Sound Obsession

Ghost:   Infestissumam Label:  Loma Vista Recordings Released:  April 16, 2013 7/10 It's Halloween - my favorite holiday!  It's the most elemental and basically human, and therefore the most fun - the single day of the year when children of all ages can collectively indulge, without shame, in their goofy superstitions, wish fulfillment, and identity reinvention.  This is the currency and language of the blues and rock & roll, and of course. . . .the devil himself.  From Robert Johnson to the Rolling Stones , Beelzebub and rock & roll have been thick as thieves. Black Sabbath made the demonic connection even more explicit in 1970 when they modeled their entire aesthetic on their favorite horror films and opened their debut album with an ominous guitar riff whose harmonic progression is based on the infamous "tritone," regarded since antiquity as diabolus in musica ("the devil in music").  From then on, Lucifer and camp horr...

Disclosure, T. Williams Date:  October 28, 2013 Venue:  930 Club, Washington, DC As a former rave/club kid and DJ, now in his mid-thirties with a respectable office gig, I can say it's a glorious thing when a dance/electronic act starts and finishes before midnight.  For that alone, I salute Disclosure and opening DJ, T. Williams, who played a sold-out show at the 930 Club last night.  For those unaware, Disclosure are a UK house music production duo (specializing in the "garage," "funky," and "deep" varieties), while T. Williams, also from the UK, has DJ'd these styles for a decade plus (notably, for influential UK radio station Rinse FM).  Disclosure "face" the music. T. Williams was already well into his set when we arrived at the venue, enveloping the sweaty crowd in concussive 4/4 house rhythms.  I was immediately taken back to my early days at Buzz (the infamous 1990's rave night held at the...

Kylesa, Pinkish Black Date:  October 26, 2013 Venue:  Empire, Springfield, VA Savannah, Georgia, sludge-metal veterans Kylesa rocked Springfield, Virginia, this past weekend - with doom-synth duo Pinkish Black in tow.  I made my first ever trek out to Empire, formerly Jaxx, located in a nondescript strip-mall forty minutes out in the 'burbs next to a kabob house, carpet store, and a nail salon.  A bit surreal for a city slicker used to cabbing hastily through congested urban avenues for shows, but even on a Saturday night there was plenty of free parking, cheap beer, and friendly bar staff. Kylesa:  Laura Pleasants, Chase Rudeseal, and Phillip Cope I missed openers Caustic Casanova and Sierra, but arrived just in time to catch Texas natives Pinkish Black.  Comprised of a very capable Jon Teague on drums and Daron Beck on keyboards and vocals, these guys have received a lot of attention in the indie-rock and metal blogospheres recently - in part be...

Heads up!  Skeletonwitch & Russian Circles full-album streams. Skeletonwitch & Russian Circles, two awesome metal bands from opposite ends of the sonic spectrum, with new albums dropping next week - streaming in-full now on Pitchfork Advance.  Skeletonwitch:  Serpents Unleashed - blackened thrash from Athens, Ohio, with scene titans Kurt Ballou and John Baizley together again on production and album artwork, respectively.  Not for the faint of heart.  Just in time for Halloween - this one's a killer.  Listen now   Russian Circles:  Memorial - epic post-metal (soundtrack-y instrumentals) from Chicago with crisp, spacious production by Brandon Curtis (frontman of the underrated prog/space-rock band Secret Machines).  Loving that classy album art too. Listen now

The Dismemberment Plan Date:  October 19 & October 20, 2013 Venue:  930 Club, Washington, DC Local indie rock heroes The Dismemberment Plan just came out of decade-long retirement, released new album Uncanney Valley, and played a couple shows at the 930 Club this past weekend.  Between 2000 and 2003, during the band's popular and critical peak after releasing their seminal  Emergency and I and around the time they put out Change , I must've seen 'em live at the Black Cat or Fort Reno over a dozen times - even a rad secret show they put on as "Last Train to Marseilles" (from the lyrics to their early tune "If I Don't Write").  This wasn't exactly Phish-levels-of-frequency, but at that time (and really, to this day) The Plan were the single band I saw and relished live the most.   Left to right:  Eric Axelson, Travis Morrison, Joe Easley, Jason Caddell Despite holding the crown as DC's best-loved hometown band at the time (Fugazi...

