From: Neil
Date: Wed Nov 26, 2003 8:04 am
Went to the Buffalo Bar last night. It's a small bar in Highbury, North London, but on Tuesday nights a wonderful gang of brothers going under the http://www.artrocker.com banner put on gigs for next to no money. This week's artistes were The Midnight Evils and The Dirty. I've copied this straight from the Artrocker mailout because (a) I'm lazy and (b) it really is an excellent summary.
THE MIDNIGHT EVILS (Minneapolis USA)
As their name suggests , this Minneapolis four-piece may well not leave the Buffalo Bar standing, but will have a good time throughout. If you like The Datsuns or White Stripes so-called 'rock' then these guys are the real deal. Fast and heavy in the spirit of Motorhead and more recently The Hellacopters, The Evils breath new life into Highway Rock (think Radar Love or Born to be Wild) with a scuzz and careless abandon that Subpop's Catheters and In The Red's Hunches have shown. they are not affraid to maul classics either from Standells garage rock to AC/DC un-pc blues-rock. New album "Straight til Morning" is on ESTRUS RECORDS(along with SYMPATHY, the true home of US underground rock'n'roll) and features a steal of Radio Birdman's "Murder City Nights" ..... "Twin City Nights", a fitting tribute.
THE DIRTY
Fierce and rocking fourpiece and fresh out of the blocks of The New London Rock'n'Roll scene of The Rocks / Beatings / The Hells. In front of a classic Stooge-punk wall of noise , Kyrill struts and swaggers his angsty self with style and wit, a real David Johansen for 2003 ! Primal and street-fighting, low-down, bluesy and .... Dirty.... of course ! The Dirty impressed PJ, supporting The Mooney Suzuki recently at his DIRTY WATER CLUB (London haunt of Billy Childish and Jack White's Stripes), he agreed to release a 7" "Black Sugar / Cinnamon"- The very first DIRTY WATER RECORDS Release out now. "garage punk assault, coming on like Ian Svenonius fronting a pissed off Mudhoney this makes all the right (in the red) noises. Great!" ROUGH TRADE
I picked up the ME CD and Dirty single, and I like both. Unfortunately, I haven't a clue how to transpose vinyl to MP3, and almost certainly haven't got the cabling, so I can't post a Dirty track, but if anyone wants to hear a ME one give me a holler. The Evils really caught my attention. One of their guitarists looks just like Hunter S Thompson, the singer/bass player was a bear clone, but wore an Austin "Beerland" trucker cap and a Greenhornes tee, so you know his heart is in the right place!! The Dirty are much more akin to the bands of appeal to this list, but they are still pretty young and need more gigs, but will be well worth checking if they ever get gigs outside the UK.
-- NeilM
The owner of the original legendary Chicago punk bar, OZ, and producer of the infamous punk album Busted at OZ comments on music along with others. Visit Busted At OZ
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Friday, November 07, 2003
The Rapture
From: demhopkins
Date: Fri Nov 7, 2003 1:43 am
Very late show. I skipped the first two bands but went to see Gil Mantera's Party Dream (primary support) and walked into a sold out house completely digging two guys--one in a G-string and the other in bikini underwear dancing their asses off and touching themselves in ways that Michael Jackson has only contemplated. But, the music was fucking great--keyboards and syth and a front man who did some guitar work (occasionally awesome). Hysterically funny with musical integrity. The act (and it is an act) was so good that they won the room. I've seen a number of bands try to pull this off musically (at CMJ alone) but this band really did. An amazing live show (not sure I would by the product but I wouldn't run screaming from the room if somebody put it on--the way I would with most (all) 2 piece guitar/synth bands. My first time seeing The Rapture and I am happy I waited. What once seemed formula and discoish to me, now seems driven and focused. Much of the focus is dance music--but I can no longer write off the genre because these boys do it so well. Brilliant sax and lead vocals that bring to mind everything from Robert Smith to John Lydon to Jeff Buckley to (fill in the blank). They absolutely know how to adapt vocal style to the music--and the range is impressive on both counts. Great funk and Rock n Roll Part 3 as the finale actually worked. They closed the set (before encore) with an extended version of House of Jealous Lovers that still has me awed. I went with a friend who usually stands and watches the shows--he threw his leather on the floor and danced his ass off. This band is having more fun than any working people ought to have. Also, at one point mid-show--there was a hassle up front and the singer saw a woman get punched by some asshole dude. He stopped in mid song and took control of the room. He explained what had happened and announced it wasn't going to happen at one of their shows. Security handled it at the direction of the band. (I wish more bands were this responsible). It cast a shadow--couldn't help but wonder if the band could immediately recaptutre the momentum they had built--and they did so within seconds. I'm digging the music and really digging their style. Knock me over with a feather!
--Dem
Date: Fri Nov 7, 2003 1:43 am
Very late show. I skipped the first two bands but went to see Gil Mantera's Party Dream (primary support) and walked into a sold out house completely digging two guys--one in a G-string and the other in bikini underwear dancing their asses off and touching themselves in ways that Michael Jackson has only contemplated. But, the music was fucking great--keyboards and syth and a front man who did some guitar work (occasionally awesome). Hysterically funny with musical integrity. The act (and it is an act) was so good that they won the room. I've seen a number of bands try to pull this off musically (at CMJ alone) but this band really did. An amazing live show (not sure I would by the product but I wouldn't run screaming from the room if somebody put it on--the way I would with most (all) 2 piece guitar/synth bands. My first time seeing The Rapture and I am happy I waited. What once seemed formula and discoish to me, now seems driven and focused. Much of the focus is dance music--but I can no longer write off the genre because these boys do it so well. Brilliant sax and lead vocals that bring to mind everything from Robert Smith to John Lydon to Jeff Buckley to (fill in the blank). They absolutely know how to adapt vocal style to the music--and the range is impressive on both counts. Great funk and Rock n Roll Part 3 as the finale actually worked. They closed the set (before encore) with an extended version of House of Jealous Lovers that still has me awed. I went with a friend who usually stands and watches the shows--he threw his leather on the floor and danced his ass off. This band is having more fun than any working people ought to have. Also, at one point mid-show--there was a hassle up front and the singer saw a woman get punched by some asshole dude. He stopped in mid song and took control of the room. He explained what had happened and announced it wasn't going to happen at one of their shows. Security handled it at the direction of the band. (I wish more bands were this responsible). It cast a shadow--couldn't help but wonder if the band could immediately recaptutre the momentum they had built--and they did so within seconds. I'm digging the music and really digging their style. Knock me over with a feather!
--Dem
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)