Good stuff tomorrow night at local vegan restaurant, bar, and de facto freak flag flyin’ headquarters The Swan Dive (which has a website now).

Curstillistas, hailing from the Pine Tree State (that’s Maine, ya’ll), are a mysterious and mercurial collective who amalgamate soaring, sunny rhythms with totally schizophrenic instrumentation. Freak folk, yes, but there’s also a visceral accessibility and pulsating, aquatic vibe that makes you feels comfortable while it secretly slips LSD in your earl grey. These dudes are enlightened. They’re on MySpazz, of course, so go see ’bout them. Recommended if you dig Os Mutantes’ more chill repertoire, Benoit Pioulard, and High Places with a touch of Bark Psychosis. Broken twang folk dudes Little Gold and the gorgeously sparse and spacey western haunt of Egret (who you should look out for on the next round of Kentucky Fried Psychedelia) round out a totally fucked acoustic evening. Should be wicked, especially on a crisp fall evening with a body buzz. More info at Joel Hunt’s place.

Speaking of Maine, Phillip Bailey at LEO is reporting that Gucci Mane will not be playing in town next week because his ass is in jail. That sucks. It looked like I could’ve scored free tickets. “LOL Smiley Face,” with Trey Songz and the Soulja Boy, is the third best song of the year. The second is “The Be Colony” from Broadcast and the Focus Group. And the best is Das Racist’s “Combination Pizza Hut Taco Bell.” That’s what’s up, folks. That, and the show info below:

Cursillistas, Egret, and Little Gold
Friday, November 13
The Swan Dive
921 Swan St., Louisville (map that shizz)
9 p.m. / $5 / 21+ (FaCeBoOk)

MP3 :::
Cursillistas – Bag of Feathers

I am completely in love, perhaps an agape love, with the new song Broadcast has been ending all their shows with on the current tour. You know the one I’m talking about… the one with Trish Keenan shredding on a customized electric dulcimer. Like, total “My Dear Companion” meets “Astronomy Domine” meets “Autobahn” meets “Fight For Your Right (To Party)” action. Ya know, the krautrock hoedown. With the help of Pretty Creatures‘ warm analog tape bootleg of the show (you can download it here), I grabbed the finale, cleaned it up a bit (with just a couple of compressors, filters, and a peak limiter – no manipulation of the actual sound), and am providing it below for maximum damage (you can grab the cleaned-up-a-bit version here). No one knows the actual name of this song yet, so I’mma call it “Dulcimer Jam.” Because it features an amplified dulcimer. And it’s a jam.

MP3 :::
Broadcast – Dulcimer Jam [Wexner Center, Columbus, 10.25.09]

I believe that, technically, Atlas Sound is the headliner, but I’m treating this show as if Broadcast was. I love both artists, obviously. However, Bradford Cox, to quote The Spirit of Truth, makes his “ass very available,” whereas Broadcast hasn’t been around in a minute. So for me finally seeing Broadcast, after being a huge fan for six or seven years, is quite huge. They were also the primary motivation for making the three hour trek up I-71. I’m pleased to report that the goods were thoroughly delivered.

Opening was The Selmanaires from Atlanta. They were rad. Think of Gang Gang Dance. Now imagine a non-shitty version of Gang Gang Dance. That’s The Selmanaires. The majority of the set consisted of ambient layers by way of their Mini Korg, which eventually ascended into Mercury Rev-style ornate pop with pervasive, intricate rhythms and nasty low end. Oh, and djembes everywhere. While The Selmanaires were fairly cosmic, they do indeed like the nightlife and/or like to boogie.

One thing I really dug about the Wexner, besides being a nice college facility, was the total absence of fucking around. There was virtually no changeover time. After The Selmanaires finished up their 40-or-so minute set, the crew wheeled out the screen and flipped on the projector. The title card illuminated the screen – Winter Sun Wavelengths. And in the upper left hand corner was the Ghost Box logo, which pretty much guarantees that you’re about to see some shit. Some shit is also known as brain burning hauntological visuals from Julian House’s celestial brain.

