Elephant Stone (Rishi Dhir – lead vocals, bass, sitar, Miles Dupire – drums, vocals, Gabriel Lambert – guitar, vocals, Stephen Venkatarangam – keyboards, synths) never disappoint live. I’ve seen them three times in three different settings: A music festival attended by thousands (the main stage Levitation Austin at the Carson Creek Ranch), a mid-sized indoor / outdoor venue with a couple hundred people there (at the Mohawk in downtown Austin), and at a tiny pub with barely anyone there (Howler’s in Pittsburgh). Each show has been good and their first live EP, Live at the Verge, is a nice release that puts me in the mood to see them again.
The EP is five tracks from their latest record, Ship of Fools, starting with “The Devil’s Shelter” and plunging you straight down a rabbit hole of psychedelia. Venkatarangam’s pulsing synths meet Dhir’s echoing vocals and Joy Division-influenced bass while Dupire knocks out a beat so precise that you could knife fight to it.
Dhir breaks out the sitar on “Silence Can Say So Much.” It’s one of the loveliest songs on Ship of Fools, and the recording of it here is outstanding. Lambert plays some stadium-level riffs on “See the Light,” and the rest of the band cooks alongside him. His guitar lifts you into orbit on “Andromeda” and is something out of a groovy 1960’s sci-fi / Euro-spy film you’ve never seen.
The EP ends with “Manipulator,” which sounds even better live than you hope it will. Elephant Stone puts down a serious groove and each launch into the chorus pumps you up more. The bridge will leave you slack-jawed.
The whole EP is impressive, and I hope they release a full-length live album sometime in the future. Whoever recorded Live at the Verge deserves special credit, because it sounds fantastic. It’s only a digital release, so snag it while you can.
Spoils of moshing: A Damned 40th anniversary U.S. tour poster, a signed Bleached t-shirt, and a broken watch band.
I’ve wanted to see the Damnedfor a long while and was bummed that I missed them when they played Chicago’s Riot Fest a couple years ago. Lo and behold, they came to the U.S. again for a 40th anniversary tour, and this time I was able to catch them with Bleachedopening for them. That’s a win-win.
Bleached killing it.
I saw Bleached in October of last year in Cleveland. They put on a good show, so I figured they’d be solid again. I did not know that they would be even better in just six months’ time. It was quickly evident (within two songs when they were absolutely gunning on “Trying to Lose Myself Again” from Welcome the Worms) that Bleached has seriously upped their game in just half a year. They powered through many cuts off their excellent new EP Can You Deal?and even one I hadn’t heard before (“Electric Chair”). I was gobsmacked by the end of their set. I caught up with sisters Jennifer and Jessie Clavin at their merch table between the first and second encores of the Damned. I told them their set was a home run and how much they’d improved since Cleveland.
“Being on this tour has been really good for us,” Jennifer Clavin told me. “Playing in front of a lot of people who don’t know us has really made us work on our stage presence.”
“It’s only been six months!” Jessie Clavin said.
“I know,” I said. “That’s what make it more impressive.”
Speaking of impressive, the Damned were just that.
“We’re back from the mists of time,” said lead guitarist Captain Sensible, “to save the world from shitty music like Mumford and Sons!”
The band tore into literal floor-shaking classics like “Generals,” “Disco Man,” and “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today” before a mosh pit finally broke out during “Love Song.” The first of two beers went flying through the air during this. For the record, I’ve been in some wild, fun crowds at the House of Blues. I’ve never seen cups of beer, hats, shoes, and jackets thrown into the air during a show there until I saw the Damned play there.
The Damned performing “Disco Man.”
I stayed in the pit for “Love Song” and “Street of Dreams.” The Damned continued a great set (and Captain Sensible kept decrying Mumford and Sons – as well as Kurt Vile, whom he called a “pillock,” Duran Duran, KISS, and Billy Idol) that included such fine tracks as “Eloise,” “Wait for the Blackout,” and “The History of the World (Part 1).”
Of course, the crowd (and I) went berserk during “Neat Neat Neat” and “New Rose.” Moshing to those punk classics was a dream come true for me. Truth to tell, I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear “Neat Neat Neat” live, so being in the middle of a friendly mosh pit ten feet from David Vanian as he sung it was great.
The Damned taking us back to 1977.
