I'm going to go see the
Pipettes tonight, and I'm thrilled beyond all reason. They entertained
me to no end when I briefly saw them at SXSW earlier this year, so I'm
hoping that with less time restraints they will put on a the show of a
lifetime. Or something. Anyway, today I have a ramble on one of
the bands that impressed me the most this past weekend at Fun Fun Fun Fest,
Battles. The New York-based outfit, which has former Helmet member
John Stanier on drums, released a full length back in May titled Mirrored
for Warp Records, and now they're currently out on the road in support of
it. I really wish that I had known about it when it first came out, as
I'm sure I would have rocked it all summer, but like usual in these cases I
guess it's better late than never. Enjoy.
:Battles
- Atlas:
Not only is this one of the weirdest songs of the year, but
it's also one of the best. The pounding drums work
wonders in coordination with the heavily filtered vocals,
the crunching guitars and the bits of electronic elements.
Needless to say, it's more than a little experimental.
Although, even with the largely unique sonic output there is
a familiarity about it that causes you to feel as if you've
been waiting for a long time for something this far out to
come close enough to touch. So, here it is. Grab
on and hold tight.
This video for
the amazing song known as Tonto is kind of bizarre,
but I like to think that it's the good sort of bizarre.
You know, the kind that compels you to just sit and stare so
that you can try to figure out exactly what the hell is
going on.
On an after
party related side note, I attended one this past Saturday
night that featured Immaculate Machine, Small Sins and Mates
Of State. I have no real reason as to why I didn't
mention it in my Fun Fun Fun Fest coverage, but I have
it here now and that's all that matters.
Immaculate Machine didn't play very long, but they did put
on a nice show. It really made me wonder why more
people don't talk about them. The three of them make
great pop songs.
Also, did you guys know that IM's keyboardist/singer Kathryn
Calder is in New Pornographers?
I was excited to be seeing Small Sins again after they had
really entertained me earlier that day, but to be honest
their performance was kind of lacking. They all seemed
really tired and/or drunk. Though, I can't blame them
after the really long day that they probably had.
Plus, their set wasn't bad, it just wasn't as energetic as
their first.
I think this was one of my favorite Mates Of State sets
ever. Initially they played a really sloppy 40 minutes
that had Kori constantly telling Jason to "pick it up" and a
what do you want to play next kind of way of doing the set
list. It was incredibly random and bizarre for such a
veteran act. However, when they decided to end the
show everyone kept hanging around until they felt compelled
to play one more song (of course). This was when the
performance got really interesting because suddenly the two
of them were really into it. After that they played
three more songs with their new found second wind and a
desire to "get one right" before calling it a night.
More bands should wing it. Actually, maybe not.
BTW, excuse my picture of Mates Of State. My Canon
died on me right before their set, so I had to use the old
pocket camera to shoot Kori and Jason. Lame.
- Immaculate Machine -
- Small Sins -
- Mates Of State -
- John Laird -
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