Zeus and thunder? the Brians of Lightning Bolt....
I have seen the fire and the fury, the precision and the power....the face of the gods obscured by smoke and thunder and sweat. Lightning Bolt is the best band in the world right now. This is not an exaggeration. This statement has been empirically proven on the floors of rock clubs all over the planet. On Tuesday night at Northsix it was proven even further by contrast, as the Brians shared the bill with Metalux and Mouthus and sprayed the sellout crowd with their musical love.
I'd never seen Mouthus before and was looking forward to their set. Lots of good online reviews from reasonably trustworthy webzines along with a release on TMoore's Ecstatic Peace label had led me to believe that there was something cool going on in the land of Mouthus. Their performance was horrendous, however--to the point where it almost ruined the whole fucking night for me. Now, I like noisy bands--Sightings, Wolf Eyes, Hair Police, the Youth all are awesome by my lights--but Mouthus was just unbelievably unskilled at generating any interesting sounds or textures. Literally the worst guitar playing I've ever seen in the genre. The funniest part of their set was when the guitar player came out with a fucking violin bow for the first tune and proceeded to saw it across the fretboard for 5 or 6 tuneless minutes...the drummer was getting a cool sound going with a contact mic against his floor tom but was completely unable to keep time with the band's sampler/beatbox, which provided the substance of each tune's drumbeat. For a 6-song set the guitar sound didn't change once; the true lowlight of this shitty-ass band's set was the second song where the guitar player played one note for an interminable period of time. Other low points featured the drummer, his beatbox, and his struggle to keep up with his prerecorded beats. I know at least 5 guitar players that are better drummers than this clown.
Fortunately Metalux was pretty cool, with short pieces instead of typically lengthy noise opuses. Two gals, two racks of pedals, and occasional guitar use along with heavily effected vocals. They kept things short and texturally interesting and sounded great in contrast to the total bullshit put forth by Mouthus.
Lightning Bolt saved the day. They saved my life too, as I felt all excitement and desire to live slipping away from me during Mouthus' horrible set. Instead of the stage (of course) they played in the left corner of the Northsix main room and turned everyone's focus towards that corner. Bouncers were up on the stage, along with good guy Joly from Punkcast filming the show, which made for an odd sight. They started the set with 7 new songs that were all excellent, showing even further refinement of their maximalist minimalism...I couldn't have been happier, but some of the stupider people in the crowd were waiting for the songs they knew by heart. They were rewarded by "Dracula Mountain" and "Ride the Skies" to close out the set. Utter beauty by the best band on the planet. The crowd was loving it and the bouncers were getting upset.
I wish the new Bolt record was out already...I need to hear it. This is music to scare the gods, to fry the laurel upon Apollo's head, and tear out the black-blooded heart of Loki before the wolf makes his move to swallow the sun. When the world ends (which of course it will soon) I will be listening to Lightning Bolt as the oceans rise and the sky collapses....
I'd never seen Mouthus before and was looking forward to their set. Lots of good online reviews from reasonably trustworthy webzines along with a release on TMoore's Ecstatic Peace label had led me to believe that there was something cool going on in the land of Mouthus. Their performance was horrendous, however--to the point where it almost ruined the whole fucking night for me. Now, I like noisy bands--Sightings, Wolf Eyes, Hair Police, the Youth all are awesome by my lights--but Mouthus was just unbelievably unskilled at generating any interesting sounds or textures. Literally the worst guitar playing I've ever seen in the genre. The funniest part of their set was when the guitar player came out with a fucking violin bow for the first tune and proceeded to saw it across the fretboard for 5 or 6 tuneless minutes...the drummer was getting a cool sound going with a contact mic against his floor tom but was completely unable to keep time with the band's sampler/beatbox, which provided the substance of each tune's drumbeat. For a 6-song set the guitar sound didn't change once; the true lowlight of this shitty-ass band's set was the second song where the guitar player played one note for an interminable period of time. Other low points featured the drummer, his beatbox, and his struggle to keep up with his prerecorded beats. I know at least 5 guitar players that are better drummers than this clown.
Fortunately Metalux was pretty cool, with short pieces instead of typically lengthy noise opuses. Two gals, two racks of pedals, and occasional guitar use along with heavily effected vocals. They kept things short and texturally interesting and sounded great in contrast to the total bullshit put forth by Mouthus.
Lightning Bolt saved the day. They saved my life too, as I felt all excitement and desire to live slipping away from me during Mouthus' horrible set. Instead of the stage (of course) they played in the left corner of the Northsix main room and turned everyone's focus towards that corner. Bouncers were up on the stage, along with good guy Joly from Punkcast filming the show, which made for an odd sight. They started the set with 7 new songs that were all excellent, showing even further refinement of their maximalist minimalism...I couldn't have been happier, but some of the stupider people in the crowd were waiting for the songs they knew by heart. They were rewarded by "Dracula Mountain" and "Ride the Skies" to close out the set. Utter beauty by the best band on the planet. The crowd was loving it and the bouncers were getting upset.
I wish the new Bolt record was out already...I need to hear it. This is music to scare the gods, to fry the laurel upon Apollo's head, and tear out the black-blooded heart of Loki before the wolf makes his move to swallow the sun. When the world ends (which of course it will soon) I will be listening to Lightning Bolt as the oceans rise and the sky collapses....
posted by alyosha mcbain at 11:37 AM
1 Comments:
oh shit, I was wrong...there was a guy who looked a lot like you that night, filming the show.
at least I properly credited you as a good guy with a camera and a habit for Punkcasting.
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