Caught Cult Mind again on Friday. Their releases on Bandcamp don't really grab me as much as the live show does. A solid 15-20 minute chain punk set.
Live show reporting, Town Crier to the www masses.
17 days later
Glyders in Chicago:
Have yet to spend time with the recordings but this band is so great live, just can't stress it enough. They have this tap into Chicago blues, and a swagger all their own. Sort of a restrained rock n roll formalism that just hits. Seems like every head in Chicago knows but I haven't heard much buzz in the meantime. Drummer was in cctv and big zit and is fantastic, but this is a far cry from that. The couple at the helm are both captivating players/people. unique guitar and driving finger plucked bass that don't quit. Songs range from Dr Feelgood tough struttin, to crazy horse hazy groovin, great rythm, use of feedback, riffs and yeah, swagger is the operative word.
11th hour stubble one of the best
I finally got to see Michael Monroe last week. Having been a huge Hanoi Rocks fan since I was a kid, this was a huge deal for me. The gig took place in this crappy venue that unfortunately still practices the "pay to play" formula. So the two opening bands were absolute dog shit. Michael Monroe, on the other hand, delivered the goods. Covered different eras of his solo career, Demolition 23 and Jerusalem Slim. And then he dove right into five or six Hanoi songs. It was fucking mind blowing! For an encore, being in Ohio he namedropped Dead Boys(he was roommates with Stiv in Paris) and did Ain't Nothin' To Do. The closer was I Feel Alright(The Stooges). Killer set! If this is your thing and you have a chance to catch it, DON'T THINK TWICE!
5 days later
Caught Bria Salmena in SF. Not a total punk thing. She & her bandmates played in Toronto's Frigs and later in Orville Peck's touring band. On Sub Pop now. I love the first Cuntry Covers EP and the new LP. Show was weird. Early on a Saturday. 50 people max in the audience (great venue though). Took some good photos.
Last week caught a Melvins / Napalm Death show. I've seen the Melvins before but it's been a while. Never seen Napalm Death. Opening bands (Weedeater) and someone else were good if you're into that thing. Fine, good. Melvins were great, I didn't recognize a lot of what they played but I haven't kept up on them since 00 really. Napalm Death were surprisingly (to me) hella fun. Had low expectations tbh but they came out raging. Glad I went.
Also caught open mic stand up comedy after seeing Stop Making Sense again at the art house theater. Hit and miss as those things tend to be. Overall fun & recommended. Host was really funny.
Oh, as the Melvins / Napalm Death show let out these kids rolled up in a rental truck, rolled up the gate and played a street show in front of the venue. Still trying to find out who it was. Thrash stuff but a welcome surprise on a Tuesday night. Cops didn't show up. Clever.
Saw an incredible band last night. Garden of Love, was their first show in a newly tooled lineup. Used to be Jane Harm's Love Triangle and had a different bass player. New version was just stun gun level whip to the head. It's a trio with synth guitar, bass and drums. Operating on a homosexuals paradigm of quick pop spurts spliced with jagged edges. Where necessary guitar heroics intervene. Singing is like Kevin Ayers dry guy finds grace slick soaring all with warbling and wavering pitch. everyone playing at max capacity so tightly composed finds its way to off the rails. Probably my fave band in Montreal. They got a song coming on a comp i put together that is as focused and well executed as anything off stands for decibels.
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Saw AC/DC at the Rose Bowl on Friday. They played a great set, punctuated by a big fireworks display. Angus played something like a 12 minute guitar solo. Brian struggled a little bit but hey, he's 77! Last night I went to the Casbah in San Diego to check out Mike and Anja Stax of Ugly Things DJing between sets by The Lords of Altamont and The Creepy Creeps. I'd never seen or really heard the Lords and this was their penultimate show (ever?). I was pretty impressed, high energy and some great farfisa action. Cool double header weekend.
23 days later
Neisha told me she wanted to go see this lady whistle for Mother's Day. Who was I to argue with that? It's hard to know what to expect when someone tells you we have to go see this lady whistle. I mean whistling obviously but there's got to be more to it than that! Apparently not. She (Molly Lewis) came out onto the stage in a giant coat, told us to get ready for some whistling then dropped the coat to reveal she was wearing a long black sequined evening dress and got to work. She whistled for about an hour. THere were lots of hand movements, some awkward yet charming stage banter, corny jokes, and some simple yet effective projections on the red curtain she had placed behind her. She even did a small commercial , involving an audience plant, for her branded lip gloss between songs. The set consisted of three covers 'The Crying Game', 'Prelude in E Minor' and 'The Swan' and then a bunch of songs off her three albums which are mostly bossa nova. She played at Polaris and there were probably 200 people there to see her. It would have never been on my radar but was actually very enthralling.
