scene but not herd

Last night Suze basically shows up at my door and states that I'm going to a concert with her so what can I do but say ok. It didn't really take much arm twisting because I knew I was going to a good show. Once again it was Frausdots, Dead Meadow, and the Warlocks, but this time at the Echo. I won a Frausdots cd by knowing a little bit of trivia the band threw out. My teenage music listening habits came in handy because Frausdots covered a song by Theater of Hate called "Do you Believe In The Westworld" and I knew what label it was released on. I really liked this band and the band that it later spawned called Spear of Destiny. I don't know why I traded in all my vinyl by these two bands; I must have needed some money. I'll have to give the Frausdots cd a listen and see what I think. At least live they don't have a sound which I'm all that interested in hearing anymore. Maybe if I was sixteen again I would be into it, but they were very nice to give me the cd so the least I can do is give it a shot.

I've mentioned before that I like surprises and Dead Meadow is one of those pleasant surprises. Before I saw them Saturday I had no idea what they sounded like and now I would like to see them play every night. They don't have the most original sound going, but it is really sounding good to me. I guess when it comes down to it they are a rock band. They have all the signifiers: Orange amps, wah wah pedals, guitar solos, extended jams, and yet I still like it. I shouldn't really apologize for liking it because what they are doing is continuing a sound begun by a band like the Stooges. I like the heaviness and loudness of it all. They are a rock band, but they don't bother with all the stupid trappings associated with rock bands. They don't dress the part at all and that is refreshing. I challenge anyone to look at them and figure out what they sound like. They kind of have that stoner rock sound, but I'm glad they don't look like heshers. I like that the vocals sound like they should be heard in a shoegazer band. It is a nice change of pace to not hear grunting or screaming or wanna-be Robert Plants. Once again I was entranced by them Sunday night. I just dig the melding of the vocals, the drumming, the bass lines, and the particular tone of their guitars. I just want to get lost in that groove they put out.

After Dead Meadow I had the pleasure of hearing some good dj-ing or rather I just got to hear a bunch of songs I really like. How can you go wrong when you hear Loop, Can, Opal, and the Telescopes practically all in a row. Speaking of Opal, they have a really great album called Happy Nightmare Baby and, although they sound nothing like one another, I can see some similarity with what the Warlocks and Dead Meadow are doing. The Opal album is a melding of sixties psychedelia with a great T Rex-ish guitar sound. After some band member changes Opal morphed into Mazzy Star. This leads me to the name of my blog which I stole from the band Pale Saints. I saw it written somewhere on their second album and I always loved the play on words as well as the sentiment. The Pale Saints also covered songs by Opal and Mazzy Star. You see, everything ties together.

We watched some of the Warlocks and they were good once again, but sleep began to take a profound importance so we called it a night. I wonder how much music I'm missing out on that I would love if only I knew about it. Plenty, I'm sure, but I enjoy the knowledge that I will run across some of it in the years to come. I love all the mp3 blogs because it has been a very useful resource in discovering the unheard music. If anyone reads this feel free to turn me on to new, or old, things, I may be neglecting.