Show Worthy 5/25 - 5/31

Monday, May 25
Concord Ballet Orchestra Players, Mind Yeti, Atomfoam & Greg Sun at Charlie's Kitchen ($"cheap", 9:00, 21+)
I've still yet to see CBOP and it's a fuckin shame because I just keep hearing about how awesome they are. Mind Yeti features members of B.E.A.R.D. Atomfoam is Adam of Peace, Loving and he's playing with Greg Sun of Manners. Seems like Charlie's is becoming the place for unique once in a lifetime shows with this one and last week's show with Eli Keszler and Kate Village, etc.



Saw this on Ear Pwr's Myspace. I had to use it.
Tuesday, May 26
Big Digits, Fiasco, Shellshag, Ear Pwr, Thrust Lab at Church ($6, 8:00, 21+)
This right here is a killer fucking line up. The little people with big fan bases are coming out of the groundwork from here to NYC and Baltimore to put on a show that is guaranteed to make you dance like a madman. Lots of electro, lots of punk, sometimes all at once. Go to this show if you want to know what it's like to have a good time. It will be better than Tyvek at O'Brien's the same night. Promise.




Wednesday, May 27
Appleblim, Tanner Ross, C-Dubz at Goodlife ($5, 9:00, 21+)
Everyone needs a little bit of dubstep in their life. Appleblim is a founder of Skull Disco and will be throwing down some nice skittery dub beats for you to dance to. This is his first US tour and he's only hitting up about 10 cities so you should feel very special that you get a chance to party with him. Thank Bassic for bringing him to town.



Ouest at The Piano Factory 7-08 via
Thursday, May 28
Benny Nelson, Vic Rawlings & Bryan Eubanks, Ouest at Outpost 186 ($5/10, 8:00, all ages)
Benny Nelson is from Fire In The Head and Burn Ward. Kinda surprised that a guy like him is playing at the Outpost but hey. Whatever. He'll destroy whatever venue he plays. Rawlings does the cello/electronics thing and Eubanks does the sax/electronics thing. Ouest, who you should already know,
is Brendan Murray, Howard Selzer, and Jay Sullivan making amazing sparse/thick static air noise. These guys just fucking rule. Gonna be an awesome show.



Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra via
Friday, May 29
Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra, Theft Able Lak Duo, Cave Bears at 119 Gallery ($5, 8:00, all ages)
Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra is two crazy looking guys making crazy noise. Rare US tour, one of them (Mattin) played No Fun Fest and they're also playing at Gay Gardens (with Drunkdriver, Heathen Shame, & Mind Eraser) on the 30th if you can't check 'em out on Friday. But this show is going to be nuts. ID M Theft Able is collaborating with like-minded vocal weirdo Stephanie Lak. That alone will be worth it. And Cave Bears are some dudes from Turner Falls making nasty noise. Seriously, this show is going to kick so much ass.




Saturday, May 30
Split/Signal - Silent films scored live by The Books, Roger Miller, Cul de Sac, Caspian, more at The Armory ($25, 6:00, 21+)
Yes, it is a bit pricey. Is it worth it? Probably. A bunch of bands including The Books (!), Miller (of Mission Of Burma), Cul de Sac, and Caspian, will be performing new music to create a score for original films by Rich Remsberg, VJ Dziga, Handcranked Productions, Bryan Deblasio, Michael Maraden, and more. Lots of awesomeness happening. Very unique. Not something you'll be able to see again any time soon. Oh yeah. Free beer, too.

Lord & Karlheinz, Audrey Chen & ID M Theftable, Jajuno Trio at The Piano Factory

Karlheinz
Lord
Audrey Chen & ID M Theftable
Jajuno Trio
More images on my Flickr page
I went to this show having not heard any music by any of the performers beforehand. But I had heard plenty about ID M Theftable and the Lord & Karlheinz duo, not to mention that fact that Semata Productions hardly ever puts on a bad show so I knew the likelihood of an epic night was pretty fucking high.

This show could be likened to the month of March in reverse. In like a lamb, out like a lion. The Jajuno Trio (James Coleman on Theremin, Jules Vasylenko saxin' it up, and Noell Dorsey "singing") started things off with a whisper, literally. Noell was audibly breathing, Jules looked like he was working on the saxophone but I couldn't necessarily hear anything, and Coleman was being very delicate with his Theremin. Super minimal, super quiet, and super awesome. At first, everything they played kind of melted together so you couldn't discern one instrument from the other. And I love shit like that. Is that coming from the sax or the Theremin? Who knows, man!

Although billed to go on last, Audrey Chen & ID M Theftable played right after Jajuno Trio and it was definitely my favorite set that night. Chen played her cello with some added electronics and Theftable stayed mostly on the electronic side of things. Pretty straightforward. Except when they opened their mouths. Both Chen & Theftable conjured some of the fucking craziest sounds to ever come from humans. I would not have been surprised to be told those noises came from shrieking cats, moaning monks, evil demons, pissed off gorillas, ancient witches, or anything else. It was completely off the wall and totally fucking amazing. I loved every second of it. The best part was how well they improvised together. It seemed like they knew exactly what the other was about to do and everything sounded so perfect. I've seen a lot of live collaborative improvisations but these two are easily the best. It couldn't have been better if it was planned.

Then Lord & Karlheinz came on and it sounds like it should be pretty easy to describe. Power electronics with live drums. Done. But this shit was so much better than that. Karlheinz looked so fucking angry the whole time and Lord was whooping and smiling and having the time of his life. Complete opposites, these guys. But totally amazing. And there was really dramatic lighting that made everything look wicked cool. At the end of the set, Karlheinz grabbed all two racks of pedals and electronics and just fucking smashed it into the ground. Total badass.