So the Broadcast show takes a big fat page from the Wizard of Oz. Actually, spooky technicolor performance piece is a more accurate description, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep referring to it as “show.” Anyway, the “show” was divided, as suggested, into two segments. The first was a 20-minute, highly structured dissonant noise jam set to high contrast black-and-white visuals of opitcal illusions, eye exam cards, sine waves, and barren trees. During the epic psych slam, Broadcast was surprisingly loud. I’d put them on my top ten loudest bands I’ve seen list. Of course, their loudness is different than, say, Dinosaur Jr. Their loudness was dependent on frequencies and wavelengths that hit your ear in a very intense fashion rather than Mogwai-style pure horsepower. The permeating zone-out transmissions pulsated hard. My dome turned in to a cottonball and my balls retracted, not unlike my reaction toward My Bloody Valentine’s Holocaust Section (though Broadcast’s was less demonic).

Then, very suddenly, the barren trees faded – replaced with swirling pastels and a lead in to “Corporeal.” This was the latter half of the show. Broadcast treats their set as one long piece, so most of the songs faded into each other. After some atomic deep sea diving, we were treated to more Tender Buttons action a la “Black Cat,” as well as “Lunch Hour Pops” from Haha Sound, and… gobs of new material. It seems that Broadcast is now distinctly within motorik dream pop realms laced with the type of ambiance found on Witch Cults, meaning that the forthcoming effort(s) will be decidedly different than their pre-HaHa Sound retro-futuristic lounge as well as the glitchy IDM of Tender Buttons.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the finale. Trish Keenan strapped on a dulcimer, which is one of my favorite simple acoustic instruments. For the non-musician types, a dulcimer is a popular tool in traditional Appalachian music. It’s a rather quiet instrument, and one that you can often find with build-it-yourself kits for $30 or so. Hence, I figured we were going to get a break in the stratospheric jams and take a load off with a quiet ballad. No fucking dice. That dulcimer was amplified. Wut chu kno bout an electric dulcimer?!

This, folks, is a krautrock hoedown:

Lana put it best I think. She said something to the effect of “Band did not dick around. Girl sets up, throws up hands and cusses at the sound guy, walks on, says hello, rocks out, bumps into the mic a couple of times, gives a grateful thanks plus buh-bye, and they were out.” She also mentioned she felt “haunted,” and I’ll agree with that. This is art. Broadcast slayed it.

Atlas Sound closed out the evening. B Cox, of course, came out with some his world-famous banter while setting up. The Selmanaires returned to the stage to act as Bradford’s full backing band. I was impressed at how Cox reinterpreted his catalog for the live show. The best way to describe it would be “shoegaze Americana” or “truly cosmic American music” (a play on the Gram Parsons quotation) or “kinda like The Byrds but with more effects pedals.” Harmonica and twangy, tinty guitars were given the same amount of exposure as Deerhunter’s ad infinitum stage drones and effects pedal tweaking. It was a good time, but we had to dart shortly after “Walkabout” so we could get home before 4 a.m. and I could be at work Monday morning without being a total zombie. Besides, I love ya B Cox… but it’s fucking hard to follow up Broadcast. I mean, their live set was Old Testament. I still had crazy tinnitus ringing in my ears during Atlas Sound, ya know. Gonna miss those frequencies.

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with my usual bellyachin’ about how my camera leaves much to be desired. However, I think the camera’s fuzziness in low light, combined with the high contrast visual element of the show, actually worked to our benefit this time. These photos, perhaps ironically, truly capture the telescopic mood of the show better than, say, a big boy camera like the Canon Rebel. I’m extremely pleased with how these turned out, considering troubles I’ve had with concert photos recently. Lana took ‘em all, so please send her some love on her Flickr page.

::: BROADCAST (a.k.a. <3 U TRISH KEENAN!!!1)

::: ATLAS SOUND

Though it should’ve been obvious, it didn’t dawn on me that a live performance by Slint/Tortoise/Crain/Shipping News rowdy crowd The For Carnation at a forward-thinking art celebration (The Speed Museum’s Art After Dark) wouldn’t exactly be a traditional band-plays-in-front-of-you type of gig. No dice on that. While it was odd at first, you realized shortly into the set how original and exciting such an unusual show is to experience.  It’s what Pink Floyd tried to do with their theatrical five city tour for The Wall, except it wasn’t stupid. Regardless of how you felt about its execution, you’ll definitely remember it. After I reflected a bit on what they were doing, I really got into it.

So yes, The For Carnation performed live. But they did so remotely. The group members were stationed in different locales about the museum. The show that you saw happened in the Antiquity Gallery, and it was a video project of the band performing filtered through a pixelated mosaic.

You can’t tell from the photographic evidence, but if you looked closely within the pixels, each was some sort of image, though it was hard to make out what exactly they were. It was quite incredible, actually.

