The Teen Age at Pianos
Bands these days are pulling influences from everywhere, blending sounds so thoroughly that sometimes it's hard to identify the original ingredients. Sometimes this leads to a delicious blend of flavors like a nice smoothie, other times a fast-food horror like a McDonald's milkshake.
When I read that The Teen Age are a "doo-wop influenced garage band" I figured they might sound something like the King Khan and BBQ Show, a full-fledged retro sort of thing. The Teen Age don't go that far. At times they don't go far from the modern indie-pop sound at all, but usually they're a little more soulful, a little more passionate. Going back to drink metaphors, you might say that their old-school influences are more like a mixer than a base. They are a vital part of that particular concoction but do not define it.
While I personally love full-fledged retro bands these guys are interesting too. Supposedly they formed about six months ago so they're pretty new. Maybe they'll go full retro, maybe they'll drop the doo-wop bits from the mix, or maybe they'll keep making their own unique blend. We shall see.
Posted: 7/4/2013 at 4:12pm Tags: Pianos The Teen Age
Tweens at Pianos
Sometimes I hate writing about bands. Not because I hate the bands, mind you. Tweens are totally awesome. No, the problem is that I know what I want to write but something is missing. In this case I just can't think of a band which sounds like Tweens even though I'm sure there are plenty of 'em. See, Tweens are an actual garage rock band, which is to say an intense, slightly sloppy rock band with lots of attitude. The problem is that they just happen to be female-fronted.
Now, there are plenty of female-fronted bands under the garage rock umbrella but many of them are the reverb-heavy girl-group inspired type (a la Veronica Falls or Dum Dum Girls). Others are too low-key, only rocking out at times (The Ettes, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) or are more like a retro act (Shannon and the Clams, Cudzoo and the Fagettes) who don't exactly sound like a rock band. The Love Me Nots are close but the keyboard is such a huge part of their sound that it's just not the same. I know that I have heard music which sounds like this before, I just can't put a name to it.
I guess I just don't know enough about music. Clearly you should stop reading this website right now!
Seriously though, I like my garage rock with some punk attitude and and rawness to it. There should be more bands like Tweens and I should be hearing them more often. And I will definitely keep writing about things I know too little about because this website is about the photography. The writing is really just a little window dressing which I spend far too much time on...
Bonaparte at Pianos
Warning, NSFW. There, you have been warned. Not that there is anything really nasty in this set. There is no nudity (close but not quite). Here's the thing... certain of these photos are likely to lead to some, shall we say, uncomforable conversations if your boss catches you looking at them.
Needless to say Bonaparte put on visual spectacle. It was quite impressive for a small venue like Pianos. I can only imagine what the manage to do back home (Germany) where there are better known and play bigger venues.
So what about the music? Well, the first word which comes to mind is "enthusiastic". Many of the songs are on the silly side, but the lead singer (who I believe is also called Bonaparte) sings them "straight", like he has an important message to get across to you, the listener. It might be worth mentioning at this point that there is a sort of insanity theme to their show. Remember the old meme about crazy people believing that they are Napoleon (full name Napoleon Bonaparte)? Yeah, start there and then consider that the band members dress like animals and the "Diva" dancers chew on bloody hearts and are wearing what appears to be garbage half the time (and barely anything the other half).
As "silly" as most of these songs are they are also often quite clever and colorful. Plenty of thought went into expanding the phrase "My Horse Likes You" into a five-minute long weirdly psychosexual ditty. Strange, strange stuff, but also quite catchy. Oh, and all of the lyrics are in English which is convenient for me.
