) to give you the details, but their newest stuff rocks hard and heavy and meanders less than their first attempts. That's good news, so stay tuned. ::MySpace

A final rant, if I may. I'm sick to death of projections behind bands. I think it's basic biological fact that visual stimuli trump auditory stimuli and the result is that all the pictures whirling around behind the band are detracting from the music, not adding to it. Whether it's art films or Windows Media Player "visualizations," it's really starting to make me miss the good old days when you'd actually watch the bands do their thing.