keeeeen skeeee 2NITE.. the heavens will burnnnn
Warehouse Next Door
Saturday, August 27
$8, all ages
doors at 8:30, show at 9
OCTOBER 31 (members of Deceased, Thrash Corner Records)
http://www.truemetal.org/october31/
This is October 31's first show in DC in a while! The band features King Fowley from Deceased on vocals, and if you caught him with Deceased at the Warehouse Next Door, a few months back, you sure as hell don't want to miss this. These thrash titans bring some serious power metal comparable to early Overkill mixed with early Twisted Sister. Too much metal for one hand! COMMIT TO SIN!
ECLIPTIC
http://www.theeclipticpath.com www.myspace.com/ecliptic
Markus Von Hampel (guitar/vocals) and Sidney L Mortensen II (percussion) formed the death/black metal band, Ecliptic, soon after meeting. A demo CD was created in 1999/2000 and released in the spring of 2001. A full-length album was recorded in 2004 and is set to be released in 2005. Ecliptic expanded the band by adding David Everett (lead guitar) in 2002. After an extensive search for a bassist, Nicholas Kuhn is found and joins in 2004. Shortly after Nicholas joins, Jaclyn Davis fills the lineup with lead vocals. Ecliptic is working on a second full-length and new songs will be posted soon.
BEATEN BACK TO PURE http://www.beatenbacktopure.com
"'Trailer-core' was the only term I could come up for this hazy Southern slab of fuzzed-out, earthy metal. Equal parts sludgy, hazy doom-rock and groovy southern hardcore, BBTP have released an album that comes across as Crowbar and Floodgate meets Eyehategod and Down while in a Jack Daniels and Darvocet-induced stupor and simply oozes character from every alcohol-soaked pore. Sweaty, oily, and hairy, BBTP are metal rednecks with a mission to simply play a music that mixes the Southâ??s bluesy heritage with a harsher, gritty metal sound, and it works so perfectly I found myself wearing flannel, chewing tobacco, and I installed a gun rack in my Honda Civic. The riffs are thicker than swamp water and equally infectious, all laced with Benâ??s whiskey-ripened roar and sometimes soulful back-porch croon. The mood of the album is a tangible humidity and grime than puts you in the Bayou backwater while wearing spikes and bullet belts, the mix of metal and fuzzed-out Southern hostility is superbly rendered and each track is a swarthy, groove-laden dirge of incest, stale beer, and gator-fuckinâ?? Southern pride. Unashamed of their origin, the General Lee aesthetic of the artwork carries over into the material thatâ??s awash with grimy layers of stoner doom but often rife with a heavier, more abrasive manifestation that gives the album some Skoal-induced bite. The pacing starts with surprising immediacy as â??America Verminâ? tumbles from the speakers with a rock 'n' roll gait smothered in hot sauce and saliva. But the rest of the album is more of a sonic hangover with a far more drawn-out pace and plenty of appropriately Southern bridges and acoustic interludes that enforces the heaving Swampish atmosphere. â??Smothered in Sundressâ? starts off with a surprisingly articulate intro before the song explodes with a crushing groove and metal square dance face-off thatâ??s only missing a fiddle and some teeth to make it true hick-core. â??Hell Goes Thru Hanging Dogâ? highlights Ben's almost Jan De Koeyer-like (Gorefest-circa Erase) growl along with his suitably bluesy drone that could be from any Down album. Now fear not, The Burning South isnâ??t all just murky, pot-hazed doom, as there are some Crowbar-like moments of sheer oppressive weight as heard on â??One Shovel and a Place to Dieâ? and its gargantuan main riff. The slight injections of acoustic flair complete the albumâ??s redneck pretense without overdoing it, as they add just enough deep-fried ambiance to give the album heaps of atmosphere amid the slovenly hardcore guise. â??Where the Sewer Meets the Seaâ? and â??Pillars of Tomorrow, Piles of Yesterdayâ? are the albums most truly white trash-core, gravy-soaked offerings with plenty of soulful, clean gregariousness from Ben but both settle into gaping maws of drawn-out sludge. The only thing missing is a cover of â??Sweet Home Alabamaâ? to make this album any more Southern, but the rocking instrumental â??Vertigoâ? is close enough and the brilliantly named album closer â??Running Out of Neckâ? rumbles with the resonance of an idling Fat Boy before it closes with what can only described as an epically southern, throat-clearing warmth. Beaten Back to Pureâ??s â??Dixie coreâ? is a fine offering that mixes a massive Bourbon-induced hangover with a 3-day meth binge into one brawling sonic expulsion. Often lulling and hazy, but equally as attention-getting as a knuckle duster to the face, The Burning South is perfect for those who wish Down were a tad heavier and Crowbar would have a little more variety. Youâ??uns better get this â??ere album, ya hear?" (Erik Thomas, www.digitalmetal.com)
WITHERED (ex-Social Infestation, ex-Leechmilk) http://www.withered.net
"Brutal music out of Georgia. The Demonstration CD features 3 tracks from the forthcoming 5-song EP Order Born From Chaos. Withered, formed in 2003, features Chris Freeman and Mike Thompson of the crust-punk/grindcore outfit Social Infestation in control of some very heavy guitar and gruff vocal duties. Leaning toward death and black metal, these songs destroy. Holding up the rhythm section are Wes Kever (Puaka Balava) on drums and former Leechmilk bassist Greg Hess, who they recruited at a show in the basement of Brent Hinds (Mastodon). What does this mean? Face-melting power grind worthy of high praise. All 3 songs contain intriguing structure. They sway from full-on grind, power-crust to a heavy sludge melody. Nice guitar work. This could very well be the heaviest band ever!" (Bobby, Boggob Magazine)
MAGRUDERGRIND (return from tour show!)
"It is hard to type when your whole body is thrashing to and fro in an involuntary reaction brought on by eight tracks of brain-blistering power violence-influenced grind. So many bands are trying to take grind to new levels; it is refreshing to hear a band whose only "level" is leveling their listeners. MAGRUDERGRIND unleash their audio audacity with absolute abandon. This is the kind of extreme grind that probably first turned you on to the genre. This is the power violence sound that you thought was long gone anywhere outside of Japan. Buy this. Listen to it. Try and keep your neck from snapping and your arms from flailing. I dare you." (Mindspell Webzine, www.mindspell.org)
and from the City Paper:
The Southern sludge-metal band Beaten Back to Pure was a central player in one of the more fascinating rock happenings Iâ??ve witnessed. BBTP was but one of many bands slated to play in a festival here last year. One of the preceding acts took a break in the middle of its set to berate the bewhiskered Beaten members for their frequent use of the Flag That Shall Not Be Waved. (Now, in case there is any doubt as to the bandâ??s aesthetic, sample album titles include Southern Apocalypse and The Burning South.) The offended opening band not only called BBTP out as hillbilly hatemongers but also went on to say that it would never again play with a band that flew the Stars and Bars. (Guitarist Vince Burke is pictured.) At this point, a plant in the audience raised her fist and incitingly yelled, â??Long live the New South,â? a phrase I had never actually heard said in earnestâ??even when I was a Kappa Alpha pledge. Suffice it to say that the men of BBTP promptly renounced their cracker ways, joined hands, and sang a stirring rendition of â??Ebony and Ivory,â? and racism was finally cured. OK, they actually ignored the statements and unrepentantly barrelled through a bludgeoning set heavier than all the Fabulous Freebirdsâ?? songs put together. A band that looks like Antiseenâ??s little brothers and sounds like Molly Hatchetâ??s Danny Joe Brown having a hoedown with Pig Destroyer doesnâ??t really care much for the opinion of others. So, after you finish protesting the antebellum bullshit of The Dukes of Hazzard, come continue the discourse with the good olâ?? boys of BBTP. Beaten Back to Pure plays with October 31, Ecliptic, Withered, and Magrudergrind at 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Warehouse Next Door, 1017 7th St. NW. $8. (202) 783-3933. (David Dunlap Jr.)
$8, all ages
doors at 8:30, show at 9
OCTOBER 31 (members of Deceased, Thrash Corner Records)
http://www.truemetal.org/october31/
This is October 31's first show in DC in a while! The band features King Fowley from Deceased on vocals, and if you caught him with Deceased at the Warehouse Next Door, a few months back, you sure as hell don't want to miss this. These thrash titans bring some serious power metal comparable to early Overkill mixed with early Twisted Sister. Too much metal for one hand! COMMIT TO SIN!
