Hey, guess who I'm going to see next week in Seattle? Just guess! You'll never - oh, wait, you totally guessed My Bloody Valentine, didn't you? Dang it. Well, it's true. Some might say I'm at least 20 years too late to be seeing this influential, semi-reclusive band for the very first time, but reports of their recent shows have been quite positive, and I'm excited. (I also finally coughed up the dough for a pair of custom ear plugs molded to my ears, so I think I'm physically prepared for their glorious guitar onslaught.)
FYI for others going to the show: for some reason it has been moved from WaMu Theater to Showbox SoDo. Neither is particularly known for the quality of its sound, so I don't really think I care. As long as the venue's name contains a nonsense word made up of two capital consonants and two lower case vowels I'm good.
But for now let's go back to a time before either of these venues existed, when WaMu was still a going concern and SoDo, if it was in use then at all, meant "South of the (King) Dome" . . . the distant era known as the Late '80s.
"British press seems to dig these guys. Some of this is pretty cool - if you like this sort of thing. Not all has that 'Creation' sound." "J & M Chainish at times." "I like this. But then, I am culturally deprived, aren't I." "'Soft as Snow' was niftily noisy." "Quite psyche and quite cool - 'specially 'Nothin.'" "Nifty!" "Overrated, methinks. Not bad, but doesn't justify the Brit hype machine. I think the J & M Chain did this better. Would be cool live, tho', if they're as loud as I've heard they are." "WHAT?! This kills." "1990 & I like this LP & this band in general! (Plus they're Irish . . . never hurts. [This is the same commenter who wrote the 'overrated' review above.] " "1/2 Irish, actually. But they're very good. They use pop & noisy guitars in a different way; they have a more sensual sound than the usual pummel your face approach most bands around here take." |
It's hard to know where to begin with a legendary rabble-rouser like Jello Biafra (still rousing the rabble with his new band Guantanamo School of Medicine, whose White People and the Damage Done came out this year - actually, that band name and album title probably tell you a lot more about Jello …
Howe Gelb is a goddamn institution. Over the past three decades he has released 25 albums with the mercurial outfit Giant Sand (originally known as Giant Sandworm, most lately known as Giant Giant Sand), and almost as many albums under his own name (#20, Dust Bowl, is available right now). His care…
