Thursday, October 28, 2004

Gig week concluded with an intruiging triple-bill. First up were the oft-hyped Junior Boys, who sounded exactly the same as the time I saw them in May. They still sound like 1983 New Order, although they did play a new one which ressembled a decidedly less creeped-out version of one of the instrumentals off of Ministry's "The Land of Rape and Honey".

Next up was Ratatat. In all seriousness, the best part of their show was the first minute and the last minute. Those parts contained sludgy one-note riffs that wouldn't have sounded out of place as the intro on a Spacemen 3 record. I had visions of an S3/Kevin Drumm dronefest with electronic beats pounding overtop. But it wasn't to be. Instead, it was 70's rock god guitar solo wankery with electronic beats pounding overtop. Note to aspiring bands -- please make my other vision a reality.

But the night clearly belonged to Mouse on Mars. With a live drummer/vocalist, plus live bass, plus live squiggly sounds and churning bass gurgles played on banks of electronic equipment, this stuff hit 500 times harder live than on record. The album is a pleasantly funky head-nodding experience, but the live show reaches deep into your chest, pulls the funk out of your body through your nasal passages and screams "DANCE, MOFO!! RIGHT NOW!!".

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