Live: Off With Their Heads, Dear Landlord, Dead Mechanical, The AV Club at Talking Head, Baltimore 12.5.8

I was pretty bummed that Dear Landlord hooked up with Off With Their Heads for these dates the day after the Brooklyn show, but luckily the Baltimore date was on a Friday, so I hopped a freight down to Baltimore to see them at The Talking Head. The Talking Head is the small room at Sonar. It's a pretty decent little room with a $5 PBR & Jim Beam special that proved pretty lethal to the younger set.

My sister and I showed up a couple songs into The AV Club's set. I had thought they were from Baltimore, but apparently are from New Haven. That hair split, while I had hoped to miss them, they play the closest thing I've heard to power pop from a young band in a long time. They are pretty catchy and, judging by the throng up front for their set, evidently have a pretty big all ages following. They are on Insubordination Records, and now that I think about it, I may have seen them at this years IF. They made more of an impression this time, they were a little more pop than punk. If you like that kind of stuff, check them out here. They've got MP3s and such for sale, as well as new record called Believe coming down the pike. I'm going to look out for their first record.

Lucas from Dead Mechanical evidently plays with The AV Club, although he isn't listed on their web presence. I saw DM at Insubordination Fest and really enjoyed their set. I picked up the Live at IF 2K7 record a couple months ago and vowed to see them the next time they came through town, then promptly blew off the show. Their presence on this show only sweetened the pot. They threw down a brisk set of their Jawbreaker meets Husker Du punk rock to an enthusiastic crowd already way too many rounds into the $5 boilermakers. I'd really like to see them again soon. They do Charm City proper. Check out the DM web presence here. I'm kicking myself for not picking up Medium Noise while I was down there. You can (and should) get it here.

Next up was the reason for the trip. Dear Landlord play pretty infrequently, owing mostly to Adam and Brett playing in the mighty Copyrights. I had seen them this summer and they were fucking great, but what do you really expect from the bastard union of half of the late, great Rivethead with the aforementioned Copyrights. I wondered how long the set was really going to be, as the gents only really have a split with The Chinese Telephones and another with Off With Their Heads for released material. I would have been happy to hear only those four songs, but the gents stretched it out to eleven songs that were pretty much these:

There are obviously new songs, some real new evidently, as Brett was showing Zack songs seconds before they launched into their set, but the new tunes were all pretty bad-ass. I've heard tell of a full-length, but to the best of my knowledge it's still well in the wish phase of things. It's a shame, as we need more Dear Landlord in our collective lives. Their set went maybe twenty-five minutes, but I'm still smiling thinking about it. Here's hoping the gents make it through the NYC area sometime soon.

Off With Their Heads need to take some time off and find their motivation. Nuff said.

Baltimore keeps it real. The $15 bus ride is not going to do much to keep me from seeing a lot more shows down there, I'll tell ya.

R

Shorebirds - It's Gonna Get Ugly pt. II: the review

It's been deposed of late by The Hold Steady, but in past years the heights of my obsessions in the rock world have revolved around my dear departed Jawbreaker. I heard a lot of the first Jawbreaker record quasi-osmotically by living next door to (the only JS-NYC follower) David's then-girlfriend my freshman year of college and was re-introduced to Unfun (and the Whack and Blite EP) by whatever member of Stigmata sold the Shredder reissue to me by mistake instead of the first Jawbox record at Music Shack. How any ear-possessing humanoid could hear the opening Want and not fall in love with Jawbreaker or Chris Bauermeister's bass playing is beyond me.

My love for all the post-Jawbreaker projects has lead me down a lot of paths (Jets To Brazil, Horace Pinker, Whysall Lane) but the most satisfying of late has been Olympia, Washington's Shorebirds. They have split already, leaving a couple 7"s and this full-length It's Gonna Get Ugly. Christ, is this a good fucking record. This is Top 10 for 2008 for sure over at JS-NYC. The band featured Jawbreaker bassist Chris Bauermeister and was helmed by ex-Latterman guitarist Matt Canino, who also released it on his own Rumbletown label. He also appears to be a bike punk, which will never detract from a band in my eyes. I need to go back and check out the Latterman stuff, but between this record and the Iron Chic demo, I haven't had a chance to look back. If both Matt and Phil were bringing their A game like they seem to on these releases, I can see why kids were so bummed when Latterman split up.

