The Liars, No Age @ The Casbah, 2/21/08

While your band is Pro-Tooling away in a shitty rehearsal space, the Liars are occupying a creepy, The Shining-esque radio production facility in East Berlin and making records like 2006′s percussive, eerie Drum’s Not Dead. They’ve got a new(er) one out that I haven’t heard yet–I’m guessing most of the set will be devoted to it and Drum.

No Age is not a group I’m familiar with; the songs on their Myspace suggest a strange mating of Jane’s Addiction, Plastic Constellations, and Lungfish. Then again, music is essentially a Rorschach test–you interpret it based on your experiences and predispositions. For all I know, they were going for a “late Frampton vibe, but with a little Sly and the Family Stone for good measure.”

The return of Irradio.

Ok, so it’s not their absolute return–that was Friday night at the Che with Scarlet Symphony. But it’s Irradio‘s Casbah return, and it’s going down tonight with Buzzkill Romantics and Sky Parade.

Irradio were a contemporary of TNA and our paths crossed in myriad ways: we both had bald, bookish drummers, we both had videos directed by Ryan Renteria, and we both were on the SDMusicMatters On the Verge compilation. They always reminded me of Les Savy Fav recast as a lovable revolutionaries. My conversation with vocalist/guitarist/lead dude (he’s the only remaining original member, though bassist Rick Blare has been down for the cause for some time) Dan Dasher indicated that the new band may be headed in a different direction, picking up the dub and reggae influences to match their Sandanista!-esque political musings.  Motherfuckers worked with 2Live Crew’s producer, too. How fucking rad is that?

Anti-Monday League show feat. Black Mountain CANCELED

I don’t know if this has anything to do with the wildfires or not, but the Black Mountain/Cave Singers show tonight at the Casbah has been canceled. No real insights to be found here, except that if you were planning on drowning your fire-related sorrows in acid-induced paranoia, set to the backdrop of pseudo-psychedelia, you’re gonna have to look elsewhere. I recommend checking in your closet…ha ha, just kidding. Sort of.

Show Review: Sleeping People (CD Release), Kill Me Tomorrow, Aspects of Physics

Curse my lousy memory: because of it, you get no pictures from what was–all in all–a very interesting, eclectic night at the Casbah. When Sleeping People, a co-ed, mixed-race group that rocks in systems of equations and shit, is the most conventional band on the bill, you know you’re in for a pretty interesting evening.

Aspects of Physics took the stage later than expected due to a confluence of factors:

1. For three dudes, they have a shit ton of gear. It’s awesome, and effective, and creates an incredible amount of layered sound, but it does have to moved, positioned, and set up.
2. The drummer from Vagabond Opera (who headlined the Casbah’s early show, and apparently had belly dancers on hand) apparently didn’t get the memo that, when another band is coming on stage right after you, it’s considered good form to REMOVE YOUR GEAR FROM THE STAGE AREA BEFORE DISASSEMBLING IT. Can you tell I’ve been in this situation before?

Once on stage, the trio of Jason Soares, Jeff Coad, and Brent Asbury were masterful. Asbury was especially impressive. Playing to a pre-recorded rhythm track, which is one of the toughest things for a drummer to do period, his power and presence behind the kit were phenomenal. Why isn’t this guy’s name thrown around in the discussion of best drummers in San Diego? That said, they sounded great but probably played too long by one song, as the Casbah had to hit them with the house lights in the middle of their last tune.

Kill Me Tomorrow took the stage next. I met them for the first time years–and I mean years–ago when our two bands were mysteriously booked at the Spanish Moon Cantina in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the same night while on tour. I’ve been a pretty dedicated observer of the output of Kill Me Tomorrow, mostly for the fact that they produce clothes and books with about the same frequency as records, which is interesting in its own right. This was my first time seeing them with Tobyn McCormick in the band, and his additions of percussion and horn added to Kill Me Tomorrow’s standard fare of noisy, percussive and off-kilter dance punk. It’s funny, because most people, myself included, tend to call them an electro-punk band, even though their actual ratio of electronic to organic instrumentation is quite low. Weird. Anyway, they were good.

Sleeping People got the stage late–it was about 12:50 AM when they finally started playing their first notes, and by then the crowd had unfortunately thinned out a bit. Starting shows late may be good for the opening bands but it’s another classic example of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which is unfortunate when it’s Paul’s CD release show. That notwithstanding, Sleeping People attacked their first song, “Yellow Guy, Pink Eye” with unmitigated ferocity. As impressive as the guitars of Casey Flowe and Joileah Maddock are, the real fireworks come from the bass and drums tandem of Kenseth Thibideaux and Brandon Relf. Brandini, as he’s known to some, is San Diego’s resident Damon Che, a flurry of muscle memory-defying fills and a sense for finding “the one,” in drummer terms, that positively creepy.

