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Our complicated evening begins at O'Brien's with La Faccia Brutta. They start with a fairly quick, upbeat shouter. Then their next song is much more tuneful and a lot slower, at least until the weirdly dancey ending, which occasionally comes to a sudden dead stop for a powerful shriek from the female guitarist. She can also do pretty and delicate, and in fact her guitar leads, while crunchy and distorted in tone, are mostly spare and lovely things. They come through in the mix surprisingly well; La Faccia Brutta are a five piece, with two guitars, bass, drums, vocals, and keys, and two lead and one backup singer, and I've heard other bands with this much going on turn into mud at O'Brien's. But tonight I can hear everything clearly, and it all sounds great. They keep jerking us around with different moods and tempi, which is what I love about this band, while Cameron occasionally announces that they're the best band in the world. They end with a weirdly pretty favorite of mine, still apparently called "New Song." I am getting impatient for a recording.
We rush over to Great Scott in hopes of catching part of The Volume's set, but alas, they've just finished. We stick around for the beginning of Never Only Once. They're not bad, raucous and melodic in a pop-punk, rock radio sort of way. After a couple of songs, though, I wish the singer wouldn't reflexively go right for the scream on every chorus, and the verses get a little earnest and, well, emo. I bet this is what they call "screamo." (Or if it's not, it should be.)
We head back over to O'Brien's, hoping to catch at least the end of the second band, but they've played a short set and finished up by the time we get there. Some nights the timing all works out perfectly, and some nights are tonight. More Dogs set up pretty quickly, though, considering the amount of equipment they have. They are a three-piece with drums, electronic organ, guitar, bass, and vibraphone/percussion station. (Plus a clapper made of hinged boards and a whistle.) If you're wondering how that works, the answer is that they start out on drums, organ, and vibes & percussion, then midway through the first song there's a sort of Chinese fire drill where the percussionist takes over the organ, freeing the organist to play bass, at which point the drummer switches to vibes and they finish the song. It's wacky. None of them plays fewer than three different instruments over the course of the set, and I don't think any two songs have exactly the same configuration. There are no vocals. All this frenetic motion contributes to the strong impression that the songs give me of being the music that plays during the wacky chase scene. Occasionally it gets a bit weightier and more contemplative, but those interludes are both rare and brief; just time, say, for the hero to confess his love for the girl before the Comical Crooks come bumbling back into the shot, and they're off!
It's a pretty short set, so I still have time to catch about half of Baby Boy H's set back at Great Scott. I get frustrated by this band, because there's too much going on in their music. It's fascinating when I can pick cool bits out, but it can sound very muddy and cluttered. Still, my close attention to the guitar leads tonight is well rewarded, and the prominent bass lines are interesting. The other thing prominent in the mix is the frontwoman. I've already written at length of my doubts about her singing qua singing, but she puts on a hell of a show, and tonight, although complaining of a cold, she holds absolutely nothing back. I also love what she does with effects on her voice. There are elements of this band that I seem to complain about every time I see them, but I notice that I keep seeing them, and I'm always entertained.
