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2006:07:31:08:00. Monday. NO!: MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO'S (#125, JUL 13 2006).
These guys sort of just appeared out of nowhere, and now I'm seeing them all over the place. After seeing their odd name on the Terrace schedule, I gave them a listen and approved of what I heard. Now they have early fall dates scheduled in Madison again and Milwaukee, they were recently featured on AOL and they seem to have the ears of several prominent MP3 bloggers. Their recently re-issued debut, The Dust of Retreat, has attracted something of a following, apparently, as this was the last song of their Terrace set with relatively few people standing up by the stage. Perhaps they're the next big OMG! Teh Internets Make U Like Weird Bandz!!! story?
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:30:21:27. Sunday. SFO, THE TIME AND PRICE. We're heading to San Francisco tomorrow for this year's AEJMC convention and various other fun-related activities. The podcast will continue apace, however, with three clips from Margot & the Nuclear So and So's. I'll also try to post some pictures and videos during the trip -- we're seeing at least two shows, including Bloc Party, Broken Social Scene and Mew.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:27:08:00. Thursday. NO!: JAIL (#124, JUL 20 2006).
[I'm pretty sure I screwed this up in the podcast feed originally, so I've reposted it.] The show ended with a rollicking cover of Huey Lewis' "If This Is It," which they gave kind of a gigantified bar-band feel. Emily speculated after hearing it that Vinnie had been spending a lot of time listening to thrift store cassettes. The band just finished a short tour so they don't have much on their schedule right now, but they will be playing a "Firecracker Studios Presents" show at the Inferno in Madison on August 18, so come on out if you can.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:26:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: JAIL (#123, JUL 20 2006).
Both of these songs were originally released on one of Vinnie's solo recordings from a few years ago, Whimsy & the Slugs -- as was yesterday's, "Boogie Down," which will perhaps wind up on their next record. They work pretty well in their full-band configurations, especially the aptly named "Rocker," even when the bass gets a little too cranked and distorty as it sometimes does in this clip.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:25:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: JAIL (#122, JUL 20 2006).
I didn't catch the full story of how this show came about, but what it was was a benefit for the drummer from Klipspringer's brother, who recently underwent a heart transplant. This maybe accounts for the odd line-up: first, a poetry reading, followed by Dr. Nick playing solo with a synth, then one white boy rapper with a disorganized set, then another one, then Jail. Kind of a disconnected show all things considered, but Mad Planet has Cracker Jack at the bar, so we were able to spend some distraction time playing with our free special prize -- a folding picture of Ben Franklin.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:24:08:00. Monday. NO!: JAIL (#121, JUL 20 2006).
Way back when -- about eight months ago, that is -- the very first episode of this podcast featured my brother-in-law's band, Jail. They've scarcely played in Wisconsin since then, so we made sure to go to this hastily-put-together show at Milwaukee's Mad Planet. They have a new five-song EP out, from which both of these set-opening songs are taken. You can check out a couple of the studio versions at their MySpace page.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:21:08:00. Friday. NO!: THE REPUTATION (#120, JUL 15 2006).
Earlier on the night of the Reputation show, I won $10 at poker/going-away party for somebody from the j-school who's leaving town. A couple hours later, I gave Elizabeth Elmore that same $10 in exchange for a t-shirt. And that's the circle of life.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:19:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: THE REPUTATION (#119, JUL 15 2006).
The first Reputation album won me over quickly, with a burst of four great songs to open it, but the follow-up, 2004's To Force a Fate, was a little less cohesive. The songs I liked didn't come in runs and were mostly found in the second half of the record. The result is that I didn't listen to it much when it came out, and only recently remembered just how great this song, its opener, is. This performance of it is great too, even the part where somebody comes up and asks me if they can use any of the empty chairs scattered all around me.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:17:08:00. Monday. NO!: THE REPUTATION (#118, JUL 15 2006).
