We hit the backstage one or two songs into the set by openers America Hearts. My first reaction was, this is ok, I have heard a lot of worse bands before. It was pleasant garage-y pop music with a singer/guitarist who looked about 15. Basic stuff, but not bad.

After about 5 minutes of watching, though, I finally noticed the drummer and was amused to recognize a certain local musician whom I’ve seen perform, like, a million times with a million bands. Interesting. Who was this young pop singer heading the band though? I never really figured out the deal, but here is America Hearts’ myspace page where you can see the line-up (I didn’t recognize the other musicians but maybe I should have). The recorded versions of the songs are acoustic and more like americana; the live sound was more rocking and a little scuzzier (i.e., better). The thing that sounds the same is the singing — it’s not strong, but not without its charms. At its best it reminded me of that Velvet Underground song “After Hours” with Moe Tucker on vocals. At its worst I was choking on a few of the lyrics (my friend texted me during one song to say “I love you the way the train loves the tracks”). Anyhow I guess the singer was actually a fair amount older than 15, but she was still young, could still grow into performing and singing and songwriting. And I’m always intrigued by these random, unexpected conglomerations of DC musicians.

The second band was The Mantis (or just “Mantis”?). They played typical post-rock instrumental stuff… I felt about them pretty similar to the way I felt about America Hearts: not bad, has some good moments, but nothing I haven’t seen lots of times already. I actually found it less interesting than AH because at least with pop music there is a lot that can draw you in; with The Mantis, even the background visuals were kind of dull and generic. At certain points they really sounded good, but at this point in time, a band in this style has to really be amazing or different to make me pay a lot of attention. The Mantis at times seemed like they were just jamming on good guitar parts that weren’t leading anywhere. It didn’t sound all that different from the stuff I was screwing around with on guitar just an hour before the show. This is the kind of music that works better in a druggy boozey basement party than at the Black Cat between two pop bands.

The headliner was called Happy Hollows and they had CDs and 7″s for sale so they seemed like they might be semi-legit. They apparently are from L.A. and had a sort of cute singer/guitarist and they were, again, ok overall. They sounded kind of like ’90s alternative rock. I might have been a little more into it — there was one guitar part I liked with harmonics! — but I didn’t really dig the singer’s voice. I ducked out after about half of a set. Again, like all the bands last night, they were ok but nothing I haven’t seen before.

They were also interesting to watch. My friend and I couldn’t figure out how the main guy, Alasdair MacLean, can play guitar sans pick like that — I mean the plucking and fingerpicking, sure, but the strumming just looked painful to watch. His fingers and knuckles must be all weirdly calloused — maybe too much so to be hooking up with the hot elfin violinist who was part of the band? We can only dream.

I hadn’t seen a rock band in this melancholy English style in a long time so I was pretty happy to have made it. When, on their next-to-last song, they finally broke into an extended noisy breakdown a la Yo La Tengo, I felt even more satisfied. I will be investigating this band more in the future.

Openers Vetiver didn’t do so much for me, though. They started out as rather pleasant but bland pop music, got a little more rocking part-way through, but never really did much that was interesting. It all sounded like a re-hash of ’60s sunshine pop — from the Byrds to the Monkees — and early ’70s folk-rock like The Band. My friend at some point mentioned how they kind of sounded like the Grateful Dead and I was suddenly like, “yeah! exactly! They sound a lot like the Dead!” And this is ok but not really something I want to see very often. There is something weird about an “indie” band that sounds like the Dead. I don’t hate the Grateful Dead or anything, but I like my pleasant folk music to have at least a trace of a punk-influenced edge. If I have to travel back to 1968 I would mostly steer clear of the San Francisco scene — either New York or London for time-travellin’ me! Or maybe Memphis.

Anyway, I didn’t mind Vetiver but wouldn’t seek them out again.

