more more shows recently attended

[Andrew_TSKS]

i went to a show tonight. i will be quick, i swear.

the first band was called yardwork, i think. local band, certainly one of their first shows, if not their first. their sound was weird, but kinda cool, like a cross between slower born against songs and early pavement, or something. i'm not sure they intended for it to sound like both of those things, but i'm also not sure which element was intentional and which was unintentional. either way, wasn't great, but has potential. i'll be interested to see what these guys sound like in 6 months.

next were two touring bands from providence, rhode island. first: st. jude. these guys were very tight, had really well-written riffs, and other than a few transitions that took a bit too long, pretty much had everything in the right place. but i couldn't get but so into them, because they sounded EXACTLY like his hero is gone and from ashes rise and all those other dark, downtuned tennessee crust/hardcore bands. there just wasn't anything they were bringing to the table that i hadn't already heard a whole bunch of times. i enjoyed seeing them live, and i even bought their cd because not many people came to the show (it was thrown together on something like three days notice) and i wanted to support them. plus it was only 7 bucks. but i have no idea if i will listen to it much at all.

second band: howl. two of the members of st. jude were also in this band, but they were a good bit different--slower and heavier. more metal than hardcore. honestly, reminded me of neurosis and eyehategod a good bit, but on the whole were way more original than st. jude. the guitarist that sang was too sick to actually sing, so they played an instrumental set. i think it would have sounded better with vocals, but it wasn't too bad even without them. this band's cd was only $5, so i picked it up too. i think i will probably listen to this one more often.

finally, the catalyst played. probably the hundredth time i've seen these guys, but i never get tired of it. this was one of the better catalyst sets i've seen, too, though not quite as transcendent as they've been on a couple of occasions. still, really good.

this was the first time i've been to a show in quite a while. shows can be really stressful for me sometimes, with all the social interaction and everything, but this time it wasn't too bad. i think i was really glad to actually be at a show again. also, not many people that i'm not already friends with came out, i guess due to the short notice, so there weren't as many people around who might make me nervous. so yeah, a good night on the whole.

p.s. shut up, for me that WAS quick.

[Maaik]

I went to Attractive 80s Women's CD release partyshow Saturday night which had a surprise ending involving blood!

I won the tickets from one of the college stations for being the first caller so hooray.  Went to the EARL where I introduced myself to the venue's promoter--this nice guy named Patrick, on whom I'd like to make a good impression so he'll continue booking us--and got some drink in me.

The first act was this joke band called Bases Loaded - the All-Bass Rolly Fingers Tribute Band, which was two dudes in fake handlebar moustaches wearing Oakland A's jerseys and caps playing bass.  This sounds dumb (and don't get me wrong, it was certainly that), but it was pretty damn funny too.  They joked around, played a couple original songs about playing the bass ("Without the bass, the lead singer would not have a sexual innuendo indicator!") and about balls ("Be true to your balls or your balls will be false to you") and then they played some covers--"Maneater," "You May Be Right" by Billy Joel ("here's a song we wrote for Billy Joel.  Bases Loaded would be millionares today had we not sold this song to Billy Joel for two dollars"), a medly of songs that included Springsteen, Nelly and Foreigner.  They closed with a cover of "Don't Stop Believin'."  In between all that, they threw out t-shirts and bags of Cracker Jacks, one of which I caught and munched happily on throughout the night.

Second up was Pistolero, which is a pretty good nu-mod group.



The headliner, Attractive 80s Women, recorded their album live in the studio in front of an audience and it sounds great.  I know because everyone who walked through the door got one for free.  They were then ushered to their right where a photographer snapped a picture of them holding it.  Those pictures will be posted soon.

There was also a raffle!  The singer had been at the mall that day and gone into Spencer's Gifts and discovered that the store was going out of business and everything inside was ONE DOLLAR.  So he snapped up a bunch of shit and divided it into two prize packs: the Porno Pack, which had--among other things--a Jenna Jameson calendar and a French maid blowup doll, and the Jr. High Starter Kit, which contained a Slipknot backpack, some Led Zepplin posters and a Mudvayne wall clock.

It's important to mention all this in light of where this story's going.  They had obviously put a lot of time and effort into the gig.  They'd picked the opening acts, they'd gotten the photographer, they were hyping their new album, there were twice as many people there than had ever been at any of their previous shows and the vibe was a good one.  Then fucking Altamont happened:

For those of you who weren’t there, the show was cut short after our fourth song, “Pandamonium”. Someone in the audience (most likely a jealous ex-girlfriend or a whack-job animal rights activist) seemed to take umbrage at the thought of us killing the baby panda. A glass was thrown, my wrist was cut, and, before any of us really knew what was happening, the show was over.