So here we find vocalist Brian McMahan next to the European art collections. Hey. I didn’t find the rest of the band, but I didn’t feel the need to go on an easter egg hunt either.

This show, as well as the entire event, was triumphant and groovy. I noticed other people were videotaping the performance. If anyone has access to other videos (and permission to share), please give me a shout. Have a taste with some video we shot:

The For Carnation plays at the sold-out Ten Years of ATP festival this December in Minehead with Tortoise, Shellac, Fuck Buttons, Deerhoof, The Melvins, Explosions in the Sky, Battles, Lightning Bolt, Sunn 0))), and a slew of other decidedly awesome acts. Get yr. passport notarized, yanks.

MP3 :::
The For Carnation – Emp. Man’s Blues

Anyway, back to the point… the most wonderful time of the year, the Reason for the Season – Halloween – is just around the bend. How do you plan to celebrate? Yeah, you could see Monsters of Folk at the Louisville Palace on this most ghoulish of holidays (whom are icidentally neither monsters nor fuckin’ folk). But it might be more festive and less sissy to bask in the horrifying power electronics and booty bass of new projects from 2/3 of Wolf Eyes and some excellent Derby City dirty noise thrashers foreboding enough to make Michael Gira change his cowboy hat. Think I prefer the latter for sure.

Headlining is Regression. From Boomkat: “Nate Young has taken the noise levels down several notches for his new solo outing as Regression, although the air of implicit, floating darkness cast over the whole affair is very much within his established oeuvre. You could neither classify Regression’s self-titled LP as a noise record or a death ambient record, instead the analog synth dissections and tape treatments more closely reference library music, horror soundtracks, or in its more austere moments, early electronic music. Regression is an outstanding album, proving to be more delicate than a Wolf Eyes full-length has ever been, yet it’s able to match the group’s sonic gravitas – and their uncanny ability to make the extremes of music sound so incredibly seductive.”

Library music? Oh shit yes. And his oft partner in crime John Olson is coming in as Spykes. He will probably still drink all the damn beer. The DIY-centric Nzambi is Louisville’s Christopher Cprek, who you may have seen tweaking knobs during the second (or maybe third) incarnation of Warmer Milks, as well as his other project Pax Titania. Cprek builds all his own shit, so no one could imitate his integallactic sounds even if they tried. Michigan’s Dog Lady opens up with some amplified violin, modified electronics, and various forest nymph summoning. In short, these guys put the “monsters of” in Mosters of Folk. Believe that.

Ya know what’s the weirdest thing though? This is all happening Saturday night at the Zanzabar! An insane noise show at the Zbar on a Saturday night! I guess somebody at the club owed Joel Hunt a serious favor.

Regression, Spykes, Nzambi, and Dog Lady
Saturday, October 24
Zanzabar
2100 S. Preston St., Louisville (map that shizz)
9 p.m. / $5
21+

“Black Vomit” is one of my favorite Wolf Eyes jams. It’s about having fun and making friends.

MP3 :::
Wolf Eyes – Black Vomit

Fuck! I just reported today how The For Carnation is playing their first show in, what, seven years or so at the Speed Museum’s Art After Dark event, then I realized that’s also the same night that Siltbreeze patriots Blues Control and locals Sapat bust brains across town. OMG MULTITASKING LOL.

Ya know, it is possible that The For Carnation will play a lot earlier than the general 10 p.m. start times at Lisa’s, so you may be able to do both. But then again, perhaps you might want to show up to the Blues Control/Sapat gig early, considering that Lisa’s is small, Sapat draws a fairly large crowd locally, and Blues Control spent a chunk of this year supporting Animal Collective on tour and probably picked up lots of fresh fans along the way. Good gravy, ya’ll, don’t know what to tell you. I’mma try to do both.

I submit for your consideration some previous write-ups I’ve done on both bands:

Blues Control (from the Puff EP write-up) – “Always on Time” is straight from space.  It’s the sound emitting from the SETI experiments.  Large, cavernous waves of radiation and solar wind flush around a simple, rarely changing Neu-esque piano melody with the reverb turned up all the way and dripping in condensation for 12 big minutes. The harmonica on “Behind the Skies” is the only indication that Blues Control is going to attempt to live up to its name, a mid-tempo, fuzzed-out burner reminiscent of Lightning Bolt on purple drank (perhaps there’s a connection between Ride the Skies and Behind the Skies?).  R-O-C-K in the U-S-A.

