8 Days A Week

Friday 12.19

Trianglewide
Will Smith and Seven Pounds
Theaters Everywhere—Celebrity is newsworthy. It drew statewide media and roughly 1,000 fans to a Charlotte multiplex premiere of Seven Pounds—featuring the film's star, Will Smith. It encouraged those fans to stand in line in the rain, some for up to six hours, in hope of getting a ticket. And frankly, it's overwhelming. The lobby of the multiplex, packed to capacity two full hours before Smith's scheduled arrival, had its every vertical surface emblazoned with Smith's visage, giving the actor a Mao-like omnipresence in the room. A DJ played cuts from Smith's musical career—from "Parents Just Don't Understand" to "Just The Two Of Us"—while the crowd clawed at the air for free T-shirts.

The event benefited Second Harvest Food Bank in Charlotte, and when Smith finally walked into the room at 6:40 p.m., he announced he'd be donating 300 Christmas turkeys to local families, setting the tone for the premiere. "Part of playing this character has really shaken up that concept in my mind," Smith said of his stated belief that we're all responsible for helping each other out in hard times. In Seven Pounds, his character gives of himself as a method of atonement. In real life, it's promotion. And it'd be a lot easier to be cynical if Smith wasn't so likeable. But there he was, donning an honorary Panthers jersey and mugging for the crowd, beatboxing at the podium when the masses chanted his name, and greeting the damp thousand with handshakes, hugs and that million-dollar smile. It's the same easy charm that makes all of his movie characters relatable and empathetic to an audience. He's a movie star 100 percent of the time. "I'm very happy to be here," he said, smiling. "We've got a fantastic cause and hopefully a pretty good movie, too." —Bryan Reed

Independent Weekly, 12/17/08

Capsule review

SEVEN POUNDS—Will Smith is too famous for his own good. His latest vehicle suffers for it. Instead of seeing Ben Thomas, the guilt-ridden IRS agent turned personal savior to seven strangers, we see Will Smith, the effortlessly charismatic celebrity, playing the role of Ben Thomas. Seven Pounds—melodramatic, though it may be—could function as a character study revolving around the protagonist's shattered ego and extreme selflessness at least as much as it focuses on the obligatory and predictable romance between Smith and Rosario Dawson. But Smith, despite his best efforts, will always be Will Smith in our eyes. This, of course, is in the grand tradition of American celebrity (was Marilyn Monroe ever anybody other than Marilyn Monroe?), but even though Smith is certainly a competent actor in this piece—his character's reluctance to accept affection is particularly adept—his fame has overshadowed his talent. Rated PG-13. —BR

Independent Weekly, 12/17/08

Hearing Aid

YES, PLEASE

12.18 THE SIBLING PROJECT @ THE CAVE

When Lindsey and Danny Ranck—the real-life siblings whose project highlights this weeknight pop show—sing together, their just-off harmonies give crucial conflict to the duo's simple, effervescent keys/ guitar/ laptop setup. As such, their imperfections become the band's most appealing attributes—sour notes making for sweeter songs. With Cool Ethan and Hey Euphony. 10 p.m. —Bryan Reed

12.19 TENDER FRUIT/ MIDTOWN DICKENS @ THE PINHOOK

With this Durham-bred pairing, Southern folk tradition hits a crossroads, diverting between Tender Fruit's sparse, fragile blues and the Dickens' Olympia-learned blend of Kimya Dawson twee and Appalachia. Both hit the same soulful core: Tender Fruit's Christy Smith (of the late, great Nola) creates heat with her bold but fragile voice, guitars alternately plinking and roaring behind her melancholic melodies. Midtown Dickens fills space with any instrument it can get its hands on, layering simple phrases into the warm vocal harmonies that drive the band's direct songs. Also, The Beast. 10 p.m. —Bryan Reed

Independent Weekly, 12/17/08

Tiny Mix Tapes Favorite Albums of 2008...

22. Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull
[Southern Lord]
by Bryan Reed

The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull is not merely another Earth album; it might come to be known as the Earth album. At the very least, it’s the Earth album we’ll remember not for its heavy drones, but for its melodic finesse and its seamless intersection of sap-thick pacing, subtle twang, Gospel uplift, and jazz clarity. Talk all you want of the record’s subtle and masterful instrumental interplay: Adrienne Davies’ deliberate, understated, and rock-solid percussion; Dylan Carlson’s effortless melodicism and featherlight suspension of perfect riff after perfect riff, augmented magnificently with the periodic counterpoint of jazz guitarist Bill Frisell; Steve Moore’s warm organ comps; Don McGreevey’s full-bodied and, umm, earthy bass. Revel in the humid hum of Earth’s legendary amps, the juxtaposition of polish and grit and its reflection on the band’s simultaneously mournful and hopeful tone (see that Gospel influence in full-force, eh?). But forget not the truest test of a record’s universal merit: its immediacy — something that often lacks in downtempo instrumental work. And rest assured that this latest from Carlson and co. delivers its eased-in, slowly uncoiling enchantment from the start and never lets up in its seamless and effortless evocation of the spirits of American music.

Earth - Southern Lord - Album Review

Tiny Mix Tapes, 12/17/08 (also, see the other 24 albums of the year)

...individual list:

Bryan Reed:
25. Akimbo - Jersey Shores (Neurot)
24. The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride (4AD)
23. The Rosebuds - Life Like (Merge)
22. Women - Women (Jagjaguwar)
21. TV On The Radio - Dear Science (DGC/Interscope)
20. Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. I (Century Media)
19. Johann Johannson - Fordlandia (4AD)
18. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (Universal Motown/Cash Money)
17. Giant Sand - proVISIONS (Yep Roc)
16. Jenks Miller - Approaching The Invisible Mountain (Holidays For Quince/New American Folk Hero)
15. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
14. The Foreign Exchange - Leave It All Behind (Hall of Justus/Nicolay Music)
13. Double Negative - Raw Energy EP (Sorry State)
12. Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing (self-released)
11. Bellafea - Cavalcade (Southern)
10. The Dodos - Visiter (Frenchkiss)
09. Grampall Jookabox - Ropechain (Asthmatic Kitty)
08. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador)
07. Harvey Milk - Life…The Best Game In Town (Hydra Head)
06. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (ATP)
05. Mamiffer - Hirror Enniffer (Hydra Head)
04. Nomo - Ghost Rock (Ubiquity)
03. Earth - The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull (Southern Lord)
02. WHY? - Alopecia (Anticon)
01. Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron and Fred Squire - Lost Wisdom (P.W. Elverum & Sun)

LAKE - Oh, The Places We'll Go

Lake

Oh, The Places We’ll Go

(K)

www.krecs.com

On its Dr. Seuss-referencing latest album, only the third of a reported 12 to see a proper release, the Olympia-based quintet known collectively as LAKE has created a lingering mood of shimmering clarity and earnest warmth. "Minor Trip" follows a hauntingly rich vocal delivery reminiscent of Julie Doiron with a sparingly plucked guitar and subtle percussion. Its melancholy is offset by its lush simplicity. It sounds full, though the arrangement is sparse, as though each note serves a purpose, nothing is wasted, but nothing's missing either. "Heaven" turns a '70s piano intro into a gently funky cut of cotton-candy gold.

But it's not all frivolous pop, either. "Minor Trip" opens with the warning, "Fearing the unknown/Will keep you down/But fear of death and dying will keep you trying." A simple sentiment, perhaps, but it takes on haunting gravity in the service of the song. In its gentle subtlety, jazz-toned guitars and soft tribal percussion, Oh, The Places We'll Go becomes an unassuming, bust lasting record well worth its almost-27 minutes.

Standout Tracks: "Minor Trip," "Heaven," "Bad Dream" BRYAN REED

Blurt Online, 12/16/08

Sound Bites

Friday

Aposable Scum — Among the things that make the world a little more livable, one must certainly be noisy rock bands such as Aposable Scum. Buzzing like some long-lost Steve Albini project or the most out-minded moments of the Pavement oeuvre, the local quartet’s lo-fi ruckus is a hot mess that jolts like a suckerpunch. Skewed guitars hum and chime, grinding against each other over buried vocals and percussion. Still, within the band’s dense caterwaul lies a tunefulness born of nervy disquiet — post-punk tangles roughed up for few-frills splendor. Of note: This’ll be Aposable Scum’s CD release party. The abrupt, acid-gurgling Sein Zum Tode provides the evening’s introduction. - B. Reed
Hunter Gatherer: 10 p.m., $5; 748-0540,
myspace.com/huntergathererbrewery.

Harvest Hope Fundraiser — As this year’s season of giving happens to coincide with this generation’s season of economic desperation, it only makes sense to combine a bargain-bin cover ($2 or two cans of food) with dance-fueled escapism. This late show brings a handful of local big-shots to spin their best bangers on behalf of the Harvest Hope Food Bank; disc jockeys include New Brookland Tavern notables Sean Rayford and Andy Crunk, Hardy Childers, Free Times contributor Tug Baker and Free Times music editor Patrick Wall. Drink specials, dancing, charity. It sells itself. After all, this is all about giving — food to Harvest Hope and fun times to you. And you won’t need a bailout to afford admission. - B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 9:30 p.m., $2 (free with food donation); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Sunday

Killwhitneydead — Killwhitneydead doesn’t come without cause for controversy. The Greensboro quintet’s penchant for violent sloganeering matches its brutal onslaught. Blast beats, gut-sputtered growls and bludgeoning guitars chug along, injected with dismembered audio clips from movies and TV, crowd-baiting scream-alongs and searing melodic lines — synthesizing pop-culture awareness, Euro-metal harmonics, hardcore’s mob mentality and death metal misanthropy. Earnest crowds chant along to “Save Your Sermons For Sunday,” screaming “Leave no one alive,” an outcome that seems more than likely in the world of Killwhitneydead’s songs. Misogyny and violence prove a fertile breeding ground for Killwhitneydead’s nihilistic tomes, and at the same time give the band an aura of menace that doubles as a marketing angle. - B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 9 p.m., $10; 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Free Times, 12/10/08

The Year in Music 2008: Tracklist

ANNUALS

Download "Hardwood Floor"

(from Such Fun; Canvasback/ Ace Fu/ Terpikshore)

"Hardwood Floors" opens more sparsely than any Annuals track. Its threadbare lament comes wrapped into a metaphor of a leaky roof and a floor that, as Adam Baker moans, "swells and moans like it hurts." Likewise, the song soon swells into a swooning, aching mélange of ethereal harmonies and understated guitars that weave into the song's texture. One of the band's most down-to-earth moments, "Hardwood Floors" serves as a departure from the cosmically minded eccentricities that made Annuals into blogger favorites. This is a level of nuance and maturity that promises the band's best work might still be ahead of it. —Bryan Reed

Photo by Michael Triplett

THE CURTAINS OF NIGHT

Download "Total Domination"

(from Lost Houses; Holidays for Quince Records)

