Friday, August 29, 2008

Brooklyn Cat House Show

Yooooooooooo!!!

I am little late on this one. Yesterday was busy as hell and last night I went for a beer with some co-workers before completely crashing. Needless to say, it was near impossible to wake up this morning. Thank god for summer Friday. Actually, this is our last summer Friday. back to the grind. The slow grind of fall into winter. Hey! Maybe we will actually have some fall foliage this time around. I dont know about you but Fall has always been my favorite season.

So, the show I went to on Wednesday was awesome. It was at the Brooklyn Cat House in my old hood of Bushwick, Brooklyn. I went on the solo tip, despite feeling like I might skip it. I had been excited to go since the beginning of the month though, so I woke my sorry ass up and biked out there. Always nice to get a good bike ride through the ghetto in.

The bill: Blue Letter, Algernon Cadwallader, Towers, Dead Letter Auction, ...Who Calls So Loud

To start off, I got there and didnt know anyone so a generous and happy looking gent by the name of Tank was very friendly and talkative with me. This led to a comfortable feeling and I ended up meeting a bunch of really cool people. I have a number of photos that someone took. Her name is Teesa and she took some great shots. I had asked her if I could use them and have not heard back so I am using them anyway. If this is a problem, just say so and I will pull them down. You can go see the rest of her shots on flickr. I only chose a few for space reasons.

Blue Letter played first and they were okay. They had some good crunchy, hard parts, but I wasn't really familiar with any of their stuff so I was an innocent bystander. The guitarist had a pedal set up that would rival Radioheads, My Bloody Valentines, and Mogwais pedal set ups. It was actually kind of funny. I have no pictures of them and I couldnt find a myspace for them either, so youre just gonna have to take my word for it. I would be interested in hearing something in the future.

Algernon Played next. As was to be expected, they were wonderful and fun. A sweaty sing along. All good vibes. Peter, Joe and Tank smiled and played with ultimate abandon and everyone else smiled too. Joe is a sick guitarist and pulls off all the parts with ease. I was happy to purchase one of the LP's from them, as I didnt expect them to be on sale in the US yet. Apparently there are multiple versions of the LP. Everyone who like Algernon should make a point to go see them live. A very fun and inspiring show in a very personal set up. Learn the words and sing out loud.
Algernon Cadwallader @ Myspace





Towers were next and I regrettably inform you that I missed them. WHAAAAAT!!! Yeah, I was bummed. They only played for like 10 - 15 minutes, but apparently they were awesome. I heard them start and I was having a good discussion about painting with someone outside. While I regret missing them, it was also nice to have a good conversation as that is half the reason I was there. Also painting is something that has been resurfacing in my life so it was some good synchronicity. Here are the pics of them anyway. Towers is an awesome band, so check them out for sure.
Towers @ Myspace





Dead Letter Auction was next. I also had not heard them before, but they apparently hadnt played together in 4 years. So this was a sort of reunion for them. The members have been in a number of other good bands since then, including Bullets In and Burial Year. They rocked though. Passionate, screamy post hardcore style with some short songs and some longer songs. Everyone seemed very into it and it made wish that I had heard them back in 1998. Though that was around the time I kind of fell off. Heres to rediscovery! Message to DLA: keep playing music!
Dead Letter Auction @ Myspace





Lastly, ...Who Calls So Loud played. This is the second time I have seen them, and while last time was good, this time was even better. Guitarist Dave was pretty sick but you would never have known as everyone was locked in and they played a powerful set. it was a bit loud, but knowing their songs made it easier to appreciate the volume. If I wasnt familiar with them I may have felt differently about it as it would be hard to discern the melodies. They opened with Sleeplike which is an amazing song.
They also had their new 12" record from Protagonist Records and it looked amazing. I ordered mine so I have to wait a bit, but it was cool to know what it looks like. Made me that much more excited for it to arrive in the mail.
...Who Calls So Loud @ Myspace







So that was that. I was super excited that I went and like I said, I got to meet a bunch of really cool people. The vibes were all good and the hosts, John and Brooke, were very friendly. If you live in the city and you get a chance to go to one of their basement shows than I say do it. A fairly quick bike ride home closed the night for me.

Tomorrow I am going to see Portraits of Past with Ampere and Off Minor at the Cake Shop in Manhatten. It is a very small place and word is it is definitely going to sell out. PoP played a surprise show last night, Thursday, with Dead Letter Auction and Towers and while I really wanted to go I couldnt justify it in light of responsibilities. PoP is playing tonite at Death By Audio in Brooklyn with Dead Letter Auction and Ampere as well, so if you are game then go check that out.

I will be at tomorrows show (Saturday). I am hopefully meeting with some people so if anyone else is going, give a shout and maybe we can meet up too.

Either way, whatever your plans are, have a great long weekend!

25 Comments:

Blogger sweet baby jaysus said...

wcsl should change their name to "who plays their cymbals so high?". so wicked jealous about not being able to see either of these shows. beat your fucking chest for me when pop plows through journeyman or sticks together. you'll know em when they thoroughly kick your ass. oh and if you want to be super cool...maybe pick me up a portraits tee?? if they have one. in medium. you would rule my world. it's like we're merch buying penpals! ha.

3:32 PM  
Blogger gabbagabbahey said...

really cool shows. like the guy doing the trout dance behind the Towers bassist ;)

apparently Hoover rocked Camden, though I wasn't there.

4:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

man, portrait of past, ampere, and off fucking minor. that sounds like one of the best lineups ever. closed arm circle pits all around

4:38 PM  
Blogger luciferyellow said...

