Feb 24
DaraAmericana, Psychedelic, Southern Rock, Thrash
so here’s the story – I came to love one song (“Good Bye Mary Lou”), a punkish bluegrass song, by this no-name band called Angels of Light and propagated it through all mixes therewith – I had a vague notion of Akron/Family but didn’t know they’d been the backing band for Angels of Light until I read their show bio – the show bio also mentioned Michael Gira as the lead singer of Angels of Light which got Rockboy excited because he knew him as the lead singer of the Swans – anyway, we went to this show because of a string of distant associations – I was mostly pleased and the anti-anything-remotely-psychedelic Rockboy was not – they are in essence a jam band, tapping such a wide variety of sounds that I characterize them officially as a schizophrenic band – they literally have no distinguishing characteristic which, even if I am a girl who loves variety, may not be a good thing for a band looking to make a name for themselves – they began with a song that made me love them: a more psychedelic Songs: Ohia (melancholy folk) – suddenly it was thrash which firstly is a signature move of this generation (to intersperse loveliness with hardness) and secondly seemed an misguided attempt to prove they’re not soft or that they’re hip to all aspects of our culture – but in sum, it didn’t sound good and it didn’t sound organic – they then proceeded into the other tagsound of this generation of music, Afro pop, which they did very well, reminding me of Paul Simon – in the end, I believe that they will return, if they want to endure, to the sounds that are their strength: very pretty and sophisticated pop – if it matters, they dress like 70s road hippies with t-shirts and bandanas which seemed to me a lame attempt to suggest campfire jams
Dec 09
DaraGarage Rock, Hard Rock, Punk, Thrash
There really is no other musician who has mattered more than Jay Reatard in the last couple of years. I realize I may say this more often than I should, but for Jay Reatard, it’s the truth. He reins in diverse aspects of rock into a sound that is all his own, a sound that encapsulates the fury and angst of frustrated youth. I envision him as a troubled prodigy who can’t start enough bands to keep himself sated. His Lost Sounds material is what changed my world, but this night he played his solo material which is similar but less synthy and gothic. A barrage of raw garage punk. Unceasingly intense. Which could have been a boring annoying wall of sound, except that his material is also finely crafted and well executed. The sound was not what you would call crisp or tight, but it didn’t displease me. The show ended with two audience members jumping on stage and attacking him. Rather than an amusing band antic, it was disturbing and upsetting. Rockboy maintains it was staged, but I maintain that PMS and Jay Reatard being attacked do not go well together.
Dec 09
DaraHeavy Metal, Thrash
The inside show we were not there for. Literally overflowing with metalheads of the shaved head, scary sort – militaristic. Young guys would explode out of the crowd, back from being in the mosh pit, sweaty and barely containing their raging mindless testosteronic energy. Meanwhile, their girlfriends were texting. Despite all that, and the lead singer’s screamo antics, the band was really good. They were from California and played a tight set of driving metal-hardcore, incorporating both staccato riffs and heavy grooves. The audience was young and knew the words to their songs; we were obviously the only people in the room not in the know. They were also explicitly political.
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
May 30
DaraHard Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash
this was a band that was on our radar during SXSW – we never ended up seeing them though which wasn’t a big deal since they’re local – this too was more of a chance sighting than anything else but I was still disappointed – I expected more psych metal and less screamo – the music was heavy and complicated (good) but the vocals were grating and annoying: too discordant to even be screamo –the lead singer was fascinating though with his spawn-from-the-river-like writhing – noise-rock meets no wave – possibly, possibly it was my own bad attitude and the fact that I should have been in bed…
Mar 31
DaraHeavy Metal, Thrash
head-banging long-curly-haired thrash metal and very serious about it – classic lead singer posturing: he regularly held his microphone out to an imaginary crowd for them to finish his lyrics or at least scream – as always, I quickly tired of the screaming vocalizing – don’t these boys worry about their vocal chords? Not to mention their necks…
Mar 21
DaraHeavy Metal, Thrash
hell, screamo metal
Mar 19
DaraPunk, Thrash
we were just kind of roaming and decided to stop in on the Japanese showcase – the crowd was super enthused and I wasn’t sure if it was alcohol or if they actually knew the band – it was 3 gorgeous Japanese girls with flowered blouses and punk hairdos – as feminine as they dressed, they had punk rock attitudes and were harder than anybody we’d seen so far – grunge-punk with some screamo vocalizing but more often not (I didn’t like the singing because every phrase ended on an upnote but I think that was more an association with the Japanese language than the woman’s singing style) – there were wacky colorful Japanese punks everywhere – 2 particularly drunk men entertained the crowd with horn-pumping and missed hand slaps with the most beautiful band member who was like a Japanese china doll, and the meanest one of all three
Feb 14
DaraHeavy Metal, Thrash
Death metal. Death metal. Death metal. Their flying math-metal fingers were lovely but I can’t help worrying about their poor little vocal chords after all the screaming and their poor little necks after all the thrashing.
