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THICK (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024)

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Big Girl, Teenage Halloween, Tetchy, Thick, Well Wisher on March 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 1, 2024] THICK

This concert was announced less than a month ago, but I was on board with seeing THICK again.  I had seen them open for Pussy Riot and they were great.  So, yea, only three months later I’d happily see them again.

This was their only show on their schedule, so I’m not entirely sure what inspired it. And with such short notice, I fear that they didn’t have a very large turnout.  In fact, after Teenage Halloween, a lot of fans of the band left, so there were definitely more people there for Teenage Halloween (who are from Asbury Park, let’s not forget) than THICK.

Also, I am quite certain the THICK set was cut short.  They had a pretty hard curfew of 11:30, and by the time they went on, it was close to 10:45.  So, they actually wound up playing one song fewer than they did when they opened for Pussy Riot!

The setlist was not too different from the previous show, although the opening and closing songs were different.

I was up front for the first couple of songs, but I decided to move back some because the sound was a little better in the back.  Plus, once the mosh pit got going (and it was small but it did get going–there was a guy with a huge mohawk who was pretty awesome).

They opened with the title track from 5 Years Behind, the album I know best.  It was great to hear them started off with the frenetic shouting of “always five years always five years always five years behind.”   They didn’t play this last time and it was fun to hear.  It was also the only song where Kate Black played guitar and the touring guitarist Gillian Visco (from Shadow Monster) played bass.  (more…)

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Teenage Halloween (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024) [THICK]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Big Girl, Teenage Halloween, Tetchy, Thick, Well Wisher on March 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2024] Teenage Halloween

There were four bands opening for THICK at this show.  And I hadn’t heard of any of them before.  I listened to a few songs by all of them and thought they all sounded good.

But I didn’t expect to be as impressed by Teenage Halloween as I was.  And the crowd was out in full force for them (they reside in Asbury park, it turns out).

The band describes themselves as a Queer power pop ensemble from Jersey/NYC, S/T LP out now!!!

There are four members in the band: Tricia Marshall – bass vocals , Eli Frank – guitar, Peter Gargano – drums , Luk Henderiks – guitar vocals.

Luk seemed to sing more of the songs, but Tricia sang about four or five of the seventeen (!) they played.  Turns out the band was originally a solo project for Luk, so I think they get to have the majority of songs.  Plus, it turned out that Luk’s mom was in the audience (and might be their manager).

So the band plays short blasts of catchy emo songs–lots of punk feelings (their bio says)

At the heart of vocalist and guitarist Luk Henderiks’ lyrics is an urgent longing for community. Despite their often strikingly personal vulnerability, these songs reach out to the wider world, striving to hold themselves and those around them accountable for their actions and to make space for those that need to be heard.

and occasionally fantastic guitar solos (Eli Frank is a total shredder, but doesn’t overuse that skill).

Luk’s singing style is of the screaming variety–harsh, but not too harsh–and a good sense of melody.  And, again, the songs are pop punk and easy to sing along with.

The band spoke to the audience every couple of songs. And about half way through the set Tricia said how excited she was to be playing on this mostly women bill.  She then said she’s be singing songs written by a woman (her): Getting Bitter and Say It.  A few songs later she sang a really good cover of Pretenders’ Brass in Pocket (dedicated to Luk’s mom).  She later said that singing without a bass (Luk played bass for the song) took away the thing she hides behind.

It was really nice having a different singer for these songs to give even more variety to the music.

Throughout the set, the backing vocals (from Tricia and Eli) were great–really giving a lot of power and depth to the songs.

Frank was also a lot of fun, jumping around on stage and making (terrible) jokes throughout the set.  I don’t have much to say about drummer Peter because he suited the band perfectly–a good sound and nothing too flashy.

The rest of the set was equally good–the songs were catchy and fun and the crowd was really really into it.  I haven’t really had much time to delve into the lyrics, but the ones I’ve heard have been good–pointed and clever.

This was their first show of the calendar year (in March?!), but they have a tour planned in the UK (although Tricia and Kevin won’t be going–no reason given), so their popularity must not be local only.

I would absolutely see them again.

  1. Good Time ⇔
  2. Supertrans ⇔
  3. Takeaway ⇔
  4. Getting Bitter ⇔
  5. Say It ⇔
  6. Clarity Ó
  7. Sights Down ⇔
  8. Brass in Pocket (Pretenders cover)
  9. Doctor ⇔
  10. Lights Out ⇔
  11. Melodrama ⇔
  12. Oh The Drama ⇔
  13. Burn €
  14. Travelin’ On ⇔
  15. Holes Ó
  16. Stationary Ó
  17. Armageddon Now ⇔

⇔ Til You Return (2023)
€ The Homeless Gospel Choir/Teenage Halloween split EP (2022)
Ó Teenage Halloween (2020)

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Well Wisher / Tetchy / Big Girl (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024) [THICK] [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Big Girl, Teenage Halloween, Tetchy, Thick, Well Wisher on March 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 1, 2024] Well Wisher / Tetchy / Big Girl

I saw at a rather late hour that THICK was going to be playing Asbury Lanes.  When I realized it was the same night as the SOMA show in Asbury Park, I wondered if I could do both.

