The World Doesn't Just Do Shit For Free

It's probably been a couple of years since I've walked around downtown New Haven now that Popeye's Garage is closed, even the place where I got a shitty burrito once is gone. I still love walking through the neighborhood around Chapel, Howe, and York Streets, except now when you look over Broadway towards where the cool record stores like Rhymes and Cutler's used to be, you'll see a J Crew, Urban Outfitters, and American Apparel all right next to each other, which is pretty lame. Anyway, the weather was so good last night that I almost felt like sitting outside in front of Elm Bar and having a beer, except that it wouldn't be very "edge" of me, so I walked to the pizzeria across the street and bought a bottle of lemonade instead. Plus all that walking around helps me keep an eye on my car and the sack of Old '97s CD's that I always keep in the back seat.

Stefan and Wes opened the show last night as "Estrogen Guys" (I swear, that's what was written on the chalkboard outside), playing about 5 or 6 new Estrogen Highs songs plus a couple of older ones sprinkled in. It was actually pretty amazing, I mean, I've seen Estrogen Highs as a full band so many times before that it was great to just hear the songs stripped-down (two acoustic guitars) and presented differently. For all the times I've seen Estrogen Highs and played their records, it never occurred to me before last night (since I was too busy thinking they sounded like Modern Lovers) that there's a healthy Kinks/Ray Davies streak running through the songs that Stefan writes, the way that Ray Davies would write character descriptions and so forth. Then afterwards it became a discussion as far as if the Kinks is even a worthwhile comparison to make in the first place, it doesn't really suggest anything since the Kinks are such a universal rock archetype anyway. That's what I do at night, stand outside bars discussing the Kinks, and keeping an eye on my Saturnine 60 CDs.

Medication were just mind-blowing again, they played at least three new songs ("Crash", "Make Your Own Way", and "Far" -- I stole the little piece of paper Mikey wrote on, that's how I know all this) and found that perfectly-place spot between tight and loose, meaning they played all the songs right but still didn't sound like they really gave that much of a fuck. Shitty bands care too much, that's their problem. I really like how John sometimes looks like he's about to fall off his stool when he plays, unlike those drummers who twirl their sticks and stuff. Then there's getting a coffee on the way home when it's midnight, which is always a pain in New Haven because there's only one Dunkin Donuts on 91 that's open late and they make you go through the drive-thru where you can't see what the donuts are and you have to explain to the guy how everyone else can go to hell and you don't want some bullshit frosted donut.


Medication -

"Whore"

Sometimes I Get The Feeling

Whenever I go to New Haven and drive close to I-95 it makes me think of IKEA, even if I'm not actually going to IKEA, probably because I'm almost always needing batteries for my camera and IKEA's got good ones for $1.99, plus their batteries are bright yellow which makes them easier to see when your camera dies at a show and you have to change batteries in the dark. Have you ever gone to Wal-Mart and tried to buy batteries? Shit's like $6.79 for a 4-pack, when you could go to IKEA instead and they're all over that shit. That's why when the Swedes come with their tanks they're gonna roll right through Arkansas and take that Wal-Mart asshole with them, except the screws will pop out of the tanks every so often and they'll have to jump out and use those little hex wrenches to put 'em back in. And then roll over the top of that asshole from Wal-Mart a few more times. I own like six pieces of furniture from IKEA, I don't own any furniture from fucking Wal-Mart, just things like the little 99 cent bottles of ibuprofen and stuff, they're good for that.

MOTO's got a new LP out, "No Sleep 'Til Turku", it's got a gatefold sleeve and was recorded in Finland, which is pretty close to Sweden even though probably none of you could pick out either one on a map anyway. It's a damn solid record, too, especially if you liked the "Kill MOTO" material (for instance), where some of it's kinda quiet and poppy while some of it rocks harder than the rest. Only 500 pressed, though if you're not able to find a copy you can still buy the files on CD Baby for 5 bucks or something, which seems like a pretty good deal. There's a track down below that I ripped from the vinyl, just for you.

