Tuddd's Muddd

My Weekend - Aminal at Lit, Come at Bell House, and Monogold at Union Pool

    3 nights, 3 shows.  Ain't no thang / that's how I roll, beetchez.

    So, we got to Lit a bit early, and headed across the street to Kabin, one of my least favorite bars in NYC... my buddy Devin was already trashed so I had some serious catch-up to do.  Several pints later (and, regrettably, a 'conversation' about evolution with a gravely-misinformed, semi-literate racist piece of garbage later) we headed back over to Lit and down to the basement.

    I had missed Aminal's set when Devin's band, the newly (as of last week) rechristened Big Shots, played with them at UC Lounge about a month ago.  Anyway, tonight I caught the full set, and these bastards have got some honest to gawd straight motherfuckin' TALENT.  I'm not going to tidily try to pigeonhole their music into one convenient category, because I'm pretty sure that would be missing the point entirely.  Instead, what I was hearing veered chaotically between prog, funk metal, and some parts that reminded me of all the alternative rock radio I listened to in the '90s.  Needless to say, I enjoyed the shit out of it.

[Go HERE to hear Aminal's track, "Krill."]

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    The post-Aminal party ran late and had me hurtin' Saturday... I wound up not getting out of bed until 3:30 PM.  I knew this Come show was going to be an earlier affair (doors at 6) and with the rain coming down in buckets Saturday night, I wound up driving over to Gowanus for this show with a sack of White Castles in tow.

    At some point in or around summer '07 [uh, I think?] I was totally obsessed with Come's fantastic first album, 11:11.  I'm pretty sure that said obsession coincided with the bizarre period of my life where I was running a door factory out on Long Island, which makes perfect sense because 11:11 is pretty damned bleak and disheartening at points (although it still manages to rock), and working at a door factory is fucking depressing shit, especially when your boss is a vicious wifebeating multiple felon scumbag.  Anyway.

    I totes missed out on Come the first time around during the '90s.  Actually got into their shit when I saw Thalia Zedek open up for Dinosaur Jr at this show years ago.  Over the years I saw Zedek's solo band four times total, including this one at Tonic in early '07 and this one at Bowery in '09.  So, it's pretty safe to say that I celebrate Ms. Zedek's entire catalog, and I was pretty psyched when I randomly noticed that Come would be playing Bell House.

    Got there towards the end of the opening act, D. Charles Speer, who were just finishing their set of what seemed to be uptempo rockabilly instrumentals.  No complaints from me there.

    Eleventh Dream Day took what seemed like forever [remember, I was hung over as fuck] setting their gear up.  Not gonna lie, I really didn't care for their music.  Most of it sounded like tired '90s tropes, and the stuff that didn't totally suck sounded like Neil Young retreads.  Meh.

    Come's set, however, did the trick.  Much to my delight, they performed over half of 11:11 as well as reaching back to several other notable highlights from their career (including personal favorite "In / Out" from Don't Ask Don't Tell).  Zedek's raspy vocals effectively clawed their way somewhere between her own insistent, hard-driving chording and the more twangy, bluesy riffing of Chris Brokaw, with the ensuing turmoil driven onward by drummer Arthur Johnson's shifting rhythms.  This was EXACTLY what I thought the Come live experience would be like.  Well done. 

    [See directly below for the setlist.]

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    My third time seeing Monogold this year [brief review of a previous show located somewhere in this slovenly mess], only this time I pre-gamed with one of my friend Cindy's insane pot brownies.  Having seen Godspeed at Terminal 5 last month (and having had my Godspeed live experience thoroughly augmented by said baked goods), I figured "what the hey" and threw down accordingly.  I had a feeling that my exhaustion would combine with Monogold's heavily reverbed poppiness and the splendid acoustics of the room at Union Pool to create a superior listening experience, and I was right.  Yay!

    Seriously, do your ears a favor and see these guys live, and check out their new record, The Softest Glow, which is really fucking good.

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    Yes, I'm pissed about Mogwai canceling their NYC dates, but fret not.  I still get to see the Raveonettes Thursday night at Music Hall, Austerity Program with The Netherlands at Charleston Friday, and Crocodiles Saturday at Music Hall. 

    And where are my manners... HAPPY 420 Y'ALL'S!

 

BOAT at Bell House [NYC Popfest], May 22, 2010

[pretty sure this photo is from BOAT's set at Cake Shop Summer '08, the first time I saw them live.]

