!!! and Lansing-Dreiden

!!!
Originally uploaded by squidpants.

so I went to see !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk) and Lansing-Dreiden the other day at the Black Cat. I'd really been looking forward to it, as I really like !!!'s album Louden Up Now, and they're one of those bands that sound like they'd be good live (check out their sound clips.) Lansing-Dreiden I had been liking as well - they're a weird art collective/band who are pretty mysterious - they don't do press and things of that nature. Pitchfork gave them a stupid and terrible review that barely mentioned the music. I meant to write my own review, their CD was interesting, it's basically divided into thirds - 1/3 60s ish garage rock, 1/3 80s new wave, and 1/3 80s electro.

Lansing-Dreiden was strange, however. For one thing it's weird to see a band you've listened to a lot but never seen pictures of before - you sort of make up your own idea of what the band looks like. I pictured the band as two skinny artsy looking guys, when in fact it was about 5 or 6 guys, with two lead singers singing almost everthing simultaneously. Apparently they even change their line-ups when they perform, having different line-ups perform different shows. Which is sort of an interesting idea, questioning the idea of a band. This band was called LD Section II, which I guess means section 2 of the group. I asked one of the singers after the show if they switched line-ups and he didn't really clarify it, he said this album "was a whole different approach" or something, and wouldn't elaborate.

But that being said, they were sort of strange performers. Both the lead singers seemed kind of awkward and tenative, like they hadn't performed very often. The music sounded pretty good, especially the loud guitars, but I wasn't that into the show. (Picture of them below)



Then I waited. !!! took forever to get ready, around an hour, which was pretty annoying. The DJ (I didn't even know the Black Cat had a DJ booth) played lots of cool old funk and soul records, but it was still annoying. Eventually they came onstage, the lead singer hobbling over on crutches and saying they were late, hence the delay. However, when they erupted into music, it sounded pretty spectacular.

The first few songs were flat out amazing - they're great, energetic performers and the sound was really good. The lead singer especially was impressive, considering his foot was in a cast, dancing around like a wild man. And they had three and sometimes four percussionists, and you could hear them all, which was pretty crazy. The energy went down a bit as the show went on, and the lead singer admonished the crowd for not dancing, but what can you do, it was a typical DC crowd. It was also extremely loud throughout (I had to put napkins in my ears) and they made a point not to play "Me and Giuliani Down By the Schoolyard," which they called "their hit from three years ago," but that's ok. They were really great and fun, I'd definitely see them again.

so i think I saw Matthew Sweet on 18th Street in Adams Morgan yesterday. Either him or some other similar looking guy who also looked like a rock musician. I saw that Sonic Youth were at the the 930 Club, but none of those guys resemble Matthew Sweet, nor do the guys from Page France, who were at the Black Cat. Weird.

so this is awesome. Barney and Tupac.

so I've been trying to get a USA soccer jersey for awhile now, it's a real pain in the ass. I'm looking for a legit jersey with a number and name on it, preferably Brian McBride or Eddie Pope, but I'll take about anybody except Adu. But no dice.

For one thing, the jerseys with numbers are at least $80 on the US Soccer website, which is expensive. So I turned to eBay to try to get a cheaper one, but most of the ones on there are pretty bad knock-offs or made of flimsy material, and they all ship from Asia, meaning they might not even get here before the World Cup ends. Yahoo and Amazon also didn't have any.

So then I went back to the US soccer website and tried to order one, and they're all out of stock, which is ridiculous. You'd think they'd have a ton on hand, considering the world's biggest sporting event has been coming up for 4 years and the US team is ranked 5th in the world. But no.

So I tried looking at sporting goods stores' websites to see what they had, and it seems like there's some kind of cabal - none of the stores have US jerseys, but every single store has the exact same things, and they're even all organized the same way, with the same categories. It's bizarre. I assume these stores are not all owned by the same company, but who knows. They have jerseys for the team from Porto, Portugal and other European (and Mexican and Brazilian and Turkish) cities, but no US. It's ridiculous. So I'm going to the mall today and try (probably unsuccessfully) to buy a jersey.

It's clear that US Soccer doesn't really care about selling jerseys and getting their name out there if there's only one place to buy them, and they're all sold out. Way to go.

so here's Ye Olde Concert List

Tues June 6 - We Are Wolves, The Roosevelt and the Explorers Club at DC9. This one was noted on DCist, the Explorers Club are one of the bands on Myspace I like, they're super 60s Beach Boys poppy rock stuff, I enjoy it. We Are Wolves are one of those innumerous bands with Wolf in the name, which generally means they're angular and jagged and stuff.

FRI JUNE 9- ! ! ! , LANSING-DREIDEN $13 mainstage 9:30pm Black Cat. This one I'm realy looking forward to. !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk) is indie-funk, if that makes any sense. Hipsters playing funk. Lansing-Dreiden is an art project/band, their CD is basically three parts - 60s garage, 80s post-rock stuff, and electro. I'm surprised they're touring, as they are apparently pretty mysterious and won't appear for interviews and things.

SUN JUNE 11- THE SPINTO BAND, DR DOG, THE LOVELY FEATHERS $10 mainstage 8:30 Black Cat. Spinto Band are catchy, a little bit twee dudes from Nashville, and I saw Dr. Dog awhile ago at DC9, they were good.

Sun June 11, Starlight Mints with Dios Malos and Octopus Project Fletchers (Baltimore) - Starlight Mints are a really catchy band, and Octopus Project are pretty fun too. I love this video by Starlight Mints, hope they play it. Hipster muppets.

Tues June 13, Starlight Mints with Octopus Project North Star (Philly) - ditto. I'd really like to see them, but I don't know if I can get up to Philly or not for that.

WED JUNE 21- HAND-FED BABIES, BOY EATS DRUM MACHINE $7 backstage 9:00 Black Cat. I dunno either band, but Boy Eats Drum Machine is a pretty great name.

SUN JULY 9- CAMERA OBSCURA, GEORGIE JAMES $12 mainstage 8:30 Black Cat. Camera Obscura are Scottish and twee (like Belle and Sebastian), but don't really sound much like Belle and Sebastian - I saw them awhile ago and they were fun. Georgie James is two people from DC I believe, neither of whom are named Georgie James - they're named Laura Burhenn (who is very easy on the eyes) and John Davis (who is not the guy from Superdrag or Korn, but used to be in Q and Not U). I like their stuff on their Myspace page.

SUN JULY 23- DIPLO, CSS, BONDE DO ROLE $13 Adv/ $15 DOS mainstage 8:30 Black Cat.
This show is going to be hipster central. Diplo is a DJ/remixer/etc who does the awesome version of Gold Digger, and Bonde Do Role is a Brazilian Baile funk band that's on his record label. Baile funk is a weird Brazilian genre, they take famous songs and mess them up and add Portuguese singing. The first song samples an Alice in Chains song, for example. The hipsters like it but it sort of grates on me.

so I hesitate saying anything is the greatest thing ever, but I think this comes pretty close: GWAR on the Joan Rivers Show. Amazing