Serena-Maneesh, the brilliant up-start shoegazer band from Norway, are playing The State Theater in Falls Church tonight! If you are a fan of swirling, psychedelic, guitar freak-outs this is the band for you.
Think the relentless repetition of Spacemen 3 infused with a hot-shot of The Stooges’ energy wrapped around the sonic experiments and dreamy vocals of Medicine and Serena-Maneesh is pretty much what you get!
Advance press from other cities on this tour is that Serena-Maneesh are the real, deal, super-heavy, wall-of-sound that music geeks from Peoria to Poughkeepsie have all been waiting for since a certain ‘Loveless’ band wrecked eardrums across the US back in ’93.
Don’t miss this -
Serena-Maneesh w/
The Evangelicals and Woven Hand
@ The State Theater
$12 – Doors at 7
Originally published on October 4, 2006.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
The King of Hate
The first thing I noticed when I walked into The Rock And Roll Hotel for the first time on sunday is that the space reminded me a lot of the old 9:30 Club – which is a plus. I had heard that the idea behind the place was to be like the 9:30 Club. When I heard that I had assumed the owners were talking about the new 9:30 – much to my surprise they meant the original. The main difference between the original sacred music den and this new club is that the auxilliary drinking space is upstairs instead of down and decorated a little nicer.
The Rock And Roll Hotel stage room is a cool space and I hope they can keep it filled with good bands. Good bands like the one I went to see play on sunday – Snog from the land down under.
Snog‘s touring set-up is spare – two keyboards, a guitar, and lead-singer/ mastermind David Thrussell. Based on Thrussell’s persona through lyrics I have always assumed the guy lives in a hand-made bunker somewhere underneath the Australian outback writing vitrolic diatribes against the “mainstream” world that exists outside his eutopic hippy-in-a-bombshelter compund.
Seeing Thrussell perform live for the first time I realized that my impression wasn’t that far off the mark. Thrussell looks like anything but the stereotype of an EBM musician. No Matrix outfits, no sunglasses, no patent-leather – Thrussell took the stage looking like a middle-aged roadie for White Snake – only instead of wearing a ‘Jersey Devil’ t-shirt he was wearing one that declared ‘I love Robots’.
Thrussell started off by leading his trio through half of their latest album, Snog vs the Faecal Juggernaut of Mass Culture. The new songs featured a range of bizarre vocal stunts by Thrussel backed by ultra-heavy electronic beats that were so in-your-face it was comical. But with Snog that’s the point – at least now-a-days. Thrussell is the Jello Biafra of Industrial – he’s got a message but he’s going to have a lot of fun delivering it.
The new songs seemed to be hit or miss for the crowd, it wasn’t until Thrussell stopped the music to address the crowd directly in a rant about the virtue of ‘true friendship’ that people started to loosen up. Thrussell went on to say that true friends help you when the chips are down – which led into the song ‘Al Qaeda is Your Best Friend’ – which was the most direct attack on Bush and Cheney of an evening filled with many.
Thrussell cut such a bizarre figure that it is hard to describe him to full effect. Between songs he often went off on mumbled rants to introduce songs. However Snog’s music has such biting satire in the lyrics already that the drugged exposition by Thrussell eventually got a little long in the tooth for my taste.
Thankfully Thrussell kept the intro to Snog’s older material short and sweet by saying ‘And now for a walking tour through the museum of EBM’ – which then immediately went into the opening blasts of ‘Corporate Slave’ followed by a good 30 minutes of uninterrupted classic Snog which got the joint jumping.
As much as I dig the newer Snog material it really was the chance to hear these older songs played that got me out to this concert and Snog did not disappoint. Highlights for me were ‘Corporate Slave’, ‘Cliche’, ‘Human Germ’ and the encore performance of ‘The Prole Song’.
‘The Prole Song’ was actually the best song of the show, so good in fact that I wish they had played more off of Buy Me I’ll Change Your Life. Instead Snog ended the show with an awful and totally out-of-place duet with some guy I’ve never heard of doing some lame-ass hippy-dippy song. Which resulted in the odd sight of a crowd of drunk industrial-types linking arms and singing along and of course holding up lighters.
In the end not the way I would choose to end your typical industrial concert, but then there isn’t very much about Snog that one could describe as typical, and that’s probably why I like them so much.
Originally published on October 3, 2006.
The Rock And Roll Hotel stage room is a cool space and I hope they can keep it filled with good bands. Good bands like the one I went to see play on sunday – Snog from the land down under.
Snog‘s touring set-up is spare – two keyboards, a guitar, and lead-singer/ mastermind David Thrussell. Based on Thrussell’s persona through lyrics I have always assumed the guy lives in a hand-made bunker somewhere underneath the Australian outback writing vitrolic diatribes against the “mainstream” world that exists outside his eutopic hippy-in-a-bombshelter compund.
