While searching for pictures for my upcoming New Highway Hymnal show review I came across this cool blog, Oblivious Burbling run by Anne Cook. The blog features many entertaining photos and documents various shows and other events around the Greater Boston area including some kickass KLYAM endorsed bands such as New Highway Hymnal, The Sinbusters, and the heavenly Hurricanes of Love. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been anything posted since last June, but it is a neat look at some interesting happenings around Boston in 2010 and 2011. Anne describes it best hereself, “A chronicle of my travels through music, art and events. Photos and blurbs about music performances, art exhibits, happenings by and with my friends.”- Oblivious Burbling
Above is a link to one of the best live reviews I have read in a while and I am extremely grateful I stumbled upon it. The blog is called SF Weekly and with his review of Atlas Sound @ Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco on February 25, writer Nathan Mattise has documented a great rock and roll moment between Bradford Cox and a thirteen year old fan in the audience (CLICK TO WATCH):
“There’s an extended break after “My Angel Is Broken” as Cox waits for his acoustic to be restrung. Someone shouts, “We want to live, Bradford!” He responds, telling us playfully he’s not here to hurt us while strumming softly. “I won’t hurt you. I won’t hurt you…
“Anyone know that one?”
I sure as hell didn’t; assumed it was a made-up riff with some jokey lyrics. But someone in front of the stage quietly responded with exactly what Cox was looking for. Not only the correct band — The West Coast Experimental Pop Art Band, by the way — but from the absolute right place: a thin 13-year-old boy with shaggy brown hair and a nondescript hoodie. Cox initially offered his mystery responder the beer from his lips before pausing when he finally saw him.
“How old are you?”
“Thirteen.”
He later called what happened next “a transcendental fucking journey.” Cox invited the boy on stage to play maracas as a more parental-guardian-friendly prize, but stopped in his tracks immediately when the kid hit the stage. Fuck. The boy stood there awkwardly, Cox paced around frantically covering his mouth. “Can’t you see it? I saw that face everyday when I brushed my teeth.”
Bradford Cox had just met Bradford Cox, the spitting image of his 13-year-old self at least, in front of a live audience. No matter that when his guitar was properly restrung, we weren’t getting another song quickly.
This moment lasted 20 minutes. During this exchange, the boy forever became Matt Doppelgänger to those in attendance. Cox spent several seconds simply searching for words to describe what he was experiencing. Ultimately, he sat Matt down and offered life advice both genuine (“Spend more time with your parents”) and slightly less than (“Avoid heterosexuals”). There was a hug; there were awkward jokes about masturbating. When Matt Doppelgänger said he knew the song because he saw Thee Oh Sees cover it, Cox flipped. Naturally, he too knew it because Cox saw Stereolab cover it when he was 13. Eventually, the two regrouped to finish the night with a duet of “Terra Incognita,” with Doppelgänger instructed to guest on percussion “whenever it feels right.” It was genuinely moving.”
Wow, if you’re 13 and you listen to Atlas Sound and Thee Oh Sees, you are the coolest kid on the planet! Way to go Matt, way to go Bradford.
Atlas Sound will be hitting up the Paradise Rock Club on Thursday, March 8. Can’t wait!
March 30th: Cornwall, ON – La Maison
April 5th: London, ON – Call The Office
April 6th: Toronto, ON – Parts And Labour
April 24th: Tallahassee, FL – Waterworks
April 25th: St. Augustine, FL – Cafe 11
April 27th: Miami, FL – Vagabond
April 28th: San Juan, PR – TBA
May 2nd: Orlando, FL – Will’s Pub
May 3rd: Long Beach, CA – Alex’s Bar
May 4th: Phoenix, AZ – Trunk Space
May 5th: San Francisco, CA – The Hemlock
May 7th: Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
May 10th: Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory
May 11th: New Haven, CT – Cafe 9 May 12th: Boston, MA – P.A.’s Lounge
May 23rd: Detroit, MI – PJ’s Lager House
May 24th: Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
May 25th: Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
May 26th: Minneapolis, MN – Turf Club
May 28th: Omaha, NE – The Slowdown
May 29th: Oklahoma City, OK – Blue Note
May 31st: Dallas, TX – City Tavern
June 1st: Austin, TX – Scoot-Inn (Chaos in Tejas)
June 2nd: Houston, TX – Continental Club
June 4th: Memphis, TN – Hi-Tone
June 5th: Nashville, TN – Zombie Shop
June 7th: Cincinnati, OH – Motr
June 8th: Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups
June 9th: Cleveland, OH – Beachland
June 15th: Montreal, QC – Sala Rossa
For our fellow Bostonians out there, we will inform you of the venue and location as soon as that information is made available. I am really excited for this since Mark Sultan is a favorite of mine; his show a couple of months back at the Magic Room Gallery was excellent.
