Metz at The Knitting Factory

Is seems that Metz are being promoted by certain well-known music blogs. If you have noticed this then presumably you are aware that Metz are "loud". Yes apparently that is the official one-word media summary of this band. Accurate, but also a tad vague. More to the point it's nothing special. A loud band, eh? Never heard one of those before.

So why are Metz special? Well for one thing they're Canadian, and some people are easily impressed by such exotic foreigners. Their music is more noteworthy. While every one of their songs is loud from beginning to end they are punctuated by moments of even louder. Sometimes just a second or two, other times it's a whole chorus. Instead of playing distinct rhythm and melody the drums and guitar will come into sync and thrash away together. You can't really acclimate to this like you might to the more constant sound of, say, a melodic metal band or a droning psych band. These guys attack at random moments, like they're actually trying to make you uncomfortable. Those sharp edges give the songs an impact which the word "loud" does not sufficiently describe.

Looking at the photos I notice (how should I put this...) that Metz seem to suffer from a bit of duckface. Or perhaps pufferfish face? At first I thought this way my fault.  Perhaps I should apologize, especially to their bassist, for capturing bad moments. I have to say, though, looking through my photos there are an awful lot of puffy cheeks in there. What is that? The look of holding back a scream? I would believe that.

Posted: 11/21/2012 at 6:55pm     Tags: Metz  The Knitting Factory 

Heliotropes at The Knitting Factory

Heliotropes are an odd band whose set raised many questions. Whose glasses were sitting on the monitor the whole time? Have I ever seen a violinist in a band this heavy? And what do you call moving your head faster than nodding but slower than headbanging? That is what their music inspires. While their stage presence could be stronger, musically Heliotropes put on a hell of a show. Which leads to one last question: who forgets to bring copies of their band's album to an album release show?!

Posted: 5/23/2012 at 6:04pm     Tags: Heliotropes  The Knitting Factory 

Slowdance at The Knitting Factory

I almost hate to publish these photos because I feel that they are slightly misleading. The photos might make you think they had a severe case of that disease which makes musicians stare at their instruments (emoitis?) In fact their music is dance pop, I believe sung in French, and yes people were dancing. So perhaps a mild case, but there was also more energy in their performance than, alas, I was able to capture.

Posted: 3/7/2012 at 8:27pm     Tags: Slowdance  The Knitting Factory 

Royal Baths at The Knitting Factory

The last time I took some photos of these guys it was at Death By Audio, more or less in the dark. What a difference a few LED arrays make, eh? These shots are much better. Dark and moody, well suited to the music, not dark and "that could be a photo of anything so anyway what is it?"

Posted: 3/6/2012 at 7:52pm     Tags: Lodro  red  Royal Baths  The Knitting Factory 

Bleached at The Knitting Factory

Is it just me or do these folks look like they should be in four different rock bands? There's the anime-looking guy, the lady dressed for her first job interview, the hippie chick, and a drummer they could have grabbed off the streets of Greenpoint an hour before the show. Doesn't matter, because when their powers combine, awesomeness happens. A blonde-Guy-Fawkes-stagediving levels of awesomeness. No pics of that, sadly, but check out the shot of the kid doing the sign of the goat.

Posted: 2/12/2012 at 2:03pm     Tags: Bleached  The Knitting Factory 

Vivian Girls at The Knitting Factory

I have only seen Vivian Girls twice, once at Webster Hall and once at Knitting Factory. Why is it that the lighting is so much better at the smaller venue? They sounded great at both, but c'mon WH, burn some electricity. Feel free to compensate by turning off that dang smoke machine. In fact, please turn off the smoke machine all the time. For the environment.

Posted: 9/21/2011 at 10:02pm     Tags: The Knitting Factory  Vivian Girls 

Widowspeak at The Knitting Factory

Having only seen Widowspeak's videos prior to seeing them live I was expecting something... mellower. Hell, let's be honest, I was expecting "easy listening", which is to say boring. Instead they turned out to be an actual rock band, more trippy than mellow, who mostly remind me of Love and Rockets. Oh, and in case you can't tell from the photos: no.

Posted: 9/21/2011 at 10:00pm     Tags: The Knitting Factory  Widowspeak