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Sunset Rubdown (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 31, 2023)

Posted in Nicholas Merz, Philadelphia, PA, Sunset Rubdown, Union Transfer on April 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 31, 2023] Sunset Rubdown 

I really like Spencer Krug’s other (one of many) band Wolf Parade.  When the Sunset Rubdown album Dragonslayer came out, I really liked it as well. Krug is a weird songwriter with an unusual sense of what a song should be like.

Sunset Rubdown more or less broke up after Dragonslayer for reasons I’m unclear about.  They toured throughout 2009 and then disbanded.  Sometime in December 2022, Krug decided to get the band back together for a Tiny Tour.

As Krug puts it

“Fast forward twelve-and-a-half years” from their final show in Tokyo in late 2009 “to Krug whimsically sending the band a group email about a possible reunion, after having dreamt about it the night before. Each of the members replied with an enthusiastic “Yes” that same afternoon, and a dormant volcano began to rumble…”

I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to go to this show.

When it was first announced, on December 6, it was at PhilMOCA and it sold out almost instantly.

Then on

December 9,  (Three days later) there was a message

OK, let’s go. Due to popular demand, the Sunset Rubdown show has been MOVED from PhilaMOCA to the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia! All previously purchased tickets will be honored at the new venue and additional tickets are ON SALE NOW! …but for how long?

Now I don’t go  to the Church, so I wasn’t going to go to this show.  But then later that day:

Damn, this sold out instantly. Should we move it to a bigger room or…

On January 5, the show was moved to Union Transfer and I bought my ticket the next day.

By the time the show came up, I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to go.   There were two other shows that night that I was vaguely interested in.  But I decided to take advantage of this reunion.  (more…)

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Nicholas Merz (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 31, 2023) [SUNSET RUBDOWN]

Posted in Nicholas Merz, Philadelphia, PA, Sunset Rubdown, Union Transfer on April 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 31, 2023] Nicholas Merz

I has listened to Nicholas Merz’ record before this show and hadn’t liked it very much.  Merz’ delivery is really slow and deep and is almost comical.  he’s also got this kind of cowboy vibe which is really kind of weird.  But the thing i disliked most about the record was the overuse of saxophone.

So I didn’t care if I arrived a few minutes late. But it turned out the traffic was really light that night and I wound up pretty early.

I talked to a couple of people who were discussing Godspeed You Black Emperor.  And then Merz came on.

With one spotlight shining down on him, he sauntered slowly to the center of the stage as swirls of music played on the speakers.  After an introduction, he began singing in that slow deliberate way of his.  It was terrible.  but it was also mesmerizing.  i couldn’t stop watching.  And soon enough, without him changing anything, I found myself enjoying it.

The swirling music made me a little light headed, perhaps.  And that spotlight pulsed like a strobe, lighting him up in various ways.  When that song wrapped up, he walked to a pedal steel guitar at the back of his setup and sat down.  He played a simple chord structure, manipulated the sound a bit and looped it.  It wound up having the same slow woozy feeling.  (more…)

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