Wilderness - (k)no(w)here

Andrew at Skyscraper asked me to interview Wilderness for one of my first features there. I was pretty intent on not fucking it up, but wasn't really helped by the three pages of responses, all typed in lower case mind you, that I received back from singer James Johnson. The band is nothing if not enigmatic, playing together for half a decade before recording anything for release and spending equal time trying to foster an arts community in Charm City. Wading through the text, the Lungfish comparisons began to seem more and more appropriate. Wilderness is a band that sees things in a particularly skewed mindset. I managed to carve a pretty good piece of the whole thing, if I do say do myself. A couple of months later they were playing a rare live date in town, so I called in a marker at Jagjaguwar and was pretty excited to finally see them.

It took quite a bit of negotiation to get me into their show at Bowery, considerably more than I normally would have to go through for a band of their stature. They were opening for some band called Explosions In The Sky and it didn't really seem like such a big deal. I saw Wilderness play an amazing set, highlighted by James Johnson robot dancing through the duration. I was intrigued, as was the woman to my left who was two kinds of hot but sadly five times of crazy. There was a look in her eye I've rarely seen this side of my bedroom; a look that did not bode well for James having a quiet evening after the show. They were (and are) very P/i/L, most obviously in Johnson's vocals, but very much also in the the clean guitar and dubby bass. Wilderness do the quiet/loud thing as well as Codeine did in their prime. I left even more of a fan, three songs into the decidedly unexciting Explosions set. I later came to find out the level of adulation our friends from Texas evoke, but even armed with that knowledge and a cursory perusal of their back catalogue, I'm pretty underwhelmed by EITS. So sue me.

Navigating the Wilderness website is as daunting as trying to understand the song lyrics. Johnson has strong ties to the Baltimore arts scene, co-owning local Bonsai Artransport and showing at Maryland Art Place, among other spaces. He's also responsible for the bizarre art pastiche that is the Wilderness web pages and album art. I'm not in anyway shape or form able to describe it, hell-- I'm not even sure if I like it, but check it out here and get back to me. The band's most recent release is a collaboration with artist Charles Long that was actually performed as part of this year's Whitney Biennial. Initially conceived as a single piece, the composition has been subdivided into eight parts for easier consumption and entitled (k)no(w)here for it's release on Jagjaguwar.

Dropping the laser, it seems like nothing much has changed for the band sonically. There is an infectious swagger to the songs that keeps you hooked even when the vocals get grating. Johnson is a well-known dub and dancehall aficionado and that sensibility informs much of their music. It's relentlessly rhythmic and ever-morphing as it wends its way towards its end. There is some break from convention in that Johnson shares vocals with guitarist Colin McCann, himself a JagJaguwar artist with his THE LORD DOG BIRD project. It doesn't change things radically, but adds another interesting dimension to the bands ever-morphing sound. I'd pick it up if I were you. (k)no(w)here comes out November 4th, buy it here and thank me later.

Live: Off With Their Heads, For Science, Measure (SA), Virgins, Monikers @ Tommy's Tavern 9.28.8

It's always a pleasure to be so cynical, yet so optimistic. I looked at the flyer for this show, and figured: ok, 8pm doors on a Sunday, there's no possible way I could show up at ten and still see the first band, right? Well, I was correct, but I didn't really expect to see The Monikers on when I rolled into Tommy's Tavern. I did see them, and they were absolutely great. It didn't hurt that the lovely (and fabulous smelling, incidentally) Hallie Unlovable danced in front of me the whole set. It did, however, beg the question as to what the fucking order of the bands would be, as it sure didn't seem to be as advertised.

A quick check of the bike and a run-in with the awesome Sarah Evers later. I posted up to see who would be up next. As luck would have it, it was The Measure (SA), whose most recent release you may have read about recently. If it was ever in dispute that I am a lecherous old man, it was definitely asserted by the presence of Lauren Measure and that cut-off Radon t-shirt she insists on torturing me with. Blame Hallie for fanning the flames. Oh, and the music was good, too. The sound could have been better, and the second guitar player could spend less time jumping around like it was a Gorilla Biscuits show in '88 (don't get me started on the neck tattoos) but they put on a good show. It was kind of hard to hear what they actually played, but they were definitely fan favorites. I'd like to actually hear them next time.