I actually knew some of her songs in advance, like “There’s a Riot Going On” and “Funnel of Love” — plus she did some Elvis covers and standards like “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going’ On” and “I Saw the Light.” It was interesting to hear her talk about how she was mostly performing in Europe, and was unaware that there was a burgeoning underground punk-ish scene in the U.S. that was all into rockabilly and her kind of music. Then she came back here and started touring successfully. Must have been so weird for her. And the crowd was pretty interesting — a wide range of ages, some country types, a lot of young punks, a sizable lesbian contingent, at least one hot little teen who looked like a Suicide Girl. But Wanda seemed into it. I guess I would be too, if this strange young generation got all excited about me at that age.

Check out some clips:

There were a couple of things that had me rolling my eyes — she was such a show biz veteran, playing up her stories about Elvis from back in the day. I mean, how many times has she told these stories over the past 50 years? But basically there was absolutely no way that any rock and roll fan could help but totally enjoy the show. I was smiling most of the way through, and I kind of think I’ve been in a good mood ever since… Can only hope I can still pick up a guitar (or be alive!) at that age.

It was a solid show, all 5 bands were good, and the whole night had a lot of good vibes. There was a nice turnout and a lot of enthusiasm for the music. And I talked to members of several of the bands, discussed things with my friends… it was all that I hoped for, really.

(I didn’t take photos or anything, so I am borrowing/stealing a bunch of photos from flickr user Paul Frederiksen. You can see his photos of the showcase via flickr here.)

As for the bands, well, let’s see. Up first was Big Gold Belt. This was the band I knew the least about coming into the show. I thought they were pretty great, though. It was mostly electronic stuff, with a chick singing who dressed and pranced a little like a drag queen, and a dude playing guitar over the electronic noise, perhaps just to make it look a little more like live music. I was reminded vaguely of bands like Glass Candy & the Shattered Theatre, or ’80s electro stuff that I don’t know too well. I would listen to them more. I wasn’t sure they were locally based, but I said hello to the singer at some point in the night and she said they did live here. But then their myspace says Brooklyn. So who knows — they sound like they should be from Brooklyn, though. They were the least rocking band of the night but I think they went over pretty well, and it was nice to have them play as a change-up from the guitar rock. In some ways they were even the most interesting, but I am not a huge fan of watching electronic music live, even with an attractive/weird singer. So probably good that they were the opener.

Here are a couple of Frederksen’s photos of Big Gold Belt:

Second was Buildings, who were my favorite of the night. I think this is a pretty sweet band, though I didn’t think their performance was as good as the previous time I saw them. Also, they didn’t even play my favorite song of theirs that I know (it’s called “Now”). I’m definitely a fan. They are opening up for Magik Markers soon which would be a pretty rad show, though I think I’ll be out of town.

Buildings:

Then came Imperial China. They were playing for their record release, and they were all in the news around that time (and good reviews are still coming out for Phosphenes), so a lot of people were probably there to see them specifically. And they put on a good show. Since I had just been listening to their album a bunch of times that same week, I was comparing their live performance to the CD versions. Live, they seem a little more aggressive: the percussion is much more distinctive, and also fun to watch when different people would start pounding on drums. And live, the electronics were less prominent, and the vocals less problematic (live vocals get a lot more leeway than vocals on tape). So they were quite good. I think they deserve their hype and some success, and hope they continue to play a lot and get more press.

Imperial China:

After Imperial China came Hume, who were clearly the most divisive band among my friends. Actually, it was all my friends against me. I really like Hume! But all the friends I dragged along found them kind of boring pop music, and they kept saying the singing sounded just like Death Cab for Cutie. But doesn’t everybody besides me like Death Cab? Or didn’t they at one point? This is confusing. Maybe it also had something to do with singer/guitarist/mastermind Brit Powell’s perpetual grin. Anyhow, I thought it was a very cool performance. Hume remind me of other au courant bands like Real Estate, and it seems to me like they could ride the current “quirky beach pop” wave to some success if they wanted to. They were the only band of the night that I could really see fitting into the mainstream indie world of hip mp3 blogs and profiles on NPR. And sometimes that is ok. I like pop music.