And, logistically, yes I could.  So I bought a ticket to the show and then wondered how many of the five bands playing tonight I would miss.

I calculated that I might see some of Well Wisher, which was cool because they were interesting (actually, all five bands were interesting).  But as it turned out, the SOMA show went about 20 minutes later than I thought it would and I wound up walking in on the final chords that Well Wisher was playing before the got off the stage.   I had to run to the bathroom, so I didn’t even see them.  But at least I was there for all of the Teenage Halloween set. (more…)

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Luminous Abstract presents Sonic Mass featuring Soma (Trinity Church, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024)

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Cementation Anxiety, Soma, Tramutanas, Trinity Church on March 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2024] Soma

Soma is an acronym for Sacred Order of Mystic Apogees.  It’s unfortunate that they go by Soma as there are about a half a dozen bands named Soma.  They are a New Jersey based band that plays spiritual/religious music.

I will display my profound ignorance of Indian/Hindu culture by saying that I realized by the end of the set that they were singing mantras like Hare Krishna, but I don’t know if only the Hare Krishna movement (?) sings this refrain.

I did look up some information about the Hare Krishna movement and learned this (from NPR)

The Hare Krishna movement is a branch of Hinduism, formally known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Its name comes from its chant — Hare Krishna — which devotees repeat over and over. It was started in the 16th century by Sri Chaitanya of Bengal (1486-1533). He emphasized the worship of Krishna and believed that chanting the names of God was so powerful that in addition to one’s own meditation on them, they should also be chanted in the streets for the benefit of all.

So that’s nice.

The band’s instagram handle is soma_kirtan.  Kirtan is (according to wikipedia) a

genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration or shared recitation, particularly of spiritual or religious ideas is a call-and-response or antiphonal style song or chant, set to music, wherein multiple singers recite the names of a deity, describe a legend, express loving devotion to a deity, or discuss spiritual ideas

There was no call and response at our set but there was a lot of chanting. (more…)

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Luminous Abstract presents Sonic Mass featuring Tramutanas (Trinity Church, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024) [SOMA]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Cementation Anxiety, Soma, Tramutanas, Trinity Church on March 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2024] Tramutanas 

The only thing I could find out about Tramuntanas online (in addition to their Instagram page) is this cryptic statement on their website:

Tramuntanas, a new instrumental duo from Baltimore, features Asa Osborne (known for his work with Zomes, Lungfish, and the Pupils) and Canadian sound and video installation artist Shan Collis. The duo will release their debut album in 2024.

So imagine my surprise when Tramuntanas (which means the north wind, I believe), turned out to be a trio.  Asa Osborne was on bass (a great bass sound), Shan Collis played keys (and I assume triggered the amazing visuals) and a third person played sax.

I’m not usually one for saxophone, but this gentleman (whose name was never given) was great.  He played elliptical lines and sounds–solos but never lengthy guitar solo type solos.  He accented the otherwise simple music and his sax was haunting throughout.

Unlike Cementation Anxiety, Tramuntanas’ songs were all short–3 minutes or so.  Some were super catchy with great bass lines, others were pretty and meandering.

Of the three bands, I enjoyed their lights the most–they really synched up with the music nicely.

I’m really quite curious to hear what their recorded output will be like–they have a bandcamp page but there’s nothing on it.

Such a mystery!

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Luminous Abstract presents Sonic Mass featuring Cementation Anxiety (Trinity Church, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024) [SOMA]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Cementation Anxiety, Soma, Tramutanas, Trinity Church on March 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2024] Cementation Anxiety

This night of shows was curated by Luminous Abstract, “a production, design and artist collective” who do “audio visual events and projection mapping antics.”

It’s hard to find very much about them (aside from their instagram page, but they seem to occasionally curate a Sonic Mass (I believe this is the fifth one).  The events are listed as

Sonic Mass: An Audio Visual Experience to benefit the Trinity Church’s well being Program.

Donations were appreciated and they raised $500 for the Food Justice Program at Trinity Church, which strives to meet the immediate needs of hunger in Asbury Park and to organize within the community to prevent hunger and injustice in the future.

So that’s pretty awesome.

Cementation Anxiety was added to this bill just before the show started, so I didn’t have time check them out.

