The first time I saw them was around 9 years ago and it was pretty close to a life-altering event. It was by far one of the very best concerts I’ve ever been to. In fact, when people really press me on the topic, like “you’re practically an expert, what are the best shows you’ve seen?”, I tend to mention either that amazing show (with Lightning Bolt, Black Dice, Orthrelm, and Avey Tare & Panda Bear!); or else maybe Paul Flaherty & Chris Corsano or Fugazi.

Ever since then, I have been listening to Lightning Bolt on and off, picking up all their albums, occasionally listening to live performances. But I haven’t seen them live again, and I could scarcely believe it when, a few months ago, I happened to look at the concert listings and saw them listed at DC9. I was all like, “wait, really? THE Lightning Bolt??” and rushed to a computer to buy a ticket.

So it was gonna be hard for them to live up to my massive expectations.

At least there was intriguing music leading up to their Wednesday-night show. I caught part of the show opener, a solo performance under the moniker Macaw. I liked it; I found the following video on youtube that says that Macaw is one of the guys from Hume:

I thought Macaw had cool vocal effects and was a worthy way to chill out in advance of Lightning Bolt. After his performance was a very interesting guitar orchestra coordinated by Buildings. Buildings are pretty much my favorite local band lately, and it was cool to see what they pulled off: a 15-guitar line-up playing minimal pieces. I think they should do it again sometime, though the logistics must have been a nightmare. It was just a short set and it sounded really cool — mainly the guitarists were just picking one note at a time, making simple harmonies in pretty simple rhythms. I was impressed they were even all (basically) in tune, and that they almost all could fit onto the stage.

In a dcist interview before the show, the Buildings guys said they wanted to do the opposite of Lightning Bolt: instead of very few people making maximal noise, they were gonna be the maximal amount of people making minimal noise. Great idea, and I’m glad I saw it.

The Buildings Guitar Orchestra set was so quick that it seemed too early for Lightning Bolt to go on, but suddenly, there they were! Drummer Brian Chippendale appeared to be wearing a handmade Darth Maul t-shirt inside-out! It was on!

I was ready for some serious pounding noise-rock, ready for some facemelting riffage and sick, jawdrop-worthy beats. I even wore earplugs, which is an extreme rarity. I was arguably willing to dance and jump around. But I wasn’t really prepared for the moshing. The last time I saw Lightning Bolt, we didn’t really mosh. I think we may have been too stunned to even move very much — it was sort of like deer in the headlights. But the fans that turned out at DC9 — many of them seeming very young to me, like how old would they have been when I saw LB before? 9? — were all set to mosh.

I am not really against moshing; I sort of enjoyed it a few times in the past. But yo, I am old. Screeching noise is one thing, but dodging flying elbows and flying high school linebackers is not really my style anymore. I had to gradually ease my way out of the thick of the crowd. I was there for the music, not to slough off extra testosterone by thrashing into random large people. Again, I am old, gotta preserve the testosterone I still have left… Besides, I wanted to pay attention to one of my favorite bands.

Anyway despite the weirdness of all the moshing and flailing, I totally loved the show. It’s no wonder the youngsters were all pumped up. I haven’t listened to the new LB album, Earthly Delights, all that much, or even the one before that, Hypermagic Mountain, so I didn’t recognize too many songs. I thought the band sounded a little different compared to when I saw them way back when. Now they came across as a little more metal, a little more (strange to say) straightforward. Less spastic. Most of all, I thought that the first time I saw them, it was more like an equally impressive performance by Chippendale and the other Brian, bassist Gibson. This time, it seemed more like the drumming was the focus of everything. At times, it was like Gibson was just playing quite simple bass parts while Chippendale went insane, solo-ing manically all over the place. It sounded cool, and maybe it is intentional, just a little bit different in emphasis. The old stuff just seemed to be a lot wilder and more exciting from the bass-playing perspective. Either way, though, this band is so inventive and powerful that it is super impressive.

I couldn’t find any videos for the performance at DC9, but here is a good one from a couple days later that seems almost identical. And check out some photos at the Sockets Records blog where you can see Brian Chippendale’s Darth Maul shirt.

The reviewer at DCist said it was “easily” the best show she’d ever seen at DC9. Well, I wouldn’t go that far. (The best show I’ve seen at DC9 was clearly Rah Brahs!) But it was surely awesome. Just unable to quite live up to my unrealistic hope that it would not only equal, but surpass my first Lightning Bolt experience.

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…

Plus at Haydee’s you can sit and drink mediocre margaritas. You don’t get margaritas at the Black Cat.

I first heard about Buildings sometime several months ago, maybe in the spring, and when I listened to them online I was quite impressed. They play good instrumental rock, some of it pretty catchy, and it’s more original than you’d think. Based on their recordings (what I’ve heard of them, anyway) I think they are one of the most interesting bands around DC right now — accessible enough to keep it in the realm of pop music rather than experimental music, but experimental enough to make it exciting.

Anyway never having seen them, I had the impression they were gonna be the opening band at Haydee’s, on a bill with a band called Make a Rising, and was a little disconcerted when the first band started out with chanting. I was all like, this has to be the other band, right? but wasn’t sure for a while. Make a Rising were decent, though. They sounded to me like a cross between Deerhoof and Tortoise (do tortoises have hoofs?). They wore costumes (someone at my table asked, “what’s that Donnie Darko guy playing?”) and sounded pretty good, occasionally incorporating some unusual instruments into the mix.

Haydee’s was a strange venue to see a rock show and it was kind of weird to be sitting at a table a ways back from the band, drinking and eating tortilla chips during a psychedelic rock performance. I think both bands would have been more interesting in a different venue.

By the time Buildings went on it was getting late and I was getting deeper into the margaritas, but they did a good job of living up to my fairly high expectations. They played in front of a goofy video projection that reminded me of watching one of those video-game tv channels, or an episode of Liquid Television. You can see it in this bad cell phone snap:

Hope these guys achieve some success, I’ll try to spread the word and support them when I can. The friends I took to Haydee’s seemed to enjoy the show. I was wondering if they would have merch for sale — their new EP is on sale via iTunes but I never buy anything from iTunes normally. Maybe I’ll have to break down. Anyway go check them out — here is their myspace.