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Art, concert review, Fat Creeps, Fat History Month, Freak Flag, Local Music, Music, pictures, Punk, reviews, The Migs, Video

Concert Review: Freak Flag Presents Fat Creeps, Migs, Fancytramp, Pile @ Moe’s Lounge (8/10/12)

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Artists: Freak Flag Presents- The Migs, Fat Creeps (EP Release), Fancytramp, Pile
Date: Friday, August 10, 2012
Venue: Moe’s Lounge (@ Radio) (Somerville, MA)
Comments:
Act I: The Migs!–   Alright hotshot you think you know your rock ‘n’ roll? You don’t know shit if you don’t know the Migs. The Migs are Dover, New Hampshire’s greatest creation and one of thee finest rock ‘n’ roll/garage/punk slime bands KLYAM has had the privilege to see live. Not to mention our Band of the Week (month). Tonight is my third time seeing these fine gentlemen, but Glen has never had the pleasure and part of my excitement stems from observing Glen’s reaction to their fun filled performance. Surely, Migs on recording is peachy keen, but Migs in the flesh rubbing up against you is a whole other beast.  From the first few seconds of the band’s perennial chant “WE’RE THE MIGS!” to the final, frantic moments of guitar feedback, The Migs put on one helluva show, a real physical performance of never ending enthusiasm and joy.  I seriously cannot think of too many other  bands that are having as much fun on stage as these guys. Their energy and rock ‘n’ roll spirit is fun to experience and in particular what I love about the Migs is how they make their show interactive with the audience. Singer/guitarist Kevin Lareau spends most of the set lurking around the crowd, which is always great!  I dig his display of showmanship, the whole band truly put their balls into this performance, making the loose, garage styled music they champion come all the more to life. Alas, the spectators do not seem to give back the energy the Migs offer them, but these dudes don’t give a fuck, they just keep rockin like true party animals. In fact fuck garage, call it “party rock.”  If it was 1960 they would all be in jail.
Hey Burger Recrords or any other amazing record label click this: http://themigs.bandcamp.com/

P.S. Hope y’all have a swell tour :)

Act II: Fat Creeps-  To put it simply, over the past few months Fat Creeps have become a massive KLYAM fave, not just one of best around Boston, but one of best bands in general. I know that may sound crazy to some readers, but it is true. Their songs are stripped down, no filler, instant pop gems. I stress the instant quality. Each number has a clear and catchy hook(s) that rests smoothly in my gulliver for hours at a time, often making work significantly less painful. Tonight, the Creeps are releasing their EP, which contains most of the classics, including my personal favorite, “Secrets.”  Much like the Migs, the Fat Creeps are awesome in the studio, but the live experience is outstanding. I know I am really sucking the band’s  dick (which would actually only be one dick), but I am truly flabbergasted by their performance. Mariam Saleh’s vocals on “Secrets” are even more powerful live, and it hit me during this show that her voice reminds me of Sara’s from local fave SARALEE. I don’t know if anyone else hears this, but I definitely see some resemblances. Or maybe I am just really fucked up? Which is a definite possiblity (reality). The band introduces us to some new tracks entitled “Dad Weed” and “Daydreaming,” which can be seen in the You Tube clip below.  They also play two kickass covers in the form of Gun Club’s “Sex Beat” and Devo’s “Gates of Steel,” both of which have become  Creeps  classics in their own right.  Overall, this is the best show I have seen from them, each time gets better! Or I have become more of an excessive fan.  I think it is a little bit of both.
Here is the tracklist for the EP:
1) Secrets
2) Horoscope
3) Fooled
4) Leave Her Alone
5) Cherry
6) 700 Parts
LISTEN TO IT HERE! http://fatcreeps.bandcamp.com/

Act III: Fancytramp– Cool band name! Fancytramp are fresh out of Nashville, Tennessee- a place which has unleashed several fine bands in the past few years and these dudes are no exception to that. They have a nice blend of garage rock and noise, and I am definitely feeling Sonic Youth vibes. What I really like about Fancytramp is the way they communicate with the audience, making jokes and praisng the other bands on the bill, amongst other in between song banter. Their set certainly does a number on my ears and this serves as a healthy reminder that I need to pick up some earplugs soon. The volume of their music is not a bad thing though. I also want to note the fact that one of the member’s mothers came out to the show (well for the whole tour I presume), which is great! I would like to see that kind of parental support more often at rock shows.  Check out Fancytramp’s new EP Singing Tower At Sunset: http://fancytramp.bandcamp.com/

Act IV: Pile– Pile is a band that frequently comes up in conversation when discussing noteworthy Boston bands; hell they toured with Fat History Month! That right there is enough to spark my interest. Admittedly, I do not know too much about Pile coming into this show and honestly I cannot remember most of their performance. BUT! I do notice that they garner the biggest crowd response the whole evening, with some moshing erupting during their set. Listening to their Bandcamp now, I can defintely see what folks are raving about,  check it out here: http://pile.bandcamp.com/ I will have to see the band again in the future and give them the attention they deserve.

