BigYawn

This show promised a whole bunch of locals, and included two bands I have been interested in seeing for a long time, so it was a no-brainer. And, to no surprise, it had more than a few of DC’s musical celebs as well, including Ian Mackaye and John Davis’s ex-bandmate in Q and Not U, Chris Richard. At least I think it was Chris. I know he lives in NYC now, but I’m pretty sure it was him.

At any rate, the show started with The Andalusians(266), who I’ve heard about, but not actually seen before. Bottom line, I was kinda disappointed. Despite the strong — and thundering — drumming, the songs were pretty bland, had no real hooks, and just kinda fell flat. Sadly the vocals from Basla Andolsun, who basically writes all the material, were a little weak. I’m not saying that to be mean, simply that, the band and the songs weren’t all that compelling to me.

It becomes clear to me now that all three of the bands who played this show are in effect solo entities with friends playing live. Fulton Lights(267) is basically Andrew Spencer Goldman, who, aside form being one of the first people to barrage BigYawn with regular band e-mails, apparently was also pretty involved with the DC music scene at one point. He moved away, but is now back. I was looking forward to finally seeing Fulton Lights, but ended up dissatisfied. The songs were alright, but seemed very over-done, a direct dichotomy to the Andalusians. The wall of sound were almost too much, especially in the small Black Cat backstage. There was already some obvious friction between Andrew and the sound guy based on some of the comments I heard, so sound check must have gone well.

Despite having the band Statehood minus Clark Sabine(RIP) as his backing band, the music just never came together for me. I’m curious how he would sound solo, though.

Lastly, was John Davis’ new project, Title Tracks(268). Closer to Georgie James than Q and not U, Title Tracks‘ songs are basically power-pop all the way, which was a relief after being so extreme with the first two bands. Davis’ songs are incredibly immediate, and move you instantly with their jangles and melodies. The band was very tight and was able to keep pace with John as he plowed through hook after hook. Overall a pretty good set.

What a weird night. DC is a very incestuous town when it comes to musicians jumping bands but wow, talk about your orgies of music. In the room were members of Fugazi, Q and Not U, Georgie James, Beauty Pill, Dismemberment Plan, Statehood, and God knows how many other people I didn’t recognize. Of course, I still didn’t like two of the bands. go figure