Seeing Thrussell perform live for the first time I realized that my impression wasn’t that far off the mark. Thrussell looks like anything but the stereotype of an EBM musician. No Matrix outfits, no sunglasses, no patent-leather – Thrussell took the stage looking like a middle-aged roadie for White Snake – only instead of wearing a ‘Jersey Devil’ t-shirt he was wearing one that declared ‘I love Robots’.
Thrussell started off by leading his trio through half of their latest album, Snog vs the Faecal Juggernaut of Mass Culture. The new songs featured a range of bizarre vocal stunts by Thrussel backed by ultra-heavy electronic beats that were so in-your-face it was comical. But with Snog that’s the point – at least now-a-days. Thrussell is the Jello Biafra of Industrial – he’s got a message but he’s going to have a lot of fun delivering it.
The new songs seemed to be hit or miss for the crowd, it wasn’t until Thrussell stopped the music to address the crowd directly in a rant about the virtue of ‘true friendship’ that people started to loosen up. Thrussell went on to say that true friends help you when the chips are down – which led into the song ‘Al Qaeda is Your Best Friend’ – which was the most direct attack on Bush and Cheney of an evening filled with many.
Thrussell cut such a bizarre figure that it is hard to describe him to full effect. Between songs he often went off on mumbled rants to introduce songs. However Snog’s music has such biting satire in the lyrics already that the drugged exposition by Thrussell eventually got a little long in the tooth for my taste.
Thankfully Thrussell kept the intro to Snog’s older material short and sweet by saying ‘And now for a walking tour through the museum of EBM’ – which then immediately went into the opening blasts of ‘Corporate Slave’ followed by a good 30 minutes of uninterrupted classic Snog which got the joint jumping.
As much as I dig the newer Snog material it really was the chance to hear these older songs played that got me out to this concert and Snog did not disappoint. Highlights for me were ‘Corporate Slave’, ‘Cliche’, ‘Human Germ’ and the encore performance of ‘The Prole Song’.
‘The Prole Song’ was actually the best song of the show, so good in fact that I wish they had played more off of Buy Me I’ll Change Your Life. Instead Snog ended the show with an awful and totally out-of-place duet with some guy I’ve never heard of doing some lame-ass hippy-dippy song. Which resulted in the odd sight of a crowd of drunk industrial-types linking arms and singing along and of course holding up lighters.
In the end not the way I would choose to end your typical industrial concert, but then there isn’t very much about Snog that one could describe as typical, and that’s probably why I like them so much.
Originally published on October 3, 2006.
Harsh Times
Quite the racism brouhaha going on behind the newsprint curtain over at the Washington Times.
Originally published on October 1, 2006.
Originally published on October 1, 2006.
Listless
Kitchens of Distinction - Capsule: The Best of KOD
Rapeman - 2 Nuns and a Pack Mule
Silverfish - Cockeye
Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs (single)
Clutch - Elephant Riders
The Jesus Lizard - Down
Front 242 - OFF
Bastro - Diablo Guapo
Reagan Youth - A Collection of Pop Classics
Tackhead - Power Inc. Vol.3
Wyclef Jean - We Trying to Stay Alive (single)
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Automatic
Add N to X - Loud Like Nature
V/A- Amphetamine Reptile Peel Sessions
Slint - Tweez
Bad Religion - No Control
B-52's - Cosmic Thing
The Briefs - Steal Yer Heart
V/A - The Indie Scene 1984
Janitor Joe - Big Metal Birds
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Big Muff
Mudhoney - self-titled
Helmet - Size Matters
Braniac - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder
Faith No More - discography!
Band of Susans - Love Agenda
Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living
Mira - There I Go Daydreamer
Blur - Leisure
Bleach - Killing Time
Hi-Fi Killers - Loaded
Scherzo - Suffering
808 State - Utd. State 90
Tackhead - Friendly As A Hand Grenade
Skinny Puppy - Rabies
Revolver - Baby's Angry
Geez - I really need to clean off my desk!
Idea: Maybe I'll make a couple of mixes with one song of off each of these albums before I put them away tomorrow.
Originally posted on September 30, 2006 on Myspace.
Just for giggles here are the albums on my desk right now on February 25, 2012.
Ceremony - Rocket Fire
Harmonia - Deluxe
Red Sparowes - The Fear Is Excruciating...
Jesu - Lifeline
Frontline Assembly - Millenium (single)
Working For A Nuclear Free City - Businessmen & Ghosts
Greta - This is Greta
Adam Franklin - Bolts of Melody
Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
Russian Circles - Station
Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth & Collected Works
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Pelican - City of Echoes
Burial - Untrue
The Black Angels - Passover
Rapeman - 2 Nuns and a Pack Mule
Silverfish - Cockeye
Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs (single)
Clutch - Elephant Riders
The Jesus Lizard - Down
Front 242 - OFF
Bastro - Diablo Guapo
Reagan Youth - A Collection of Pop Classics
Tackhead - Power Inc. Vol.3
Wyclef Jean - We Trying to Stay Alive (single)
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Automatic
Add N to X - Loud Like Nature
V/A- Amphetamine Reptile Peel Sessions
Slint - Tweez
Bad Religion - No Control
B-52's - Cosmic Thing
The Briefs - Steal Yer Heart
V/A - The Indie Scene 1984
Janitor Joe - Big Metal Birds
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Big Muff
Mudhoney - self-titled
Helmet - Size Matters
Braniac - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder
Faith No More - discography!
