Video: All The Saints - Sheffield

My friend turned me on to All The Saints, one of Touch & Go's last great exports. It's hard to believe these guys have received hardly any attention, especially when everyone was talking about how T&G is essentially kaput. They're fucking awesome. Like some sort of wicked psychstonergaze. "Sheffield" is a totally badass song and the video, directed by Woody Stockridge, is all sorts of fuzzy, choppy, and violent. It might be a bit too literal with the fingers aflame but hey. I'm not one to argue.

Windy & Carl, Benoit Pioulard, Lambs Laughter at Oxfam Cafe

Windy & Carl

Benoit Pioulard

Lambs Laughter

More images on Flickr.

Last night was like a lucid dream. I was aware of my surroundings and able to control my body but actually hearing Windy & Carl live was nothing short of spectacular. Coupled with the strange visuals projected during each performance, I was forced to doubt whether or not it was actually happening.

Lambs Laughter started the show off. I saw them (read: Windy and Thomas Meluch of Benoit Pioulard) play at Brainwaves in November and it was fantastic. Their performance last night was just as good. Super droning with little to no plucking of strings which made every smooth and organic. At times, the music sounded almost like some sort of blackened ambient doom but then they would snap right back to the sunny harmonic drone. The last song was entirely a cappella and their voices echoing together sounded beautiful.

They were off stage for less than 5 minutes before Meluch came back to perform as Benoit Pioulard. His was truly astounding, forming all sorts of magical sounds from his guitar and array of pedals. Performing alone, he had to create the loops on the spot for the foundation of his songs. Then he would sing in that inimitable voice that sounds slightly Irish and slightly like Julian Koster. Hearing him live is nothing like listening to one of his records. It's a much fuller and more dramatic experience.

The best way to enjoy Windy & Carl would be to lie on your back spread eagle in the middle of an enormous open field where the grass is greener than it should be and the breeze is keeping you perfectly cool on an otherwise too hot day. I had to settle for the second best scenario. Sitting curled up in a ball, holding my knees to my chest with my head down while Windy & Carl played less than 2 feet in front of me. It seriously felt like I was in a dream. Their drones are simultaneously soporific and uplifting, a magnificent combination.

They're still on tour for another month or so, heading down the coast to NY, Richmond, Asheville, Atlanta, Lexington before they head west. It's a given that everyone should see them live, but as an extra incentive, they're selling a limited edition tour 12" (500 copies) with hand painted and screened covers. You know you need one.

Comanche Peyote Songs Vol. 1 (Indian House, 1969)

Joy Niedo & Roe Kahrahrah - The sun's up now. It's time to get up.


I kind of feel like this review doesn't have to be much more than "This is a record where Comanches get high on peyote and sing songs." Because it's pretty self explanatory and I'm pretty sure you're gonna know whether or not you like it based on the title alone. But if you need more than that, I shall indulge you.

Pretty minimal stuff. Almost every song features a single drum and rattle accompanying a single singer. Occasionally a second or third person will join in if they know the words. Very repetitive and hypnotic although nothing that sounds intrinsically peyote related. If the title wasn't so revealing, I probably would never guess that the singers were inebriated. But knowing that they are is half the fun. Either way, though, this is some mesmerizing music that is truly awesome even when you disregard the novelty factor.

These are all morning songs, which means that the Comanches start partying at sundown, smoking, praying, singing, and eating peyote until the sun comes up. "The coming of early dawn after this long, arduous night is frequently a source of great inspiration to the participants. Many of the dawn songs are composed at this time, and some of the most inspiring singing is performed."

Download

Show Worthy 4/27 - 5/3

Lambs Laughter at Brainwaves 2008
Monday, April 27
Windy & Carl, Benoit Pioulard, Lambs Laughter at Oxfam Cafe (FREEEEEE, 8:00, all ages)
I was psyched for this show only knowing that Windy & Carl were playing. But then I saw that Benoit Pioulard and Lambs Laughter were also on the bill and I almost fainted. Lambs Laughter is Windy & Thomas Meluch (of Benoit Pioulard) and I saw them play at Brainwaves last November and it was earth shattering. In a good way. Can't wait to see this show. Windy & Carl's first tour in 6 years.