Hume:

Finally, the headliners of the diverse night were the Cornel West Theory. These guys were fun, but I think fatigue was setting in by that point, and I’m not sure they held the audience’s attention. This was the first time I saw them and I thought they were good, with lots of different singers and rappers and guest musicians. I mean, not exactly like a Thievery Corporation show, but it was good to see their ambition, and crossover appeal. One wonders what their fanbase is like among DC’s hip-hop scene. I enjoyed their show but was ready for the performance to be over by the time they were done. It is a lot of work to try to pay attention to 5 performances in a row.

Cornel West Theory:

So overall — a resounding success. But a wearying one! Check out the Sockets website for links to some audio and video from the night. Let’s hope for another one in a year or so…

Of all the DC bands I’ve paid attention to over the years, Imperial China is my least-favorite name since Q and Not U (whose name I have complained about publically here). Much like their unfortunately-appellated predecessors, the band-name turn-off kept me from checking out Imperial China for a long time, though I started to hear things about them a while ago. I finally caught them live last summer, and in a way I’m sorry to have missed out on them over the past couple of years — but based on Phosphenes I don’t have to really worry about it, because they seem like a band that is just starting to gel.

Here’s the thing about the album (coming out in February via Sockets/Ruffian): it’s very good, but not very easy to get into. Nowadays it is hard to summon the patience to absorb a whole album by a band you don’t already know, let alone one like Phosphenes that comes with a few features likely to make too many listeners click the “next” button. Musically, things are only slightly difficult. Imperial China offer up a very good-sounding mix of basic rock instruments and electronics, reminiscent at times of bands like Battles or the electronica of recent tastemaker-faves Fuck Buttons. The songs are sinewy and tense, tight but short on hooks, rarely too concerned about rocking out. This isn’t NPR rock, but it isn’t really extreme, either. The recording sounds great, although, as a guitarist, I must say that the only instrument that really stands out is the guitar, which isn’t too technically complicated, but sure has awesome effects. The electronics are pretty solid, occasionally adding unexpected twists like Radiohead-esque chilly background drones in “Letter of a General” and unsettling chimes on “The Last Starfighter” that remind me of the weird “Lullaby version of Tool” that my brother once used as a rough soundtrack to a film. It’s also pretty well steeped in DC rock tradition, from Fugazi to Frodus, and bears a lot of hallmarks of producer Devin Ocampo (from Faraquet/Medications/etc.).

Musically and sonically, Phosphenes grabbed me right away, but the thing that took me a few listens to come around to was the vocals. It’s not that they’re bad at all, but I think they are an acquired taste. On my first listen to the album, my favorite song was an instrumental, “Mortal Wombat.” The singing is just trying to do way too much, and the songs depend too much on vocals that aren’t as good as the music. The singing sounds best at its most melodic, as on the other first-listen highlight, the pop song of the record, “Go Where Airplanes Go.” Whereas the vocals are at their worst when they are kind of spat-out and shouted, as on the opening track, “All That Is Shouted.”

But what I realized after a couple listens was that the singing, while not amazing, is actually doing a lot of very cool things. There is D. Boon-style patter on “Invincible,” Tim Harrington hollering on “Bananamite,” and creepy crooning on “A Modern Life” that sounds an awful lot like singer/winemaker Maynard James Keenan. It’s pretty fun to notice this stuff, and I gradually came around a bit to the vocals, on the whole. The lyrics seem about what you’d expect from this kind of music, all quite appropriate for a DC band. (And by the way it is nice to just think that there are “DC bands” in the heritage of the ’90s scene that I loved so much.)

I hope enough people can get past mildly-challenging music and mildly-weak vocals to listen to the whole record, because it is nicely arranged into a whole. The whole thing twists and teases, keeping you on a sinister edge, refusing to really lead you anywhere. It’s deliberately frustrating. Even the killer closer track, “Letter of a General,” starts to build up and build up in traditional rock and roll style, then — well — sort of deflates. This isn’t an album that is interested in just giving out rewards — you have to earn them through a little work of your own. I can appreciate that, and hopefully some other people will too, because this is one of the better albums by local bands to come out in the past few years.

Here are my favorite songs… enjoy, and go see this band when you can, and here is their myspace page where you can support them and buy stuff.

