Live Review: Indian Jewelry, Tree Creature, Gold Painted Nails (5/18/2008) Eyedrum

Indian Jewelry setting up for their show.

The Sunday night before last, I went down to Eyedrum to catch this one. No matter how many times I go to Eyedrum for shows, I almost always forget where it is and get lost for a minute. This time it delayed me just long enough to get caught in a downpour of rain. After entering the venue and quickly glancing over the art hanging in the gallery, I made my way to the concert venue in the back. There were chairs set up on the floor area this time and on a table by the wall, Indian Jewelry had their merch displayed under a trifold board like kids use for the science fair. I grabbed a seat and a few moments later someone announced that Gold Painted Nails was going on up front. The crowd slowly made its way to the tiny gallery in the very front that I didn't even realize existed to catch a short and sweet set from GPN. The one man project from Chris Attack was a somewhat minimalist approach to electronic noise jamming. Industrial-esque beats and dog barking-type vocal loops are always a great combo.





After that, I went back to grab a seat up close for the next band, Tree Creature. I had heard some good things about this duo, and been wanting to catch them for some time. They did not disappoint. Very beautiful and lush, atmospheric ambient jams driven primarily by keyboards, (the weapon of choice both utilize) suped up by lots of effects and even some very low-key vocals (but no laptops). I found myself just totally lost in the music for most of their set. In the greater realm of experimental music, you have to some times give credit to the process even if the finished project isn't as great as you would like, but Tree Creature is one of those rare avant-garde artists that is impressive both in their approach as well as their results. I highly recommend, so here's a taste:

Tree Creature : Molten Tropics








As soon as Tree Creature finished their set, people in the crowd began getting out of their chairs and going to stand right up in front of the stage, so I followed suit. This tour's version of Indian Jewelry was a three piece, as opposed to the different five-piece configuration they were sporting at SXSW. But just like last time, they cut off all the lights and aimed a very large strobe light at the audience to obscure themselves. The threesome each traded off from song to song between 4 basic instrument stations: A table with drum machines and other electronic devices, a guitar going through a ton of pedals, a microphone going through a ton of pedals, and a minimalist drum kit. With the set I caught a SXSW, there seemed to be an air of ridiculousness about the show, and not in a bad way. But whether it was less people on stage or knowing what to expect, the dark, loud, and powerful sound that these guys produced just seemed to be so dominating and spectacular that their stage presence almost seemed irrelevant. I bought their new LP, Free Gold! from them at the show and i have been jamming it hard since. If you have yet to take a hard look at this band, go get their new album and be amazed:









Gold Painted Nails myspace

Tree Creature myspace

Indian Jewelry myspace

Buy Free Gold! here

Tonight In The A: Indian Jewelry

I'm pretty stoked about the Indian Jewelry show at Eyedrum tonight. I loved their last album, Invasive Exotics, and they were very interesting to see live when I caught them at SXSW this year. They have a new album out on Tuesday called Free Gold!. Here's a few tracks to entice you to see them tonight:

Indian Jewelry : Free Gold! : Swans


Indian Jewelry : Free Gold! : Temporary Famine Ship


Here's a really weird promo video for the upcoming album:



Seriously, do yourself a favour and catch this show tonight. Even the openers are worth looking into.

What Up In The ATL?

Tonight I recommend going down to The Earl for a killer show. It starts off with Atlanta supergroup Batata Doce. Then a local band called When Rocky Beat The Russian. I had no idea who they were until researching this week's show listings and discovering the songs on their myspace page to be very impressive and intriguing. The show is headlined by North Carolina's The Physics Of Meaning, who is lead by multi-instrumentalist Daniel Hart. Hart is a member of St. Vincent and John Vanderslice's band and even contributed to recordings by The Polyphonic Spree, Annuals, and The Rosebuds.

The Physics Of Meaning : Down At Columbia And Cameron



Tomorrow there are two big shows to check out. Devotchka at The Variety Playhouse or Blood On The Wall at The Earl. I'm planning to Catch BOTW, but I think both of those would be good.

Blood On The Wall : Hibernation



Devotchka : Transliterator



Thursday night you can choose from The Coathangers at The Drunken Unicorn or Morning State at The Star Bar.

