Black Pus and Aan @ Neurolux (5/14/13)

This show caught my interest when I learned that Black Pus was the solo project of Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale.  I'd never heard either act, but Lightning Bolt attracted a good deal of buzz when they played the Shredder last September.  It didn't hurt either that the bill included Portland band Aan, whose set at the Red Room last February I'd enjoyed greatly.

I counted sixteen or so people at Neurolux when I arrived.  When Black Pus played, about twenty people were inside watching.  Not a big crowd, but admittedly, this stuff wasn't for all tastes.

Aan opened the show.  As longtime readers have probably noticed, when a regularly returning out-of-state band returns again, I'm prone to make some crack like, "Why don't they just buy a house here?"  I'll refrain from doing that with this two-time Treefort act, however, because I like them more each time that I see them.  Their glittering, stinging guitar, their smoothly eccentric rhythms and their airy synthesizer all sounded in fine form.  So did Bud Wilson's vocals: his growl, flutter and wail proved equally skillful and enjoyable.  Neurolux's flickering lights and twirling lasers complemented Aan's thorny dreaminess very nicely.  Say, actually, why don't these guys buy a house here?

Black Pus played next.  I got the feeling that things were gonna get interesting when I saw Chippendale set up his drums on the dance floor.  I wasn't wrong.  Some people would undoubtedly have found this guy's mix of buzzing, woofing, whoomping, squeeing noises and manic, unyielding drums too friggin' weird.  Me, I found it as cleansing and invigorating as the (now sadly defunct) Finer Points of Sadism.  It helped immensely that this stuff felt genuinely inventive and experimental; I didn't know what kind of sounds were going to come at me at any given moment.  That spirit carried over into the slightly jazzy feel of Chippendale's drumming as well.  This set featured an impromptu cameo by one half of local experimental group For Fuck's Sake, who hollered into Chippendale's mic-mask during the encore while the man bashed away.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate whatever you can.  Even $5 could go a long way.

Incan Abraham, Aan and the Oneirics @ the Red Room (2/1/13)

As frazzled as I was that night, I had fond memories of Aan's performance back in July.  Between those memories and the fact that I'd never seen either of the acts on this bill, I had enough reason to check out this show.

I counted about fifty people when I arrived at the Red Room.  By the time that Aan played, the crowd would number about seventy or seventy-five.  The crowd looked composed mainly of twenty-somethings with a few middle-aged folks here and there.  They could've been family members: Aan's Bud Wilson gave a shout-out to his parents at one point in their set.

Local group the Oneirics opened the night.  Aside from sounding a little ragged here and there, this quartet did extremely well for their first gig ever.  Clean, boyish vocals, dreamy guitar and sparkling keyboard work meshed with serene basslines and intricate, propulsive drumming.  Watch out for this group.

Aan played next.  This Portland group's music didn't sound as odd as I remembered.  It could have been because I wasn't nearly as sun-fried as I was back in July.  It could also have been because, in the months between that show and this one, I've heard quite a few bands who go for a somewhat similar sound.  In any case, their pretty melodies, waves of synth, droning guitar riffs and smoothly angular drumwork still sounded plenty quirky.  They may have been even more pleasurable too.

Incan Abraham closed out the night.  Remember what I wrote earlier about hearing bands who kinda sound like Aan?  This Los Angeles band was a case in point.  However, their light, wailed vocals, their poppy melodies, their dreamy synth waves and their rumbling, pseudo-African beats created a moodier and more ethereal sound that Aan's.  That helped differentiate them enough to make this set enjoyable in its own right.  The crowd seemed to thin out slightly, but plenty of people stayed to dance and cheer.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Duck Club Presents.

Mira Loma and the Bad Vibes, AAN and RevoltRevolt @ the Red Room (7/15/12)

Between attending six shows the preceding week and spending three hours earlier in the day swimming in the Boise River with a friend, I was good and tired this past Sunday night.  Part of me would have liked nothing better than to stay home, watch the new episode of Longmire, maybe finally polish off Nicholas Nickleby and go to bed.  In spite of that, the chance to see AAN, a Portland-based rock band whose Treefort set I'd missed, motivated me to haul my frazzled carcass down to the Red Room.

I arrived in time to catch most of the opening set by Florida-based shoegaze band Mira Loma and the Bad Vibes.  Their music suited my sun-fried condition quite well: serene tunes, dreamy guitar and synth parts and warm, calm bass over thunderous drumming.  When their guitarist pushed his fragile high tenor into a raw, raspy scream, it almost sounded like Kurt Cobain wailing down from Heaven.

AAN played next.  "The band beckons a bevvy of comparisons," their Facebook page says, "but their sound cannot be pigeonholed."  A lotta bands will make some such claim, but there's a certain creedence to it in this case.  Angular, syncopated drumming and steady basslines pushed forward disorienting guitar riffs, eerie tunes and harmonies and weird keyboard noises.  Somehow, all the elements fit together and even rocked.  Fascinating stuff.

Local indie-rock quartet RevoltRevolt closed out the night.  Their droning guitar riffs and basslines, propulsive drumming and simple, straightforward tunes showed the clear influence of 80's-90's alt-rock (Pixies, Built to Spill, etc.).  Their set went down pretty well overall, although the songs started to blur together as it wore on and the pitchless singing grew severely tiresome.

You can look up info on all these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.