  

    Been busy, so it's finally time for me to get this show review written/posted before I forget even more stuff that actually happened.  Welcome to the land of parenthetical/bracketed references!

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    On this fine weekend, I was lucky enough to be visited by Bricer and his wife, in town from DC.  [To paraphrase a great American, "there's nothing like spending time with your most cherished friends, pure and true."]  Anyway, said individs seem to have caught BOAT fever, which, as it turns out, is actually a pretty sweet affliction with which to be stricken.  A little personal BOAT history for y'all: I first heard these guys when p4k bestowed a flattering review on the band's Come On Let's Drag Our Feet album in '07.  [I was intrigued by the fact that despite not actually invoking the GbV name in this review, p4k managed to make the band sound like they had a lot of similarities (sonically) to vintage GbV.  This was before I realized that when it comes to pretty much any new lo-fi/underdoggish band, p4k manages to somehow write 'em up as though they sound like vintage GbV.  Anyway.]

    I liked the Come On Let's Drag Our Feet album just fine, underrating it somewhat at #35 on my Best Albums of 2007 list.  In 2008 BOAT followed with the Topps EP, which (again) was woefully underrated by me [again oddly at #35, when it should have been top 20 easy].  I had the pleasure to catch the band live in August 2008 at this show at Cake Shop, which was a fun time.  NOTE-- if you don't feel like clicking on those links, allow me to collectively sum up all of my BOAT reviews in one word: SCRAPPY.  And then in '09 BOAT put out their finest album yet, Setting the Paces, which ranked all the way up at #3 on last year's Best Albums list [check the blurb for a mea culpa on that one].  A fine collection of rockin' tunes, to be sure.

    Anyway, me n' Bricer's Saturday got off to a late start due to some good ol' fashioned late nite Friday shenanigans [if by "shenanigans" you mean locking ourselves in my room and geeking out re: music until about 6 AM].  We finally stumbled out of my apartment at about 3 PM Saturday afternoon, hitting up Taco Santana for some boisterously overstuffed chorizo burritos (or "choritos", mmmm) before enjoying to-go margs/softball critiquing at McCarren for a bit.  Headed back to my place/drank a tad more, then started out towards the PopFest/Bell House. 

    Wanted to take the G to Smith Street (reasonably close to Bell House) but of course the G wasn't running.  Threw in the towel wrt bussin' it over to Gowanus (fuck that noise) in favor of a cabbie who had no fucking clue where he was going/what can ya do.  Once at Bell House, we met up with Bricer's lovely wife and resumed drinking before determining that the bands preceding BOAT on the bill [whisper] sucked.  Fortch we were able to exit the venue briefly in favor of mealin' some splendid Vietnamese sandwiches at a nearby restaurant.  

    Got back to the venue and decided to check out the merch, at which point I was surprised that apparently a couple of the band members somehow *remembered* me [specifically my Tommy shirt, haha] from that August '08 show, which is pretty hysterical.  

    Shortly after we entered the performance space, BOAT singer/guitarist D. Crane handed out cardboard cutout face masks of the members of the 1988 Mets, which he proclaimed as his "favorite Mets team."  [Coincidentally, mine too... I actually own a Strat-O-Matic set from the '88 season and I may or may not have played and re-played several seasons worth of 1988 Mets games when I was a friendless teenager.]  I got a Mookie mask and Bricer got Gary Carter (see below).  Festive way to start the set, no?  [And appropriate considering the baseball fixation BOAT previously displayed on their Topps EP and on related merch (check out the "Fastball" tee and the hand-drawn baseball cards).]

    The first song performed was the totes awesome "100 Calorie Man," with a smidgen of GbV's "Motor Away" [YESSSSSSS!!!!] tacked onto the end, which started with singer/guitarist dude standing in the audience covered in lights.  Check out a video of that here:

[BOAT "100 Calorie Man" LIVE at NYC Popfest 5/22/10 from 'SUP Magazine on Vimeo.]

    As soon as this song was finished, equipment malfunctions ensued as it seemed a guitar had been inadvertently stomped on during a "leap" from atop the kick drum.  Quote from the stage: "we've been waiting for this show for so long, imagining what it was going to be like, and so far it's nothing like we imagined."  AWWWWWW!!!! So self-deprecating! 

