Solar Powered Sun Destroyer opened what was sure to be a memorable night. At first, I wasn’t sure if they were on the right bill or not.  Having not seen or heard them before, I didn’t know what to expect. They were good, don’t get me wrong, but they weren’t really what I was expecting. I guess seeing a show headlined by Frodus, I was expecting more of a scream-y band.

Now, I’m not making a case for bands that sound different not playing shows together. Their sound was post rock-ish, and compared to what I knew lay ahead, just didn’t really blow me away. Better suited to open a Mogwai show, I felt. I guess it was just the whole mood of their set which was much more hushed and restrained than everyone else who played this evening. The set started, ended and re-started abruptly because of a loss of sound, which I’m told was possibly due to their own lighting (awesome, by the way, pretty blues and whites in an otherwise completely dark Talking Head).

I missed Caverns at Aural States Fest. I had heard they were pretty active, and I wasn’t misled. It seems like Early Humans have been channelled by 2 of DC’s finest new bands: Imperial China and Caverns,  and I couldn’t be happier. What’s more, just like Early Humans, both bands are 3 pieces.  Coincidence?

Caverns play a form of instrumental and highly technical metal/punk augmented by piano. Guitarist Kevin Hilliard commanded attention, from the stage and the floor, for the duration of their set. Back and forth he runs like a madman. Into the crowd, back to the stage, hardly ever stopping except to heap praise on the night’s stars: a recently reformed Frodus. He utilized every inch of floor space he could find, and when he ran out he pushed his way into the crowd to open up an even larger hole. At one point he accompanied piano player Patrick Taylor with his foot (a welcomed display of histrionics). The band chugged along at breakneck speeds, propelled by Ross Hurt’s drumming. Several times throughout the show Hilliard paid homage to Frodus. “The best band ever from DC,” according to Hilliard. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say “best band ever,” but definitely in the top ten. I reserve the best spot for Fugazi (speaking of bands reforming…).

Sick Weapons, I must admit I had never heard of, and I felt guilty because I got the feeling I’ve been a little behind the times. It was apparent that I may have been the only one there who hadn’t heard of them before. The crowd gathered much closer to the stage for their performance. Singer Ellie Beziat swigged from her bottle of Natty Boh, and even rapped a little, recalling a grade school project. It’s not the rap they’ll be remembered for, but the way in which they pumped everyone up for what was still to come: the gods of spazz, Frodus. Sick Weapons played sleazy Baltimore punk with no filler or frills, just the way we like it. Just like blue crab and Old Bay, that’s all we need.

Frodus is a band I that I’ve known about since their release Fireflies but had never seen live…until now. My expectations were high, and I was anxious to see them. Fortunately, they did not disappoint. I really never thought that I would ever see this band perform live, so the news that they were back together was so great to hear. The place really went apeshit for these guys and it’s easy to see why.

Drummer Jason Hamacher started things off with a little “deep tissue massage” on a willing member of the audience, just to loosen things up. Then on went his gloves, and for the next hour Frodus rocked the Talking Head. At one point someone asked Hamacher to try and kick him in the face. That never happened, but he did make his way from the stage mid-song, trading off drumming with guitarist Shelby Cinca.  Diving into the crowd, he was passed along the ceiling and then back to his kit to finish the song without missing a beat. This show may as well have been billed as “Frodus Karaoke” because I’m not sure who sung more, Cinca or the audience. It was clear that a lot of people in the audience knew this band, and knew them well. This was clearly who everyone was there for.

The evening ended with the  classic “Cha Chi” to which Cinca told the disappointed crowd, begging for more, “DC bands don’t do encores.” When it was all over I picked my jaw up off the floor and tried to clear the sound of sirens from Cinca’s bullhorn from my ears into the next morning. If Wall Street is reading this, your asses best be hiding right now because Frodus is back in a big way (and I think they’re gunning for you).

