Viking Sized!!!

I went to the Super Sonic New Age Flavor Crystals Magic Unicorn Horn Blowing Fractal Mind Maze Fisher-Price Disco Hut on Wednesday and saw Tristeza. The last time I had seen them was more than a year ago at the Cafe DuNord. It was nice to see them again… they rocked it fairly hard… the crowd asked for more, they happily declined… always leave’em wanting more…

Rating:

OMG, WTF?
1996 is rolling over in its grave
AND
lifes a bitch
AMAZING!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This video is epic. This song is epic.

Seriously… whats more epic than sock puppet violence? maybe sock puppet sex? for reals people… the only thing more epic than those two things would be if those two things were the basis for a video for a song called “Cats on Fire” by a Danish post-rock band.

Here the track on its own – Cats on Fire by Mimas.

This track reminds me of Ganger for some reason… they don’t sound alike, but its been a while since I thought of Ganger, so there must be a reason – [1, 2]

Song gets Rating:
Video gets Rating:
Sock Puppets get 2 thumbs up!

Grand Lake @ The Uptown

I got to catch Grand Lake at the Uptown in Oakland last Friday night (2/6/09). They rocked the joint fairly hard. They are somewhat minimal, with lots pop hooks… but with plenty of thump’n rock when needed… The Pixies and Wilco come to mind… some Nels Cline coming from the guitar player, and some Frank Black brewing in the singer… some sweet vocals coming from behind some sweet keys and a drummer that reminds me of Levon Helm, not just the way he played the drums but also that he also happens to sing and play guitar… as he did that night with the opening act, the No’s. The keys player from Grand Lake also played with the No’s as well, hmmm.

I am told we will have a Grand Lake recording soon… be sure not to miss them around the time of the release in early spring I am sure they will be out supporting it. I did pocket a No’s CD and will hopefully review it soon, so stay tuned.

A band called Man/Miracle played after Grand Lake, but to be honest, it wasn’t my cup of tea. Perhaps it was all the talk I had heard about how “amazing” they are or maybe just that Grand Lake was so much more, uh, grand… Man/Miracle didn’t live up to the hype, not even close… after 3 songs a friend dragged me out to the bar to get a drink, I ordered a White Russian, “Stay out of Malibu Lebowski”! Grand Lakes’ deliberate minimalist melodies, tempered with equal measures dramatic rock action leaves no room in my heart for Man/Miracle’s shenanigans… and by shenanigans I mean all the jumping and dancing and lack of emphasis on the actual music, if you are going to play boring music and dance around on stage while doing it, you might well play punk music and destroy something, at least that’s fun to watch… wrapping your legs in pink duct tape and wearing spandex tights just isn’t enough… IMO…

There was a 4th band that night, Whispertown 2000 but Man/Miracle carried on quite a while too long and I decided to get back over the bridge… perhaps I will run into them another time.

Grand Lake @ The Uptown

Grand Lake Rating:
No’s Rating:
Man/Miracle Rating:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Manuok – Cafe DuNord

Manuok’s first show in SF after the release of “No End to Limitations“! The Cafe DuNord is a very good venue to see almost any band at, but this night Manuok sounded particularly good. Below is a link to a downloadable track from Manuok latest record “No End To Limitations“.

Download: MANUOK – Serves You Right

Rating: