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I
Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness/Experimental Aircraft
Emo’s, Wed. 12/10
The black coats and scarves warmed up to the front stage of
Emo’s Wednesday evening the way college kiddos embrace
I-Pods and indie rock. Two of Red River’s finest no-wave
outfits were on hand to offer their own harrowing brand of
layered noise and sultry sound, borrowing heavily from the
Brit-pop influenced, shoe-gazing aesthetics of the NYC art-rock
scene circa 1984.
‘Slow
and steady wins the race’ proved to be the prize-winning
formula employed by the aimless, angstless grooves that make
up the hazy sounds of Experimental Aircraft. The four-piece
constructed thick, trancy palettes of organic guitar fuzz
behind a sparse yet timely slue of kicks and thuds. The co-ed
vocal tandem combined the lush and dreamy vocals of the red-dressed
Rachel with the mellow, non-confrontational rasps of TJ, who
also shreds a moody, distortion-friendly axe. The noise blaring
from the amps for me drew comparisons to My Bloody Valentine—a
crisp fusion of unhurried ambience and drone, crawling through
an unlit forest of sonic gloom and despair.
There was more doom pop to come, as I Love You but I’ve
Chosen Darkness took the stage in support of their new, Brit
Daniel produced EP. The band played a short set that proposed
more of an up-beat, dancy vibe behind the choppy, drum machine-esque
skin-slappings of Tim White. He was my favorite part of the
band; often keeping the pulsating heartbeats sharp and steady
as the rest of the band froze still between various head-bobbing
time sequences. The hollow nihilism of this atmospheric sound
provided a crisp fusion of whispery vocals and a distressed,
rolling rhythm that roared like a match made in the depression-filled,
new wave era of art-punk confusion. Bravo kiddos—this
sound still rocks.
-Smitty
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Riverboat
Gamblers, New Disciples
EMO’S, Saturday December 13
The New Disciples: you gotta love these die-hards just for
having the balls to get up and do this glam-rock retro poser
clown act in these times of doom and despair. They put themselves
out. They got the attitude, they got the moves. I got one
question: how can those pants not fall apart? I swear, dude
was wearing the same beat up peg-leg pants a couple nights
before at Room 710 when I first noticed that they’re
probably 30 years old and he’s probably been rocking
out and passing out in them every day, the whole time. There
they are again, the pants! Gotta love it.
With a name that implies a country-blues type deal, the Riverboat
Gamblers threw me for a loop with their spazz-out cock-rock
attack. On the mike they got this hellish-cute motherfuggin
jumping-bean, humping the poles and laid-out wrapping his
feet around them like a stripper all fritzed up on catnip.
These hottie boys rocked their gonads to blisters. Pure rock
and roll. No memorable songs in particular – it was
one tempo, one drumbeat, 3 or 4 chords per tune, and one perpetual
wham-bam punkety butt-slap rock show. They had their stage
antics down tight, put a massive load of energy into their
performance, and flowed from one slice to the next with no
delay and no apology. Nothing stood out, but everyone stood
up in the cold, packed house and got their butts rocked to
bits.
-
Beky Hayes
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| Agnostic
Front
Emo’s. Fri. Dec. 5
Oi!
Oi! Oi! Oi! New York Hard Core Rules! Oi! Oi! Oi! These boots
are for the righteous and the bald! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!
Oi! Oi! Working class. Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!
Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Support your local
scene! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! New York Hard Core Rules! Oi! Oi!
Oi! Victim of pain. Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Liberty and justice
for all! Oi! Oi!Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! East coast west coast
baby. Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! We’ve
been crucified, villified, and purified with genocide. Oi!
Oi! Oi! Cause for alarm. Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Pogo! Oi! Oi! Oi!
Circle pit! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Punk Rock Punk Rock!
Oi! Oi! Oi! Punk Rock Punk Rock Oi! Oi! Oi! Fuck the system!
Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! New York Hardcore Rules! Oi!
-Baldy
McFatridge
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