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Art, Concer t Review, concert review, Music, pictures, reviews, Uncategorized, Video

Concert Review: Glassjaw, These People, Tidal Arms @ Paradise (3/25/11)

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Artist: Glassjaw, These People, Tidal Arms
Date: Friday, March 25, 2011
Venue: Paradise Rock Club (Boston, MA)
Comments:
Act I: Tidal Arms- These guys certainly had the musical chops and perhaps could be better appreciated by musicians or those that value technique as a high standard of musical quality. Not to say they were mind blowing musicians, they weren’t, but some of the drummers I attended the show with were definitely impressed with the musicianship displayed by Tidal Arms. For me, they fit too nicely in the typical rock band realm and didn’t do much sonically outside those confines.

Act II: These People- These people were better than the previous people. I felt like I was watching a combo of a less experimental Sonic Youth (especially in the vocals) meets the danceable quality of a Lemonade.  They didn’t totally floor me, but kept my intersted and I certainly enjoyed their performance. They were more on the inventive side than Tidal Arms and for me that is far more appealing than being a virtuso or a techncially sophisticated musician.  Overall, TP’s set was short, but sweet.

Act III: Glassjaw!!!-“You don’t know! You don’t know! You don’t know!” screams singer Darryl Palumbo as they open with the new classic ” You Think You’re John Fucking Lennon.” I think we do know Darryl; we know that Glassjaw is an unflinching powerhouse, a force to be reckon with. The band’s set placed heavy emphasis on their 2002 sophomore effort Worship and Tribute, an album that contains some of the group’s finest and most recognizable songs, This in turn got the crowd all riled up and I must say GJ fans appear to be some of the most energetic out there. Memorable moments included “Ape Dos Mil,” “Convectuoso,” “Tip Your Bartender,” and easily the most exhilerating number all night-“Siberian Kiss,” one of the band’s angriest/heviest tunes- a wise closer on their part. Alas, this was the only song from that LP- a major qualm for me and many others, with it being arguably their most beloved work. Also, while I enjoyed the fact that they played many of their current songs, I thought the choice of performing an encore consisting of an entirely NEW EP (Coloring Book ) was a poor one. And though I appreciated the music, I felt like coming off the intensity and heightened engagement of “Siberian Kiss,” playing solely subdued, reserved, more mellow music was a little too much. With that being said, as a whole GJ and particularly Darryl, with his frentic style and off the wall antics/persona, put on an amazing show of upwards to 105 minutes of pure, sonic insanity.

Set List:

You Think You’re (John Fucking Lennon)
Tip Your Bartender
Mu Empire
Stars
Ape Dos Mil
The Gillette Cavalcade Of Sports
Pink Roses
Jesus Glue
Natural Born Farmer
All Good Junkies Go To Heaven
El Mark
Convectuoso
Two Tabs Of Mescaline
Siberian Kiss

Encore:
Black Nurse
Gold
Vanilla Poltergeist Snake
Miracles In Inches
Stations Of The New Cross
Daytona White

Grade: 8/10

Excuse me for the extremely late arrival of this review! You guys deseve better… I’ve been very busy with school, work and the whoel shabang, but better late than never fuckers!

Band of the Week, Music

Band of the Week: Dead Ghosts

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Dead Ghosts are from the land of the Human Serviette — that Nardwuar guy. They got some rockabilly twang, obvious dirty pop sensibility, and all that stuff that turns me on to bands like these. Heard “Off the Hook” the day before today and it was exactly that and I’m saying to myself gee I gotta look into them more. I’ve done so and this is the result: BAND OF THE WEEK!

CD Review, Music

CD Review: GB City [2011]

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Band: Bass Drum of Death
Release: 4/2011
Label: Fat Possum

1. “Nerve Jamming” – A-
2. “GB City” – A
3. “Get Found” – A-
4. “Velvet Itch” – B
5. “High School Roaches” – B+
6. “Spare Room” – B-
7. “Young Pros” – A+
8. “Heart Attack Kid” – A+
9. “Leaves” – A
10. “I Could Never Be Your Man” – A-
11. “Religious Girls” – A

Comments: Bass Drum’s schtick — appropriate term or not — is found somewhere between the regions of power-fuzz masters Death From Above 1979, Thee Oh Sees, and a bunch of recent bands that have roots in the ever-growing underground noise/punk/garage thingie. “Nerve Jamming” is a power number, noise-pop at its core. “GB City” same thing, but even better with more of garage twang. Hooks are quite ubiquitous as there are hardly any dull moments on this record. The aesthetic of “Young Pros” — the catchiest track GB offers — is reminiscent of pre King of the Beach Wavves, something like “No Hope Kids” or “So Bored” but this “Young Pros,” I’ll tell ya is something special. “Heart Attack Kid” brings me back to my early listening days of Harlem’s Hippies when I was so excited to hear the joy of two or three fantastic songs in a row. Of course other records I have heard possess this quality, but it was around this time last year that I really got into Hippies, so this is a parallel. So yes, in conclusion, this is quite deserving of many an accolade and I can surely imagine Bass Drum of Death to be quite the live band as well. Check ’em out!

Grade: A- (91)

Art, Cool Covers, GG Allin, humor, Music, Punk, Video

Cool Covers: Little Kid Plays GG!

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This youngling does a cool cover of one of my favorite G.G. Allin tunes, “Die When You Die.” This is as equally fucked up as it is awesome.

Keep up the good work young man!

I’ve also taken this as an opportunity to start yet another KLYAM segment in “cool covers,” which for the most part will be little YouTube based videos, people strummin’ on guitars and such. Word.