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Specimen 37 have a lot going on. They pull in a fairly wide range of metal and jam band and electronica and prog and freak influences, and more or less synthesize them. This is an achievement in itself. The danger with such an approach is, of course, that when you incorporate that many disparate elements, each individual approaching your music has many chances to find something they dislike. For me, it's the jam band stuff, which comes out especially in some long, aimless guitar solos that feel noodly and cheesy. However, even they are very solidly and skillfully played, and the whole thing hangs together well. I particularly like the vocals, whether they're the compellingly odd spoken word parts or the strangely pretty singing.
IIJ's front man is a beautiful freak of nature and an E-ticket ride all by himself. The rest of the band is very good, but somewhat bland; they play perfectly ordinary, middle-of-the-road rock music. About half the time, I find myself appreciating them for giving him some kind of solid ground from which to launch his wild antics and dramatic persona. The other half of the time I wish that they could fly with him a bit more. Props to Specimen 37's guitarist for stepping up and providing a replacement guitar amp when IIJ's dies mid-set. Props to IIJ's guitarist for managing Specimen 37's amp, which looks like some kind of science fiction world domination device, only with more knobs, on the fly.
Count Zero are minus one member tonight, as Brendon is doing sound for a touring band, so their set list is determined by what they can do as a five-piece. This proves to be the quieter stuff from the new album, the most straightforward rockers from the last album, and a bonus few from their rarely played first album. I'm impressed with the booking of the night as a whole--Count Zero combine the dynamic freak frontman with the wide-ranging musical chameleon vibe, so it feels like a really pulled-together bill. Peter's between-songs patter is particularly compelling tonight, as he adopts an odd, goofy persona and maintains it for most of the set, even going so far as to insist that Wil use something similar if he's going to speak between songs. There's just barely time for one quick encore, so they do their Joni Mitchell cover, explaining that Ms. Mitchell had to hear it to approve its inclusion on their album, and reportedly doesn't like their quirky German expressionist version very much. Imagine that.
We bolt as soon as the last note dies and head over to All Asia to try to catch some of Tristan Da Cunha's set, since they're my absolute favorite extant band. Fortunately for me, things are running really late there, so I get to hear almost three whole songs. They're near the beginning of the wild, haunting "Black Sky Above, Black Sea Below" when we walk in. After that, there's a Thin Lizzy cover (!), which sounds very natural but (of course) somewhat simplistic in their hands, and then a set closer in which Brian actually makes an audible mistake! I hate to make a big deal out of one flubbed measure from one instrument, but it's just that this is a band that's so reliably perfect on the most insanely advanced and difficult material that it comes as a real and almost gratifying surprise to find that they're actually human beings and capable of error. There is, alas, no time for an encore.