ECLIPTIC
http://www.theeclipticpath.com www.myspace.com/ecliptic
Markus Von Hampel (guitar/vocals) and Sidney L Mortensen II (percussion) formed the death/black metal band, Ecliptic, soon after meeting. A demo CD was created in 1999/2000 and released in the spring of 2001. A full-length album was recorded in 2004 and is set to be released in 2005. Ecliptic expanded the band by adding David Everett (lead guitar) in 2002. After an extensive search for a bassist, Nicholas Kuhn is found and joins in 2004. Shortly after Nicholas joins, Jaclyn Davis fills the lineup with lead vocals. Ecliptic is working on a second full-length and new songs will be posted soon.
BEATEN BACK TO PURE http://www.beatenbacktopure.com
"'Trailer-core' was the only term I could come up for this hazy Southern slab of fuzzed-out, earthy metal. Equal parts sludgy, hazy doom-rock and groovy southern hardcore, BBTP have released an album that comes across as Crowbar and Floodgate meets Eyehategod and Down while in a Jack Daniels and Darvocet-induced stupor and simply oozes character from every alcohol-soaked pore. Sweaty, oily, and hairy, BBTP are metal rednecks with a mission to simply play a music that mixes the Southâ??s bluesy heritage with a harsher, gritty metal sound, and it works so perfectly I found myself wearing flannel, chewing tobacco, and I installed a gun rack in my Honda Civic. The riffs are thicker than swamp water and equally infectious, all laced with Benâ??s whiskey-ripened roar and sometimes soulful back-porch croon. The mood of the album is a tangible humidity and grime than puts you in the Bayou backwater while wearing spikes and bullet belts, the mix of metal and fuzzed-out Southern hostility is superbly rendered and each track is a swarthy, groove-laden dirge of incest, stale beer, and gator-fuckinâ?? Southern pride. Unashamed of their origin, the General Lee aesthetic of the artwork carries over into the material thatâ??s awash with grimy layers of stoner doom but often rife with a heavier, more abrasive manifestation that gives the album some Skoal-induced bite. The pacing starts with surprising immediacy as â??America Verminâ? tumbles from the speakers with a rock 'n' roll gait smothered in hot sauce and saliva. But the rest of the album is more of a sonic hangover with a far more drawn-out pace and plenty of appropriately Southern bridges and acoustic interludes that enforces the heaving Swampish atmosphere. â??Smothered in Sundressâ? starts off with a surprisingly articulate intro before the song explodes with a crushing groove and metal square dance face-off thatâ??s only missing a fiddle and some teeth to make it true hick-core. â??Hell Goes Thru Hanging Dogâ? highlights Ben's almost Jan De Koeyer-like (Gorefest-circa Erase) growl along with his suitably bluesy drone that could be from any Down album. Now fear not, The Burning South isnâ??t all just murky, pot-hazed doom, as there are some Crowbar-like moments of sheer oppressive weight as heard on â??One Shovel and a Place to Dieâ? and its gargantuan main riff. The slight injections of acoustic flair complete the albumâ??s redneck pretense without overdoing it, as they add just enough deep-fried ambiance to give the album heaps of atmosphere amid the slovenly hardcore guise. â??Where the Sewer Meets the Seaâ? and â??Pillars of Tomorrow, Piles of Yesterdayâ? are the albums most truly white trash-core, gravy-soaked offerings with plenty of soulful, clean gregariousness from Ben but both settle into gaping maws of drawn-out sludge. The only thing missing is a cover of â??Sweet Home Alabamaâ? to make this album any more Southern, but the rocking instrumental â??Vertigoâ? is close enough and the brilliantly named album closer â??Running Out of Neckâ? rumbles with the resonance of an idling Fat Boy before it closes with what can only described as an epically southern, throat-clearing warmth. Beaten Back to Pureâ??s â??Dixie coreâ? is a fine offering that mixes a massive Bourbon-induced hangover with a 3-day meth binge into one brawling sonic expulsion. Often lulling and hazy, but equally as attention-getting as a knuckle duster to the face, The Burning South is perfect for those who wish Down were a tad heavier and Crowbar would have a little more variety. Youâ??uns better get this â??ere album, ya hear?" (Erik Thomas, www.digitalmetal.com)
WITHERED (ex-Social Infestation, ex-Leechmilk) http://www.withered.net
"Brutal music out of Georgia. The Demonstration CD features 3 tracks from the forthcoming 5-song EP Order Born From Chaos. Withered, formed in 2003, features Chris Freeman and Mike Thompson of the crust-punk/grindcore outfit Social Infestation in control of some very heavy guitar and gruff vocal duties. Leaning toward death and black metal, these songs destroy. Holding up the rhythm section are Wes Kever (Puaka Balava) on drums and former Leechmilk bassist Greg Hess, who they recruited at a show in the basement of Brent Hinds (Mastodon). What does this mean? Face-melting power grind worthy of high praise. All 3 songs contain intriguing structure. They sway from full-on grind, power-crust to a heavy sludge melody. Nice guitar work. This could very well be the heaviest band ever!" (Bobby, Boggob Magazine)
MAGRUDERGRIND (return from tour show!)
"It is hard to type when your whole body is thrashing to and fro in an involuntary reaction brought on by eight tracks of brain-blistering power violence-influenced grind. So many bands are trying to take grind to new levels; it is refreshing to hear a band whose only "level" is leveling their listeners. MAGRUDERGRIND unleash their audio audacity with absolute abandon. This is the kind of extreme grind that probably first turned you on to the genre. This is the power violence sound that you thought was long gone anywhere outside of Japan. Buy this. Listen to it. Try and keep your neck from snapping and your arms from flailing. I dare you." (Mindspell Webzine, www.mindspell.org)
and from the City Paper:
The Southern sludge-metal band Beaten Back to Pure was a central player in one of the more fascinating rock happenings Iâ??ve witnessed. BBTP was but one of many bands slated to play in a festival here last year. One of the preceding acts took a break in the middle of its set to berate the bewhiskered Beaten members for their frequent use of the Flag That Shall Not Be Waved. (Now, in case there is any doubt as to the bandâ??s aesthetic, sample album titles include Southern Apocalypse and The Burning South.) The offended opening band not only called BBTP out as hillbilly hatemongers but also went on to say that it would never again play with a band that flew the Stars and Bars. (Guitarist Vince Burke is pictured.) At this point, a plant in the audience raised her fist and incitingly yelled, â??Long live the New South,â? a phrase I had never actually heard said in earnestâ??even when I was a Kappa Alpha pledge. Suffice it to say that the men of BBTP promptly renounced their cracker ways, joined hands, and sang a stirring rendition of â??Ebony and Ivory,â? and racism was finally cured. OK, they actually ignored the statements and unrepentantly barrelled through a bludgeoning set heavier than all the Fabulous Freebirdsâ?? songs put together. A band that looks like Antiseenâ??s little brothers and sounds like Molly Hatchetâ??s Danny Joe Brown having a hoedown with Pig Destroyer doesnâ??t really care much for the opinion of others. So, after you finish protesting the antebellum bullshit of The Dukes of Hazzard, come continue the discourse with the good olâ?? boys of BBTP. Beaten Back to Pure plays with October 31, Ecliptic, Withered, and Magrudergrind at 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Warehouse Next Door, 1017 7th St. NW. $8. (202) 783-3933. (David Dunlap Jr.)
1. So is this place located right at Massachusetts Ave. and 7th street?
2. What's the best idea for parking?
2. What's the best idea for parking?
Originally posted by sonicyouth42:Just above New York and 7th actually. New York is a block above Mass.
1. So is this place located right at Massachusetts Ave. and 7th street?
Originally posted by sonicyouth42:I've only been there twice, but haven't had trouble with street parking.
2. What's the best idea for parking?
Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:I've had problems on Friday and Saturday nights when I arrived on the late side. Arrive early.
Originally posted by sonicyouth42:I've only been there twice, but haven't had trouble with street parking.
2. What's the best idea for parking?
Originally posted by sonicyouth42:oh, my turn! my turn!
1. So is this place located right at Massachusetts Ave. and 7th street?
2. What's the best idea for parking?
the best idea for parking is your nearest metro station. warehouse is one block away from the mt vernon square metro station.
shouldn't have any trouble on the street. i parked right in front of the warehouse last time i went. got there pretty early, i was all paranoid about not getting to see enon, though
So, any word on how much the Xiu Xiu show will cost? Should I be OK for tickets if I get there around 6:30?
6:30 is way too early. id say, 7:30 at the earliest although youll still probably be waiting for another hour or more to get in only to wait another hour for any music to start. hope yer bringin someone along to help pass the time.
the show will be $7.
mike kanin's write-up on the show, though i have to respectfully disagree with his thoughts regarding noise.
