Sometimes corporate events get it right. Though my more principled
peers might object, when someone books two of my favorite bands and
pours free liquor down my throat, I can’t help but look favorably upon
their brand. I want you to go to a website called Shockhound.com and
buy a lot of whatever they’re selling, because last Sunday, said site
brought crowds of rock nerds to Santos’ Party House for (what else?) a
party that tested the limits of how crappy one can feel on Monday
morning and still make it into work.First, one-man band Soft Circle did some drum and bass type stuff. I’m a sucker for live samples, and multi-instrumentalist Hisham Akira Bharoocha (formerly of Black Dice) made some nice bass, drum and vocal loops over which he performed some excellent live drumming. It was a tad repetitive and most of the songs lasted a long time without evolving much, but I guess that’s part of the point.
Next, Titus Andronicus played rowdy, distorted rock that reminded me of now defunct Bright Eyes side project Desaparecidos, only less sloppy and more fun. This is either good or bad, depending how much you liked Conor Oberst’s bleating/screaming and the band’s lo-fi attack on pop chord progressions. If you hated it, you will hate Titus Andronicus (albeit less than you hated Desaparecidos). However, as a huge fan of Desaparecidos and early Bright Eyes, I loved seeing a band not only pick up the ball Oberst dropped when he started skewing towards adult contemporary dad music, but run with it. Lead singer Andrew Cedermark gave off a cool Springsteen vibe when he brought out the harmonica then busted out with some surprisingly impressive guitar solos. The band even showed some range with a nice slow song. I’d have more to say about the slow song, but I was distracted by a leggy blonde in a t-shirt and pantyhose doing some incongruous go-go-ing (I know you’re hot and all, but tights are still not pants). Also, I saw Cedermark (or his lookalike) at House of Vegetarian Dim Sum while I was eating there before the show, so he gets extra points for good taste in restaurants.
No Age was characteristically flippant, asking “do you like the columns and disco balls? before launching into a set of super tight art punk. “Yes we can play a song,” sneered vocalist/drummer Dean Spunt, and were it not for guitarist Randy Randall’s recent tussle with Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson staffers over his Obama t-shirt, one might peg them as a couple of cynical mofos mocking the excitement of so many hopeful voters. The fact that even flippant L.A. post-post-punks can get excited about this guy speaks volumes about him, I guess.
Despite the show being guest list only, there were enough enthusiastic fans up front to make a respectable ruckus, if not the sweaty mass of bodies in motion that accompanies No Age shows. Folks went especially mad for the opening chords of “Eraser,” the first track on recent, excellent Nouns. I found it endearing when Spunt shouted “This next song is called ‘Fuck Prop 8 in the Face!’” several times. He also name-checked Nirvana (in case we’d forgotten what a historically awesome label they’re on) before giving props to Titus Andronicus and Soft Circle. At the end of the show, the smart ones among us stumbled home to start sleeping it off, while the rest stayed to double-fist one more pair of vodka crans under the colored lights. Our hangovers Monday morning were more than worth it.
