Whirr - Nothing - Carni Klirs -- DC9 - Aug 11 2013

Carni Klirs - Overwhelming echoplex effects surround the room as this solo guitar excursion travels to parts unknown. Well, many in the audience know something of these parts as experimental and modern post-psychedelic guitarists have been doing this sort of thing for some time. Fortunately the two extended pieces Carni Klirs presents are a welcome opening to this sonically focused evening. The first cut had me daydreaming of excel spreadsheets, which was not good, but the second had me dreaming with the music--far better. It is never a bad thing to get a set like this at the start of an evening.

Nothing - This twin guitar quartet from Philadelphia takes on shoegaze with a fierce, yet smooth manner. They create a noisy and very heavy dirge with some dreamy melodic vocal work fighting its way through the guitar noise. That is pretty much what shoegaze is all about. They were particularly effective with contrasts of light and dark throughout their songs, and there was just enough variance to avoid any clock watching on my part. All in all a good set for shoegaze fans and people like me who are more on the fence and want the songs to shine. I would enjoy seeing this band again.

Whirr - The previous band walked off the stage with instruments blaring in what has become quite the cliche. However, this may be the first time I saw the previous band set up while the noise continued (at a slightly lower volume than when it started). They kind of started their set while the bass player wandered around looking for something to assist with the equipment before their three-guitar shoegaze noise took more shape. This was all very steady and very loud and unfortunately far too dull for my tastes. I am sure the reasonably large crowd tonight would disagree, but I just did not get into the dynamics of this music. There was one song that reminded me a bit of Mono, but still did not bring out the full range of dramatic building and deconstruction that Mono consistently delivers. I am glad I looked up from my shoes to see two of the guitarists moving their mouths at microphones, otherwise I would have no idea there was any singing. Even then, I could not hear it. I was warned that this band had a volume fetish and little else and I am afraid that is not far off from the way I heard it. If you absolutely love all things shoegaze, I am sure you will enjoy this band. I need more drama, more progressive moves, or more psychedelic flourish--something at any rate.

Quote of the Night - Nothing, as trees falling in forests do not make a sound with shoegazing bands playing.