Show Review: The Jesus and Mary Chain at House of Blues

Ever since Monday I’ve been holding my breath after finding out that the Scottish noise gods cancelled their date at Denton 35. I was having unpleasant flashbacks of post-punk disappointment last summer when Killing Joke killed their plans for a US tour which included a spot at Summer Fest’s Budweiser stage.

The show started a little late because the band was having power issues with their UK based gear. One of the staff told me that they ran to Rockin Robin’s to get some help. Doors opened a little late but no matter, I was first in line. The opener was a band from LA that I didn’t enjoy all that much. The vocalist had a very nasally voice and the music was a cloying power-pop but the front man was so chipper and friendly that it was hard not to root for him.

Jim Reid was far less hairy but no of less bad ass. The between song banter was friendly but the man kept a stiff upper lip during the whole performance, never looking he needed to be there. Will Reid definitely had a few extra pounds and some wrinkles but his guitar didn’t seem to notice this. His setup allowed him to faithfully produce the jagged, brittle, clangs of his past work.

The highlight of the show for me was a dark snarling rendition of Reverence. William was allowed to fully break out here, filling the room with warbling feedback and white noise. Here is an incomplete set list, in no particular order:

-Sidewalking
-Head On
-April Skies
-Happy when it rains
-Cracking Up
-Just like Honey
-Some Candy talking
-Reverence
-Teenage Lust
-Never Understand

The Drums - Portamento

Brooklyn indie-pop band The Drums have returned with a new album that more than lives up to their debut. The band has built on top of their twee style by forging further into post-punk and psych within an easily consumable indie-pop format.

Further comparisons of the band's musical style to New Order are inevitable with songs like "I need a doctor" which includes a punchy bass line, drifty guitars, a short electronic sample, and classic post-punk percussion.

Unlike New Order though, the vocals, like the last album, are in most instances super-harmonized, a little like Rogue Wave. But with their sophomore release, there is some evolution of this style in songs like, "In the Cold". It showcases more instances of stylized solo vocal parts. Jonathan Pierce croons like Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters and is eventually replaced by ethereal Echo and the Bunnymen-ian (?) acoustic guitar solos. Other high points include "Days", the very goth "If He likes it let Him do It", and "Money".

Bands like The Drums are deceiving at times because if you only hear one song they might just sound like a competent but generic flash-in-the-pan act. However, a complete listen-through of either their first or second album reveals some very original and immersive music.

For those of us who live in Houston, The Drums will return to Fitzgerald's on October 24.

Grade: A

Blank Dogs spitting image of 80s post-punk

There are a lot of present-day bands that claim post-punk as a major influence in their work; think of bands like Interpol, the Strokes, or the Horrors. However, even though they contain identifiable echoes of post-punk the resulting sound is still very different from the genre's golden age. Every once in a while though, I run into a band that is influenced by post-punk and actually sounds exactly like classic post-punk. I discovered one of these uncanny bands on Sunday night while listening to KTRU: Blank Dogs. Originally I thought it was just some obscure British artist from the 80s that never charted or got any major recognition but they're actually from Brooklyn and have only been around since 2007. Take a listen to the first song I heard by them:

Reflecting on the days when Goths were Goths: Bauhaus!

Last year, I started investigating lots of influential post-punk bands after falling in love with Joy Division. Post-punk music led me into early goth bands like The Fall and the Birthday Party. I learned that goth, in its truest definition, has nothing to do with the little Hot Topic wearing, attention-seeking posers who have succeeded in hi-jacking the word over the past ten years. Early goth, true goth, is dark, dancy, and provokes melancholy, contemplation, and restraint.

The vocals are dramatic and frequently tinged with a bowie-esque British accent. The intensity of goth vocals often points to an almost operatic style of music; good goth bands are dramatic without being totally overboard sentimental. A singer who paved the way for the stylings of many goth/dark post-punk bands that followed was James Murphy of Bauhaus fame. Murphy's vocals are beautiful, warbling, staccato cries of pain and mourning that differ greatly from genre pioneer Ian Curtis whose voice was a crooning baritone. Curtis idolized Jim Morrison of the Doors and this probably inspired the low booming voice he used while singing, which is strangely very different from his high British speaking voice. The vocals of James Murphy are high and shrill but have the potential to be just as grave and jarring as Curtis'.

Bauhaus carried on and expanded on the Joy Division tradition of simple but infectious beats the rely on repetitive and great-sounding drum and bass patterns which ultimately carry the guitar part in most songs (think of Shadowplay by Joy Division, very drum and bass driven). At times the guitar is only a means of tying together the drums and bass like in the Bauhaus song "Muscle in Plastic" where the guitar is simply used for ambient clicking noises and offbeats. Of course there are some guitar driven songs like "All We ever wanted was Everything" but they're outnumbered by the snappier songs that turn darkness into danciness and through a controlled punk sound (hence post-punk).

Albums I recommend (in no particular order):
-Bela Lugosi's Dead
-Mask
-The Sky's Gone Out
-In the Flat Field