Sapat (from the Jana Hunter/Crazy Dreams Band preview) – Sapat is a local collective that features between eight and one million people (depending on the type of show), all of whom have a like-minded approach to fringe music. Sapat is a pulsating orb of eclecticism and mysticism – never cateogorizable, but always freaky, funky, and brain splattering. Sapat’s expansive beauty and unwavering experimentation is what makes Louisville amazing. They are truly a breath of fresh air. Remember that part in Amistad when they’re in the court room and the bro is all ike “give us… free!”? Sapat gives you free with every show.

Blues Control and Sapat
Friday, October 23
Lisa’ Oak Street Lounge
1004 E. Oak St., Louisville (map that shizz)
9 p.m.-ish
21+

Blues Control Unleash the Dragon World Tour 2K9*
*= not actually the name of the tour, though that might’ve been the name of an Aerosmith tour

10.12.09 – Princeton, NJ – WPRB – in-studio 3pm EST
10.16.09 – Philadelphia, PA – Pilam
10.18.09 – New Haven, CT – Bar
10.19.09 – Ithaca, NY – The Shop
10.20.09 – Scranton, PA – The Bog
10.21.09 – Pittsburgh, PA – Garfield Artworks $
10.22.09 – Cincinnati, OH – Art Damage Lodge $
10.23.09 – Louisville, KY – Lisa’s Oak Street Lounge %
10.24.09 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle – early show @
10.25.09 – Madison, WI – Good Style Shop
10.26.09 – St Paul, MN – Turf Club
10.27.09 – Kansas, City MO – Record Bar
10.29.09 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court – early show
10.29.09 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge – late show
10.30.09 – Boise, ID – Neurolux
10.31.09 – Olympia, WA – The Northern – Halloween &!
11.01.09 – Seattle, WA – Funhouse &
11.02.09 – Vancouver, BC – Little Mountain Studios
11.03.09 – Portland, OR – Someday Lounge
11.05.09 – San Francisco, CA – Hemlock Tavern =
11.06.09 – Oakland, CA – Continental Club +
11.07.09 – Sacramento, CA – Luigi’s Slice <
11.08.09 – Santa Cruz, CA – CREPE PLACE >
11.09.09 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Crossroads
11.10.09 – Irvine, CA – UC Irvine ^
11.11.09 – Los Angeles, CA – Synchrocity ^
11.12.09 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
11.13.09 – Phoenix, AZ – Trunk Space
11.16.09 – Denton, TX – J&J’s Pizza
11.17.09 – Austin, TX – The Mohawk
11.18.09 – Houston, TX – Mango’s
11.19.09 – New Orleans, LA – Allways Lounge
11.21.09 – Nashville, TN – Dino’s
11.22.09 – Asheville, NC – Harvest Records
11.23.09 – Chapel Hill, NC – Nightlight

$ Puffy Areolas
# Kurt Vile
! Tyvek
% Sapat
@ Ga’an
Chinese Stars
& Little Claw
+ Sic Alps
= Hank IV
^ Pocahaunted
< The Duchess and the Duke
> Lucky Dragons

MP3 :::
Blues Control – Behind the Skies
Sapat – Dark Silver

While I’ve always enjoyed Grouper’s recorded work, she’s a whole other beast live. The first 15 minutes of her performance at last month’s ATP festival *slamming head on desk for not going* is nothing but the most epic nature music ever. Flying over mountains, exploring oceanic trenches – her live shit is stratospheric and aquatic. I can’t stop listening to this excerpt. Thanks WFMU for winning at everything.

You can grip the entire bootleg here.

MP3 :::
Grouper – Live @ ATP [excerpt]

Erika Thrasher’s got a lot to smile about, since Houston-based shamanistic noise psych troubadours Indian Jewelry start a healthy string of tour dates tonight in the most beautiful city’s that’s a bitch to bike, San Francisco. Not sure if this new tour means that a new album is in a the works, but this rather comprehensive jaunt is more than satisfactory in itself. I tried to bring Indian Jewelry to Louisville during this leg, but unfortunately they had to agree to the Cincy date (which is okay since the Art Damage Lodge is awesome). You’ve gotta see these dudes live. I’ll probably make the trip myself. They wear tunics, adorn the stage with animal skulls, tin foil, and a Texas state flag, blast flood-level strobe lights everywhere, and keep things evil at all times. The live show is epileptic madness. Plus, the group has solidified an impressive and eclectic collection of support dates, playing with everyone from Kurt Vile and Faust, to !!! and Celebration, to Sword Haven and Psychic Ills. Insane.