Noise music: There are so many easy, obvious beefs to have with it. And sure, some of it is flat-out crapâ??a boring, muddled beard that can con bored music-nerd into believing that layers of digital distortion make up for putting in no more than a passing effort. But not every DIY noisenik is an unprepared, lazy piece of shit. And at its best, some of the stuff that gets made is actually interesting. As for Yellow Swans, to judge by the beats emerging from the feedback, the might-as-well-be-Brooklyn-based act is certainly better than some. Still, the band membersâ?? habit of letting their thing go on for 12 not-so-developed minutes is a bit much. And the inevitable pretension that goes with such thingsâ??check out the â??lyricsâ? on the back of Bring the Neon War Homeâ??is gag-inducing. That one Pitchfork writer called that recording â??heady shitâ? is in and of itself a warning that maybe thereâ??s not much to the thing. Not that thereâ??s really all that much to the genre. Still, when the pulsating strands of noise do crack your skull enough to warrant praise, thatâ??s really all that matters. And by that measure, Yellow Swans are slowly, painfully getting there. Yellow Swans play with Xiu Xiu and Nedelle at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31, at the Warehouse Next Door, 1017 7th St. NW. $7. (202) 783-3933. (Mike Kanin)
mike kanin's write-up on the show, though i have to respectfully disagree with his thoughts regarding noise.
Noise music: There are so many easy, obvious beefs to have with it. And sure, some of it is flat-out crapâ??a boring, muddled beard that can con bored music-nerd into believing that layers of digital distortion make up for putting in no more than a passing effort. But not every DIY noisenik is an unprepared, lazy piece of shit. And at its best, some of the stuff that gets made is actually interesting. As for Yellow Swans, to judge by the beats emerging from the feedback, the might-as-well-be-Brooklyn-based act is certainly better than some. Still, the band membersâ?? habit of letting their thing go on for 12 not-so-developed minutes is a bit much. And the inevitable pretension that goes with such thingsâ??check out the â??lyricsâ? on the back of Bring the Neon War Homeâ??is gag-inducing. That one Pitchfork writer called that recording â??heady shitâ? is in and of itself a warning that maybe thereâ??s not much to the thing. Not that thereâ??s really all that much to the genre. Still, when the pulsating strands of noise do crack your skull enough to warrant praise, thatâ??s really all that matters. And by that measure, Yellow Swans are slowly, painfully getting there. Yellow Swans play with Xiu Xiu and Nedelle at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31, at the Warehouse Next Door, 1017 7th St. NW. $7. (202) 783-3933. (Mike Kanin)
Originally posted by sonicyouth42:i really hope this xiu xiu show goes well for you, seems like you've spent the past two months on here fretting about it
So, any word on how much the Xiu Xiu show will cost? Should I be OK for tickets if I get there around 6:30?
the show is now 8 bucks. round up them pennies.
OK, so John Brannon's in town. This should translate into 500 music geeks lining up outside the Warehouse at 6pm to make sure they get in, but it doesn't, sadly. I'm not gonna get on my soapbox and give a history lesson, but i need to say that this is the man whose voice influenced a generation and more of hardcore, noise rock, and even grunge. He is the American punk underground's equivalent to Nick Cave. You should be there.
Friday, September 2
$7, all ages
doors at 9:30, show at 10
Easy Action (ex-Negative Approach/Laughing Hyenas!, Reptilian Records)
The Old Haunts (Kill Rock Stars, ex-Excuse 17/Two Ton Boa/The Serum Greys)
The Blast of Valour (DC post-punk instrumental rawk, like The Fucking Champs meets Deerhoof)
Easy Action
http://www.easyaction.org
As raw as open-heart surgery on a subway train, John Brannon's caged lynx howl found its third release valve with Easy Action. The former Laughing Hyenas and Negative Approach vocalist has here added guitar to his repertoire, even if only to augment the depth of the band's sound.
In the early '80s, Brannon's uncompromising, pointedly aggressive Detroit hardcore outfit Negative Approach, along with Boston acts like SSD and DYS and D.C. groups like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and S.O.A., established the paradigm for American hardcore music. Negative Approach was just that: the sonic equivalent of a chair through a window, with Brannon venting and ranting frustratedly and indeed, negatively. With the termination of the band in the mid-'80s, Brannon, with guitarist Larissa Strickland, founded the equally devastating â??- though roots-inspired â??- noise punk-blues hybrid Laughing Hyenas, a band often cited for its influence on punk, indie rock, and grunge from the early '90s onward. The Hyenas were a more apt vehicle for Brannon's tortured baritone; he has truly been blessed with an excellent, terribly authentic vocal range and feel, moving from a throaty scream to blues crooning in the space of half a measure, unselfconsciously, and without contrivance.
After a spell of five CDs and numerous tours, the Hyenas called it quits. A few years later, Brannon, along with former Hyenas bassist Ron Sakowski â??- who also worked with the Necros -â?? formed Easy Action, a blend of amped-up Detroit garage rock, the rusty-nail blues of the Hyenas, and the scraped-knuckle aggression of Negative Approach. Easy Action proved to be a way for Brannon to howl as demonically as he had in the early and mid-'80s and still croon when the mood struck. The band released its first two singles on Reptilian Records in 2000, then followed a year later with a self-titled album, also on Reptilian. (All Music Guide)
The Old Haunts
http://www.oldhaunts.com
Fallow Field is Old Haunts' Kill Rock Stars debut, consisting of two previous EPs from the Olympia stomp rockers with six new tracks added. It's sorta country, this band's stuff, with Craig Extine's slippery yowl out front of spindly guitars and the kind of rhythm that only requires one big kick drum. (Though there's a snare too, and at least one cymbal.) "Deflect It" and "Boots Are Clubs" are great distillations of this. But Old Haunts also have a punk sensibility in the vein of the Wipers or Chicago's Drapes – intriguingly rough edges, and songs that are tossed-off but still dangerous. "By the Bay"'s pace is hyper and impatient, "Old World" adds rickety farmhouse piano to a typically tense pacific northwest indie rattle, and "You Could Never Know" only needs slashing guitar and the choppy reports of a snare to make Extine's vocal sound perfect and urgent. Fallow Field is only about a half-hour-long, and rarely wavers from its favorite sound, staccato guitar notes pecking at muddy but expressive basslines. (See "Cult Baby.") But despite their limitations, Old Haunts bring a cool sense of creakiness to their songs. "Walk Through the Woods" is aptly named – Fallow Field sounds like hill people's punk rock. (All Music Guide)
The Blast of Valour
http://www.theblastofvalour.com
This instrumental rock onslaught of epic proportions specializes in melting faces. They can most easily be compared to The Fucking Champs with healthy doses of pop melodicism, punk and rock 'n' roll drive, and Deerhoof-esque quirkiness. Jeff was always a rock drummer but is also an electronic composer. Tom started out with jazz saxophone as his concentration among a dozen other instruments. Nick was a jazz guitarist and rockabilly fan, and Ben was a young history teacher at their high school in DC, pining for a band that took rock as seriously as he wanted. Both now play guitar and bass for The Blast of Valour. Tom started writing songs last year, which turned into a portfolio and a kickass band. Together now for more than a year, they have performed at small, rockin' clubs around DC and recorded a demo.
Friday, September 2
$7, all ages
doors at 9:30, show at 10
Easy Action (ex-Negative Approach/Laughing Hyenas!, Reptilian Records)
The Old Haunts (Kill Rock Stars, ex-Excuse 17/Two Ton Boa/The Serum Greys)
The Blast of Valour (DC post-punk instrumental rawk, like The Fucking Champs meets Deerhoof)
Easy Action
http://www.easyaction.org
As raw as open-heart surgery on a subway train, John Brannon's caged lynx howl found its third release valve with Easy Action. The former Laughing Hyenas and Negative Approach vocalist has here added guitar to his repertoire, even if only to augment the depth of the band's sound.
In the early '80s, Brannon's uncompromising, pointedly aggressive Detroit hardcore outfit Negative Approach, along with Boston acts like SSD and DYS and D.C. groups like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and S.O.A., established the paradigm for American hardcore music. Negative Approach was just that: the sonic equivalent of a chair through a window, with Brannon venting and ranting frustratedly and indeed, negatively. With the termination of the band in the mid-'80s, Brannon, with guitarist Larissa Strickland, founded the equally devastating â??- though roots-inspired â??- noise punk-blues hybrid Laughing Hyenas, a band often cited for its influence on punk, indie rock, and grunge from the early '90s onward. The Hyenas were a more apt vehicle for Brannon's tortured baritone; he has truly been blessed with an excellent, terribly authentic vocal range and feel, moving from a throaty scream to blues crooning in the space of half a measure, unselfconsciously, and without contrivance.
