TONIGHT!
Tuesday, June 14
DC9,
http://www.dcnine.com 1940 9th St NW WDC
$8, 21+
doors at 9pm, show at 9:30
Person (solo R&B from Metropolitan/Stamen & Pistils dude)
Dan Deacon (bizarre solo insanity from Baltimore, on Psychopath Records)
Oscillating Innards (solo harsh noise from LA)
Bird Names (experimental psych-pop from Chicago)
Video Hippos (guitar/drums multi-media duo from DC)
Person http://www.personmusic.com/ Person is the D.I.Y. pop brainchild of guitarist Miguel Lacsamana of Stamen & Pistils (Echelon Productions) and Metropolitan (Crank Automotive). The band aims for a similar territory of danceable indie rock -- such as the Notwist, LCD Soundsystem, and the Postal Service -- but with a more soulful approach, reaching the likes of the Neptunes, Timbaland, and beyond to create a glitchy, electro/hip-hop backdrop.
The Person full-length,
Entitled, is a comment on the fallibility of humanity, and many of the songs play off of one another in an ostensibly contradictory fashion. It follows a protagonist who is in search of truth, but fumbles along the way.
Entitled starts off with an almost cautionary sci-fi epic tale, "The Fall of Perception," produced by Outputmessage (Ghostly International/Melodic/Echelon Productions). Throughout the album, Person denounces, then succumbs, to the insatiable desires of the sensory overload within this hyperreal environment. "Valid Concerns," an indie rock/IDM club jam, voices thoughts of what he should do to find that special someone, even if just for one night. "You Ain't Hot," featuring Young Rae (Echelon Productions), is a scathing criticism of today's pop world, achieved by successfully imitating the tried and tired formula of today's pop charters. Motives takes a Phariseean approach to the one-night stand: by giving in, yet placing the blame on the other person. "Who Do You Want Me to Be?" explores how we all adjust our personalities to satiate what we desire. "Neither Forgiving Nor Forgetting" is an angry banger calling out the shortcomings of a former lover and by doing so, calling out his own. Although there are critical lyrics, Person concedes that he still surrenders to the ideals of todays consumer-driven culture in the album closer, "Business Class."
The album will be released by Echelon Productions on June 27, 2006.
Dan Deacon http://www.dandeacon.com/ Absurdist composer and electronic musician Dan Deacon is based in Baltimore, Maryland. Musically influenced by Devo, Talking Heads, Scratch Orchestra, People Like Us, Raymond Scott, and Conlon Nancarrow, Dan’s music strives to take contemporary experimental composition and electronic music out of the circle of the esoteric intellectual gangs and hipster communities, placing it into the more informal "fun time." His high-energy performances consist of song-structured material performed with Casio keyboard, computer, vocoder and many whosits and whatsits to process his voice and signal generator.
His performance and compositional techniques show strong influences from the Fluxus Movement, Italian Futurism, Performance Art, Spiderman, Absurdism, and the current movement in underground rock. While maintaining a constant performance and tour schedule, Dan has spent most of his time working on pieces for brass ensemble, string quartet, solo cello, solo study, and his study in mid and high frequency sine waves.
Dan Deacon has performed with Cat Power, People Like Us, Matmos, Tracy and the Plastics, Rasputina, Dufus, Kool Keith, MC Paul Barman, Prince Paul, Blue Oyster Cult, Oxes, Grand Buffet, Arab On Radar, Rainer Maria, the Aquabats, and many others.