In all seriousness, the whole thing was just an unfortunate drunken accident. I am fine. The cut was very deep, hence the giant puddle of blood on stage, but luckily it didn’t hit any important stuff. After three hours in the Emory ER (Shout out to Dr. Deb!) and seven stitches (2 inside, 5 outside), I am well on my way to a full recovery.

If you were at the show, pictures from our photo booth will be posted soon, so check back here to see your smilin' face. If you didn’t get a CD last night, I’m really sorry. There was a lot of confusion after I left the stage and I was too busy bleeding on my shoes to come back out. We will figure out a way to make this up to you very soon.

Thanks to everyone who’s called, texted, emailed, myspaced, and facebooked. It’s AEWsome to know you care. Also thanks to the staff of the EARL, Dr. Albert, J. Chris and anyone else who helped me out last night.

We will be booking another Atlanta show soon to make up for all the rocking you guys missed out on. Next time, however, we will be playing behind eight feet of chicken wire.

xoxo
Phoebe Cates

So yeah, what was turning into a really fun, rockin show turned into sort of a bummer.  But I'll be catching 'em at their next Atlanta show for sure.

I'm gonna leave you with this: Attractive Eighties Women - "They Shoot Hipsters, Don't They?"
Some of the references are pretty region-centric.  Decatur Social Club, for instance, is a huge monthly scenester clusterfuck.

Ciao!

[El_Josharino]

So I went to the Box Elders: After Dark Variety Show and EP Release last night. Holy crap, what a blast. First up, Mr. Wizard played. They're a local band made up of the dudes who work at the Antiquarium record store here, and they play great, catchy, jangle pop. They were a lot of fun and one of them threw his hat. After that, off to the side of the room by the bar, some dudes called the Buffalo Show played some songs. One dude played acoustic guitar, one dude played accordion, and the other dude alternated between playing the triangle, spoons, and washboard. It was great. In the meantime, there was a magician wandering through the crowd blowing the minds of the masses with his slight of hand. Then The Shanks took the stage and played some hollerin' rock and roll that got everyone a jumpin' and a headbangin' and such. After that an outfit from Lawrence called This Is My Condition played. I guess it's normally a one-man project, but tonight he brought a saxophonist. They were set up in a corner of the room off the stage, so they were ready to go when the Shanks finished. They launched into an incredible set of instrumental music. The main dude had a drumset and a guitar sitting across the floor tom and snare, which he played with his drumsticks in between his incredibly fast drumming. Sometimes he just hit the strings with the sticks and sometimes he used the sticks as slides. He did some cool stuff with guitar loops as well. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. So they did that, and then the sword swallower set up in front of the stage. He started out with some silly stuff involving a power drill in his mouth, then he swallowed a couple swords, which was pretty crazy. Then he pulled out a bed of swords, which was about 6 swords mounted on a rack about 4 feet long, I'd guess, and laid down on it and then had someone from the crowd come and stand on him. Then he pulled out a rug and dumped a bunch of broken glass on it and danced around on that for a bit, and then he asked for tips and invited people to come up and staple dollar bills to his bare chest, and a bunch of people did. He said that if it was a $100 bill, he'd let you staple it to his forehead, and someone took him up on that. It was pretty crazy. Finally the Box Elders came on, and rocked our faces with their hair-swinging lo-fi brand of rock and roll. We all danced and moshed a little and had a grand old time, and then I bought their 7-inch EP and it is wonderful. Overall, quite an incredible evening. The only bummer was that the acrobats cancelled at the last minute. Maybe at the album release show...

[Anne the Man]

Had me first big stadium-type concert. Well concerts, I went to Big Day Out. Arcade Fire and Rage Against The Machine were both fucking Excellent, even though you couldn't get anywhere near the stage. And Shy Child were cool becvause I had those glasses that make lights look rainbow and their lights were AMAZING. Possibly because of second-hand weed. And Dizzee Rascal was a lot of fun, though we were right at the back with people who weren't dancing or nothing. They do really good sushi at BDO. Twas a grand day.

[trailofdan]

I went to the BDO too - I love Bjork.  Last night I went to a random town in northern new south wales, to a tiny town hall for the spunk records 10th aniversery party....... Jack Ladder, Holly Throsby, Joanna Newsom, Jens Lekman, Andrew Bird and Spoon.... In a tiny hall..... it was BYO...IT WAS GREAT!!!!!

[El_Josharino]

Yeah, but did it have a sword swallower?

[Nick]

Joanna Newsome can swallow my sword any day

[El_Josharino]

But can she walk on glass? And do magic tricks?

[jebreject]

Joanna Newsome can swallow my sword any day

FFS

[Nick]

If that stands for "for fuck's sake" then it's a pretty appropriate response in more ways than one.

