A Place to Bury Strangers/Darker My Love/All the Saints - DC9 - Oct 5 2009

All the Saints - Power trio starting off in a sludgier Dead Meadow style. Nice roaring sound from this Atlanta band, not unlike citymates Dead Confederate. Not bad, some potential here, just not overly moving. And please control your feedback, too, the blasts between a couple of songs made me long for the days when the headliners turned down the volume on the opening acts. The last cut was strongest and left a slight positive feeling with me. Still, I would like to see some variance, better songs, a focus on vocals, something more.

Darker My Love - We have a five piece with keys and a couple of guitars, two lead vocalists. The sound was very driving and solid with lots of creative moves withing from the keys and guitars. The overall song structure and emphasis on vocals was a cut above and really made for a moving set. Almost a loose Meat Puppets-like singing style at times, not quite the Neil Young jamming (I will get that in two weeks when I see Port O'Brien here) style. Good psyche and garage feeling present though many of the songs. Enough variety to keep me engaged, too. A very strong set by a likable band.

A Place to Bury Strangers - A three piece again that comes out with a thick layer of smoke spreading out the small and crowded club. The lighting was from a projector which did create a nice psychedelic effect that has grown in popularity over recent years. An interesting dirty punk feel to the driving murky psychedelic sound. The vocals were almost Ian Curtis like, but not quite as dramatic. The sound was the key here, but I did feel I was listening to different songs at times including a strong instrumental half way through the set. I like the dramatic build that the set had with the increasing song intensities and my growing familiarity with the sound. By set's end, I was completely won over. Great job by a band well worth seeing live.

Quote of the night: "Fuck football? Who said that? That's gross man--weird, too." From the second band responding from a fan who let his feelings be known about the Monday night game.