After their set, which was cut short due to time restrictions, my buddy Kirk picked up their new record on double-gatefold vinyl. If you have a record player and like being dizzy, I recommend you do the same.

Show Preview: U.S.S.A. @ The Casbah, October 15

U.S.S.A. is Gary Call, Johnny Rabb, and Paul Barker, all of whom used to play in a little band called Ministry, plus Duane Denison, who used to play in a little band called the Jesus Lizard. From what I’m reading they sound about like what you would expect, which is basically the best splitting headache you’ve ever had. Anyway, they’ll be at the Casbah in two weeks. By then, all of my job applications will have been sent off, my dissertation chapters will have been duly updated and polished, and I’ll be ready to blow off some steam.

Now I’m confused…

PMFS’s Myspace says they’ll be at the Casbah on September 21, but the listing at the Casbah website says locals Scarlet Symphony and Roses on her Grave. No offense, but I’m hoping the Casbah is one in error at this moment…

Show Review: Marnie Stern, Sleeping People, Japandi @ the Casbah

Math rock can go one of two ways. At best, it has the capacity to challenge the mind with dense interplay and inventive songwriting. At worst, it’s an opaque mass of notes and rhythms that lacks coherence and serves as a backdrop for tech-nerd wanking. There aren’t a whole lot of “bad” math rock bands–the exigencies of playing math rock tend to weed out the shitty instrumentalists–but this is to say that there are plenty of boring and unchallenging ones.

The three bands at the Casbah last night, New York’s Marnie Stern and San Diego’s Sleeping People and Japandi, all fall into the former category, and all do so in different ways. Japandi, who opened the show, did so with a little more emphasis on song structure and groove. Japandi are painfully young; I think their drummer is 19. He certainly didn’t play like it.

Aside from the drumming (I am a drummer, what can I say), the rest of the band was more than capable. About the only thing I could say about them in the way of criticism is that some of their songs seem like they could easily be made into more conventional songs (i.e. with the addition of lyrics). All that means is that there’s still more room for experimentation within the sound that they’re working with.

Sleeping People are probably San Diego’s best math rockers. They seem to be well liked in other places, due to a phenomenon known in the 1990s as “touring.” Of all the bands doing this kind of dense, complex instrumental stuff, Sleeping People probably do the best job of creating strange, tense head space with their music. It’s hard to say something sounds paranoid, but that’s exactly what it made me feel. Dark. Even playful sometimes. The whole band is kickass, from Casey and Joi on guitar to Kenseth Thibideau bass and Brandon (Brandini) Relf on drums, they are all at the top of their game. Bradon’s some kind of savant. He simply plays like no one else I’ve ever seen.

Later in their set, Rob Crow joined them for guest vocals on the track they’ve contributed to the Black Box compilation. In related news, the release shows for the comp are August 23 and 24 at the Casbah. A two night affair, eh?

In between bands I chatted with Andrea, a fixture in many of the pictures taken by Rosie at sddialedin. Just ’cause Rosie’s taking the night off (or rather, taking in the Republic of Letters in Solana Beach) doesn’t mean your off the dropped-name hook.

Marnie Stern is, apparently, both a band and a person. The person is Marnie Stern, who plays guitar in a way that tends almost exclusively to the type of two-hand tapping that Eddie Van Halen made famous and Ian Williams of Don Cab reclaimed for indie rockers everywhere. Marnie Stern also counts on Josh and Zak Hill of Hella for instrumental support. The latter Hill is one of the craziest drummers I’ve witnessed. Playing a set that looks like it had been tortured, he was all over the place. His right foot might be the fastest thing on the planet. Remember when Roadrunner would really get to hauling ass and his feet would blur into what looked like a giant blue tank tread? Yeah, Zak’s foot sorta looked like that. The band/she is doing a series of dates on the west coast, with tonight’s stop in LA and tomorrow’s in San Francisco. Ostensibly, that’s where they reconnect with the magic spaceship that put them here.

Adding to the fun is the fact that Marnie actually sings. When she does, it’s some bizarre, left-field stuff. If this makes any sense, her music sounds little like Gwen Stefani took a bunch of mushrooms and made some weird, Robert Johnson like deal with the devil to become an insane guitar monster. Somewhere, there’s a reader who’s got the Go! Team, Satriani’s Surfing with the Alien and Hella in their car’s disc changer. Congratulations: you just found your new favorite band.

Show Review: Valient Thorr, ASG, Totimoshi

If you’re pondering a quiet night at home with a mystery novel and a glass of chardonnay, the Volcom 2007 Tour isn’t a good backup option. If you’re original plans included stealing a school bus, doing donuts in the Qualcomm parking lot and huffing paint thinner, I can report that this tour will give you pretty much the same high for a lot less jail time.

