The Corners

Setlist:

1. I Can’t See
2. Defeated
3. Goodbye Note
4. On Again
5. Experimental Feelings
6. Hopeless (The Wrens cover)
7. Fire

Underground second-timers, The Corners, began the night with I Can’t See, featuring some ska-influenced chords and interesting backing vocal arrangements to parallel the lead vocals. Immediately, one was reminded of the clean and meandering sound employed by (the late) Robert Quine, mixed with the popping drums in the vein of Marc Bell, in the Voidoids. Singer Jehan’s voice being the very archetype of the post-grunge era, served well to complement the clean and slightly delayed guitar sound employed by Clement. Defeated exhibited even more of a ska influence, with a moody build-up to the chorus’ call-response flourish, also featuring an impressive falsetto bit, and some nice monster-bass lines. The slightly slowed down Goodbye Note was of a dramatic mood, with a sudden 180° change of mood in the chorus to a deep Noughties’ one; this change of gears was employed several times during the song, topped up with an almost Eddie Van Halen-esque solo.

On Again was introduced as a new song, with a highly conversational tone to the lyrics (which seem to be the kind most suited for Jehan’s voice) and dredging guitars, akin to Blur, followed by the sparkling guitar fills of Experimental Feelings, which also had the bass nearly overtake the melodic duties. It was pointed out by Jehan that all their songs that night were of a somewhat ‘low’ mood; in keeping with that claim, their cover of the Wrens’ Hopeless was suitably despondent, in particular highlighting Clement’s ability to switch seamlessly from rhythm to lead. The most intense beginning and most percussive drumwork started off Fire, a heavy bass-driven number having a rather drastic change of pace and mood mid-song, and a catchy call-response style chorus. As it turned out, drummer John dropped a stick during this song; an unobvious foible, as they ended their set on a moody high.

Shashwati

Of Moths & Stars

Setlist:

1. Waterbird
2. Cosmic Waves
3. Lost Amongst the Leaves
4. Polyphonic Rust
5. Ghost Vibrations
6. Closer

If these guys’ act had to be summed up into a word,it would be- intense. The duo came on with their usual assortment of things you’d never imagine would be used as musical instruments, accompanied by the lone guitar. There are certain advantages to having only one melodic instrument and the percussion of only a tambourine (and a grill, and what I think is a timpani mallet), one of which is that changes can easily and rapidly be effected on the pace, mood and feel of the song; Waterbird was a classic example of this, with the rapidly strummed opening being slightly more ‘up’, but being delightfully tempestuous in its feel. As the best acoustic musicians have, guitarist-singer Chris has been able to mesh rhythm and chorus into one unbroken attack of guitar, a la Townes van Zandt at his peak. The laudable decision of using mostly major chords serves to round out their sound excellently, avoiding an all-too-common pitfall. Cosmic Waves has overtones of John Frusciante’s best acoustic solo-work, with the pattern of chord changes exploring some subtle nuances in feeling. Lost Amongst the Leaves was lighter in mood, but no less intense, and almost stream-of-consciousness in effect- a testament to their knowledge of what a chord can do to the psyche.

Not to editorialise, but if there is one group that they parallel, it is Suicide; not in terms of sound, but as an act, especially in terms of visual impact. A classic dynamic of chemistry, Chris’ staid form is the Martin Rev contrasting the semi-possessed Nate’s Alan Vega. Polyphonic Rust was specifically reminiscent of Frusciante’s Forever Away; fittingly enough, a string was broken during the song, and the guitar replaced rather than the string, as is Frusciante’s wont as well. The trash-can lid was finally out in Ghost Vibrations, crashing to tame the irreverent, drunken chords, topped off with a spoken-word bit to make the song a moody Byron-esque one, finishing off to a yelled request to father a certain audience member’s offspring. Closer was a slower number (although, it may just have been Chris’ apparently injured thumb) with some very high notes touched in the bridge, and a lovely, flowing barre progression to boot, after which the Suicide of Hong Kong lazily cleared off. Not for one moment during the set did these guys’ heady yet light-handed power fade; a testament to the unassuming astuteness of their composition, and the deserved novelty of their act…
Shashwati

The McCadden Place Collective

Setlist:

1. Chicken
2. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
3. Pick Up the Pieces

Underground debutantes MPC took the stage next definitely looking the epitome of a jazz-funk band (especially guitarist Kenneth), with an all-Fender axe attack (and a keyboardist who looked remarkably like surf-skateboard pioneer Jeff Ho). Their tuning up left even less to the imagination, with some Alan Parsons/Ray Manzarek organ tones being used. Chicken began with a classic Grateful Dead sound, covered in sax, followed by a very Parliament/Funkadelic bridge. Being possibly the best-suited to exploit the range of the sound system, they had some impressive sonic variety, with all the bases covered in terms of instruments. They keys mirroring the sax added some delightful nuances to their sound. They followed this up with the jazz standard Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; the classic groove-based number, featuring some awesome slap-bass. The structure of the song involved the guitars and sax doing some groove-riffing on the melodic foundation of the keys and other guitar, with the groove changing periodically as the jam went on, even finding its way into bluesy territory. However, at points, one wished they would sustain their grooves a bit longer, as the improvised groove needs a bit of time to infect the listener. There were also some classic crunching grooves and accents, reminiscent of Phish, that were simply a joy to listen to. The most funky beginning thus far heralded their rendition of Average White Band’s Pick Up the Pieces, hearkening back to P-Funk and Johnny “Guitar” Watson. Again, their jam brought in a little of the spirit of the blues into the song, moving subtly on to the more heady mood of the jazz bands of the 70s, to almost Sun Ra-like proportions. The set was finally closed with some lovely noodling guitars and a flourishing groove thoroughly imbued with the spirit of George Clinton.

