Show Worthy 9/21 - 9/27

Greg & Ted via
Monday, September 21
Ted Lee at Weirdo Records (donate, 8:00, all ages)
Another Series show at Weirdo, this time with Feeding Tube Records main man Ted Lee. Anything could happen at this show. I mean anything.



SubArachnoid Space via by Bring Whoever You Want to Bring
Tuesday, September 22
SubArachnoid Space, OvO, Ehnahre, Double Awake at Great Scott ($9, 9:00, 18+)
There are some things I don't know about this show, but there are also some things I do know. Like, for instance, that Double Awake is playing. I know that even though it's not listed on Great Scott's site because Mr. Double Awake told me himself. So that's pretty fucking cool. I also know Ehnahre are awesome avant metal and Ricardo Donoso plays with 'em. I don't specifically know OvO or SubArachnoid Space but I do know that they're on Load and Crucial Blast (respectively) and both of those labels (CB especially) fucking rule. So this show is going to be loud and it's going to amazing. Similar to the Health/Pictureplane/Big Digits/Bearstronaut show at Harper's Ferry except less dancing. You should go to this one. It will be better.



Sewer Goddess via by Todd Brooks
Thursday, September 24
Summoning Hate, Witch Tomb, Martyrvore, Sewer Goddess at O'Brien's ($8, 9:00, 21+)
MOOOOORE METAL. This show will be quite heavy on the metal, possibly also on the sucking. It has that potential, because 3 of the bands I've never seen. But Sewer Goddess is sure to bore black holes through your skull with disgusting industrial blackened noise shit. Even if you just go for Sewer Goddess, it will be $8 well spent.




Friday, September 25
Big Bear, You Need New Glasses, Tinsel Teeth, Dead Cats Dead Rats at The Middle East Upstairs ($8, 8:00, 18+)
You know a Big Bear show isn't going by unnoticed here. I will promote the shit out of them until the day I die. So go see them. Even if you've already seen them a dozen times, go again because they're that fucking good. Providence's Tinsel Teeth also (supposedly) put on a ridiculous live show with their nasty noise punkish ways. You Need New Glasses and Dead Cats Dead Rats are doing the CD release party thing and they'll both be playing their own post garage math punk stuff that is highly enjoyable. YNNG has a free album out now that you can (and should) go download.



Keir Neuringer via by Eelco Borremans
Saturday, September 26
Keir Neuringer & Skinny Vinny, Skeletons Out, Andrew Newman at 381 Congress St ($?, 8:00? all ages?)
There's so little published info on this show. Still, it seems like this is the lineup and it's definitely at 381 Congress St. So there's that. Not sure if Keir Neuringer and Skinny Vinny are collaborating or if they're playing separately. Also not sure about price, time, etc. But this show will be killer regardless of all those menial details. Skeletons Out fucking owns (Howared Stelzer & Jay Sullivan) and Keir Neuringer is a crazy electronic noise motherfucker. You might even get some droning saxophone. You never know.




Sunday, September 27
Mono No Aware, Xanopticon, Edgey, Synnack, So So Gutter at The Armory ($11 advance / $15 dos, 6:00, all ages)
This show is going to be so crazy. 100% awesome electronic acts doing all sorts of different stuff ranging from drum n bass to ambient and slick video artists givin you something sweet to look at while you party. Voidstar and Force Of Nature are putting this on so you know you're gonna have a good time. And fucking Xanopticon man! How can you even think about not going to this!?

Oneida, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Big Bear, Glenn Jones at Outside The Lines Studio

Glenn Jones

Big Bear

Proceeding chronologically with the recent shows I've been to (also saw Benny Nelson & Brandon Terzakis last night at Weirdo, review soon), here's a recap of what happened at the highly honorable Outside The Lines Studio, which, in case you don't know, is a gallery/studio space for adult artists with developmental disabilities. The place is a big warehouse that is overrun with art everywhere. Sculptures in every corner, paintings on every empty wall. Awesome, right? Even more awesome is the artists get %85 of all sales. That is fucking outrageous. In a really really good way.

