Pharmacy Spirits
Teen Challenge
March 2010
Self-Released.
Pharmacy Spirits – Books
Pharmacy Spirits – Just Like Charles
This spring we received a beautiful gift from Nebraska’s Pharmacy Spirits. Following the path carved by their debut EP Every Song Ended In 1994, Teen Challenge stands on the shoulders of giants, and it stands tall. The record somewhat insinuates a contradiction, sharing the name of an evangelical Christian outreach program created in the 1950’s to heal the country’s youth of their addiction to drugs, alcohol, and sexual perversion. Pharmacy Spirits and Teen Challenge explores the expanse between depraved debauchery and outlandish treatment programs; the anxiety of each extreme is encapsulated by the band’s style. Taking a listen to their earlier EP, one recognizes a celebration of British and American new wave and post-punk engaged in fornication with college radio demigods, producing a dance driving vegrandis opus that is ultimately hip.
The observation that sometime in 1994 the music died sells the narrative that the 80’s was a truly significant decade. The lives of such admired artists as The Glove, The Cure, Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Fall, and later bands like the Pixies and Pavement (Slanted and Enchanted, 1992 and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain 1994), all flared and faded by the time 1994’s final sun set. Though this would be only one telling of the story, as many would argue that the few bands who still release albums are alive and well, not to mention, the very existence of Pharmacy Spirits’ seemingly inarguable relevance underscores the fact that many of these bands’ early catalog has never been hotter. These artists though have come through the looking glass marred by the now romanticized experiences of sex, drugs, and death. Enter Teen Challenge.
Piecing together and then articulating the ambient qualities of a record is never easy. The critic is forever the douche bag for ever even considering the use of his vocabulary. Teen Challenge though has a warmth and beauty that is so exquisitely wrought with desperation and exhaustive emotion that it would be difficult to talk about it without reading like a canvas description at the MOMA. Teen Challenge has all that the throw-backs of the modern era could ever hope. The best songs make you want to dance, the rest are just as cool, though the contrast between pulsations such as Books or Just Like Charles and the slow downs like Safety Now only serves to elevate the power and energy of the former. Simply put, Teen Challenge is a beautiful gift that has reified all that we ever loved about the decade of decadence, yet at the same time Pharmacy Spirits has the guts and vision to move beyond a bygone time, through the looking glass, to explore what still counts, what is still relevant. By all measures they have succeeded.
Tour
August 28th 7PM Eclipse Records w/ Dragons Power Up! & tba Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 29th 9PM Vaudeville Mews w/ Gabe Cordova & tba Des Moines, Iowa
September 3rd TBA
September 4th TBA
October 1st 9PM The Cave w/ Gospel Gossip! Northfield, Minnesota
October 2nd 9PM 331 Club w/ Gospel Gossip Minneapolis, Minnesota
Arthur Killroad
The Longest Day of My Life
June 2010
Self Release
I Don’t Eat Syrup, I’m a Man
Life in the Malebolge
Once again I have spent way to much time considering how I should approach a record that is miles away from my cup of tea but one which I have great respect for in terms of song writing and recording. What can you say when a guy simply does what he does really damn well. Arthur Killroad’s music reminds me of a good and dear friend who, even when surrounded by the snobbiest of snobby indie kids, says “I write great pop songs, I can’t help it, and I’m not going to run away from it.” Arthur Killroad, or Mike Petruccelli if you prefer real names, has recently self-released The Longest Day of My Life, a seven track pop-core confection that shamelessly employs nearly every hook in the book producing a record so easy on the ears you almost forget the constricting waistline of your Skinny 511’s™. Killroad’s latest effort has markedly improved on his last venture, which was similarly hook laden, but this time around he has not only kept the lyrics clever, but he has cradled his words in a soundscape of music employing much more than his flicker fast acoustic guitar and gruff impassioned voice.
The addition of a trap set, bass, and the occasional crunchy distorted guitar punch in has added considerable value to his project. This is not to say that his solo recordings are empty, but he has simply written better music that functions in large part due to layers and contrasts. In some ways I think he could go even further. Fine…he can keep the hooks, keep the borderline emo-nouveaux melodies, keep the Ben Folds inflected voice; keep ‘em, but The Longest Day of My Life demonstrates that Killroad knows how to orchestrate, he knows how to arrange and I am interested to hear what comes next. Killroad hails from Athens, Ohio; though I am pretty sure I spied him walking around Alphabet City last year. His myspace mentions that he is on his way to Chicago, a town I am very familiar with. With new plans, a new city, and new friends, he will have a whole new pool of experience from which to draw. Killroad has let it be known that he has turned a corner in his life and his music clearly reflects that.