After a spell of five CDs and numerous tours, the Hyenas called it quits. A few years later, Brannon, along with former Hyenas bassist Ron Sakowski â??- who also worked with the Necros -â?? formed Easy Action, a blend of amped-up Detroit garage rock, the rusty-nail blues of the Hyenas, and the scraped-knuckle aggression of Negative Approach. Easy Action proved to be a way for Brannon to howl as demonically as he had in the early and mid-'80s and still croon when the mood struck. The band released its first two singles on Reptilian Records in 2000, then followed a year later with a self-titled album, also on Reptilian. (All Music Guide)
The Old Haunts
http://www.oldhaunts.com
Fallow Field is Old Haunts' Kill Rock Stars debut, consisting of two previous EPs from the Olympia stomp rockers with six new tracks added. It's sorta country, this band's stuff, with Craig Extine's slippery yowl out front of spindly guitars and the kind of rhythm that only requires one big kick drum. (Though there's a snare too, and at least one cymbal.) "Deflect It" and "Boots Are Clubs" are great distillations of this. But Old Haunts also have a punk sensibility in the vein of the Wipers or Chicago's Drapes – intriguingly rough edges, and songs that are tossed-off but still dangerous. "By the Bay"'s pace is hyper and impatient, "Old World" adds rickety farmhouse piano to a typically tense pacific northwest indie rattle, and "You Could Never Know" only needs slashing guitar and the choppy reports of a snare to make Extine's vocal sound perfect and urgent. Fallow Field is only about a half-hour-long, and rarely wavers from its favorite sound, staccato guitar notes pecking at muddy but expressive basslines. (See "Cult Baby.") But despite their limitations, Old Haunts bring a cool sense of creakiness to their songs. "Walk Through the Woods" is aptly named – Fallow Field sounds like hill people's punk rock. (All Music Guide)
The Blast of Valour
http://www.theblastofvalour.com
This instrumental rock onslaught of epic proportions specializes in melting faces. They can most easily be compared to The Fucking Champs with healthy doses of pop melodicism, punk and rock 'n' roll drive, and Deerhoof-esque quirkiness. Jeff was always a rock drummer but is also an electronic composer. Tom started out with jazz saxophone as his concentration among a dozen other instruments. Nick was a jazz guitarist and rockabilly fan, and Ben was a young history teacher at their high school in DC, pining for a band that took rock as seriously as he wanted. Both now play guitar and bass for The Blast of Valour. Tom started writing songs last year, which turned into a portfolio and a kickass band. Together now for more than a year, they have performed at small, rockin' clubs around DC and recorded a demo.
damn this show is gonna be good…possible negative approach covers! from the baltimore city paper interview:
â??Iâ??ve never had a problem with my voice,â? says Detroit vocalist John Brannon, when asked whether his ferocious singing has caused any physical damage. â??It feels stronger than ever. I really feel like thereâ??s nothing holding me back. Iâ??ve still got some batteries left, and I think I can do this for a while.â?
Brannonâ??s lung-depleting howl, equal parts primal power and melodic reach, has ripped air for nearly 25 years, first with hardcore pioneers Negative Approach, then with blues-punkers Laughing Hyenas, and now with the steamrolling quartet Easy Action. That Brannonâ??s intense roar has survived this long is pretty miraculous. â??I donâ??t know what else to do,â? he admits. â??My mother still says, â??When are you going to get a job?â?? and I always say, â??Mom, Iâ??m a singer!â??â?
On Friends of Rock and Roll, Easy Actionâ??s 2005 album on Baltimoreâ??s Reptilian Records, Brannon darts from slithery croon (â??There Was a Timeâ?) to slamming screech (â??Get the Fuck Out of My Wayâ?) to harrowing rage (â??Kool Aide,â? which drags the Stoogesâ?? â??Little Dollâ? through a dark tunnel of violent Brannon screams). While the bandâ??s self-titled 2001 debut shone like hot chrome, Friends feels looser and more lived-in, like a well-worn leather jacket. Itâ??s impressive given the groupâ??s tumultuous history.
â??We just couldnâ??t hold the band together, because nobody wanted to tour. People my age really donâ??t want to get in the van,â? Brannon says. â??But I donâ??t want to just play weekend shows in Detroit. I want to take this to the streets and show people how we rock. The lineupâ??s steady now, everybodyâ??s up for touring, and weâ??re all really in tune to what weâ??re doing.â?
The rough swagger of Friends of Rock and Roll reflects the spontaneity of its recording session, helmed by Detroit veteran Jim Diamond (White Stripes, Dirtbombs). The lurching â??Whatâ??s Going Downâ? was built from a single riff minutes before it was recorded, while the anthemic title track employs an impromptu choir to buttress Brannonâ??s heroic bellow. â??A friend of ours was planning to visit the studio after a night at a bar, and somehow word got around the bar,â? Brannon recounts. â??The next thing I knew, 20 kids walked in with him. So we said to them, â??OK, you can hang out, but youâ??ve gotta help us sing this song.â?? And it worked out great.â?
Brannon began Easy Action with guitarist Harold Richardson in 1998 during the demise of Laughing Hyenas. â??Harold and I were just messing around, doing â??70s glam covers,â? Brannon recalls. â??At some point I realized the Hyenas were not getting back together, and I was getting itchy. Iâ??ve been touring for so long, and once you stop you really miss it. I felt like I had something more to say.â?
Initially, Brannon also played guitar. â??I never did that in Negative Approach or the Hyenas, though I always wrote songs on guitar,â? he says. â??But as the songwriting [in Easy Action] got going, we really only needed one guitar. Plus, I needed to concentrate on my vocals, to put on a crazier performance. The way I sing I need to have nothing holding me backâ??to be able to break some stuff and pump people up.â?
With current bassist Tony Romeo and drummer Matt Becker, Brannon and Richardson have honed a tough, frantic sound that evokes numerous legendary bands from their hometown. â??Growing up in Detroit in the early â??70s, bands that people regard as major influences were just local bands to me,â? Brannon says. â??The Stooges, Alice Cooper, MC5, John Lee Hooker, even Motown, I got saturated with that stuff. So I thought music was like that everywhere.â? But Easy Actionâ??s noisy edges place the band squarely in the current Motor City milieu. â??Weâ??re friends with Wolf Eyes, we really like playing with them,â? Brannon says. â??Same with Human Eye, the new band of Timmy â??Vulgarâ? Lampinen from the Clone Defects. All the bands around here, we all go to the same bars, we all hang out.â?
Still, the road is Brannonâ??s true home. â??Weâ??re excited to play anywhere we can,â? he says. â??Iâ??ve been luckyâ??because of Negative Approach and the Hyenas, my demographic is like 15 to 50. I still get kids that were checking me out years ago. A lot of them want to talk to me about Negative Approach, and I donâ??t have a problem with that. Itâ??s cool that they still remember who the fuck I am. And I think they dig Easy Action, too, once theyâ??ve seen it. Weâ??re older, we hit it at a different angle, but we try to show them something theyâ??ve never seen.â?
Negative Approach songs have even shown up in Easy Actionâ??s live set. â??Yeah, if the moodâ??s right, weâ??ll kick some NA at the end of the show,â? Brannon says. â??I have a whole new audience of kids finding out about that, and they never saw those songs performed.â?
For those looking to learn more, earlier this year Reptilian issued the exhilarating Negative Approach CD Ready to Fight, featuring demos and live recordings from Brannonâ??s vaults. â??Chris X was really on my butt to get it together, because I was being kind of lazy about it,â? Brannon says of Reptilianâ??s owner. â??I finally went to my momâ??s house and dug up all the old tapes and put the best of what I had on there. There had been some bootlegs, and they were pretty crappy, so it was relieving to finally get it out.â?
After its current tour, Easy Action plans on immediately writing and recording a new album, followed by more shows. For Brannon, there are no alternatives. â??I wouldâ??ve hung up the towel by now if I didnâ??t want to do this, but Iâ??m too deep into it to turn back,â? he says. â??If I have to do the John Lee Hooker thing when Iâ??m 68 and sit in a chair and sing, thatâ??s fine with me.â?
â??Iâ??ve never had a problem with my voice,â? says Detroit vocalist John Brannon, when asked whether his ferocious singing has caused any physical damage. â??It feels stronger than ever. I really feel like thereâ??s nothing holding me back. Iâ??ve still got some batteries left, and I think I can do this for a while.â?