The first show I saw after moving to Madison almost four years ago was the Reputation playing at the Terrace. They were touring in support of their self-titled debut album, which I'd just found out about after having gotten into Elizabeth Elmore's last band, Sarge, after their break-up. I didn't know anybody here and was just kind of sinking into myself at the time. I got there early and got a seat at the front, from whence I took a bunch of pictures of the band and their opening act, the Beatings, and wrote a love letter that failed. I've seen them several more times since then, always at free shows at the Memorial Union, and they continue to impress me. Usually the sound is awful, as it often is as these Union shows, but last Saturday's Terrace show sounded great. This new song, presumably from their next record, provided an energetic opening blast. The bombast that they put into their Terrace shows is all the more impressive when you consider that, as Elmore told me after the set, almost nobody there has heard of them or cares that much about the show. Even if it's just for the dozen or so of us who wound up dancing in front of the stage, they always put it all out there.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:14:08:00. Friday. NO!: HARRY AND THE POTTERS (#117, JUL 9 2006).
I wound up leaving the show a little bit before the end out of hunger and exhaustion, but how long I stayed is a testament to what a fun show it was. During the intermission I'd actually decided to quickly record a couple clips and take off to get a late lunch, but the early and consistent energy of the show drew me back in and kept me recording. Just at the end of this spazzed out cut -- easily the most high-voltage song I saw them perform -- my batteries ran out and I took that as a sign. They were still rocking the joint when I left, though, and I suspect they made more than a few of those kids into rock converts.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:13:08:00. Thursday. NO!: HARRY AND THE POTTERS (#116, JUL 9 2006).
About halfway through the set, the Potters started playing songs with a bit more punk flare to them and also moving out into the crowd a lot. The result was both that the audience (particularly those in costume) got really energized and that things like what's seen in this clip happened -- the keyboard-playing Potter found himself a little tangled up in his mic cord and took it to the logical extreme, wrapping up most of his head in the cord's considerable slack.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:12:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: HARRY AND THE POTTERS (#115, JUL 9 2006).
The unfortunate side-effect of how entertaining this show turned out to be is that I wound up recording five clips, and now must write blurbs for five clips. But I kind of made my big point about these guys yesterday, which is that they're sneaking uncompromised rock music to a new and receptive audience, and now I'm going to have to stretch a little. So here's something quickly, to go with this short clip. One way in which they seem to differ considerably from "regular" rock bands is in dealing with new material -- their new record, Harry and the Potters and the Power of Love, just came out last week, but most of what they played (and three of the songs I recorded) came from their self-titled debut. I think this is probably a purposeful strategy on their part, considering how many kids sang along with the older stuff. They got a lot of energy moving in the room that was only possible because such a large part of the audience knew the material well.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:11:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: HARRY AND THE POTTERS (#114, JUL 9 2006).
In contrast to the Malfoys' somewhat ramshackle set, Harry and the Potters (featuring two Harry Potters and one Bill Weasley) put on something very much like a standard DIY rock set. Mostly in costume, they played from atop banquet hall chairs and a coffeetable to simulate the effect of a stage. They also got what I can only call a stunning response from the audience -- the crowd of predominantly middle school-looking kids seemed to be quite familiar with most of their material. Considering that this is a band that started when, a few years ago, two brothers made up a bunch of songs about Harry Potter to amuse their friends, I'm really impressed with what they've been able to build using the Internet for word-of-mouth. I've also got to say that, stylistically, I love that they're playing untempered indie rock whose lyrics just happen to deal with a popular book & film series. It's a kind of music that most of their audience would otherwise not get to hear very readily -- it doesn't get played on the radio or even on TV that much. If some of the kids at this show find themselves graduating to local acts like the Super Eights or the German Art Students in a few years, this band will have done a tremendous service.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:10:08:00. Monday. NO!: DRACO AND THE MALFOYS (#113, JUL 9 2006).
My friend Sharon sent me an e-mail mid-week that just said, "Go cover this band," so I did. The band she was talking about was Harry and the Potters, a band that makes silly, bedroom indie rock about what it's like to be Harry Potter. Their opening act, appropriately enough, is called Draco and the Malfoys, a band that makes silly, bedroom indie rock about what it's like to be Draco Malfoy. At least I assume it's appropriate enough, because I've never heard a Harry Potter book nor seen a Harry Potter movie. (I know, I know, they're so good, they're not just for kids, blah blah blah. Look, I'm a little busy trying to slog through Grant Morrison's highly overrated Doom Patrol books right now, OK?) The good thing is that you don't need much context to enjoy the show. The Malfoys' stage act is a pretty minimalist affair -- two guys on guitar, both identifying themselves as Draco Malfoy (year 19 and year 14, respectively), plus pre-recorded rhythm lines playing through the PA. They played a relatively wide range of material, from this mostly soft, sparse love song to a cover of "99 Luftballons," repurposed as "99 Deatheaters."