Artists: Empty Phrases, Twin Cyclist, Josh Tracy (of Big Mess) Date: 2/9/12 Location: UMass Lowell Fox Common Room, Lowell, MA
Comments: Act I: Josh Tracy – Unfortunately, Big Mess can not make it as planned :( , but no need to worry, 1/3 of the band is here, ready to kick off the show. Josh sings and strums away on an acoustic guitar, singing songs about great friends (made at UMass Lowell), relationships, and overweight girls on campus. It is not my cup of tea and in fact it is a style of music I personally dread, but the kid sure can belt out these tunes and honestly I’ve never seen so many enthusiastic fans, passionately singing along; for a second I think these are covers, since these kids know all of the words, but they are in fact originals. Tastebuds aside, good job dude!
Act II: Twin Cyclist- Once again Mr. Tracy graces us with his prescence, now in the noisey rock group, Twin Cyclist. Twin Cyclist is pretty loud (or the PA at Fox Common is, I think a little bit of both), and they have a lot of energy in their performance. They are fun to watch, but I am still trying to get into their songs. I said this in an earlier review, but I hear a little bit of No Age, like No Age, but a bit more hardcore. I know I compare bands to No Age WAYYY too much, but for whatever reason, I see elements of them in many bands. Rest assured that is not a bad thing.
Act III: Empty Phrases– Empty Phrases cap off the evening and in my opinion are the best band on the bill. After seeing them a couple of months back in an impressive performance, I have been anticipating my second experience for a while now. Needless to say, I am excited and the group definitely satisfies my expectations. This time around they sound heavier and better; I do not know if it is me, but sonically this performance is superior and the vocals hit me harder. I am able to rock out more to them more than before. Also, for my money, they are better live than in the studio. I am not exactly sure why I feel this way, but I plan on attending as many EP shows as I can.
Artists: SKIMASK, Double Nines, Subclinix Venue: Western Front, Cambridge, MA Date: 1/13/12 Comments: Act I: Subclinix- – A nice journey back to 1979 LA. Though I was never there in the first place! Subclinix definitely had some strong punk, early hardcore elements in their sound with a tinge of Gentlemen Jesse and His Men and The Carbonas, espcially The Carbonas. I swear Jesse was haunting Boston on this evening. He possessed all the musicians at the Western Front and his aura seaped into the audience. Some nice moshing ensued, also helping me get a good old punk feel. I fell on the floor twice, always a good sign that the crowd is moving and shaking, and not stiff. Save that shit for later.
Act II: Double Nines– Not as frisky and relentless as Subclinix, but in many ways they followed a similar trend as Subclinix; they had a fairly loud, rocking approach, more Gentlemen Jesse than Carbonas. So yeah, by now I have bestowed Atlanta great Gentlemen Jesse as my comparsion for the night. And in this case, Double Nines are more akin to Gentlemen Jesse and His Men, whereas Subclinix were more reminiscent of Carbonas and early hardcore. Safe to say? I sure hope so. Double Nines definitely had more of a power pop feel, though they did perform an impressive cover of the Bad Brains’s “Banned in D.C.” Right now, I’m wearing a Bad Brains shirt and I’m thinking more local bands should cover Bad Brains songs. Maybe, maybe not, BUT if you’re going to toss in some cover tunes, go out on a blast and start at the top.
Act III: SKIMASK– We the KLYAM, the proud, the few, rarely venture out to local shows for no reason. It’s not like we sit around with our thumbs up our asses, looking aroud for something cool to do for the weekend. Nah, we don’t have time and money for that. So, it takes a special band to make us journey from the vanilla suburbs of Wakefield out to the city to see some kick ass local music and that is exactly what we experienced. Enter SKIMASK. SKIMASK is the band we came for indeed. A band we have been waiting to see for quite some time now. Just moments before the band is to begin to play, I hit up the bar to grab a tasty budweiser and some decenT looking femme smoothly articulates her distaste for my drink of choice. “Budweiser sucks! Wanna fight over it?” “Alright,” I respond, “but, I’m not a fighter,” so I place my hands behind my head, expecting her to wail away. She then states that she is in fact a boxer, so I invite her once again to slam me between the eyes. She starts fake throwing hits and then in my intoxicated state of mind, I realize this is all a joke. SKIMASK starts to play and now my mind is focused on the music, but the gal winds up again and hits me square on the forehead. “OHH my god!” she cries, kissing me on the head to assure me this wasn’t her intentions. I just laugh and ask her to hit me again and then kiss me AGAIN. Ehh, didn’t work. But, now when I sit here listening to SKIMASK, all I can think of is that incident. Anyway, when I finally left the bar area, I got a spot up close to the band. These three dudes can really fucking kill it. It’s kind of a noisy presentation, but honestly it’s more rock and roll than most bands I come across. For me, it’s really easy to get into and the groove is pretty tight, easy to dance to. Overall, SKIMASK is a fascinating, unique outfit, I want to see again as soon as possible.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 