In The Clubs!

For reasons previously discussed on this blog, I am not able to make the scene at many shows and, therefore, I do not generally post reviews of live shows. I would be remiss, however, if I didn't take a few moments to make mention of the fantastic performances I witnessed by the Nothing People and the Wooden Shjips at the Hemlock in SF last night.

The Wooden Shjips certainly lived up to my considerable expectations with their amphetamine driven mixture of white hot, acid punk guitar leads over crunching, Kraut/Spacerock rhythms and outstanding keyboard treatments.

While I was certainly impressed by the lo-fi cyberpunk of the Nothing People's "Problems" 7"EP, nothing could have prepared me for the glory of their all too short set. Not only did they deliver the expected dosage of scorching spacepunk (that was even more raw and better live!), but their final piece truly blew my mind - with the band members completely switching instruments and creating an extended psychedelic freakout the likes of which I may have not witnessed since I saw two members of the Brian Jonestown Massacre riff out in support of Sonic Boom, who had like six guitars running through a variety of effects pedals, to create this moving, shifting atmosphere of feedback, loops, tones, and drones. In summary, the Nothing People were nothing short of amazing!

All I can say is that, based on the new material I heard during these performances, I can hardly wait to hear the much-anticipated debut albums from both of these exciting new groups!

Also in the clubs, some great Jazz upcoming at Yoshi's in O-town:

Monday, April 9 - Direct from the Netherlands, the legendary The Instant Composers Pool, featuring Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink.

Wednesday, April 25 - Guitarist extraordinaire, Nels Cline, performs in a trio with Devin Hoff (bass) and Scott Amendola (drums) under the name of the Nels Cline Singers. It should be incredible!