Redrick Sultan, The Bare Bones and Jory Edwards @ the Crux (12/21/12)

There's something rather beautiful, I think, in the fact that so much stuff was happening around Boise on the night when the world was supposed to end (again).  Wicked Wonderland held its Zombie Apocalypse show at Bogie's, Hot Dog Sandwich threw a punk rock party at the Red Room and Liquid featured a couple of acts that seemed interesting.  I opted to see Orriginal Promotions' show at the Crux because it featured Redrick Sultan, a group I'd never encountered before who hailed all the way from Vancouver.

I counted only fourteen people at the Crux when I arrived.  That number would dwindle to eight (including me) and then five when Redrick Sultan played.  Disappointing, especially considering that I'd see at least three times as many people doing karaoke at Neurolux later.  Oh well.

Local musician Jory Edwards opened the night.  His choice of covers tended towards the corny side ("Hallelujah"--again?  "Freebird"--really?), but his steady strumming and clean, cannily restrained tenor put them across respectably.  Also, I had to give the guy credit for showing me that actually, yeah, Dave Matthews and Third Eye Blind did write some good songs (I know--I'll turn in my hipster card after Christmas).  Maybe he could add "Wildflowers" to his repertoire of Tom Petty songs.  Always liked that one.

The Bare Bones played next.  This was their second gig playing with new bassist Ben Zickau, Chris Brock said at one point.  He seems to be fitting in nicely: Zickau's basslines may not have been as supple as Nathan Norton's, but they still sounded plenty fluid and added considerable weight and muscle to the band's groove.  Meanwhile, Aaron Bossart's drumming sounded as furious and dynamic as ever.  Last but definitely not least, Chris Brock seems to be growing into the role of frontman very well indeed: his vocals showed extra strength and assurance, and his sharp soloing matched them.

Redrick Sultan closed out the night.  This was another one of those sets that remind me why I keep writing this blog.  Only eight people were there to see them, but this Vancouver group played as if there were eighty or more.  Their goofy, oddball, audacious mix of jazz, funk, hard rock and reggae made me think of the Minutemen if they'd stretched out beyond the two/three minute mark more often.  Chanking guitar, liquid basslines and syncopated, astonishingly kinetic drumwork supported boyish vocals and tasteful (but not too tasteful) flute and trombone solos (the guitarist got some good licks in too).  Their charming tunes and strong, sprightly groove elicited wild applause from the handful of folks inside the Crux and a considerable amount of rubbernecking from passers-by.  Hopefully, these guys will play Boise again and to a larger audience.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.

Twin Suns, The Bare Bones and Uintahs @ the Red Room (8/22/12)

This show excited me because it gave me the opportunity to show some support for ORRiginal Promotions, whose shows I haven't gotten to write about in a while, and to see the Bare Bones and Uintahs, whose shows ditto.  The cherry on top was a set by Twin Suns, a Los Angeles band I'd never seen before.

As on Tuesday night, the crowd only built to about twenty or so.  Such is the rotten luck of playing on an off night, I guess.  At least the people who did show up got into the music (though it would've been nice if more people had stuck around to watch the out-of-towners).

Uintahs started off the night.  "Hats off to the best sound guy ever!" Marcus Youngberg proclaimed at the end of their set, and not without good reason: their celestial harmonies, rumbling drums and bass and glittering guitars sounded even better than I remembered.  The band deserved some credit too, of course, especially for their impeccably crafted songs, for their slinky but hard-hitting groove and for Marcus Youngberg, who has gotta be one of the best singers around these parts.

The Bare Bones played next.  Their piercing guitar, liquid basslines and relentless drumming all sounded a touch heavier than before, which was okay by me.  It just added more swagger and punch to their psychedelic/hard rock tunes.  Chris Brock's voice sounded lower and more forthright while his terse, screeching solos called to mind Ron Asheton more than once.  It always does my heart good to hear a good band getting even better.

Twin Suns closed out the night and met the challenge of following the two local acts with flying colors.  Light vocals and pensive, poppy tunes held firm within a maelstrom of thunderous drumming, rubbery bass, soulful sax, spacey synth and raging guitars.  While they did like their jerky stop-start bits, they liked their jazzy, funky grooves even more.  This allowed the handful of people in the audience to cut loose a little (and more than a little, in some cases).  Here's hoping that more folks get to see this group if/when they come around again.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  And for any touring bands out there, you can contact ORRiginal Promotions at info@orriginalpromotions.com.

The Bare Bones, CAMP and Wildcat Strike @ the Red Room (6/3/12)

I made an announcement on this blog's Facebook page earlier today.  In case you didn't read it, I said that HCTD has received over 2,000 pageviews in only three months!  It's not much compared to some other blogs, I know, but it's much more than I'd ever expected.  What's more, I celebrated HCTD crossing the 1,000-pageview mark just under three weeks ago.  This means that views for this little guy doubled in that time.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: thank you so much to all my readers out there!

This show at the Red Room caught my attention because it featured two young Idaho bands who had impressed me greatly.  I hadn't heard of the touring band, but venturing into the unknown is a big part of the fun that I get out of going to live shows around Boise.