Two of the best touring acts are on the road out of Nebraska.
The Machete Archive is a heavy post rock thunder feast. Fuckin’ A man…They are one of the better live acts to grace the Midwest.
Yes this band fucking rocks and you really need to show up for these folks. In Brooklyn, they’ll be playing at Goodbye Blue Monday on June 16th…Yes, yes, yes, I know we all have our issues with Goodbye Blue Monday, but come on, it is like the new CBGB’s….or whatever. So we should all go see these rapaciously decadent instrumentals, maybe you’ll find that lamp you’ve always wanted while you are at it.
As for Midwest Dilemma (Read Review Here), this band isn’t coming to New York this time around but their tour has plenty of dates in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and the Dakotas. The strength of this band is their story telling through music. It is truly an archival experience.
June 7 7:00P Piano Lounge, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
June 8 9:00P Ronny’s Bar Chicago, IL
June 9 9:00P Monks Kaffe Pub Dubuque, Iowa
June 10 7:00P The Historic Trempealeau Hotel Trempealeau, WI
June 11 8:00P Paradigm Coffee & Music Sheboygan, Wisconsin
June 11 11:00P Green Room Pub Sheboygan, Wisconsin
June 12 7:00P The Attic Books and Coffee Green Bay, WI
June 13 8:30P The Root Note La Crosse, Wisconsin
June 14 8:00P Thirsty Pagan Brewery Superior, Wisconsin
June 15 10:30P Lee’s Liquor Lounge Minneapolis, MN
June 16 7:00P Drunken Noodle Fargo, ND
June 17 9:30P Latitude 44 Sioux Falls, SD
June 18 8:00P Red Rooster Aberdeen, SD
June 19 7:00P Slattery Vintage Estates Nehawka, Nebraska
I showed up at Pete’s Candy Store with a couple friends around 10:30, having missed every single act to play that night except for Adrien Reju. I had no idea what to expect, and I preferred it that way, as my friend dragged me out of my warm apartment after all day of a pretty solid hangover and delightful deafness from the previous night’s show at Zebulon.
We sat down in Pete’s cozy venue as Adrien Reju and her band tuned and warmed up. From the first note, they exuded warmth, and their set stayed true to that feeling throughout. The band has a quiet, bluegrass sound peppered with twangy country and singer/songwriter-ness. Their look is perfectly humble. My favorite part was Jason Loughlin’s guitar, looking like it could have been found in the back of a barn under a pile of straw. Adrien herself is small, sweet, and adorable: a look which suits the music, not to mention the venue. It seemed like Pete’s small stage and the décor in it was made for Adrien and her musicians. But back to the music: the tunes are sweet and melodic, though the rare time, they come dangerously close to coffee-house banality.
With the beauty of Adrien’s voice and the ease with which she seems to sing, the vocals were rich and interesting. The voice and its innuendo drove the subtle emotions of the songs home. The real treat of the performance was the vocals. An accompanying singer, whose name I didn’t catch, produced perfect harmonies. What a beautiful noise they made.
Mostly Other People Do the Killing
Woos & Woes
our mountain
Zebulon
January 8th 2010
So I’ll keep this one short. It is long over due, and I wasn’t going write anything, but I figure why not take an opportunity to call it like it was. The title of this piece should be “Woos & Woes and our mountain Got Fucked by Mostly Other People Do the Killing,” which I’ll now refer to as “that jazz band” because I don’t have the patience to write their damn name. For those who don’t know—and who doesn’t—an opening slot for a 3 band gig is 45 minutes with 15 minutes for the break down. So let’s start there. That jazz band played for over an hour and a half and took their sweet time breaking down. To quote one exceptional jazz player, “If you can’t convince the crowd you’re good in seven songs, you won’t be able to do it in 14.” This is advice that jazz band needed to fucking take. The music was a flutter of circus acrobatics meshed with a rhythmic train wreck…and some how I think he might like such a description. At one point, during the syncopated scaled masturbation, the drummer sundered his kit and howled in the kick’s microphone, orgasming like basset hound. The band was confused…they thought we enjoyed their cheap pornography. I can’t tell you how many people looked at one another in absolute disbelief. What commitment…what style! I suppose they were releasing their new album that night.
Woos & Woes, whose recorded music by the way is pretty damn good, had a dreadful amount of mic issues. It clearly put them on edge. In fact if that is the description I’d give the night, on edge. They mostly performed well but the venue and mic set up was not suited for their delicate ambience, or their cavernous washed out vocals. Woos & Woes are an LA band that I imagine could have been, and should have been an excellent preface to the final show of the evening, our mountain. Woos & Woes played as a guy gal duo trading off instruments and vocal leads. Both members seemed stifled by the venue’s seeming lack of care for their performance.
