There's No Truth Anyways

Friday night, while all the cool people nobody was at the Brava Spectre / Mammoth Hunter show in Willimantic, I was at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford to see Beloved Binge, from North Carolina. First, though, I had to suffer through some interminable local band (bass player who plays with his bass above his navel and makes slap/popping sounds + drummer with roto-toms + guitar player who wears a vest and makes guitar faces = DISASTER), but after a few walks around the block and some fiddling with my camera (hence the picture of the front door, below), it was finally safe to go back inside the building.

Actually, the opening band probably set things up well for Beloved Binge, because by the time they went on I was dying to hear anything that was short, sloppy, and to the point. For that I was rewarded, at least, because whatever Beloved Binge lack in technical virtuosity they more than make up for in their willingness to try just about anything during the course of their set. Toy xylophones as instruments, playing drums and keyboards at the same time, banging on guitar strings like a percussion instrument, whatever. Sure, it's not often that I'm in the mood to hear this sort of thing (I saw Shellshag doing something similar last year and found it completely annoying), but on this particular night it agreed with me fine, especially the blown-out Dinosaur Jr. part in "Married on Myspace" and the minimalist indie rock throb of "Miso (I Don't Like People)"-- "I don't like people, but still, I'm trying".

Plus, any time someone can drive the point home about what a mess seven-minute bloated prog-rock songs are, even if it's coincidental, that's fine with me.


Beloved Binge -

"Recall"

(this file is now listen-only)