Friday night there are lots of ATLien shows for you to catch:

Star Bar: Sovus Radio, The Clutters, All The Saints
Lenny's: Howlies, The Hiss, Chainstereo
Drunken Unicorn: Carbonas, Test Patterns, Pincho Gringo (Rob's House Showcase)

Saturday night I like the Dropsonic, Self-Evident, 13 Day Mission show at The Earl.

Sunday night Laura Veirs is playing at The Earl but I am more excited about Indian Jewelry at Eyedrum:

SXSW 2008 Day 2: Thursday

Yesterday I started my day at Emo's, but it was so crowded and I wasn't really digging the bands I heard so, I dipped out across the street to the Brooklyn Vegan party at Emo's Annex (there are about 700 different Emo's venues) because the BV party the night before was so much fun. I caught a band called WHY? that was pretty good.



After that, I decided to just walk up and down the main strip and listen to the music coming from each bar and try to discover some bands I hadn't heard of. Outside some Irish pub I heard a really intriguing band, so I went inside to check them out. It was a band from Dublin, Ireland called Delorentos. They were total dance-rock, like Bloc Party before they started getting all soft and lame. I got a live video, but Google video is acting hella lame today, so I can't post the plethora of vids i took yesterday until a later date. But I did manage to find their official video(although I don't think it is their best song):





After some more walking around I heard another band that sounded promising from a dive called Agave. The Brooklyn, New York trio Appomattox rocked really hard, doing loud post-punky rock.



After that it was time to head back to the Annex, where I caught Men, members of Le Tigre doing the laptop DJ thing. The day before, me and Biggie C were discussing this new trend where bands go DJ and how most of the time they aren't that good at it, but this was an exception as they rocked the dance floor hard.



After that, it was time for Phosphorescent, one of the artists I was most excited about seeing at SXSW. He put on a great performance, doing much heavier versions of his stuff than I would have guessed considering how soft and low-key the album is.







Near the end of the show, I noticed Matthew Houck kept looking at someone in the crowd and cracking up laughing. I finally heard someone screaming stuff at him and turned around. It turned out to be Miles Seaton of Akron/Family acting like he was an obsessed fan. For the Phosphorescent finale, he came down into the audience and sang to the Akron/Family boys:



After that, we stuck around and caught Holy Fuck. I'm not much of a dancer and these days it takes something really special to get me to throw down, but Holy Fuck is just the perfect combination of dance music and noise for me to get really into it. You ATLiens who will be around town on Monday really need to go down to The Drunken Unicorn and catch them playing with A Place To Bury Strangers and Atlanta's badasses All The Saints.





After a short break in the onslaught of great shows, I went and caught Islands. They played almost nothing but new material, and it sounds great. I took a ton of videos, so expect those to show up here sometime in the next few weeks.











After that, it was on to Mohawk's patio to catch one of then night's best line-ups. I got there just in time to catch the end of another Phosphorescent set, where he closed with a 10 minute vocal looping jam. After that, I discovered another great act from California called Bodies Of Water. Really cool stuff with lots of vocal harmonizations. They will be at The Earl Monday night with Sons And Daughters so there is another hot Atlanta St. Patty's Day show you can catch.





Then it was time for Evangelicals. I have been in total love with their new album, so I had been really hyped up for this show. They did not disappoint. They came out with massive blacklights and a fog machine, dressed in a style that was half goth, half candy-raver, and went through songs off the new record. Again, expect many live videos to pop up around here in the near future.



Next up on the outdoor stage was Bon Iver. They went through a handful of the beautiful songs on For Emma, Forever Ago, and wow did they sound good. If you have yet to pick up this album, you are missing out.





After that, we switched up things entirely by seeing Indian Jewelry. I would describe their sound as Liars meets Atlanta's Subliminator. It was a spectacle of strobe lights and minimalist percussionists that were there more to dance than to make music. Very interesting show.



We closed out the night at Emo's Outside stage. I got there just in time for the end of Islands' set, but this time they closed with the amazing "Swans (Life After Death)". Unfortunately, the one dark moment of the entire festival came as some sound guy walked out on stage with a few minutes left in the song right and the PA shut off. They actually cut off their last song. Nick Thorburn found a microphone that was still hooked into the PA and yelled "Fuck SXSW!" Everyone started booing, it was a crazy scene.

After that debacle, We ended our night with an awesome set from Austin's The Octopus Project.



It's on to more music, so I'll holla at you later.