1st August 2010

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Sonic Youth/Grass Widow/Talk Normal at Prospect Park

Urgent: Sonic Youth still awesome!

Thousands of people were packed into Park Slope’s Prospect Park just a few hours ago to see Sonic Youth perform a noiseful free concert as part of Celebrate Brooklyn. Some might even say the crowd was “totally gaying out” over the group. Idiocy aside, I would agree with that statement. People were real into what was happening at this performance, and I was one of those people.

First, Brooklyn’s Talk Normal opened up the evening with thirty minutes of droning, reverbed guitar and bass distortion; Lydia Lunch-y yelping vocals; and fierce, tribal drums. I’ve seen them perform a few times before this, and they’re definitely still improving, which is fantastic, because they were good to begin with. Their record Sugarland was one of my favorites of last year, so check that out if you’ve not done so already. And since I’m without any visuals from the show itself (I was way too far away to get anything but worthless crowd shots), here’s a video of “In a Strangeland,” which they played tonight, fast.

I was unfamiliar with San Francisco’s Grass Widow, who played a forty-minute set of a music that sounded like they should be on Slumberland Records. It was very heavily influenced by Black Tambourine, but, hey, I’m cool with that. Black Tambourine rocked. What was really interesting to me, however, was the several different styles the trio worked in to their music. At times, it would sound angular and math-y, at other times, heavy noise. And still other times, the drummer would be playing a surf rock beat, or dabbling in improvisational beats. They’ve got a record coming out in late August, I believe, so I’ll be lookin’ out for that one.

Now, Sonic Youth. Their set tonight was heavy on material from Daydream Nation, with very little from their last few records. I saw them last summer while they were touring to support their most recent album, The Eternal, and, while I loved that record, I was happy to see them performing a vastly different set than that one. They were performing without Mark Ibold (who’s off touring with some other band) so it was a four piece, but they were even noisier this time than the last, and there were plenty of moments throughout the show where I would say to myself “man Sonic Youth kills it so hard” or “Steve Shelley is really nailing it tonight” or, and this one especially, “Kim Gordon’s voice is one of the greatest sounds ever.” Everyone was bringin’ it, for the entirety of the ninety minutes they were on stage. This set also came with a healthier portion of avant-noise material than last summer’s, including Lee Ranaldo bowing his guitar, Thurston Moore working some sort of audio recordings, and Shelley just throwing shit at his drums during their last number, “Expressway to Yr Skull.” Just another reminder that Sonic Youth owns all sound.

Tagged: sonic youthsonik toothtalk normalgrass widowcelebrate brooklynprospect parkfuture rockgrindinggetting into a serious thinghipster trashlegendslong live noiseno wavei don't get why short people go to shows

28th November 2009

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Interview with the Soft Pack

The Soft Pack is a pretty gnarly band coming out of San Diego.  I saw them at CMJ 2008, and they were probably my favorite performance of the week, aside from the one where George Clinton jacked off a microphone stand.  They’ve got a new album coming out early next year on Kemado Records (available for pre-order here). I spoke via email with Matt Lamkin, vocalist and guitarist, and  Matty McLoughlin, lead guitarist (SO CONFUZIN’!).

Standard genre categories are seldom very descriptive of the actual sound of the band.  Make up your own genre:

Matt: Proto/Post Punk-AltPop

What got you guys into your style of music, and what keeps you into it?

Matt: We got into our style of music because the energy and simplicity are easy to understand and relate to.  The simple music also allows the personality of the band to shine through.  I’ve always liked when you feel like you’re getting to know someone when you listen to their records.

You’ve got a new record coming out early next year.  How does it compare to The Muslims EP, and how do you feel about them both right now?