In the addictive Internet game Dino-Run, a player adopts the character of a raptor-like dinosaur fleeing imminent extinction by roiling currents of flaming asteroid debris and suffocating smoke. Try playing Dino-Run with "Total Domination" by The Curtains of Night, the titanic Carrboro duo, on repeat at full volume. With its martial percussion and chugging, tar-thick riff, the beast tumbles onward. Its steady, unilateral movement stalls at 2:20, as singer/ guitarist Nora Rogers howls and the amplifier suspends in a blitz of buzz. It's the sort of thing that makes one fear for the end of days, and the duo does little to assuage said fears, rolling into a slow—even glacial—second movement and leaving us, the listeners, feeling a little like Dino-Run's ultimately hopeless protagonist. That is, totally overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of the surroundings. —Bryan Reed

Photos by D.L. Anderson

THE DIRTY LITTLE HEATERS

Download "Untitled"

(from Fatty Don't Feel Good 7"; Churchkey Records)

Behold the might of The Dirty Little Heaters, a powerful trio whose diminutive name does anything but justice to the heft of its sound. That sound is something like the greasiest, ballsiest garage-punk band in the darkest, smokiest dive bar you've ever encountered, fronted by Grace Slick. Indeed Heaters' frontwoman Reese McHenry carries that same depth and richness in her howls and croons, making her voice the band's centerpiece. This shouldn't discount the band's buzzing groove-punk, which on this B-side rides a spring-loaded bassline through sheets of amp-fuzz and a battery of drums. Just know that it's all therw clearing the way for McHenry's soul-inflected wonder. —Bryan Reed

DOUBLE NEGATIVE

Download "Raw Energy EP"

(from Raw Energy EP; Sorry State Records)

Double Negative is easily one of America's greatest current punk bands. This, the titular A-side to the band's clear-vinyl 7-inch record, should be all the proof one needs: It's a snarling explosion of scorched larynx howls and rocket-fuel riffs introduced by a series of cascading feedback flares and interrupted only two brief guitar divebombs. True purists recognize the template being stretched in new, exciting directions, while those only able to handle limp replications of Black Flag songs are left to cower in fear. Indeed, "Raw Energy EP" (and the remainder of the Raw Energy EP) hits these ears sounding as vital and dangerous as virgin spins of Damaged. —Bryan Reed

KOOLEY HIGH

Download "Kool With It"

(from Summer Sessions EP; self-released)

A fitting introduction to Kooley High, "Kool With It" rides a hydraulic beat, bass bouncing across bold horn samples, hot and thick as summer air. MCs Rapsody, Charlie Smarts and Tab-One trade lines, referencing Family Guy in their lyrics and Digable Planets in their easy chemistry. Certainly, this is as clear a mission statement as any the group could've offered—to be, as Rapsody boats in the hook, "so K-O-O-L/ Y'all better ask 'cuz y'all can't tell." Simple, direct and effective credo established? Check. —Bryan Reed

VALIENT THORR

Download "I Hope the Ghosts of the Dead Haunt Yr Soul Forever"

(from Immortalizer; Volcom Entertainment)

Metallica released an album this year, and people said it was a return to form. I don't buy that because Valient Thorr also released an album, Immortalizer, this year: It's not that Valient Thorr sounds like Metallica used to, but the Venusian heshers are so saturated with that boozy righteousness of golden-age thrash that it doesn't feel unreasonable to at least put them in league with the old guys. Valient Thorr's sinuous dual lead guitar's slice razor sharp, harmonious lines through low-end rumbles and the vaguely melodic growls of gruff frontman Valient Himself. This punk-metal anthem, as with its predecessors, is a call to action: to mosh, to skate, to chug a beer, to fold the freakin' laundry. What you do doesn't matter as much as the idea that you're doing something. —Bryan Reed

Independent Weekly, 12/10/08

*note: the Indy site offers a .zip download of all 40 songs featured in the newspaper's year-end round-up of local songs. I highly recommend checking it out.

The Mighty Underdogs - Droppin' Science Fiction

The Mighty Underdogs
Droppin’ Science Fiction

[Definitive Jux; 2008]

----
Styles: hip-hop
Others: Blackalicious, Latryx, Crown City Rockers
Links: The Mighty Underdogs - Definitive Jux

The occasionally brilliant, mostly spotty debut LP from The Mighty Underdogs is exactly the kind of record the digital music industry needs to justify the movement from albums to singles. Droppin’ Science Fiction will undoubtedly work its way into my distant memory, for no good reason other than my reluctance to press the skip button — not to mention that I’d need a skip button at all, which is to say that there are some clunkers here.

There are some superlative tracks, however; “Gunfight” finds Mighty Underdogs MCs Gift of Gab (Blackalicious) and Lateef The Truthspeaker (Latryx) bookending an MF Doom verse, with Headnodic’s grinding, tense soundscapes and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly sample rolling tumbleweed-like through the song’s Old West narrative: a delightfully escapist variation on hip-hop’s shoot-’em-up tropes. This is followed by another standout in “ILL Vacation,” a series of warp-speed tall-tales swaggering with ample braggadocio among lounge-y horns, cartoonish effects, and a beat that grooves like hotel-lobby funk. Similarly, “Aye” is an effectively lusty ode to feminine allure. In these finer moments, Gab and Lateef sling syllables with superhuman elasticity and noteworthy wordplay — virtues well-known to their current fans — while Headnodic (who made his name with Crown City Rockers) matches spring-loaded beats and clever associative sounds to the flabbergasting flow of his MCs.

