Thursday was kind of a bust, minus a couple decent bands, it was drowned out by the amazing bands on Friday, which I will get to shortly.
The rainy night on Thursday prevented me from heading down to the Hoxton for the free booze Kobo party. Instead, I headed to BLK Box to see dark wave reincarnates Black Marble.
Black Marble at BLK BOX: Bands that are heavy on the synth, lacking a live band, are always a tricky thing. How will they translate live from their recordings? Will it work and be better than the packaged, pressed product, or will it end up muddled and bland? The two piece Black Marble’s sound is that of Joy Division mixed with Bauhaus, unfortunately, for me, their set just didn’t translate well live for me. The sound was too small for the moderately sized venue. If they added a live drummer, it would improve it tenfold. The sound was muddled, and the lead singer didn’t seem into what he was doing, perhaps there were technical issues beforehand, but this set, which was high on my list of anticipated acts, was a bit of a disappointment.
I then headed upstairs to check out a solo guitarist I couldn’t get down with, went back downstairs to one song by Cellphone, a local band whose sound I can only describe as “techno screech punch”, not my bag. So I headed off on an adventure which led me to…
Boxer the Horse at the Arts & Crafts Pop Up: These guys have been compared to the Kinks and early Pavement, but reminded me a bit of very early Weezer. From Prince Edward Island, they have released two albums and have an upbeat , really fun energy that they bring to their live set. Plagued with a few technical problems cutting into their set, which was to be foreseen as it’s just an art space, they kept the banter going, eventually having to borrow a patch cord from another band and then got on their way.
After Boxer the Horse, I continued along on my walk and found myself at Wrongbar. I can’t remember the band that was up when I got there, but I wasn’t into it.
Psyche Tongues at Wrongbar: These guys are a ton of fun to watch live. Their music is a type of psychedelic garage rock, and you could easily close your eyes, light up an herbal substance and feel like you’ve been transported to the 70’s. There were about 10 people in the audience, and the band, who may have been very intoxicated, took advantage of the full room. At one point the bassist took his tambourine and walked the full length of the bar and back.
We Are Wolves at Wrongbar: We are Wolves have been around for quite a long while now. I saw them back in 2007, I believe it was, at Sneaky Dee’s right when Total Magique, their sophomore album had come out. It was a full house on the top floor, barely breathable and on the list of sweatiest dance parties I have ever attended. I don’t know if they fell off the radar or there was just a really big show I was missing that night, but there was about 50 people and no dancing at their set on Thursday. They brought the same energy as always, high voltage, the lead singer’s theatrical mannerisms, and the standing drummer without a kick drum , however there was just something missing. I think it was the lack of crowd participation. We are Wolves certainly haven’t lost their luster and didn’t falter once even with a less than participative crowd.