Purling Hiss - The Young - The Convocation -- Black Cat -- Jun 25 2012

The Convocation - We can get a game of three-on-three basketball with the band playing the crowd. The soundman can referee the affair. Thankfully the loud blast of heavy music brings a few people from the bar into the backstage area. These guys are heavy psychedelic acid drenched rock. It is way too loose early on as the juices bleed all over the stage. Nothing a few thousand hours playing in the desert could not fix--it worked for Kyuss. Actually, they hinted that the bass player is fairly new. Not that this music should be tight, as room to breath is important to the effectiveness of these type of heavy jams. And the band does lock in well enough for much of the set. They even show some flashes of good songwriting such as the closer which sounded as if Blue Cheer tried to write a song like Budgie. But I can listen to this sort of music all day, so the 33 minutes tonight was loud, rocking, and fun for me. The crowd 'swelled' to about a dozen people and they were digging it as well.

The Young - This Austin quartet's name is a far better variation than all those 'Youth bands' of the punk/hardcore scene (Brigade I, Brigade II, Patrol, of Today, Wasted, Bored... etc.). But they don't appear to be particularly young, and after briefly reading a few sentences about them, I learn that they are quite experienced. This showed up in their set as they added more of a Dead Meadow sound (minus the cool undulation vibe) to the foundation laid out by the first band. This was heavy, but had some interesting song patterns with smooth style shifts. Twisted pop? Muscular Psyche? Alt Metal Sludge? All of the above? Pick your poison, as this band can deliver something cool along many of those lines. A couple songs were a bit too bland for me, but that did not disrupt the quality of the set. Well worth keeping your eye on these guys, and since they are on Matador Records, you should be hearing about them further.

Purling Hiss - It has been a while since I last saw this Philadelphia trio and I recall enjoying them quite a bit. I kind of forgot how they sounded as I thought they were extreme psychedelic freak-out. But it was more garage rock structured into more compact songs. It was sludgy in a good way and there was plenty of power--not unlike a stripped down US version of Hawkwind. They played at a moderate pace and the heavy quality built as they continued. One brand new song was a bit slower and very cool. The guitar solos kept coming and coming and ultimately the best comparison I could make, might be Bevis Frond. About 35 people (finally) made their way into the show and were treated to a good 42-minute set that was on the upswing as they kept playing. And the closing number gave me some nice freak-out moves, controlled but high on the manic scale. I was not so sure at first, but ultimately I can recommend them yet again.

Quote of the Night: From the guitarist of the Convocation... "Is the sound ok? I take it you guys are in the bands playing after us, so I trust you'll know if it sounds ok."