The bill now seemed to be upended definitively, as For Science were up next. While they seem like decent people, and the presence of various Ergs, Steinways, Unlovables, etc. seemed to speak to them being well-liked, but I was just as underwhelmed with them the fourth time as I was the first. It may be the fact that they have a singer who just sings. There is no reason why that should occur in this century. I will give a pass to Pink Eyes from Fucked Up!, but unless you are David Lee Roth, learn an instrument. No reason why these guys should be playing right before the headliner, unless they booked the show. Even then, it's a hard sell. The boys just aren't all that exciting, especially at midnight on a Sunday. Jim Testa seemed to agree, as he made me envious by sleeping through their entire set. I only wish I had grabbed that chair first.

Finally, after clearing the entire backline and taking forever to set up, Off With Their Heads took the floor. Immediately, the room turned into a maelstrom of the unwashed. It's fun to watch, but somewhat less appealing from an olfactory point of view. I could also quibble about the twenty-five minute set, but there was very little in the way of banter, and we did get a pretty decent cross-section of songs. Zack Rivethead is on guitar for this tour. He certainly hasn't gotten any worse on the old Les Paul. If this show was any indication. I'm pretty excited to see the Dear Landlord/OWTH dates in November.

I'm exhausted, so no Silent Barn for me tonight, but I should be out for Monikers/Virgins/Get Bent show tomorrow. Click the appropriate links for more info.

See you at the rock show!

R

Bridge And Tunnel - East/West

I love No Idea Records. They sign solid bands and seem to be straight up good people, plus The Fest is regularly becoming the Fall punk rock mixer for the in-crowd. I wish I was going this year. Speaking totally out of my ass, Bridge and Tunnel mark the first No Idea signing North of the Mason-Dixon line. They are from Long Island, co-ed, and feature an ex-Latterman dude, although it seems a pretty egaltarian franchise. Musically, there's a mid 90s Midwestern vibe, with clean guitars and slow builds to roaring crescendos. Think Crank-era Cursive (without the shouting), or maybe Vitreous Humor, with maybe some Braid for good measure. If you shy away from such things, be forewarned that there are some populist, or at least humanist, politics here. Whether it be the Fugazi meets The Alarm message of Wartime Souvenirs or the somewhat heavy-handed Down For My People Like Joe Carroll, Bridge And Tunnel seem to have their hearts and minds in the right place. Even if you eschew such overtly political fare, when Bridge And Tunnel get all off-time and do the dual vocal thing, you will throw all caution to the wind and be shouting along just like everyone else.

They also seem to have females (and perhaps males) in the band who are bike people. This makes it hard for a band not to be awesome, although I have seen it done. It would appear that Rachel is a wrench and Tia has her own messenger bag company called Vaya Bags. Check out the appropriate links for their side gigs and pick up a copy of East/West here. They are also on tour currently , so look out for them. They play a homecoming date November 8th at ABC. Go see them.

The Measure (SA) - One Chapter In The Book: A Collection of Waits and Measurements

The Measure (SA) are a product of the fertile New Brunswick, NJ scene. Arable soil grows all kinds of things: the same scene that fostered Lifetime also begat the nightmarish (not a compliment, jerk-offs!) My Chemical Romance. The manure that MCR and the like have left behind has fertilized the soil for bands like The Measure (SA) to thrive. They are a co-ed band with guitarist Lauren edging out Mike and Fid for most time at the mike. The early stuff has kind of J Church vibe, with maybe a little This Is My Fist! in the slower parts. One Chapter is a collection of all of their singles they have released in their first two years as a band, and as such is an interesting document of the progression of a band. It's pretty damn good for the most part. There are some definite moments of pitchiness and the requisite auto-tune on some of the early stuff, but it's not unendearing. When they do fire on all cylinders a couple of tracks in, like on the Soltero cover or Hit The Ground Running, The Measure (SA) bring it on a level rivalling the dear departed Mercy Rule. I was really taken with how much Lauren sounds like MR singer Heidi Ore, especially on their more recent material. That bodes well for the future. As the band is from New Jersey, Mikey Erg is currently manning the drum stool. It makes them a tighter band, and keeps songs like Good Soup from being totally throwaways, at least for this asshole. As you can tell, I much prefer Lauren's voice to either of her male compatriots; it's fun to hear her voice getting stronger with every song on One Chapter. I can't wait to hear what Measure (SA) releases next.

