Wet Hair w/ Temptation, Peaking Lights and Aerosol Constellations@The Sweatshop

For the most part, Thursday night's show at the Sweatshop went off pretty well. Aerosol Constellations did an unusual set where they began with their usual intricate droning, but after about a ten minute build up, launched into a thuggish/sludgy punk jam. Jeremy bellowed the vocals and hammered on the bass while Bill thumped away on the drums. Slowly, the duo brought things back into the drone. Quite a different set from these guys. I'd love to see them do the hardcore act on it's own.

Temptation, who seemed very promising on their myspace page, seemed to have a meltdown on stage and weren't able to complete their set. The band consisted of six members: Two dudes on electronics (including NVH of Six Organs and Comets On Fire fame!) and four gals on drums, bass, guitar and vocals. The first song seemed to go over well, but then the drummer just faded out and couldn't keep time, causing some of the members to become visibly pissed. They stopped playing about halfway through the third track and then left the stage. Bit of a bummer, but Peaking Lights more than made up for it.


Peaking Lights, comprised of a husband/wife duo, sat behind a wall of electronics and synths and proceded to blow the crowd away. Indra Dunis rocked some simple watery synth lines and cooed her vocals through a wall of submerged delay. Meanwhile, Aaron Coyes played guitar that seemed to be run through a literal tower of electronics, creating a swirling haze of warm guitar drone. Did I mention the dub beats? The whole set was backed up by midpace dub beats, which explains the reggae fascination that the duo have on their myspace and blog. "Pocahaunted with dub beats" was how it was described during the show, and I would have to agree. One of the best sets I've seen all year.


Wet Hair's duo of Shawn Reed and Ryan Garbes (ex-Raccoo-oo-oon) definitely brought the tribal vibe of their previous band Raccoo-oo-oon. Shawn rocked a table of electronics and energetically chanted his nonsensical vocals, while Ryan mostly manned the drums. I can't help but compare their set to the Raccoo-oo-oon albums I've spent so much time with, but I found Wet Hair to be more of a stripped down and backwoods version of their former group. They also had a bit of the erratic dub element that Peaking Lights had, making them excellent touring pals. If they are coming to a town near you, I advise you not to miss out on either of them.


Here is a two part full set I found on youtube of Wet Hair playing earlier this year...

Part 1


Part 2


Peaking Lights in Iowa City earlier this year

Wet Hair w/ Peaking Lights, Temptation and Aerosol Constellations--Thursday, Dec 4, 2008@The Sweatshop

This year's announcement of the demise of Raccoo-oo-oon was definitely a bummer. The group seemed to be getting mentioned in all the right places, and each album was better than the preceding one. Fortunately they have their last statement pressed to 2xLP vinyl (courtesy of Not Not Fun) and CD (courtesy of Release The Bats). Wet Hair features ex-Raccoo-oo-oon members, Ryan Garbes and Shawn Reed, who, outside of Wet Hair, also run the Night People label and are the central figures in the expanding Iowa City noise underground. The pair have even put on shows for touring Vancouver bands like Modern Creatures and Mutators, but have also housed dozens and dozens of other like-minded bands who make the trek to unsuspecting Iowa City. Everyone has had something great to say about them.It seems as if Vancouver will get it's first taste of Iowa City noise this Thursday and, I assure you, this is not to be missed.

Peaking Lights (featuring a member of Rahdunes) of Spring Green, California, who, after listening to some tracks on their myspace, seem to have a drone-pop or a Cluster/Eno vibe--but with vocals!--are tagging along. Temptation from San Francisco round out the bill with their damaged space-synth sound. Their myspace and homepage look and sound pretty promising. Aerosol Constellations round out the bill.

Assuming they can bring it across the border, this show should be packed with merch. Night People, particularly Shawn Reed, have put out quite a few tapes, LP's and t-shirts over the last few months--most of it silkscreened and handmade. Bring some extra funds to this one, folks.

I'm putting this show pretty high on the hype-o-meter. So, you can go to the show or merely read about it here a few days later. Your choice.

