Wednesday, February 12, 2014

together PANGEA - Mozes and the Firstborn - The Sniffs - The Rememerables -- Black Cat - Feb 11 2014

The Rememerables - This twin guitar DC quartet seems to be rather quiet on the Web based on my quick search (post review note--thnx for the link). Nothing quiet about their set as they had a thick and meaty guitar power atop a strong rhythm section with a wailing vocalist adding some classic rock moves. It would almost go to emo, but the band is way too tough for that. Ultimately, they reminded me of something like Anti-Pasti meets Kraut. I thought that may be too glib, but as each song went forth, I think that covers it. This was a decent 22 minutes.

The Sniffs - This local trio stayed in the same vein as the opener, although took it more to a punk power pop song oriented style. At their best, they reminded me a bit of DOA. The rest of the time it was music I've heard variations of for over 35 years. There is enough talent here, but it did not seem to gel tonight in these songs. The crowd was flat as well. They are a decent band, but I will probably need more than a sixteen minute set to have a stronger opinion.

Mozes and the Firstborn - The next band on our long bill tonight takes the basic sounds of the opening bands and transforms them into something terrifically powerful and unique. I thought of a triangle of bands: Mudhoney, Graveyard, and Jacco Gardner, all occupying the corners with their extreme talents and this band right in the middle being pulled in various directions depending on the song. They held it together no matter which direction they leaned with fascinating lead guitar work and crafty songwriting. There were a lot of pop moves here, but the creativity kept it fresh and interesting. They went over quite well with the large crowd tonight and being that this was their first time in from the Netherlands, they should be happy they have made the trip to do a full tour with the headliners.
together PANGEA - This is my second listening to this LA uptempo psyche-punk-garage quartet and they are even better this time around. They have a gonzo attack, but they never let things go too loose, but keep that great garage spirit going. They sort of take the things the Angry Samoans were doing and push it a bit further into the classic LA psyche scene. I think Los Angeles has had a lot of bands that have worked with that great 1960s scene and integrated the sound into modern idioms. The crowd was enjoying them early in the 35 minute set, but by the end they were dancing and bobbing around crazily like it was a Friday night and not a cold Tuesday evening. together PANGEA is now a name that will stay on my radar for as long as they are around. Although they play a style of music that is a fairly easy sell for me, they do it extremely well with a lot of personality, too.

Quote of the Night: from the headliner and a fan...
"This is a new song and it is a sad story."
"But it totally ROCKS!"
"You don't know that... but it does."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Rememberables are available online here: https://www.facebook.com/rememberables :)