    Anyway, I'm not sure if Bricer caught the "Motor Away" tag (probably not, he fucking hates GbV) but the knowledge that BOAT was possibly going to jam out on some Pollard classix (they've apparently been covering "Tractor Rape Chain" recently) prompted him to shout "NO GBV!" which was apparently/puzzlingly misunderstood onstage as "NO DVD!"  The set continued in rollicking fashion, with many songs from Setting the Paces, and a few others.  It's been a few weeks here so you'll pardon my fuzzy memory, but here's a roughly ordered list of songs I think they played:

"100 Calorie Man" [with "Motor Away" jam]
"We Want It! We Want It!"
"Friends Since 1989"
"I'm a Donkey for Your Love"
"Prince of Tacoma"
"Four Beds for Boat"
"Interstate 5"
"(Do the) Magic Centipede"
"The Name Tossers"
"With a Girl Like You" [Troggs cover]
"The Name Tossers"
"Lately (I've Been on My Back)"

    Which leads me to still yet another GbV reference.  Back around the time when Bee Thousand was about to establish Guided by Voices as Indie Godhead of the Month in the early-to-mid '90s, the band played a legendary show at a CBGBs showcase which was said to shock the audience with just how ballsy and rockin' the set came off, in a manner that was diametrically opposed to their shambling recorded output at the time.  Seeing BOAT live at this point in their career just highlights how much more they manage to RAWK than one could've guessed from their earlier stuff.  Here's a couple more examples from the show:

  (I'm a) Donkey for Your Love

and

[BOAT "With a Girl Like You" Troggs Cover LIVE at NYC Popfest 5/22/10 from 'SUP Magazine on Vimeo.]

    Great times, excellent set, plenty of songs about debt, and worthwhile souvenirs (yup, Gary Carter on the left and Mookie on the right):

 WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

[go here for a download of a BOAT set recorded by WNYU.  Thanks to the BOAT blog for that one.]

Go See Austerity Program and Goes Cube at Bell House This Weekend!!!!

   

The Austerity Program

Goes Cube

    Imagine my joy when I noticed that Goes Cube and Austerity Program -- two of my very favorite Brooklyn bands, and two bands about whom I've written quite a bit about here on the Muddd -- would both be performing on the same bill at the Bell House this weekend.

    Now, imagine my misery when I realized that I'd be totally missing out on this dream bill because I'll be in DC for the weekend for a bachelor party.  Grrrrrr.

    I've been tooting Goes Cube's horn here on the Muddd ever since the first time I saw them a little over a year ago at Bowery and every time I've brought a friend to see them live, said friend(s) have left the show an absolute convert.  I've since seen them at least six more times, even once going so far as to literally run out of a King Crimson concert so I wouldn't miss their Union Pool show in mid-August.  I dug their first EP, Beckon the Dagger God, and their most recent offering, the Not What We Thought EP, is the best "heavy" record I've heard so far this year... yes, better than Torche, Boris, Meshuggah, Russian Circles, Krallice, Harvey Milk, even the mighty Early Man... I could go on.  If you've seen Goes Cube before, they have a formidable ever-growing stable of new songs including "Gravestones Like Chess Pieces," "Sob Sonnet" and "Sorry, Were You Sleeping?" that will have your head bangin' well after they've left the stage.  If you've never seen these guys live, here's your chance.  I promise you won't be disappointed. 

    As for the mighty Austerity Program, I first got turned on to them when I saw their set in May as the first band on a Pelican/Priestbird superbill, and I've gone out of my way to catch them several times since then.  These guys bring the heavy like few other bands out there, mixing razor-sharp precision with a brutally awesome performance style.  I reviewed one of their more recent sets here, so check that out if yer into superlatives.  Fucking amazing.  While you're at the show, pick up a copy of their '07 Hydra Head release Black Madonna... had I heard that album in time to include it on my Best of '07 it would have been top 10 with a bullet.

    What's more, a portion of the proceeds from this show will go to helping NYC's underfunded public schools.  So you can help the world at the same time you're giving your ears an indoctrination into all things loud and awesome.

    Here's the info:

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4TH at
THE BELL HOUSE (new venue on 7th St between 2nd and 3rd ave, on the banks of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn)
The Culture Of Me presents...
THE AUSTERITY PROGRAM
GOES CUBE
CRACKULA
BATILLUS
to benefit underfunded NYC public schools.
only $5