Index of Shows | Homepage | Upcoming Shows | Write to me
I've really been needing a Big Bear show for a while now. After the last time I saw them, I didn't really feel that satisfying "kicked in the head" feeling that I seek in their shows. Tonight, it's not a problem. It's early on a Monday, and the crowd is a little sparse when they start, so there's room to dance. And the combination of fast, jagged rhythms; fucked up, twitchy guitar lines; and Jordyn's brutal screams pretty reliably makes me want to dance. It's complicated music, but it bypasses the critical faculty, too. It's just so powerful and overwhelming that I get lost in it. (I think this is what religion is like, for people who do that.) And I love the wrung-out feeling at the end.
Big Bear prove to be the odd band out on tonight's bill. The Mules are Big, Dumb Fun, with a B-52's party vibe and a strong whiff of Devo in their sound. They're a four-piece, with a keyboardist front and center and two guys who trade off on guitar and bass. All three of these take turns singing, but the dominant elements are goofy little keyboard lines and the simple, dancey beats. The crowd goes wild for this, with a packed and heaving dance floor.
We Are Wolves move even further in the same direction. (Which is unfortunately away from what I like.) A trio from Montreal, they have a loud drum machine playing stupid, ultra-simplistic beats. (And not loud enough for their taste, as they keep requesting it be cranked up more.) One member of the trio has a few drums, does nothing but play along to the drum machine, and can't even stay on the rhythm for all that. I'm pretty appalled. The other two are a bassist and keyboardist. There are some interesting oddities in the bass line, and his freaky little voice is interesting as he screams out vocals, but overall this could be calculated to drive me from the room. And it does.
The Gossip are also a dancey three-piece, but with a fast, fluid (human) drummer, and the focus here is on the singer. She is a powerhouse, a bluesy wailer and screamer and a Disco Diva of the Old School. At its best, this band combines that power and visceral push with surprising indie rock guitar chords and comes up with a striking combination that works on many levels. At its worst, it's disco. (The guitarist switches to bass on these numbers, with lots of the alternating-octaves bass line that just screams "disco" to me.) The kids in the audience are going nuts for this—I spend some time wondering if I can hold onto the drink shelf if the floor caves in—but I was born in 1968, and I've heard enough disco for one lifetime. Still, they're really good musicians, and about half the time I really enjoy them.
