Live Music

[Lexi Darling]

After the screen dropped, Ogre was dressed as a black robed specter, with the other person acting as a shadowy doppelgänger who kept look like he was trying to kill him. Then he took off the robes and was an X-Files style alien with glowing eyes, which gave me a sudden appreciation for Skinny Puppy's under-recognized sense of humor.

This is the exact experience I would want from seeing a Skinny Puppy show, haha. Glad you had such a great experience!

[Janszoon]

Conan
with Thra and Bone Weapon

What a fucking show! I've seen Conan before—which I think was the last time they came to my city—and they were great. So I jumped at the opportunity to see them a second time, and again they were fantastic. For anyone unfamiliar, they're a doom metal band with a very heavy noise rock side to them. They describe themselves as "caveman battle doom", which is a pretty accurate description. Their music is stripped down, raw, and generally faster than most doom bands and they delivered every bit of the pummeling experience I was expecting. I had never heard second opener Thra before, but they were great as well—pure brutal death sludge/doom that was like a tank rolling over the audience. I'm looking forward to listening to more of their stuff. The first opener, Bone Weapon, were good as well. Before the show I overheard one the band members saying that this was like their third time playing a show, and watching them play I could see that they had things they still needed to work out, but they were still solid and I see a lot of potential in them.

For anyone curious, here's some live Conan from last year:

[Janszoon]

The David Murray Trio

A couple nights ago I went to a newish jazz club/bar/coffee shop/record store near me and checked out The David Murray Trio. They're a drums/bass/sax combo who play what I would describe as free jazz rooted in hard bop. They were great. All three of them played flawlessly. David Murray's sax playing was generally the most experimental part of the music, but he frequently chilled on the sidelines and let the other two lay down some groovy awesomeness. I dug the new venue as well and ended up buying a Last Exit record before I left.

Anyway, here's a snippet of the show I was at if anyone's interested:

[Janszoon]

Off!
with Die Spitz

Went to this last night at a local church basement that's known for punk and metal shows. I hadn't been there since sometime before the pandemic, but it really hasn't changed. I'm not super into Off!—though I do like them—but I do love Circle Jerks and have never seen them live. So I jumped at the chance to at least see Keith Morris live. The show was really good and Keith has a hell of a lot of energy for a guy in his late sixties. The crowd was really high energy too and reminded me of the time I saw Subhumans in that same church basement a decade and a half ago. The opening band, Die Spitz were really good too—sort of in the same sonic ballpark as the first Distillers album. Reading up on them after the show, I was shocked to discover that they're barely out of high school and most of them literally learned how to play their instruments within the past three years.

Here's some Off!:

And some Die Spitz:

[Janszoon]

Willie Nelson's Picnic 2024
It was Independence Day in these parts, and my wife and I took the ferry to New Jersey to one of the worst venues in the area for this festival. It's one of those pavilion places with lawn seats that usually suck, but this place sucks more than most of its kind. It was also a million degrees out today, so the environment wasn't cooperating either. That said, here's the breakdown of who we saw.

Mavis Staples: She's 84 years old but still has an incredibly powerful voice and a commanding stage presence. I wasn't that into her set in general, but she did a great cover of the Talking Heads' "Slippery People".

Maren Morris: Reading about her, she seems like a cool person, but her music just didn't do it for me. It was that type of pop country with a dash of rock and R&B that's so prevalent recently. Honestly, I was bored.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: I wasn't sure what to expect with this. I like Alison Krauss and mostly like Robert Plant, but it just didn't seem like a promising pairing. Nevertheless, they were great. This was largely because of Alison Krause and her usual group of stellar collaborators, but Robert Plant's vocals (shared with Krause) worked well too. Their set made me want to check out more by them.

Bob Dylan: I've never been a huge fan, but I've heard things by him that I like. This set though? Blah. It was hard to even tell when the performance began and ended. He had zero stage presence and meandered through a set of anemic blues with his uninspired band. If I saw him open for someone and didn't know who he was, I would definitely forget about his set the next day.

Willie Nelson: He was fantastic! Yes, his guitar and vocals sometimes needed an assist from his band, which includes his son, but it's hard to imagine anyone sounding better at the age of 91. I'm so glad I got to see him.

[Marie Monday]

I saw Han Bennink and the ICP orchestra yesterday and it was delightful. An odd but moving moment was Han singing a song by Misha Mengelberg at the end

[Janszoon]

I saw Han Bennink and the ICP orchestra yesterday and it was delightful. An odd but moving moment was Han singing a song by Misha Mengelberg at the end

Insane Clown Posse orchestra?

[tristan_geoff]

I saw Julia Holter this year it was fantasticcc her expression was so different each moment always glowing and full of mystery and whimsy and emotion!!

The music reminded me somewhat of the artsier 80s bands, with fretless bass, sampled mystical sound effects, well placed almost jazzy drumming... Julia played keyboard alongside someone who looked very much like Ryan Gosling lmao.

Very incredible show it felt so magical the whole time

[innerspaceboy]

KMFDM is coming to town this fall. I might be too old for it but it's nice to see them still touring.