Spectrum at ATP NY 08 via
Tuesday, April 28
Spectrum, Broken River Prophet, Ghost Box Orchestra at The Middle Easy Upstairs ($10, 8:00, 18+)
Spectrum is Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3. That's pretty much all you need to know. Unless you need proof. In which case I saw Spectrum play at ATP NY. It was amazing.



Buraka Som Sistema at SoCo Cargo via
Friday, May 1
Buraka Som Sistema, DJ Sega at Harper's Ferry ($10, 8:00, 18+)
PARTY TIME. BSS are slick and but you should already know that. Sega plays wicked tight breakbeat hip-hop stuff. Gonna be a good time. Guaranteed.




Friday, May 1
Now, Now Every Children; The Hush Now; You Can Be A Wesley; Let's Whisper at TT The Bear's ($10, 9:00, 18+)
This is the third week in a row in which a famous music blog has put on a show. First it was Enough Cowbell, then last week it was Ryan's Smashing Life, and now it's Bradley's Almanac. Brad brought in Now, Now Every Children all the way from Minneapolis to play their wonderful indie pop. Add Boston locals The Hush Now and You Can Be A Wesley to the bill with Vermont's Let's Whisper and you got yourself one helluva show. If you're leaning more towards the indie rock side of things instead of the dance party that will be Buraka Som Sistema (above) or the noise fest of Work/Death (below), then this is the place to be on May Day.




Friday, May 1
Work/Death, Pedestrian Deposit, Earn, Double Awake, Animal Steel, Luke Moldof at The Butcher Shoppe ($?, 8:00, all ages?)
Noise. Lots of it. Earn is Matt Sullivan of Privy Seals. Luke Moldof is in the super awesome Perispirit with Ricardo Donoso. The flyer says to wear an animal mask. More info.




Saturday, May 2
Tape Jazz, Powerlines, Shitshow, 1929 Till I Die, Planned Communities at The Westend Theater (Gloucester) ($7.00, 6:00, all ages)
If you're gonna be up north this weekend, perhaps it would be worth your time to head to The Westend Theater in Gloucester. It seems like some of the bands might not be all that great, but then there's Tape Jazz. They're from JP and make some weird ass noise that I like to listen to. Powerlines might be alright but there's no Myspace page or anything. And Black People may or may not be playing.

Haiku Review: Hit Factory - Party Animal EP (self released, 2009)

Hit Factory - Delicate Army


Hit Factory
Party Animal EP (free download)
/chipper indiegaze/
/turn volume up, windows down/
/sunny weekend time/

Shit, b°tong, Oldine, Tamagawa at Oxfam Cafe

Tamagawa
Tamagawa
Oldine

Tamagawa: thick heavy mind-boring guitar drone

Oldine: Ty Braxton style vocal/guitar looping with hints of pop and Americana

b°tong: sample-heavy minimal industrial power glitch

Shit: had to leave before Shit played

Malinalli - Path Of The Fruit (Cloud Valley, 2009)

Malinalli - Side A (Untitled)


Malinalli seems to be a mysterious dude(s). I can't come up with anything on Google that seems to be related to the same Malinalli that made Path Of The Fruit. All I got is the Cloud Valley Myspace that links to Dream Safari in the description of Path. And the DS page has as much info as Google does on Malinalli so that doesn't help much. Does Dream Safari = Malinalli? Who knows, man. Those are just minor details, though. All that really matters is how fucking crazy amazing Path Of The Fruit is.

As soon as you hit play, it sounds like you entered a much less epic Temple Of Doom. I don't think there's any vocals, but the sounds created have that chanting monk like quality to them. It's a gorgeous blend of tones that are both unnerving and relaxing. It's a very confusing piece, the kind that fucks with your head a bit.

The B side is just as monk like, only this time it has a much stronger vocal feeling to it. Totally weird stuff. I just keep coming back to the Temple Of Doom thing. Like I went spelunking in a deep uncharted cave in the middle of Peru and stumbled upon some long lost almost inhuman tribe and this is the language they use. Nothing too religious or anything, just loooooong drones, like these people have lost all concept of time and communicate in the slowest way possible.

Path Of The Fruit is an enchanting listen. It might only be appropriate for very specific times in your life (like when you have your parents over for dinner) but when that time comes, this tape is gonna be fucking perfect.

V/A - Have It Or Grab It Or Go? (Clowny Clown, 1996?)