Download audio file (02MortalWombat.mp3)

Download audio file (07GoWhereAirplanesGo.mp3)

Download audio file (09LetterofaGeneral.mp3)

P.S. if you don’t know what “phosphenes” are, look it up. This is a cool word, and I wonder how long it’s been on the band’s radar. I kinda wish the band was called Phosphenes instead of the album…

Slowdime slowly faded away in the early part of the ’00s, and not-so-coincidentally, so did a lot of my interest in local bands and music. There was still a lot of great music being made here, but when blogs took over from record labels as curators and promoters of talent, it felt like the music scene was all scattered and incoherent. DC indie music seemed mediocre, at best; the good stuff was drowning in a blandly generic sea. The giant of the independent music scene locally, Dischord, slowed down its work considerably (and understandably), and didn’t really dive into the new-media universe (again, understandably). A couple other local labels came and went. Some interesting music websites have floated around. Experimental music has had a kind of a coherent scene. But for rock music, good rock music, things seemed kind of dead, and this was exacerbated by the collapse of the record industry. It seemed like the whole idea of a small-time local record label was both quaint and quixotic, at least up until the past year or so when I started paying attention to Sockets Records.

Sockets has a diverse roster, but seems to focus on creative and interesting music, with an emphasis on DC. The label isn’t new, but it has been actually gearing up its publicity and raising its public profile lately. They’re trying to hype their bands; they use all the idiotic essential modern tools like blogs and facebooks; they seem to really want people to listen to the music they are pushing. And luckily, they’re working with a lot of the best up-and-coming talent in the city. Is Sockets the new Slowdime? Not really — the world has changed too much in the past ten years. But maybe Sockets can help use the idea of a record label in a new way to get people excited about the local scene. It’s all about the branding, and I am already learning to trust anything that is Sockets-approved.

Tomorrow night they are having a showcase at the Black Cat that I highly recommend… I can also recommend the upcoming Imperial China album from Sockets, which I am about to post a review for. Go to the showcase! It is gonna be the musical event of the season, featuring Cornel West Theory, HUME, Imperial China, Buildings, and Big Gold Belt. Info here.

How did the Scream stack up to my favorite shows of all time? Very well. Give me a few years to reflect and maybe I will add this show to the list.

I think my other favorite performances of the year were by S PRCSS and Dean and Britta. But there were lots of others too, of course! Good year for live music.

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Recently I got an email from the band Imperial China asking me if I’d review their forthcoming new album. I’m gonna do it shortly (it’s pretty good) but it made me think about what I can do to support the good local bands. It’s not like this blog gets a lot of traffic, but on the other hand, I don’t seek out traffic, in fact this site is halfway hidden off from the rest of the web. But I think I will go ahead and open things up a little more. And here’s the deal (I’ll have to put this over in the sidebar): I am a huge fan of live music but also an old and cynical fan. My socks are not knocked off all that easily. If you’re a local band, feel free to send me an email or a copy of your music or an invitation to a show. I’ll write you up. If I like your music, I will try to help promote your shows. But you should also check out my musical taste and realize I am not enamored of all that many local bands. I won’t promise an especially nice review, but you never know.

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Last thing I wanted to mention, I am completely siked about the state of live shows here in the ’10s (the teens?), as far as the youtubification of it all. How amazing is it to re-live the best shows? (Like, I can’t get enough of this awesome Office of Future Plans video). Should I try getting some sort of… I dunno… video camera? I go to a lot of great shows that nobody else is recording, like the Versus show last month. I would love to contribute them to the universe, and relive them myself. But on the other hand I am not really interested in holding a camera in front of me for big chunks of a rock and roll show. Hmm. Anyone do this? I could get a Flip or something but I honestly don’t know if I want to. I’ll think about it.

So I have been complaining about going to too many reunion shows, but then, Versus never was exactly broken up, so it’s ok that I went, right? They really are probably my all-time favorite band (the only other contender is Sonic Youth); I saw them play a lot of times back in the late ’90s and beginning of the ’00s; I have basically everything they’ve ever recorded and know the bulk of their lyrics by heart. Versus have played some occasional gigs in the time since they went on hiatus, including at least once or twice here in DC (Teenbeat anniversaries, for example), but I haven’t been able to go to any of them. Now, though, it seems like they are really “together,” playing a fair amount, recording a new album (!).