[edison]

Tony Conrad was playing at the Museum of Modern Art last night - I went it without prior knowledge of the guy's music, save for having listened to the reissue of Outside The Dream Syndicate in the afternoon. He played a very short violin introduction, and then a five or ten minute long noisy piece that involved him putting mics between his toes and other things I can't really describe, since I couldn't even see what was going on precisely. Anyway, he picked up the (amplified) violin again and proceeded to drone away for what felt like forever in the best possible way. It was a strange experience - after a while I was completely transfixed, unaware of time and surroundings, and actually kind of worried that the all-engulfing drone would at some point stop and that I'd had to get reaccustomed to normal, "silent" life. Man, it was badass. I discovered when it ended that we'd been sitting there listening to the piece for an hour and twenty minutes (about a third of the audience had left before the end). I guess this will be hard to top this year.

[Ah_Pook]

yea so i went to see Ween last night and it was predictably excellent. they opened with Nan which was so cool. there were a couple tracks from the new one that i would have liked to hear live which they didnt play (Friends, With My Own Bare Hands, Woman And Man), but they did play some really good tracks from it (The Party, Object, Fiesta). and then a bunch of random old stuff, as they are wont to do. also they closed with Poop Ship Destroyer which was so rad, but thankfully they didnt stretch it out to like 35 minutes as they sometimes do. at that point they had been playing for nearly 3 hours and i was pretty tired i dunno. i guess im just getting old or something.

[Bubbachups]

Tony Conrad was playing at the Museum of Modern Art last night - I went it without prior knowledge of the guy's music, save for having listened to the reissue of Outside The Dream Syndicate in the afternoon. He played a very short violin introduction, and then a five or ten minute long noisy piece that involved him putting mics between his toes and other things I can't really describe, since I couldn't even see what was going on precisely. Anyway, he picked up the (amplified) violin again and proceeded to drone away for what felt like forever in the best possible way. It was a strange experience - after a while I was completely transfixed, unaware of time and surroundings, and actually kind of worried that the all-engulfing drone would at some point stop and that I'd had to get reaccustomed to normal, "silent" life. Man, it was badass. I discovered when it ended that we'd been sitting there listening to the piece for an hour and twenty minutes (about a third of the audience had left before the end). I guess this will be hard to top this year.

Man, that sounds amazing! I wish I could have been there myself.

You should try his 2006 album with Charlemagne Palestine on piano, wonderful album. Charlemagne Palestine also happens to be in Paris on March 21.

[milesofsparks]

last night I saw Franklin Bruno = The Human Hearts with hannah and lastclearchance.  super fun.  also a bunch of other people I know were unexpectedly there, and one of them was in The Scene Is Now, who played second.  The were followed by The Oranges Band who were OK, but had a great song about an architect, though I can't remember what it was called.

[edison]

Tony Conrad was playing at the Museum of Modern Art last night...

Man, that sounds amazing! I wish I could have been there myself.

You should try his 2006 album with Charlemagne Palestine on piano, wonderful album. Charlemagne Palestine also happens to be in Paris on March 21.

I have that album on my computer, and I'll give it a listen soon enough.

In other recently seen show news, I saw Enon last night, who were their usual highly enjoyable spastic selves, and delivered a very solid performance. Shame it was much too loud and I had to wear earplugs all the way through. Unremarkable opening set by David Dondero, and abysmal second opening set by Singapore Sling (kind of sub-BRMC, if that's even possible).

[Nick Ink]

sub-BRMC, if that's even possible

Harsh, but fair. 

[edison]

Heh. Seems like JAMC inadvertently caused a lot of crappy music.

[Nick Ink]

Heh. Seems like JAMC inadvertently caused a lot of crappy music.

Starting with everything they ever recorded except Psychocandy.

(ducks)

[(Mul)Doomstone]

I saw Six Organs of Admittance play inside the chapel on the UVA campus last Friday night - pretty spectacular. The acoustics were suitably awesome, most dramatically on the acoustic stuff (a little something was lost with some of the electric stuff) and Ben Chasny's voice was in really fine form.

I mean - if you can have the opportunity to sit in a pew and listen to Six Organs of Admittance while staring at some crazy stained-glass Jesus windows ... I say you take it, that's all.

I missed openers Grand Banks, having taken in a showing of "There Will Be Blood" earlier in the evening.

[milesofsparks]

Jeffrey Lewis!  singing Crass songs!  and A Brief History of the Development of Punk in the Lower East Side...  in the Lower East Side!  and Joy De Vivre read poetry!

I am full of exclamatoriosity.  it was fantastic, though possibly one of the most annoying crowds in my brief rock show attending career.  beer spilled on me twice, shoved numerous times, and fuck the fucking fucked up subways.  but still fun despite that.