Brannonâ??s lung-depleting howl, equal parts primal power and melodic reach, has ripped air for nearly 25 years, first with hardcore pioneers Negative Approach, then with blues-punkers Laughing Hyenas, and now with the steamrolling quartet Easy Action. That Brannonâ??s intense roar has survived this long is pretty miraculous. â??I donâ??t know what else to do,â? he admits. â??My mother still says, â??When are you going to get a job?â?? and I always say, â??Mom, Iâ??m a singer!â??â?
On Friends of Rock and Roll, Easy Actionâ??s 2005 album on Baltimoreâ??s Reptilian Records, Brannon darts from slithery croon (â??There Was a Timeâ?) to slamming screech (â??Get the Fuck Out of My Wayâ?) to harrowing rage (â??Kool Aide,â? which drags the Stoogesâ?? â??Little Dollâ? through a dark tunnel of violent Brannon screams). While the bandâ??s self-titled 2001 debut shone like hot chrome, Friends feels looser and more lived-in, like a well-worn leather jacket. Itâ??s impressive given the groupâ??s tumultuous history.
â??We just couldnâ??t hold the band together, because nobody wanted to tour. People my age really donâ??t want to get in the van,â? Brannon says. â??But I donâ??t want to just play weekend shows in Detroit. I want to take this to the streets and show people how we rock. The lineupâ??s steady now, everybodyâ??s up for touring, and weâ??re all really in tune to what weâ??re doing.â?
The rough swagger of Friends of Rock and Roll reflects the spontaneity of its recording session, helmed by Detroit veteran Jim Diamond (White Stripes, Dirtbombs). The lurching â??Whatâ??s Going Downâ? was built from a single riff minutes before it was recorded, while the anthemic title track employs an impromptu choir to buttress Brannonâ??s heroic bellow. â??A friend of ours was planning to visit the studio after a night at a bar, and somehow word got around the bar,â? Brannon recounts. â??The next thing I knew, 20 kids walked in with him. So we said to them, â??OK, you can hang out, but youâ??ve gotta help us sing this song.â?? And it worked out great.â?
Brannon began Easy Action with guitarist Harold Richardson in 1998 during the demise of Laughing Hyenas. â??Harold and I were just messing around, doing â??70s glam covers,â? Brannon recalls. â??At some point I realized the Hyenas were not getting back together, and I was getting itchy. Iâ??ve been touring for so long, and once you stop you really miss it. I felt like I had something more to say.â?
Initially, Brannon also played guitar. â??I never did that in Negative Approach or the Hyenas, though I always wrote songs on guitar,â? he says. â??But as the songwriting [in Easy Action] got going, we really only needed one guitar. Plus, I needed to concentrate on my vocals, to put on a crazier performance. The way I sing I need to have nothing holding me backâ??to be able to break some stuff and pump people up.â?
With current bassist Tony Romeo and drummer Matt Becker, Brannon and Richardson have honed a tough, frantic sound that evokes numerous legendary bands from their hometown. â??Growing up in Detroit in the early â??70s, bands that people regard as major influences were just local bands to me,â? Brannon says. â??The Stooges, Alice Cooper, MC5, John Lee Hooker, even Motown, I got saturated with that stuff. So I thought music was like that everywhere.â? But Easy Actionâ??s noisy edges place the band squarely in the current Motor City milieu. â??Weâ??re friends with Wolf Eyes, we really like playing with them,â? Brannon says. â??Same with Human Eye, the new band of Timmy â??Vulgarâ? Lampinen from the Clone Defects. All the bands around here, we all go to the same bars, we all hang out.â?
Still, the road is Brannonâ??s true home. â??Weâ??re excited to play anywhere we can,â? he says. â??Iâ??ve been luckyâ??because of Negative Approach and the Hyenas, my demographic is like 15 to 50. I still get kids that were checking me out years ago. A lot of them want to talk to me about Negative Approach, and I donâ??t have a problem with that. Itâ??s cool that they still remember who the fuck I am. And I think they dig Easy Action, too, once theyâ??ve seen it. Weâ??re older, we hit it at a different angle, but we try to show them something theyâ??ve never seen.â?
Negative Approach songs have even shown up in Easy Actionâ??s live set. â??Yeah, if the moodâ??s right, weâ??ll kick some NA at the end of the show,â? Brannon says. â??I have a whole new audience of kids finding out about that, and they never saw those songs performed.â?
For those looking to learn more, earlier this year Reptilian issued the exhilarating Negative Approach CD Ready to Fight, featuring demos and live recordings from Brannonâ??s vaults. â??Chris X was really on my butt to get it together, because I was being kind of lazy about it,â? Brannon says of Reptilianâ??s owner. â??I finally went to my momâ??s house and dug up all the old tapes and put the best of what I had on there. There had been some bootlegs, and they were pretty crappy, so it was relieving to finally get it out.â?
After its current tour, Easy Action plans on immediately writing and recording a new album, followed by more shows. For Brannon, there are no alternatives. â??I wouldâ??ve hung up the towel by now if I didnâ??t want to do this, but Iâ??m too deep into it to turn back,â? he says. â??If I have to do the John Lee Hooker thing when Iâ??m 68 and sit in a chair and sing, thatâ??s fine with me.â?
CREEPING NOBODIES/Hand Fed Babies/Equinox/Nicht Nichtet
Warehouse Next Door – this Saturday (tomorrow)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tomorrow's show with the Creeping Nobodies should be really fun. Hope you may be able to make it. Here is the info:
Creeping Nobodies (Canadian girls and boys making some intelligent post-punk)
Hand Fed Babies (Hugh and Sean playing some machines)
Equinox (Hugh playing some machines and Saran singing on top)
Nicht Nichtet (Members of Rude Staircase with a plot to take over your ears)
Warehouse Next Door
1017 7th Street NW
Close to the Mt. Vernon Sq. metro stop on the Green Line
Doors - 9pm
$7
Warehouse Next Door – this Saturday (tomorrow)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tomorrow's show with the Creeping Nobodies should be really fun. Hope you may be able to make it. Here is the info:
Creeping Nobodies (Canadian girls and boys making some intelligent post-punk)
Hand Fed Babies (Hugh and Sean playing some machines)
Equinox (Hugh playing some machines and Saran singing on top)
Nicht Nichtet (Members of Rude Staircase with a plot to take over your ears)
Warehouse Next Door
1017 7th Street NW
Close to the Mt. Vernon Sq. metro stop on the Green Line
Doors - 9pm
$7
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 14
SWORD HEAVEN
RL STEIN
TRIANGLE & RHINO
PLAIN LACE (Mike from Navies)
Warehouse Next Door
1017 7th St NW
$6, 9pm
SWORD HEAVEN
Hailing from Columbus, OH, the mighty Sword Heaven channel some serious visions for a new world disorder. Panic-ridden throat scrapings through delay boxes and primal percussion lay at the root of a vicious live show that have left many scared and have earned these boys a well-deserved reputation among Midwest noise mongrels. "The lost
dreams of the kids pictured missing on the sides of milk cartons. Broken, perhaps angry, and often misdirected communication skills lurch and spit along a path of sour milk and barbed wire. If you've ever cut yourself while shaving any part of your body, these gents – a single-gender Three's Company but without the sexual innuendo or Crass
stencil typeface – have probably done as good a job as anyone at encapsulating that feeling through sound. Oh yes, and according to Inuit legend, "they friggin' RAWK." (Crippled Intellect). They've released records on Chondritic Sound and Gameboy, including a hottttt split LP with sister group 16 Bitch Pile Up.
RL STEIN
On tour with Sword Heaven, RL Stein is a Philadelphia-oriented free noise group that features Matt Rademan (aka Newton) and Rat Bastard
(Laundry Room Squelchers, To Live and Shave in LA, that drunk guy at this year's Noise Against Fascism). Sizzling feedback and chaos from people that probably have crushing minimum-wage day jobs. Also authored the "Goosebumps" series horror novels for children.
TRIANGLE & RHINO
Pittsburgh guitar and drums duo playing their part in the AmRep renaissance. As sloppily inappropriate as corn rows on a white dude but technically proficient as in they probably have downloaded tabs for Maiden and Priest.
PLAIN LACE
First solo show for Mike of the DC Navies Nation. Loopings and guitar. Might sit down and play.
SWORD HEAVEN
RL STEIN
TRIANGLE & RHINO
PLAIN LACE (Mike from Navies)
Warehouse Next Door
1017 7th St NW
$6, 9pm
SWORD HEAVEN
Hailing from Columbus, OH, the mighty Sword Heaven channel some serious visions for a new world disorder. Panic-ridden throat scrapings through delay boxes and primal percussion lay at the root of a vicious live show that have left many scared and have earned these boys a well-deserved reputation among Midwest noise mongrels. "The lost
dreams of the kids pictured missing on the sides of milk cartons. Broken, perhaps angry, and often misdirected communication skills lurch and spit along a path of sour milk and barbed wire. If you've ever cut yourself while shaving any part of your body, these gents – a single-gender Three's Company but without the sexual innuendo or Crass
stencil typeface – have probably done as good a job as anyone at encapsulating that feeling through sound. Oh yes, and according to Inuit legend, "they friggin' RAWK." (Crippled Intellect). They've released records on Chondritic Sound and Gameboy, including a hottttt split LP with sister group 16 Bitch Pile Up.