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this show, though. I checked out a few recent performances on youtube and they left me uncertain and even a little nervous. The line-up has shifted a bit, as they now feature Richard and Fontaine with Ed on drums and a woman named Margaret on violin. It was a little strange, but I found that I could accept this line-up as Versus once I started watching them play live. It helped that the two frontpersons of the band seemed loose and comfortable, chatting and joking around with the audience. It was like, oh yeah, this is Versus alright.

I ended up totally enjoying it (also, it was the first night I went out after getting swine flu, and I had a couple of beers and seemed to be healthy). They played a fair amount of new stuff and mostly earlier old material. It sounded good. The violin (and occasional keyboard) fit in better than I feared. Off the top of my head, I wouldn’t have remembered that Versus ever had any songs in the past with strings, but they played “Deep Red” and it sounded a lot better live than the old EP version, it actually was quite pretty. Versus were always pretty good at pulling off pretty songs amidst the harder indie rock. They did some other old songs like “Be-9,” “Circle,” and “Crazy” (by request). When somebody shouted out for “Morning Glory,” Fontaine commented that, since Ed didn’t play on those later records, he didn’t know them, but then they went ahead and did a pretty decent version of it for the encore.

I couldn’t entirely make up my mind about the new line-up and the new material… it will take me a while to decide what I think. It was totally good, but I kind of missed the latter-era line-up with Patrick and James. Richard is a brilliant guitarist but I think having James on guitar added a lot of depth… I have clear memories of the first time I saw Versus (this was the 3-brother line-up) and watching James play the lead riff on “Glitter of Love.” On the other hand it was interesting to hear how the violin integrated with the band; also the last Versus album, Hurrah, was not that great. Basically, I’m willing to let this new form of Versus grow on me if they stick around long enough. I would absolutely go see them again (contemplating whether they are worth trips to New York for) and I’m looking forward to the album.

At a certain point the quartet on stage was joined by a young chap on guitar (I believe they called him “Chris” but this was almost a month ago so I’m not certain) and Fontaine asked how many of us in the audience had a copy of The Stars Are Insane and proceeded to explain that Chris was the little kid in the album art. Crazy! So then my friends asked me whether or not that was Richard and Fontaine’s kid and I was like “I don’t even think they are a couple! he is maybe a nephew or something?” But it made me think. All those years of listening to this band, I never really even thought about their personal lives and relationships. Their lyrics are full of relationship sagas, but I never got the sense those stories were about each other. I honestly have no idea if they ever were/are a couple. How indie rock — boys and girls singing together and I barely ever even thought about them doing anything more than music with each other… though maybe this is due to my long-standing crush on Fontaine Toups.

Speaking of indie rock, Fontaine and Richard told an amusing story about the first time they played in DC, that Jenny Toomey got them to play a show at dc space with a bunch of “indie rock” bands, and that they didn’t know what indie rock was, or that they themselves might be indie rock. They said the indie rock kids terrified them. And that before they knew about indie rock, they thought they were “post-punk.” Ha.

Anyway I am glad that Versus is back in some form. As I get old and cranky, I’m falling into the typical old-person pattern of liking music from when I was 19 way more than I like the music of 19-year-olds today. Whatever.

Opening up for Versus was Soft Power, Mary Timony’s new band. I was pretty interested in seeing them; they’ve played a number of times in town over the past year or so but I had never made it to any of their shows. I was really impressed by the last iteration of the Mary Timony Band (with Devin Ocampo and Chad Molter from Medications/Faraquet) and their album The Shapes We Make. Also I’d seen Mary Timony play several times before and always like her performances.

