13 December: Papa M, The Garage, Washington, D.C.  Supported by Anonanon and Quix * otic 
 
Stop press: check out article on David Pajo in this month's The Wire. 

For those who haven't experience D.C.'s Garage, well what can I say.  It's a converted, I dunno what.  But on the second floor there is a long room with a bar to the side and back.  The stage opens up to two stories.  There's another bar area upstairs.  And the stage is high above the main floor with one of those roll back steel doors sort of what you get at a public storage lockup.  They roll up the door when the first act comes on. 

It's still shiny new and has a crazy light show which played to itself before the bands came on.  Made me sick.   But, they do serve Sierra Nevada on draught so it gets *** outta five. 

The lack of an audience - it being a cold and wet Monday evening certainly killed any atmosphere.  Two hours of rubbish music didn't help much.  Anonanon, I think they are a local band, were pleasant enough.  They play sort of Grateful Dead covers or Olivia Tremor Control or summat like that.  But, it was bit tiresome at the end.  Quix*otic came highly recommended, but failed to impress.  Girl on the guitar and vocals, hippy on bass and girl on drums and vocals.  They play sort of neo-Goth, surf music for people with hearing aids.  The mix was awful.  The guitarist obviously couldn't hear the monitors.  Probably the biggest bass drum in the world was, IMHO, the source of the audio mess.  After thrashing through some numbers it was time for the drummer to sing accompanied by the guitarist on drums.  This was the best part of a poor set.  Not impressed. 

Eventually, sometime after Midnight (hey, guys this was Mon-day), Papa M came on.  Dave Pajo was there with a four piece, including a  few of the guys from Aerial M circa '97.  Well, after all the cacophony beforehand, Papa M settled in to an immediate groove.  Pajo is veteran of the near legendary post-punk Louisville band Slint.  A lot's been said about Slint - favourites of the music press, pretty much ignored by the punters.  But, the source of an interesting conversation on alt.music.Mogwai in recent months.  Papa M ain't Slint.  Though Slint are quoted as a source for post-rock, lo-fi, drone and whatever, they had that in yer face kick-ass punk attitude.  On the other hand, Papa M carries some of that post-rock baggage (Pajo was in tortoise for five minutes).  There's touches of ambient, but more interestingly there are influences from such diverse individuals as alt.folk-country guitarist legend John Fahey and minimalist "serious" composer Steve Reich. 

A couple of favourites - "Arundel" and the stunning "I am Not Lonely with Cricket" from the Live from a Shark Cage CD.  "Cricket" is basically an extended interplay of Reichian guitar loops.  It's even more stunning live.  I find it almost akin to the pointillism of painters such as Georges Seurat.  Pajo's put together an excellent little quartet driven by a marvellous drummer - I think his name is Tony Bailey.  A great set that made up for the earlier dross.   Finished off with a neat segue into the most fantastic instrumental version of The Birds "Turn, Turn, Turn" you're likely to clap ears upon. 

(Thanks to JC for braving the cold, rain and late hour!  But, you got a stool to sit on, didn't you.) 

P.S. - I couldn't get to Stereolab out in Chicago - boo-hoo.  I'll tell you about the crazy time I had there in the future.

Playlists

Reviews A-H
Reviews I-O
Reviews P-Z

navigation>

home  music  bio  travel  editorial  links