I have since discovered that the band is basically the solo project of Kyle Nelson from the punk band Bodiless (who I didn’t know).

Spotify says the band is a

sonic departure from the intensity of Bodiless, Cementation Anxiety still endeavors to explore the catharsis present in both genres—predominantly through guitar—but also field recordings, oscillators, noise machines, and hardware tools.

It was pretty bizarre not being able to see the musician at all.  Occasionally when the projections were more bright, you could see Nelson with his guitar, but I had no idea how the rest of the sounds were being generated.

So it was a kind of wall of sounds.  He played guitar (which may have been a tweak too loud, especially compared to the other bands) but it was really interesting to watch (when he was visible) because his strumming didn’t seem to directly relate to the music that we were hearing.  There must have been effects galore on his guitar because he would strum really hard and the you couldn’t hear the individual strums like you would in a punk show, it was like the intensity of the wave of music just got bigger.

He switched guitars a couple of times and that changed the timbre of the music.  It felt old school industrial, but not.  It was powerful, bordering on overwhelming.

I later chatted briefly on Instagram with Kyle and he told me that the first half of the set came from his EP Liminal Instability and the second half was from an unreleased album coming out in May.

It was a cool way to start the night and the visuals were a great accompaniment.

Much applause goes to Luminous Abstract and the three bands.

(more…)

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Pinkshift (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, January 26, 2024) [RESCHEDULED SHOW]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Fox Teeth, Jhariah, Pinkshift on January 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: January 26, 2024] Pinkshift [rescheduled from October 13, 2023, because of flooding]

This was my fourth time seeing Pinkshift in just over two years.  It’s impressive how much bigger and more confident they’ve gotten in this time.

I hadn’t intended  to go to this show when it was scheduled for October because I had other plans.  But this show getting flooded out (and subsequently shutting down the great House of Independents) did allow me to

I hadn’t realized that Pinkshift released an EP back in August.  It’s called Suraksha (Hindi for “security” or “safety” or “protection.”).  Singer Ashrita Kumar says, “I grew up listening to in Bollywood and Indian classical music would round out the songs perfectly. Going into the studio, the only thing on my mind was my family, and making these songs was unique because in my head I was making it for them.”

So that’s cool.  The EP has some traditional Indian sounds on it and live (and this was about the coolest thing), they had someone playing sitar (I think it was a sitar).  Ashrita Kumar introduced her, but I didn’t catch her name or the band she plays in.

The sitar was mostly used as an interstitial between these three new songs–she would have been drowned out during the main body of the songs if she was playing.  But it was so cool to see her up there with this great punk band.

They followed it up with a new song, called “Blood.”  Pinkshift has never shied from speaking their minds.  This time they look beyond personal issues to take on something bigger: “There’s blood in the water, there’s blood in the trees.”  A wish that Western colonization of all lands would end.  She dedicated the song to the people of Palestine. It was heavy and intense.

As always drummer Myron Houngbedji was amazing.  His intensity and skills are formidable.  They had a new bassist on this tour (but he was not introduced and their press photos still only show three people).

Guitarist Paul Vallejo is still an amazing force–he can shred with the best but he has an overall fantastic sound.

Then they moved into songs that I knew (I wondered why I didn’t recognize the other songs, had I forgotten their music?).

I had seen them play “Burn the Witch” last year and it was possibly more intense this time.

I don’t mean to comment on people’s appearance, but I kind of miss Ashrita’s longer hair because it looked amazing when she whipped it around.  I mean, she’s still an amazing front woman, doing incredibly intense things on stage, but it was fun watcher her hair follow her along.

I first heard “Nothing” when they didn’t have a name for it, so that’s fun.

I really know their first EP the best, so when they played “On Thin Ice” I was pretty psyched.  It was also around here that I realized that I’d only ever seen them as an opening band when they were playing 7 songs a night.  But there was to be a lot more.

They played another new song, another which was just as intense as the others.  Then Let Me Drown from the full length.

And from here  to the end it was mostly the Saccharine EP.  “Mars” gets more intense each time I see it.

But one of the real highlights came when they played “Eat Your Friends” a new song that they recorded with Jhariah for this tour.  Of course, he came out to sing with them and by the middle of the song Jhariah and Ashrita were in the middle of the pit that consumed most of the middle of the floor.

I can’t ever get enough of “i’m gonna tell my therapist on you” because the song is just as good as the title.

There are 12 songs on their full length LP, and I’ve seen them play 7.  I wonder if they had been playing that whole album before the new EP came out.  Their whole set isn;t that long so, they could have probably played a few more.  But it’s hard to keep that much intensity up.

Plus, Ashrita (and the band) were energized against Israel and were getting the crowd riled up to action.  It was pretty inspiring and I hope even a quarter of the audience was moved to action.

“Love Me Forever” slows things down, but doesn’t lessen the intensity as Ashrita shows off just how amazing her voice is (I mean, damn, this woman can sing!  And her range just gets better with every release).

After a brief encore they came back and blew through two more songs from Saccharine, the 90 second “Toro” and the longer “Rainwalk.”

By this time the crowd was in a frenzy.  It was a great show.  And a great bill overall.  I’m curious if Pinkshift will follow in Mannequin Pussy’s trajectory and if they’ll be headlining Union Transfer after their next album comes out.

 

January 2024 [headlining] January 2023
Lullaby ¥ I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying ♥
Home ¥ nothing (in my head) ♥
To Me ¥ GET OUT ♥
Blood [new] the kids aren’t alright ♥
Burn The Witch ♥ Burn The Witch ♥
nothing (in my head) ♥ i’m gonna tell my therapist on you $
On Thin Ice $ Love Me Forever ♥
new song (“fuck what you say”)
Let Me Drown ♥
Mars $
Eat Your Friends [new] (with Jhariah)
i’m gonna tell my therapist on you $
the kids aren’t alright ♥
Love Me Forever ♥
encore
Toro $
Rainwalk $

 

May 2022 Oct 2021
Toro $ Toro $
Mars $ Mars $
GET OUT ♥ GET OUT ♥
On Thin Ice $ On Thin Ice $
I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying ♥ cherry (we’re all gonna die) ♥
nothing (in my head) ♥ nothing (in my head) ♥ [at the time was known as “Crapple”
i’m gonna tell my therapist on you $ i’m gonna tell my therapist on you $
Rainwalk $ Rainwalk $
$ Saccharine EP (2021)
♥ Love Me Forever (2022)
¥ Suraksha EP (2023)

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Jhariah (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, January 26, 2024) [PINKSHIFT]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Fox Teeth, Jhariah, Pinkshift on January 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: January 26, 2024] Jhariah

I hadn’t heard of Jhariah before this tour was announced.  But when I listened to their song “Pressure Bomb!!!” I was hooked.  I love the whole vibe of their music–kind of musical theater (with all that implies) but with an intense punky undercurrent.

And that theatricality was present throughout Jhariah’s set which was, frankly, too short!

Jhariah came out and immediately had technical difficulties with his guitar so he said he’d do the show without playing guitar.  There was a second guitarist so that was fine.  And it may have freed him up to be even more theatrical as he danced and jumped all over the stage. (more…)

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Fox Teeth (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, January 26, 2024) [PINKSHIFT]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Fox Teeth, House of Independents, Jhariah, Pinkshift on January 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: January 26, 2024] Pinkshift /Jhariah / Foxteeth

I was really excited for this show.  It had been postponed from November (when I didn’t have a ticket) to the New Year.

Originally it was supposed to be at House of Independents, but the reason the first show was postponed was because of flooding.  The flooding was so bad that HoI had to close its doors and is now out of business.

So it was moved to Asbury Lanes, which is a great small club.

I arrived with just a few minutes to spare and soon enough Fox Teeth came out. Originally the opening band was Pollyanna, who I really like.  I was bummed that they weren’t going to be playing, but Fox Teeth more than exceeded expectations. (more…)

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Bahamas / Fortunate Ones (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, October 19, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Bahamas, Canadian Music, Fortunate Ones on October 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 19, 2023] Bahamas / Fortunate Ones

This is the second concert (which I did not attend) that has been at Union Transfer and then Asbury Lanes (if there’s ever someone I love, I could see them twice!).

I’ve been surprised that the bands are playing these two venues as I tend to think of Asbury Lanes as being very very small.  But I see that the capacity of Asbury Lanes is 700 and the capacity of Union Transfer is 1200.  I would have guessed Asbury Lanes to be about 300, but then I’ve never seen anyone there when it was sold out.

About five years ago I watched a video of Bahamas at Massey Hall and I liked it.

Bahamas is Afie Jurvanen a Canadian folk act. I haven’t followed them much but considered that I might want to see them. But when I listened to their newer songs, I didn’t like them.

It’s very much soft rock with, and I feel that this works for the name Bahamas, a kind of summery vacationy islandy feel.  It’s the kind of thing that I would enjoy hearing while I was walking around in a vacation chalet, but not someone I’d want to see live.

Fortunate Ones is a Canadian indie folk duo from St. John’s, Newfoundland, consisting of Andrew James O’Brien and Catherine Allan.

It’s nice that Bahamas invited another Canadian band along with him.  But I didn’t like either of their voices (which surprises me).

Needless to say I’m not going to this show.

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