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For the second time this weekend, I've come to Central Square to see an amazing bill for a somewhat sad occasion. Tonight is Cancer To The Stars' last show, but we can't be exclusively sad, because we have a huge night of rock tonight. Anti-Love Project start us off with a raucous, Sonic Youth-tinged bang. Their songs are snarling, shouting distortion-fests, yet oddly really catchy. The bass is plagued by extraneous feedback tonight and has to be turned down low, while the vocals start too low and need to be turned up, but otherwise everything sounds great. The drumming is wonderful, steady and interesting, but I think my favorite part is the interplay between the two guitars, one primarily serving up a succession of brilliant rock leads and the other mostly spewing a wash of thick, crunchy noise.
The High Strung are from New York, and could hardly be more different. Where A-LP spout beautiful hatred, The High Strung are remarkably sweet, all pretty tunes and major chords. It's very mid-career Beatles, with maybe a little Ween thrown in in the weird but pleasant harmonies. It's all very well done, but most notable is the bassist, who is amazing. Sometimes he just does normal basslines, sometimes he gets really intricate and interesting, sometimes he chords and strums, and on one song he plays along with the guitar lead a fifth down, and the effect is wonderful.
Night Rally get quite an impressive crowd for a Sunday night. Their songs are weird, rhythmically complicated, and hard to pin down, but always very engaging. All three of them sing, though almost never together; they use their very different voices to give diverse feels to different songs or parts of songs. (Devin's sweet, pretty falsetto, coming from a big guy with a Snidely Whiplash mustache, is wonderfully jarring.) The complex, melodic bass lines sort of drive the tunes, while the guitar, high and chiming and drenched in delay most of the time, is more atmospheric. Their stage patter is bizarre. They make a bunch of new fans tonight.
At last, it is the ultimate Cancer To The Stars set. The thing I find really shocking about this band is Ryan's voice; he's such a scrawny little guy, and his voice is this HUGE, operatic thing. He could fill stadiums with that voice. And they get a really full sound for a three-piece. There's a powerhouse rhythm section, with intricate bass lines (lots of great bass tonight) over excellent drumming, and Ryan does big fuzzy chords and tight, melodic leads equally well. Most of the songs are very fast and eminently danceable. I guess you'd have to call them "indie rock," but they don't really sound like anyone else. Maybe it's the voice. Jenn from A-LP joins them on the last song to help scream while the band has a huge, dramatic set-closing meltdown, and they seemingly intend to stop there, but the audience absolutely refuses to leave without an encore, so they play a quick, punky farewell, and then it's really over.