Randall I saw the same act open for Wyes Blood a couple years back. It was cool. Dug it more than the headliner. I thought it would be elevated by live cocktail band. My reaction was even less premeditated cause I had no idea who she was and hadn't looked her up .was pleasantly surprised to see something different and in a big packed house venue.
5 days later
Caught the Durty Whyte Boots (with Russel Quan), Geros & Circulators last night. You folks at the Retreat are in for a treat. Circulators did a blown out Teengenerate cover (great) and a cover of a Detroit band, which, I won't ruin the surprise.
9 days later
Meant to post this sooner, but was in PDX retreatin'
Saw 75 Dollar Bill one week ago yesterday. It was fantastic. Small 100 cap room, sorta uptight crowd except one guy who was much too loose. His dancing culminated in a stomp-clap that couldn't be ignored. The crossed armed frowners around him didn't seem to faze him. The band was mesmerizing though. Sorta circular riffs and propulsive/occasionally broken beats that pulsate in the stoned mind. Could be Saharan guit, could be Irish folk, could be cultural transcendence at different times. Inspiring stuff.
Missed the Retreat this year but plan to return next year (assuming there will be one).
Was in Indianapolis for the Indy 500. With 249,999 of my closest friends. Pretty crazy.
Caught Mr. Phylzzz (Chicago, AmRep records) and Mr. Clit and the Pink Cigarettes at the Melody Inn (Indy) last week. Mr Phylzzz was pretty rockin'. I think Mr. Clit and co. put on a better show that night. Anyway, was a ripping good show. Would see both again if I have the chance.
I had to miss the retreat as well. Couldn't get the work off. I did see a pretty chill show at the Spot Tavern in Lafayette, IN last weekend though. Holt Bodish (of Mordecai) opened the show with a solo set. He did a few songs from his Petty Bunco tape and a few new ones that he says will be on an upcoming album. Really great stuff. Can't wait to hear more, from either Holt solo, or Mordecai. Hopefully both. Next was Drew Davis of Crazy Doberman fame doing a solo set as well. He did some trombone with bespoke mutes and sheet metal accompaniment. quick and to the point. Then SHARE did a set. They have a tape out. It is Jordan Allen and Mark Testor in a trio. Some dub feelings, some Sonic Youth in there. I like this band the more I see them. Net up was Kyle Flanagan, frequent crazy Doberman collaborator, doing a noise electronics piece. It was loud. Finally it was the Free Download band, which was SHare and local cyber punkers Data Unknown doing a collaborative set. basically Data Unknown songs with about 8 people . It was loud, psychedelic and even rockin. A great time all around. Check out both SHARE and Data Unknown if unfamiliar. both great local Indy bands.
Holt/Mordecai/Spats ought to play around Indy more- would like to see Share and have heard good stuff about Data Unknown.
Hello, summertime shows…
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Wade T Oberlin Holt lives in IL and I (the other mordecai brother) am moving with Miranda Spatula to Bloomington, IN in August. Expect much more activity sometime soon, but not immediately.
paperhose AW-RIGHT!!
G.I. Jinx live, full set from June 2024, their first show. Try this on for size and pickup the album baby.
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The Wedding Present at Mississippi Studios. The Tubs as support.
The Tubs are former members of Joanna Gruesome whose debut was great noise fuzz pop back in the '10s. I didn't like what i heard of The Tubs beforehand and I missed their whole set. In fact, I got to the show with TWP about 2 songs in which was fine with me because seeing them I realized I really don't like their very large discography other than the masterful album Bizarro, which they are playing about 5 songs in, and then play about 3 songs after they finish the 10 song album.
On the Lyft home from night 2 of the TPCR riding high from Heavy Mother II, I was shooting the shit with my driver and we were talking live music and he told me that he can only see bands "in the pit". I was like, hell yeah brother, who have you seen in the pit? and he said, Counting Crows and Matchbox 20. It was the perfect rock and roll chariot ride home. Apparently, the Crows didn't bring it for him he said, but he can't see bands live anymore unless he is in the pit. I tell you that to tell you this, my man would not have been happy with my circumstances as the show was sold out and MS Studios is like many venues just a long room (albeit with a balcony). So, I got there post start and was all the way at the back. I'm not such a fan that I wanted to weave my way through to the "pit" so i held back. It was packed tight though and i was right behind a couple, a dude who looked like James Hetfield in a Hang Ten sun shirt, board shorts and flip flops, so like James Hetfield 2025, i guess, and a lady who looked like a cross between a plumber and Melissa McCarthy. They were there to party and knew, judging form the sharp turns from air guitar to finger pointing to the song changes, the intimate details of every song and its starts and stops.