As I mentioned earlier, they played two encores. The first included “Jet Boy Jet Girl,” sung by the Captain, “Noise Noise Noise,” and “Smash It Up.” The last track especially showed off keyboardist Monty Oxymoron’s skill. The second encore included “Nasty” (the first Damned song I ever heard thanks to them performing it on The Young Ones) and “Antipope.” A guy near me had been yelling for “Antipope” for the last third of the show, so I was happy for him (and all of us) that they played it. He went bananas.
It was a fun show. They haven’t lost anything. Sensible is still a great guitarist and Vanian (“the Vincent Price of rock,” as Capt. Sensible called him) still commands a stage like few can. The Damned are touring extensively throughout the U.S. before they head to Europe. Catch them if you’re near you.
By the way, here’s the list of things I found on the floor during and after the mosh pit: A button labeled “GW,” a spiked bracelet (belonging to a guy in a Misfits jacket behind me), a nickel, an opened (but thankfully unused) condom, a peacock keychain and attached house key (belonging to a young woman I found after the final encore), a hat (owner unknown), and a sweater (owner unknown). A guy next to me in the pit found a cell phone. I don’t know if he ever found the owner.
First, Canadian psych-rockers Elephant Stone have released their first live recording – Live at the Verge. It’s only available in digital format and has five tracks from a show at the Toronto nightclub recorded in February 2017. Elephant Stone never disappoint live, so this is more than worth the low price.
Second, the band has released dates for a European and UK tour taking them from the Netherlands to France.
Chicago’s annual Riot Fest has unveiled its first lineup announcement for 2017, and it trumps Lollapalooza’s.
They’re bringing in punk legends Buzzcocks,GBH, and Bad Brains, new punks Slaves, Death from Above 1979, and Pennywise, grunge powerhouse Dinosaur Jr., industrial legends Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, electro legends New Order and modern icons M.I.A. and Peaches, progressive psych-rockers TV on the Radio, modern rock giants Queens of the Stone Age, and rap legends Prophets of Rage, Wu-Tang Clan, and Mike D.
They still have twenty-five more bands to announce. Tickets might be sold out by the time you read this, so don’t wait to get yours.
The first ever live album from alt-rock / punk / riot grrl legends Sleater-Kinney (Carrie Brownstein – guitars and vocals, Corin Tucker – guitars and vocals, Janet Weist – drums and vocals) is a doozy. Live in Paris captures the band on their 2016 tour supporting the No Cities to Love album (their first in over a decade), and the only show of the tour where they performed a second encore.
Opening with the fiercely funky “Price Tag,” the band is already firing on all cylinders within the first thirty seconds. Tucker is growling and spitting lyrics like a rivet gun throughout it. “Oh!”, one of their biggest hits, keeps up the pace and you can envision the whole Parisian crowd bouncing throughout it. The crunch of “What’s Mine Is Yours” is only outmatched by Tucker’s battle cry voice. It also has a cool breakdown that flirts with psychedelia before Weis hammers out a tremendous fill that takes them back to angry rock.
“A New Wave” is chock-full of fuzz and bent notes as Brownstein and Tucker sing great double vocals on the chorus. “Start Together” is one of Sleater-Kinney’s best songs about rocky relationships. Tucker’s vocals are always pleading on it, as is the guitar work. “No Cities to Love,” from the album of the same name, is a slick song about attachment and how many of us never truly connect with the place we live (“There are no cities to love. It’s not the cities, it’s the weather we love.”).
“Surface Envy” has Tucker crying out for a little help in a relationship (“We win, we lose. Only together do we break the rules.”) and Brownstein and Weis pound out a hard rhythm behind her. I would’ve flipped had I been in the crowd when they played “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.” It’s a powerful song about a girl with an unrequited crush and one of my favorites by them. “Turn It On” is a song about what might happen if that crush returns the affection.
Weis cuts loose at the beginning of “Entertain,” proving yet again that she’s one of the best rock drummers around nowadays. It’s a scathing song about a lover who expects Brownstein to entertain her all the time, but she lets her lover know that “reality is the new excitement.” “Jumpers” is one of Sleater-Kinney’s great examples of dual vocals from Brownstein and Tucker. The encores are “Dig Me Out” (a scorching punk track) and “Modern Girl” (a simple, but slightly fuzzed ode to being okay despite being alone).
Live in Paris might be the closest I get to a Sleater-Kinney show in a while, and I’m happy they released it. Everything you’ve heard about a live Sleater-Kinney show is true. This album is proof.
Keep your mind open.
