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Yet another Friday. Yet another long work week over and done
with, and high time for Zythos, Tracers, and i to head out to
see some bands and grab a beer or two. Tonight's festivities:
math rock at the Earl. More my type of music than theirs, but
its good to have company sometimes.
We were running quite late and did not get to The Earl until
a little after 11 PM. I was worried that we would miss the first
act, The Paper Lions. However, silly me, i forgot to take into
account the Time Warp of East Atlanta -- we were able to enjoy
a full 15 minutes of their set.
The Paper Lions are what's left of mathy Atlanta band Some
Soviet Station. I never saw SSS, so i don't know how the two
compare. However, the 15 minutes of The Paper Lions that i saw
were quite nice. They are a louder math rock band: i guess more
emphasis on the Rock than on the Math. But they still used strange
time signatures and that jerky start / stop type of rhythm that
is typical of the genre.
Not a bad start to the show. I wouldn't mind seeing them again.
The next act was the real attraction for us Minions: Moreland
Audio. This is the band formed out of the ashes of the legendary
Purkinje Shift. We were all pretty big Purkinje Shift fans back
in the day, and it was a pleasure to be able to see Gary Flom
and Benjamin Davis still at it. The two of them are amazing
guitarists, and they have a great chemistry together. They play
really complicated guitar music, the type that you need a protractor
and some graph paper to dance to, yet it still seems somewhat
organic. There is something about their performance that seems
more alive than a lot of the math rock i have seen. I can't
put my finger on it, but i think that it stems from the human
relation between the two -- they are so familiar with each other's
playing that it comes across more like jazz. That is, the melody
flows and grows and is passed between the two guitars, unconsciously
and naturally.
That's what The Minions came to see, and that's what we got.
Flom and Davis are incredible on stage together, and their new
drummer is developing quite nicely. This is the second Moreland
Audio show i have seen, and i think that this drummer's more
"rock" sound (as opposed to the light jazz feel of the old Purkinje
drummer) works fairly well with the guitar interplay.
Plus, there is that amazing song where Flom is playing slide
guitar! Wow -- that's a good one. So my recommendation to anyone
who happens to be in Atlanta and enjoys complex guitar work:
check out Moreland Audio if you get the chance.
The headliner tonight was Maserati, who i had never heard of.
However, when they took the stage sometime after 12:50 i realized
that i had seen this band before. Sort of. There is a significant
overlap between Maserati and Splint,
Athens' Slint cover band.
I know that Slint are credited as being one of the first post
rock bands, but i always thought that they sounded more like
June of 44 than Mogwai. There is serious complexity to the rhythms,
while i associate post rock with slow, simple, plodding rhythms
and complex melodic interplay. I guess S(p)lint fall halfway
between post rock and math rock.
Maserati are more Mogwai than they are Slint. They played long
songs of chiming guitar interplay. At times it reminded me of
the guitar-heavy sections of Do
Make Say Think's most recent album. It was really nice and
relaxing music, but, for a Minion suffering from sinus problems
and overwork, it was far too mellow for a smokey beer-filled
club at 1 AM on a workday! So after a few minutes, when i found
myself nodding off, we headed for home.
Maybe someday i will see Maserati play a longer show. I really
liked what i heard, but, well, the entire Atlanta Music Community
conspired to prevent me from seeing them. I rant about this
to fellow Minions all the time, and i rant here every once in
a while. It's been a while so it's time to get up on the soapbox
and yell:
Why do concerts have to start so damned late in Atlanta?
Don't the venue owners understand that five days out of the
week most humans have to be somewhere at 9 AM?
Basically, i would have liked to have seen Maserati, but they
didn't start playing until pracically 1 AM. By that time i had
been awake for 18 hours, and still had to drive home. So why
the heck did things get started so late? Judging by the fact
that they played for 15 minutes after we got there at 11, The
Paper Lions, who were the first band, didn't start until after
10:30!!!!
After 10:30? Most people are asleep by then!
And that, i think, is the answer here. Or at least, in my current
state of winter induced paranoia it is. Basically, Music People
want to separate themselves from The Washed and Groomed Wasses
Who Work. Being a musician/club owner/bartender/soundman is
like never leaving college: you stay up til 4 AM drinking beer
and then sleep until after noon.
People who actually are awake before 9 am are, to the bulk
of people in the Atlanta music community, "dorks". The attitude
really pisses me off. It is discriminatory, plain and simple.
Atlanta music venues discriminate against people who work normal
9 to 5 jobs.
And that really really pisses me off, especially since i work
9 to 5 job.
So to Maserati i have to say "I guess that, since i work in
an office, i'm not cool enough to have seen this show". That's
the message that The Earl (and a lot of other local venues)
are sending me by starting their shows so damned late.
URGH!!!!!
Okay, i'll shut up now. This whole thing just REALLY pisses
me off. Why can't shows start at 8 PM? Why does nothing get
started in ATL until after 10 at night?
And why don't these damned places that insist on doing everything
way after the sun goes down at least serve coffee?????
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