Home > Category > Solar Powered Sun Destroyer

Livewire: Solar Powered Sun Destroyer @ The Red & The Black (2010.01.08)

Solar Powered Sun Destroyer Live

Photo: David Carter

Solar Powered Sun Destroyer is a DC band, captured here in an opening slot for Sainthood Reps and Caspian at The Red & The Black. Only about a half hour of music here, but they have a very nice genre-defying sound going. Track 3, “Some Assembly Required,” is especially fine. Solar Powered Sun Destroyer will be appearing again at The Rock and Roll Hotel in DC on Friday February 5.

Solar Powered Sun Destroyer
The Red & The Black Bar
January 8, 2010
Washington DC, USA

Justin Horenstein – guitars
Jimmy Rhodes – drums
Dave Davies – guitars
John Kniep – vocals, guitars
Ross Hurt – bass

Streaming player:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3 links:

1. Ender (3:21)
2. On the Shelf (5:19)
3. Some Assembly Required (4:44)
4. More or Less (6:20)
5. Ghost Light (4:54)
6. Intromission (1:33)
7. The Roulette Year (4:40)

Total time: 30:51

ZIP links:

Entire set in mp3 format

Lineage:

AKG 414 mid/side pair -> Zoom h4n 48/24 -> Nuendo (stereo encoding, limiting) -> MP3

Recorded by:

David Carter(carteriffic@gmail.com)

Photos / Live Review: Frodus, Sick Weapons, Caverns, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer @ the Talking Head (2009.05.08)

Flickrshow will appear here.

Also photographing that night: the inimitable Josh Sisk.  Peep his shots here.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Frodus – The Earth Isn’t Humming

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Caverns – Dancing With the Scars

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).

Sound Off!: Solar Powered Sun Destroyer

_MG_2084

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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.

Photos / Live Review: Appleseed Cast, An Horse, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer @ Sonar Club Stage (2009.04.15)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: An Horse – Postcards

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Appleseed Cast – Marigold & Patchwork

Though the visual fireworks Wednesday night undoubtedly went to the Faint/Ladytron show, the aural ecstasy hit peak levels on the club stage of Sonar, where newly re-organized DC natives Solar Powered Sun Destroyer channeled a cinematic intensity reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, perfecting the scream and gradually overwhelming roar of the perpetual combustions that fuel a star. Much like a dying sun, their sound conjures images of faded power, gasping for a few last brilliant moments before exhaustion (mirrored by the sweat-drenched and spent bodies of the band at the close of the set). At times, they bore some similarity to early work from Thursday as lead-singer as he took a similar, hardcore-influenced approach to delivering vocals, oscillating between delicately vulnerable to explosively cathartic, always with spring-loaded tension ready to trigger.

Instrumentals waxed and waned similarly as each member was given a chance to shine, emerging from the swirling, heavy din of the group as a unique voice. Particularly impressive was the muscular power and robotic precision of Jimmy Rhodes’ drumming. It all coalesced together into something massive in the most physical sense. It was impossible not gravitate towards them if you were anywhere near their orbit.

The Aussie duo An Horse followed, upping the ante even more. Lead singer Kate Cooper’s Feist-like vocals nimbly punctuating some fantastically tight guitar and drum work. At first blush, their music is relatively simple and effective indie-pop (at least on record), but live it truly blooms into something bigger and better, something more infinitely more immediate and affecting.

Appleseed Cast emerged to bathe the room in intricately weaved aural goodness. Much like their two openers (but multiplied many-fold), the Appleseed Cast exude a gravitational force, a primal invitation to visit dwell and explore the deepest recesses and catacombs of the band member’s collective creative spirit.  If you are big on aural immersion, painted with broad strokes of post-rock, they are for you.  If not, your loss.

Appleseed Cast

Appleseed Cast @ Sonar
Read the rest…