BigYawn

Full disclosure, Rick Taylor of the monthly We Fought the Big One dj nights, and curator of this very show, is a friend of mine. And, he’s got some pretty good taste in music, whatever rock he finds it hiding under. So, when he told me about this show, I knew I needed to go, despite not knowing most of the bands. And, true to form, I was impressed — if not in love — with the motley bill he assembled.

Blue Sausage Infant(315) is a guy, Chester Hawkins, that has been playing music in and out of DC for quite some time. He is best described as a noise artist, and noise is indeed what he created while on stage, largely of the ambient kind. His 30 minute set was filled with beeps, blips and the ever apparent ambient drone in the background. Add in the visuals projected behind him, the bunny suit he wore during the performance, and the toys he beat-up/passed out to the audience, and it made for an interesting set.

Speaking of noise, DC’s the Plums(316) were next, and most of the music they make would be on the other side of the post-rock spectrum from, say, Explosions in the Sky or Pelican. There aren’t any hooks or crescendos, really nothing to latch on to. A bit Sonic Youth, a bit, well… not my cup of tea really.

The skinny on NYC’s Outpost(317) — not to be confused with a couple other horrible US bands with the same name — is that lead man Stuart Argabright was in the first US band to ever get signed to Factory Records. A cool thing, but unless you’ve heard of Ike Yards, it doesn’t really carry any weight with you.

But, if you like some of the early Factory bands, you will be happy to know Outpost are very likely a band you should check out. Best characterized as “darkwave” this is a modern band that would be perfectly comfortable on Sirius/XM’s New Wave channel. Ominous atmospherics, heavy synths and bass, this music was meant for another time and place. That being said, it does fit in with many of the sounds we hear out of current “chillwave” genre. Too many labels, I know. While the vocals threw me a bit, this is still a band worth seeing, whenever they may play live again.