This was my first visit to Todd P's mostly (totally?) legit venue in East Williamsburg, which has a real bar (still cheap drinks) while still offering that basement party vibe that he's known for. I wish it was a little more legit -- stage lighting would be a plus in my book, but I am old.
I digress. Seattle's all-girl group The Trucks were my reason for heading out there. Fronted by keyboardists Kristen Allen-Zito and Marissa Moore (both in their skivvies, though with tights underneath), the Trucks are definitely in the pro-femme eletro-indie mode, not unlike Le Tigre but definitely doing their own thing. Most of their songs featured sung/shouted lyrics like "You can't hate a girl who looks good dancing" and "No I won't sit nice and be quiet!" As good as The Trucks' self-titled debut is, and with a fiery, in-your-face live show, I'm a little surprise more hasn't been written about them. I'd be willing to bet this will change by the time they make it back to NY in October.
MP3: The Trucks - Old Bikes (From The Trucks | buy it!)
The shouting continued with The Deathset, a punky duo who use laptop backing and the kind of drum machines that were probably cutting edge in 1985 making for a sound not unlike Bis, the first Pop Will Eat Itself album or (obscure reference alert) The Sicilian Vespers. It was a seamless, if anarchic, 25 minute set with hip hop snippets thrown in between the short, sharp songs. I thought they were great -- and the crowd was going absolutely bananas with even some goodhearted crowd surfing, and absolutely no water balloons.
MP3: The Deathset - Impossible
(From Rad Warehouses Bad Neighborhoods | buy it!)
Also on the bill was Toronto's DD/MM/YYYY, who jumped around a lot, especially the bassist who did a lot of purposeful backward leaps flat on his lumbar region. It looked painful to me, but I guess when you have socialized medicine you don't worry as much about injuring yourself. Like all the bands that night, DD/MM/YYY had endless enthusiasm which made up for the general sloppiness of the set. There were times when it jelled -- the band occasionally has two drummers and that worked really well with their polyrythmic indie rock.
MP3: DDD/MM/YYYY - Imagine!
(From Are They Masks? | buy it!)
I missed openers Team Robspierre and didn't stick around for S-S-S-Spectres, though after their profile on Idolator today, maybe I shoulda toughed it out. They'll be back.
I love the Trucks!!!!!!
Posted by: H | Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 04:17 PM
Hey guys, look at this amazing DD/MM/YYYY auction on eBay. This is a wicked auction where you can get signed guitars and other cool signed items from the Virgin Festivals. Just go to http://www.ebay.com/virginunite. All of the proceeds go to charity too. Check it out if you want to win cool stuff for some awesome prices.
http://www.ebay.com/virginunite
Posted by: Miranda | Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 04:37 PM