So about It's Gonna Get Ugly. It's 12 songs in 27 minutes and all of it, if I may use technical jargon, fucking rips. Bauermeister is mixed way up front, barrelling through the tracks like a freight train. Canino's got a good Wollard meets Smalley voice that suits the gritty music nicely. Frankly, I found most of the Oly kids back in the day to be pretty fucking irritating, but if this is the kind of punk rock that's coming out of the deciduous rain forests these days, you can sign me up. I'd put them up there with Banner Pilot and the late Cardinal Sin.

From where I'm sitting, the best track (and, believe me, that is saying something) on It's Gonna Get Ugly is The Ballad of Marvin Heemeyer, a man who was probably on Andrew's radar from the get-go, but is new to me. Either way, props to the late Mr. Heemeyer and his family. That's a hell of a way to go out. It's a bummer that Heemeyer and Shorebirds are gone, both parties were formidable juggernauts. You can see footage of Heemeyer here. Check it out, then pick up the musical equivalent from the good folk of Rumbletowne here. Vinyl only, which is a silly is it is admirable. I can see going the Shellac route of releasing the vinyl before the cd, but this is a record that really needs to be heard, even if it is posthumously.

Canino has hit the ground running and already formed a new band called Reviver that I'm pretty eager to check out. Sadly, they appear to be so DIY as to not have a web presence, but if anyone tracks it down, dash off a missive, will ya?

R

Shorebirds - It's Gonna Get Ugly

Hey Kids: I'm off to see Dear Landlord. The only thing that could even compare to the awesomeness that is that trip is this records. Sit tight and get ready for the hyperbole.

xo

R

Live: Off With Their Heads, Shellshag, Detournement, The Measure (SA), Go Sell Drugs at Death By Audio 12.3.8

I was hedging on going to this show. It's cold and Off With Their Heads have really been phoning it in as of late, plus the order of the lineup had changed like three times since the show had been posted, but I figured I'd see The Measure and check out why the kids were making so big of a deal about Detournement, then make an early evening of it.

So I arrived at Death By Audio to what I thought was Detournement, but was yet another x-factor: the unnannounced band that was Go Sell Drugs. Evidently one of the dudes from I-Farm is in the fold. Either way, they were pretty decent. Sort of a Dischord vibe (with at least two haircuts to match). Thrashy guitar, pummelling drums, picked Rickenbacker bass. I'd like to see them with Psyched To Die. They didn't play that long, but did give away free copies of their record American Handjob. Maybe next time they will actually get listed on the bill.

The Measure (SA) were up next. They are definitely a decent band. I still contend that the silly overly tattooed guy who can't stop jumping should be excised from the franchise with the quickness.I'd also like to know why he didn't make eye contact with anybody else in the band for the entire set, but save for that quibbling it was a pretty good set. They've got a new singles comp you probably have heard about. Pick it up here. Now, let's get cracking on that line-up change, willya.

Detournement batted third, playing their first show in Brooklyn and maybe their sixth or seventh overall. As the name may belie, there's a heavy ex-member contingent in the band, with dudes from Lifetime, Bigwig, The Ratchets and a million other bands. I guess the most shocking eventuality is that Mikey Erg isn't in the fold. Zak Kaplan fronts the band, sadly in a frontman only capacity. Not that they two guitarists they already have are bad, I am aggressively against the 'singer who just sings' phenomenon. Unless he is edge and drives the van, or David Lee Roth, there is no reason for that to happen. I didn't find anything especially remarkable about their set, but I'd like to hear the recorded stuff. And see Zak with a guitar on.