A.H. Kraken w/Sex Negatives and Love Tan

Sex Negatives opened the night up and ripped into a set of start-stop grind 'n' skronk that came off much better than some previous sets I've seen. As mentioned here, Sex Negatives really can be hit or miss, though, for me, they usually do hit. I thought they hit it that night as well. Also nabbed a new cassette of their's released on Justin's Cassette Or Die label. Limited to 50 copies! Get it while it lasts...


Love Tan, who've released one of my favorite 7"s of the year, played a decent set of heavy Jon Spencer-style garage blues, but funneled it through the lens of an amphetamine-addled Mark E. Smith. The duo were entertaining and, for the most part, pretty tight, but they played much too long, well, for my liking at least. Could've done with a half hour set rather than the almost hour long one they performed. Rippin' cover of Lennon's I Found Out, though. Coulda' been a perfect ender to the show. Next time...


A.H. Kraken shot out and exceeded all expectations. Their recordings have usually leaned pretty heavily towards bare bones, blown out garage-punk, but they came out with a tightly wound set of--yeesh--post-hardcore?! Inebreation had definitely set in by this point (it was about 3am when they got on), so the minor details are a bit fuzzy. It was not quite what I expected, but much better than anticipated. Managed to scoop up an LP copy of the bass player's other band, The Feeling Of Love, which has a twangy Intelligence vibe to it. Pretty fucking good, in other words.

Sex Church were supposed to play last, but I'm not sure they were able to get on. Anyone stay long enough to find out?


The above photos are courtesy of moi. For some professional shots, visit here and here.

A.H. Kraken w/ Love Tan, Sex Negatives & Sex Church @ The Sweatshop Friday, Nov 28 2008

Killer show at The Sweatshop Friday night! A.H. Kraken, who I've mentioned here before, are coming in all the way from France for a North American tour and a quick stop in Vancouver. Check out their new 7 inch on local label Sweet Rot (pictured above), which should for sale at the show. In tote are Love Tan from Seattle, who also have a 7 inch out on Sweet Rot, and they've also just unleashed their first full length via Kill Shaman. Hopefully they'll have some copies with them, as Kill Shaman doesn't have any Canadian distribution this could make it hard to get in Vancouver. Two of Vancouver's sexiest (in name only) bands round out the bill: Sex Negatives and Sex Church. Bound to be an awesome night of deranged garage hysteria. Don't miss it...

Reblog:
Download the A.H. Kraken LP here

Weekend Review (belated)

Quick recap of a couple shows this last Saturday. The night started off at Anti-Social where The Rita was performing "his most important set ever." The Rita was given a grant by the Canadian Arts Council to recreate the sound of a motorbike engine using fuzz pedals and other electronics. If anyone read The Rita review I wrote in Discorder a few months back (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't), I compared his sound to a jet engine being revved. It's kinda nice to know that I was actually on to something. Anyways, the set started off with The Rita dialing in the electronics until they blended together to create a sharp, sputtering engine-like wall of noise. After that, The Rita hooked up contact mics to a motorbike engine, layered it with electronics, and, effectively, re-created his own sound using the engine. The location of the show (the small, cement backroom of Anti-Social) was the perfect spot, as maximum volume combined with the small confines melded together to create a full-body experience.

Seagull followed up with an amusing set where he flung around a supposedly malfunctioning microphone while a heavy blast of harsh noise enveloped the room. Great set from a burgeoning local noise talent. Check out his Wire/Byron Coley, Mimaroglu, Aquarius approved label, Ketchup Cavern.

Another local noise act, Taskmaster, followed with an unflinching tidal wave of brutal electronics. Very similar in vibe to The Rita.

Sick Buildings ended off the night and also had the last laugh. The set was composed of two tapes; one that had recorded crowd noise during the night and the other used to record snippets of the three previous acts. The effect was a disorienting, yet hilarious assault on the already bludgeoned crowd. As you can probably see from the photo below, Sick Buildings simply played the tapes and left the room, returning only once to grab his beer. Another great set from the ever-inventive Sick Buildings.