Friday night's show at Cafe Nine with M.O.T.O. and Medication was like a dream bill, even if the two bands sound nothing like each other. But there's a reason for everything that I say, although it doesn't seem like it sometimes, especially like right now for instance. (Am I gonna bother explaining what I mean, then? No.) Medication's set was almost a complete turnaround from any other time I've seen them: not only were there two new songs-- and I can't think of any other Medication set I've seen that included even one new song-- but Kryssi, from Mt. Movers/Colorguard, was on second guitar instead of Stefan. Then halfway through the set Mikey broke like 8 strings at once and had to borrow a guitar, a lime-green Jaguar/Jazzmaster-looking thing, which looked and sounded totally different from his usual gold top Les Paul. There was hardly any of the extra reverb on "Fog", for instance (I'm guessing Mikey couldn't find the switch), so it came out sounding a lot chunkier. Not like Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" or anything, which would've been a pretty neat trick, but still a lot chunkier than usual. One of the new songs is called "Far", and it's actually somewhat of a screamer, which was a different thing in its own right. Afterwards I listened to some newer Medication demos on Mikey's iPhone-type thing, and then completely forgot what they sounded like by the next morning, other than he's recording the vocals differently now so that they sound like the Everly Brothers or Brian Wilson, which is totally friggin' amazing.

I've been lucky enough to see MOTO at Cafe Nine three times now, and Friday's set was maybe the best out of all of them, because the band was tight (as if they'd actually practiced or something) and so all the songs sounded like they were supposed to, and pretty much ripped. They played "Magic Words", which I don't think I've ever seen them play before, and some other oldies like "Dick About It", which is the kind of song that Paul doesn't write as much anymore, with a rock history lesson hidden inside of it (in this case it's two Beatles rips, although most people are only smart enough to cop to the first one). There wasn't a singular moment like the last time when Paul finished off the set by coming out and singing "Ghosts" by himself, but rock 'n roll isn't always about those Hallmark Card type moments ("afterwards we all went out into the night air, still singing all the words aloud and celebrating the new friendships that we'd just made," as the content-focused blog always puts it). Sometimes rock 'n roll is Paul not being able to read the set list because it's all the way down on the floor and in 4-point type, or having to change key in the middle of a verse because he's got a cold called "I'm fifty years old now, motherfucker". Those drink straws with the ends of the paper still stuck on them, those are annoying, too. I took out "Bolt!" and played it right after I got home, so now I know which song it is that Mikey is always talking about.


M.O.T.O. -

"Hard On Rock 'n' Roll"

Medication -

"Factory Made"

We Look Good And We Get Shit Done

Every time I've gone to a show in New Haven lately I've gotten there way too early, so last night I took my time strolling towards the side door of Cafe Nine, figuring I'd take some time off the clock and save myself a few seconds of sitting around inside doing nothing. I was just about ready to hand the guy my six bucks to get in when I heard "This Town" coming through the window: Fuck! Medication's set had started already! I quickly spun around to head back to the car and and get my camera, no doubt looking like a complete spazz to the guy who was collecting the door money. I ended up catching maybe the last 4 or 5 songs of Medication's set, and they were hot as always -- their familiarity with their set list is starting to show through, lending a more laid-back "been there" feel to their delivery, which I kind of enjoyed. Watching Medication mostly involves standing there slack-jawed thinking, "gee, I can't believe I get to stand here and listen to all these great songs"... Woollen Kits went on second, and while this isn't something that I picked up on from listening to their songs at home-- I had to see them live to figure it out-- but, if I had my back to the stage and Stefan was doing the singing, I would've thought Estrogen Highs were playing. Both bands have the same sense of melody and use of repeating rhythms, meaning they both have that Modern Lovers "She Cracked" thing going on. I actually still haven't heard all but a couple songs of Woollen Kits' new LP, and then it turned out that they were all sold out of their copies as of a week ago, so I couldn't buy it last night anyway. They did bring a cassette with them though, a live tape that Fan Death put out, so I bought one of those (which is where the song I've posted below is from) and listened to it twice on the ride home. Woollen Kits are a really great band, with a fittingly odd charm about them-- I would love to see them a bunch more times if I could, except that, you know, they're from Australia... Mountain Movers continue to morph into a swaggering, unhinged, fuzzed-out rock band even further, doing whatever the fuck they want while embracing all of the messes they make. They were even asked to turn it down at one point last night, if you can believe that. They started off with something that I didn't recognize, a swampy blast of a verse and maybe a chorus and that was it-- 40 seconds into their set and the first song was already over. Awesome. They followed with a really out-there version of "I Watch The Sea", which they'd make really quiet before taking off into a brief patch of noise and then settling back down again, back and forth a few times, with Ross' drumming nearly leading the whole thing. Dan sang a ballad, something about the birds and winter, after which he announced another new song, which was both extended and heavy, and now Ross' drumming became even more noticeable... Dan's started doing this Elvis/Neil Diamond thing with his arm now during "World What World", it's actually kinda funny to watch. The Mountain Movers have just started putting out a series of new singles on their own Car Crash Avoiders label, you should check it out.