DJ Pete Hothead - Split


I grabbed this one at the Record Exchange in Salem on Record Store Day based almost solely on the album art. I mean look at that. A white kid with a white afro and a black kid with a black afro wearing a shirt that says "Soul On Ice"? There was no way I wasn't buying that. But the more I looked at the record itself, the more I realized I had no idea wtf it was. There's no artist info and no pressing or release info. What I got is an album title (Have It Or Grab It Or Go?), a label (Clowny Clown Productions), and some song titles. That's it. So now I had an album with ridiculously cool art and a shit ton of mystery. Sweet!

From what I gathered on this site, Have It Or Grab It is somewhat like a cross between a split and a mixtape. The A side features a bunch of badass beats from DJ Pete Hothead. And they are fucking slick. Due to my utter lack of knowledge in the genre, the best comparison I can make is Clutchy Hopkins. They're instrumental and repetitive, kinda jazzy, kinda funky, and they got plenty of soul. Perfect music for pretty much anything.

The B side is the mixtape part, with Hothead picking some of his favorite "lost breaks." Luckily, the site I found listed the artists for 4 of the 6 tracks on the flip side, narrowing my labor intensive Google searching to 2 songs. My best guess is that "You Tried To Warn Me" is by Piero Umiliani (which strangely enough is the B side to the "Máh Ná Máh Ná" single) and "Sunday Morning" is most likely The Velvet Underground. Other than that, the only other artist I'm familiar with is the Moog master Gershon Kingsley who does the title track. Then there's Pool Pah (did the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film The Flasher), Ralph Carmichael (whose "Switchblade Theme" is from The Cross And The Switchblade), and The Glimmer Twins, who are actually Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Their song on here is "Aladdin's Story," which may sound familiar because Death In Vegas covered it on The Contino Sessions. I mean, this all sounds about right but I have no real way of knowing. All I know is that these tracks are all fucking killer and I've been listening to them nonstop. They fit perfectly with Hothead's style.

Since I doubt you'll find this available anywhere, I have no problem letting you download the whole thing, which I highly recommend. You won't regret it. Just an fyi, I'm not super picky with the clicks and pops when transferring vinyl so you're just gonna hafta deal. The record is in great shape and sounds fine, with the exception of the second track by Hothead ("Snack Food"). There's a skip in it that I tried to fix a little but it's still noticeable. I don't want any complaints, though, 'cause you're getting this fucking sweet ass gem for free.

Locrian - Drenched Lands (At War With False Noise / Small Doses, 2009)

Locrian - Obsolete Elegy In Lost Concrete


Locrian's first full length of (mostly) new material, Drenched Lands, has been written about on many blogs, some high profile (lookin' at you Brainwashed) and others only slightly bigger than I. Normally when something gets too much exposure, I tend to pass on writing about it for (hopefully) obvious reasons. Unless said record is that good. Good enough to warrant another review on another blog in the hopes that maybe even one more person will hear about it. Drenched Lands is more than worthy of another post. In fact, it demands it.

Drenched Lands is a very very special record that dances along the lines of drone, noise, doom, and black metal and it does it so well without ever actually being really metal. At most I'd say it gets to being dark and heavy but never quite metal. It opens with "Obsolete Elegy In Effluvia and Dross" and has a melancholic guitar riff that sounds like a doomed out Americana. Definitely no metal here. Then "Ghost Repeater" shows up with it's haunting buzzing blackened ambience that drones on for over 10 minutes in the most glorious way possible. And there's a gong! Like one of those giant ones you see in ancient Tibetan monasteries. "Barren Temple Obscured by Contaminated Fogs" starts out straightforward enough, with some creepy droning synths and guitars but then Terence Hannum comes in, wailing over the discordant static with his best BM vocals. Totally fucked. Totally awesome.

"Epicedium," one of my favorite tracks, is mostly guitar, all echoes and feedback, with a synth core that creates a frightening yet laid back atmosphere. And "Obsolete Elegy In Cast Concrete" is probably the most metal track out of the bunch, with relentless strumming and more BM vocals that end up conjuring the same riff from the first song. Somehow they manage to make it edgier, making it one of the best slow moving metal riffs I've heard in a while. It's the kind of riff that's mournful and beautiful at the same time (aka my favorite kind). This is seriously one of the best songs I've heard all year. Fucking dramatic as hell, so epic and gorgeous.

