It’s worth noting immediately that the Round Robin Tour – Deerhunter, No Age, and Dan Deacon performing “in the round,” as it’s called – was one of the best times I’ve had at a show in recent memory. The show was intense yet lighthearted, and loud as hell throughout. The music, in all aspects, was simply impeccable. Case in point: I walked into the show more or less liking No Age and Dan Deacon, but not really feeling either way about them. As far as I was concerned, I was there for Deerhunter and that’s that. However, with solid, incredible performances by every act, my attitude was altered about 15 minutes into the show.

Of course, the comfortable nature of Newport’s historic Southgate House, with its balcony seating, cheap drinks, good air circulation, and general professional level of production played no small part in this as well. There were four opening acts for the headlining threesome (zomg! unintentional pr0nz). So, by my arithmetic, seven different artists played – all of whom had varying instrumentation that was probably challenging to mic and mix. Yet there was absolutely no change-over time. You were treated to music non-stop from 8 p.m. doors to 1 a.m. curfew. Tickets for this show were $10. That’s value you don’t get much too often in these economic times. So bravo to Southgate House for keeping the tickets low and the music rolling without a hitch. I love this venue.

The first act was already performing on the ballroom floor by the time we made it in (the line slithered all the way up to York Street). It was a mostly-female noise group whose name I did not catch, and were not terribly remarkable anyway. But I hadn’t had a highball in me yet, so maybe I was just being Grouchy Jones.

White Rainbow played next, and he was the best of the four openers. A menacing one-man sound machine, White Rainbow plays it just like I like it – simple drones building up to loud washes of gentle oscillations. Then he rips a funky guitar line, loops it, and builds a technicolor wall of sound. It was very reminiscent of Growing, whom I oft spring chub for. I wish his set was longer than the alloted 15 or 20 minutes he played. He’s got a new club banger coming out on Kranky in October called New Clouds. No doubt that shit will be tight.

The crowd was really into one-man act Ed Schrader. I still can’t figure out how I feel about him. I guess that’s challenging performance art in practice? And if that’s the case, does that mean he’s “good” or “artistically relevant” (cue Hipster Runoff)? Dressed in his Heavens Gate best (all white), Schrader banged on a tom and throatily sang surreal lyrics in rockabilly fashion. And that was it – drum, voice, and inter-song banter and antics. I felt like I had a confundus charm cast upon me during the jam. I dunno, maybe it was cool. I went and grabbed a cocktail in the middle of it. Shit confused Bloggins.

Infinite Body, in theory, was good, but very taxing to listen to at the height of anticipation for “No Deachunter.” After two rather excitable openers and the funky fresh brain rape from White Rainbow, it was very difficult for me to enjoy light space drone that seemingly went nowhere (though L-Train said she enjoyed him the most of the four openers). His lights were cool, though.

At this point, it was already 10:30 p.m., but we did not wait long for Deuce D to appear first, then the ‘Hunters, then the two Bro Agers. The show began with a three act collaboration on Deerhunter’s “Cyrptograms.” It didn’t sound terribly different with the others’ input, but it was certainly fuller. No Age added extra drums and guitar to the song’s climaxes, and Deacon sprinkled electronic flourishes where applicable. After “Cryptograms,” the three acts began to take turns playing their songs in order -  No Age, then Deacon, then back to Deerhunter. Most of the show operated in this fashion, and that was just fine with us.

No Age was impressive. As mentioned, I liked No Age going in, but never found them anything to write home about – ya know, on record, the collective act as a general noisy punk group who ocassionally throw in ambient tracks for continuity. Live, they’re a different beast; a firey, snarky acid punk juggernaut. The band, as a duo, was chunky, full, and clear. It’s amazing what a little reverberation and amplication on the drum kit will do to up the ante. Each song they played was compact and succinct, ripping though much of Nouns, and keeping it all punk as fuck. They catalyzed a lot of crowd surfing, which is rather unusual at most of the shows I go to. You could cut the intensity with a knife. I see now why No Age is not overrated.