TWP were seasoned professionals and if you know Bizarro they did it extreme justice live 35 years later.
25 days later
Pegboy at the Ritz in San Jose on Sunday. Great set, small crowd but not too surprising. Sunday night and all. I'll see Naked Raygun any time and Pegboy kinda scratches that itch so yunno. It was good. They covered Raygun ('Treason') and Mission of Burma ('Revolver') which was fun.
So much to report as last week was Suoni Per Il Popolo, a local experimental/left field festival that has been going for 25 yrs, here are some capsule reviews of the things I saw:
Farida Amadou- cool lady playing the bass like a drum, all extended techniques, not a clear note in sight. Interesting stuff!
Chic White- I'll leave it hanging on Ruby's perfect review above but add that the world of experimental music has been inundated by the aesthetics of ASMR...this is the the same but the opposite, sorta anti-ASMR.
Lavender Flu, Home Blitz, Garden of Love- Booking this was my contribution to the fest. I was floored, naturally. Garden of Love is some of the best stuff in town as far back as I can remember, 2 of em lent Daniel a backing hand for 2 HB classics, which paired greatly with his otherwise stripped down set. Lately his show is sort of a marriage of british folk tradition, lady gaga kareoke, power pop and noise music. Lavender Flu was given cart blanche to play until they wanted to stop, which made for an amazing whirlwind of fractured pop songs, streched out improv and bombastic jet engine guitar ascention. Floored!
Earth Ball and Wolf Eyes- the big event on the last day. Earth Ball is a great new free rock unit made up of Shearing Pinx/Psychedelic Dirt membership. I loved their rambling acid fried improv, particularly when it quieted down, since formless full throttle guitar noise doesn't always make people emote at this late stage point in time.
Wolf Eyes were with Raven Chacon and were on the dubby side of their sound. Very cool and moody, with some space age nob twiddling and stoned stereo image. Olson was doling weed out before hand, which I think is a strategic move to get everyone on the apropriate plane for the performance, ala greatful dead lsd synergy.
Getting dosed by olzoNe is a true blessing
24 days later
Counting myself as one of the lucky handful to have seen both KREAYSHAWN and ANIMAL PISS IT’S EVERYWHERE in the same week. Spectacular sets from both.
Mitch C. Kreayshawn was fun. Never thought I'd see her live tbh. Saw Exploding Hearts twice in one day too.
Caught the Phantom Surfers last weekend. Tina!!!, Fadeaways (Tokyo) and Human Toys (Jon from Rip Offs / MTX) were good too. Highlight of the weekend for me was the Shannon and the Clams afterparty on Sunday night. No overlap with their set earlier in the day. Started at 12:30 am; crowd was SOOOO into it.
Some stuff I've seen lately, all in Newcastle, UK.
- Alien Nosejob at The Lubber Fiend. Their second time here, bigger band than last time. Just so much fun, I loved Ausmuteants (first Totsl Punk release I bought was one of their 7"s!) and this is no let down.
- Des Demonas at The Cluny. I'll try and catch anything on In The Red if it's in walking distance of my house. Surprisingly intense, maybe too soon in the set so once their stompers were done I got a little bored
- Midnight Mines at Globe. Been waiting a LONG time to catch MM. Just perfect dub/noise/garage. They make music that sounds like the art I want to see looks like. Weird seeing then in the pub by the college I went to at 16. Was good to to finally meet Wild Lemmy Caution.
- Stress Positions at The Lubber Fiend. Really solid one-two punch hardcore. Crowd was really into it (Ncl currently has a thriving young hc scene with loads of bands... and I want to see almost none of it. Mostly sounds like nu metal to me. But it's not for me and I want these kids to enjoy the hell out of it)
9 days later
Allez Al would love to see ANJ and Midnight Mines both, couple ocean blocking the way.
recently went to the east coast of canada. PEI and New Brunswick.