Yet, for each of these highlights, there’s a much weaker counterpart. “So Sad” exploits the Jamaican accents of Julian and Damien Marley to assert some sort of faux-authenticity in the record’s obligatory ‘conscious’ cut. Elsewhere, “Folks” ditches the Underdogs’ effervescent energy and sense of fun for lite-funk guitar and drowsy delivery — solid, yes, but uninspiring and tragically misplaced on what could have been an explosive, completely enrapturing record.

Indeed, it seems that the greatest strength of The Mighty Underdogs is, predictably, in the established strengths of its members, and in giving all involved a chance to play with lighthearted, even cartoonish themes for the sake of effective escapism and lyrical gymnastics. It’s when the coulda-been-supergroup punts for variety that Droppin’ Science Fiction is at its most dull and uninspired, which is a shame for a group with so much inherent talent.

1. Monster 2. Hands In The Air 3. So Sad (ft. Julian Marley and Damian Marley) 4. Gunfight (ft. MF Doom) 5. ILL Vacation (ft. Lyrics Born) 6. Science Fiction 7. Laughing At You (ft. Casual) 8. Escape (ft. Mr. Lif and Akrobatik) 9. Doglude 10. Folks 11. UFC Remix (cuts by DJ Shadow) 12. Want You Back 13. Aye 14. Warwalk (ft. Chali 2Na, Raashan Ahmad, Tash and Zion) 15. Victorious

by Bryan Reed

Tiny Mix Tapes 12/5/08

VISITING ACT | Between the Buried and Me

Not Toying Around: Between the Buried and Me kicks Guitar Hero ass

BY BRYAN REED

Modern Metalurgists BTB&M
Austin Reich

Guitar Hero threatens to destroy the very model upon which it's based. It's a heavy blow to nerd-dependent genres like progressive rock and heavy metal, whose mandated levels of instrumental proficiency can only be mastered by those with superhuman levels of singular focus.

But where the musically-inclined geeks of yore might've logged thousands of man-hours practicing scales and devouring Tolkien, or tuning their drum heads between chapters of The Fountainhead, today's Pages and Pearts are mashing five buttons on a plastic SG to play "Through the Fire and the Flames" on expert.

Thank God, then, for the North Carolinian reinventors of metalcore, known collectively as Between the Buried and Me, who keep the flame of ostentatious musicianship alive, and who undoubtedly spent their formative years forging an intimate relationship with their instruments — not their TVs. The quintet's latest studio album, Colors, skates through melodic, European-style metal, Queen bombast, jazzy, Pink Floydian texture, and Rush-esque prog rock — usually within the span of one epic song.

Frontman Tommy Rogers claims the point of Colors was to create an album, not a collection of songs, but a singular piece meant to be appreciated as a whole. Largely, he and his band succeeded. The songs move fluidly, but never predictably, weaving airy melody and brutal aggression together seamlessly. Singing swells into screaming and drop-tuned guitar chugging splinters off into whirlwinds of harmonic dual leads that would be impossible to replicate on a video game console.

They can, however be replicated live, as the recently released live CD/DVD iteration of Colors can attest. And on Sunday, they'll be replicated once more on the Music Farm stage. What's more though, is the audience will be reminded what it's like to watch real, preternaturally talented musicians — not just stereotypical rock avatars on a TV screen.

Between the Buried and Me performs at the Music Farm (32 Ann St., 843-853-3276) with support from He is Legend, Advent, and Nightbear on Sun. Dec. 7. General admission is $15 ($13 adv.). Visit www.musicfarm.com and www.betweentheburiedandme.com for more.

Charleston City Paper, 12/3/08

Sound Bites

Wednesday

Farewell Flight — This pack of Pennsylvania popsters smacks itself with a self-deprecating label — “unmarketable since 2005” — that would be better suited for a grindcore band with a name like Colonic Malfeasance than a quartet with driftwood melodies that bridge Oasis and Coldplay with gentle melody and anthemic earnestness. But the dig suits Farewell Flight; the band’s navel-gazing aesthetic relies as much on self-effacing sarcasm and brokenheartedness as it does on handsome hooks and comfortable sonics. Farewell Flight’ll sing “America Will Surely Break Your Heart,” all starry-eyed piano plinks and eased-in shuffle, resigned to a broken world, the band wearing a smile like a wince, acting like maybe the song won’t be heartbreaking itself. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 7:30 p.m., $5 ($8 under 21); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Friday

Evergreen Terrace

Evergreen Terrace — Anyone who’d recognize the Simpsons allusion that is Evergreen Terrace’s moniker (742 Evergreen Terrace is the fictional family’s home address in Springfield) will be familiar with the image of an enraged Homer strangling Bart for his mischief. That physical juxtaposition of Bart’s bratty irreverence and Homer’s explosive temper proves an apt descriptor for Floridian hardcore band Evergreen Terrace’s blend of snotty punk-metal (a la Strung Out) and blunt-force hardcore (a la Hatebreed). Each end of the band’s spectrum — the freewheeling melody and the guttural rhythms — is ever at arm’s length from the other. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 7 p.m., $12 ($10 advance); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Saturday

Hot Lava Monster, The Stellas — Consider this, a double-header of small bands with huge aspirations, a case study within the post-apocalyptic landscape of Music 2.0. Both Columbia natives Hot Lava Monster and their Charlotte counterparts The Stellas serve their rock stylings like Top 40 platters-to-be, with Hot Lava Monster’s post-Incubus brood ‘n’ croon finding The Stellas power-pop crunch in a common ground of easy accessibility. With the rapidly disintegrating industry leaving the proverbial playing field effectively leveled for new artists, the idea of stardom has all but burned out — but that won’t stop these bands from reaching for it anyway. It’s both this bill’s blessing and its curse: Both bands, despite potential, still lack the megawatt star power of banner acts and allow easy approachability by taking few risks — and that’s not necessarily a pejorative.