9/26 – San Francisco, CA – Independent
9/27 – Los Angeles, CA – The Troubadour
9/28 – Costa Mesa, CA – The Detroit Bar
9/29 – Phoenix, AZ – The Rhythm Room
9/30 – Tucson, AZ – Hotel Congress
10/02 – Lawrence, KS – The Replay Lounge
10/03 – Grinnell, IA – Grinnell College
10/04 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
10/05 – Bloomington, IN – The Bishop
10/06 – Detroit, MI – Museum of Contemporary Art
10/07 – Cleveland, OH – Now That’s Class
10/08 – Poughkeepsie, NY – Vassar College
10/09 – New York, NY – Cake Shop
10/11 – New Haven, CT – Sundazed at Bar New Haven
10/13 – Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands
10/15 – Baltimore, MD – Load of Fun
10/16 – Gambier, OH – Horn Gallery at Kenyan College
10/17 – Cincinnati, OH – Art Damage Lodge
10/18 – Atlanta, GA – Eyedrum
10/19 – Mobile, AL – Alabama Music Box
10/22 – Austin, TX – Club DeVille
10/23 – Houston, TX – TBA

The boys and girls made a commercial advertising their “Live Music” tour. I think it captures their music well. Especially the clip of the Oregon Trail-style caravan fording the river.

MP3 :::
Indian Jewelry – Nonetheless

You may remember in our interview with Mr. Lockett Pundt last spring that he said he may play live, and if he did, he would try it in front of friends in Atlanta. Well, he’s done just that. Mucho propso to the Aquarium Drunkard to getting me hip to this recording from Tuesday night (originally posted at ol’ Bradford’s blog – Internet moves fast, ya’llz).

MP3 :::
Lotus Plaza – Live at the Eyedrum in Atlanta

Two quick items notes. First, Invaders were amazing live. While on record, you could sorta pinpoint where they came from and where they’re going – a little shoegaze here, and little stoner metal there. Live, they’re something completely different. Invaders are not really anything. They’re not space rock, they’re not shoegaze… they’re vaguely rock and roll mixed with something sinister. Essentially, they’ve created a new sound. Not only is that a huge compliment, but it’s heartwarming to know that there’s music coming out of Louisville that is truly new. Invaders are a major force in this.

I color saturated the shit out of this video because that’s sort of the visual I have in my head when I hear their music. Plus, I think it looks cool – ya know, Exploding Plastic Inevitable, et al. Another good video shot by Lana-style:

UPDATE 9.21 – The videos have decided to unembed themselves, and I can’t figure out what’s going on. Totally weird and bogus. I have to go to work, so I’ll try to fix this later. In the interim, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ateasegentlemen to view my videos.

Secondly, as usual, the photos are kinda shitty because our camera is kinda shitty. Lana was able to take a few really good shots of Marmoset, though. But ultimately, I need better tools. So Bloggins is saving up for a good SLR camera as we speak, and additional concert coverage on this blog will improve. I’m goin’ pro, ya’llz. And, best of all, you, the reader, won’t have to hear me bellyache anymore about it! Righteous!

I wasn’t able to get any coverage of The Harlequins because I’m a bad blogger. I was drinking beer during their set and enjoying myself. Sorry. But I will say that they are a good band, the singer wears rowdy stripped trousers, and you should see them. Very early Kinks-ish with a modern flair.

Marmoset played MY FAVORITE SONG off MY FAVORITE ALBUM (Record In Red – which Jorma, I believe, sarcastically described in a quick banter session as a “horrible album”) out of sheer happenstance. I was pumped:

UPDATE 9.21 – The videos have decided to unembed themselves, and I can’t figure out what’s going on. Totally weird and bogus. I have to go to work, so I’ll try to fix this later. In the interim, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ateasegentlemen to view my videos.

Okay, I think that covers it. Oh, I got to meet Jorma after the show, and that dude’s rad. All the Marmoset dudes are rad, as they were cracking jokes and acting very relaxed and goofy throughout their performance. It was good clean fun. Thanks to everyone who came out! We had a pretty good turnout, and I’ll definitely be doing more shows at Skull Alley. Very nice place indeed…