Deerhunter definitely delivered the goods. They kept the improvisation to a minimum compared with other bootlegs I’ve listened to, but hey, they were sharing the show. No time for dickin’ around with effects pedals. More importantly, Deerhunter has developed into a tighter entity over the years. The group certainly isn’t just a collection of studio dudes, they’ve got chops, too, and hearing the zenith of “Nothing Ever Happened” over thousands of watts was boisterous and Biblical. The band kept their set pretty Microcastle heavy, delivering the aforemtnioned, as well as “Cover Me/Agoraphobia,” and “Never Stops.” Though I would’ve enjoyed some deeper cuts – anything off of Turn It Up, Faggot or the latest Rainwater Cassette Exchange, it was awesome hearing the bombastic rendition of the title track off Fluorescent Grey:

Dan Deacon, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the showman of the evening. A veritable PT Barnum, Deacon decorated the stage with his various contraband – party lights, battery-powered flood lamps (for passing around the crowd), a trippy green skull staring into your soul – and ripped right in to his Future Shock synth assault, including the infamous “The Crystal Cat.” Antics abounded, including ample audience participation and human architecture experiments… like the one below. Unfortunately, the camera’s memory card was full during the song’s climax so the video cuts off. But you get the jist – a Dan Deacon show is basically a carnival (or a carnivale):

The show ended the way it began, with a everybody-gather-’round performance of No Age’s “Everybody’s Down.” If you’re familiar with the song, you know about its quite-loud dynamic. When the song kicked in after a minute and a half, six guitars, two drummers, and a madman behind a green skull and various analogue equipment extended the four-chord progression for over five minutes, with guitarist Randy Randall handing over his divining rod to the audience to let everyone else get a strum in. The bands were noticably having a blast, the crowd was ecstatic, vibes were good… I couldn’t think of a complaint if I was paid to… except maybe for being unable to figure out what Ed Schrader’s all about.

The seven date Round Robin tour ends tonight in Milwaukee, so if you’re in the SoWisc/Chicagoland area, make haste. It will be worth a scalper’s price if ya gotta.

Major industrial-sized props are due in the direction of mah boi Jim Lerza and Emily Crothers, who, after hearing about my recent camera issues and lack of funds, donated one for us to use. Secondly, Lana again came correct on the photo tip and snapped some of the best of the set, which are included below. If you like her stuff, visit her Flickr – dissonantobjective.

More photos after the jump.

YANP’s Matty J doin’ what he do:
The setup:

You’ll remember that I’ve been impressed, amused, and intrigued by the Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt) and Brian Miller (Foot Village) online civic engagement brainchild Noise for Obama. No Age was very happy to chip in and offer an official artist statement pledging their allegiance to Senator Obama. They recently tried to do the same thing on late night broadcast television as well, but with less success. Did CBS censor No Age?

From Arthur:

Last week I got a call from Randy Randall, guitarist for Los Angeles rock duo No Age, who are currently on the Sub Pop record label. Randy was flustered, talking a mile-a-minute, about what had just gone down. The band had just finished performing a song for some sort of Craig Ferguson/CBS TV thing that was to be broadcast October 27–just over a week before the presidential election. Cameras were about to roll when suddently they were told by an on-set CBS underling that something needed to go: Randy’s Obama t-shirt.

This wasn’t because CBS wanted No Age to go topless. They’re keeping that for the spring break special. No, this was because, the CBS person said, the Obama shirt was on-air editorializing–a possible violation of some FCC edict which this person claimed called for equal time to be given to opposing political viewpoints.

One problem: the last remnant of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” was repealed in 1987; the repeal was upheld by court ruling in 1989.

Since then, corrollary rules of the Fairness Doctrine–the “personal attack” rule and the “political editorial” rule–have also been struck down in the courts, with the last court ruling (and subsequent FCC order) coming in 2000.

In short, there is no fairness rule. Randy’s Obama shirt was perfectly broadcastable under every existing law.

But neither No Age nor their people at Sub Pop were aware of the Fairness Doctrine’s long-ago demise, and took CBS at their word.

After much deliberation, Randy put on another shirt, which said “Free Health Care,” the band played, and the show will, apparently, air.

Two thoughts on this:

1) I attended a number of panels on a similar issue at one of the CBI conferences a couple of years ago, so my memories on the details of this issue are a little fuzzy. A really important point, though, that this article leaves out is that the Equal Time Rule, similar to the Fairness Doctrine, does still exist. The name is a bit misleading, however, as it only applies to the two major parties (the reason Nader was pissed in 2000). It’s entirely possibly that the CBS representative misspoke or got their common law mixed up.

Equal Time is interesting insofar as it requires broadcasters to provide equal time, but not require them to broadcast equal time for both candidates. That is to say, if a candidate forfeits his or her opportunity, the broadcaster can still proceed to air a conversation or debate with the other candidate(s). Equal Time is also meant to be very precise, as in, if one minute is provided to one candidate, that minute must also be available to the opposing candidate. I’m not sure if this is actually tallied or if broadcasters are expected to follow “the spirit of the law.”

