Oct 30
DaraNew Wave, Punk
for some reason, I remembered this band as sounding like The Slits but they don’t and they didn’t so I can get over that disappointment – they’re pop punk at best and 90s pop alt-rock at their worst – they’re from Australia – they’re not bad but get tiresome, especially with the lead singer’s need to constantly promote her personal image of a life-embracing free-spirit hippie-punk – although I did enjoy her description of having to clench her vagina to hold on while sitting on the shoulders of one of the audience members – is Australia more sexually liberal than the US? – she rode the shoulders of this white Mr. T in order to swirl her ribbon in the middle of the crowd in burner fashion – the awkward Mr. T was forthwith smitten and the most engaged member of the audience and the first to the merch table after the show – otherwise she was all pretty smiles and engaging friendly banter – of the same school as all of the bands that have ‘clap’ in their titles and the joyous-thrash neo-new-wave bands – her jumpy performance made it clear why they opened for The Go! Team the first time I saw them – the more moderately happy guitarist did an impressive and thorough job with the soundcheck, I thought – there was a bearded keyboardist – my favorite though is the drummer: she’s a little awkward curly haired school girl with round eyes and when she gets going on the drums, her eyes glaze over and she smiles vaguely at nothing like a bobblehead
Oct 26
DaraA cappella, Art Rock, New Wave, Prog Rock, Thrash
complex and sophisticated music that was possibly based in Afro-pop or new wave but verged into prog rock – absolutely inventive – lead vocalist/guitarist communicated musical genius to me and I fancy he wrote the songs and what with his crazy guitar skills he couldn’t help but throw a little prog into the music – his voice was also very good… something between Antony and the Johnsons and Elvis Costello and Paul Simon – he was usually accompanied by three female backing vocalists who created a fabric of sweet noises that went from an ethereal drone to a’cappella to screaming – sometimes they would juxtapose their harmonizing almost in a beat boxing fashion so that it created a synthy sound which was amazing – departures from the general sound included the beginning of the set in which the lead guy used an electric guitar in a singer/songwriter style, when he accompanied the black-haired female vocalist in a very pretty jazz vocal, when the entire band would bend over at the waist and incongruously thrash to finish a song (just made me giggle), when the bass guitarist brought out an upright bass which added a jazz feel again to the music, and when the blonde female vocalist took over the stage in a liltingly funky M.I.A.-like song – in other amusing sidenotes, the band generally engaged in anti-cool posturing with the lead guy wearing two massive cardigans, the bass guitarist in an old-school sweatshirt that had some witty saying on it that I forget now, the black-haired vocalist in a plain black t-shirt with a little necklace, etc. etc. – there was also a drummer whom I’m sorry to say I could not see at all
Jun 27
AndrewElectronic, New Wave
Burnt Fur’s second show in a month was in the seedy underbelly of the Cantab Lounge, a place optimistically referred to as the Club Bohemia. Burnt Fur nailed an hour long set with their signature mix of electronic beats and industrial edge. The band was brilliant, tackling the jangly new wave track Redux and the sound effects-heavy Pixelated Black with the same aplomb. It took a couple of songs to find their groove, but once it clicked with the track Warm All Day from their first LP release Unfurl , the energy levels shot through the ceiling.
Fronted by Scott Harrison, he managed to channel his inner Siouxsie Sioux even on a minuscule stage at the Cantab. The foursome traded off guitar duties during their set and sole female Jean Kennedy even took a vocal turn on a sublime cover of The Cure rarity The Upstairs Room. Rounded out by Ian St. Germain and Patrik Tirda, the band pays homage to their pop sensibilities on tracks like Radiate. But the real highlight of the evening was the triumphant new track, Reverie, slated for their upcoming EP release later this summer.
Burnt Fur setlist
Strange Vacation
Radiate
Warm All Day
Redux
Reverie
The Upstairs Room
Cats
Homage
Vitriol
Pixelated Black
May 27
AndrewElectronic, Goth, New Wave
Burnt Fur were awesome. Why they were playing at Ramrod, a leather bar, I don’t know (on recommendation of a DJ that works there if the stories are true.) The band found a credible vibe between the Cure (which they credited as an influence) and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
The entire set was polished, high energy songs that walked the fine line between punk and new wave. Songs like Warm All Day were at one end of the spectrum while a track like Cats was at the vast other end. But it all worked.
The band traded off instruments and vocal duties and far surpassed expectations in the decidedly un-Ramrod crowd. A cover of The Glove’s Orgy sealed the deal. A magnificent performance.
