Currente calamo: NXNE 2011 (Friday)

NXNE 2011 (Friday, June 17, 2011)

While these shows are fresh in my mind I want to get some quick notes down. I'm a nerd for not wanting to throw my full reviews out of sequence, so there'll be a fuller accounting of the night by and by that'll include all the details on the in-store show and ambivalent feelings of getting to skip past the lineup.

8 p.m.: Persian Rugs @ Silver Dollar

Broke my informal embargo on bands that I've seen before to check in with Persian Rugs. Felt a little jarring to roll into the Silver Dollar so early, with daylight leaking in through the back door out to the smoking area — it's like seeing Joan Rivers without makeup or something like that. It was pretty quiet in the room as the band took the stage, but it did fill in some as the set progressed. Drummer Matt Rubba faced the situation with humour, calling out the band's name and inventing a fictional new hometown after almost every song.

Starting off with some fuzzy, jangly fun, the band exhibited a very cardigan sort of sound, just like the light blue one singer/guitarist Ian Jackson was wearing. The musical maturity that I was looking for after the last time I saw 'em was certainly on offer, and it felt like there was more coherence to the band's sound, with the songs now feeling more like they're facets of the same general underlying shape. Hopefully the band has a few more songs ahead of them of the calibre of "Phone Call From the Lake" and "Always All", and in the meantime, seeing them live feels like time well-spent with some Sarah Records band you hadn't previously discovered.

9 p.m.: The Young Things @ Comfort Zone

Ducked downstairs after to check out this NYC quartet with a scrappy, somewhat-retro garage sound. The first song had a Beatles-y melodic sense, and that would come out a couple more times — as would a decent talent at arranging harmonies. That would be tempered by an equal enjoyment for a scuzzier kind of rock, as evidenced by "All My Friends Are Junkies". That tendency in their sound was faced head-on — and perhaps a bit too on the nose — with a Strokes cover.

This was all enjoyable enough, though when the band left the retro-y sensibility behind, they veered too much toward a safe, homogenized radio-ready pop sound. Obviously, that's no more or less original than the garage-y stuff, but it's nowhere near as compelling. In the long run, this is a band that needs to get more primitive in order to progress.

10 p.m.: The Vandelles @ Comfort Zone

The Vandelles were also up from the Big Apple, and one could tell that somehow or another they've got a bit of that palpable buzz around them, as the area in front of the stage was suddenly filled with photographers. And when they started playing, one could see the immediately charming elements in play, including reverb and "Be My Baby" drumbeats. The following songs were a bit less overtly forged from that template.

This was good enough, but I couldn't help comparing the band in my mind to Chains of Love, who I'd seen the night before — a comparison that showed The Vandelles' limitations. CoL dove more forcefully into the pool of their musical influences and went deeper into their shtick, going full out in their stage appearance. meanwhile, Vandelles vocalist Jason (no last name given) played in sandals and cut-off jeans. Bassist Lulu (also no last name given, and fighting a bad back by playing while braced against a tall chair) looked more the part. And musically, the band were willing to get a little sloppy and could even hint at some JAMC velocity, but it felt too much like these were all ill-fitting clothing draped over songs that really didn't invest themselves fully in the sensibility they were playing at.

11 p.m.: New/France @ El Mocambo

Went to this on the thinnest possible hunch, finding something interesting in a blurb mentioning that the band featured "ex and present members of local stalwarts Groovy Religion and La Casa Muerte". The Groovy Religion connection interested me as much as the very notion of a band mixing together musicians from different generations, and it turned out that it was no less than William New on vocals. Perhaps this linkage of players (who didn't immediately look like they all belonged in the same band) arose from the same ethos New displayed as a founder of Elvis Mondays — an essential community-building role in T.O.'s 80's indie scene. Guitarist Roy Pike looks to be of the same vintage, but I can't dig up much about him — and he lacks an index entry in Have Not Been The Same.

Regardless, he did an ace job trading corrosive riffs with Bo Frantz (the Casa Muerte connection, making the band's moniker a bit of a play on words on its two founders' last names) in a stereo back-and-forth of bracing minimalism. The sound was tied together by Jenny Charlton's Mo Tucker-ish drums, played standing up with mallets. There were some superb moments here, with that guitar give-and-take and New tersely delivering his lines while staring down the crowd. There were also a few points where things were a bit out of sync and the drums skipped a beat, but on the whole, this was a rewarding bit of no wave-ish menace.

Listen to a track from this set here.

12 a.m.: OFF! @ The Horseshoe

With a plethora of good bands playing at midnight, I figured I'd be heading for one of my Plan B's — so much so that I was more than mildly surprised when I managed to get into a packed, sweaty 'Shoe just minutes before OFF! took the stage. Though I don't have an immense background in hardcore, I do like me some once in a while, and this new group of veterans has been building a ferocious rep.

The band is fronted by Keith Morris — original Black Flag vocalist and founder of the Circle Jerks — and he's certainly the focus on stage. Even with a slim catalogue of songs to their name, the band had no problem filling out their timeslot when Morris's raps and introductions were considered. Highly entertaining (if a little erratic), Morris discoursed on post-9/11 politics with as much direct intensity as he welded in considering what to do with the errant show that had been flung onto the stage.

When the songs started, he gave a theatrical performance while flanked by Steven Shane McDonald (bass, famed for his work in Redd Kross) who kept stoically still in a wide-legged stance and guitarist Dimitri Coats who bounced around a little more. Each blast of music was accompanied by a fairly frothing moshpit. Both parts of the performance — banter and music — were equally entertaining and just standing back in the crowd watching this drained me. Great fun.

Listen to a couple quick songs from this set here.

1 a.m.: Heavy Cream @ Comfort Zone

Another band that I'd seen before, but when I'd first seen this bouncy Tennessee crew at CMW they were suffering through a set with terrible sound. I was able to get the impression that this was my kind of thing, but it was hard to really appreciate them. And though they were battling with some issues here as well — as the last band of the night, they were suffering from a drumkit that was coming apart at the seams — this was a much better showing. Sort of like a meeting of the minds between Be Your Own Pet and The Ramones, this was a constant blur of energy, especially from vocalist Jessica, who bounced and shimmied without missing a note. Even if the songs might sound a little silly ("Summer Bummer" was one title here) the band was seriously into it. The set was over in a flash, leaving a most pleasant aftertaste.

2 a.m.: No Joy @ Silver Dollar

Another "secret guest" that was pretty widely advertised in advance, I was pretty eager to get a chance to see Montréal's No Joy, whose Ghost Blonde album had really impressed me. Live, the four-piece brought a bit more animation to their shoegazey tunes than I was expecting — the title track, which lead off the set, got some more "push" from the drummer that isn't there on the album.

Singer/guitarists Jasmine White-Glutz and Laura Lloyd (the co-founders of the band) were shoegazers in the most literal sense, playing doubled over, their long blonde fair almost constantly obscuring their faces. Sort of the Thurston Moore school of guitar playing, and there was certainly a bit of Sonic Youth in the band's music. They weren't much for banter or crowd interaction, coming and leaving the stage without saying a word. Regardless, this made a solid impact on me.

Listen to a track from this set here.