RL STEIN
On tour with Sword Heaven, RL Stein is a Philadelphia-oriented free noise group that features Matt Rademan (aka Newton) and Rat Bastard
(Laundry Room Squelchers, To Live and Shave in LA, that drunk guy at this year's Noise Against Fascism). Sizzling feedback and chaos from people that probably have crushing minimum-wage day jobs. Also authored the "Goosebumps" series horror novels for children.
TRIANGLE & RHINO
Pittsburgh guitar and drums duo playing their part in the AmRep renaissance. As sloppily inappropriate as corn rows on a white dude but technically proficient as in they probably have downloaded tabs for Maiden and Priest.
PLAIN LACE
First solo show for Mike of the DC Navies Nation. Loopings and guitar. Might sit down and play.
Thursday, September 15
$7, all ages
doors at 8:30, show at 9
Octis (Mick Barr of Orthrelm solo!, on Troubleman)
The Mass (SF heavy prog/math/skronk-core, Crucial Blast)
So I Had To Shoot Him (SF prog/grind-pop?!?, Crucial Blast)
Child Abuse (NYC noise rock)
Octis
http://www.millionraces.com/orthrelm.htm
OCTIS is Mick Barr from ORTHRELM's solo endeavor. Mick has been called one of the greatest guitarists in the underground, if not world/universe. This particular release finds Mick playing solo over programmed drum machine blast beats. The results are simply incredible. Is it thrash? Is it jazz? Is it metal? Is it "avant"? Who cares? What we DO know is that this shit is the future!
Fretboard brainiac Mick Barr (of Orthrelm, Crom-Tech, and Quix*o*tic) is back with a new album from his solo manifestation Octis (and is also now living here in San Francisco, playing in the Flying Luttenbachers). Ocrilim is one 33-minute track of squiggly quasi-metallic guitar and drum machine. Electro-shock therapy too expensive? Try this! A tinny drone jabbed and jarred with manic outbursts of hyper spazz guitar, with which the drum machine can barely keep up. It's, in a word, maddening. And of course we love it. (Aquarius Records)
The Mass
http://www.themass.us
The 2nd album from Oakland, California's THE MASS, Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness, further refines the band's unique brand of malevolent indie-thrash, oozing a crawling heaviness not apparent on earlier releases. Crushing, epic, and melodic…moving beyond the hyperkinetic seizures of City Of Dis, here THE MASS whip out blazing, staccato riffs and multifaceted vocal attacks that knife through complex structures and sludgy, epic elegies, as wicked saxophone melodies interweave with angular crunch and creepy nocturnal post-rock. Like a stuttering, bat-winged Bay Area thrash metal outfit arming itself with Louisville/Chicago schooled math-thug asymmetry, pounding dirge-core, and fierce, evocative jazz flourishes while lobbing some whopping bonged-out grooves, THE MASS continues to evolve its cryptic heaviosity.
So I Had To Shoot Him
http://www.soihadtoshoothim.com/
Formerly a fire-breathing, art-damaged power-violence outfit from New Jersey that released a handful of EPs, split 7"s, and compilation tracks in the mid-1990s, SO I HAD TO SHOOT HIM has spent the past couple of years reconfiguring itself into a noisy, surreal, utterly catchy grind-pop seizure that has culminated in their debut full-length, Alpha Males And Popular Girls for Crucial Blast Records. Here, sweeping melodic beauty peeks through cyclones of gasoline-soaked no-wave/grind skronk as steroid rock riffs, warped go-go beats, and malformed metalcore riots are inflamed by singer Contessa Von Bismarck's sublimely sassy vocals. Alpha Males And Popular Girls is a genre-torching maelstrom of crushing riffage and ferocious blastbeats, melodic dirge bliss, some absolutely spazztoid axe shred, and gorgeous sugar-coated pop that will gum up your grey matter. Truly mutant blast-pop!
$7, all ages
doors at 8:30, show at 9
Octis (Mick Barr of Orthrelm solo!, on Troubleman)
The Mass (SF heavy prog/math/skronk-core, Crucial Blast)
So I Had To Shoot Him (SF prog/grind-pop?!?, Crucial Blast)
Child Abuse (NYC noise rock)
Octis
http://www.millionraces.com/orthrelm.htm
OCTIS is Mick Barr from ORTHRELM's solo endeavor. Mick has been called one of the greatest guitarists in the underground, if not world/universe. This particular release finds Mick playing solo over programmed drum machine blast beats. The results are simply incredible. Is it thrash? Is it jazz? Is it metal? Is it "avant"? Who cares? What we DO know is that this shit is the future!
Fretboard brainiac Mick Barr (of Orthrelm, Crom-Tech, and Quix*o*tic) is back with a new album from his solo manifestation Octis (and is also now living here in San Francisco, playing in the Flying Luttenbachers). Ocrilim is one 33-minute track of squiggly quasi-metallic guitar and drum machine. Electro-shock therapy too expensive? Try this! A tinny drone jabbed and jarred with manic outbursts of hyper spazz guitar, with which the drum machine can barely keep up. It's, in a word, maddening. And of course we love it. (Aquarius Records)
The Mass
http://www.themass.us
The 2nd album from Oakland, California's THE MASS, Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness, further refines the band's unique brand of malevolent indie-thrash, oozing a crawling heaviness not apparent on earlier releases. Crushing, epic, and melodic…moving beyond the hyperkinetic seizures of City Of Dis, here THE MASS whip out blazing, staccato riffs and multifaceted vocal attacks that knife through complex structures and sludgy, epic elegies, as wicked saxophone melodies interweave with angular crunch and creepy nocturnal post-rock. Like a stuttering, bat-winged Bay Area thrash metal outfit arming itself with Louisville/Chicago schooled math-thug asymmetry, pounding dirge-core, and fierce, evocative jazz flourishes while lobbing some whopping bonged-out grooves, THE MASS continues to evolve its cryptic heaviosity.
So I Had To Shoot Him
http://www.soihadtoshoothim.com/
Formerly a fire-breathing, art-damaged power-violence outfit from New Jersey that released a handful of EPs, split 7"s, and compilation tracks in the mid-1990s, SO I HAD TO SHOOT HIM has spent the past couple of years reconfiguring itself into a noisy, surreal, utterly catchy grind-pop seizure that has culminated in their debut full-length, Alpha Males And Popular Girls for Crucial Blast Records. Here, sweeping melodic beauty peeks through cyclones of gasoline-soaked no-wave/grind skronk as steroid rock riffs, warped go-go beats, and malformed metalcore riots are inflamed by singer Contessa Von Bismarck's sublimely sassy vocals. Alpha Males And Popular Girls is a genre-torching maelstrom of crushing riffage and ferocious blastbeats, melodic dirge bliss, some absolutely spazztoid axe shred, and gorgeous sugar-coated pop that will gum up your grey matter. Truly mutant blast-pop!
TONIGHT!
302 Acid (DC instrumental ambient psych/dub)
Gel-Sol (back from Seattle!)
Escape By Ostrich (current and former members of Mofungo, Tono-Bungay, Fire in the Kitchen, The Scene Is Now, Fish & Roses, and anti:clockwise)
$7, all ages, doors at 9
302 Acid (DC instrumental ambient psych/dub)
Gel-Sol (back from Seattle!)
Escape By Ostrich (current and former members of Mofungo, Tono-Bungay, Fire in the Kitchen, The Scene Is Now, Fish & Roses, and anti:clockwise)
$7, all ages, doors at 9
More Japanese experimental/psych/noise/whatever at the Warehouse tomorrow!