[edison]

Two free shows on Wednesday evening (first one because a guy came up to me and offered me an invitation as I was about to buy my ticket, and second one because some friends had 80 (!) invitations):

- Museum of Modern Art Keith Rowe and Will Guthrie played a 40ish-minute long piece that I only got really into from the middle part, and was pretty fantastic for the last 20 minutes or so. Before them, Nord/Est (local duo with laptops/guitars) played a pretty good 40-ish-minute long piece of their own.

- Cut to ten minutes later at the bigger rock venue (La Laiterie), with a mini-festival of sorts gathering French and Belgian bands selected by Fnac. I arrived in time to catch the last Cocoon song, which was much too twee for anyone in their right mind (cheesy audience singalong included). Gomm, a band from Lille who were aiming for a  Blondie meets Krautrock sound, then played a set that was atrocious in every respect, and we decided we'd had enough, thus missing Sharko, who might have been better?

[das kranke Tier]

After class last night I stuck around downtown and hit the High on Fire show solo.  It was well worth it!  This was the first time I'd gotten to see them live and they fucking slayed!

It was by far the roughest show that I remember going to in a very, very long time (if not the roughest show ever). 

[Andrew_TSKS]

so last night around 8 pm, kyle called me and asked what i was doing. the answer was quite literally "nothing"--i was sitting in my computer chair staring at the wall--and he told me to come to a show he was playing at 9. i was glad to do so, as it gave me something to do.

the show was an acoustic show in the bedroom of a house. one of the kids who lived in the house played first. his name was john graham, if i remember correctly. i was afraid he'd be lame because he looked like he'd be the death cab for cutie fanboy type, and his music kinda was in that vein, but he had a nice voice and some good acoustic guitar hooks, and he definitely had passion about his playing, so i ended up enjoying that.

after that, puddin pops played, which is stubbs playing guitar and singing and kyle playing bass. stubbs is not what i would call a conventionally good singer, as he has kind of a strange voice, but he sings in what is obviously his real voice and writes sincere lyrics about day to day situations and dilemmas that everyone can relate to--or at least i can--so i've always really enjoyed his music despite some unconventional qualities. plus he writes really catchy songs (many of which would probably sound really good as electric pop punk songs). he and kyle both had trouble with their guitars going out of tune but the set was still really good on the whole.

next is the part that will interest jeb: meadows played. they laid out a bunch of blankets on the floor and spread out a shitload of random percussion and woodwind instruments on them. there were tambourines and penny whistles and recorders and a strange box that made different notes depending on where you hit it and all kinds of other stuff. plus they had two guitars, two keyboards, a musical saw, and an upright bass. the songs they played were an even mix of stuff from christian's solo tape and newer things they'd worked up as a band, and caitlin and stephanie sang just as much as christian did, especially on the new songs. apparently the upright bassist is just with them for the tour, which is kind of a shame, since he added a lot to the songs. oh, also they used a pa, but just set up their three microphones as area mics rather than vocal mics, then put a lot of reverb on all of them, so that there was an added layer of atmospherics. christian's acoustic stuff always used to sound like soulful acoustic pop, but with all the added layers of instruments and reverb, it had a very different air. almost like taking christian's former musical stew and stirring in a liberal amount of silver mt. zion or something. oh, and the best part--there was one song which they announced was their "jam song", and they passed out all the woodwinds and percussion that they weren't already playing to the kids in the front row. this could have been total cacophony but instead it worked really well, and the song was one of the best of the night.

this girl julie, who goes by the name the dirty j, played next. she plays slow, mournful songs based around one or two arpeggiated chords. she commented before she played that all her songs sound the same, and it's sort of true, but her singing voice and lyrics are really good and she manages to do a good job of transcending her limitations. she forgot the words to the last verse of the carter family cover she did, but other than that, the set was really good.

the last act of the night was kyle doing a solo set, which was kind of awkward since it was getting late and it was obvious that some people had had enough show and were ready to start partying. so it was hard for him to get the attention of the crowd, but once he did his set was really interesting. kyle's songs have been getting more and more cartoonish as he's continued to work on his solo stuff, and that element was further increased at this show by his playing all of his songs on ukelele rather than guitar. he isn't really playing anything anymore that i remember from seeing him even 6 months ago, and the new songs often include parts where he sings in weird voices, but that just makes them even more entertaining. oh, and i forgot to mention that, instead of having a harmonica around his neck in a rack, he had a kazoo, and he played many kazoo solos in various songs. so yeah, the whole thing was fun, and everyone who stuck around long enough to see it seemed to enjoy it.

really, though, meadows were the highlight of the night, and they're on tour right now, so if any of you get a chance to see them, i highly recommend it.

[elpollodiablo]

D went to the Cat Power show at Terminal 5 in NYC last night

Said it wasn't worth the price

[jebreject]

Seriously this summer we are coming back to Richmond just so we can play with Meadows

Inform them of this.