Show Review for the Week
So I was originally asked to do a review about the fantastic Mastodon show we attended last Saturday night at Center Stage Atlanta. This, in combination with the sentiment of a few other nameless colleagues, came to illicit a nasty and ugly reaction from me that I’m sure most music people can relate to; I’ll tell my story here.
What was so frustrating about the world (read: the people around me that I discuss music with) getting so excited over Mastodon isn’t merely the fact that I have been listening to them (and, it follows, sharing my praise with ‘the crew’) for the better part of five years…. I can handle the redundancy of an old superstar for me being newly discovered by a friend… It happens to me all the time; there are countless bands whose shocking effect on me were the result of my own negligent listening practices; I didn’t even get into Pink Floyd until college, for example. But what frustrates is when people forget that you have been going to Mastodon shows for five years only to have a show like the one at Center Stage finally wake your idiot friends up. The Center Stage performance was great, but not in comparison to Mastodon/Darkest Hour at the Echo Lounge in 2004, or Mastodon/Dillinger Escape Plan at the Masquerade six months later. Yes, I am being a pretentious prick, but yes, I told all you motherfuckers so years ago…. Mastodon is an awesome band and I was sure the Center Stage performance was going to be great before I bought the ticket. My only complaint being that there was no encore for the hometown crowd, but then again, the show was probably full of nubile second and third timers anyway.
My point is, instead of wasting my breath on deaf ears, praising an amazing band like Mastodon like I have been doing to no avail for the last 5 years, I want to review another show I attended this week; Red Sparowes/Kylesa/Irreversible. I missed Irreversible’s set, but I wanted to mention them here because I’ve seen them before; they are a promising local band that fit the bill well; experimental stoner jam metal in the vein of Isis, Sleep, etc. I arrived halfway through Kylesa’s set, who were a pleasant surprise to see. The last time I saw Kylesa was at the old Velvet Elvis in Savannah (before it became the Jinx), probably about 7 years ago. They have since added a second drummer, which, while somewhat asinine, was used enough to satisfy my skepticism (read: dueling drum solo, and yes, thats all it takes). The highlight of the set was a cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’, which droned through 10 minutes of the classic riff. I couldn’t help but remind myself that the last time I saw that song played was by Roger Waters itself in September.
Red Sparowes totally took me by surprise. The entire post-rock, post-metal, whatever thing has been pretty faddy lately, it seems everyone is getting their fingers into it. Bands like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky are successfully maintaining movie soundtrack gigs, and the sound’s influence can be seen across a staggering array of genres. Red Sparowes really dig into some of the more cliche characteristics of this sound, but without the trite-ness that can come with the repetitively mountainous song dynamics that post-rock bands are usually guilty of. The band consists of members of Isis, which definately is perceptible in the Red Sparowes’ set. I would liken it to Isis with less distortion, better drumming, and more delay pedals. The video show also was interesting by virtue of its existence, although not particularly impressive. I would go as far to say that this show was better than Mogwai at the 40 Watt last year, if it must be compared. I know all of Mogwai’s music, so they probably had more working against them; but …. if intensity could be the measure of a post-rock band, the Red Sparowes show wins out; I was more overwhelmed. I still don’t know any of their songs, but they made a new fan out of me Thursday night, which is the best thing that can happen for both performer and audience member; the beginning of something beautiful.
- Posted by Eric Guenther on March 3, 2007 at 2:22 pm