Frodus – Conglomerate International

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MP3: Frodus – Psaurcacneosisa

In honor of Baltimore’s Frodus Friday, here is their 1998 LP Conglomerate International in its entirety.  Click on the album cover above to download.  If you love it, buy the reissue from Gilead.

Memorize the words.  Shout along at the packed show tonight, Talking Head, 8PM doors.

The Thermals play DC’s the Black Cat Mainstage on Wed May 13th.

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MP3: The Thermals – No Culture Icons from More Parts Per Million (2003)

The fetching bassist of Portland pop-punksters the Thermals is one Kathy Foster. And a long-standing rockstar crush for me (see right *drool*). So it was with great giddiness that I got her on the horn and poked and prodded her brain about the latest Thermals-related affairs, which she answered graciously and humbly, with a touch of coyness, only deepening my googly-eyes. OK, enough school-boy non-sense. Read up on my thoughts on their latest, Now We Can See and let’s talk the after-Sub Pop and the after-life.

Aural States – I think I talked to Hutch around the time when you guys were considering leaving Sub Pop.  Could you tell me more about the decision to leave and then sign with Kill Rock Stars?

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MP3: Solar Powered Sun Destroyer – Ghost Light (Live on WMUC)

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MP3: Solar Powered Sun Destroyer – Intromission

Some of you may or may not remember me gushing a bit about SPSD when they opened for Appleseed Cast at Sonar a few weeks ago. Even more remarkable, and something I may have neglected to mention, is that the show was one of their first ones back after a massive line-up overhaul.

Seems even more people have hopped on the fan-wagon this week as, in anticipation of their show tonight at the Black Cat, DC blog DCist conducted one of their Three Stars spotlights on the fellas.  I’ve said pretty much all I desire to at this point, so go back and read that review and enjoy the above cuts (thanks to SPSD for kindly letting us host them).  I will likely gush a bit more when they open a phenomenal bill at the Talking Head on May 8 with Aural States regulars and Aural States Fest alums Caverns and a little band called FRODUS headlining.

If you are in DC tonight, do head over to the Black Cat Backstage, where SPSD will open for Tera Melos.  $10/doors @ 9PM.

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MP3: Imperial China – Space Anthem

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MP3: Imperial China – Mortal Wombat (Live from Aural States Fest 2009)

One of DC’s finest, and one of our favorite local artists (Imperial China) were in the famed Inner Ear Studios this past weekend recording their full-length, set to drop later this year with Devin Ocampo on the boards.  We took some shots.

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My roommate silently stalked over to my computer and asked what I was listening to.

“The new Title Tracks single,” I replied. Looking over my shoulder at the four or five possible concepts I had sprawled out on a sheet of printer paper, he asked if I was writing about this song. “Yes,” I said, trying to quiet his apparent suspicion. He began to chuckle as he stared at my notes. I asked him what he’s laughing at, to which he responded: “Nolan, it’s a freaking pop song.  Quit analyzing it like one of your David Byrne albums or something.”

He probably walked off mumbling something about a punk band, but I wasn’t listening. He was right about one thing there: Title Tracks (and their debut single, Every Little Bit Hurts) does not attempt to revitalize pop music.  In fact, I think it’s safe to say Title Tracks do nothing but add to the already-crowded guitar pop genre.

That being said, “Found Out,” the better half of Every Little Bit Hurts, shows a lot of promise from these DC indie-poppers. It stars some extra-tense guitars working like a loaded spring, only gaining a moment’s rest during the pop-standard chorus.

The sugar-soaked tune (clocking in at a whopping 2:35) is just long enough to allow a fair amount of familiarity, but somehow feels like it could still use some trimming. The first verse introduces itself like a walk through an uncomfortable neighborhood at 3AM, and before you know any better, it transforms itself into a liberating power-chorded refrain.  It just gets a little irritating when you hear the same chorus for the third time in less than three minutes, almost as if you know they simply decided to throw in the once-delightful bit wherever they could.