Feb 14
DaraNew Wave, Punk
SPECIAL FIND! They initially seemed to be Stray Cat rip-offs, but quickly emerged to be some psychobilly (the bass!) – new wave – pop punk fusion. Also a much better (and much harder) They Might Be Giants. They were freak nerds who took breaks to act out idiosyncratic scenario-jokes. The key here is: I thought the bassist (in his multi-colored layered socks) was playing guitar for a few songs because he was that fast, to the point that his bass started sounding like jazz, and then I realized he was superb. All of them were talented. Some of their own songs were silly I have to admit (the porn star one…). They covered Devo’s “Girl You Want” early on, revealed that they also have a Devo cover band, and then ended with a phenomenal cover of “Gates of Steel.” The sad point was… after the lead vocalist/guitarist had been rubbing his strings against poles (microphone, wall support, etc.) as his little trick, a girl in the crowd whipped out a slide and extended her finger for a rub, and he denied her… on Valentine’s Day. In the end, this band came off as nuanced, talented, wacky and intelligent – and, upon further research, the band members each have illustrious music histories, mostly punk.
Oct 27
DaraNew Wave, Punk
I still don’t like this band – annoying pop punk with heavy new wave influences – Elvis Costello does not belong on the punk platter – it’s not that they’re poor musicians or lacking in professionalism or passion – and when they spoke with their little accents and used words like “geezer” without irony I almost really liked them
May 02
DaraArt Rock, Jazz, New Wave
great: intense and interesting, jazz art rock, tangential rock with lead vocalist playing the sax at times, got a little more direct as they kept playing, Rockboy described as the real New Wave before it became pop
Jan 09
DaraModern Rock, New Wave
11PM band: was supposed to be Tia Carrera but was this horrid geek band, two on guitar, one screecher on keyboards and the worst: a silly jouncy girl singing (just as the lame girl ruined WT Special), they were like those bands with exclamation points in their name, harder than you expect but then all childish and punctuated with little yells
Apr 24
DaraArt Rock, New Wave, Tribal
fantastic, lead vocalist antics were very reminiscent of The Grates but she was a little older and stranger, Slits influenced with a droning and sometimes thumping bass drum throughout
Apr 13
DaraHard Rock, New Wave, Thrash
as fantastic as **** promised, Cocteau Twins or This Mortal Coil and then suddenly a female thrash band like Babes in Toyland, definitely retro as in from my times, female keyboardist/vocalist, male guitarists and drummer
Nov 02
DaraArt Rock, Goth, New Wave, Punk
sounded more Velvet Underground than Lou Reed, he was the force behind jumpy songs like “Waiting for My Man,” Lou fought with him and kicked him out out of jealousy, his solo work anticipated punk and new wave scenes, he wasn’t AS impressive as his bio made him out but definitely a #1 in-store
Oct 16
DaraArt Rock, New Wave
fantastic!, cutey girl in a retro dress—I was embarrassed at her leaping and little-girl antics but it proved infectious and punkish, happy guitarist but freakishly happy drummer staring and smiling broadly in her little boy hair cut with ear curls, great variety, beautiful voice, rocking guitar and drums, interesting and entertaining and captivating, different, new wave says Rockboy but then more, from Australia, fantastic!
Jun 03
AndrewDance, New Wave
Elkland played three songs including “Find Me,” and then left the stage abruptly. It was a fun twelve minutes, but disappointing after seeing a much longer set of theirs in New York. The chunky drummer, Jesse Pierce, looked like he lost weight, and his brother, lead singer Jon Pierce, was in pretty good form even through a short set.
Apr 15
AndrewDance, New Wave
Ah, Elkland. Despite the fact that we collectively laughed off this performance, we also ended up discussing it many times the rest of the weekend. Four boys barely out of their teens that resurrected 80’s synth pop straight from New Order’s doorstep. They wound down their set with the first single “Apart,” from the new album Golden. But to get there, you had to survive a number of catchy tunes that sounded mostly the same and seemed to be on the same topic, the make-up to break-up theme. Vocalist Jon Pierce does a back-bending dance that you have to see to believe, but it’s a combination of the Robot and marching band. They snuck in a cover of “Salvation” (released as a single by the Cranberries back in 1996) to close the show.
The video to “Apart” is hysterical.
Feb 28
DaraIndie Rock, New Wave
finally got to see my favorite-named band, they were surprisingly mature and confident, relievingly so, nothing striking about the music, wish I could have been more attentive, some combination of previous two bands
Feb 28
DaraAmbient, New Wave
druggie electrician talking my ear off (and I gave him and his roommate my number—that woke me up a few times last night in disgust/terror) so couldn’t listen properly, but really liked them, lush, full, keyboard, many members, druggie kept comparing them to Joy Division
Sep 20
DaraBritpop, Indie Rock, New Wave
Portland, Oregon, jingly indie white noise, shimmery strange pop, really liked by the end and huge relief from the country/bluegrass overkill, covered Hell’s Bells, cool ones
Mar 01
DaraIndie Rock, New Wave
hilarious in their restraint and politeness, straightforward nerds—black glasses etc, loosened up towards end and played with the audience and did little stunty moves, button-down shirts, music was eh very indie/emo—very blendable and indistinguishable, drummer was darling little prim and proper girl who could drum
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