I didn't see any sign of the Shellshag kids and hoped that maybe OWTH would be going on next, but I was sadly denied. Shellshag are decent and definitely OG, but I wasn't in the mood. Off With Their Heads definitely seem to be in it for the cash recently. They've been on tour for the last five or six months pretty relentlessly and the enthusiasm level seems to drop with every show, at least on Ryan's part. I hear they played a short set, to boot, so I'm glad I bailed. Here's hoping that the shows with Dear Landlord (that start tonight in Philly) give them a kick in the ass. I'm not looking to travel down Charm City way to be bored.

R

Greg Dulli - Live At The Triple Door

Maybe it just the day I've been having, but its currently pretty hard to think that the Afghan Whigs dropped Gentlemen fifteen years ago. A lot has changed since then. For one, the Whigs are no more and Dulli has founded The Twilight Singers as his primary musical focus, with his Gutter Twins project batting clean-up. Much like The Hold Steady is an older, less sleazy Lifter Puller, The Twilight Singers reflect more of a post-snowstorm Dulli. There is still a fair amount of darkness, but there's a little bit less of the self-destructive nihilism.

Dulli released his first official solo record, Amber Headlights, in 2005. The record had been recorded in 2002 and shelved in the wake of the passing of his dear friend Ted Demme, but was released to a fair amount of success. Live At The Triple Door isn't so much a solo record as it is a solo recording, if I may split a hair or two. Various Twilight Singers and long-time cohorts like Shawn Smith and Petra Haden back Dulli up, but this acoustic set is pretty Greg-o-centric. If you are into such things, Shawn Smith sings a couple tunes with Greg. It's great to hear them singing together again. The Brad shows at Highline earlier in the year were a nice tease, but I'd sure like to see more of SS on this side of the country.

Live At The Triple Door was recorded over two days in Seattle as a benefit for local youth charity The Vera Project. The recording is available as a download only via Dulli's own Infernal Recordings. Check I-tunes and your favorite digital retailers. The set goes as far back as the AW chestnut, Tonight and along with a dozen or so other favorites spanning the last decade or so, including that Jose Gonzalez cover that all the young kids dig. If there is any shortcoming to this release, it's that there's not all that much Dulli stage banter, but I trust the average listener will live. I'd like to see a DVD of the set, but in the interim, download the set here. You can keep up on all the other goings on in the world of The Twilight Singers here.

Live: Batillus at Lit 12.1.8

Yes, I know that the pic is for the show this weekend, but take notice, as (both) you fools should be seeing as much of Batillus as possible. This is the second, if not third time they've laid waste to that charming basement, but the first with their imposing backline of doom (Doom?). Rest assured that there was wattage to spare but don't think the gents are trying to hide anything with all those decibels. Batillus has an obvious sense of craft that is sorely lacking with a lot of bands.

Currently a three piece, the gents are looking for a fourth member to play guitar and perhaps do some vocals. Check their MySpace for more info. I appreciate their pushing the envelope, but Batillus are a force to be reckoned with, especially their drummer. That guy does not fuck around, and manages to be heard without the benefit of amplification, which is a feat unto itself. There was a killer new unnamed tune, along with the songs that will comprise their first recording, whenever that may drop. Hopefully it's soon. The neighbors have been lulled into a false sense of complacency and it's best if they not get used to such quiescence.

In the meantime, get off your duff and check out the gents at Death By Audio on 12/6. B A T I L L U S will be rocking with the gents below.

Tombs (Relapse Records; Brooklyn black/doom)
Moving Mountains (post-rock)
Junius (epic cinematic art rock)
Rosetta (dynamic, aggressive post-metal)

I understand that if you make the image that I have displayed to the left your profile picture on the Myspace and post a comment, you can get free admission to Death By Audio show and a copy of the image in poster form, but check their MySpace here and sort it out with them.

Rocket From The Crypt review up at The Tripwire

Hey Boys and Grrls:

New review of Rocket From The Crypt - All Systems Go: Volume 3 is up now at The Tripwire. Thanks to Derek Evers and Vagrant Records!

R