I Swear I'll Never Surrender

This was supposed to be the kick-off to The Credentials' summer tour and the release of their new LP, but they ran into van trouble and didn't show up... this was my first time seeing The Book Slave since a couple of years ago, and I was amazed at how much more physical their stage performance has become. Lots of stomping and jumping around, which is pretty good considering they're just a two-piece. Their material is much stronger, too; I forget how I described them the last time, but their songs are built around churning, dissonant guitar parts -- like the parts of those Sonic Youth songs where they're just on cruise control-- with some twisted, heavier parts in between. They introduced one song as being about "younger kids going to shows and treating bands like heroes so then the bands think they can get away with acting like idiots and writing shitty songs", which I thought was all the bands on the CT Sound message board awesome, but I didn't think to look around for a set list to see what the name of the song was... the first song on Dead Uncles' set list was listed as "Surrender", but I think it was actually the song on their new split 7" with The Credentials, "Constant Dissapointment", which (if so) is on its way to becoming my favorite Dead Uncles song-- at least the way they play it live. They'd just gotten copies of the new split and were actually still assembling them (there's a paper obi-strip type thing that goes around the glue pocket, which is kinda cool) in the parking lot right before the show. This will be the last Dead Uncles show for a while, they've got better things to do than sit around waiting for your lame ass... I've posted a stream of the new song below, which is from the 86'd Records bandcamp page; that's the label's mispelling of "Constant", I tried to fix it but I couldn't.


The Book Slave -

"Surfing The Trough"

Finding The Shore To Be Fucking Worthless

On Saturday I headed on over the Charter Oak for what was billed as a noise show, although the two bands I saw (Defective Fiction and, especially, The Book Slave) both have plenty of indie rock in 'em, too. Something else I saw-- putting "noise show" on the flyer is a good way to make sure that people aren't gonna show up.

Back when I first started going to shows, the younger kids I knew were all in hardcore bands, but now they're just as likely to be in arty little two-piece noise-rock bands (around here, at least), which is just as well. Not quite an arty two-piece because there's three of them, Defective Fiction use a lot of taped noise and messed-up samples in between songs during their live set, but the four songs on their EP are all not even three minutes long, which gets to the point a lot quicker. Defective Fiction also use the slow part/thrash part type thing a lot, while The Book Slave's songs are comparitively poppy, at times reminding me of Mammoth Hunter, to name another great Ct. two-piece outfit that everyone should definitely check out.

I only put up a few words about The Book Slave the first time I saw them, but you can still go back to that post from a couple weeks ago and check their song out, plus here's another one (from their "Shapes, Bend and Contort" EP) while I'm at it.


The Book Slave -

"Gull Voices"

Defective Fiction -

"Hallowed Willows Good Morning"

(these files are now listen-only)

If I Knew Where I'd Die I'd Go There Every Day

Saturday night there was a big indie show in Norwich, and that in itself was kind of amazing to me, since I used to live in Norwich long ago (senior year of high school/first year of college), and it was a pretty bleak town back then. It's still a shithole now, of course, but a slightly nicer-looking shithole at least.

The show was hosted by Wonderlust at the so-called Donald Oat Theater, which is a bit less than a traditional theater but more like a loft space on the third floor of a building in what used to be the seedy welfare hotel section of downtown Norwich, but overall things were cool. Only that I forgot to bring my camera charger and so my battery crapped out before Werewolf Police played, which was kind of sucky.

Werewolf Police didn't get to play for very long anyway, going on last and getting squeezed for time because of it, but they managed to quickly rip through their 5 or 6 best songs, including a new one that practically veered into supersonic rock territory, at least for them (helped along by the second guitar player, who has really beefed up their sound). It's been a while since the last time Werewolf Police have played a show, so when they started off with "Birds" and "Silver Eagles", you almost can't imagine how good it was to hear those songs played out loud again. Their new album, "Ruin My Night", is finally out, with two variations of handmade sleeves, so check out the Goodnow web site where I'm guessing they should soon have ordering information for that.




Wonderlust were the real revelation last night; this was the first I've heard of 'em, but I can say that if you ever were a fan of any of the '90s Danbury noise pop acts like Monsterland and Her Tears, you should run to see this band the very next chance you get. I had a really brief period once where I felt that Boyracer had to be just about the best pop band ever, and this stuff tickles that exact same spot. I don't think I've ever been floored as much by an unknown-to-me Ct. band the first time seeing them them as I was by Wonderlust last night. As it happens, a total of seven bands played for nearly four hours, and Wonderlust's "Wolves" was the best song I heard all night.

If Wonderlust were from New Haven they'd have been written up more times that the Tyler Trudeau Attempt by now, but as it is they're from the New London area, which has had a solid indie scene for decades now but has never really gotten the respect it deserves. The song I'm posting below doesn't do their amazing guitar sound any justice at all, but they're working on more new stuff now, so hopefully that'll do the trick.




I'd thought Brava Spectre were more '90s emo spazzcore crossed with Lightning Bolt the first time I saw them, but last night their playing seemed a little more stretched out, into Slint/Don Cab territory. I still have no clue what any of their songs are, or even what song they're playing while I'm standing there watching them. Whatever, it was good. I don't think there are too many bands that can leave their skin on the floor and have your ears ringing like these guys can, so I'm just glad that they're from around here.

Post-Modern Sounds were about as sloppy as I've ever seen 'em, and also about as good as I've ever seen 'em, which is how that works sometimes. They were also one of only two bands last night that ended up having to use the stage, meaning bad angles so that their photos came out the crummiest (sorry about that). Book Slave had a new CD-R with them, which they had just finished putting together literally that day (bringing the fresh stuff!); I still have to listen to it a few more times, but so far it's pretty good.


Brava Spectre -

"Trust Us, We're Doctors"

Werewolf Police -

"Telescope Girl"

Wonderlust -

"Comfortable Real Estate"

Book Slave -

"The World in a Bad Mood"

Post-Modern Sounds -

"Machine Made Man"

(these files are now listen-only)