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Dispatch from the Rust BeltSeptember 14, 2006... Went to Touch and Go's 25th Anniversary party in Chicago on the weekend. What follows are not-so-random recollections of the event. Day One - Yawns... I've enjoyed elements of some songs by !!! over the past couple years and was looking forward to seeing them play. Unfortunately, their Village People-meets-the Clash sound didn't really come across well live. Their vocalist's mid-set tantrum, wherein he purposely destroyed two microphone stands, did nothing to endear them to me, either. Next time I find my bad self in the mood for a groove, I'll go see Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra instead. !!! - Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)Day Two - Nostalgia... Uzeda were the first pleasant surprise of the festival for me. A quartet from Catania, Sicily, Uzeda marries the rumbling bass and trebly guitar sounds of Shellac with more driving, less convoluted song structures. Like most of the bands on Day Two, Uzeda is comprised of people who look like some kid's parents. Like many of the bands on Day Two, they rocked like motherfuckers (and a fatherfucker) anyway. So much so, that there were no copies of their CDs left at Reckless Records booth by Day Three. Uzeda - Steam, Rain & Other StuffAt least for this show, the Ex was reduced to a foursome, with both Terrie and Andy playing what looked like customized guitars--each with two bass strings and four guitar strings. Despite this, the band was almost as jaw-droppingly good as the last time I saw them, fifteen years ago. Time has been particularly kind to the drummer, Kat, whose playing is stronger nowadays while still distinctive. The Ex + Tom Cora - State of ShockDidjits were the highlight of the festival for me, both sonically and visually. Now that I've seen them play live, I think I understand why, legend has it, they started a riot at a 1990 gig in Toronto: some people just have no sense of humour. Rick Sims, the band's vocalist and guitarist, plays the role of anti-hero to the hilt--mugging, strutting and posing, nary missing a beat. So, when a member of the audience taunted him with shouts of "You suck!" he responded by saying "Oh, yeah? well you suck the cum out of my ass." Then, after a long pause, continued, "Except I don't have any cum in my ass." Didjits - AxhandleProxy Negative Approach (featuring only two members of the original Negative Approach) occasioned the most ferocious--indeed the only--slam-dancing of the event. My guess is that some of people in the audience hadn't seen or heard anything quite like it before. One shocked fellow next to me noted: "That song was only thirty-three seconds long!" Negative Approach - Ready to FightThe band I'd most been looking forward to, Scratch Acid, was just so-so. The mix was poor and the performance three-quarter-hearted. I think David Yow's thing is better suited to small, cozy clubs, where he can connect with the people in the audience. Please note that I am the "thing" I am referring to is not necessarily his penis...
Musically, Proxy Big Black, all twenty minutes of them, was a big yawn. Steve Albini's got intelligence and integrity to spare, though, so the things said between the songs were right on. I particularly appreciated his Bob and Doug Mackenziesque interlude of "coo roo coo-coo, coo roo coo-coo," which I took as a back-handed slap at !!!. Listen to "Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)" again, particularly at the 5:27 mark, to get what I'm driving at... The last act of the night was Shellac. They were very good. So good, in fact, that I regret having sold my copy of their At Action Park record years ago. Not surprisingly, for a band with two professional recording engineers in its ranks, their sound was crystal clear and distinctive. (How does Albini make his guitar sound so trebly?) Shellac's brutalist prog rock is great. It'd be even greater if they'd tone down the more "arty" (read: boring) aspects of it. Shellac - Watch SongDay Three - Rain... I was pleasantly surprised by Enon, whom I'd never heard before. Their set was comprised largely of short, melodic songs played on a ridiculously distorted dime-store guitar, but also included a few danceable numbers, with the bass line in one very similar to the bass line in Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." Enon closed their set off with a cover of Big Boy's "Which Way to Go?" which was true to the original, but more dissonant. I immediately walked over to the Reckless Records booth and bought a copy of their Hocus Pocus CD. Enon - The Power of YawningPermadink | | |
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