Oscillating Innards http://www.iatrogenesisrecords.com/ http://www.myspace.com/OxIx This is another in a stronger line of releases from the D.I.Y. Brise-Cul label, and I have to say that the politically charged theme of the release (whose title more than likely refers to the two terms of America's "rule" under George W. Bush) definitely sets the mood for an interesting 30-minute ride. First up is "Post 2001 North America (The World I Grew Up In Is Gone)", where after about a minute of sinister ambience and a sample of Bush refusing to live in an "age of terror," everything surges forth into a barrage of caustic distortion. This back and forth balancing act makes up the rest of the eight-minute piece, with a few subtly piercing fits of high-end working very nicely against the soft lulls of the background in between the harsh bursts. Similar samples cut back in towards the close of the piece and an explosive attack ends things off abruptly, prior to the drastically panned activity in "The Patriot Act (Trojan Horses)" -- which includes some really painful (and that's not an insult) high-end that cuts straight into your ears. This piece is a little more chaotic, but still offers that mix of loud and nasty distortion with sparser moments of subdued ambience -– to a lesser degree. Also introduced here are a few clanking percussive sounds and distant vocal screams –- though I'm not sure words are being enunciated so much as the vocal presence is one of expressive atmospheric qualities. Another "shorter" track (by comparison) that lingers right around six minutes, "War (Willingness)" is quite aptly titled. Again things do bounce back and forth, but this is by far the most intense track as far as density and volume are concerned, with quicker and more drastic cuts in the structure. Ironically, its ambient moments, as brief as they may be, are among the more interesting however -– including very light hints at melody during one segment near the end of the piece. "The Draft (Anticipation)" ends things off with more than nine minutes of material that persists very calmly around a sinister hum and some dripping water sounds –- but more like some sort of dingy sewer tunnel than a rain shower, to be more specific. This quiet approach remains steadfast for several minutes, until the volume starts to pick up just a smidge with some melodic piano elements much later in the piece...but just barely. I'd love to hear some more work of this nature, as its consistent approach makes for my favorite track herein, certainly. Despite the rough printing job apparent with all Brise-Cul releases, the black and white artwork looks very nice here and creates a definite aesthetic for the material, which continues on the rough typewriter text of the xeroxed insert –- which, in addition to some credits, reads, "Afraid to die, there is no safety, there is only panic, so familiar now." Nice work overall. I'm pleased with the focused and compact running time, and thankfully the President Bush samples are not overused at all (nor are the other similar samples that are mixed in at certain points to add contrast). So this is one of the better releases to come from this label to date. "The Draft (Anticipation)" is an absolutely awesome composition. (7/10) (Aversionline)
Bird Names http://www.myspace.com/birdnames 2004 saw another band born under the star of heavy medley: Bird Names. This clean group of post-teenagers redecorates the popscape with way-out wrongrocking noises and low fidelity charms. The band features Eric Siegel, Colin Hartz, David Lineal, Albert "Treasure" Schatz, and Naomi Caffee. In August they "put out" an album which they call
Fantic Yard. It's catchy and terrible, soft-mittoned and ungentle, psychedelic and dulcet, but mostly just long.
from an interview with Radio Free Chicago:
"Bird Names is an experimental pop group that lives in Chicago. We've been around in guises sloppy or regrettable for a bit, and made a long album of songs from a big pile that's added to regularly. The album is named
Fantic Yard: fantic as in aphanasis, a psychoanalytic term referring to the public revelation of one's most intimate secret and the unbearable shame that goes along with it, so dealing in a way with fantasy. The music is structured like honky-tonk country with lots of repeating and we all really enjoy making and playing it. We barely rock at all though we fairly often roll and try to muster whatever shambly charm we might as compensation for our limitations.
What degree of investment or concern does this group, this Bird Names warrant? Would you like listening to them? Not that much. Your lips might get caught into a grin at some novelty, maybe you'd furrow your brow or raise something sour as though compelled, but probably you'd wander to the bar area at the show or carelessly put back on the new [Stephen] Malkmus album. A friend said to me once, 'I like your band okay but i cannot understand why you'd want to make music like that.' The recordings are a sight low-fi which in our drunker moments we think of as low truth. Low truth: who would hear low truth? Cool dads and weirdos and narconauts maybe. We don't have Mr. Holland's 40 years, you know?"
Video Hippos http://www.videohippos.com/ Video Hippos is Kevin O'Meara and Jim Triplett, but we are part of a larger group of people who help us out with ideas and content. We don't work in isolation. Thanks to all who have joined up so far, consciously or not: robocop, stay puft marshmallow man, patrick swayze, moss man, matt vanek, cizuka seki, meredith moore, kenji, matt sutton, jason balicki, katherine radke, gabe martinez, aaron edelson, evie falci, charlotte benedetto, paul svecywk (how the hell do you spell that?), wham city, jordan thomsen, george w. bush, rush, my dad, my mom, my sister, skeletor, majii and steffen. Everybody, everybody. Anyone with something valuable to add can be in this "band." Be a friend...