Shashwati

Logo

Setlist:

1. Tidal Waves
2. I Saw Your Eye
3. Miss Your Voice
4. Lights Are Out
5. Escalator
6. Marlene
7. Non-Stop Paradise
8. Temple of Smoke

The all-sunglassed Logo proceeded to take the stage, and the coy intro to Tidal Waves was played, with a wonderfully strange mix of delays, funky bass and Television-esque guitars that Alan Parsons would have been proud of. The eclectic minimalism of the guitars was rounded off by some catchy riffing, and was topped off with singer-drummer James’ vocals being remarkably reminiscent of Joe Strummer. I Saw Your Eye featured a winding bassline, and 2nd-gen Hendrix influence, combined with the more contemporary tendencies of bands to use a Kinks-ish sound (especially in terms of beats) with more diverse arrangements. The lyrics, indeed, were in the spirit of Ray Davies, with their tongue-in-cheek tone set against honest conversational speech-patterns. A very middle-eastern feel was typical of I Miss Your Voice, a trippy little ditty with lots of modification to the guitar and near-atonal chords in the bridge, followed by the cold-open into Lights Are Out, strongly reminiscent of the Replacements.

Escalator featured some remarkably trippy lyrics, along with a very early-Smashing Pumpkins-style drum-bass combination. The structure of most of Logo’s songs seemed to be to have an anchoring rhythm section, with consistent vocals, allowing the guitars to be as moody as they like, combining the glibness of shoegaze with the confident groundedness of David Byrne/Talking Heads. Non-Stop Paradise featured some Dylan-esque social commentary, and a penchant for memorable phrases, not unlike the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. The closer was Temple of Smoke, with the guitars mimicking the bass, and almost-metal feel to the song, and having some chords that are rarely touched in the regular course of pop music, hearkening back to MC5’s Fred Smith’s guitarwork, certainly leaving the foot-tapping crowd asking for more.

Shashwati

F.B.I.

Setlist:

1. Don’t Quit Your Day Job
2. Lan Kwai Fong
3. Gonna Make Love
4. Loneliness
5. Man Love
6. Fu
7. The Masquerade
8. Ghouls and Ghosts
9. F.B.I. (or F.B.I. Theme Song)

Playing the Underground for the 6th time, their tuning up featured some tantalising, mean-sounding slap-bass. An epitome of the Noughties’ rock sound, Don’t Quit Your Day Job featured a very lostprophets’ attitude combined with Hillel Slovak-era RHCP guitars ripping through screamed vocals. Lan Kwai Fong, undoubtedly meant to be the party-goers’ anthem, positively reeked of the Stooges’ 1969 and LedZep’s Black Dog, along with the crowd-participative chorus of “When I say LK, You say” – “F!” . With the bass up to bone-rattling levels, there was heavy use of delay and wah, and semi-military beats in the songs. Loneliness being their slower song, featured the almost-sparkling guitars of 3rd-wave punk, and moved into double speed with its’ leading bassline; in fact, the bass got so fast towards the end that you could scarcely see bassist Jerald’s fretting fingers- always a good sign. Evidently the crowd felt this as well, as the crowd was well into every song as was the band.

Man Love caused some of their more Rancid (and other 3rd-wave punk) roots to show, suddenly changing direction mid-song to a more Noughties’ feel. The screamed opening of Fu was followed by some classic punk chord progressions. With the crowd definitely on their side, they proceeded into The Masquerade, with some some stop-start Iron Maiden influences and a melodic coordination between the vocals and guitars. The crowd actually began headbanging to the single-strummed bits of the chorus – a classic hardcore ruse, which worked very well for F.B.I. in Ghouls and Ghosts, which also had some classic solos that reminded one of Tony Iommi, if he had played in the Noughties. With an mock-offhand comment to the guitarist about not needing his guitar since he couldn’t “sing and play at the same time”, their set closer had a bass-line reminiscent of Paranoid, and it was a song in the spirit of RHCP’s What it Is. Despite the lack of melodic accompaniment, the crowd really got going to the Bootsy Collin-like, insanely-wahed bass, and singer Cain’s encouragement to join in with the “When I say FB, You say” – “I!” They ended the night in the best possible way- with a long, flourish to heavy applause and a very tired but fully satiated crowd.

Shashwati

photos © Copyright 2010 by ANGUS LEUNG

poster by ANGUS LEUNG