We quickly headed down to The Cobalt to check out Shearing Pinx and Twin Crystals (two local faves, in case you weren't paying attention) but only got there in time to see the last half of the SHPX show. Twin Crystals, for whatever reason, didn't play that night. Instead the crowd was treated with the return of Adjective (they haven't played since Music Waste) and the overrated Japandroids. Adjective were pretty sloppy and probably could have used a few more practices before heading back to the stage after a long hiatus. There is real potential in the band and I haven't written them off yet. Japandroids, who I have seen several times, failed to impress me, once again. Don't get me wrong, the two-piece is tight, they just don't do a damn thing for me and probably never will.

See you at the GZA tonight!

The Rita

Seagull

Taskmaster

Sick Buildings

Shearing Pinx

Barn Owl @ Hokos w/ Aerosol Constellations, Orlando Magic, ahna & V. Vecker

Excellent night of West Coast drooooone took place at Hoko's earlier this week. If you missed it, here's a quick recap.

Aerosol Constellations

Aerosol Constellations is the space-dream-drone unit formed by the drummer of Shearing Pinx and the drummer from Stamina Mantis. Seems ironic that beatless music is what you get when you throw two drummers into a room and let 'em have it with an array of pedals and electronics. Great, short set of tense dronescapes from these Fake Jazz regulars. Buy some of their merch next time you see 'em, as they always have a ton of great looking/sounding CDRs fer sale.

Orlando Magic

Orlando Magic were a last minute add to the bill, and, admittedly, stuck out a bit on this all-drone bill. That being said, the kids came to crush. A ten-minute set of tightly wound no-wave instruMENTAL took the mostly laid back crowd back a bit, but sounded pretty darn good to these ears. Couple more shows under their belt, and these fellers oughta be on to something.

ahna

ahna, apparently, is a rotating cast of musicians all hell bent on drone-improv. The only member I recognized was the violinist from i/i, Anju. Their set was particularly satisfying, as their lean on drone tended to be a lot more grating than most of the acts on the bill, which I definitely dig. Don't get me wrong, I love me some transcendental drone, but my pain hungry ears appreciate the harsher side of things just a bit more. Anju's violin was an electrified grind on the ears and was the captivating force in ahna. I recommend checking 'em out soon...

V. Vecker

V. Vecker, whom I have written about numerous times in this here blog, played the highlight set of the night. Justin from Mutators/Emergency Room infamy seems to be a permanent addition to V. Vecker, and his presence is quite welcome. Keith, the guitarist (duh), brought out his two huge, loud Sunn stacks and began to pummel the room with his punk rock version of Sunn O))) riffage. Justin then ran a contact mic along his drums, which picked up the vibrations sent out from the amps and turned it into a harsh, static noise, that was then fired into the crowd. After an intense build up, Justin grabbed his sticks and pounded along with Keith. This is my fourth time seeing V.Vecker and I highly recommend them to anyone even vaguely interested in seeing one of the most innovative noise/drone/whatever bands in the city.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl came all the way up from San Francisco to drop some serious drone science on Vancouver. The two laid back fellers, complete with California Cool, were all business on stage, and set up a mesmerizing set of slowly shifting drone that washed over the crowd. Well, at least the part of the crowd paying attention. It seems that word got out that there was a show at Hoko's, and just before the band went on, some people who maybe thought Barn Owl were a rock band or something, showed up and filled the room with chatter, which became difficult to filter out during Barn Owl's quieter moments. So a special note/fuck you goes out to the kids making the scene that night: Maybe do a quick myspace listen before leaving the house, especially if your only intent is to go out to a loud rock show with some friends and get fucked up at Hoko's. Nonetheless, I'm sure that the promoter, Kris, appreciates your patronage. Hopefully, after losing a bit of money on the Grouper show, he recouped some cash. Got some extra copies of the Barn Owl LP on Not Not Fun for those that didn't cop one at the show.

Ora Cogan, Aja Rose Bond, Grouper @ Hoko's

Aja Rose Bond

After a month of build up (thanks for getting this thing going, Kris) Grouper made a rare appearance in Vancouver. She doesn't tour much, so this may have be the only opportunity to catch her. It proved worth waiting for. She played a few tracks off of her newest release, Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill, but kept the set fairly short. Saelan has done a much better review of the show than I could muster up, so i'll leave that review to him. He did, however miss Ora Cogan and Aja Rose Bond.

