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Archive for the ‘The Murlocs’ Category

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 7, 2022] The Murlocs / Paul Jacobs

I saw The Murlocs just before the pandemic.  The show was a lot of fun and I was surprised at how crowded it was.

Everyone knows that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are hugely prolific.  Well, fascinatingly, KGATLW’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Cook Craig are also in The Murlocs.

I’m not sure if this show was also in The Black Box (an awesome intimate venue), but I had scheduled another show for the following night, so I didn’t really feel up for two nights in a row (after the craziness of October, it seemed wise to back off a bit).  I’m sure they’ll be back–they seem to need to constantly be on the road.

I didn’t know who Paul Jacobs was.  Had I realized he was the drummer for Montreal band Pottery, I would have been far more interested.  Pitchfork says of him

Paul Jacobs’ cartoon world is constantly expanding. Since uprooting himself from the border city of Windsor, Ontario to the perpetually buzzing Montreal music scene, his hand-drawn animations and hallucinatory illustrations have graced the covers of multiple albums per year. As the drummer of post-punk quintet Pottery, Jacobs is the engine behind yelpy extended jams that sound equally at home on a nightclub dancefloor or at a psych festival. Yet it’s solo albums like Pink Dogs on the Green Grass where Jacobs’ soft-focus, lysergic visions truly bloom.

He seems like a PERFECT fit for a KGATLW spin off.  Indeed, he seems like a KGATLW spin off himself.

I probably should have gone to this show.

 

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[ATTENDED: August 30, 2019] ORB

After the great stoner/groove vibe of Stonefield I still wasn’t If I had missed ORB or not.  We had heard a band playing while we were waiting on line, but it seemed too early for the opening act to end.

On the other hand, ORB went on first in Central Park the night before.

Well, we didn’t need to worry because after a very brief window, ORB came out and continued with the stoner/groove vibe.  They impressed me by adding a whole lot of prog elements to their songs–time changes, keyboard solos, extra long drum fills, nifty riffs and long songs. (more…)

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[ATTENDED: May 1, 2019] The Murlocs

I was aware of The Murlocs as being the spin-off band from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith.  I’d listened to them a few times but hadn’t really listened intently.

Then I saw that they were playing at Underground Arts (in the Black Box, one of my favorite venues no less).  I thought it would be a great opportunity to see 2/7 of KGATLW (Craig Cook plays in both bands) before seeing KGATLW again later this year (probably from much further away).

I had also seen just the day before the show that two other members of KGATLW (Stu Mackenzie and Eric Moore) were on the East Coast (a picture of them hanging out with Trey Anastasio(!) has surfaced), so I thought there was chance that they might come down and join Ambrose on stage (they didn’t).  Although I learned that Stu and Eric joined the band for the encore cover of Hot Chocolate’s “Every 1’s a Winner” the night before in NYC (always at the wrong show).

I assumed that this show wouldn’t be all that well attended.  The King Gizzard shows are always popular, but I figured it was a side project by the “second singer” so how crowded would it be?  (more…)

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[ATTENDED, May 1, 2019] Moonwalks

Moonwalks is a three-piece from Detroit comprised of Jake Dean on guitar and vocals, Kate Gutwald on bass and Kerrigan Pearce on drums.

They play deceptively simple garage rock songs.  Their songs are retro and fuzzy, but they have a number of guitar and vocal styles and sounds in their quiver.

And deceptively simple because each song has a twist or turn in it which prevents it from being a simple three-chord, two-minute rocker.

I enjoyed their entire set and have checked out and enjoyed their bandcamp site.

Although as far as I can tell, none of the songs they played are up there (That doesn’t seem right, though).

I also loved the look of the band.  Jake’s glittery lamé shirt, Kate’s moon and stars themed top and Kerrigans’s possibly velvet top (they must have been very hot up there).

I’m not sure why, but Jake reminded me of Thurston Moore–possibly for his look but something about his presence and vocal delivery

I don’t know any of the songs they played, but the first one which seemed to be about “never coming back” set the tone for their set and it was solid right from the start.

They were a perfect band to open for the garage rock Murlocs, but they would work for just about anyone. I hope they go places, because they were really good.

 

 

 

 

 

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