Tuesday, September 20
$7, all ages
doors at 8:30, show at 9
Nissenenmondai (Japanese all-girl no-wave/psych trio)
WZT Hearts (electro-acoustic improv noise from Baltimore)
Facemat (DC improv noise)
Carbonic (solo folk/psych from Rochester)
Nisennenmondai
http://www.nisennenmondai.com
"Who: Himeno (drums), Takada (guitar), Zaikawa (bass). Why: They upstaged the mighty Anadorei at a recent event, and Melt-Banana are on their next guest list. In Japan's underground â??noiseâ?? scene everyone is talking about a new band called Nisennenmondai (Year 2000 Computer-Bug Problem). As they sound like the end of the world, this isn't surprising. The blitzkrieg starts with Takada issuing three deafening shrieks like a pterodactyl with a tummyache, but it's Himeno who leads the sonic assault with an apocalyptic barrage of jungle-punk percussion. It's so intense that the vocal-less 25-minute set often ends with Himeno wiping away tears. â??They're not tears - I'm wiping sweat from my eyes. Honest,â?? she says, a little embarrassed.â? These gals tore it up in Chicago at the Million Tongues Festival last year, and Nisennenmondai's second mini-album finds them running along in a similar vein to their debut, Sorede Sozosuru Neji, with Sayaka Himeno's always impressive drumming and occasional over-use of the crash cymbal providing each of the tracks with their primary impetus. Track three is actually a different recording of track five off Sorede… with the addition of some vocal overdubs, which is to say that it's brilliant and a pleasure to make its acquaintance again, but while this is all undoubtedly good stuff, I can't help feeling that there's a whole lot more they should be doing in the studio, and that given a bit more ambition, a MicroKorg, a decent producer – say, Eno circa 1977 – and something more than the sub-lo-fi recording quality on show here, they could be producing Japan's very own Loveless or something." (Ian Martin)
"There's no tracklisting on this mini-album; the five tracks blend together into a twenty-six minute, multi-movement noise symphony. Starting out with a clatter of drums, raining fiery death from all sides, it moves into a tighter, more menacing, bass-driven segment, punctuated by increasingly frantic bursts of screeching guitar feedback and drunken bumblebee soloing. Part three is a short burst of stop-start Boredoms noise, before the spectre of Neu! makes its appearance felt in the drumming. The bass just hammers away endlessly on one note, while the thin, metallic guitar takes the track by the scruff of the neck, spluttering in and out according to a rhythm of its own. The final, and best, part takes the best elements of the rest of the album; the frenetic drumming, the brooding bass, the explosive guitar; and takes the whole track as close to spacerock as three Japanese girls recording in a shoebox can be reasonably expected to go." (Ian Martin)
WZT Hearts
Jason Urick on Wzt Hearts' mission: "The music can sound like everything you've heard before – or nothing. Each night we play, none of us are sure of what it will sound like. In the eight months of playing together in this form, there has never been any talk between band members about the actual music other than the occasional 'Let's start slow tonight.'"
Jeff Donaldson: guitar and mixing board
Jason Urick: laptop
Shaun Flynn: drums and vocals.
Tuesday, September 20
$7, all ages
doors at 8:30, show at 9
Nissenenmondai (Japanese all-girl no-wave/psych trio)
WZT Hearts (electro-acoustic improv noise from Baltimore)
Facemat (DC improv noise)
Carbonic (solo folk/psych from Rochester)
Nisennenmondai
http://www.nisennenmondai.com
"Who: Himeno (drums), Takada (guitar), Zaikawa (bass). Why: They upstaged the mighty Anadorei at a recent event, and Melt-Banana are on their next guest list. In Japan's underground â??noiseâ?? scene everyone is talking about a new band called Nisennenmondai (Year 2000 Computer-Bug Problem). As they sound like the end of the world, this isn't surprising. The blitzkrieg starts with Takada issuing three deafening shrieks like a pterodactyl with a tummyache, but it's Himeno who leads the sonic assault with an apocalyptic barrage of jungle-punk percussion. It's so intense that the vocal-less 25-minute set often ends with Himeno wiping away tears. â??They're not tears - I'm wiping sweat from my eyes. Honest,â?? she says, a little embarrassed.â? These gals tore it up in Chicago at the Million Tongues Festival last year, and Nisennenmondai's second mini-album finds them running along in a similar vein to their debut, Sorede Sozosuru Neji, with Sayaka Himeno's always impressive drumming and occasional over-use of the crash cymbal providing each of the tracks with their primary impetus. Track three is actually a different recording of track five off Sorede… with the addition of some vocal overdubs, which is to say that it's brilliant and a pleasure to make its acquaintance again, but while this is all undoubtedly good stuff, I can't help feeling that there's a whole lot more they should be doing in the studio, and that given a bit more ambition, a MicroKorg, a decent producer – say, Eno circa 1977 – and something more than the sub-lo-fi recording quality on show here, they could be producing Japan's very own Loveless or something." (Ian Martin)
"There's no tracklisting on this mini-album; the five tracks blend together into a twenty-six minute, multi-movement noise symphony. Starting out with a clatter of drums, raining fiery death from all sides, it moves into a tighter, more menacing, bass-driven segment, punctuated by increasingly frantic bursts of screeching guitar feedback and drunken bumblebee soloing. Part three is a short burst of stop-start Boredoms noise, before the spectre of Neu! makes its appearance felt in the drumming. The bass just hammers away endlessly on one note, while the thin, metallic guitar takes the track by the scruff of the neck, spluttering in and out according to a rhythm of its own. The final, and best, part takes the best elements of the rest of the album; the frenetic drumming, the brooding bass, the explosive guitar; and takes the whole track as close to spacerock as three Japanese girls recording in a shoebox can be reasonably expected to go." (Ian Martin)
WZT Hearts
Jason Urick on Wzt Hearts' mission: "The music can sound like everything you've heard before – or nothing. Each night we play, none of us are sure of what it will sound like. In the eight months of playing together in this form, there has never been any talk between band members about the actual music other than the occasional 'Let's start slow tonight.'"
Jeff Donaldson: guitar and mixing board
Jason Urick: laptop
Shaun Flynn: drums and vocals.
Wednesday, September 21
$6, all ages
doors at 8:30, show at 9
Michael Bullock/Vic Rawlings/Mazen Kerbaj Trio (avant-improv bass/cello/electronics/trumpet from Boston and Lebanon)
The Cutest Puppy In The World (DC improv)
Insect Factory (microscopic ambient guitar drone from DC)
Boston's Vic Rawlings/Mike Bullock electronics/string duo will be joined by Lebanese trumpet player Mazen Kerbaj. The Vic Rawlings/Mike Bullock duo combine classical string instruments and meta-musical electronics in ways that bring out the rawest parts of each. Vic Rawlings plays amplified cello and a rack of electronics he built out of exposed circuit boards and stripped speaker cones. Mike Bullock plays amplified contrabass and a tone generator originally made for scientists. The result is an unbelievably stark sound world utterly alienated from the glib fluidity usually associated with bowed strings.
MICHAEL BULLOCK (contrabass, Boston)
http://www.mikebullock.com
Free improvisor Michael Bullock has played bass in eight countries, on a dozen records, and in a variety of bands, touring extensively both solo and as part of various ensembles. He has also played with well-known improvisors Eddie Prévost, Lê Quan Ninh, and Peter Kowald, in addition to working with numerous members of Boston's improvised music community. Two of his current obsessions include IIbasSpit, an electro-acoustic trio with Tucker Dulin (trombone) and Seth Cluett (bass, voice) which is planning a CD release this year; and an ongoing curiosity with acoustic feedback. Bullock has released recordings on such diverse labels as Emanem, Rounder, and Naxos.
VIC RAWLINGS (cello/electronics, Boston)
Vic Rawlings (prepared/amplified cello, circuitry) is active as an improviser and instrument builder. His performances focus on the metamusical potential of unstable sounds and silences. He has developed instruments that are specific to this compositional aesthetic. As an instrument builder he specializes in modifications of existing instruments and has developed extensive cello preparations. He also continually
develops an electronic instrument from extant exposed circuitry, producing, in effect, a modular analog synthesizer with a highly unstable interface. This electronic instrument is paired with a flexible array of exposed speaker elements, chosen for their often unpredictable and idiosyncratic acoustic qualities.
He performs as a soloist and as a member of undr quartet, The BSC, and in duo and trio ensembles with Michael Bullock, Greg Kelley, Bhob Rainey, Sean Meehan, Jason Lescalleet, James Coleman, Liz Tonne, Tatsuya Nakatani, and Howard Stelzer, among others. Collaborators have included such diverse musicians as Eddie Prevost (AMM), Donald Miller (Borbetomagus), Daniel Carter (Other Dimensions in Music), Laurence Cook, Jaap Blonk, Masashi Harada, and Stephen Drury.
He appears on the following record labels: Grob, Sedimental, Emanem, Boxmedia, Chloe, Absurd, and Rykodisc. He has performed as a soloist/composer with Nicola Hawkins Dance Company and has composed scores for films by Alla Kovgan and Jeff Silva. He has toured in the US and France.
