Seldom is a night of music as satisfying as tonight’s show was. And I’m not just talking about the music, even when all the bands are good there are other factors involved- the sound, the crowd, the drinks, even the people you are with all play into the formula of whether or not a show was “good.” Luckily all those stars seemed to be aligned for tonight’s show, and even though I hadn’t wanted to get up off the couch to head out into the frigid night, I was certainly glad I made the effort.
The line-up was rearranged shortly before show time, which ordinarily would annoy me, but in this case it made perfect sense. The two local bands on the bill ended up bookending the out of town band, guaranteeing them the best crowd possible. This Bright Apocalypse played first and they started right on time. This was the second time I had seen the full band with the new line-up and they were even better this time around. They all swear they screwed up “Sweat & Bare Feet,” but with rhythms that complicated, who would be able to tell?
I guess this is what they mean by “math rock.” It’s a genre term I’ve never understood, but figured it had to be for nerds. TBA’s changing time signatures seem natural given the strong African influence (another thing I never thought I would like), but I get the feeling it isn’t as easy as it sounds. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the two members of the band that aren’t related to me, Luke Bassenauer and Chris Sasman, are two of the sweetest, most easy-going and likeable guys I’ve ever met. Going to see them and my equally charming cousin Johnny Maloney is always a pleasure.
The thing about a band that’s as hard to categorize as TBA is that you never know who they will end up on a bill with. The last time they played the Frequency on a Sunday night they ended up on something of a metal bill. It’s probably a good thing I was trapped under a mountain of procrastinated Christmas cards and had to miss the show because I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have liked the other bands on the bill. Tonight however I couldn’t have loved the other bands more. The Deleted Scenes are a charismatic bunch of boys from Brooklyn who have been driving all over the country playing shows in support of their newest release. The next day they had a show in Pittsburgh, 12 hours away, but that didn’t stop them from staying till the end of the night and using up all their drink tickets.
Unfortunately, the whimsically named Birdseed Shirt doesn’t sound quite as good as they did live, though I’m not sure if you could actually capture that much joy de vie on record. Even with the muddy recording songs like “Got God” retain their appeal. A song about an on again off again relationship with religion, they make finding and losing faith sound as easy as changing your shirt. Their reasonably priced selection of merch also included T-shirt choices of a dead horse or a disassembled doll. As I looked at both the lead singer laughed, “I have to apologize; all our shirts are kinda dark.” I got the one with the dead horse.
It’s hard to believe that Willie Schultz just started playing with the Mysterious Bruises back in December as he has already made himself an essential part of the newest of Jeremiah Nelson’s bands. The new songs that make up the bulk of the Bruises’ set are among the best that Jeremiah has written and are absolutely perfect for the quartet. Echoes of Dylan’s Desire can be heard in the aching violin of songs like “Waiting for a Sign” and “Drugs to Make You Sober.” The double meaning of “Waiting for the End of a Run-on Sentence” has never sounded more hopeless or unforgiving than it did tonight. In other words, it sounded amazing. Even though I see the Mysterious Bruises every few weeks, I hope Jeremiah gets these songs recorded soon because I want to hear them all the time.
Insert contented sigh here.
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