Live: Wilderness at The Cake Shop 11.19.8

Wilderness played the other night at my new home away from home Cake Shop. I rode past on my way home to try to get a sense of how far behind things were running. In typical fashion, the second band was soundchecking at 8:30, so I settled in at the JS-NYC headquarters to wait things out. 

One chicken-fried steak and an episode of Antiques Roadshow later, I showed up ready to rock. I figured the combination of the small room and steady diet of Robotussin I've been on as of late would make this an even better Wilderness live show than usual. They men of Wilderness did not disappoint. I missed out on their show at the Whitney over the summer. That was supposedly quite a spectacle, but the in-your-face atmosphere of Cake Shop made for a good show nonetheless.

There were the requisite sound issues. This time with James and his vocal processing. I'm not sure whose fault it was, but the eleven or so years that Wilderness have spent together makes the band a formidable live entity with or without vocals. Johnson has a polarizing voice, to say the least. Equal parts PiL and Lungfish, it's not for the faint of heart. Historically, James has handled most of the vocals (and robot dancing) himself, but the new material from (k)no(w)here also features guitarist Colin McCann. He howls charmingly (and effectively) on the new material. McCann has a solo home-recorded release out as The Lord Dog Bird on Jagjaguwar that is well worth checking out if you are a Wilderness fan.

After seeing their live show, it's hard not to be a fan. Bring your ear protection though. Wilderness make a lot of noise for a four-piece. McCann plays floor tom on a couple songs along with polyrhythmic trappist terror Will Goode. The tribal drums and washes of guitar sound envelop you in a fog that the the darkened basement of the Cake Shop was ideal for. They played about an hour, covering most of the high points of the last three records before abruptly taking off their instruments and saying goodnight. The band has hinted that they will be taking one of their customary hiatuses after these tourdates, so check out where you can see them here. If you miss them, you can spend some time listening to MP3s and generally being frustrated by their exceedingly oblique web presence here. 

R