13th November 2010

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Man or Astro-man?, Dex Romweber Duo, & Nightmare Waterfall at Bowery Ballroom

Ever since I heard a few months back that Man or Astro-man? were going to be playing shows again, I just started worrying that by the time they rolled through New York, I’d be too poor to be able to make it. But the planets aligned, and last night we were all in the Bowery Ballroom together, nerding out about B-movies and Dick Dale (I mean, on the inside; we didn’t talk or anything, it was just more of a feeling).

First on the lineup was Nightmare Waterfall, a drum-guitar-electronics duo that originally gave me the impression that they were pretty much just going to be a (tighter) copy of Japandroids. But after they started utilizing vocal processors, feedback loops, and Sonic Youth-style guitar-tunings, it was clear that they weren’t just ripping off Japandroids’ super-heavily-effected riffin’ guitar (and adding a drummer who can keep time), but that they were really doing a lot of stuff. An appreciation of noise is a must for anyone giving this group a listen, but if you’ve got that, you should find something interesting. I particularly enjoyed listening to their alien vocals and tempo accelerations. The last song of the set was kind of a bummer, though; seemed like they kind of ran out of steam, but it may also have had to do with the mixing of the drums, which lent maybe just a bit too much power to the bass drum and floor tom, and not enough to the snare, leaving parts of the song feeling … weakened?

Now, before I begin my piece on the next act, I should tell you that, normally, I like to look up a bit about the openers before I check out the show, but this time, I didn’t get to. This doesn’t excuse the fact that I had no idea who Dexter Romweber was, because, as I figured out, he was one half of one of the best bands ever to grace the face of this horseshit planet of ours: Flat Duo Jets. After maybe one full song, I was pretty positive that he must have been from that band — his distinctive burning, monster-guitar crunch, and even more distinctive gravel-swillin’ drawl were a dead give-away, and I knew there was no way he wasn’t who I now thought he was.

Anyone familiar with Flat Duo Jets will have a good idea of what the Dex Romweber Duo sounds like: gnarled trashabilly that absolutely shreds (but in the cool, surf-style, not the Van Halen/Mario Teaches Typing-style). Drummer Sarah Romweber was also very impressive, employing a strange kind of polyrhythmic cave-thump that always sounded like it wouldn’t land, but always did. They brought in an upright bass player for a couple numbers (because it wouldn’t be rockabilly without an upright bass), turning the duo into a trio, and continuing to crush. I can’t say enough about the monstrous talent that is Dex Romweber, guitar monster, but I guess I should move on, or I’ll never stop.

Man or Astro-man? is a band concerned as much with sweet surf riffs and strange sounds as they are with cool presentation, and, though I’ll always go for sound over sight, when you can have both going full-out, what could be better?

The group came out in full astronaut garb, looking like a cross between Devo and the Ghostbusters, into a who stage full of space-junk, including a satellite dish, multiple projection screens which played b-movie footage throughout the set, and light-tubes. Birdstuff (the drummer) was wearing some sort of laser-goggles (which you can kind of see in the picture above), which were both really cool and kind of creepy (I guess because at one point in my life, I played a lot of Splinter Cell). After a short audio clip from some old movie or other (a trademark move of Man or Astro-man?), they launched into things, and they kicked out jams exactly like you’d hope they would. Fans seemed to recognize songs as much by the B-movie clips that preceded them (with us all coming together to shout “CARBON DIOXIDE!” during the intro to 1000x EP’s “Man Made of CO2”), which sort of proves their importance in the whole product. Kitsch and (nerd-)shtick have always been integral to the Man or Astro-man? style, and they kept it going throughout the set. From jokes about not being used to the acceleration of gravity on Earth to confusing us with Alpha Centauri (which I thought was actually kind of rude; I mean, come on, you came here to play and you can’t even remember what planet you’re on?) to making crew-members (roadies) do push-ups to punish … Birdstuff … for screwing up.

Now that I think about it … outer-space, B-movies, punk, surf, dickish humor… these guys are the perfect band, aren’t they? Well, if there was any doubt, the final number removed it completely. Bassist/electronics man Coco left the stage to put on his “exoskeleton,” a shiny, silver space-suit complete with astronaut helmet, and began to play the theremin. Not only did they use the theremin, they pushed it into the crowd to get their sound off it, and then they lit the fucking thing on fire. I wish I could say I got that part on camera, but alas, I was not quick enough.

And then, after the set was over, why not bring out a Tesla coil to fuck around with?

They’re doing this show again at Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight, and just because I won’t be there is no reason not to go.

P.S. Star Crunch mentioned towards the end of the set that “Next time we will have songs that we haven’t played before” and Coco will have “a new exoskeleton that he hasn’t built yet,” so it sounds like they’re working on a new record. About time.

Tagged: Man or Astro-man?Dex Romweber DuoNightmare WaterfallFlat Duo JetsBowery BallroomJapandroidslet's see how he likes this dose of ... CARBON DIOXIDE!Music Hall of Williamsburg9.8 meters per second per second