PEI has a cool little scene. Was playing with RS. We are by no means known out there, but a few familiar faces lined the room. The opening band was simply named after the front person Sophie Peterson, can<t find any online stuff. It was aggressively soft. It really stopped me in my tracks when I finally got a beer together and made my way to the front. So unimposing if you didn<t care, but the minute you gave it your attention it would grab you. Was their first show and they were decidedly messy, which was cool. The show was at this place the Sportsman tavern, a nice dive with free pool and vlts.
In Sackville New Brunswick there is a little festival called sappyfest. Usually leans really indie/folk but there are always some cool outliers, or just weirder arty stuff. I<ve seen stuff there past years like Willie Thrasher, Michael Hurley and Charles Bradley, Jerry Granelli. Some of the music was not my shit, nor would it be pertinent to this board I don<t think, but I caught this duo Sbot and Wo in the university library, doing a live improvisation that lasted 4 hours, with musicians filtering in and out of the performance. I have seen H. Pridmore and WL Altman play in different formations a few times and I always get a major kick out of it. W.L. is known to shave his head with the razor wired to a contact mic, sometimes even backed by a gang of untrained neighbourhood kids in rock trio formation. The library was a great setting for this 11-3 pm stretch of shuffling snare, meandering guitar/sax alternately, and vocal and computerized pitch manipulation. Guests included Mike Feurstack the songwriter from Snailhouse(seemingly an odd choice but worked real well), James Goddard and local Evan Mathews. Other notable performance I saw (pretty much missed everything I wanted to see) was by Coco Collins. The sound kinda sucked and you couldn<t make the words out, but it was cool to hear her play keys and belt, backed by Will Kidman on guitar shards.
I saw th' R. Simps in Charlottetown and it was like watching a herd of rattlesnakes shuffle through a pack of goats. Four alligator men playing medium for a higher power. Bit me right where it counts - i.e. the brainsoulass continuum (there was a legitimate physical biting the following day, but that's best kept out of the news). Afterwards I was somehow able to haggle a discounted purchase of a cassette of the show mere minutes after it ended... amazing what they can do with recording tech these days.
Next day's Sackville show was a doozy, though. One for the ages. Not entirely unlike the first except the drummer was missing, presumably lost in perdition(?). In his place was a rotating cast of innocents (not me though, sinner that I am). Special highlight was the bassist's legitimate father sitting in, the lights shon down in that perfect way, cascading the hereditary croon. Swear I caught wind of something holy pass thru, though I was quite liquored up by this point so it very well could have been another booze-mirage.
15 days later
I saw a glut of top tier live music in the past week, but I will focus on describing 2 of the top most.
A new local band named Vitamin Pink played their first show at the dive on the corner of my street. The bar has been long abandoned by show bookers for various legitimate reasons, but it used to be hip and happening, and its relevance even dates back to the 60s, where as a biker bar it played back drop to a Robert Charlebois residency!
The band had made their own microphones, which sounded like payphone receivers, and otherwise consisted of a very tall young guitarist, and very short young bassist and a beat box used sparingly. The sound oscillated between sort of acid folk, beat happening esque playful pop songs and full on blues driven garage punk. Lyrics cheeky and cute one minute, deep the next. I thought they were great and will be eagerly awaiting any recorded output. Though I<ve singled them out here, the other bands: Liquorice (more local upstarts with zero genre allegiance and plenty of ideas), Mossy Dole (puppet wipe supreme and genuine left field superstar), Answering Machines (started with an Anemic Boyfriends cover!) were all greatly entertaining and life affirming. Maybe it was the grass and the booze and the 250$ slot machine winning of my spouse, but I think it was the youthful energy in the room and the lack of self seriousness and pretention that highlighted an approach to music sorely missing these days.
Last night i saw Drainolith for the 2nd time in a week. The project is helmed by Alex Moskos, formerly of Aids Wolf and other lesser known projects (Wrong sky who have a track on the comp I recently put out). The group is currently rounded out by a drummer using a pad kit and a second guitarist. Alex on guit/keys/vox. Their sound is woozy and travels the axis of skronk/groove/croon. Set is front loaded with more challenging abstract rhythms and then sets in to a few supremely trance inducing numbers, whole room gently bouncing in unison. No sound to far gone for these folks. They cap it all off with what could only be described as a song that sounds like C3PO having a stroke, as if to say: you thought you had us, but we had you!
a month later
Unwound performing The Future of What album. Street Eaters opened - their new album is good. Unwound was great. Loud, hot crowd (good mix of us olds and young'uns).