One of the best parts of Drenched Lands is also the only song that's not new material. The last track, "Greyfield Shrines," is a 30 minute masterful monument that is easily one of the best songs on the album and could have a review all for itself. It's labeled as a "bonus track" because it was released as it's own 12" last year. As awesome as this probably sounds on vinyl, I'm sure it's nice to be able to listen to the whole thing uninterrupted, without having to flip the record over. So thanks for that, guys.

I feel like Locrian have really channeled all of their energy into Drenched Lands and it absolutely shows. This is a fucking stunning album that deserves all the praise it's been getting. Now that Locrian have made this ridiculously amazing album, I hope they haven't tired themselves out. They better have something up their sleeves for the follow up.

Kill And Eat - Green Bushes (Alright Now, 2009)

Kill And Eat - Green Bushes


I listen to straight up jazz once every year. Thanksgiving. I'm all dressed up, wearing fancy clothes, driving around town hitting up each and every side of the fam, and I tune into whatever station is on the low end of the dial playing jazz. And hopefully it's raining outside. Kill And Eat's Green Bushes is the record I hope that radio station is playing.

But I understand once a year might be a little too sparse to listen to one record. Perhaps you should make it part of your daily ritual. You can throw it on in the morning when you wake up and are reading the latest RSS feeds from your favorite blogs (AGB!) drinking a hot cup of coffee. Green Bushes is perfect for that.

It's a sprawling 18 minute sweet low-key jazzy drone piece. If you can imagine what it would sound like if Ben Folds took some classes from Lubomyr Melnyk, then you have a pretty good idea about what Bushes sounds like. It's a nice, easy going listen that doesn't judge you too harshly and would probably make an offer for you to sleep with it after all is said and done. And knowing you, you'd probably say yes.

Kill And Eat have Green Bushes in it's entirety (meaning the 18 minute title track plus two shorter "sketches") available to download for free on their website. There is a physical release which can be yours for a recommended $5 donation. But there's no "cover art" (only "packaging" as seen above). Which means you get a green CD slipped nicely into some white origami style folded printer paper. For 5 bucks. Like everything else, the choice is yours.

Show Worthy 4/20-4/26

Monday, April 20
Gary War, The Beach Eagles, DJ John Barera at ZuZu! (FREEEEE, 10:00, 21+)
Gary War is part of that whole scuzzzzz rock stuff like Ty Segall, Wavves, Vivian Girls and the like and he's just as awesome as the rest. The Beach Eagles are a local band that go by the name of Headband except tonight it's "headband with wooden guitars. same olde character assasination rock, now without the pill overdoses." Promises to be fun, if nothing else. And hey. Ya can't beat the price.



Area C via

Tuesday, April 21
Mudboy, Area C, Skeletons Out, Work/Death at The Middle East Upstairs ($8, 9:00, 18+)
This one's put on by Intransitive which means total awesomeness. Fantastic line up. Skeletons Out is Howard Stelzer & Jay Sullivan duo, tapes and turntables and shit. Do not miss this.




Tuesday, April 21
The Lights Out, Logan 5 And The Runners, Fishhawk, Hundred Years War at Great Scott ($8, 9:00, 18+)
Presented by Ryan's Smashing Life, the much loved Boston music blog. Lots of sweet local bands including some recent almost winners of the Rumble, The Lights Out and Logan 5 And The Runners (who, by the way, have one of the best band names).



Pearl & The Beard at The Cupping Room 11/20/08 via Lola
Thursday, April 23
Pearl And The Beard, Dinosaur Feathers, Jimi Zeppelin at O'Brien's ($6, 9:00, 21+)
Pearl And The Beard sound cool. Dinosaur Feathers ARE cool (proof). And the verdict is still out on Jimi Zeppelin. Good luck finding anything about him/them.




Thursday, April 23
The One Man Drone Tour at Oxfam Cafe (FREEEEEE, 8:00, all ages)
Man, I ALMOST passed this up. I didn't know what this "One Man Drone Tour" was and figured it might be cool, maybe I'd give it a shot. But then I found out what it is. Kind of. I at least know who's involved. b°tong, Shit, Oldine, and fuckin Tamagawa. I don't know if they're doing separate sets or if it's all one big collaboration but either way, this shit is gonna be epic.




Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26
Megapolis Festival all over the city (Pass: $45 advance/$50 dos, Student Pass: $30 advance/$35 dos)
The Megapolis Festival is going down all over the city for a few days this weekend. Lots of fun stuff, like The Lothars and Peace, Loving playing at the Elk's Lodge in Cambridge on Friday. And tons of workshops, etc. There's a nice big schedule. You should check it out.




Saturday, April 25
+/-, Harlem Shakes, more at WMBR Spring Weekend Music Festival at MIT (FREEEEEEE, noon, all ages)
Here's what you do. Perfect Saturday. You go to the steps of Kresge Auditorium at MIT at noon. Spend zero dollars. Stay 7 hours and see Supa Dupa, Bustin Timberfakes, Space Faces, Sleepyhead, CaUSE-CoMOTION!, Harlem shakes, and +/-. You must know at least 3 of those bands and you know they're awesome. Otherwise go away. Then go see Crank Sturgeon at Third Life Studio...



Crank Sturgeon via
Saturday, April 25
Crank Sturgeon, Charlie Kohlhase Explorer's Quartet, Grizzler at Third Life Studio ($7, 7:30, all ages?)
Presented by Opensound. You probably know Crank Sturgeon. And if you don't, you should. He's awesome. Just look at that picture. Charlie Kohlhase is playing as a quartet but I still have no idea who he is or what he does. And Grizzler is actually this enormous collaboration between 14 sound artists including Brendan Murray, Lou Cohen, Jarrod Fowler, Forbes Graham, Ryan McGuire, Jed Speare, Jay Sullivan, and Jules Vaselenko. So far, that's 2 seriously epic shows happening this week. Sometimes Boston's not quite as bad as it seems.



Giuseppe Ielasi via
Sunday, April 26
Giuseppe Ielasi & Renato Rinaldi, Brendan Murray at Elk's Lodge ($5 w/ Megapolis Pass / $10 w/o, 8:00, 21+?)
This is presented by Non-Event and is sorta part of the Megapolis Fest but it's a "post festival sponsored event" so I thought I'd list it separately here. Also, it's amazing enough to deserve it's own spotlight. Giuseppe Ielasi is fucking fantastic. Dude's from Italy and he's playing Boston with Rinaldi who seems just as great. And everyone loves Mr. Murray. So yeah. More awesome noisey droney experimental stuff. Great way to start/end the week.

Haiku Review: Diamond Black Hearted Boy - EP (self released, 2009)

Diamond Black Hearted Boy - The Cat And The Cross


Diamond Black Hearted Boy
EP (free download)
/ummmmmmmm muy wtf/
/this shit is fucking nasty/
/legs jiggle, mind blown/

via Better Than Sex

Guitar Hero Metallica

No real blog post today. Busy rocking my ass off. Just picked up Guitar Hero Metallica which is ridiculously fun despite having to listen to lots of Metallica. Playing Metallica songs in GH is actually a ton of fun because they're wicked hard and their solos are fucking killer. Not to mention that is also has Mastodon, The Sword, Slayer, Kyuss, Judas Priest, Motorhead, and a bunch of other stupidly awesome metal. Now if you'll excuse me, I shall go play "Blood & Thunder" and "The Black River" until my fingers bleed.

Mastodon - Blood & Thunder (with clowns)

Mountains, Mind Wheel at Oxfam Cafe

Mountains
Mind Wheel
Mind Wheel


Second night within the week I went to Oxfam Cafe for a superb show. Last week when I saw Parts & Labor there, I had very little problems with the sound system. I mean, it wasn't perfect but as long as it was loud (and it was) there was little I had to complain about. Not so with Mountains. With music as delicate and subtle as theirs, every crackle and quiver from the speakers brought me right back to the cafe. And the cafe is not where I was when I was listening to Mountains. Nope. I was actually being carried through a stream that was flowing upwards towards to sky. However, it wasn't because the current's so powerful, it's due to a lack of gravity. It was beautiful and transcendent. I'm fairly certain that's something everyone should experience sometime in their life. And now you don't have to find an upward flowing stream, you just have to go see Mountains live.

The band that played before Mountains was Mind Wheel from Portland, Maine and they were exceptional. At times they sounded like a Fuck Buttons/Mountains blend, sometimes they had a naturey Americana sound, but whatever they happened to be doing, it was absolutely wonderful. Felt like I was hovering through this, cruising around at ungodly speeds. They're in the process of booking a show at PA's Lounge, so keep an eye out for that. You don't want to miss these guys when they come back to Boston.