Anyway, Glenn Jones (of Cul De Sac) started things off (replacing World Map). Apparently I saw him at Brainwaves last November and I didn't remember until he started his set. I was more than happy to see him again. This guy plays the most amazing guitar. It sounds like he's got 4 or 5 guitars all going at once. I have no idea how he does it but it's wonderful. Simultaneously dusty and clean, with a slight Americana sound. So good. I especially love when he plays the banjo. Because, well, I love the banjo.

Big Bear played next and HOLY SHIT I have never been able to hear all instruments and vocals live before. Whoever did the sound somehow made everything stand out from each other. I heard Jordyn's singing clear as day, both the keyboard and guitar, AND the bass. I never hear the fucking bass. It blew my mind. I have no idea what went differently but it was weird. I'm actually not even sure I liked it better or not. Either way, though, they mostly stuck to songs from their new record, with a couple older and newer than new ones. Fucking great. As usual.

I mentioned before that I thought seeing Sunburned Hand Of The Man live would push me one way or the other over the fence regarding whether or not I actually like them. Well, this performance definitely landed me on the "Sunburned is not my thing" side. I don't know if this is how they usually do things, but they had some bearded ponytail wearing guy come up twice to do some freestyle singing. That didn't go over too well with anyone I don't think. After coaxing everyone for too long to "fucking dance already" some guy in the audience ran up to the singer, grabbed the mic and yelled "I fucking hate you!" and threw both of his sandals at him. Taking it in stride, the singer said "Now there's a man with courage!" But even if it was all instrumental, I don't think I would feel any differently. I might be permanently writing Sunburned off after that night.

And then thee glorious Oneida stepped up, totally fucking outshining Sunburned's set. I didn't know this until Saturday night, but Oneida is seriously a band that can not be fully appreciated until seen live. They are a totally different beast. An amazingly beautiful beast of destruction. They played a bunch of stuff off of Rated O (which I just picked up at the show and can't wait to hear). The best part was seeing how much Oneida enjoyed playing live. They just radiate this sincere carefree joy that makes it's way into the audience. Everyone loved them. They were super tight. Kid Millions needs to get a fucking award or something. Dude is honestly one of the best drummers out there. Oneida is worth seeing live just to watch Kid smash his drums.

P.S. This show made me realize that I don't like to take pictures if I want to rock. So I apologize for never ever having any pictures of (especially) Big Bear and (specifically) Oneida.

Show Worthy 7/20 - 7/26

Monday, July 20
Black Beauty at Weirdo Records (donate, 8:00, all ages)
OK, so here's what I got. Black Beauty is Josh Friedman. He is from Vermont. He plays guitar. Heavy psych guitar a la Blue Cheer. He may have worked at Weirdo Records before. And somehow, with all of that information, I can't find a single site maintained by him or his project Black Beauty. But whatever. Sounds cool.
Update: Check the comments for a bit more accurate info on Black Beauty. Thanks, Angela!



Karlheinz at The Piano Factory
Tuesday, July 21
Neckhold, Sharpwaist, Karlheinz at O'Brien's ($6, 9:00, 21+)
This show is going to be fucking brutal. Power electronics destruction all around. Neckhold's from Australia so this is a very special show. Also, The Vomit Arsonist may or may not be playing. But fuck, everyone else could cancel and you should still go because Neckhold is fucking awesome.



Pineapple Explode via
Tuesday, July 21 / Wednesday, July 22
Pineapple Explode at PA's Lounge with Young Mammals, Battle House, Thief Thief (Tuesday) / at Outpost 186 (Wednesday) / at All Asia headlining Open Mic Night (Wednesday)
In case you're not picking up what I'm putting down, you should get your ass out and see Pineapple Explode. They're wonderful folk acoustic stuff with banjos, accordions, and ukuleles. I would recommend seeing them with Thief Thief etc at PA's 'cause that lineup is intense but that's the same night as Neckhold so... tough decision. But you have THREE chances to see them. I don't want any excuses.



Oneida via asphaltstadt
Saturday, July 25
Oneida, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Big Bear at Outside The Lines Studio ($10?, 7:00, all ages)
Sweet Jesus this is one killer lineup. The epically impressive Oneida is fresh off their recent 3xCD release Rated O that's only one part of a goddamn trilogy. Sunburned is just Sunburned. Ya love 'em or ya hate 'em. I'm still not sure where I stand. I think a live performance would push me one way or another. And thee mighty Big Bear is opening, back from their short tour with Child Bite supporting their new 7" split. By the way, please check out Oneida's website. It's beautiful and that cellular animation thing on the left is just so fucking cool.



