Worcestor is the second largest city in New England. Its sister cities are Worcestor, England; Piraeus, Greece; Pushkin, Russia; Afula, Israel; and, depending on who you talk to, Detroit, MI. I've gotten to pop through the city on a bike passing by and a bandmate working. More thoughts on Speaker for the Dead later, but mainly I've been introduced to a complicated music scene with a young generation on the rise. I felt at times, half naked, sweaty, painted and hoarse, like I was one of the cool kids I always wanted to be at shows, but the devotion to the local scene is worth much more than anybody's delusions. These were two shows, overlapping somewhat, at 97D on Webster and and the Firehouse.
Locria
I'd heard of them through Zack Shaw, a wonderful songwriter, guitarist and tourmate, this being work very different from the pop-punk overtones of The Hotel Year. Mainly I was enthralled by the interplay between the guitars, and how smooth and neither-boring-nor-predictable the breakdowns were. The jamming/proggy bits didn't hit me as much as the tighter songs, but then again, the bassist didn't know the last song very well and did a fantastic job working it all out.
Little War Twins
Hadn't heard of them, though I missed their sharing the stage with The Furies and Bright, the Morning, two wonderful area bands. A 5(ish) piece act fronted by an acoustic guitarist, flanked by a violinist and an electric guitarist often with slide in hand. The result was a set of flexible textures, most remarkable for its ability to swandive gracefully into hard fucking breakdowns and pop back out again. Although I'm not sure how their synergy was as a band, they were certainly tight, and each had powerful and well-understood roles within the band, with a kind of love-infused proclamation riding the lyrics. Kind of like their friends and tourmates Fifth Nation, their spiritual bent isn't my thing, but it clearly provides a center for a rock-solid band.
SFTD - we. kicked. ass.
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STYK + ACLU Benefit
Missed the set to arrive there and get into the nitty-gritty about personal safety and community responsibility within these music venues, and within the scene as a whole. Apologies! As for ACLU Benefit, the Stephen Merritt comparisons are justified.
Perfumeman
Got really pumped for these two from their rig: drum sequencer, floor tom, mics, cello with looping pedal setup. It was a beautifully flexible set, jumping between beat driven fatalist pop and queer ditties without disturbing. The fog and lasers were not too distracting, there were some but not-enough embracings of musical anarchy, too much flirting, I was more focused on the looping rig. A touring band doing the good work from Denver, moving some butts with a tight aesthetic, good luck to them.
Math the Band
A famous band never heard of, chiptune dance pop gods in their own right, two hard rocking musicians with a good sense of theatrics and a great sense of beat. They were apparently worried about SFTD stealing their Thunder, on a Wednesday night after a recent Andrew W.K. tour in a cooler venue. Despite all the intersections of hype and expectation, they wiped everything clean with their dextrous but often-still-free-to-mess-with-people hands. Perhaps not a permanent butt-moving experience of a night, but only as many butts as you feel need to rocked at the moment.
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