So, yeah. It only seems fitting that the creators of one of the best records of the year would put on one of the best live shows, too. Mountains = awesome. Live Mountains > awesome.

Panda Steps In Chocolate - Creep Of The Crop (self released, 2009)

Panda Steps In Chocolate - Board Games And So Are You


OK, first things first. Panda Steps In Chocolate is one of the cutest band names ever. It instantly brings to mind something so random and hilarious (and cute!). And then there's the whole thing about Creep Of The Crop being free (you can download it here). Seems like it would take some truly awful music for me to hate this band. Luckily, Creep is the opposite of awful.

You can probably guess the kind of music this guy makes. Did you guess Christian black metal? If you did, you're a bad guesser. Panda Steps In Chocolate makes sweet sweet electro indie pop that makes me want to hug my wife. It reminds me a little of Built By Snow's MEGA except less nerdy (not counting that going-down-the-pipe sound from Super Mario Bros halfway through "Is This For You Guys, Uhhh OK" 'cause that's pretty nerdy).

If you're not clever like me, the pop might fool you if you're easily fooled. As happy as this record sounds, the lyrics tell another story. One about about girls. And sadness. Or something. I'm not sure. I wasn't really paying attention. I do know one lyric that's definitely about a girl and it goes "There's a porcupine where your heart should be." I think it's a metaphor for how he wants her to like him more than she likes porcupines.

I like Creep Of The Crop a lot. And I like saying "Panda Steps In Chocolate." Both make me smile. Success!

Realax - Apollo Guise (Little Fury Things, 2008)

Realax - X Or Size


When I read the description of this CD on the Little Fury Things website, I thought to myself, “Oh, that sounds like it’ll be pretty good.” It’s ridiculous how naive I was at that point.

Full review on diskant.

Stone Baby - Vir Heroicus Subliminus (Tape Drift, 2008)

More images on my Flickr.
Stone Baby - Side A (I / II)


Vir Heroicus Subliminus is a rough one. It's thick and dirty and not necessarily the easiest thing to listen to. So right off the bat, I love it. However, contrary to it's thickness, Subliminus feels almost like you're not listening to anything at all. It's a specter that almost entirely vanishes when you view it directly.

I hate to say this, but Stone Baby's Tape Drift debut works best for me when I'm not actively listening to it. When I keep it on in the background, I end up hearing all sorts of crazy shit like crying babies and throngs of beetles. But the minute I focus all of my attention on it, everything disappears. All I'm left with is my questionable memory.

I know that there is, in fact, fantastic music recorded to this tape. I know that because I know I'm not crazy. Whenever Subliminus is playing, I hear the most wonderful sounds (crying babies excluded). Just because I can't find it when I'm actually listening to it is irrelevant. The tape that I know as Vir Heroicus Subliminus is the tape I hear when I'm not paying attention to it. And that tape is fucking awesome.

Show Worthy 4/13-4/19

Another great week for shows. Tons of stuff going on. But you know what? I'd say the same thing even if it was just Mountains playing. What? You didn't know? The makers of Best Drone Album Of The Year (the review of which got deleted by Blogger, fuck you guys) are playing at the Oxfam Cafe on Wednesday. Yeah, that pretty much makes everything else going on this week irrelevant.



King Darves
Monday, April 13
2673, King Darves, Jay Sullivan, Benjamin Nelson at The Piano Factory ($5-$10 donation, 8:00, all ages)
This is part of the Coup D’etat music series put on by Semata Productions which automatically means it's going to be great. I only know of Jay Sullivan, who does that awesome turntable drone stuff and is part of Ouest with Howard Stelzer and Brendan Murray. But when some of the other bands are described as "Phil Niblock and Johnathan Coleclough crying together in a bar" or "a voice more glorious than Calvin Johnson and Michael Gira combined" then you know this is the real fucking deal.



Mountains
Wednesday, April 15
Mountains, Mind Wheel at Oxfam Cafe (freeeee, 8:00, all ages)
If you haven't yet heard Choral by Mountains, then do yourself a favor and go to Thrill Jockey's website to buy the CD (you waited too long to buy the limited edition double vinyl. It's sold out suckas). It's one of the best records I've ever heard ever. This show is free. It is all ages. You need to go.