Hot Lava Monster

This bill smacks of before-they-were-big opportunity, both bands churning out compressed guitar rock built for something bigger. To fall back on a nearly riskless baseball analogy, even minor league teams play in stadiums. And now, more than ever before, it’s up to the fans to decide whether these bands meet their audibly lofty goals. Is Hot Lava Monster the next Hinder? Are The Stellas the next All-American Rejects? The ball’s in your court, reader. B. Reed
Art Bar: 9 p.m., $5; 929-0198, artbarsc.com.

Thank God — As a teenager, notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer would kill animals (before he moved on to young men), obsessed with the idea of seeing them inside out — as much the same way Columbia’s Thank God treats rock ‘n’ roll. The quintet tugs conventional notions of melody and structure back in on themselves until what’s left is a seething, bloody mess of dissonant charges, tangled entrails of guitar melodies wrapping around bludgeoning, unpredictable bursts of drums and strangulated gasps. Still, though, the ensuing mayhem creates some sort of mangled beauty, its brutal genius unspooling like so many yards of raw viscera. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 8 p.m., $2 ($3 under 21); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Free Times, 12/3/08

Kinnikinnik

Get your own - Open publication

Flip to page 46 to read my recent feature on the Charlotte-based recording label/collective Kinnikinnik Records in the December issue of Uptown Magazine.

Sunn O))) - Domkirke

MUSIC REVIEWS

Sunn O)))
Dømkirke

[Southern Lord; 2008]

----
Styles: drone, metal
Others: Earth, Mayhem, Xasthur
Links: Stephen O’Malley - Southern Lord

A faceless audience applauds at the onset of the live performance in a Bergen, Norway cathedral that was to become Dømkirke, the limited-run double-LP from the doom-drone masterminds Sunn O))). They’re silent until the very end. Post-production editing, perhaps, but I’d prefer to imagine that the audience was too awestruck, too paralyzed with fear and admiration to provide any more than its eager claps at the introduction and its rush of cathartic applause at the conclusion of the hour-long running time.

The strength of Dømkirke (and, it should be noted, of Sunn O)))’s catalog) is the recognition of the drone not as an end unto itself, but as a foundation from which to build and recede these long-form campaigns of volume, texture, and dynamic. Here, the confluence of ground-rattling bottom end, burbles of feedback skuzz, barrel-chested brass, the mammoth, immovable presence of the cathedral’s God-knows-how-old pipe organ, and the haunting, Gregorian-inflected moans and summonings of Atilla Csihar (of the infamous black metal band Mayhem) becomes a palpable entity — one, which even at moderate volume, was very literally shaking the contents of my countertops. What is captured on Dømkirke is Sunn O))) reaching for something timeless, its medieval hues meeting 21st-century black metal and avant-noise — more akin to black metal for its oppressiveness and fascination with all things old (olde?). This is an evocation, like a soothsayer’s prophesy of doom, despite the intelligible nature of Csihar’s moans and the abstract construction of the four cuts (all of which stretch easily beyond the 13-minute mark).

Although the mood is uniquely ancient and ominous (pre-apocalyptic vs. post-), and Dømkirke’s use of venue as instrument is noteworthy to say the least, little else will sound new to anyone familiar with heavy drone. But that’s not the point, either. The draw here is a subtle fluctuation that, spun over time, becomes as urgent and dynamic as anything can be. Chords plunge and tumble into a rumbling wash of blackened tone as new textures say their piece and plunge, in turn, into the abyss. As the sonic siege reaches its most vicious climax near the end of “Masks The Ætmospheres,” one couldn’t be blamed for trembling — be it from emotional impact or the sheer density of the tones. Without qualification, the spatial element of Dømkirke is its most impressive. It’s hard not to react physically and audibly, as the audience did, to the subsiding of Sunn O)))’s avalanche of ominous, voluminous sound. It’s an exhausting, albeit exhilarating experience.

1. Why Dost Thou Hide Thyself In Clouds? 2. Cannon 3. Cymatics 4. Masks The Ætmospheres

by Bryan Reed

Tiny Mix Tapes, 11/25/08

Wallpaper - On The Chewing Gum Ground

Wallpaper
On The Chewing Gum Ground
[K; 2008]

----
Styles: rock ‘n’ roll
Others: Ramones, The Kinks, The Vaselines
Links: Wallpaper - K

At first glance, it’d be easy to toss On The Chewing Gum Ground, and Wallpaper, the band responsible for it, into a pile with all the other non-pretentious, “it’s just rock ‘n’ roll” bands to enter the ears of the post-Beatles listening public. But that wouldn’t be quite right. The usual touchstones are scattered here and there: a little Ramones sneer, a Who swagger, a Kinks jangle, a Kingsmen howl. And, seeing as this is a K Records release, there’s just a touch of twee-pop’s starry-eyed earnestness — see “Pop Rocket” and its sock-hop chant-along for proof.