Hold on. Instead of being able to leech music here, I now have to look at sweaty half-naked men? Is that the new ZAFP concept? I'm really not coming back.
(Ok, ok, I'm just bitter and jealous...)

4:56 PM  
Blogger blend77 said...

haha! nah man, I always try to report on the shows I go to. I missed posting on the last few cuz I didnt have any pics.

Jay, consider it done. Medium.

Gabba, I wish I could see Hoover. I only pray that they do play in the USA, preferrably a NYC show...

I will take pics tomorrow and report back.

7:21 PM  
Blogger blend77 said...

oh, I can wait to Journeyman. That song kills...

7:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

tell ampere to play an orchid song then tell off minor to play a saetia song.

8:32 PM  
Blogger CHUG LIFE said...

caught ...who calls so loud/the blue letter on their baltimore date and they absolutely killed it! i'm envious that i can't see the ampere/PoP show!

10:51 PM  
Blogger papstar said...

just a tad off topic, but I finally got ahold of a shivering 10".


Shivering, The - To The Ground 10'' (2003, Council Records & Owsla Records, 192k MP3)


lemme know if anyone wants me to up it, not sure if jay already has it or not.

werd

4:21 AM  
Blogger blend77 said...

papstar, yes! that would be great.

8:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, it's Mike, I met you at the Cat House, you remember I'm sure.

Did you make it to the Ampere/PoP show? It was ridiculous. Ampere rules, I took too long coming back inside for PoP set and we had to watch from the hallway because it was so over crowded.
But, my buddy and I are going to try and make it to the show the Cake Shop because the line up is too good to miss.

Also, I remember mentioning In First Person to you but you didn't know who they were. They're pretty great.. and pretty heavy, definitely check them out.

12:33 PM  
Blogger blend77 said...

Hey Mike, thanks for the link! I remember meeting you.

I havent gone to see PoP yet. I really wanted to go on Thursday, but I just couldnt swing it. I am definitely going today to see Off Minor, though I hope we can all get in..

Did you go to the DBA show? or the Charleston?

Its 2pm now. I might head out of here in about an hour. I was thinking of biking in, but its a little jungle out. Maybe the train would be better...

Say Hi if you see me.

2:00 PM  
Blogger gabbagabbahey said...

I meant to say this before, but ...Who Calls So Loud is out on 12" now? just the one record?

change isn't punk!

I've had my double 10" for a couple of weeks now, and it's pretty cool how the album breaks up into four sets of two songs. not that that's a hugely important part of listening to it, perhaps.

5:16 PM  
Blogger sweet baby jaysus said...

it's a new 12" not the 10" on 12" format.
you can check out one of the songs over here:
http://www.myspace.com/protagonistmusic

8:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

blend, off topic from epic emotional hardcore, do you like siege? your slipknot post made me think of them.

11:19 PM  
Blogger gabbagabbahey said...

jay - it's NEW??

they only released their other s/t four months ago... what, do they think it's 1977?

9:02 AM  
Blogger gabbagabbahey said...

but, yeah, that's great news. It'll be a couple of months before I can get my hands on it probably. In the meantime I'll check Sordo

9:05 AM  
Blogger blend77 said...

Yeah Gabba, totally new songs. The artwork on the cover is pretty cool too and of course, some nifty looking colored vinyl. They are a tireless band. Matt said last night that he just likes traveling. Considering I sit at a desk day in day out, I'm into that line of thinking.

Brad, I havent heard Siege. Toss some up if you have any.

The show last night was sick. SO many people!! PoP sounded great and they closed with Journeyman. Amazing. I picked up the Off Minor album, Some Blood and Jay, I got your shirt. They were out of one style, so I hope you like the one I got.

I will be sure to send next week with everything else.

10:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

how is the artwork on some blood? i haven't sent off the money for mine yet.

are you adequately prepared to rock?
siege- dropdead
http://www.mediafire.com/?njmddz0h9vd

10:59 AM  
Blogger sweet baby jaysus said...

dude it's a portraits tee, i'm fucking stoked. it could have calvin pissing on drugs and i would be happy. you have no clue how extremely jealous i am of you right now, but it's probably for the best, i would have more than likely beat my chest so hard i would have collapsed my lungs through all those bands. too much finger pointing madness.

4:21 PM  
Blogger Death Metal Dan said...

I'm a total asshole. I'm sorry I didn't get in touch before I came up to NY. I kept having to wait on other people to figure out what we were doing for food and whatnot. And even after that, I meant to tell you to forget food, but I'd say hi at the show and I didn't even get the time to do that.

I should be coming back to NYC for that V.O.D. / Overcast reunion show in November hopefully. If you end up going to that, maybe we can meet up then.

What did you think of Portraits Of Past? I thought they ruled.

8:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

please, link for any album of Dead Letter Auction.

thanks

3:37 AM  
Blogger blend77 said...

sorry man, i dont have any... if you dont mind, leave a name when you post anonymously... youd ont have to sign up, just sign the comment, intials, nickname, handle... haha! whatever.

i can see if Damian has any...

3:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd never heard Algernon Cadwallader before, but I followed them from the link at the bottom of your review. Seriously...how is this band more Cap N Jazz than Cap N Jazz? It's so good!

6:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ahhh the algernon guys are good friends of mine, they're so fun to see live. and some info on the blue letter, they have a myspace, are based in richmond, and their bassist was the guitarist/vocalist for me and him call it us.

12:41 PM  

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