i hate the sound of guitars

So, yeah, Fugazi Live Series.
Joe Gross’s write up in Spin seemed like a reasonable starting point, but I’m going to go a lot deeper, and I’ll update this post with the results of my explorations.
001 1987.09.03 Washington DC, USA, Wilson Center
I’m going to go against conventional wisdom and say that the band’s first gig is [...]

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I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Frankly, the circumstances sounded a bit suspicious: reclusive artist schedules a mid-size tour after a long artistic silence and immediately prior to a career-spanning archive release. But from the first few seconds of “Oh, Comely,” it was impossible for me to see anything disingenuous in Mangum’s performance; further, [...]

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The Lizard Lounge was crammed to the gills for the very welcome work-night friendly early set. Joe Pernice opened with a handful of solo songs, including the title track from Goodbye Killer and “Telescope,” a sneak peek at the in-progress Pernice Brothers album (he said it was mostly too rockin’ to translate well to an [...]

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Holy crap, I haven’t written about Mixtapes before? Really!? I have literally listened to this band more than any other artist this year.
Mixtapes live in a weird intersection between well-produced pop-punk and lo-fi indie pop. On the one hand they have a fatter drum sound than I expect from low-budget indies; on the other, [...]

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On the A-side, Lemuria offer two more examples of the smart, catchy, indie rock that’s made Pebble one of my most-played albums of the year so far. I expected their side to be swell, and it delivers. But the revelation here for me is Cheap Girls’ “Pure Hate.” I’m not quite sure what “And I/Keep [...]

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Hard to slot this into a specific genre, it’s not very “rock” (not in the least “rawk”), largely (but not exclusively electronic). It’s the sort of record in which choices of “which instrument voices this part” seem driven more by sonic coloration than by personnel. There’s a lot going on if you pay close attention [...]

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New Order would decidely have struck me as a useful point of reference for Idle Labor even if the cover art didn’t recall Power, Corruption & Lies. As it is, I’m wondering if they want to get threatening letters from some lawyer. Craft Spells’ flowers are less gloomy, of course, and so is their music. [...]

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When I heard “The Heron and the Fox,” it knocked me out. In that subtly arranged song, lovely finger-picked guitar and an extraordinary vocal performance from Little Scream leader Laurel Sprengelmeyer (delicate to the point of fragiliy, with unusual phrasing) unite to deliver a narrative that’s intriguing but ultimately obscure. It’s probably the strongest composition, [...]

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The Long Tangles have coined a term to encompass the many husband and wife indie pop/rock outfits: matrimony rock. Their take puts wife Courtney Han’s vocals and the keys (piano, specifically, on many tunes) way out front. I find it quite pleasant, if a little unassuming (a lot less thorny than, say, Quasi). Hans’ voice [...]

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If I didn’t know The Naked and Famous were from New Zealand I’d be positive they were Canadian. It’s not that they sound specifically like, say, Arcade Fire or Metric, but they combine modern indie rock, new wave, and just a smidge of disco in simpatico proportions. The Naked and Famous add a goodly quantity [...]

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