A Place To Bury Strangers at Death By Audio

On certain occasions "Death By Audio" refers not only to a music venue on South 2nd street but also to a legitimate concern for the attendees of said venue. This was one of those occasions.

See, Death By Audio is kind of a small venue, or at least the stage area is small. As a result everything seems more concentrated. The huge speakers are right nearby no matter where you stand so you can't avoid being immersed in the sound. Back when people smoked in there it was oppressive, you couldn't avoid it, it was everywhere. It gets so packed that you can barely move sometimes. This was one of those times.

Not only was A Place To Bury Strangers absolutely pummeling, as usual, but the visuals were incredible. Of course their light show has always been impressive, but what did I say about things were more concentrated? All of those projectors were crammed into a much smaller space than usual. Imagine someone scribbling with crayons right on your Occipital Cortex. Yeah, it was like that.

Thankfully the band used their smoke machine more sparingly than usual. Perhaps because someone remembered how lungs work? Thank you.

Posted: 12/16/2012 at 9:50pm     Tags: A Place To Bury Strangers  Death By Audio 

Grooms at Death By Audio

Okay, this isn't exactly the band Grooms. I guess their usual bassist couldn't make it so Jay of The Immaculates, full of the Christmas spirit (probably Jameson), donned a Santa hat and made it work.

Posted: 12/16/2012 at 7:29pm     Tags: Death By Audio  Grooms  Jay Heiselman 

The Lost Crusaders at Cake Shop

The Lost Crusaders 2.0, now featuring 2.0 members!

See, The Lost Crusaders were at one point an eight-piece band. More if you count numerous "special guests". Their music had elements of gospel, blues, a bit of jazz, and rock-n-roll (as one might expect from long-time rock-n-rollers like these guys) but the orchestration was like a gospel group. They had an organ, several backing singers who occasionally stepped up to sing lead, and lots of tambourine. That line-up lasted for a couple of years and put out a great album. I guess it was just too unwieldy to last.

The new lineup plays the same songs plus a couple of new ones. Eight musicians to two, how does that work? Well first of all they sound less like a gospel group and more like a rock-n-roll band, though of course of a stripped-down sort. The single kick drum is reminiscent of one-man-bands like Mark Sultan, Bloodshot Bill and Bob Log III but with the guitar playing rhythm rather than lead most of the time. The result is foot-stompin', clap-along music. Their soulful lyrics about loss and salvation, catchy, upbeat rhythms and lots of tambourine (always lots of tambourine) embody a rather unique thing: a respectful interpretation of gospel music by a rock band.

Posted: 12/9/2012 at 12:38pm     Tags: Cake Shop  The Lost Crusaders 

Psychic TV at Club Europa

Although these are not my finest photos I definitely wanted to post something from these guys. Psychic TV seems to play Club Europa about once a year every December. When I put next year's show on the calendar, and I will because they are well worth catching, at least there will be pictures.

Sadly for me lead singer Genesis P-Orridge opened the show by instructing the venue to turn down the lights. He felt that the audience "doesn't need to see us", a concept which is more or less the opposite of "concert photography". Unfortunately I wasn't really in a good position to use a flash either so I had to make do with what light I could get, mostly light from the psychedelic video projections. At least the photos are colorful (another advantage of skipping the flash).

Psychic TV's music is composed of dense layers of sound. It seems like everyone in the band is playing all the time, and there are quite a few band members. At the bottom are the usual guitar-bass-drum of a rock band which provides momentum to the music. On top of that are some unusual combinations of sounds. Can you recall the last time you saw an electronic keyboardist and a violinist in the same band? How about someone playing a violin with two bows at once?

As complex as their music may be it is certainly not disorganized. "Composed" is the right word to describe it. Not only are musicians "composed" as in "they know their stuff" but the songs are carefully crafted like classical music. This is not surprising. Genesis P-Orridge has a long musical history and the band has existed in some form for 30 years now. I suppose we could be hearing the "best of" every time they play. So be it, the result is a great live show. Even the relatively silly songs (e.g. their cover of Hawkwind's "Silver Machine") are fun to listen to. The truly great ones (like "Thank You") are transcendent.

Posted: 12/8/2012 at 7:08pm     Tags: Club Europa  Psychic TV 

King Dude at Club Europa

Vaguely gothic heavy folk is an actual genre these days. King Dude distinguish themselves by emphasizing the American Gothic quality of their music (I would have said "Southern Gothic" but they're from Seattle). Certainly the visuals are along those lines. The all-black American flag they used as a backdrop is a big clue, and with those outfits they just have to be going for the Night of the Hunter look. There is plenty of religious imagery in songs with titles like "Jesus In The Courtyard" and "Lucifer's The Light Of The World" as well.

Their music draws upon folk, country, and maybe some early rock-n-roll in their (relatively) optimistic numbers. It does not however seem to be influenced in any significant way by metal, industrial, dark wave or any newer vaguely gothic music. It is certainly not just acoustic black metal. Instead they have created an alternate take on folk music where hope drowned years ago and you would only "smile on your brother" right before you slit his throat, or perhaps decided at the last second not to. Perhaps.

In the past I have only seen T.J. Cowgill perform these songs solo. I couldn't tell you when King Dude became a 3-piece but they sound great. No complaints about that. The three-piece lineup sounds a bit more like a country act. If nothing else adding drums will do that. Perhaps we are seeing the first steps in a new direction for King Dude?

Posted: 12/8/2012 at 2:49pm     Tags: black and white  Club Europa  King Dude