The Wildbirds 9/20/07

Disappointed by the opening acts of previous shows at The End, I decided to skip the first forty minutes or so of music on September 20 in favor of a much-needed meal at Cafe Coco (apparently I'm much too skinny). As soon as I walked back into the club, I was blown away. A band called Bona crescendoed their final minutes with Explosions in the Sky-intensity. The music was so dramatic, the lead singer started banging his entire forearm on the keyboard. "Go back! Rewind!" I shouted, hoping to hear more the beginning of this act if I could force some sort of time warp. My pleas with the space-time continuum went to little avail, and the audience was too enthralled by the band on stage tearing their instruments to shit to listen to me anyway.

In a few minutes the Wildbirds took the show back to traditional Rock n Roll. Of course I use the word traditional loosely. This is Rock in its original, unadulterated form. With roots in Wisconsin, lead singer Nicholas Stuart explained his music by discussing one of his idols, "I think Bob Dylan was filled with intensity and that's what's missing from a lot of music theses days." These guys are definitely not a punk band, but they played this venue like it was a 1970's CBGBs. The guitar solos alone proved this dixie-steeped garage band could just as easily have held its own performing alongside classic Zep as they could have Jet. The band is touring in support of their new album "Golden Daze"

When Dark Meat took the stage, it was like watching a a tie-dyed Volkswagen pull into ring three of a Barnum & Bailey show. Straight out of the indie music hotspot in Athens, Georgia, the band's ten attending musicians marched out, all with their faces painted, holding saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and piccolos. Membership apparently doubles when they play at home. The dance punk collective still managed to avoid highfalutin ska by layering anthems that sounded like Los Angeles destroying itself in a fire. Singer and band founder Jim McHugh said, "The crux [of our band] is we're all into annihilation. The best musical representation of any human experience is when it goes from being controlled to being eradicated... that's what we aim for." The chaos onstage quickly manifested itself in the crowd; hearing the same four measures played by almost every instrument in "Three Eyes Open" was tremendous. They're album "Universal Indian" is out now on Cloud Recordings.

The Once and Future Kings 9/13/07

With a performance consisting of droning guitar and cymbal-heavy drums, lead singer Jess Edison said the band aimed for a sound "both lyrical, melodic, and ambient." My first impressions were that the band sounded a great deal like Radiohead. And with hypnotising songs like "I Want to Kill the President," there was really not much to dislike in this band. The show was tempestuous, but as the show progressed I began to realize, "This band sounds EXACTLY like Radiohead." To be fair they've been playing in obscurity for only for eight months, but it will definitely be worthwhile to watch as this band grows into a style of their own. Their EP Emergent Sea comes out in October. Catch them at Cafe Coco September 22.

Heypenny 9/9/07

Although they've been together for only three months, the band's debut CD Use These Spoons sports infectious pool-side guitar pop that arrives at sometimes surprising complexity. The melody-driven falsettos manage to make even their angriest lyrics sound glad. By the third song of the night, it was clear that the flavorful idiosyncrasies of their music were not just the result of lucky electronica programming. Even with their absent percussionist replaced by a drum machine and cowbell, the live show brought out their bouncy stage personalities. Keyboardist Ben Elkins, who has been playing violin since he was two-and-a-half, said he plans on sending the music in a "less organic, more Michael Jackson-ish" direction with Heypenny's current project. "Innocent and boyish," as bassist DJ Murphy described his music, Heypenny is an indie band that despite their age certainly has a record deal in their near future.

In Glorious Times by Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Even though the "good" album is said to have a diversity of style and a unity of mood, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's In Glorious Times resists falling under such a simple adjective. To say the least, the Oakland band's fourth creation is a tour de weird of Art school metal. Lopsided time signatures and tempos that change five and six times in one song immediately bring to mind fellow lords of noisic Mr. Bungle. However while that band is always willing to sacrifice structure for their colourful sonic theatrics, SGM always manages to maintain a singularity in each song-- despite the feeling that one is speeding through one of Dali's surreal landscapes. In terms of the emotion created, the album is frequently similar to the terrifying violence of Stealing Babies, if their music were built up slowly then warped, twisted around, sped up then slowed back to apologetic lulls. This is the sound of an orchestra on LSD all fighting with each other. However, it would be wrong to call this album dissonant or chaotic just because they self-consciously oppose traditonal note-arrangments. It is not noise used as music, but music turned into noise. Experimental? Yes. Disarming? Yes. Confusing? Oh, hell yes. But every movement of every song is meticulously planned to force an exact psychological reaction from the listener.

Trash Gully 8/18/07

Big Attack of Philadelphia, PA introduced themselves as "socio-political rock music," and probably provided the most highly developed show of the evening, maintaining a high-octane stage presence despite a broken bass string. Drummer Matt the Baptist, a mohawked vegan in short-shorts, said the band aimed for a sound like Gang of Four or the Clash. The rush and activism of the city rushed through their blood throughout the performance, especially in the opener "Forward" which quickly identified them as a more-than-decent talent in the east-coast punk scene. They played their chords like their solos--in spurts of danceable energy, interspersed with the obligatory "oh-oh-oh." The band ended with "Keep Us Apart!" which started off like a half-noted crowd-calmer, but built up to an excited anti-factionalist anthem.

The National Rifle, currently touring with Big Attack, also took a political stance with their music. The pop punk ensemble, a bit more accessible than their co-artists, used diverse instrumentation to arrive at a surfer, let's-party sound, such as in the mosh-inducing chorus of "Rehab." However, because of NR's emphasis on contrast in their songs, the live show almost didn't do the band justice until the minor key finale "Ok hole," a head-banging nod at Cursive-esque intensity.