So, this was KLYAM’s first time seeing a show at  Moe’s Lounge and it was a blast! It’s a cool, little, “basement” esque venue, I’d recommend the place. I was also glad to see some familiar faces, I think this show gets the award for most kids from my hometown haha. More importantly thank you to FREAK FLAG (Cory, Ellie, Anya) for being totally rad and putting on this show!!! Their DJ’n was superb and fit really well with the music and mood of Moe’s Lounge on this particular evening. I especially loved hearing Black Flag’s “TV Party” (the EP version)!

Art, Honorary KLAYMERS, Music, pictures, Rap, Tours, Wavves

*SHOW ALERT* GZA & Sweet Valley @ Paradise (10/19/12)

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The GZA, the Genius himself, is touring with Wavves’ Nathan Williams’ (and l’il bro Kynan’s) new side project Sweet Valley and hitting up Boston’s Paradise Rock Club on Friday, October 19, 2012! This show is especially significant because the GZA will be playing his classic LP Liquid Swords in its entirety. Killer Mike and Bear Hands are opening as well. Here is the full list of tour dates from Pitchfork:
09-14 Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom *
09-15 Toronto, Ontario – Soundstage *
09-16 Detroit, MI – St. Andrews *
09-17 Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar *
09-18 Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop *
09-19 Chicago, IL – Metro *
09-20 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue *
09-22 Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall *
09-25 San Francisco, CA – Fillmore *
09-26 Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades *
09-28 Santa Ana, CA – Observatory *
09-29 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey *
09-30 Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up *
10-02 Phoenix, AZ – Marquee *
10-18 New York, NY – Irving Plaza (CMJ) *

* with Killer Mike, Sweet Valley, Bear Hands

P.S. Sweet Valley’s debut Stay Calm is out this week on Fool’s Gold Records.

Art, Honorary KLAYMERS, Music, pictures, Punk, Wavves

Listen: Wavves- “Hippies Is Punks” (Adult Swim Singles)

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This week Wavves dropped the track “Hippies Is Punk” for Adult Swim’s 12 Tracks 12 Straight Weeks Singles Program. Give it a listen at the link below. What do y’all think? Perhaps a hint at what is to come on the upcoming Wavves LP to be released later this year.
http://www.adultswim.com/promos/201206_singles/index.html?cid=homepage_singles2012

Art, Music, pictures, Punk, The Migs, Tours

Migs Heading Down South!

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Yeahhh! Our Band of the Week (or I should say month at this point), The Migs are touring the South! Check your local underground listings (if such exist!) for venues on these fine tour dates:

8/10 Somerville, MA (Moe’s Lounge/Radio Basement w/ Fat Creeps, Pile, Fancytramp)
8/11 Rochester, NH
8/12 Manhatten, NY
8/13 Richmond, VA (BAUHAUS w/ The Blue Rajas, Tyrannosaurus Awesome)
8/14 Knoxville, TN
8/15 Lexington, KY
8/16 HELP!?
8/17 FUN FUN FUN
8/18 Dover, NH (Fury’s Publick House w/ Creaturos, Nice Guys)

If you don’t know The Migs, do some homework: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/pages/The-Migs/114318615312674 and http://themigs.bandcamp.com/

Art, Honorary KLAYMERS, Music, pictures, Punk, Shannon and The Clams

NEW Shannon and the Clams- “Gremlins Crawl”

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New 7″ “Gremlins Crawl” (on Volar Records) from one of our favorites Shannon and the Clams. Seriously digging this new track, it hones in everything great about the band. They can capture vintage 50’s Rock ‘N’ Roll better than anyone else.
B-Side is a cover of Jefferson Airplane’s psychedelic (literally) classic “White Rabbit.”

Listen here: http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/shannon-and-the-clams-gremlins-crawl-mp3

Art, concert review, Gentleman Jesse and His Men, Honorary KLAYMERS, King Khan, King Khan and the Shrines, Music, pictures, Punk, reviews, Video

Concert Review: King Khan & The Shrines & Hector’s Pets @ Brighton Music Hall (7/23/12)

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Bands: King Khan & The Shrines, Hector’s Pets
Venue: Brighton Music Hall (Brighton, MA)
Date: Monday, July 23, 2012