Torche by Jana Miller via
Saturday, July 25
Harvey Milk, Torche, Cable at The Middle East Downstairs ($12, 8:00, 18+)
Harvey Milk rules. Torche rules even more. Why the FUCK did this show have to be the same night as Oneida?

Big Bear, Child Bite, Ketman, The Gondoliers at PA's Lounge

Big Bear
Big Bear
Child Bite
Child Bite
The Gondoliers

More photos on Flickr.


Big Bear and Child Bite put out a split 7" (green vinyl with killer artwork and it's only 4 bucks, fucking buy it already) and this was the record release show. It was also the beginning of their tour together. Aaaand if you went to this show, you got a free copy of the 7". Fuck. YES. Nothing so sweet as the words "free Big Bear 7"."

Anyway, The Gondoliers kicked the show off. Normally I'm not a big fan of bands with gimmicks, unless those gimmicks are awesome (The Locust, Harry & The Potters). The Gondoliers have been added to that list of exceptions. They were two guys on drums and guitar (with a shit ton of pedals), wore all white clothes, pitch black shades with words written on them (one said "Never" the other said "Quit!"), and kingly crowns that lit up. Of course, all the lights were turned out in the place, forcing them to play by halo-light. They didn't utter a single word to the audience. Instead, in between every few songs they had a computer recite in a Speak-N-Spell type voice little speeches they wrote that said something about how the governing party of The Gondoliers were not up for re-election and how even though they were quitting, it wasn't actually like quitting because they were letting Big Bear and Child Bite get their thing done (aka Palin's dumbass shit). Well, their shtick really got to me and I thought they were great. Not to mention their ridiculously awesome music. It wasn't anything super original but they did the math rock/sludge/metal/pop thing really well. Kinda reminded me if Torche was a duo and really into Don Cab. So it was pretty fucking great.

I skipped out for a bit and didn't see Ketman. Not that I'm all that disappointed. They're not really my kinda thing anyway.

Child Bite was up next and although I'd heard plenty about them and their "next big thing" status, I hadn't actually heard anything of theirs before I went to this show. I really enjoyed them. They had tons of energy to match their mostly-danceable punk rock fun. The bassist looked like a metal mix of Cheech and Chong and had massive hair that could not be contained by his hat. For some reason, he kept putting his hat back on and no matter how many times he did, his repeated head banging knocked it right off again. Kind of hilarious to watch. Also hilarious? The guitar/joystick solo duel. The lead singer had an arcade style joystick hooked up so it made crazy electronic sounds whenever you moved it around and pressed buttons. Kinda cheesy, mostly awesome.

And to finish off the night, Big Bear slayed, as always. This was the first time I'd seen them live where I was standing in front of Joanna playing the keyboard so it was weird to actually hear her. For some reason I always end up in front of Joel and all I can ever hear is his crazy guitar. Not at this show. They played 3 new songs (new as in not on their brand new record, which is self released and now available at their shows and you should buy because it's fucking great and you've been waiting years for it to come out). Those 3 new ones kind of sound like Big Bear's take on pop music. Which is fucking weird as shit and makes me think that Big Bear isn't quite as big as they used to be. If they keep heading in this direction, they'll end up being Regular Sized Bear. Which is fine by me. I love bears of all sizes. And their new sound is still awesome stop-n-start loudness.

Like I said, they just started their tour together so if they're coming your way, you best get out and see them. I'm fortunate because I get to see Big Bear pretty much whenever I want. You might not be so lucky. So take the chance to see them. And buy their new album and 7". Great stuff all around, I assure you.

Show Worthy 7/6 - 7/12

Daniel Harris via
Monday, July 6
Daniel Harris at Weirdo Records (donate, 8:00, all ages)
Harris uses instruments like the cello, glockenspiel, melodica, banjo, etc to make soundscapey folk tunes. Good stuff.