First up this night was local trio The Bare Bones.  They hadn't been able to practice since their last Red Room gig, guitarist Chris Brock admitted at one point, so they were playing the same set that they had then.  I certainly didn't mind, and no one else seemed to either.  This group's fleet-footed, psychedelic-tinged rock sounded just as good the second time around if not better.  Chris Brock fired off some nice, spare solos, Nathan Norton's liquid basslines laid down the groove and Aaron Bossart's virtuosic drumming made the music achieve escape velocity.  This is definitely a band to watch out for.

After The Bare Bones came the Twin Falls psychedelic/shoegaze band CAMP, who played this night without their keyboard player or projection show.  However, between their strong tunes, mind-warping guitar sounds, steadfast bass, muscular drumming and tasteful trumpet/trombone improvisations, they managed just fine.  Horn player Shane Cox's contributions made me wonder what Miles Davis could've come up with if he'd joined forces with Built to Spill.  He left the stage after the first two songs of the set, but the three remaining musicians soldiered on and generated a massive, ear-soothing, sternum-vibrating sound.

Wildcat Strike, a pumped-up, roots-tempered rock band from Salt Lake City, closed out the night's music in fine fashion.  Straight-ahead basslines and galvanizing drums powered droning country/blues riffs, sharp fills, terse soloing and smart, detailed lyrics.  I thought that their lead singer screamed a bit more than was necessary at first, but in the end, I reasoned that that just added to their rowdy, punkish intensity.  I did find my first impression somewhat justified, though, when the band turned down playing an encore because he needed to rest his voice.  Rein it in just a little bit, man.  Won't hurt the music none, believe me.

You can find info about all of these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.

The Bare Bones, The Finer Points of Sadism, The Sneezz and Junior Rocket Scientist @ the Red Room (5/22/12)

Tuesday had some ups and downs for me.  Up: I set up HCTD's new Facebook page, and I crossed the 1,500 pageview mark (once again, thanks for reading!).  Down: I found out that my uncle may have colon cancer in addition to the possibly malignant tumor that the doctors found on his hip.  This means that he may need to undergo chemotherapy before they can cut the tumor out.  I was happy to get out of the house for a while and go down to the Red Room; if I stayed inside, I'd have probably just stewed over that until I drove myself crazy.

While I waited for this week's Atypical Tuesday show to start, I sat at the bar and watched Wings of Desire on the TV.  For those of you who haven't seen it, the movie's about an angel who goes around watching over humans and bringing them as much comfort and guidance as he can.  The angel longs to become human, to embrace mortal life and all of the suffering and joy that go with it.  I won't say that it brought me comfort (my uncle could use a lot more comfort than me right now, and I doubt that any movie's gonna help much with that), but it did kinda put things in perspective.

(By the way, if my synopsis sounds familiar, that's because Hollywood remade Wings of Desire as the film City of Angels with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan.  If you haven't seen the original, I recommend doing so.  It's not nearly as melodramatic, and you don't need to see Dennis Franz's ass.)

The Bare Bones, a young local power trio, kicked off the night's music.  And when I say young, I mean young--I found out later that two-thirds of the band can't legally drink yet.  Don't underestimate these guys because of their age, though: they've got more chops now than some musicians twice their age do.  Nathan Norton's fluid bass and Aaron Bossart's roiling drums infused their tuneful, psychedelic/metallic hard rock with a jazzy litheness.  Chris Brock squeezed all kinds of wondrous sounds out of his guitar and sang with a sly confidence that belied his voice's boyish register.  A guy I spoke with said that this band will be absolutely fantastic when they get older.  I agree, but from what I saw and heard, they're already there.

After the Bare Bones came The Finer Points of Sadism, an experimental electronica duo whose dissonant samples and textures, disorienting polyrhythms and ominous, grisly lyrics owed a clear debt to Throbbing Gristle.  If you have any idea who Throbbing Gristle is, you should know whether or not this group is for you.  Me, I found TFPOS's waves of noise entrancing and cleansing.  It undoubtedly helped that Jacobb and Ashley Sackett packed them with stuff that aficionados of the finer points of songcraft appreciate: covert hooks, beats, riffs, even tunes.  On one song, they called to mind a sprung-rhythm Bauhaus or maybe Second Edition/Metal Box-era Public Image Ltd.  That I might have liked their improvisations even more says something very good about this experimental group.

Local one-man act The Sneezz followed The Finer Points of Sadism.  If D. Boon from the Minutemen had switched to bass, decided to dress like a Keebler elf onstage and started hanging out with Devo, you might have gotten something like this.  Absurdist, satirical lyrics met with robotically funky beats, propulsive basslines and screechy, scratchy samples to form a smart, catchy, hilarious melange of 80's New Wave and indie music.  I heard a little Talking Heads here, a little Red Hot Chili Peppers and Violent Femmes there.  The dominant influence, however, was Devo, and that became unmistakable well before the set-capping "Whip It" cover.

Local four-man indie rock band Junior Rocket Scientist played last.  Their playing sounded a little stiff and awkward at some points--drummer Mark Molitor threatened to get ahead of his bandmates now and again--but overall, their post-punk, Sonic Youth-goes-pop/disco sound provided a fine ending to the live music for the night.  Droning, chiming guitar parts combined with Peter Hook-y basslines, catchy synth and electric violin riffs, hyperkinetic drumming and enthusiastically guileless vocals.  When they all joined hands, it was good stuff.

You can find info about these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online (except The Sneezz--couldn't seem to find anything about him).  For info on upcoming Atypical Tuesdays, go to www.evilwine.com.