But despite its influences, worn as visibly as a t-shirt, Wallpaper has a level of cheeky self-awareness that makes a route dismissal of the band as “good old-fashioned rock music” miss the mark. The verses in “Pop Rocket” alone name drop Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon as apparitions appearing in dreams. It’s as if by checking names off the list, Wallpaper is asserting its place among these heroes — or at least among their most ardent fans. Indeed, it often feels as though Wallpaper (like many of its potential fans, perhaps) wouldn’t mind being judged by its record collection. Still, it’s hard to say Wallpaper is merely a band playing the music its members want to hear, with nary a care of others’ opinions — basically, it’s hard to brush them off with a halfhearted, euphemistic description that functionally just calls the music boring.

The introduction of keyboard textures on “New California” and “Auto Bop” prevent the guitar pop formula from getting too overbearing, in the same way that elliptical songs like “New California” offset the artifice-as-art of referential cuts like “Pop Rocket” and “Rock & Roll World” (which references “Ringo, George, and John and Paul” right off the bat). As a whole, On The Chewing Gum Ground feels less like a replication or amalgamation of past sounds, and more like a continuation of them.

1. Auto Bop 2. Solar Panel Sleeve 3. Nod Off 4. Pop Rocket 5. Vertigo Jane 6. Shag Carpet 7. New California 8. Rock Collage 9. Bottom Top Blues 10. This Is The Chase 11. Deflated 12. Totalled 13. Total Explosion 14. Rock & Roll World

by Bryan Reed

Tiny Mix Tapes, 11/19/08

Hearing Aid

YES, PLEASE

11.13 THE MOANERS/ THE TRAMPSKIRTS @ RESERVOIR

Here's a double bill of few-frills rock: Chatham County duo The Moaners takes the top slot with grimy guitar that spins through distortion that hangs in the air like moisture, big drums that barrel like a downhill semi, and lurching melodies that creak with swagger. The Moaners' last album, 2007's Blackwing Yalobusha, was recorded at the old Money Shot Studios in Yalobusha County, Miss., with Squirrel Nut Zipper and Buddy Guy sideman Jimbo Mathus on deck. Nashville's Trampskirts takes a decidedly more punk-rock approach, the quartet's full-band fury raging like a swamp-rock Distillers. Donations/ 10 p.m. —Bryan Reed

INTRODUCING...

11.19 TEH VODAK @ NIGHTLIGHT

As they'd have you believe, Teh Vodak is both an up-and-coming rock band and a drunken mistake. The name, after all, is a misspelled tribute to the band's spirit of choice, and as they'd tell you, it stuck only after they misspelled it when starting a MySpace band profile. The truth is a bit more mundane. Teh Vodak formed from the (mostly online) meeting of Pink Flag's Betsy Shane and Blackstrap's Ben Donnelly. Oh, well: "If you wanna perpetuate the myth, I'm all for it," says Donnelly.

But the band's fabricated backstory fits the uninhibited rock sounds they're peddling. Donnelly's noisy, angular approach and Shane's pop propensities would never work together if both parties weren't up for (or under) some influence. "I think we end up with the sound that we're both going for," says Donnelly. More specifically, Wire's bristle, The Minutemen's jitters, and the pop-punk sugarbuzz of the late Be Your Own Pet, all parlayed through one drunken promise. With Alcazar Hotel and Joke & Jokes & Jokes at 10 p.m. —Bryan Reed

Sound Bites

Wednesday

Brendan James — Brendan James, a former college a cappella singer turned piano-pop troubadour, hits New Brookland Tavern under an MTV banner. The long-running cable network’s lingering cultural relevance owes far more to the pseudo celebrities of The Hills than it does to alternative rock, but that suits James and his subtly dramatic, mostly mellow smooth jams just fine. His songs practically beg to soundtrack a sweeping panoramic shot that zooms into a crying blonde being consoled by her best friend — which is to say if you like Zach Braff movies, Frappuccinos or dudes in cable-knit sweaters, this’ll be right up your alley. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 8 p.m., $6; 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Friday

Hollywood Undead

Hollywood Undead — Presumably, the masks worn by Hollywood Undead’s six members serve not only aesthetic purposes but are worn as physical manifestations of apology for the L.A. atrocity’s steaming pile of eight-years-too-late nu-metal excrement. The band’s best riff (from “Undead”) is stolen from Papa Roach’s “Last Resort.” The sextet’s (hurr, hurr, I said sex) rampant misogyny, homophobia (Aside: Where the hell is flippant use of the word “faggot” still acceptable?) and sophomoric sub-frat humor turn mindless songs into exercises in aural endurance. Now I’m just stuck debating whether Limp Bizkit or Insane Clown Posse makes a more apt reference, as though it even matters. This might well be the worst music I’ve ever heard. B. Reed
Headliners: 8 p.m., $12 ($10 advance); 796-2333, headlinerscolumbia.com.

Free Times, 11/12/08

8 Days A Week

Wednesday 11.12

Chapel Hill
Harmute, Mary Johnson Rockers
Local 506—Openers Mary Johnson Rockers and Lafcadio supply soft, shuffling twang, making Harmute's mildly theatrical pop-rock the wild card here: With hardly a hint of country to its sound, Harmute's wistful piano-led songs blend equal parts Broadway ballad and lite-rock boogie. Lead singer Skylar Gudas sings in a warm way, while guitarist Jesse Wooten wraps his slightly nasal voice around Gudas' lower range. The voices earn prominent placement thanks to largely understated arrangements, punctuated with eager drum fills and tasteful strings. The 9 p.m. show is free, but donations will be collected for the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. —Bryan Reed

Independent Weekly, 11/05/08

I Was Totally Destroying It - Done Waiting EP

I Was Totally Destroying It's Done Waiting

(self-released)

5 NOV 2008 • by Bryan Reed

Something happened to I Was Totally Destroying It in the past year, as though the band collectively decided its career had better be more than a few Cradle shows and local adulation (or derision, depending on whom you ask) after releasing its full-length debut in 2007. The tight, precise, polished power-pop the band peddles is the kind of ear-grabbing musical snowcone that many love, many love secretly, and many outwardly hate. This band could or should be famous, and its new, seven-track, MP3-for-free EP Done Waiting sounds refined enough to make for the big time. Whereas that first LP promised versatility at the risk of consistency, this EP finds the band, sonically at least, bursting with purpose. The debut's lighthearted momentariness gives way to a bolder push for something—anything—bigger.