Woollen Kits -

"Cheryl"

Medication -

"Rise/Sink"

Mountain Movers -

"Stuck In My Mind"

Life Flows Through The Death Of Me

I was expecting The Men to split my head wide open last night, but it never happened. "Leave Home" is a great record, the Nerves cover is great, so on and so forth, but if I didn't already know who they were and didn't like all of their records already, my impulse reaction to them last night would've been "well, these guys sorta blow." Okay, I liked a few of their songs, especially the last one which they said was new and had a great bass-driven melody for part of it, but overall there was too much finesse going on when they should've been cracking skulls. I really think their drummer should've been slamming the hell out of something most of the time, but instead he kept fussing with his crummy cymbals too much. Their set in general was way too quiet, and it couldn't have been the room because when IceAge played they were loud as hell. I dunno, maybe I just didn't get it.

Medication sounded a lot more like themselves than they had just a few nights earlier at Elm Bar, though Mikey didn't seem to think so because every so often he'd randomly shout one of the words into the mic so that it came out all fucked up and distorted. I thought their set was pretty good, and so did some other people ("Hey, you guys are pretty good. Where you from?"). Most of the crowd that had just packed the room for The Men went outside while Medication were playing, which was a crappy move on their end, though it's a safe bet that it was all the noobs who had never been to a Popeye's show before this one because of their pronounced fear of standing next to all the dirty "noise kids" (like the scene is made better by fake punk bands that sound like Papa Roach and put their records out on Paper + Plastick).

I really thought I'd end up being annoyed by IceAge, but their set was actually pretty good. I mean, they're safely nestled in that in-between spot where there's a whole list of bands earning far less hype that are way better than them, but then they're also not nearly as bad as the backlash wants you believe. I'll admit right now that it's kinda dumb to hate a band just because of the kind of people that like them, although for about a million bands it remains pretty attractive. "New Brigade" still sounds fairly atrocious to me, and it's become obvious that everyone's afraid to review it objectively and instead are feeling like they have to come up with reasons to prove how much they actually like it (how come none of these same guys are lining up to review Rank/Xerox?). Live, though, IceAge were satisfyingly aggressive, almost spectacularly over the top at times, and there were even some bass-heavy parts that borrowed a bit from "My War" that I actually really liked. Still, let's be honest; saying that you "saw IceAge in 2011" won't ever be like saying you saw Black Flag-- more like saying you saw Squirrel Bait in 1986, to name another easily-hyped band whose sound was too obviously made up of parts of other bands, and whom everyone ended up being too embarassed to admit they'd ever liked barely two years after they'd broken up. I can already see that in another 5 years there will be a whole slew of "former members of IceAge" records that'll sound miserably like Cold Cave or some boring shit like that, you can bet the house on it.