Nine Inch Nails Date:  October 18, 2013 Venue:  Verizon Center, Washington, DC Nine Inch Nails returned to the Verizon Center last night and, as expected, proceeded to blow the roof off the place.  This was the 14th stop on their North American "Tension 2013" arena tour, showcasing an overhauled and expanded stage show - building on their recent and comparatively minimal, Talking Heads inspired , festival tour show . Trent Reznor (center).  Get your damn jazz-hands up! Trent Reznor and crew ran through a satisfyingly lengthy set featuring many new tracks from their recent album  Hesitation Marks,  peppered with older fan-favorites.  Always putting on a live extravaganza unmatched by most touring bands today, cooked up by longtime NIN art-director  Rob Sheridan , a complex stage setup of hanging lamps, retractable LED screens, and visual projections was in constant motion - transforming every song into a new visual spectacle.  ...

Kvelertak:   Meir Label:  Roadrunner Released:  March 26, 2013 7.5/10 Is it strange that as I hurtle through my mid-thirties, more than two decades after picking up my first "rock" album (Nirvana's Nevermind ), my taste in guitar music leans shamelessly toward "metal"?  Shouldn't I be well onto  mature fare by now - Bon Iver or Grizzly Bear perhaps?  No thanks - not quite yet.  Even Kurt Cobain, often paralyzed by the same self-conscious modesty that plagues today's wet-noodle rockers, had to admit Nirvana's primary musical influences were the Beatles and Black Sabbath.  The catchy, and the crushing.  The essence and power of rock & roll is in the primal, the untamed, and the provocative - the very name itself is a euphemism for "sex."  The sonic frenzy and unhinged antics of the genre's founders - Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many others - bares little resemblance to much of what passes for rock to...

James Murphy Date:  October 4, 2013 Venue:  930 Club, Washington, DC LCD Soundsystem founder and retiree James Murphy played a late DJ set at the 930 Club last night.  Despite a posted midnight start time, Murphy didn't man the decks 'til close to 1am (DJs, always late amiright?).  Maybe he was waiting for the room to fill up a little, as attendees seemed to trickle in pretty slowly.  Though the crowd seemed a little thin, the uncharacteristically warm and humid October weather did lend an appropriate atmosphere of "summertime dance party" to the event. James Murphy (top left) Perched high above, off-stage on a balcony typically reserved for VIPs and band entourage, Murphy played a set of quirky disco b-sides you swear you know (no, you don't - that track you thought would morph into Madonna's "Holiday" never does) with the occasional Afro-pop or vintage Caribbean jam mixed in - but nothing  too syncopated, lest anybody get overexcited on t...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Date:  October 2, 2013 Venue:  Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD Since I'd been working on my review of BRMC's latest album Specter At The Feast earlier this week ,  I thought it'd be appropriate to hit up their live show at Rams Head Live in Baltimore last night.  I had already attended their sold out 930 Club show in DC this past May, so I was pleasantly surprised by the smaller crowd this time.  In fact, it was an intimate affair by comparison, with plenty of room to move about, rock out, do a little air guitar, or sway and grind with a partner.     Peter Hayes (left), Leah Shapiro (center), and Robert Levon Been (right) Yeah, that's right, I had almost forgotten how damn sexy a BRMC show could be.  The focus of my Specter At The Feast album review was on the snotty rawk  these guys do so well, but their repertoire is full of great slow jams like "Screaming Gun," "Shade of Blue," and new tra...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club:   Specter At The Feast Label:  Vagrant Released:  March 19, 2013 6.5/10 In the summer of '07, as a weird personal exercise, I decided it'd be fun to check out more bands with the word "black" in their name.  There seemed to be a ton of 'em, and having "black" somewhere in there appeared to be code for " rawk!"    I was still on a big Black Sabbath kick from the year prior, and The Black Keys' Magic Potion  had been in rotation on the hi-fi too*.  Black Rebel Motorcycle Club had just released their fourth album Baby 81 and I liked the album cover  with the sexy Gibson ES-335 on it, splintered and fractured as if to say there was just too much rawk happening here!  I decided to finally check this band out. BRMC, as they're known to fans who have no time to say the whole damn name, are a greasy three-piece rock band from San Francisco who launched during the garage rock revival of the ear...