East Ghost - This local trio features drums, guitar/bass, and guitar/vocals. They are a good choice for tonight's touring bands as they have an indie rock style that has some psyche touches in the sonic architecture. I am trying so hard not to compare them to Radiohead as even they would admit they are no where near that level. But the vocals do have that certain Thom Yorke timbre at times. They vary the pace and intensity some to keep things lively and close with a flourish. Nice effort and a band that is welcome on many a bill
Blues Control - This male/female duo plays mostly instrumental music with each member playing guitar, keyboards, electronics, all with some looping. So things are plenty busy as they create some thick and moving textures to work in a mixture of nice melodies and avant garde thrusts. It is like a cross between the harder side of Fit & Limo crossed with the dense spaciness of 50-Foot Hose. There is some rocking rhythms guitar at times, along with jarring piano pounding that also reminds me of a more modern krautrock prog jam. This is fun and pulls in the sizable crowd that has developed tonight.
Six Organs of Admittance - Ben Chasny continues to be very busy with this band (often just him) as well as other side projects (Rangda for one). He also moved to Northampton, MA which is fertile territory for his particular brand of psyche-folk. Yet, there is also an extensive noise scene there, and perhaps that influenced his return to the more 'Comets on Fire' approach to his latest batch of songs. Frankly, any approach he takes will work with me as he explores much of the same terrain where I most often musically reside. It was fun to see a full band this time around as he brought along the guitarist from Magik Markers and a rhythm section from other bands. They are rocking tonight with a relentless beat, exploding rhythm guitar and insane lead work from Chasny. He handles the vocals and crafts some songs out of it all with plenty of room for the guitars. The Eastern psyche moves are there, as well as a garage pop sense lurking within the menace. Instrumentally, there were Birthday Party elements in some of these songs, atlhough Chasny's classic style keeps it well within what you expect from his band (at least when they are at their heaviest). He closed by going solo with two songs including a great cover of the late Epic Soundtracks' "Roll the Stone". Being an original Swell Maps fan, that was a perfect ending for me for this brilliant set from one of the masters of modern guitar.
Quote of the Night: Chasny... "I gotta get this in tune--it's worse than Johnny Thunders and I'm not high at all."
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