Sep 19
DaraHard Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash
had pigeonholed this band as brainless hardcore but both the bass and guitar players are superb: fingers flying throughout the entirety of the songs in complicated arrangements, math rock, the bass player had a Munsters look to him that was a nice juxtaposition with the shorter brainiac-metalhead-looking guitar player, there was a drummer too who of course nobody noticed
May 16
DaraPunk, Rockabilly, Thrash
worked very hard to put on a crazy show, psycho psycho-billy, guy on the huge stainless steel upright bass beat himself on the forehead with something mid-show and bled the rest of the show – possibly beat himself with a fake-blood packet – despite his seeming insanity he always concluded songs with a polite “Thank you very much for coming…,” loved the multi-level multi-directional multi-colored mohawked guitarist for some reason, also impassioned and would turn profile to crowd and look up and scrunch his face up when it was time for a cappella punk or oi choruses, their stage interplay made them seem like good friends and very enjoyable show on the whole
Mar 15
DaraBlues, Rock and Roll, Southern Rock, Thrash
adored their sound—the way blues rock ought to be done, the music made the lot of skinny boys sexy boys, lots of southern flavor, reminded me of that movie Black Snake Moan, good drums and slide, “Black Ass Woman” is the song to start with
Feb 02
DaraHeavy Metal, Thrash
intense bald lead vocalist, hardcore, more amusing was the sorry little mosh pit: there was a preppy guy and the squattest short man you’ve ever seen strutting around but the hippy was the only one who could dance
Feb 02
DaraPunk, Thrash
singer was a shock-blonde haired aging punk, hardcore punk, guitarist was in sweatpants – couldn’t decide if I respected him for his blasé attitude or was offended
Feb 02
DaraHeavy Metal, Thrash
straightforward speed metal, distinguished only by their wildly angular guitar, enjoyed the blurring hand of the guitarist
Dec 07
DaraThrash
This purported garage rock festival turned out to be a screamo thrash festival, plus the sound was terrible, plus GuyIDon’tDate was less enthusiastic than I was… so all I’ve got for you are internet descriptions
The Bad Times: “Jay Reatard (born Jay Lindsey) is a prolific garage punk musician from Memphis, Tennessee. He is best known for his work in The Reatards, Lost Sounds, and his current solo career.” (Wikipedia)
So come to find out that I was totally ignorant of the fact that he is/was a member of my current favorite band (Lost Sounds: “synthesizer-heavy punk band”). I EVEN saw somebody wearing their t-shirt (Lost Sounds) at this show and almost ran up to the fat man but didn’t make the connection that he was wearing it for reasons outside of having incredibly good taste in music and now I have to live with the fact that I didn’t watch the show…
Dec 07
DaraThrash
This purported garage rock festival turned out to be a screamo thrash festival, plus the sound was terrible, plus GuyIDon’tDate was less enthusiastic than I was… so all I’ve got for you are internet descriptions
The Blowtops: “The Blowtops were formed in Buffalo, NY in 1995, with core members Aaron Adduci (guitar), Dave Brand (vocals & guitar), and Andy Beiter (bass then later drums). The band grew out of the garage rock scene in Buffalo at the time, whose home base was The Sanctuary, a club owned by Big Neck Records founder and owner, Bart Hart. Bart was eventually run out of town when the Sanctuary was closed based on questionable charges of “indecent” events by the New York State Liquor Authority in regards to the club’s weekly S&M themed night. The first record issued by Big Neck was The Blowtops 7 inch EP “Voodoo Alley”, which was named for the practice space and makeshift recording studio of the band, where Blowtops founders Aaron Adduci and Andy Beiter worked alongside producer Mr. Ski-Mask, who was also known for the controversial public access tv show, Thunderbird Theatre, which screened on cable television in Buffalo (as well as Norwalk, CT, Boston, MA, Chicago and Los Angeles at various times) for over 10 years, often featuring live music performances from the Sanctuary as part of its content, raised controversy with the City officials who tried to have it taken off the air based on a resolution by Councilman Richard Fontana, who found the show “offensive”. The first two Baseball Furies 7 inches, which were also put out by Big Neck Records…” (Wikipedia)
Dec 07
DaraThrash
This purported garage rock festival turned out to be a screamo thrash festival, plus the sound was terrible, plus GuyIDon’tDate was less enthusiastic than I was… so all I’ve got for you are internet descriptions