Our mountain finally made it to the stage at 12:30, an hour and a half later than their scheduled slot. Those who stayed had likely by then spent all their money on booze and hardly had much to tip…yes a bucket was passed around. Our mountain played their usual energetic and explosive show. They debuted some new tunes, all of which were cradled comfortably within their brilliant repertoire compiled over years of refining their sound. I cannot say enough for this band, especially because they stuck to their gritty guns and gave a great performance, despite the fact that the venue hadn’t the slightest care. I can imagine there was a strong enough impulse to “say sorry guys,” to those who remained, and get the fuck out of dodge, but they didn’t. They played and played well. The venue, Zebulon, looks great, it has a Parisian feel with tons of wood and nameless beer taps. But they accidentally poured a beer down the shirt of a girl sitting at the bar and made a passive apology, failing even to play nice and offer a drink on the house. More importantly they lost control of their stage, letting a bunch of self indulgent jazz hacks suck out the oxygen from what could have been an amazing night.
Thought & Memory
Time EP
Unsigned
January 1st 2010
“Man is a wolf to man” (“lupus est homo homini” Plautus: Asinaria, 495). This quotation from Though & Memory’s myspace embodies the reflexive and philosophical frame through which their debut EP ought to be absorbed. Referencing the atrocities man inflicts on man, Thought & Memory have built and self-released an epic four song EP titled Time, a record wrought with an animistic serenity, ruptured by the thunder of collided sheet metal and the feral intensity of natural violence. Song titles like Wing by Wing, Sixty Sunsets, and What Are We Now, are the only words attached to the music. They are also indicative of the thought put into every moment of the EP. The music is both beautiful and obscure, sophisticated and primal, calming and destructive. The band sprouts from the post-rock genre, finding fraternity with the likes of Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, or early Pelican, but the cutting juxtaposition of instrumentation on the record reveals a unique and compelling band who do not wear the tag of “knock off,” rather they have orchestrated a brilliant mélange with considerable energy, which culminates in the sixth minute, fifty-sixth second of the fourth and final track What Are We Now. The EP is short and definitely leaves the listener wanting more. Having seen a few of their live performances, I know that more will be released soon enough.
Upcoming Shows
January 23rd 8PM – Mr. Beery’s – Bethpage, NY
February 14th 1 PM – Sinclair’s Pub – West Babylon, NY
February 27th 9PM – Bartin – Babylon, NY
For those of you who don’t know, Melbourne, Australia’s Whiskey Go Go’s have moved to Brooklyn and changed their name toour mountain. This band, led by Matthew Hutchinson, plays a rare sort of dirty Americana rock ‘n roll that has the subtlety of Young and a passion pickled in the brine of booze induced love. The man cannot sit still, his legs strike the awkward pose, his best attempt at repressing the kicks and jumps, while his hands, when not furiously striking his guitar strings, are thrust into the air, an exclamation that what he sings and what he pleads is nothing short of a matter of life and death. Indeed he could be rock ‘n roll’s next great evangelist. Lucky for us our mountain will be playing Zebulon in Brooklyn Friday, January 8th and will be accompanied by Woos & Woes. For those of you who do know the band, I hear new material will be played.
For those of you looking for incredibly loud walls of melodious majestic sound with which to deafen yourselves The Sunshine Factory has confected a sugary short-list of songs. The band offers the Sugar EP at a name your price bargain on their website thesunshinefactory.bandcamp.com. The music is highly orchestrated power shoegaze replete with pedaled ambiance and seraphim vocals. They hail from Mobile, Alabama and will be driving northward in March to play Trash Bar, a local Williamsburg bar in Brooklyn. Trash Bar is located South of Metropolitan of Grand between Roebling and Driggs, and conveniently across the street from my apartment and my favorite restaurant, so I really have no reason to miss this one. Of course these guys have a heavy dose of My Bloody Valentine influence, and they’d do well to seek out the likes of Chicago’s Airiel, that is if they are still making music-I need to check in with them, or local NES shoegaze outfit Depreciation Guild. Here is a taste…
Good video for the season…although as I am sure everyone would agree, the whole concept of a band playing in a field, with the camera circling around is a bit played out. The cynics like me can’t help but think about how much they’re faking…I mean they are being filmed pretending to sing and play their instruments. It’s kinda weird….contrived…But the band is good and it’s seasonal so it plays on Foxtrott. I like the pumpkins…nice touch…
