Concerts

Concert Review: Gustaf, August 19, Trillium Park

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

New York’s Gustaf are currently touring behind their debut album, 2021’s Audio Drag for Ego Slobs, and that tour took them to Trillium Park this past Saturday night where the band headlined the second night of Wavelength‘s Summer Thing. And they made for great headliners, playing an incredibly fun set at the lakeside location.

“What you are watching is not an automobile,” said singer Lydia Gammill as she introduced her bandmates, giving each one the opportunity to showcase their chops as she did so. “It’s a Flintstone car operated by ten feet.”

As band-describing metaphors go, it’s a fairly apt one. Much like Fred Flintstone did while out for a drive, the Brooklyn-based five-piece propel themselves forward as one, taking the audience with them on a dancey, funky, post-punky journey that’s perfectly designed to engage and entertain. It’s quite the ride.

Audio Drag for Ego Slobs is out now via Royal Mountain Records.

Concert Review: Spoon Benders, August 13, The Baby G

Posted on August 14, 2023 by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

20230813_213351

Portland psych rockers Spoon Benders make music that is at times dark and trippy, at other times a bit punky, but always eminently watchable. I went into the band’s Sunday night show at The Baby G knowing very little other than what I gleaned from a cursory listen to the band’s latest album How Things Repeat, but I liked what I heard, so I figured I’d take a chance. I was not disappointed.

The band impressed with their heavy psych sound and a solid stage presence. Singer/guitarist Katy Black has this cool vibrato thing in her voice at times that reminded me a little of Buffy Sainte-Marie – not necessarily a common reference point for psych rock, and I have no idea if Black is even a fan or if this is just a happy coincidence, but I do know that Buffy’s 1969 album Illuminations is plenty psychedelic, so maybe more psych rock bands should be taking some influence from her.

As I mentioned, Spoon Benders are currently on tour behind their latest, How Things Repeat, which came out back in May of this year. It’s a solid collection, with album tracks like “Dichotomatic” and “Rival” standing out as highlights of the band’s set.

If you get a chance to see Spoon Benders live, take it.

Concert Review: Mujeres Podridas, August 6, Toronto Style

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

Immediately after Mujeres Podridas had finished their set at Toronto Style on Sunday night, it was no surprise that the crowd started calling out for an encore. For a moment though, it appeared that they might be done for the evening as they began to put down their instruments. Happily, the band relented and did in fact opt for an encore, but not before someone in the crowd shouted out, “You assholes!”

A weird choice if you’re trying to entice a band to stick around a little longer, but luckily that didn’t deter the band from playing a couple more tunes to end out the evening. However, right before they started up again, guitarist Dexter Garza did pause to ask one of his bandmates for clarification.

“Did they just call us assholes?”

“Who’s the asshole now?” came the reply.

And with that, the band launched into their encore, a finale that matched the energy of the crowd (I spotted at least one person doing a cartwheel in the pit) and closed out a fun, high energy set of hard and fast punk tunes from the Austinites, who, I might add, do not appear in any way to be assholes.

Not bad for a Sunday night.

Check out the video below for “OVNI,” taken off Mujere Podridas’ 2020 full length Muerte en Paraíso.

Concert Review: Cherubs, July 27, The Baby G

Posted on July 28, 2023 by Paul in Concerts | Leave a comment

20230727_221551(0) (1)

I spotted a guy this morning wearing a shirt that said “Good Vibes” across the front and I don’t quite know why, but it made me chuckle a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any way opposed to good vibes. In fact, I’m all for them. But wearing a shirt like that is kind of like walking around all day with a “Live Laugh Love” poster pasted to your chest. But it did get me thinking about the fact that people could potentially experience good vibes in a myriad of ways, including at a noise rock show. And on Thursday night, Cherubs did just that, bringing some good (albeit noisy) vibes to The Baby G.

The Austin noise rockers got their start back in the early ’90s, releasing a couple of classics of the genre before breaking up in 1994. They reunited in 2014 and have been going pretty strong ever since, with the band currently on tour in advance of the release of a remixed and remastered edition of their 1992 debut Icing (out on August 4th via Brutal Panda Records).

After an entertaining opening set by locals Shrewd, Cherubs took to the stage and wasted no time in laying down some blistering noise rock full of thick, sludgy riffs and hard-hitting drums. For his part, singer/guitarist Kevin Whitley kept the stage banter to a minimum, aside from the occasional “alright, then” before launching into the next tune. But he didn’t need to say much – it was clear the band were enjoying themselves up there, as was the crowd at The Baby G.

All in all, Cherubs put on an intense performance and the crowd responded in kind, with a few right up front getting particularly enthusiastic and proving that, yes, you can in fact dance to noise rock … kind of.

Good vibes indeed.

« Previous   1 2 ... 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ... 508 509   Next »