The new record is a bit more dynamic and recorded in a little higher fidelity.  We’ve been listening to loads of REM and Felt so we wanted to get a bit cleaner with the sound.  I like the old record a lot.  It captures a lot of raw ideas that we had and are proud of.  However, the new record is a more accurate depiction of us live and is the first time Brian (drummer) and Dave (bassist) have been involved through the whole process of making the album with us, writing, recording, etc.

Who influenced you guys (musically and/or philosophically), and can you describe how?

Matt: Personally I’m influenced by the Fall in terms of attitude.  It always seems like they do whatever they want and don’t really concern themselves with the reaction people have.  The Fall and REM are also very good about being persistent.  I like how they come out with an album a year even though they come in and out of style.  Musically, we like the relatable qualities of the Replacemets, serious about song writing but not too serious about rock and roll, seem like fun guys to hang out with.

What are your favorite records of all time?

Matt:
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy
Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers
Iggy Pop - The Idiot

What are your favorite records of the past year?

Matt:
Obits - I Blame You
Cold Cave - Love Comes Close
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker
So Cow - So Cow

Who are your favorite under-rated musicians?

Matt:
Haunted Graffiti
Chinese Stars
the album Tattoo You by the Rolling Stones

I saw you guys open up for Dungen at CMJ in 2008. If I remember right, you’d played like twenty shows that week, and I was impressed at how hard you guys rocked that one.  I remember the place being packed with doofy Swedes all amped to see some jazz-rock, and then the Muslims came out and kicked the shit out of the place; beer flying, guitar strings breakin’… Do you have any stories of a particularly kickass, weird, or bad show?

Matt: That show with Dungen is most definitely one of our favorite shows we have ever played. It was the Kemado showcase at CMJ and I think the third show we played that day.  We rushed over to the Williamsburg Music Hall and played like two songs then all the guitar strings broke during Parasites so we just kept playing, looking for back-up guitars, making feedback noises, and all around raucous.  Then we covered Walking With Jesus by Spaceman 3 and wrapped the 20-min. set up with a total 3 guitar strings remaining at the end of the set.  It was a fun messy show with lots of energy. Also I think it was the biggest venue we had played at the time.

One of my favorite tracks on the Muslims record was “Religion.”  Can you tell me a bit about how that track came about?

Matt: Religion is one of my favorite songs on the old album.  It started as a kinda Fall-esque jammed out punk song.  When we played it live I would just put this arpeggio loop on the keyboard and let it spin off and we would jam it out for like 8 minutes at the end of our set.  So after playing it live for a while it became more spaced out.  When we were doing the album I wanted a song to stand out from all the 2 minute rock songs.  We laid down the drum and bass line and I did keyboard noise and feedback over it, editing in extra drum tracks, basically trying to make it hectic. I think it came out quite nicely.

That video for “Down on Lovin’” where you guys are playing on the beach is way cool.  Is the acoustic beach performance a usual thing for you guys? How close is that song to how it appears on the new record?

Matty: We shot the acoustic video at this place called “the wedge” in Orange County. There are huge waves there. We had this idea of filming us playing some of the new songs we had written in different locations around southern California. We normally hate doing acoustic performances because they generally come off sounding like the guy from Staind and Fred Durst. Real “I want to see those motherfuckin’ lighters” type stuff. But, we really wanted to see these waves and thought it would look cool. The song and the performance were not a priority. We just wanted to get footage of us in front of some tastey waves. “Down on Loving” is on the album. It sounds more punky and I play this Allman Brothers-like guitar lead on it. Real peachy guitar lead.

Insound tells me your new record is coming out February 2nd, so should we be looking out for you on tour soon after that?

Matty: We are going to start touring in January and probably not stop for awhile.

Anything I’ve missed that you want to get out there?

Matty: Not really. Our record comes out Feb 2 on Kemado records and we will be announcing tour dates soon. Hang loose.

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Thanks to the Soft Pack for taking the time to talk with me.  By the way, I think a pre-order of their new album comes with a free shirt right now.  Just sayin’.

Tagged: future rockinterview with a vampire