Tuesday, July 7
Animal Hospital, Quoins, Manners, Battle House at Great Scott ($8, 9:00, 18+)
This is gonna be a great show. Animal Hospital is blowing it up with his electroacoustic ambient post rock fantasticness. Quoins is new to me and there's no music on their Myspace so... Manners you should know already. Chill acoustic folky stuff. Real good. And then Battle House, who I've yet to see live, sounds like a mix between Wilderness and The Shipping News, doing that grandiose post punk thing. Like I said, great show.



Wet Hair via
Wednesday, July 8
Dianetics, Wet Hair, Happy Jawbone, Dead Luke at The Butcher Shoppe (donate, 9:00?, all ages)
It doesn't even fucking matter. Wet Hair people!! Ex-Raccoo-oo-oon! COME ON!



Big Bear
Friday, July 10
Big Bear, Child Bite, Ketman, The Gondoliers at PA's Lounge ($10, 8:30, 18+)
Big Bear & Child Bite put out a split 7" and this is the release party. You get a free copy of the 7" just for going. Shit, even if neither of them were playing that would still be worth it. Plus, the cover art has awesome alien walrus spiders on it. It doesn't get any better than this.



Nathaniel Bartlett via Tiffany Norman Fieldhouse
Sunday, July 11
Nathaniel Bartlett, Loop 2.4.3 at 119 Gallery ($10, 8:00, all ages)
Bartlett is performing as Immersive Music where he plays solo marimba and processes the shit out of it with his computer and eight channel cube of speakers to create "three-dimensional, high-definition, computer-generated sound projection." Um. YES PLEASE. Loop 2.4.3 is a couple of dudes making all sorts of transformative percussion. Super cool.




Sunday, July 11
Peter J Woods, Instinct Control, Sewer Goddess, Bereft, A Snake In The Garden, White Suns at The Butcher Shoppe ($5, 7:00, all ages)
Man The Butcher Shoppe is on fire this week. This is a killer noise show. The poster says it all. Harsh noise + circuit bent insanity = dead astronaut

Goblin Cock, Warship, Big Bear, My Stupid Friends at Harper's Ferry

Goblin Cock

Big Bear

Big Bear

My Stupid Friends

This show was special for a number of reasons but the primary one was seeing a godawful band right before Big Bear. I don't think that's ever really happened before and I was looking forward to having Big Bear sound so good after torturing myself for 30 minutes.

So My Stupid Friends were the first band and they have me completely fucking baffled. They are absolutely terrible. But, they "know" they're bad and they act all silly about it. For example, they all have matching costumes, sing songs called "Jose" with lyrics like "Jose can you see," and frequently joke about how bad they are. It's one thing to be a funny joke band and be bad but... I don't think that's what these guys are doing. I think they think they're bad in a different way then I think they're bad. And, obviously, they're bad. Like actually bad. As my friend put it, "This is like some Andy Kaufman level shit." They finished their set with a disgusting cover of "Macho Man" and I proceeded to vomit all over the empty floor.

Then Big Bear came on and I'm pretty sure that my friends and I were the only ones there who actually liked them. After their first song a guy way in the back yelled "What the fuck was that!?" I'm pretty sure he wasn't trying to complement them but hey, ya never know. This wasn't the best I've ever seen Big Bear play, so the dramatic contrast between them and My Stupid Friends wasn't quite as dramatic as I was hoping for but there's no such thing as a bad Big Bear show. I've never been disappointed in a Big Bear show; they always deliver and tonight was no different. Also, this marks the first time since their lineup change that I've heard them play a song from their first album. I can't for the life of me remember which song it was, though. Maybe #6? Whatever it was, it was great to hear one of the classics, especially revamped with a keyboard replacing the second guitar and Jordyn singing instead of screaming. And I discovered that Joel is a "math enthusiast."

Warship was up next and they are the most fucking deceptive band I've ever heard. This is a mostly metal show and their name is Warship and their logo is super metal. They weren't metal. Like, at all. Pelican is 10 times more metal than them. Goblin Cock is 100 times more metal than them. Warship is borderline emo. So they get the award for biggest letdown of the night. They weren't so much bad as disappointing. Ah well. Onto the goblin cocks.

Ohhhhh Goblin Cock. I wonder which came first to Rob Crow, the idea of making a metal band or the name Goblin Cock. My guess is the latter. I mean come on, you hear that name and you instantly think of the nastiest most brutal fucking metal ever. Which is exactly what Goblin Cock and their stage looked like. They came out cloaked in black robes with a few skulls strewn about the stage and strobe lights aplenty. Which is hilarious. Because Goblin Cock basically sounds like Rob Crow watched This Is Spinal Tap and wanted to join in on the fun. Aside from some chugging here and there, Goblin Cock is not metal. But that's part of the fun. At one point, Crow mentioned something about how one of their songs was about"caring" and someone started chastising them for not being metal to which Rob replied, "Caring is too metal." Yeah, so is covering Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels" (which was awesome, by the way). To their defense, the head on the guitarist's guitar said "Slut" and Rob Crow wore white face paint. 'Cause they're metal.

MP3: Big Bear - Live Acoustic Set At The Middle East 8-6-07

Big Bear - 20


Back in August of '07, loud as fuck metal mathy hardcore crazy awesome band Big Bear played a rare all acoustic set due to David (the bassist) fracturing both of his arms in a bike accident. It was amazing and hilarious (the show, not the accident). Amazing because Big Bear is infinitely amazing and hilarious because they all did a shot of Jäger after every other song. So their normally witty stage banter turned into exceptionally ridiculous banter.

The best part of all of this is that now everyone can hear how Big Bear sounds acoustic, what Jordyn sounds like when she's actually singing, and how funny they are live because they posted the whole set as an MP3 on their website.

What I did for you was chop it up into bite size pieces (aka songs) so you don't have to listen to the whole set all at once if you don't want to. I didn't delete any banter or anything, just made 7 individual files, one for each song. This is Big Bear unlike you've ever heard them before and it's one of the coolest things ever. Seriously, even if you're a modest fan of Big Bear, this is absolutely necessary.

Download Big Bear - Live Acoustic Set At The Middle East 8-6-07
Part 1
Part 2

Neptune, Parts & Labor, Big Bear, Thief Thief at The Middle East Upstairs

Big Bear
Neptune
Parts & Labor
Thief Thief

I've seen Neptune, Parts & Labor, and Big Bear play shows with each other in various combinations but this is the first time all 3 of them have played at once. Is it even possible that this show could have been any better? No. Well, yes, but I'm pretty sure that would just make me greedy.

First surprise of the night: My two friends who I thought weren't going to be there showed up. And that was cool. If there's anything we've learned from Into The Wild, it's that it's better to share experiences.

Thief Thief opened up with their fucking tight as shit math rock. Totally awesome. Thief Thief were one of the only ways the night could have been ruined. If they sucked, it could have put me in a bad mood. Fortunately, they were entirely worthy of playing a show with 3 of the best bands ever.

Big Bear came on with their still-new-to-me lineup with a different drummer and a keyboardist who replaced their second guitarist. Jordyn had her necessary thigh pad for intense tambourine smashing and after the obligatory excessive tuning, they tore the place up. All technically "new" songs but only because they haven't put out a record in over 3 years. One song actually was new, though. #23. Hadn't heard that one before but it's fucking badass and I hope it makes it onto the new album. Sadly, the banter was slightly sub par supposedly due to Jordyn's lack of caffeine. Hey, whatever. As long as you make my ears bleed, I'm a happy customer.

I think I was most looking forward to Parts & Labor as I've only seen them 4 times (as opposed to the dozens of times I've seen Big Bear and Neptune) and the fact that they were the only band playing that night that had put out a new record since I'd last seen them. Their newest album Receivers made my year end top 10 list and I was stoked to hear some of it live. Also, they morphed from a trio to a quartet and I was curious to see if that changed anything in their live show. Hardly. They were as awesome as ever and certainly didn't disappoint. Lots of new material was played, as well as some good ol' classics. They also played "an old song," something that had the word "Devil" in the name, I think. Couldn't find any info about it online but I assure you it was a fantastic song.

Here's where I thought the show could be just a bit better. In between sets, they were playing Big Business and I thought, "Hey, they should've played this show too." Only then could it have been better. But like I said, that's just asking a little bit too much.

Neptune played last, played a set consisting almost entirely of material from Gong Lake, and everyone loved them. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing some new stuff from them. The past 3 or 4 times I've seen them they've played the same songs. Fucking amazing songs, but always the same fucking amazing songs. So, yeah. They rock, I love them, I just want more.