In the process, some of the local allusions that made the debut a Triangle hit get lost, swapped for an elliptical songwriting tack that still suits the band's melodic propensities. Only "Teeth," with its snapped syllables and rhythmic bludgeon, cracks the sing-song mold, and even it swells into a milkshake-smooth chorus.

IWTDI's previous variety act comes folded into better textures beneath these focused tracks: No longer the chugging guitar-centrists of last year, the band stretches its range by adding acoustic plunking to the foreground of "The Masquerade" over the near-Theremin glow of Rachel Hirsh's keyboards. The album's most spacious track, it's a welcome contrast to the other tracks' large-venue ambition. Indeed, what's constant throughout is the record's clear ascendant aims, as if IWTDI got out of the basement and got dressed for a big-time job interview.

I Was Totally Destroying It plays Troika Music Festival at The Pinhook Saturday, Nov. 8, at 11 p.m. Tickets are $5. To download Done Waiting, visit reverbnation.com/iwastotallydestroyingit.

Independent Weekly, 11/05/08

Troika Music Festival

Thursday, Nov. 6

DURHAM CENTRAL PARK (Foster Street)

⇒ Future Kings of Nowhere (8:30 p.m.) FKON's Shayne O'Neill pulls elements from a long line of songwriters: He gathers Blake Schwartzenbach's emotional clarity and metaphorical whims, Elvis Costello's hooks and sarcasm, John Darnielle's detailing eye, and Billy Bragg's knack for pulling universal truths from small experiences. All sung, it's what makes his busker-punk project one of the area's best. —BR

The Pinhook (117 W. Main St.)

Juan Huevos (9:45 p.m.) Juan Huevos' electro-fueled hip-hop floats brash come-ons and boasts over clipped samples and taut beats, balanced—to Huevos' benefit—with wit and self-awareness. —BR

Broad Street Cafe (1116 Broad St.)

Shakermaker (10 p.m.) Shakermaker's cool-breeze pop rock stays fresh thanks to touches of bluegrass twang and AM Gold gleam, using restraint and harmony like capital. —BR

Friday, Nov. 7

Carolina Theatre (309 W. Morgan St.)

⇒ The Rosebuds (10:45 p.m.) Now four LPs into a career, The Rosebuds is more confident, more assured and just plain better than ever before. The still-fresh Life Like is an effective synthesis of everything the band's done to date—jangle, pop, disco, dance, rock, roll, smile and sulk. —BR

Bull McCabe's (427 W. Main St.)

⇒ The Wigg Report (11:55 p.m.) Equal parts Beat Happening, Violent Femmes and Agent Orange, the Bull City trio throws eager sax and male-female vocal interplay into its jittery acoustic punk. Scrappy and fine. —BR

Saturday, Nov. 8

The Pinhook (117 W. Main St.)

I Was Totally Destroying It (11 p.m.) In the year that's passed since IWTDI released its out-of-nowhere full-length gem, the band has grown its occasionally wiry, hook-laden power-pop into a full-bodied force of stadium-sized proportions. For more, see page 40. —BR

Duke Coffeehouse (Crowell Building, Duke University's East Campus)

⇒ Midtown Dickens (10:45 p.m.) A Midtown Dickens show is a front-porch parade, gallivanting from off-the-cuff humor to unexpected poignancy, both exuding the same best-friend intimicay. These days, expert more instruments, better playing and the same ragged charm. —BR

⇒ The Curtains of Night (10 p.m.) The monolithic riffage of the two-piece Curtains of Night offers a bigger and bolder bludgeon than most bands with twice the personnel. The duo's modal shifts turn blazing riffs into a monumental scorched earth campaign—an endlessly captivating, if deliberately paced, siege of burning amp-buzz and jagged rhythm. —BR

The Sirens Lounge (1803 W. Markham Blvd.)

Nathan Oliver (10:15 p.m.) The caffeinated soul of Nathan Oliver sings from the intersection of wistful crooning and manic howls, coming together in a settled, melodic way. —BR

Rat Jackson (8:30 p.m.) Booze and broads provide more than enough grist for the mill of Rat Jackson's tightly wound blues explosion. —BR

The Marvell Event Center (119 W. Main St.)

Dr. Powerful (9:45 p.m.) Dr. Powerful has more in common with Polvo than just drummer Eddie Watkins. It approaches rock head-on, warping guitars as an accent, not a focal point. —BR

Independent Weekly, 11/05/08

Sound Bites

Wednesday

The Toasters — Saying The Toasters, the band formed in 1982 by British expat Rob “Bucket” Hingley, are responsible for bringing ska stateside isn’t much of an overstatement. Much of the credit (or blame — your call) for ska’s momentary ubiquity in the ’90s belongs to the long-running band and its brass-and-organ accented take on the genre. Indeed, the band owes a heavy debt to forbears The Specials and The English Beat — to say nothing of their Jamaican forbears — but The Toasters effectively imported the two-tone sound and aesthetic, opening the doors for a legion of followers. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 7:30 p.m., $10; 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.


