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I could have sworn I'd seen Radar Eyes before, but they don't look the least bit familiar. Their songs aren't very tuneful: the bassist alternates between punky screaming and a singing voice that it would be charitable to describe as "weathered," and the other guy who sings probably shouldn't. (It could just be the mic he's using, but he has a really weirdly muddy, boomy sound that's not working for me.) That's pretty much the only problem with this band. They just play the living shit out of their instruments. The drum parts are great, driving and interesting, and he plays them fast and hard and clean. The bass lines are thick and meaty, and the dual guitar leads are awesome. Who needs vocals anyway?
Lady of Spain sound fantastic tonight. They start out with Tim singing lead, and it's a surprisingly straight-up rock song. There might be a little hint of pop hiding somewhere under that distortion! Anna sings the next one, and because the mix is so good tonight, I can actually hear her when she's not screaming. Her voice has this heartrending fragility to it, making her terrifying roar that much more terrifying. The songs are pretty consistently minor-key, dark, and brooding, with lots of feedback and distortion and grit. They feel like high-energy dirges, and that's a great combination. Tim gets some shouting in later, and these songs are more involved, with no more pop hints at all. It's very cathartic. Between songs, they mostly tune, making occasional awkward jokes about not having any jokes to make; this stiff and staid demeanor makes it that much more exciting when Tim seems to attack Charles during the last song, bowling him over behind the PA. (Whence he continues to play perfectly, comically flailing legs the only visible sign of his presence.)
I've already gotten my six dollars worth and then some, so it's probably overkill for one of the most jaw-droppingly weird and great bands in Boston to play last on this bill. Hurray for overkill! Night Rally are really on tonight. I've talked about them so much already, so just a brief recap for those coming in late: a three-piece with precise, fluid drumming; atmospheric, effects-heavy guitar; and intricate, melodic bass lines that give the songs the bulk of their song-like feel. All three sing (or at least vocalize), with three radically different styles. This evening, the guitar is especially interesting. It's still layered with effects, particularly a whole lot of delay, but there's not quite so much reverb on it, so there's actually some sharpness and rhythm to it. Devin seems to work hard on getting the settings exactly right, and it's worth it. They debut a song cycle, with three pieces connected (we're told; who can ever make out more than the occasional snatch of lyrics in a club?) by a story about meeting Ethan Hawke on an airplace, which story is told as prologue. They're good songs, but the highlights for me come before and after, on the ones where all three of them sing. They've really mastered the art of combining their bizarre and disparate styles into a much greater whole.