Thursday, April 16
Anal Cunt, The Groinoids, Panzerbastard, Psycho, Fast Death at Church ($12, 7:00, 21+)
I'm only recommending this because Anal Cunt is fucking ridiculously awesome. I have no idea about the rest of the bands. But I mean it doesn't even matter. It's fucking Anal Cunt.



Loud Objects via blackmetalbanjos
Friday, April 17
Ensemble Robot & Loud Objects as part of The Beeline Festival at The Broad Institute ($15, 8:00, all ages)
I'm not totally sure what this is. Here's what the website says. It's the "world premiere of Concert Aria for Obbligato Violin and Robots by computer music pioneer Paul Lansky. Plus Evan Ziporyn's Belle Labs and completely new works by Ensemble Robot and Loud Objects composers for robots and live soldering." Here is what I do know. Loud Objects involves Tristan Perich, the man who made the amazingly genius 1-Bit Music. And there's something to do with robots and soldering. That's all I really need to know. I'm fucking sold. But if $15 is a little too rich for your blood, there's always the Big Bear show at The Middle East Upstairs with Pants Yell that same night for $8. And that could be the best $8 you spend all week.




Sunday, April 19
Count Rockula, Cassette at Middlesex Lounge ($5, 8:30, 21+)
This is a night of firsts. It's the very first event presented by one of the best blogs in Boston, Enough Cowbell. It's also the first night that both Rockula and Cassette will officially be playing Boston. So go have fun, dance your ass off ('cause Monday's Patriots Day!) and revel in the fact that the $5 is being donated to Cycle Kids, a local non-profit helping kids get their hands on bikes.

Parts & Labor, Wallcreeper, Kid Romance at Oxfam Cafe

Parts & Labor

Parts & Labor

Parts & Labor

Parts & Labor

Wallcreeper

Kid Romance

More photos on my Flickr.


Oxfam Cafe: cozy little place that's impossible to find with no stage and ample lighting for taking pictures. They don't list anywhere on the internet that other bands are playing. Oh yeah, good coffee, too.

Kid Romance: Really great stripped down garage punk rock with guy/girl vocals that maybe needs some more time in the oven.

Wallcreeper: Talented musicians making music you couldn't pay me to care about.

Parts & Labor: Fucking euphoric epic power noise pop that warms the cockles of your heart and puts a smile on your face. They played "Wedding In A Wasteland" (my favorite off Receivers) which I hadn't heard live yet. They also played a new song that they're calling "Hurricane" which was awesome as shit. Easily my favorite band to see live (sorry Big Bear) and I now have the requisite day-after-bangover.

Video: Gold Chains - Rock The Parti

This Eoghan Kidney directed video for Gold Chains' "Rock The Parti" is part eye fuck, part low end kinematic typography. The ridiculously awesome party anthem has some fun lyrics, like talking about how JC had lazer eyes, and while the video doesn't necessarily enhance the lyrics, at least now I know all the words and can sing along.

Farmacia - Nosocomio Manicomio (Little Fury Things, 2008)

Farmacia - Side B (Delincuencia Juvenil / Palangana Parte 2 / Vas / Demonio 3 / Atendido Por Sus Propios Duenos)


I'm not even going to try to pretend like I know what these 3 dudes were up to when they decided to make Nosocomio Manicomio. Maybe things are different in Argentina. Maybe it's normal for a band like Farmacia to get completely fucked up and record a tape as riduculous as this.

It's pretty much all electronic stuff and for the most part, there are recognizable beats. So if this were straightforward, Nosocomio would be some popular electro dance tape that all the hipsters would play at their parties. Except this is anything but straightforward. In fact, it's the exact opposite of straightforward. Sometimes there's spacey spazzy electronic blips and whirring. Sometimes, like the second song on the A side, "Aguantadero," it sounds like Farmacia took maybe one hit too many and made the most bizarre, dissonant, vocal centered piece that probably sounded at the time like the best song they've ever written.

This tape is so far out there, it's hard to judge it in regular terms. I mean, of course I fucking love it. That kinda goes without saying. But I'm not really sure I'd say it's objectively good. Yeah, it's genius. But "good?" Maybe not. It's one of those albums where the individual songs aren't necessarily all that amazing on their own but when it all gets compiled, it turns out to be waaaaayy more than the sum of it's parts. I think the only exception to that might be the first song on the B side, "Delincuencia Juvenil." It's probably the most easy and accessible song on the whole tape and it's the one I look forward to most. It definitely stands as an awesome song all on it's own, without any context.

