Man.. or Astroman? - Jacuzzi Boys -- Black Cat - Jun 23 2013

Jacuzzi Boys - Garage psychedelic nuggets are served up by this Miami trio. Yet there is a spacey quality to the music which makes sense given the first song is eight minutes long in a bit of Wooden Shjips style. This is fat, open music with room to maneuver as the vocals yelp away with just enough sleaziness within. Steady rocking fun was the band's desire and they succeeded for most everyone here tonight. It is summer and this type of music is a perfect way to get off the the hot city streets and kick it out. They summed it up in announcing an upcoming song: "Fun Time! Fun Time! Fun Time! Fun Time!"

Man... or Astroman? - This is one of those veteran bands that really make me feel stupid. I have known about them for much of their 20 year existence (with some dormant periods), but have never seen them live. The stupidity comes in when it has taken me until 2013 to see the live set, even though I have always liked their music. And the stupidity further locks in when they proceed to blow the house down tonight with some of the most fiery surf rock music you would ever crave for. They have so much pace and so many melodic moves, that the surf sounds do not dominate as they do for most bands playing this style. There are mostly instrumentals, but the vocal work is excellent as it is straight and clear leaving the reverb for the guitars. They have excellent projections which keep the sci fi themes going until the bass player takes a two song break ceding bass duties to the second guitarist. He then dons the lighted space suit for a casual trip through the crowd. Next, he hops back to stage to play a theremin in a song they jokingly called 'The Death of the Theremin" when they struggled to get it to work. Well, maybe not a joke, as they set it on fire a la Hendrix, getting an expected roar from the crowd. The Black Cat was about half full and had a great time with this excellent band that takes fun music to ridiculous heights of technique and style. This was the tour ending show, so they had the opening band come out and jam on a latter song and closed out their tour in full 'fun mode'. I hope they keep the band going for more tours as I need to atone for my years of neglect.

Quote of the Night: From the headliners... "This is a new one you have not heard unless you can warp through time--looks like a few o f you can, so we'll play the oldies for you!"