Act One:Hector’s Pets – Hector’s Pets is an exciting five piece rock and roll band. Excitement comes in many forms, but with Hector’s Pets, my major source comes from the oddity of the group. They are an interesting visual: a front-man singing and clapping with a tambourine, a surfer-type dude on vocals and guitar, a Ty Segall look-a-like on bass, a ’70s glam rocker on lead guitar, and a cool as an autumn breeze drummer with sunglasses. Those are rough descriptions; I am not trying to aesthetically diss the guys. Musically, I recognize one song towards the end of their set. I am surprised that I recall it, because I only saw a few clips of the band weeks before the show. The song is “Station Wagon“. It’s good. The rest of the songs — I couldn’t quite get into them as much as I wanted to. I’m not incredibly hard to please so this was surprising, but they seemed in a bit of a rock and roll middle ground; heavier than stand-still groups like Real Estate, but considerably slower than an all-out blitz a la Jay Reatard. On an optimistic front, maybe they will become a 2012 Brighton Music Hall version of 2009’s Box Elders at the old Harpers Ferry. By that I mean to say I found myself more curious about the band’s on-stage persona than the music itself. I came around to the Elders and I was hooked by the time I saw them for a second time opening for Black Lips at Middle East Downstairs in March 2010. I keenly anticipate listening to more of Hector’s Pets.

The Final Act: King Khan and the Shrines – It sure is humorous to recall the mysticism surrounding the first time I saw King Khan and the Shrines. Reading about Jared Swilley’s premier experience was a bit like cracking open Fear and Loathing — there’s a bunch of vivid imagery about wild times, but it’s hard to make sense of them until they’ve happened to you. Needless to say, Khan and crew clicked on all levels that very May night at the Paradise Rock Club – their biggest Boston gig by far at that time. The sound was superb, the crowd went extra crazy, and the Shrines still had Bamboorella as their lead dancer. Fast forward a little more than a year to October 2010. The Shrines are back in Boston, this time at the Royale. The event is undersold, but features a fantastic opening line-up of Red Mass and Gentleman Jesse and His Men. The show is a great one, but it’s a toned down event, in sound and in performance. Now, it’s July 2012 at the Brighton Music Hall. Upon announcement, the choice of venue is surprising given the past two much larger locales, but with a lot of college kids gone for summer, it makes more sense for the Shrines to play Brighton. As the days draw closer to the event, I smirk as I do before all shows involving my favorite bands. An incredible time is ahead! And it was quite the show! No Bamboorella, one less man on horns, one less man on guitar. These are just some minor things I noticed. The sound wasn’t quite as solid as it was during the previous two shows. Opener “(How Can I Keep You)” felt less ‘complete’ this time around for sure. But what suffered in sound was made up for in practically every facet of the performance. You could tell King Khan was especially grateful for the audience’s reaction of singing along, dancing crazy, jumping up and down, etc. He did his part as well, especially in the encore as he wrapped the front-row in his cape and high-fived several people. Others in the band leaped into the crowd at various junctures, sometimes playing their instruments, sometimes just soaking in the fun. I remember thinking to myself, “wow, they keep playing hit after hit,” at one point and then thinking the same thing a couple of songs later. Great. A good chunk of the band’s live material was taken from Supreme Genius and What Is?!, but there was a nice bit of new and old — the old being “Stoned Soup” (for example) and the new being “So Wild” (a tribute to Jay Reatard) and “Bite My Tongue,” both of which will be released on an upcoming LP. The classics for me (and for others..judging by reaction) were “Took My Lady To Dinner,” “Welfare Bread,” and “I Wanna Be A Girl”. It was nice to see a lot of familiar faces having loads of fun. A moment of weirdness came after the band finished playing. An older gentleman with a saxophone in his hand climbed on stage and started playing solo. Most people were confused, but we seemed to embrace this peculiar occurrence. His performance lasted five or so minutes longer than I would have liked if I had a choice, but I did not. He kept playing. Eventually and fortunately, the Shrines made their way back on stage (thanks to percussionist Ron Streeter, who is a master of bringing the band out of the green room) and ripped into a few more tunes. There was hope for a second encore after several moments of silence and darkness and pleas from Streeter, but the PA music came back on and the show was officially over. The Shrines will be back soon. I was assured of this after the show by Shrines trumpet player Simon Says. Just when… we’ll see!

All Photos courtesy of KLYAM’s soul brother Glenn Delrossi. Thanks buddy!

Art, Honorary KLAYMERS, Music, pictures, Wavves

Pitchfork Interviews Sweet Valley

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Sweet Valley is a cool new project from Nathan Williams and his brother Joel or “Kynan” eh I don’t know Pitchfork is confusing. Anywho, the group unleashes some nasty beats, showcasing Nathan’s love for hip hop, which hasn’t been as prevalent in his mainstay, Wavves. Their debut is entitled Stay Calm and will be released by Fool’s Gold on August 7, 2012. Check out this Pitchfork interview at the link below.
http://pitchfork.com/news/47252-wavves-nathan-williams-and-his-brother-talk-instrumental-beat-project-sweet-valley/ Article by Carrie Battanon

P.S. Nathan gives us the skinny on the next Wavves LP: “The new record is already done– we just finished mixing. I think it’s a lot bigger sounding than King of the Beach or Life Sux. I guess it’s more geared towards 90s big chords.”