Totimoshi were up first. Hailing from Oakland, the trio is composed of the husband-and-wife team of Antonio Aguilar and Meg Castellanos on guitar and bass and Bill Bowman on drums–at least right now. Totimoshi is apparently on their ninth drummer. That’s not Spinal Tap territory–that’s Elizabeth Taylor territory. I hope he sticks it out. His Bonham-meets-Bill Ward approach to the kit works well in the context of Totimoshi’s sludgy brew. They’re somewhere in the middle of the vast expanse that is the resurgent doom/stoner metal scene, though they carry it off with a little less self-consciously dark imagery. On this, the first night of the tour, they looked to be having a good time.

ASG was second. ASG apparently stands for Amplified Self-Gratification. I’m glad it didn’t stand for autoerotic self-gratification, which could have made the evening a little uncomfortable. Then again, with the amount of full-frontal noodling going on, it might as well have been. ASG seemed pretty fun, mixing some of the proggy guitar pyrotechnics of bands like Coheed and Cambria with loping, 6/8 sea shanty rhythms. Jason Shi’s vocal histrionics were made all the more impressive by his ability to keep the riffing heavy and articulate all the while.

The crowd for ASG was small, tuned-up and ultimately a little too violent for their own good. I like a good scrum as much as the next guy, but I thought the days of leading with your elbows and kicks were sort of on the wane. One unlucky woman who waded into the pit got a nice big cut on her forehead for the trouble. As much as I felt sorry for her, I figured this was also a classic “bull–>horns” situation. The little shit that hit her just shrugged and didn’t even stop dancing.

Matt, one of the Casbah’s staff, had his hands full keep dancers from running into onlookers, many of whom seemed less than thrilled (and more than pissed off) by ten people dominating the entire floor area. This led to a bunch of predictable confrontations between dancers and standers, with some coming dangerously close to fisticuffs. That’s not ASG’s fault, and I certainly don’t blame them. I just wonder what it is about them that attracts that kind of shit. At first my buddy commented that they reminded him of Black Flag playing Zeppelin covers. About three songs in, he amended that to be Pennywise playing Zeppelin covers. Maybe that’s the key. Dude at least gets points for rocking a Kylesa shirt.

Finally, it was time for the Thorr. Being 29, bitter about touring, and bald, you’d probably not be shocked to find that I’m not all that impressed by most bands that I see. Valient Thorr is one of the few “new” bands (i.e. of which I’ve become aware in the past three years or so) that turned me into an immediate fan. Their recorded stuff is fine, but where they excel is as a live band. Simply put, they are the most fun live band I’ve seen since Les Savy Fav–and they’ve been my favorite live band for some time now.

Their mythology is pretty marginal these days–mostly, I think they’re content to let their frontman’s madcap antics and sarcastic stream of consciousness, MC5-esque rants carry the bands personality. And good golly, these dudes can shred. Their sound blends Motorhead, ZZ Top and rocket-fueled Skynyrd into a pretty infectious concoction. While fans seemed most pleased by the cuts from 2006′s Legend of the World, the new songs Valient Thorr tried out were greeted with hearty applause and sweaty dancing. As I recall, that’s what rock and roll is all about. Hate if you must–just don’t try to sell me on some LA band half-assing their way through lackluster stoner rock. If you want to see what a good time at a good price looks like, this tour is a must see.

Tonight’s the Night: Limbeck @ SOMA, Valient Thorr @ The Casbah

Tonight’s appetizer is OC’s Limbeck. Limbeck’s career arc seems to follow that of Murder by Death: first records display emo-ish tendencies the bands’ picked up in high school and college, while their later stuff moves toward country-tinged territory. Whereas MBD wind up somewhere in between Tom Waits and Gogol Bordello, Limbeck winds up closer to Graham Parsons and early Wilco. I’ll be interviewing the band for MusicMatters magazine, which reminds me that I ought to think about what I might ask them. They’re playing with the Format and the Honorary Title.

The main course is Valient Thorr at the Casbah. Rather than try to describe what the scene will be like, I found this visual representation:

If you don’t understand why I can dig stuff like this but not 95% o the “metal” that comes out of LA, find an online dictionary and look up the term “taking the piss.” Valient Thorr must be the most earnest piss-takers of all time. I’ve seen them four or five times now, and I still have no idea to what degree they are a) ZZ Top-esque showmen, b) criticism of punk rock, or c) meta-criticism of rock and roll. The one thing I can tell you is that they are a hell of a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to it. As this is a Volcom Records tour, the support will be Totimoshi and ASG.

Save the date: Ra Ra Riot 9/25…

I don’t normally think this far into the future (a less than two months? That’s sad), but Ra Ra Riot will be at the Casbah on 9/25. They’ve been courted by Universal, already are booked by the Agency Group and have endured one of life’s greatest tragedies with the death of their former drummer, John Pike. I’m a little surprised that this show isn’t at the Beauty Bar, but at least am glad that their dense sound will benefit from a good sound system. Here’s a taste.