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This show rules before the bands even start playing. It's a great bill, and we've heard some talk about the famously divey Safari Lounge, so we decided to make the trek to Providence. Nobody told us that they would be feeding a live rat to a large albino python in the bar!!! I'd have come down just for that! This old guy gets someone else to dump the rat into the cage, then harasses it with a stick until it actually runs over the python, at which point there is a burst of activity and the python is almost instantly wrapped around the rat and squeezing. After the death throes, the python gets busy with the swallowing, head first, which goes surprisingly slowly until it gets past the shoulders and suprisingly quickly thereafter.
On to the musical portion of the evening's entertainment, starting with Keys to the Streets of Fear. They describe themselves as a "rhythm 'n' noise outfit," and that's better than anything I've come up with for them. Their rhythm section is monstrously sludgy, mostly plodding along with a kind of slow, unstoppable momentum. Over this the guitars are a gorgeous nightmare of feedback—really, they put a lot of thought into how to shape their feedback for maximum effect—and some really twisted two-string leads that occasionally achieve a kind of weird beauty. Oh, and they shout a lot, but it's nearly inaudible tonight through the dodgy PA here. Still, the respectable crowd seems quite taken with them.
Next are Spheres, who we just saw last night. Jesus, they play fast! I really am coming to believe that the mad profusion of rhythms is actually conforming to some kind of intentional pattern, faster than I can quite follow. I'm seriously impressed. I wish I could hear the bass better, but it's hard to pick out individual parts from the machine gun blast of their sound. This obviously goes double for the vocals. The bassist gets extra rock star points for taking off one of his socks and singing through it when the microphone keeps shocking him.
La Bella Angora are next. They are a five-piece, and they play a mathy sort of hardcore. I don't much like the guitarists' wank-metal style, but they're really good at it. I'm really not a fan of the singer, who seems to have the big rock gestures and intensity but not necessarily the pitch to go with them; fortunately, he has a lot of microphone trouble, and the songs are practically instrumentals. What I do like, a lot, is the rhythm section, and I wish I could hear the bass more. (Usually if I'm complaining about the bass it's because it's drowning everything else out!) The bassist breaks a string before their last song and, unable to find a replacement, sits it out.
Last up are Sweetthieves, who set up the bill. I am really quite taken with this band; they do everything so very well. The drumming is straightforward, but interesting and perfectly solid, and it provides a launch pad for the amazing strings. The guitarist plays a homemade baritone guitar with a beautifully warm sound. He complains a lot about his amp malfunctioning tonight, and it does add a dirty tone that I haven't heard him have before, but I kind of like it, myself. It's a richly textured sound. And their bassist is quite possibly the best bassist I have ever seen. They play a new song for which her part has the musicians from the other bands shaking their heads and grinning in disbelief. The guitar in this song is gorgeous also, and sits lightly on top of that incredible bass line. With good, clear vocals and engaging tunes, there's just nothing about this band that I don't love.