Measure (SA) are playing tomorrow at Tommy's Tavern in Greenpoint on a stellar bill with For Science, Monikers and Off With Their Heads. It should be a blast. If you don't make it out, buy One Chapter In The Book: A Collection Of Waits and Measurements from the good folk of Kiss of Death here.

Live: Aldenbarton @ Cake Shop 9.25.8

Aldenbarton are rapidly becoming my favorite local band. It's hard(er) to cry such statements from the mountaintop objectively when the band's members are your friends, but they have been kind enough not to suck, which makes repeated viewings/hearings that much more tolerable. Aldenbarton didn't suck originally, but they are really hitting their stride when it comes to live shows.

I prefer my rock in the three-piece format most of the time. It keeps things cogent, everybody has something to do, and there's that more money at the end of the night. Idle hands only breed key-tars or, even worse, the singer who just sings. No one needs that in 2008. Aldenbarton are a three-piece piano-driven franchise, with a lock-tight rhythm section and harmonies to die for. Not Beach Boys four-hundred-part harmonies or Garageband 'Choir In A Box' processing, just one guy who can handle a melody and second who knows how to match an appropriate harmony. You would think that more bands would figure out how to pull that off properly.

Aldenbarton has it's roots in the indie-pop combo Princeton Reverbs Colonial. Andrew St. Aubin sang for both bands while drummer Jim Wood kept time. While PRC was more grounded in the Elephant Six/Guided By Voices end of things, Aldenbarton takes those blueprints and blazes more of a classic songwriting path. Their debut release Exodus Of The Eldest is due to be released digitally and terrestrially in the coming weeks, an eventuality that may lead to some sleepless nights for a lot of other bands in NYC. The record positions St. Aubin with the best of the Athens and Pacific Northwest indie-poppers, with angelic harmonies from bassist Paul Bates that are the frosting on the beater.

It's great recorded, but Aldenbarton do bring it live. It's a tad less lush, but when the adrenaline kicks in and the crowd is cheering, the band is at the top of their game. St. Aubin and Wood are as powerful a combination vocally as Bates and Wood are a rhythm section. Cake Shop is far from my favorite room in the city, but I sure do end up spending a lot of time there. Kudos to Aldenbarton for making it worth the trip time and time again.

Keep an eye on JS-NYC for video of the show soon and check out the Aldenbarton web and social networking interfaces for more info on the release of Exodus Of The Eldest .

xo

R

Live: The Unlovables @ Public Assembly 9.24.8

I'm not sure how I first heard of The Unlovables. It could have been the Ergs connection, as Mikey (of course) plays for The Unlovables, or maybe Dave Bierling. Either way, I got their records and enjoyed them a bunch. Of course, my falling for them coincided with Halley's joining the cast of Fuerzabruta and the band going up on blocks for a bit but I was able to catch them with The Copyrights towards the beginning of the summer at Cake Shop. If you are unaware, The Unlovables ply their trade in the Ramones-y punk rock that we've come to expect from Gotham Punk bands. The female vocals are a nice change of pace and Halley being a bit easy on the eyes does little to take away from the band's appeal.

This was the first show for The Unlovables in a bit, but you wouldn't have known it. They only played maybe 35 minutes, but they certainly made the most of it. It was a pretty good cross-section of songs from their two records: Let's Not Fight, If You Were Here and Dance Party For Two all made appearances, as did many of the usual punk rock scene suspects. Save for a broken string towards the end of the set, the set came off pretty seamlessly. That Fuerzabruta must be quite a workout, as Halllie is fucking ripped. There are veins in her arms like a weightlifter, although a particularly attractive weightlifter, truth be told. The bill also featured Lost Locker Combo and The Kung Fu Monkeys, who evidently were coming off a three-year hiatus. I'm sorry I missed them. Hopefully this is the first of many free shows at Public Assembly. It's nice the see the old Galapagos space having rock again and you can't beat the commute. This is the first of a bunch of good punk shows coming up soon, with The Monikers, Off With Their Heads, and Dead Mechanical all coming through in the next week or so. Check out the links for more info. See you in the pit!

R

some Crazy Train perhaps?

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have a review of the new Don Chambers record called Zebulon
freshly published at The Tripwire. Check it out here.
Thanks to Derek Evers.