K-Holes at Secret Project Robot

When you get a bunch of veteran musicians together strange things can happen. K-Holes started out doing everything from really messy punk to moody psychedelia to jazzy Mothers of Invention-esque freakouts. Some of it worked, some of it really didn't, but it definitely felt like more like individual musicians writing individual songs which suited them. Bands which work like that tend to fall apart.

Given that K-Holes have survived and put out two albums they obviously achieved some level of stylistic integration. These days if you don't listen too closely K-Holes could even pass for a rock band. They're loud and energetic enough and do have a bit of that rock attitude on stage. Yet their music is so moody. Now moody normally implies mopey or gothic, and they do go there once in a while on songs like "Window in the Wall", but normally the mood is more panicky and paranoid. It's a nervy, high-energy moodiness. In particular the sax adds a little bit of chaos, not enough to throw things out of whack, just enough to make things feel a little bit off. And if some of those lyrics seem a bit disturbing... I think that's probably the idea. It is quite intense and works so much better than when they started out, which is probably true of every band ever but moreso than usual in this case.

The stage in the garden of Secret Project Robot didn't look that small but dang it sure was crowded with band members. Every time I tried to isolate one person there would be an elbow, a leg, some part of someone else in each shot. And the smoke! Yes, it was a sunny Spring day in Bushwick and yet somehow I was reminded of a small club atmosphere. Great sound though.

Posted: 4/22/2013 at 6:01pm     Tags: K-Holes  Secret Project Robot 

LODRO at The Knitting Factory

Back when they were Royal Baths one of the members of LODRO told me the band preferred the stage to be nice and dark. Somewhere along the line they must have decided that they preferred their music to be nice and dark as well. That plus a partial lineup change and now we have LODRO, a band whose name I can never spell correctly. I keep wanting to type "LORDO", though the all-caps spelling makes me think of "MORBO" too.

LORDO have labeled themselves neo-noir punk. The first half of that label is indisputable. Their music has a strong flavor of Western noir, of inspiration from the chords and distortions and underlying sense of menace of Morricone's soundtracks. I assume that is why their electric guitar sounds like a slide guitar so often. On the other hand the sheer edginess of their sound, the incorporation of more modern psych elements like dissonant guitar solos, and song titles like "Big Sleep for Alice" suggest a more urban noir flavor. The singing is cool and in control like a classic anti-hero. The instruments tell a more sinister story, with guitar twangs which pierce like bullets and drumbeats like cars colliding, the sounds of a threatening world. It's a compelling contrast.

I'm not so sure that LODRO are "punk". Their music is aggressive in a sense but that alone doesn't make it punk. They certainly aren't sloppy or political or anti-anything. So what's with the "punk" label? I get the feeling that they're trying to avoid the "psych-rock" label. Yes, that is the same label applied to 13-minute heavy drones with four lines of lyrics and similar bores of that nature. Trust me, noone is going to confuse LODRO's vicious sonic attack with a snoozer like that. Plus their songs are relatively short and I can prove it... their SoundCloud site is here.

Posted: 4/21/2013 at 3:19pm     Tags: LODRO  The Knitting Factory 

Rye Coalition at The Bell House

The band called Rye Coalition has existed for twenty years and everyone in the band is my age. Wow, that's sobering. I'm not sure I had even seen a live band twenty years ago unless you count classical orchestras or that one Monkees concert my cousins dragged me to in the mid-80s. I don't think those should count.

Rye Coalition would probably be called punk if they were the least bit pretentious, say if they dressed the part or were political at all. They have that ability to project a sense of sloppiness and wildness while actually playing carefully-crafted songs which you see in experienced punk bands. It's like they're fusing hardcore, metal, punk, and all sorts of loud rock while keeping the resulting musical frankenstein under control. They are not the wildest band in the world but they sure have lots of energy. Their philosophy must be to let the crowd go crazy, and I'm guessing this works out very nicely for them.

Posted: 4/16/2013 at 6:40pm     Tags: Dig Deeper  Norton Records Benefit  Rye Coalition  The Bell House 

The Sonics at The Bell House

I'm impressed when a band keeps going for five years. The Sonics have been going at it for fifty years and they still sound great! I assume they took a few breaks during the last half-century to grow up and have kids and whatever, but anyway, I was expecting at least the singing to have lost some energy over time. Not at all -- each of their three of their lead singers nailed it and the crowd loved every minute of it. Some people may have loved it a little too much since there were several fights at the show! Rock 'n roll?

Considering that they sell out bigger venues than The Bell House it was rather nice of these guys to play a benefit show for Norton Records. They also let Norton co-founder (and A-Bones drummer) Mirriam Linna play on a song. Yeah, she had a good night.

Posted: 4/16/2013 at 6:14pm     Tags: Dig Deeper  Norton Records Benefit  The Bell House  The Sonics 

Amour Obscur at The Knitting Factory

I always appreciate it when a band has special guests on stage who actually do something. It leads to more interesting photos of course, but it also shows that the band understands that they are putting on a performance, not just playing music. After all, I can simply listen to their album if I just want to listen to their music.

Amour Obscur definitely know that they're putting on a show. They dance with the audience and then shoot confetti at them. Now that's what I call effort! Amour Obscur are the whole cabaret experience, not just the music, and are a total blast.

Posted: 4/10/2013 at 8:02pm     Tags: Amour Obscur  The Knitting Factory