Ora played a heart-wrenching set of modern folk that kept half the crowd enraptured but seemed looked over by the other half, who, as they had every right to do, seemed more intent on gobbling up sushi and conversing. The quiet intensity of Ora's set may have come across a little better with the crowd's full attention.

Aja Rose Bond, whom I have written about before in these here pages, followed next. Aja proved to be a great warm-up to the ethereal music of Grouper. Her creative use of electronics, random objects and an electric guitar held up great and even commanded the full attention of the audience. Aja began by rubbing a small metal slide on her heavily treated guitar, which was laid flat on the stage, and produced intricate sounds of delicate distortion that transfixed the crowd. She later began dropping a small rubber ball on the strings, letting chance take over. The set was brief but mesmerizing, and provided a great set-up for Grouper.

To my surprise, Aja and Gabriel have released another collaborative effort and were selling it at the show. This is an incredibly small edition of 40 on tape and features some great packaging. Oh yah, the music is great as well! Pick it up this Thursday at VIVO, where you'll be able to catch Aja play with her other group, Ahna.

Expressway Does Pitchforkfest: Day 2 & 3

I have always held a love/hate relationship with the Pitchfork website. Working in a record store, reading Pitchfork daily is a must if I want to keep up with the myriad of mediocre "indie" rock bands that the site champions. Almost instantly after Pitchfork has given out a "Best New Music", their is an instant influx of cusotmers rushing into the record store and demanding whatever hip album has been recommended. More than half the time the record hasn't even come out in Canada yet, which is particularly frustrating for record clerks across the globe, i'm sure. The site's ability to make or break a band with it's silly decimal rating (really, how many people actually read those overlong, pretentious reviews?) is incredibly annoying, particularly when a great band gets a mediocre "7.whatever" which most readers' eyes zip right past. The decimal point is king in this domain, and the score is all most readers give a shit about. Don't even get me started on their shit taste in modern hip hop. That being said, the site has brought groups that would have been overlooked much needed attention, though this seems to happen less and less now.

Bickering aside, the site now has enough pull to put on a a large-scale festival featuring dozens of bands across the indie spectrum. As I mentioned before, the ability to get Mission of Burma, Sebadoh and Public Enemy (none of whom are doing full scale tours) to play their best records is quite the feat and was also the the decisive factor in spending a week in Chicago, a city I had wanted to visit for a few years. Basically, Pitchfork gave me 3 great reasons to visit the city. I have to admit, Pitchfork know how to throw a festival. Located 20 minutes east of the Chicago downtown, Union Park boasted 3 stages, several beer stands ($4 for a cup of local brew!), a large merchant tent with over a dozen record dealers and craft booths, first aid stand with free sunscreen and earplugs, and dozens of local food suppliers. Not to mention the tickets were about $20 a day. Now if only Vancouver could get something like this together...

Now here is a brief, brief rundown of the acts that I caught on the last 2 days of the fest.

King Khan and the Shrines

I missed the King Khan show in Vancouver, as he was playing the night before we left. After his exhilarating (and funny!) set at Pitchfork, i'm sorry I missed it. Khan is a showman and worked the crowd into a frenzy with the greatest of ease.Complete with a a go-go dancer, full horn section and his awesome stage presence, King Khan and his Shrines delivered one of the best sets of the whole weekend. Can't wait for him to come back through.

Ghostface

Raekwon

Ghostface and Raekwon teamed up to deliver some of the best cuts of their solo records and early Wu albums. It was great to see Ghost in action after he bailed on the Wu-Tang show at last year's Bumbershoot fest.

Dinosaur Jr.

Dinosaur Jr., well, they were Dinosaur Jr., loud, catchy and rockin'. Not much else to say on that.

Atlas Sound

Bradford Cox took the solo route for his set rather than employing musicians to help back him up, who probably would have livened up his sound a bit. Atlas Sound played later in the day to a drunken crowd just looking to get down (yours truly included). Most of the set seemed to comprise of newer material, which he played with what looked to be just his sampler and guitar. The sound was completely lost in the open air and probably would have translated a little better in a more intimate environment.

Fuck Buttons

Fuck Buttons pretty much just played most of their debut record in one long continuous jam. This would have been fine if their were some more improvisation involved, but they pretty much played the songs exactly how they appear on the record. Though they did play a new track that actually bridged the wide gap between dance music and harsh electronics. The future seems bright from these forward thinking Brits.

Times New Viking

One of the more anticipated sets for me, TNV absolutely ripped through most of their catalogue in their brief set. Surprisingly, the band's lo-fi, fuzzed out translated pretty well in the open air festival setting. I still, however, prefer that sound to be contained in a small club.

Boris

Only stuck around for about half of Boris' set as the material of their newest record leave me feeling a little ill. There is something about the unintentional cheesy stage presence of this band (that double headless guitar and the drummers incessant, white gloved hand clapping for example) that had me scrambling for cover. I much preferred this band when they were a simply a Melvins cover band.

Health

This was the third time I had seen Health and by far the best. They played a number of newer songs that were similar to their older material but with far more energy, if that's believable. Don't miss 'em the next time they come through (they've played Van City about 5 times now).

I did catch a few other groups that I didn't take photos of, including No Age, Spiritualized, High Places, Jay Reatard, Icy Demons and Animal Collective. Jay Reatard and No Age were the only notables out of those. Anyways, if the Pitchforkfest doesn't get watered down next year, I would recommend heading down to Chicago for a week, taking in the city's many sites and peeping the Pforkfest.

Expressway Does Pitchforkfest: Day 1 "Don't Look Back"

The first day of the Pitchforkfest in Chicago was also the day I had anticipated the most. The other two days had some decent bands on the bill, but the first day, with three of my favorite bands playing their best records in full, was one of the reasons I made the long hike up to Chicago. Here, you won't read about the amazing architecture, deep dish pizza or the humid weather of Chicago (feel free to ask me about them in person though). Nope, these next few posts are all about the music. Here we go, Day 1 of Pitchforkfest 2008.


Mission of Burma blazed through VS like re-born post-punks with a vengeance, which I suppose they are. Their set was probably also the loudest of the entire fest, but I suppose it didn't help that I was mere feet away from the stage. Great start to the fest.


As I've made it clear here before, Bubble and Scrape is my favorite record in the Sebadoh catalog, and to see the band play it in it's entirety was one of the main reasons I had to make the trek to Chicago. I caught Sebadoh on their original line-up reunion tour two years ago here in Vancouver and it was pretty fantastic, though they barely touched Bubble and Scrape. This show obviously more than made up for that. I managed to squeeze my way through the thickening crowd and got a front row "seat" for the action. They did not disappoint. In fact, the only complaint that I have was that they had to switch their instruments on almost every song so as to play the album properly, which made the 45 minute record over an hour. That aside, the band played through the record flawlessly and made my inner 17 year-old incredibly happy.


The Bomb Squad began their set as soon as the last chord to Flood (the final track on Bubble and Scrape) had been struck. They played a booming set of dubstep and dub to warm up the crowd for the headliners of the night, Public Enemy. This was my first live experience with PE (I had seen Sebadoh and Mission of Burma before) and was not sure what the live performance would be like. Hip-hop is usually a disaster live, so I kept my expectations low. They managed to blow them right out of the water. Chuck D, sounding as great as he did in '88, was backed up by a DJ, bass, guitar, drums, Professor Griff, the S1W's and, of course, Flavor Flav, which, when combined together brought the potent content of Nation to full fruition. Flavor had a few missteps though, including a plug for his new sitcom, which garnered some booing from the crowd. Flavor actually handled it well by telling the crowd that they should be happy for him instead of booing him like a "bunch of ghosts." Later, after the encores, Flavor refused to leave the stage and jumped up on the drum kit for a half-assed solo. The lights were being shut off, the band was leaving the stage and the crowd was exiting, and Flavor was trying to give away his t-shirt. Anything for the spotlight.

Tomorrow I will hopefully have a brief rundown of the next two days. And, if all goes as planned, next week will be my guide to Chicago record shops. Ya'll check back now, ya hear?

*All photos, as usual, are courtesy of my own damn self*

Shearing Pinx Homecoming Event @ Pub 340

This past Sunday's Shearing Pinx homecoming BBQ bash had a last minute venue change to Pub 340, which made the all day fest a 19+ event. Apparently, over 160 kids under 19 years old had RSVP'd the event. I feel incredibly sorry for all the kids that couldn't come out because our city has a problem with accommodating all ages events. Not sure what the exact details of why the venue was moved, but it appears to be another case of the No Fun City police throwing their archaic laws in the face of those who just want to have a good time.

I grew up in Aldergrove and attended many, many "coffee house" events there and in Langley where I was exposed to a wide variety of music and surrounded by people of all ages. These weekly events shaped my adolescent mind and pretty much turned me on to punk rock, which was the only outlet for such music in a small town like Aldergrove. It saddens me a bit when I think of all the great bands in this city that kids under 19 only know about through their older siblings or myspace, which is usually about as far removed from the essence of a band as you can get. I'm not sure what can be done about the situation but, clearly, something needs to change.

Anyways, enough with the ranting. I managed to catch almost every single band (sorry Ora) and even snapped a few pics, all in between consuming too many beers and putting my groove on the floor. Pub 340 never got all that full, but there was a good rotation of familiar faces through the afternoon and night. The event seemed to go off without incident and a good time was had by many. Let's hope that we can keep banding together to create events like this.

On with the shows...




i/i kicked off the event (got there just in time for their last song), which makes sense when I found out that the electric violinist in the band, Anju, had arranged the whole day. The jam I did catch was very similar to the blazing post-rock of their set at Music Waste. Can't wait for that Broadway to Boundary 7".


Kellarissa followed with a set of her slowly layered keyboard-pop. I caught Kellarissa several months back when she opened for Samara Lubelski, and I must say that her confidence and mastery of her equipment (she samples her vocals several times during a song and builds up thick, harmonious layers that she sings along with) has increased ten-fold. Obviously people are paying attention, Kellarissa has her Mint Records debut in September.


Pink Noise played a decent set of their post-riot grrl tunage which also included a Shearing Pinx cover! Their set started off a little sloppy but got progressively tighter as they went a long. I hadn't seen 'em before but I wouldn't mind seeing 'em again.



Stamina Mantis played their set in the old smoking room of Pub 340, which turned out to be one of the loudest sets of the night due to the incredibly small space that they were crammed into. This was actually my first time seeing the duo, and I was quite impressed. The duo is comprised of bass and drums but do not fit into any of the blues-informed or Lightning Bolt rip-offs that most bass and drum duos end up in. Instead, it was a mix between tightly wound punk rock and improvisational noise jams. Pretty good shit.


Empty Love played a great late afternoon set of ever-shifting drone that was as captivating as his set at Music Waste. The only thing missing was the Dream Machine, which must have been nixed due to the brightness of Pub 340 in the afternoon. Note to all drone-heads: Empty Love will be curating a Fake Jazz offshoot entitled Fake Sleep, and will be consisting of local drone artists. The first one will be on the 15th of July and features Magneticring and Ian Gregory James, who is also one half of Blouse. Unfortunately, my trip to Chicago coincides with this event so I will have to miss this one. You, on the other hand, have no excuse.


Modern Creatures, who get better every damn time I see them. They used to have a very Siouxsie and the Banshees-style vibe about them, but, now that the keyboards are gone, and they're a two bass assualt, Modern Creatures has morphed into a completely different beast. They have a much more punk-rock feel to them while still maintaining their dark appeal. A local favorite!



Taxes, whom I caught for the first time at the Sweatshop two weeks ago, played a magnificent set of their unique brand of post-hardcore (think Drive Like Jehu on speed). Singer Sean Orr was a maniac behind the mic, pouncing all over the stage and commanding the attention of the entire audience. Despite Sean's mesmerizing on-stage persona, I found the real force of the band was the drummer, who lead the assault with his incredibly driving and technical drumming, and was very reminiscent of the lead drumming of Don Caballero's Damon Che. This band is a real force and I hope they can squeeze out a proper release sometime soon.



Certain Breeds mesmerized me once again with a short set of gothic and hypnotic new wave. I simply can't say enough good things about these guys. Go see 'em soon.