Thursday

The Western Civilization — Houston’s The Western Civilization brings with it a metronomic hypnosis born of steady drum loops and simply constructed arrangements that open plenty of space for two- and three-part vocal counterpoints. The young quartet’s chamber-charm holds water, but the songs don’t vary much in structure or dynamic. Still, the band’s sound is full enough to allow for interesting lines to emerge with gracious subtlety. It’s enough to keep the songs moving fluidly, avoiding tedium and evolving an earnest appeal in the band’s few-frills approach to acoustic-based indie rock. B. Reed
The Whig: 7 p.m., free; 931-8852, thewhig.org.


Sunday

MC Chris — Lumped somewhat unfairly in the wave of nerd-core rappers, Brooklyn’s MC Chris turned small-scale notoriety (as a voice on Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force) into a cache of singles, including the Star Wars-referencing “Fette’s Vette” — hence the nerd-core associations. Mostly, though, MC Chris is a comic emcee, slinging his upper-register voice through a minefield of rhyming one-liners and energized beats. He’s funny, for sure, but he’s also a force to be reckoned with behind the mic, flowing with ease and geek-chic confidence as he covers topics as wide-ranging as sex-acts and cough-syrup inebriation. B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 7:30 p.m., $12 ($10 advance); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Tuesday

The Pink Spiders — “Little Razorblade,” from The Pink Spiders’ 2006 album, Teenage Graffiti — produced by The Cars’ Ric Ocasek, no less — is still the best example of the Nashville band’s occasionally brilliant blend of early-’80s power-pop and post-millennial pop-punk. Ascendant synths, mildly snotty vocals and thick walls of guitar, all soldered together with sudden vamps and effervescent energy, make the song a near-perfect chunk of bubblegum. Elsewhere, these elements don’t always seem to mesh as consistently, but at the moments when they do, The Pink Spiders pose like they could be the heir to The Cars throne. 
B. Reed
New Brookland Tavern: 7:30 p.m., $12 ($10 advance); 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.

Free Times, 11/05/08

Thursday/Envy - Split

Thursday / Envy
Split

[Temporary Residence, Ltd.; 2008]

----
Styles: post-rock, post-hardcore
Others: Explosions In The Sky, U.S. Christmas, At The Drive-In
Links: Thursday - Envy - Temporary Residence

This might be the first time I’ve been able to say that I like a Thursday record without feeling obligated to stammer out a qualification. The band’s early work was solid but blunt, relying far too much on frontman Geoff Rickly’s divisive yelps. He’s always had a knack for sounding on the verge of a breakdown, something that doesn’t necessarily hold up for the duration of an album. So, after teetering on the edge of a breakup, Thursday returned with 2006’s A City By The Light Divided, which found the band employing more subtle dynamics and fuller sonic textures to Rickly’s consistently touching lyrics. But the Thursday that fans had fallen for was gone, replaced by a half-neutered rock band that sounded ready for their windblown, mountaintop closeup. It just didn’t sound desperate anymore.

Two years down the road, Thursday finally comes of age with the A-side to this split LP with Japan’s Envy. In four songs, Thursday prove their ambition, but also unleash the urgency that drew listeners to the band in the first place. Opener “As He Climbed The Dark Mountain” is the band at their finest. Charging out of the gates with an avalanche of guitars and drums, Rickly lets his brittle voice loose, carrying the song with a newfound melodic confidence, but never losing touch with his emotional heft. He’s pleading, desperate, and excitable, reminding us that ‘emo’ is supposed to stand for ‘emotion’ — and he’s in no short supply. A stream of moaning guitar swirls around the song’s final act, and Rickly, sounding as though he’s leveled himself, drops to a whisper before disappearing altogether in the stellar instrumental “In Silence.” Without Rickly, Thursday are forced to delve even deeper into post-rock dynamics, with nervous electronic glitches coursing through the song’s trudging, fuzz-baked duration. Piano and guitar noise keep things aloft, while a syncopated drum base keeps the song staggering and — as is once again becoming customary for the band — urgent. “In Silence” later sees a re-imagined remix treatment from Anthony Molina of Mercury Rev, becoming “Appeared And Was Gone.” And, simply put, Thursday have put together their best work here.

Envy, then, have a lot to live up to on their half of the LP, and the Japanese quintet delivers. The serenity of the opening moments of “An Umbrella Fallen Into Fiction,” where a buried xylophone melody seeps through suspended guitar tones and electronic clatter, gives way to a droning buildup four minutes in, and the song rolls into a heaving, layered mass. Elsewhere, the band spins post-hardcore timing into mud-caked sludge, meshing post-metal’s smoldering heaviness with a ferocity born of punk. Melodies worm through the mire, but nourish the songs into fertile bludgeons. “Pure Birth and Loneliness” begins with a meditative passage that snowballs into the song’s desolate belly, guitars soaring on sustained notes and down-tempo melodies playing counterpoint to a churning rhythmic base. These are standard genre tropes used competently, but not inventively.

Envy certainly do their fair share of the legwork in making the split a success, but it’s the surprise of Thursday’s evolution that provides the richest reward.

1. As He Climbed The Dark Mountain (Thursday) 2. In Silence (Thursday) 3. An Absurd and Unrealistic Dream of Peace (Thursday) 4. Appeared and was Gone (Thursday) 5. An Umbrella Fallen Into Fiction (Envy) 6. Isolation of a Light Source (Envy) 7. Pure Birth and Loneliness (Envy)

by Bryan Reed