MAZEN KERBAJ (trumpet, Beirut Lebanon)
http://www.kerbaj.com
Mazen Kerbaj was born in 1975 in Beirut and lived there since. His main activities are comics, painting, and music. After a lot of works for different publishers and magazines, it is in March 2000 that he releases some of his more personal works in his Journal 1999 (a diary in comics' format). He self-published eight other books and many short stories since.
It is also in 2000 that he plays for the first time in concert, in the Strike's pub in Beirut. This concert, a duo with Lebanese sax player Christine Sehnaoui, is probably the first improvised music concert in the Middle East.
In 2001, together with guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui, he creates the MILL association that curates since IRTIJAL an annual international festival for free music in Beirut as well as various concerts and events (IRTIJAL saw over the years some great improvisers like Fred Van Hove, Johannes Bauer, Lê Quan Ninh, and Franz Hautzinger).
In August 2002, together with Sharif Sehnaoui and double bass player Raed Yassine he recorded the album A published by La CD-Thèque, Beirut.
After meeting Franz Hautzinger by chance in Lebanon in February 2003, they played in a duo in Beirut and in Paris and in a trio with Japanese laptop player Taku Unami at the IRTIJAL 2003 festival. Then they were joined by Sharif Sehnaoui and Helge Hinteregger to form Oriental Space quartet that played in Nickelsdorf, Berlin, Vienna, and Klagenfurt. A recording of this group is avilable on the Austrian label aRtonal, and Abu Tarek, a recording of the duo Hautzinger/Kerbaj is available on the Portugese label Creative Sources.
In 2005, Kerbaj releases two new albums on the Lebanese newly-born label Al Maslakh (The Slaughterhouse), one in solo and the other with Rouba3i quartet.
Between 2000 and 2005, Mazen Kerbaj played in solo and various groups in a lot of venues in Lebanon, Damascus, Paris, Bordeaux, Vienna, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia.
Regular and occasional partners includes: Sharif Sehnaoui, Christine Sehnaoui, Raed Yassine, Charbel Haber, Jad Balaben, Jassem Hindi, Franz Hautzinger, Helge Hinteregger, Lê Quan Ninh, Bertrand Denzler, Stéphane Rives, Edward Perraud, Taku Unami, Guillermo Gregorio, Gene Coleman, Toshimaru Nakamura, Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jim Baker, Jack Wright, Mike Bullock, and Vic Rawlings.
The Cutest Puppy in the World
http://www.myspace.com/thecutestpuppyintheworld
DC-area avant-improv informed by out-jazz, psychedelia, and noise, influenced by Sun Ra, No Neck Blues Band, Animal Collective, Acid Mothers Temple, John Zorn, etc.
Insect Factory
http://www.myspace.com/insectfactory
Solo microscopic ambient guitar drone infleunced and inspired by the likes of Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Fripp/Eno, John Fahey, and Coltrane. Hypnotic layers of drone textures.
$6, all ages
doors at 8:30, show at 9
Michael Bullock/Vic Rawlings/Mazen Kerbaj Trio (avant-improv bass/cello/electronics/trumpet from Boston and Lebanon)
The Cutest Puppy In The World (DC improv)
Insect Factory (microscopic ambient guitar drone from DC)
Boston's Vic Rawlings/Mike Bullock electronics/string duo will be joined by Lebanese trumpet player Mazen Kerbaj. The Vic Rawlings/Mike Bullock duo combine classical string instruments and meta-musical electronics in ways that bring out the rawest parts of each. Vic Rawlings plays amplified cello and a rack of electronics he built out of exposed circuit boards and stripped speaker cones. Mike Bullock plays amplified contrabass and a tone generator originally made for scientists. The result is an unbelievably stark sound world utterly alienated from the glib fluidity usually associated with bowed strings.
MICHAEL BULLOCK (contrabass, Boston)
http://www.mikebullock.com
Free improvisor Michael Bullock has played bass in eight countries, on a dozen records, and in a variety of bands, touring extensively both solo and as part of various ensembles. He has also played with well-known improvisors Eddie Prévost, Lê Quan Ninh, and Peter Kowald, in addition to working with numerous members of Boston's improvised music community. Two of his current obsessions include IIbasSpit, an electro-acoustic trio with Tucker Dulin (trombone) and Seth Cluett (bass, voice) which is planning a CD release this year; and an ongoing curiosity with acoustic feedback. Bullock has released recordings on such diverse labels as Emanem, Rounder, and Naxos.
VIC RAWLINGS (cello/electronics, Boston)
Vic Rawlings (prepared/amplified cello, circuitry) is active as an improviser and instrument builder. His performances focus on the metamusical potential of unstable sounds and silences. He has developed instruments that are specific to this compositional aesthetic. As an instrument builder he specializes in modifications of existing instruments and has developed extensive cello preparations. He also continually
develops an electronic instrument from extant exposed circuitry, producing, in effect, a modular analog synthesizer with a highly unstable interface. This electronic instrument is paired with a flexible array of exposed speaker elements, chosen for their often unpredictable and idiosyncratic acoustic qualities.
He performs as a soloist and as a member of undr quartet, The BSC, and in duo and trio ensembles with Michael Bullock, Greg Kelley, Bhob Rainey, Sean Meehan, Jason Lescalleet, James Coleman, Liz Tonne, Tatsuya Nakatani, and Howard Stelzer, among others. Collaborators have included such diverse musicians as Eddie Prevost (AMM), Donald Miller (Borbetomagus), Daniel Carter (Other Dimensions in Music), Laurence Cook, Jaap Blonk, Masashi Harada, and Stephen Drury.
He appears on the following record labels: Grob, Sedimental, Emanem, Boxmedia, Chloe, Absurd, and Rykodisc. He has performed as a soloist/composer with Nicola Hawkins Dance Company and has composed scores for films by Alla Kovgan and Jeff Silva. He has toured in the US and France.
MAZEN KERBAJ (trumpet, Beirut Lebanon)
http://www.kerbaj.com
Mazen Kerbaj was born in 1975 in Beirut and lived there since. His main activities are comics, painting, and music. After a lot of works for different publishers and magazines, it is in March 2000 that he releases some of his more personal works in his Journal 1999 (a diary in comics' format). He self-published eight other books and many short stories since.
It is also in 2000 that he plays for the first time in concert, in the Strike's pub in Beirut. This concert, a duo with Lebanese sax player Christine Sehnaoui, is probably the first improvised music concert in the Middle East.
In 2001, together with guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui, he creates the MILL association that curates since IRTIJAL an annual international festival for free music in Beirut as well as various concerts and events (IRTIJAL saw over the years some great improvisers like Fred Van Hove, Johannes Bauer, Lê Quan Ninh, and Franz Hautzinger).
In August 2002, together with Sharif Sehnaoui and double bass player Raed Yassine he recorded the album A published by La CD-Thèque, Beirut.
After meeting Franz Hautzinger by chance in Lebanon in February 2003, they played in a duo in Beirut and in Paris and in a trio with Japanese laptop player Taku Unami at the IRTIJAL 2003 festival. Then they were joined by Sharif Sehnaoui and Helge Hinteregger to form Oriental Space quartet that played in Nickelsdorf, Berlin, Vienna, and Klagenfurt. A recording of this group is avilable on the Austrian label aRtonal, and Abu Tarek, a recording of the duo Hautzinger/Kerbaj is available on the Portugese label Creative Sources.
In 2005, Kerbaj releases two new albums on the Lebanese newly-born label Al Maslakh (The Slaughterhouse), one in solo and the other with Rouba3i quartet.
Between 2000 and 2005, Mazen Kerbaj played in solo and various groups in a lot of venues in Lebanon, Damascus, Paris, Bordeaux, Vienna, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia.
Regular and occasional partners includes: Sharif Sehnaoui, Christine Sehnaoui, Raed Yassine, Charbel Haber, Jad Balaben, Jassem Hindi, Franz Hautzinger, Helge Hinteregger, Lê Quan Ninh, Bertrand Denzler, Stéphane Rives, Edward Perraud, Taku Unami, Guillermo Gregorio, Gene Coleman, Toshimaru Nakamura, Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jim Baker, Jack Wright, Mike Bullock, and Vic Rawlings.
The Cutest Puppy in the World
http://www.myspace.com/thecutestpuppyintheworld
DC-area avant-improv informed by out-jazz, psychedelia, and noise, influenced by Sun Ra, No Neck Blues Band, Animal Collective, Acid Mothers Temple, John Zorn, etc.
Insect Factory
http://www.myspace.com/insectfactory
Solo microscopic ambient guitar drone infleunced and inspired by the likes of Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Fripp/Eno, John Fahey, and Coltrane. Hypnotic layers of drone textures.