Title Tracks seem to have this issue all over their single. While each individual piece of any given song is strong, their copy/paste outlook ruins much of the enjoyability that may have been possible. If they clean up their song structure a little bit, I’ll be looking forward to see what these guys do with an album.

Photo credit: Fiz

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MP3: Asobi Seksu – Familiar Light from Hush (2009)

A few weeks ago, I loaded Hush into my media player and the delicate voice of Japanese Yuki Chicudate began to fill my bedroom with dreamy trailing synth and modest ruptures of rhythmic drum. Her lyrics were intricate and poetic—uttered in angelic speech, dominant but not overbearing. Tracks fluctuated between sedated, down-tempo melodies to avant-garde like that of Chairlift’s indie pop.

I pictured delicate rendition with composed deliverance, anticipating a show that could, quite possibly, trigger tears. Finally, I’m standing face to face with the foursome in a packed Rock and Roll Hotel in DC, but what’s to come in the live performance I am not prepared for in the least.

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MP3: Southeast Engine – Black Gold

What if Ray Davies had come of age attending a black Baptist church in middle America? Well, he might have made an album like From the Forest to the Sea, the latest from Athens, Ohio’s Southeast Engine on Misra Records. Informed by concept albums like Davies’ Kinks klassic Arthur and shaped by his own less-than-conventional religious upbringing, SEE’s Adam Remnant has concocted the most ambitious, and perhaps the most beautiful, of his band’s four albums. The songs track a spiritual search while skipping stylistically from roots to indie-rock to numbers owing a plain debt to the gospel influences of Remnant’s youth.

Recorded primarily live to analog in a 19^th century schoolhouse in rural southern Ohio, Forest/Sea is a warm and intimate sounding record and transfers well to the stage, where only the echoey acoustic piano is missed a bit. The band’s deftness and fervor remains in spades. On disc or in person, Southeast Engine is one of the most capable and inventive bands out there today, and should not be missed in either medium.

Southeast Engine performs at Golden West Café in Baltimore April 17 and at The Red and the Black in D.C. April 18.

The Presets

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MP3: The Presets – If I Know You

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MP3: The Presets – If I Know You (Heartbreak Remix) (thanks Modular!)

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MP3: The Golden Filter – Solid Gold

I’ve already paid lip service to “If I Know You,” one of the Presets’ most triumphant, and definitely the most sublime, tracks off 2008′s Apocalypso.  Julian Hamilton’s lingering, sombre vocals gliding atop the distant, steadily pulsating backbeat and back-mixed synth chord progression gives the entire track a naked, vulnerable feel that stands hairs on end, like a brisk pre-dawn breeze drifting over your skin.  Subtle reverb lilts off the vocals, casting  a further haze over the track.  Three-fourths of the way through the track, the bottom drops out to give way to gorgeously appointed, understated vocal harmony that is crushing, reaching the apex of their weight and vulnerability.  The fact that they scored a tastefully edited, equally sublime music video showcasing a mixture of modern, ballet and various other forms of dance is just icing on the cake (video after the jump).  Not surprising, considering we found in our interview that Hamilton’s brother is involved in dance.

But even more great news just hit the wire: the Presets are releasing both a single for “If I Know You” (dropping early April and packed with remixes of the titular track, including a particularly fantastic instrumental by Tom Middleton) and a new collector’s edition of Apocalypso (dropping May 5th) that includes a second disc, also full of remixes.

The Presets are hitting the 9:30 Club in DC tomorrow, Wed Apr 1, with the Golden Filter.  The consensus from their tour opening for Oceania-mates Cut Copy seems to be that their live show regularly trumped the headliner’s, on all levels.  I can testify to it being a gloriously sordid and sweaty affair that really can’t be beat for good times and good tunes.

Vid, tracklist for collector’s edition and complete tour dates after the jump.

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