Nu Sensae destroyed Pub 340 once again. The duo is soon to be on tour with Terror Bird (an offshoot of Modern Creatures) across the North American west coast.



Blouse (hey, where's the myspace page?) played an unannounced set that seemed to catch most of the crowd off guard. Despite a few false starts and a quibble with the soundguy, Blouse sounded awesome in Pub 340, whose sound system is quite superior to the ER's. Never noticed it much the first time around but occasionally Josh's vocals reminded me a lot of the slave-driving vocal style of Michael Gira in his early Swans days. The man on the left in the above pic will be playing solo drones at the inaugural Fake Sleep. Peep it.


V. Vecker wildly swung his guitar between several amps placed on the floor of Pub 340 and created a dense whirlwind of disorienting feedback. After several intense minutes, Justin from Mutators jumped on the drums and the two (the both of them are one half of Sex Negatives) put together a fantastic improv'd set.



Shearing Pinx ripped through a two-part set, the first half centering around their odd time-signatured post-punk songs and the second half consisting of freewheeling improv. Great to have 'em back.

My camera was accidentally taken home by my ladyfriend, so I don't have any photos of the last two bands.

The crowd was pretty thin after Shearing Pinx and only the faithful few stuck around for The Sorrow and the Pity and Twin Crystals. The Sorrow and the Pity are a duo of sax and drums that is similar to the punkish side of Naked City. They weren't bad but I just wasn't in the mood for them after almost 9 hours of music and drinking. Twin Crystals were well worth staying up for and provided the most dance-able music of the night (I apologize to anyone whose toes I may have stepped on). I guess it makes sense for the boys to be opening up for Girl Talk at the Commodore, which should be one of the bigger dance parties of the summer. I'm glad that they're are playing a gig at the Commodore but part of me also feels them slipping away into *gasp* mainstream credibility.


Hey, Vancouver, let's do this again sometime soon, eh?

The Weekend Review

The ER was relatively quiet for a Saturday night, but that didn't stop the new project of one Josh Rose (aka Sick Buildings and head of local noise label, Rundownsun) and his partner in crime, Ian. The duo, named Blouse, rocked two synths and Josh helmed the vocals, which, when the occasion arose, were taken right into the audience's faces, literally. Josh barked heavily distorted vocals (think Whitehouse) while Ian's synth oscillated intensely, creating an intense/tense atmosphere that the faithful few could not look away from. The duo worked best when both were rockin' the Rolands and pulling out some cross-oscillating "rhythms" that had all the noise kids in the room nodding their heads like entranced zombies. My sincere feeling is that, with a few more shows under their belt, Blouse will become an unstoppable juggernaut in the Vancouver music scene.


Certain Breeds followed Blouse with a great set of their post-punk/goth-tinged rock, and, once again, they were fuckin' awesome (see my Music Waste review). The band played a much more up-tempo set than their slower, pulsing set at Music Waste, and had the quickly growing crowd dancing away. Never noticed it the first time around (too drunk?) but they had a few rockers that came off like a track off a recent Oneida album. Anyone else pick this vibe up? Nonetheless, Certain Breeds is shaping up to be one of my favorite bands in this city.


The Dozell Brothers came all the way from El Paso, Texas to play both Pub 340 and the ER in the same night. After the 340 gig, The Dozell Bros set up their minimal gear quickly and surprised the crowd (no one seemed to know a damn thing about them) with a short energetic set of bent circuit dance beats. Pretty similar to Crystal Castles but less erratic and much bouncier. In fact, the band had such a bouncy vibe that the singer was pogo-ing with the crowd the entire time. They were entertaining but not necessarily my thing. Though, that being said, I did pick up a tape of theirs that had a 3D cover that came equipped with 3D glasses. Zoinks!


Mutators were exceptional as usual, which is most likely due to the massive US tour that they had finished up just a few weeks ago. I think that more bands in this city could learn a thing or two from these folks (and these folks) by setting up their own tour and playing their heart out every night. Some may break up over such an exhaustive endeavor, but any band standing after months on the road can only benefit from the constant playing. The being said, Mutators have gotten far more rhythmically advanced while still maintaining their harsh edge, which is always a recipe for a sweaty display of human pinball! A fine finish to a fine night.