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My first time at The Plan, the new rock night at Great Scott's. With its high ceilings, ample seating, and overall cleanliness, it doesn't look like a rock club, but the music sounds good. The Nitlings are a new band, and seem excited to be playing for an audience. They're a basic three-piece with a mostly straightforward rock sound. I think the star here is the bassist: calm to the point of immobility, he stands there looking semicomatose and dropping complicated and creative bass lines into the mix. In some of the songs, the effect is lead bass with rhythm guitar. When the guitarist does solo, he gets some really nice timbres with just a couple of pedals. And he bleeds for his art!
They push their limits on one song. ("Pussy Train"!) It's a great song, with several tricky rhythmic changes, and the guitarist's filthy growl contrasts interestingly with his sunny, enthusiastic between-songs patter, but the drummer and guitarist get a little rough around the rhythm here. They should follow the bassist, who is a rock. And another song has a section in ten, which always makes me happy.
Aerial Love Feed make me less happy. I just don't like bands that play to canned tracks, and when it's a canned drum track, the deal is off. Their sound is very '80s, like a harder version of New Wave, and the singer's voice is kind of high and reedy and annoying. The tunes are okay, actually, but the arrangement drives me from the room.