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I knew it was going to be a wild crowd for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizardwhen I saw a woman in line pick up a roach she’d dropped after her friend had taken a toke and then passed to her. Yes, she finished a joint that had been dropped on a filthy Chicago sidewalk (on North Clark, to be precise) and then joined the line of people who had been “pre-gaming” at the pub next door.
I met a friend of mine, Amy, I hadn’t seen in years for the show. She hadn’t heard of KGATLW, ORB, or Stonefield. She told me she didn’t listen to anything by any of them before the show. She wanted to be surprised. She wore a walking boot as a result of a foot surgery, and that allowed us to sit in a specially designated “handicap seating” area in the Metro balcony. I’m not sure how anyone with an affliction worse than a post-surgery walking boot could make it up to the balcony, but we had great seats regardless.
Stonefield were already playing when we arrived (The Metro is one of the few venues I’ve visited that is serious about the starting times of their shows.), and they had already swooned most of the crowd. Amy was a fan within two songs, and their blend of 60’s psych and doom metal was a heady brew and a fine start to the evening.
Stonefield
ORB were onstage not long after Stonefield had finished their set. I was keen on seeing them as their Birthalbum is one of my favorites from 2016. Their hard-hitting stoner metal sounded great. They played a fast set that left all of us wanting more (in a good way). I hope they release another album or EP soon.
ORB
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard came out to an enthusiastic crowd who were crowd surfing within three songs. Amy cried out, “Look at that crowd!” The main floor was a rolling sea of bodies and limbs for KGATLW’s entire set. They played a lot of tracks from their new album, Flying Microtonal Banana (review coming soon). “Sleep Drifter,” “Rattlesnake,” and “Billabong Valley” all were hot cuts. Another big hit with the crowd was “Altered Beast.”
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
The crowd, which was crazy enough already, went bonkers during “Robot Stop” from their amazing album Nonagon Infinity. “People Vultures” and “Gamma Knife” were also big hits. “Vomit Comet” was fun, as was They didn’t play an encore. Instead, they played a stunning medley of “Cellophane,” “Head On / Pill,” “I’m in Your Mind,” “Altered Me,” “Rattlesnake,” and “Robot Stop.” It was like they had looped the show back on itself like a snake eating its tail. I’ve never seen a band do anything like that live.
KGATLW rocking “People Vultures.”
It was a killer show. My voice was hoarse by the end of it. By the way, KGATLW has already announced the release date of their second album (of five planned) for 2017. Murder of the Universe will be out June 23rd (and you can pre-order it as of today). Look for them to tour near your town soon!
STEVE GUNN ANNOUNCES SUMMER TOUR DATES IN SUPPORT OF EYES ON THE LINES
SOLO CO-HEADLINE DATES IN JUNE WITH LEE RANALDO & FULL BAND DATES IN JULY
After a banner year in 2016, with the release of Eyes on the Lines, his new album and debut for Matador, SteveGunn is preparing to hit the road this summer for a slew of North American tour dates. For those not lucky enough to see Gunn and LeeRanaldo’s intimate co-headline tour earlier this year, the pair will play dates this June throughout the south and along the east coast. After a quick run of shows in Australia, Gunn and his full band, TheOutliners, will return for select dates up the west coast, wrapping up with a performance at Pickathon in early August. All tickets are on-sale this Friday.