But I wasn’t totally sold by Soft Power. I liked it, but something seemed off. Partly it was something about the sound and the stage presence: Mary’s vocals didn’t sound right, and she and the other singer (I don’t know his name) were constantly trading guitars and basses. Something just wasn’t quite right. But I’m interested in hearing more: musically it sounded like it had pretty good potential, a continuing progression for an interesting musician. There aren’t a whole lot of woman guitarists/singers like Mary Timony — disappointingly few — and the world definitely needs more girls who can rock out on guitar and who listen to prog. (Again, this was a while back, but Mary asked the crowd something like, “would you rather go on tour with the Scorpions or with Yes?” and despite my definite shout-out in favor of the Scorpions she was like, “I would totally choose Yes.” Man, I love the Scorpions…)

I’ll give Soft Power another chance, too. This was a fun show, gratifyingly filling up the backstage, and a good way to end the year. Though I still wish I had known about that Grant Hart show.

Basically I have a problem with bands that rely too heavily on tone and effect rather than on songs. Russian Circles were certainly not the worst in that category (opener Young Widows used a hell of a lot more effects pedals, but had better music to go with it). Obviously, tone matters; effects matter; it makes sense for musicians to spend a lot time, money and effort on getting the sound they want. But when the music is all about the tone, it just seems kinda pointless. I want my guitar-based music to be something that could be adapted to a crappy Sears-brand guitar/amp combo and still be recognizable.

I also had the feeling, an unusual one, that they could do with some vocals. I generally support instrumental music and think vocals are often redundant, but sometimes they can really add something. Russian Circles + an interesting singer could = Made Out of Babies which is a way more interesting band.

On the plus side, I have listened to Russian Circles before and never given much thought to their name. While watching them live, I found it appropriate — their songs are really carefully composed, often circling back to the beginning segments.

Anyway I am not hating on Russian Circles — they were pretty good. But I thought Young Widows were better. I didn’t really know this band but I was terrified before their set because they set up a massive array of amps… luckily some of them had hidden lamps inside instead of speakers. Young Widows were also guilty of being too effects-driven but they had actual songs that were heavy post-hardcore, maybe screamo… fun stuff! Intense! You can get a flavor of their sound at a video from a show a few days later seen here. They reminded me a little of Frodus who I saw earlier this year; I liked Frodus better but I might like the Widows more if I listened to them. I’ll give them a shot.

But it turned out to be a great show (with the typical Constitution Hall caveat that it would have been a million times better at a place like the 930 Club or even an arena). The Pixies have been in the reunion-tour business for a few years now but there still seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm among the crowd, even though this second night of a two-night stand wasn’t close to sold-out. Their current tour features a full performance of their album Doolittle, including b-sides. The only other time I’ve seen one of these “play the whole album” deals was a Sonic Youth show in New York a couple years ago where they played Daydream Nation, which I pretty much have memorized note for note; I know Doolittle almost as well. I think these album-shows are ok, though it helps when the albums are nearly perfect. Doolittle is less than perfect but pretty amazing.

Before the band took the stage, they rather appropriately played four or five minutes of Un chien andalou on the screen. Then they played b-sides (best to get them out of the way) before kicking into “Debaser.” The set was pretty good — Doolittle has a good mix of classics and quirky weird songs (like “No. 13 Baby” and “La La Love You”). The only really flawed song on the album is “Silver” and luckily they ended it quickly before going to one of their very best songs, “Gouge Away.”

So the Doolittle set was great. But it was the stuff they played afterwards that really stood out. It included the only b-side that I recognized (the awesome “Into the White”) and then really got into gear with basically all the other good Pixies songs (mostly from Surfer Rosa).

The band even started doing showmanship-stuff like this pretty amusing bit during “Vamos” (did they do this back in the day?):

Overall it was a totally fun show. It was a bit disorienting, though. I mean, I wasn’t into the Pixies back in the day — I think I was just vaguely aware of them. I was slightly too young to yet be aware of underground music; I got into the Pixies during the ’90s via Nirvana, the Breeders, and alternative rock. Their music was always something historical — an obvious key influence on the bands I loved in high school, the link between ’80s college rock and ’90s alt-rock. Seeing them live was a time-warp experience, like seeing Nirvana or something. It has to do with their sound — unmistakable and extremely influential. Hundreds of bands in the ’90s sounded just like them. It was just strange to see the genuine article living and breathing, like a quartet of coelacanths flopping onto the stage of Constitution Hall.