Tunnel of Love: “of Brookline, Massachusetts is a band that has it all. First, their uniforms: striped tights and athletic shorts, -no shirts. Perfect! It’s just weird enough. Who else is doing the uniform thing, save for maybe some band mates with the same pair of Chuck Taylors? The Mummies is the only band I can think of, and that shit is way over. Second, their drummer Makoto Sato, is a fucking animal. The dude drums standing up, as if he’s too feral to understand what sitting down even is. He beats on the drums with sloppy and savage inaccuracy like some kind of angry ape in an old Samsonite luggage commercial. Brothers, Andy and Anthony MacBain both switch off playing a guitar held together with duct tape, and screaming murder into a mic. They look similar to one another, both dirty looking with bad hair. Almost like the dirtbags down the block who would beat you up as a kid. And lastly, their songs are so raw and stripped down to the marrow, that they are absolutely void of anything but pure soul-scraping aggression. One-chord slop, so mean it knocks your IQ down a couple points, where it belongs.” (Brett Cross)
Oct 05
DaraClassic Rock, Heavy Metal, Prog Rock, Psychedelic, Thrash
like rain, they are my religion — 30 minutes, 2 songs – the heaviest never-ending climax
Aug 18
DaraHard Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash
this was the indoors show and what a difference it was: death-metal / screamo with some rap nuances and I couldn’t stop giggling at them, they took themselves way too seriously, so full of their own testosterone had to take the shirts off, eyes rolling back in the head, jesus poses, and all the 18 year olds in the crowd throwing devil horns, very very intense and I suppose they’re good at what they do, dreadlocked 45 year old (possibly 25 and just wracked by drugs) suddenly turned to me and pointed to his eye… his heart… and then me… I stood out in my skirt and heels, the merchandise metalhead gave me a stack of stuff for free because I asked the name of the band
Aug 02
DaraAmbient, Thrash
Kyuss like but more thrash, drummer was cute with curly hair but lead vocalist distracted in his red sweatpants and red head sweat band and red wrist sweat bands
Aug 01
DaraEmo, Thrash
very young, seemed to be lead female vocalist’s first show, screamo, she was backed up by a guy, they were good outside of her novicity
Dec 30
DaraHeavy Metal, Southern Rock, Thrash
Texas trash metal. Liked their hick metal facial hair. Too much for my out-of-town visitors, I think.
Oct 14
DaraEmo, Punk, Thrash
standard punk with a little screamo, like the happy sing-along background parts (typical to British punk says Rockboy), from Seattle, like Sum 41 says Rockboy
Oct 14
DaraEmo, Thrash
death farmboys, screamo, but then it was more dark humor and ended up being one of my favorites, Rockboy says they’re like 7 Seconds, don’t rely on hardness to matter
May 22
AndrewIndustrial, Thrash
Seamless on the other hand, just sucked. The lead singer had a voice some parts Anthony Kiedis and some parts Henry Rollins but without either’s considerable charisma. The music was bland, lacking melody or character, lots of feedback and generic noise. The last song showed some signs of life, invoking the vibe of Welcome Home, Sanitarium but then despite their promise to wrap up, the song just kept going on and on.
May 22
AndrewThrash
Blind By Noon, a Boston band, was actually pretty good. They are promoting a new album out this month that might have some potential, if their showmanship was any indicator. The lead singer tossed promo albums into the audience during the last song, in plastic cd cases. I’m sure someone got gashed trying to catch the makeshift frisbee.
May 19
DaraThrash
young hardcore band, nothing unusual but of good quality
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
Oct 16
DaraArt Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash
screaming thrash metal from skinny fey boys, very odd, singer was thrashing so much in his audience of two that he nearly lost them, when the chaos would stop he would adopt a very gay persona, there was something artsy about them
Sep 10
DaraHeavy Metal, Thrash
scream metal, all mohawked like the crowd, quite liked them but for vocals
Aug 09
DaraPerformance, Punk, Thrash
the best show I have ever seen in my life—which totally slams any pretense I had to musical integrity, so three “farmboys” that played hard and fast, waiting for their lead singer, he comes to the stage wasted in an eighties straight-boy outfit, swaying, he proceeds to jump off the stage into a trashcan and the show descends from there into total debasement, he divebombs all of the trash cans—rolls around in them—bumps into audience members—humps trashcans—rolls on the ground, non-stop awesome rock-and-roll entertainment, the crowd is disgusted but entranced, keep waiting for him to just collapse but he really never loses the song except for when he loses the microphone—delicious to think of the band’s fury, his back is bleeding by the end from the broken beer bottles all over the ground, disappointing denouement though was him back in the crowd after the show in shorts and t-shirt and appearing sober—so perhaps it was all just a show
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