Band of Susans - Love Agenda
Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living
Mira - There I Go Daydreamer
Blur - Leisure
Bleach - Killing Time
Hi-Fi Killers - Loaded
Scherzo - Suffering
808 State - Utd. State 90
Tackhead - Friendly As A Hand Grenade
Skinny Puppy - Rabies
Revolver - Baby's Angry
Geez - I really need to clean off my desk!
Idea: Maybe I'll make a couple of mixes with one song of off each of these albums before I put them away tomorrow.
Originally posted on September 30, 2006 on Myspace.
Just for giggles here are the albums on my desk right now on February 25, 2012.
Ceremony - Rocket Fire
Harmonia - Deluxe
Red Sparowes - The Fear Is Excruciating...
Jesu - Lifeline
Frontline Assembly - Millenium (single)
Working For A Nuclear Free City - Businessmen & Ghosts
Greta - This is Greta
Adam Franklin - Bolts of Melody
Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
Russian Circles - Station
Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth & Collected Works
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Pelican - City of Echoes
Burial - Untrue
The Black Angels - Passover
Bucketheadland
If the acidic social commentary of David Thrussell’s Snog isn’t your cup of tea but you still feel like having a rocking Sunday night, you could shoot over to the State Theater in Falls Church to catch the return of the enigmatic Buckethead.
No politics in his music, no lyrics at all – in fact Buckethead’s only platform position is to create a mind-blowingly awesome night of guitar goodness. This guy is the Bruce Lee of guitarists and should be seen at least once in every music fan’s lifetime. I saw him in 2004 and it is killing me that there are two great shows on Sunday night.
Decisions, decisions.
Originally published on September 29, 2006.
I decided to see Snog because of the rarity.
No politics in his music, no lyrics at all – in fact Buckethead’s only platform position is to create a mind-blowingly awesome night of guitar goodness. This guy is the Bruce Lee of guitarists and should be seen at least once in every music fan’s lifetime. I saw him in 2004 and it is killing me that there are two great shows on Sunday night.
Decisions, decisions.
Originally published on September 29, 2006.
I decided to see Snog because of the rarity.
Ground Zero
NBC’s The Biggest Loser isn’t the only show in the new Fall line-up to diss DC. CBS’ new show Jericho, about surviving nuclear holocaust, has giving DC the rub as well. (Although considering the circumstances maybe that’s a good thing).
In a dramatic scene from last night’s episode a character marks, with red pins in a map, all the U.S. cities to be nuked in the attack. Somehow Washington DC doesn’t get a pin! That doesn’t make any sense at all. We get Atlanta and Denver nuked but not DC – what? The character’s hand even sweeps passed DC on the map – but no pin.
Granted a few pins get placed off-screen, and DC might be one of them, but if you were directing this scene – the big reveal that the US just got massively nuked – wouldn’t DC be one of the first cities to really ram it home to the audience that the U.S. is wiped out?
Originally published on September 28, 2006.
In a dramatic scene from last night’s episode a character marks, with red pins in a map, all the U.S. cities to be nuked in the attack. Somehow Washington DC doesn’t get a pin! That doesn’t make any sense at all. We get Atlanta and Denver nuked but not DC – what? The character’s hand even sweeps passed DC on the map – but no pin.
Granted a few pins get placed off-screen, and DC might be one of them, but if you were directing this scene – the big reveal that the US just got massively nuked – wouldn’t DC be one of the first cities to really ram it home to the audience that the U.S. is wiped out?
Originally published on September 28, 2006.
The People of Straight Land
Wake up…eat…work out…commute…work…happy hour…commute…eat…watch tv…pay some bills…sleep…repeat 5 times…weekend…yardwork…Home Depot…watch the latest Movie…social obligation…sleeping pill Sunday night…reset…wake up…eat…work out…commute…work…happy hour…commute…eat…watch tv…pay some bills…sleep…repeat for 40-50 years…die…”He/She lead a full and productive life”…burden children with funeral bills…and death tax…and inherited debts…and unresolved emotional issues…wake up in Hell…eat shit…commute for eternity…
Break the cycle and go catch David Thrussell’s anti-mediocrity, anti-corporate diatribe disguised as a band, Snog, this Sunday at the Rock And Roll Hotel . It’s going to be a real treat.
Originally published on September 29, 2006.
Break the cycle and go catch David Thrussell’s anti-mediocrity, anti-corporate diatribe disguised as a band, Snog, this Sunday at the Rock And Roll Hotel . It’s going to be a real treat.
Originally published on September 29, 2006.
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