Eyes on the Lines sees Gunn’s songwriting at its most vibrant and evocative, fully embracing a sense of uncertainty and adventure that comes with getting lost out on the road; “propulsive, rolling, repetitive in deliberate ways, and insomuch as it conjures a single image it’s of smooth and endless blacktop, receding in a rearview mirror.” (The New Yorker). The album has been met with acclaim from the likes of NPRMusic, Pitchfork, Vulture, Noisey, WIRED, BrooklynMagazine, INTERVIEW, TheGuardian, Paste, and beyond. Steve Gunn Tour Dates (new dates in bold):
Wed. Apr. 5 – Leeds, UK @ Holy Trinity
Thu. Apr. 6 – Birmingham, UK @ Glee Club Fri. Apr. 7 – Bighton, UK @ Unitarian Church Sat. Apr. 8 – Genk, BE @ Little Waves Sun. Apr. 9 – Amsterdam, NL @ Zonnehuis Mon. Apr. 10 – Utrecht, NL @ Doopsgezinde Kerk (church) Tue. Apr. 11 – Brussels, BE @ Les Atelier Claus Wed. Apr. 12 – Gent, BE @ Vooruit (Theater Zaal) Thu. Apr. 13 – Paris, FR @ Le Carreau du Temple Fri. Apr. 14 – Lausanne, CH @ Le Bourg Sat. Apr. 15 – Düdingen, CH @ Bad Bonn Mon. Apr. 17 – Padova, IT @ Anfiteatro del Venda Tue. Apr. 18 – Rome, IT @ Blackmarket/Unplugged in Monti Series Wed. Apr. 19 – Oslo, NO @ St. Edmunds Church Thu. Apr. 20 – Randaberg, NO @ Tungenes Lighthouse Sat. Apr. 22 – Helsinki, FI @ G Livelab Sun. Apr. 23 – Copenhagen, DE @ Vega Tue. April 25 – Barcelona, ES @ Sidecar Wed. April 26 – Bilbao, ES @ Kafe Antzocika Thu. April 27 – Madrid, ES @ Moby Dick Fri. April 28 – Ourense, ES @ El Torgal Sun. June 11 – Peterborough, NH @ The Thing in Spring Festival Tue. June 13 – Richmond, VA @ Broadberry w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Wed. June 14 – Carrboro, NC @ ArtsCenter w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Thu. June 15 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Fri. June 16 – Atlanta, GA @ Smith’s Olde Bar w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Sat. June 17 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Sun. June 18 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Mon. June 19 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Tue. June 20 – Dallas, TX @ Sons of Hermann Hall w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Wed. June 21 – Austin, TX @ The North Door w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Fri. June 23 – Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Sat. June 24 – Nashville, TN @ The Anchor w/ Lee Ranaldo (solo) * Thu. July 6 – Sydney, NSW @ The Basement Fri. July 7 – Melbourne, VIC @ National Gallery of Victoria – The Great Hall Sun. July 9 – Brisbane, QLD @ The Junk Bar Thu. July 27 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room w/ Heron Oblivion # Fri. July 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo w/ Heron Oblivion Sun. July 30 – San Diego, CA @ The Space Bar w/ Heron Oblivion # Wed. Aug. 2 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall w/ Heron Oblivion Fri. Aug. 4 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern # Sat. Aug. 5 – Sun. Aug. 6 — Happy Valley, OR @ Pickathon Music Festival
Sitar master Anoushka Shankarand her and put on an excellent ninety-minute performance of classical Indian music at Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne’s Rhinehart Recital Hall. It was a nearly full house and Ms. Shankar and her band played three ragas for us.
Her band consisted of gentlemen playing bass and treble tanpurs (drone instruments), tabla (hand drums), flute, shehnai (a sort of trumpet), and mridangam (hand percussion). Her tabla player, Ojas Adhiya, had only played three times with her on this tour so far, but he played like he’d been touring for years. He and mridangam player Pirashanna Thevarajah had a great “duel” during the last raga in which they matched beats and fed off each other’s rhythms.
In the meantime, Anoushka Shankar was shredding her sitar. I saw her play, along with her favorite, the late, great Ravi Shankar, at Notre Dame University years ago (who was still killing it in his late 80’s). She wowed the crowd there, and she stunned the crowd in Fort Wayne. “I’m speechless,” said a man behind us at the end of the show. He’d never heard classical Indian music before.
I think a lot of people hadn’t. It was a lovely, almost intoxicating performance and a stunning bargain at only ten bucks a ticket. Don’t miss her if she comes near your town.
It was an easy two-hour drive to Founder’s Brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan and worth the time to see Nashville psych / blues rockers All Them Witches. It was the end of the winter leg of their tour, and I was glad they made it. I’d read about a show they had to cancel just a few days earlier due to the band being struck with stomach flu, so I’d called the venue to make sure the show was still happening. I was assured everything was fine.
It was. I met ATW’s lead singer and bassist, Charles Parks, at the band’s merch table and chatted with him. I told him I was glad to see him healthy. He described the last week as a mix of blizzard weather and lots of vomit. He said everyone was back in shape and that the flu was “nothing a lot of cold showers and sleep” couldn’t cure.
Opening for ATW was a metal band from North Carolina called Irata, who had been with ATW for the entire tour (no word if they also caught the stomach flu). Irata was already into their set by the time I got there and had the crowd cheering. They played a good blend of metal and stoner rock, and I’m always impressed when a drummer can sing lead while hammering out complex beats.
