the revolution will begin next semester

to here knows when has gotten a little bit better each time i've gone. it's also become free, which is a great thing to do for a wednesday night.

i was mainly coming down to see my best fiend, who i liked a lot at tonic a little while back, but i was happy i made it in time to catch the last few songs by tungsten74. billy from other passengers turned up, and my comment to him was "big black meets pink floyd". in retrospect, i'm not sure how accurate that remark was, but they are a hard, angular, noisy rock trio like steve albini's former band (although using a live drummer instead of a drum machine). on the other hand, they play epic and sometimes slow-paced instrumentals that favor spaciness as much as ear-bleeding, and played to a film of surreal cartoons (no flying pigs, but close) and film noir clips. none of the band faced the audience, as though the musicians were unimportant, merely conduits being inspired to create a semi-improvised soundtrack to the visuals. their energy carried off this unusual setup as they were equally pummeling and trippy.



after they finished, i finally met autumn thieves, who put on this night at scenic as loveless music group (as well as several others coming up soon, including one at cake shop). they take turns spinning music that fits the loose theme of the evening, although not as much my bloody valentine as you'd think - curve and ulrich schnauss were in the mix along with many others. one track that stood out was by bleep, who will be playing lmg's upcoming catch the breeze event at rothko.



my best fiend added two more namechecks to my list from last time: jane's addiction and secret machines. but they also had simple synth arpeggios like krautrock crashing into postpunk, as well as electronic crackles that would be at home on kid 606 or autechre's glitchier releases. when a band can evoke such diverse comparisons, you know they're very far down the road towards becoming their own unique thing. the guitarist and keyboardist switched places several times, and each handled both instruments with equal ability and vigor. the bassist's rig gave him increasing problems, but he played it off well, and the speaker-ripping pops were right at home in the joyfully haywire arrangement of their final song.

afterwards, i complimented the drummer on his ability and willingness to play with a drum machine. he seemed very enthusiastic about it, but downplayed his impressive skills. i then bumped into daniel lee, better known as the invisible kid, while handing him an earlier version of this flyer. his song "full speed nowhere" has to be heard to be believed. i also met the singer of ifwhen, who were playing later that night, but he told me he was fighting a similar sickness to mine, which reminded me i should be leaving. but i left there with a great feeling of a growing community of bands doing something a bit different in this town.


the title of this post comes from a song by tungsten 74.