After playing Nosocomio Manicomio a hundred bazillion times, I'm no closer to really understanding it. It's almost like every time is the first time. No matter how many times I've heard it before, it still sounds completely new, different, and totally fucking weird. Of course, this means I'll be checking into the many previous CDs they've put out, if only the see if their always this insane.

Ophibre; Nature; Hunted Creatures; Peace, Loving at Church

Ophibre

Nature

Hunted Creatures

Peace, Loving

More photos on my Flickr.

I'm pretty sure it's mostly futile writing this review. Last night was the first night of the monthly, I dunno what you wanna call it, residency? of JP's Whitehaus at Church. The first Tuesday of every month, The Whitehaus will be presenting a show with various Whitehaus and non-Whitehaus related bands at Church for free. But seeing how this was the first night of that, and it was also the opening day for the Red Sox, there were almost zero people at the show. Literally, I was one of about 5 people there that wasn't in a band or "with the band." So this review? Probably only relevant to a dozen or so people. In the world.

This was another show with some serious lineup shifting, going almost in reverse. Peace, Loving was up first and they were almost nothing like when I saw them about a year ago. I remember them being very minimal, lots of scattered noise, earthy, and haunting. There was a little bit of that last night, with their wooden frame with tons of metal scraps and tape recorders playing various found sounds and radio broadcasts. But there was actually a lot of free jazz, too. I mean, most of the time, they all played actual instruments. A few drums, guitar, bass, saxophone, it was just how they played that made them less of a "jazz band" and more of a "free spirited, do whatever the fuck we want noise band." I gotta give the banjo player major awesome points, too. He played the banjo right next to a regular microphone (banjos aren't the loudest instruments, after all) and when things started getting a little crazy, he would scrape the mic against the banjo strings. It's such a simple thing but I was just so impressed by that. It sounded amazing and I fuckin loved it. Good job, banjo player.

Hunted Creatures was up next. I was really excited to see him because he put out that exquisite split tape with Ophibre and I knew his live stuff was just going to be spectacular. And of course, it was. Similar to the piece on the split tape, there was a low rumble that resonated throughout the room, creating the foundation of the song. Unlike the tape, however, there was a lot of easily recognizable beauty with something that sounded like a bagpipe (bagpipe imposter?) and the second half of the song was filled with swaths of (appropriately Church related) organs. So wonderful. It wasn't just all drone, though, as he added a bunch of pre-recorded percussion that sounded a lot like the clattering of bricks and wooden 2x4s being rolled around and dropped in a huge warehouse. Similar to the industrial sounds from the split tape, but not nearly as scary.

Nature was a band I knew absolutely nothing about prior to the show except that they were on tour with Hunted Creatures. There were two of them, one sitting behind a drum kit, the other hunched over some electronics with his back to the audience. There was a lot of quiet layered static coming from who knows what in the beginning. Eventually, the non-drummer picked up a guitar and then they started playing some awesome post-metal-noise-rock stuff. The guitar was completely washed out with distortion and delay and the drummer was just going nuts. These guys fucking destroyed. Totally was not expecting anything resembling "rock" at a show like this. The drummer picked up a set of big headphones and used them as a microphone, sounding similar to the vocals from Lightning Bolt or the songs where the drummer sings in Neptune. Fucking amazing. They finished off with weird minimal processed percussion and guitar feedback static drone that ultimately faded away into nothing.

Shit, man. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ophibre's drone is of the highest quality. Last night's set was spacey and slightly New Agey (fuck you it can be done right) in an Emeralds sort of way. I don't know if you used to watch Battlestar at all (and if you didn't, wtf start right now) but the bedrock of Ophibre's piece was like the sound the Cylon Raiders made when they were scanning something with their red eyes going back and forth. Ophibre used it in a way that I would almost call a beat if it was regular or consistent enough, which it wasn't. But what he carefully laid down on top of that was just so perfect and special. I completely lost all concept of time and physical reality. I literally caught myself from falling over a couple of times because I just stopped paying attention to my body. I think I was traveling through space, 30,000 light years away to a sun drenched ice planet and I was exploring one of it's sparkling caverns. When Ophibre's set ended, I couldn't tell if he'd been playing for 15 minutes or an hour. I guess it doesn't really matter though. It was fucking unbelievable. That's what matters.