I walked back into Death By Audio after my anti-Atkins dinner to see a guitar laying on the floor wailing feedback.
Turns out it was just the middle of Dinowalrus’ set. The Brooklyn ambient-thrash three piece is another young band making noise (literally and figuratively) locally, but this was the first time I had seen them. With the echo button turned up about as high as you could go, everything was drowned in sound, making specific passages hard to decipher. I definitely like what they’re going for, but it’s a bit far from being perfected.
[Dinowalrus]
Next up was Lawrence, KS’ Boo and Boo Too. Definitely one of my CMJ “finds” this year, Boo and Boo Too was like the closer-to-perfect compliment to Dinowalrus. With a similar aesthetic, but less on the thrash or punk side and leaning more towards spacey noise-pop, they are part of the Chomp Womp collective that has been springing some excellent stuff from the Mid-West as of late. I later came to find out that the drummer and guitar player are also in Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk, another band I’m quite fond of. Walking away with the Chomp Wonp sampler, this is definitely one group I will be keeping an eye on.
[Boo and Boo Too]
In case I failed to mention it, the show was alternating between two stages in the two rooms of Death By Audio, so changeovers were lightning fast. I can say without hesitation this is the quickest I’ve ever witnessed 8 (of the 14) bands perform. Trekking back into the front room for Rahim, another Brooklyn outfit, this four piece was probably the most traditional band of the night. This was a good thing as my ears needed a break from the wall of sound. Playing songs from their very-recently released album Laughter, Rahim is an airy pop band who enjoy their tambourine and canned Bush beer all the same.
[Rahim]
Back to the back room for another Brooklyn band, this time indie darlings Flying. In the middle of a tour with Deerhoof and Experimental Dental School (actually performing with both tonight at Irving Plaza), it’s always great to see a band who can play a huge stage on such a small one. While they may not have been the tightest technically on this night, it was great to hear the beautiful three-part harmonies at such close range that you could actually pick out each vocal intonation. The dreamy, psych pop group warmed the crowd up for a night that was soon to become a celebration.
[Flying]
That celebration being the record release party for Parts & Labor’s newest Jagjaguar effort, Receiving. They were up next in the front room and they left it all they had on the stage. With some of their closest friends in the room — including ex-drummer Chris Weingarten — their performance was a perfect selection of new cuts like the infectious “Nowheres Nigh” as well as some old hits like “The Gold We’re Digging” before ending with the always-crowd favorite “Fractured Skies”. Without a doubt one of my favorite bands at the moment, they made sure there wasn’t a dry arm-pit in the crowd by the end of their set.
MP3 Download – “Nowheres Nigh”
[Parts & Labor]
But if you thought Parts & Labor brought the energy, they were soft compared to Atlanta, GA’s Coathangers. This four-piece all-girl hardcore outfit — notorious friends of the Black Lips — were savage. Dropping more f-bombs than I’ve hear from a band that didn’t have the words Murder Junkies in it, they are the winner’s of my “new favorite punk band” award. Sadly, it was at this point my camera died, so I couldn’t take pictures of them. Thankfully the always efficiently amazing Nate Dorr was on hand to help me fill in the gaps.
[The Coathangers by Nate Dorr]
[by Nate Dorr]
[by Nate Dorr]
After the Coathangers was Baltimore’s favorite literary punks, Double Dagger. Having just seen them on Saturday and with a camera to charge, I decided to call it a night. After all, this was only Tuesday and according to all the experts the best was yet to come. Apparently none of the experts were at this show.
[Double Dagger by Nate Dorr]
[by Nate Dorr]
[by Nate Dorr]
[by Nate Dorr]
[by Nate Dorr]
