For the week of 4/15 through 4/21/2013
1. The Flaming Lips, The Terror (WB)
2. The White Stripes, Elephant (Third Man)
3. Shearwater & Sharon Van Etten, Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (Sub Pop)
4. The Stooges / Black Keys, No Fun (WB)
5. Thee Oh Sees, Floating Coffin (Castle Face)
Radio Astronomer; Rachael’s CafeNot to be confused with the light rock band Radio Astronomy, the similarly named Radio Astronomer will be playing Rachael’s Café tomorrow evening. The music of these four performers from Boston is a psychedelic fusion that constantly turns itself on its head; “For You My Love,” the band’s sophomore single, released in 2005, begins with a light driving percussion in 4/4 time with descending harmonics, only to cut away to 2/4 time, and then back into 4/4 within the last thirty seconds. It’s enough to jar the listener, but poised just long enough for the shift to sound appropriate and meaningful.
Post by Brandon Cook
Laser Background; The Bishop“Pop Candy Dream Magic Psych” are just a few of the surprisingly apt descriptions that could be applied to the Philly band Laser Background; taking the wonderful tune “Mystery Airplane Girl” (from their self-titled EP) for example, heavily accented second and fourth beats of the percussion and guitar, played in a freewheeling, almost aloof, style, lend the music its ‘pop’ while the other terms could describe the casual mania of noodling instruments in tunes such as “We Trust.” This all being said, Laser Background is capable of having a balance between experimental fun and maturity (the strangely morose song “Pinwheels” for instance). You’ll get it all when you make it out to the Bishop tomorrow night.
Post by Brandon Cook
For the week of 4/8 through 4/14/2013
1. Kurt Vile – Wakin on a Pretty Daze (Matador)
2. The Postal Service – Give Up [deluxe] (Sub Pop)
3. Dawes – Stories Don’t End (Hub)
4. James Blake – Overgrown (Republic)
5. White Fence – Cyclops Reap (Castle Face)
Whiskey Formal; Bear’s Place
Southern, alternative, and hard rock all converge together in “Whiskey Formal,” an act which results in vitriol, punching power chords, and the occasional good, long scream. All of this is more or less meant to say that “Whiskey Formal” certainly does not lack intensity, and yet instead of sacrificing sound for noise, these Bloomington performers maintain their musicianship (some of it, like the licks of guitarist Kevin Dobson, is quite virtuosic) in a sound both modern and classic. Get it all tomorrow night at Bear’s Place.
Post by Brandon Cook
I had to know.
Since the Phoenix band’s ’82 self-titled hardcore punk debut album, Meat Puppets’ catalog has run the gamut, from grunge rock to country western to jam band stuff. Their sounds shaped the birth of a new genre of music, “Cow Punk.” In ’93 they were guests on Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance, likely a product of Kurt Cobain’s determination to fight the mainstream. They’ve done a little bit of everything. Point is, you can’t pigeonhole Meat Puppets, which is why their show was so much fun.
They opened with “Whistling Song” in which lead singer, guitarist, and founding member Curt Kirkwood does more whistling than anything else. That was pleasant. Then they stirred the crowd into a frenzy with fan favorites like “Touchdown King,” “Plateaus,” and “Up on the Sun.” The last of these morphed into a ferocious noise jam that featured fellow Kirkwood brother, Cris, thrashing about, slapping his bass, and grinning goofily into the audience, drummer Shandon Sahm beating the snot out of his drum heads and Curt firing as many notes into the cacophony as possible.
After a while, the rhythm guitarist and spitting image of his father Curt, Elmo Kirkwood, spoke up. He smelled weed. And a few songs later he was puffin’ strong, courtesy of a fan. That was our first impression of the next generation of Kirkwoods.
The band wrapped up their set with a cover of the Beach Boys’ classic “Sloop John B” and their own hit, “Lake of Fire.” They encored with a ruckus rendition of their most popular song “Backwater.” The crowd, myself included, was floored.
And yes, in response to the crowd’s incessant chanting, Meat Puppets did play “Sam.” On the song the Kirkwood brothers spit out words as fast as, if not faster, than Busta Rhymes on his verse in “Look at Me Now.” Flawlessly. That alone was worth the cost of admission.
Post by Kale Okeson