Irata
All Them Witches didn’t disappoint. Opening with a great rendition of “Alabaster,” they played most of their new album, Sleeping Through the War (which is one of my favorite records of 2017 so far), and had fun going into free-form jams on tracks like “Internet” and “Don’t Bring Me Coffee.”
All Them Witches
As I expected it would be, hearing “When God Comes Back” live is like standing in front of a tidal wave. They went for broke on it, perhaps because it was the last show of the tour. Drummer Robby Staebler’s kit seemed to small for his tall frame and Hulk-like smashing.
All Them Witches altering minds with “My Last Name Is the Blues.”
They ended with “My Last Name Is the Blues,” which I’d heard on their fine live record Live in Brussels, and I was delighted to hear it in person. They stretched it out for what seemed like ten minutes and it was outstanding.
They did what any good band does – leave you wanting to catch their next show as soon as possible. Don’t miss them if they come to a town near you.
In 2016, rock legends Failure (Ken Andrews – guitar, bass, lead vocals, Greg Edwards – bass, guitar, synths, vocals, Kellii Scott – drums) played their masterpiece album, Fantastic Planet, on a 20th anniversary tour across the U.S. Sadly, I couldn’t make it to any of the shows, but getting a live album of one of the stops on the tour is a nice way to hear one of the best records of the 1990’s.
The album starts with the clockwork sounds (and sorrowful guitar) of “Saturday Savior.” The band immediately sounds like they haven’t lost a thing in 20 years. I instantly regretted having to work a full-time job upon hearing this, because work kept me from making one of the stops of this tour. “Sergeant Politeness” is one of the biggest rockers on Fantastic Planet, and this version is nothing short of a kick in the teeth.
The live album even includes the three instrumental segues between tracks. Failure wasn’t kidding when they said they’d play the album in its entirety. The first bridges the gap between “Sergeant Politeness” and “Smoking Umbrellas” – which has some of the biggest chorus vocals on the record. Andrews makes sure people out in the concession stand can hear him. “Pillowhead” has Scott going as wonderfully nuts on it as he did in 1996.
“Blank” is a beautiful piece of shoegaze that feels like a warm bath after a sprint workout from the previous two tracks. “Dirty Blue Balloons” is one of the many songs on the record about drugs (which were a large part of the band’s life back in 1996), and its heavy-hitting chorus makes it like the greatest Pixies track they never recorded. Edwards’ guitar solo on it is great.
“Solaris” is a bit of a mind trip, and almost sounds like a Yes track. “Pitiful” is another one of the rockers on the album. The chorus hits you like a left hook you didn’t see coming. “Leo,” which I’m fairly certain is about a guy freaking out after coming down from a high, is just as good as it was in 1996. It sounds just like when I saw them in 1997. “The Nurse Who Loved Me,” another song about dealing with drug addiction, is a crowd favorite and was one of their biggest hits (even the guys in Tool hold this song in reverence). The electric piano supporting the crowd’s vocals is great and the song builds to an uplifting power.
Failure is sometimes described as a “space rock” band, and “Another Space Song” is a good example of why that’s the case. It’s the sound of a derelict alien craft in orbit around the moon. It’s trippy, creepy, and one of the best tracks on the album. This song alone should’ve made Failure an even bigger success.
“Stuck on You” is Failure’s biggest hit without question, and it’s not hard to believe it once you hear it. It was the song that introduced me to them and made me drag my two friends to their 1997 Lollapalooza set. It’s a powerful song (about heroin, no less) with a chorus that bursts like a sunrise over a mountain and yet hits as heavy as many grunge classics from the same time.
It flows well into “Heliotropic,” which takes us back to outer space with Andrews’ heavy bass, Edwards’ great solo, and Scott’s third stage-rocket drumming. The album ends with “Daylight,” which itself starts with the clockwork sounds we hear at the beginning of the album. It’s a snake eating its tail. It’s hypnotic and dire (and, yes, about the lull of heroin). Andrews’ voice is slightly distorted and sounds slightly out of the room…until the chorus explodes and nearly knocks you out of your chair.
I, like most of us, had no idea the band was going through such a rough stretch when Fantastic Planet was made and released. We’re lucky none of them overdosed or gave up music. We’re lucky the record was released at all, considering their label at the time was put up for sale before Fantastic Planet was released. We’re lucky to have this live recording and, hopefully, new material from them in the future. It’s time to find this classic if you missed it in 1996.
Keep your mind open.
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