The general intent of Equal Time was to provide a check and balance on the media to keep broadcasters from setting election and policy agendas, though communication theory says that they still set the agenda and that’s another discussion altogether. Equal Time was originally established in the mighty Communications Act of 1934 (ya know, the one that created the FCC) in Section 315. Let’s take a look:

If any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station: Provided, That such licensee shall have no power of censorship over the material broadcast under the provisions of this section. No obligation is imposed under this subsection upon any licensee to allow the use of its station by any such candidate. Appearance by a legally qualified candidate on any—

(1) bona fide newscast,
(2) bona fide news interview,
(3) bona fide news documentary (if the appearance of the candidate is incidental to the presentation of the subject or subjects covered by the news documentary), or
(4) on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events (including but not limited to political conventions and activities incidental thereto),

shall not be deemed to be use of a broadcasting station within the meaning of this subsection. Nothing in the foregoing sentence shall be construed as relieving broadcasters, in connection with the presentation of newscasts, news interviews, news documentaries, and on-the-spot coverage of news events, from the obligation imposed upon them under this chapter to operate in the public interest and to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance.

Did CBS censor No Age? Well, sure, in a way. But who was in the right? I’m in no way a lawyer, but I was a pre-law student for a couple of years with some law hours under my belt, and I’d like to think I have a reasonable understanding of some of the umbrella issues presented in this scenario. First, I understand that, regardless of the government regulation issues, CBS is still a business venture, a private company with private sponsors, and can dictate what will be aired at their discretion whether it’s right or wrong. The following arguments attempt to entertain more lofty issues than that (censorship, Constitutionality, and originalist interpretations of Equal Time).

A quick pro-No Age discussion argument: The Late Late Show, to my knowledge, does not prohibit what their guests explicit express, spoken or otherwise, unless it’s in direct violation of indecency and obscenity codes. So, by default, it could be argued that equal time is implicit unless the producers of the Late Late Show disallow guests from wearing McCain schwag or speaking their mind politically. In addition, the clause strictly prohibits censorship of political advertising. Randall’s choice of apparel is a form of political advertising. Moreover, Randall’s statement is not subject to same set of standards set forth in Section 315(b), 2c, as the appearance was presumably not approved or endorsed by Obama’s campaign. Also, a reasonable person would not be unfairly swayed by way of Randall’s statement, nor does CBS demonstrate a clear intent to further such a political agenda. And finally, the statements made by guests are not the opinion of CBS, The Late Late Show, or any other persons other than the speaker themselves, suggesting no negligence on the side of CBS and the absence of any reasonably-interpreted editorializing. CBS’ actions against No Age could set a dangerous precedent suggesting that the network and producers can pick and choose what songs artists perform, what guests can or cannot say (within reason of FCC “community standard” guidelines), and other issues that fly in the face of the “marketplace of ideas” notion and, of course, First Amendment issues.

A quick pro-CBS discussion argument: Since the Late Late Show is not, by any stretch, a form of news, it is not subject to any of the exceptions of equal time. The scope of prohibiting campaign advertising censorship is written to imply a broadcaster cannot censor a political advertisement from a campaign as established in both sections (a) and (b), thus, not applying to No Age’s non-verbal statement. Moreover, no Constitutional issue exists insofar as No Age appeared”at will” on the Late Late Show, tacitly agreeing to the rules and guidelines set forth therein by the broadcaster (an appearance is, essentially, employment, the standard of “at will”). I would be interested to see a network television appearance contract and rider.

I’m very anti-censorship myself and I feel that there’s a strong argument that could condemn the actions of CBS. However, I don’t feel CBS acted completely unreasonably. This is not to say that this particular drama doesn’t suck, I’m simply asserting that these concerns, from both the network and the band, are understandable. Pragmatically speaking, CBS had to engage in a risk assessment. Remember, this was the network that was heavily scolded by the FCC for Janet Jackson’s Halftime Show shenanigans. In their interests, it would be silly to risk incurring the oft arbitrary wrath of the FCC in exchange for not bumming No Age out. The cardinal rule during my time at WRFL concerning what was appropriate for broadcast was, in the presence of doubt, don’t do it. In this sense, this particular instance was vague enough to provide various arguments on either side, and CBS wasn’t willing to risk it. What should be condemned is the over-eagerness of the FCC, without much oversight, to determine what is or isn’t editorializing, not necessarily CBS’ wariness of paying punitive fees.

2) Why… in the hell… does motherfuckin’ Craig Ferguson have a show? Watching him make jokes is like watching the Challenger take off.

Enjoy two slam jams from Weirdo Rippers, which I like better than Nouns I think, whilst you contemplate all these issues and feel your head implode. You can buy Weirdo Rippers here.

MP3 :::
No Age – Loosen This Job
No Age – Boy Void