Joanna Gruesome - Aye Nako - King of Cats - Polyon -- DC9 - Nov 1 2015

Polyon - A local trio starts tonight, check that a duo, as a synth player (if I heard correctly) is AWOL. I am glad to know this, so I don't have to do the usual, is a guitar/drums duo missing an instrument or not, as in this case they really are. What is left is some free and loose drum beats with murderous guitar riffage and post-hardcore vocals. Die Kreuzen meets Tales of Terror? This is a progression of various forms loud and noisy that is effective in sound more than song. However the last song was pretty brilliant in all the right ways.

King of Cats - Oh my. Is this the unholy spawn of Devandra Banhart and Susan Tyrell on steroids? This is a one living entity band on guitar and 'vocals' with some of the Gruesome band members adding some Velvety Modern Lovers touches to some of the songs. Words will not describe this vocal style, but if you successfully completed course work of Rush-101, Lydia Lunch-201 and Pavlov's Dog-301 then you may be ready for Oxford, in this case Oxford's 401 level course, King of Cats. I'm thinking way too much about course work as I heard his lyric 'You may have noticed' as 'You may have no test.' Well, he has got me listening to the words, which I rarely do in a live setting. There is no middle ground to this, so choose your side. I am still pondering.

Aye Nako - Even this edgy brand of indie rock with loads of Sebadoh/Pavement moves sounds positively AM radio after the opening sets. But this quartet has a refreshing effect tonight as the songs are well put together by fine players who have some decent ideas within a comfortable sphere of sound. They push hard at times and pull back at others to keep the set flowing well. These Brooklynites are well worth a listen.

Joanna Gruesome - This Welsh band brings the abandon to the show, while somehow holding all of this furious music together. This is great punk rock blended into hard psyche-rock mostly formed around wildly exciting songs when they really cut loose. They have a strange vocal style with a female vocalist that occasionally touches a keyboard in between a shrieking football slogan style that barely cuts above the noise of three guitars and a rhythm section. Then when the two guitarists on each side of the stage take over with spacier male/female harmonies, the music settles to let the vocals through. It goes back and forth, forth and back like this all set long. Crazy fun for sure, and the rather large crowd that has come to take it in is pumped for it all. This band's albums are good, but you really need to catch them live to buy yourself some more adrenalized life to last another year.

And speaking of punk rock, I have given money to a 'politician' for the first time ever, and it matters not that it is a Canadian 'politician'. If you want a straight shooter, a hard worker, and just an all around great guy to succeed at this racket, give Joe Keithley's kickstarter page a look. Talk minus Action equals Zero.

Elect Joe/DOA Green Party Fund