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June
9, 2006
Glass
Candy, Chromatics – Don Hills $10
I've
been waiting for this bill for some time. These two bands from the
same Pacific Northwest scene, both going at it forever, are gradually
growing into a couple of the best things out there.
Portland's
Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre, better known
as simply Glass Candy, are one of the few bands that actually sound
like their name. Shiny, clear, sharp, brittle, synthetic, futuristic,
and fractured, yet syrupy sweet dance pop pleasure. While began
more rock, they now sound sort of like Giorgio Moroder and Lee Perry
fighting for the affection of Debby Harry while remixing the soundtrack
to Wild Style. Nothing's off limits to this trio - disco,
funk, dub, early new wave, no wave, kraut rock, early hip hop, electro,
you name it. They miraculously retain a sound of their own through
all of this eclectic experimentation. Conversely, Glass Candy's
sound is defined by this very sonic adventurism. They're one of
the only contemporary bands who actually belong on the trendy twelve-inch
format. And they're capable of re-creating the sounds live - assembling
it piece by piece in front of your eyes. The last time here, in
the moldy basement of a Bed-Sty community center, the lonely drum
machine'd start off most of the numbers, soon joined by looped riffs
by guitarist Johnny Jewel, and drummer Dusty Sparkles' matching
and banging against the beat with metronomic accuracy, power, and
soul. In contrast singer Ida No came in each time cool as a cucumber
through layers of delay, artfully stretching her phrases across
measures. By the end of each number they'd wound up somewhere else
and, as in some sort of tribal ritual, they were encircled by a
small circle of Brooklyn rock kids, who danced, were entranced,
and woke up wondering where the heck they'd been transported.
Seattle's
Chromatics,
who're now labelmates with Glass Candy (on Troubleman),
just finished recording their new record with Johnny Jewel. I have
no idea where they're taking it this time - but guitarist/vocalist
Adam Miller tends to do something cool wherever he's coming from.
While you definitely classify their music under the “post
punk” label, and it is all about dirty guitars over dance
grooves, Chromatics do a much more unique personalized version than
other folks. Like Glass Candy they certainly have some dub and Kraut
elements, but on the whole are more organic, brutal, and grimy in
a no wave sense. On their last record, and thus far their best (I
haven't yet heard the new one), Plaster Hounds, they won
extra points by connecting themselves to the American experimental
minimalist lineage when they included their version of the Silver
Apple's “Program." You can click
here to read what I had to say last time they were
around.
***
The
Witnesses, The Fame, Limousine, and Silent City - The Continental
Also tonight,
it's important to note that The
Witnesses,
some really fine people and great musicians who've been a fixture
in our scene since the sparse musical landscape of the turn of the
century, are finally calling it quits. They'll be playing at another
vanishing New York icon of an even more remote era, The
Continental.
Here's to you Witnesses - I look forward to seeing where you each
go after this.
James
Brown - B.B. King Blues Club & Grill $80/$85
Home Record Release with Oneida, Parts and Labor, Awesome Color
– 98 Ingraham (toddpnyc.com)
Moon & Moon – Tonic MIDNIGHT $5
The Coup, T-Kash, Iselyfe – Southpaw $13/$15
Gogol Bordello, Kultur Shock - Irving Plaza $22.50/$25
Mephista (Sylvie Courvoisier, Susie Ibarra, Ikue
Mori) and guests – The Stone 8PM and 10PM $10
Home,
one of the most prolific and under-rated bands of the last couple
of decades, have reformed and are celebrating the release of their
latest LP Sexteen - which, when you tally it up, just might
be their sixteenth - and all about sex. With nationally and internationally
renowned local heroes Oneida
and Parts
and Labor and the soon-to-be-famous Awesome
Color. Other shows I would typically write about if
there wasn't so much tonight include James
Brown (the winner yet again disqualified for being
$80 for the cheapies), Moon
and Moon's midnight show at Tonic (which you should
attend after everything), The
Coup, Gogol
Bordello, and the avant improvising supergroup Mephista
(Sylvie
Courvoisier, Susie
Ibarra, Ikue
Mori).
MEDIA:
Glass Candy,
"Life After Sundown" demo version mp3
Glass
Candy, "Night Nurses" alternate take mp3
Glass
Candy, "Black Veil" Live mp3
Glass
Candy, "Labrea Tar Pit" mp3
Glass
Candy, "Crystal Migrane" live mp3
Glass
Candy, "Brittle Woman" live mp3
Chromatics,
"Ice Hatchets" mp3
Chromatics,
"The Guest" mp3
Chromatics,
"Program" live mp3
Chromatics,
"Program" demo 1 mp3
Chromatics,
"Program" demo 2 mp3
ALSO:
Cat Power - Town Hall $22
Gospel, Limbs, Gold Streets, Kalpana – Union Pool $6
Hot Iron Swallows, Unbusted, Morning Theft, Monkeypod, Scary Mansion
– Northsix $10
Mighty High, Demolition Doll Rods, Breakup Breakdown, The Art of
Shooting - Trash $8
The New Cars (?), Blondie – Jones Beach $20
Festival of Mixology - New and Unusual uses of Technology in Music
and Intermedia Art:Benton-C Bainbridge & Evidence - Location
One
Mixel Pixel, Yip Yip, Rusty Santos – Micheline’s $6
(toddpnyc.com)
O Death - Brooklyn Fireproof $7
Sentimentalist Magazine Party: Phoenix Foundation, Cities, Moto:Rosa
- Cake Shop FREE
The Martinets, Tough & Lovely - Magnetic Field $7
The Spinto Band, Dr. Dog, The Lovely Feathers - Bowery Ballroom
$13/$15
We Are Wolves - Canal Room $13/$15
Young People, Bear in Heaven, Christine and Emily – Tonic
$8
LIVE
RECOMMENDATION ARCHIVE
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