The Men -

"Walking Out On Love"

Medication -

"Fog"

I Just Shot My Stylist

I thought the Elm Bar (the old Rudy's in New Haven) sounded like shit Saturday night, but then I was told that it was just me, so I guess I'm wrong. Whatever it was, the sound was way too loud and brittle most of the time, which didn't help me get into Ferocious Fucking Teeth all that much. I like their recorded stuff a lot-- by the way, their new 7", "Hounds", is pretty ace, plus it comes with a nifty booklet-- but their set on Saturday was like 5 lbs of sardines in a 2 lb bag. I dunno, maybe I just need to see them in a bigger room that has a better mic set-up, like Daniel St.-- where they just played the other week-- or Toad's, though maybe that's not it either. Ferocious Fucking Teeth rocked, they were nuts, but I think I was just in a grouchy mood. I'll wait to see them again, hopefully in a place where the two drum kits (and the rest of the band) can set up in a way so that they resonate a little better.

I made the mistake once of not buying a whole bunch of used Nerve City records that was in the bins for dirt cheap at Redscroll one day when I was there; they were all gone by the next time I went back, and I'd been mildly regretting it ever since. Nerve City were already playing when I walked through the door on Saturday, and at first I wasn't even sure it was them, since everything was being played with a rock beat and most the reverb was gone... though all the tattoos sorta tipped me off, but I still had to ask somebody. The couple of Nerve City records that I'd heard before (thanks, internet) didn't really prep me for how "regular rock-n-roll"-sounding Nerve City would be on stage, although I guess that's the same sorta thing that Medication does when Mikey plays out live. Anyway, Nerve City were definitely alright, plus afterwards I bought up all the records that the guy had with him, so now at least that's out of the way.

Medication went on last, and were way loud; it might seem funny to say it, but they sounded huge, like a Detroit version of themselves or something. It was pretty awesome to hear them that way, though again maybe the rest of the people in the room didn't think it was as loud as I did. After a while I started to get antsy, so I stuck around long enough for them to play "Neighbors" plus one more song after that, and then I left to go get a Chipwich.


Nerve City -

"Sleepwalker"

Ferocious Fucking Teeth -

"Handsome Creeper"

Medication -

"This Town"

I've Got A Problem With The Way You Talk

Yet another really interesting bill at Popeye's, with the sort of bands you won't usually find anywhere else... the set-up of the room had been switched around so that the bands were playing against the back wall (which is like sheetrock or fabric or something) instead of the concrete wall in the front. It may have even helped the sound out a bit, but I forgot to notice... Jacques Le Coque are a relatively new band from Stamford, and their approach seems to be from the Ty Segall/Moonhearts side of things, which is a good start I guess. They've got the banners but not the ammo, and as I was standing there watching them on Sunday, nothing really jumped out at me in a "wow, that was really neat what they just did" sort of way. I like at least one of the songs that they've posted on their Facebook, so maybe it'll only be a matter of time; until then, I'll just keep them filed under Warrant for now... Tyler Jon Tyler's set was totally enjoyable, which I'll admit was above what I was expecting. Their records verge on skewed indie pop-- at times sounding like Kate Eldridge fronting Unrest or some other Teenbeat band-- but live their drummer and bass player attacked their parts in an almost math-y way, which gave the songs a little extra kick. I don't remember if the other two guys talked at all, but Rebecca kept making self-conscious jokes throughout the set, which was kinda cool and disarming. They've already posted a video from their set on their web site, which you can check out below (the guy with the camera was right next to my elbow)... Medication's set was short, only about six or seven songs, but 7 songs from Medication is still better than 20 songs from any other band. Mikey writes songs that are amazingly efficient, made up of a few simple parts that sink in quickly, and it's hard not to be awed by how good they are. This also might've been my favorite Medication set out of all the ones I've seen, though I'm not sure why-- maybe because it seemed more casual than all the others, who knows.


Tyler Jon Tyler -

"Paul"

Jacques Le Coque -

"Ain't No Fun"

Medication -

"Farewell Letter"




















Tyler Jon Tyler: "Here’s a video of us from Popeye’s Garage, playing a new song
called 'Pacific Daylight Time.' It’s about the SF Giants winning the World Series."