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:07:08:00. Friday. NO!: THE BELLRAYS (#112, JUN 23 2006).
As I mentioned a couple days ago, I wasn't planning to go to this show until I got into SSM, but I wind up enjoying the BellRays' set quite a bit. They bill themselves as "rock & soul," which I think is mostly accurate. I don't necessarily think just having a vocalist that sounds like Tina Turner is enough to be a "soul" band, but their rock certainly is soulful and draws on soul music in the same way the band's proto-punk forerunners did. To be honest, though, I did leave the show a song or two before where I expected the end of the set to come. With two shows in two nights, and one of them in Milwaukee, I was just dead tired, and after 15 or so songs, I was starting to hear them all melding together. They're a lot of fun to watch, but I think their show would have a lot more appeal if they re-incorporated some of the jazzier sound that their very earliest material has. The one thing that really surprised me about this show (and later, about the fact that I couldn't find the second song from yesterday's clip) is that they seem to have a well established fanbase, at least here in Madison. By the time they came on, there was a pretty full crowd on the floor and the people I talked to before their set were really excited. I find this interesting mainly because they exist so far out of the spheres of influence that are successful in the indie rock touring scene right now. Their sound, their image and their age would seem to put them at a major disadvantage compared to a band like the show's first openers, the Dials, but here they are, getting it done and causing skinny, little, button-down-shirt guys to bounce around for a solid hour. (The Dials were pretty good too, BTW, but I don't know if anybody but me was paying attention.)
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:06:08:00. Thursday. NO!: THE BELLRAYS (#111, JUN 23 2006).
Well, it's finally happened -- I've got a song here that I can't identify and that I'm sure isn't simply new and unreleased. The first part of this two-song medley was clearly "Snotgun" from the BellRays' new album, Have a Little Faith, but the second? No clue. Distortion caused by the heavy bass end makes it kind of hard to make out all the lyrics, but the first few lines are very clear, as is the basic melody line. I listened to basically all of the BellRays' catalog and didn't find a match, which means they either have more new material that they're playing out but didn't put on the record, or this is some hard-to-identify b-side. So this one's kind of a mystery -- if you know what the song is, please let me know. In tomorrow's post I'll talk a bit about the concert, and about the guy who, literally, comes bouncing into frame about halfway through the clip.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:05:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: SSM (#110, JUN 23 2006).
After SSM concluded what was probably the best non-headlining set I've seen at the High Noon this year I went over to the merch table in the hopes that they had shirts with cockatiel heads on them. They did. While there I had a nice conversation with Marty, the band's guitarist/co-vocalist, about their set, how I'd found out about them only a couple weeks prior via their poster, why I hate Myspace, the state of things in Madison and where they fit in Detroit. I also told him I was looking forward to their next Madison visit, which I hope sounded enthusiastic enough to seem like I might bring 100 people with me instead of the three of four that are more likely. Either way, they're in our regional sphere and will likely be back soon, so I encourage everybody in the upper midwest to check them out when you next have the chance.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:04:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: SSM (#109, JUN 23 2006).
I don't know what happens at the High Noon's occasional metal shows, but I don't believe I've ever seen much in the way of light shows when I've been there. SSM didn't really have a light show, per se, but they did have a wicked strobe light that they put to good use during several songs. This one in particular is the track that really caught my ear at their Myspace page. The sound quality is a little rough in this clip, but you can certainly hear the form and thrust of the tune. It also captures the album pretty well, so if you like it be sure to seek the disc out.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:07:03:08:00. Monday. NO!: SSM (#108, JUN 23 2006).
Until the Craftacular in mid-June I'd never heard of SSM. While I was there, sitting at Emily's table and eating lunch, I saw a poster featuring a spaceship and three naked women with cockatiel heads. Since I like spaceships, naked ladies and cockatiels, I decided to check the band out. Turns out that they make a pretty interesting mix of Detroit garage and New York dance-punk, which compares favorably with the likes of Thunderbirds Are Now! and LCD Soundsystem. This doesn't really explain why they were on a bill with the Dials and the BellRays, but such are the vagaries of the indie rock touring circuit. Suffice it to say that I wasn't going to go to this show, but the poster (which is also the cover art from their recently released record) and the tracks they have available online were enough to get my $10.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra |
