D-Sagawa / Bin Men / Inconvenience Store / The Ratz / Gudsfordladt
Midway Café, Jamaica Plain, MA 10/13/18
Gudsfordladt is Danish for “Godforsaken” and they are playing in a place that is, the closest to heaven that I’ll ever see.
I like how they’re playing several minutes into their set while people are milling about, waiting for them to begin. What sounds like tuning up or checking their amps is actually their first song, that lasts fifteen minutes. I’m equally fooled. Their second song that last about the same time completes their set.
This is very slow, textural, instrumental music punctured by extreme, grindcore music with a shrieking vocalist who, when he occasionally sings, always faces the stage. It appears they describe themselves as black metal, and I could easily see the vocals fitting in, as such- but the music is definitely more experimental/noise and, unlike black metal, that’s a style I’ve always enjoyed.
And I mention to Matty BeBop, who relates he really likes this band- I like how some parts of their songs I don’t care for and other parts- that are gloriously majestic (Hey, sorry! That’s in my notes), parts that I, totally love.
I notice a couple of guys in this band are from the great, power violence band Goolagoon. And I notice this is a fearlessly, adventuress, awesome band.
The Ratz from Connecticut are next and they feature Jeffrey and Matt from one of my favorite bands we cover, The Lost Riots. These two guys are a great team- they’re like Batman and Robin, Brady and Gronk, Kayne West and Trump.
But they’ve recently added a secret weapon, Ines from Damn Broads on lead guitar and vocals whose band is, also, one of my favorite bands we cover. So I’m thinking that this can only turn out well. (Check out the very recent The Ratz/Damn Broads split that will be reviewed here soon for verification.)
This is my second time seeing them and though they always claim to be a sloppy, thrown together off-shoot band. I’ve been blown away both times seeing them. Enough to make me think- Do I like this band even better than The Lost Riots?
What I think is neat about this band is they have four players who all sing lead with maybe, Matt, the bassist taking the most.
They also have a great drummer named Elvis. (Where have I heard that name before?) He plays in a style that I know well, namely early Boston punk rock style and does it extremely well. And Ines adds a lot with her penetrating, screaming vocals and a few, great lead solos.
They play a lot of great tunes like “I Don’t” and “Fight Tonight” with music that takes equal influences from garage, punk and hardcore.
All I know is I’m boppin’ around to them through out their whole set, (so much so, that my dentures become loose as well as my bowels), and I’m thinking this is one of my favorite sets I’ve seen all year.
Naw, I’m not just thinking that- I know it is.
Inconvenience Store is next who play in a hardcore/metal style though, less hard hitting as most bands I see in this style. They lean more towards being a prog rock band with hardcore vocals, which sounds horrible to me, but actually they sound very good.
They describe themselves as hardcore/noise which is a little more cutting edge than I would describe them. (They do employ some nifty sound samples at times.)
And overall they play an enjoyable set.
But my favorite part is when during their last song, a part that’s in some weird time signature, I’m guessing 15/8- the drummer looses a stick and either doesn’t have an extra one or can’t reach it. He bravely carries on doing drums rolls with one drum stick! Kudos for him on succeeding!
Bin Men are next, an odd looking band playing an odd style of music.
They have an array of big and small folks playing a style similar to some quirky, eccentric, new wave band from the eighties.
They have a singer who plays sax but switches to guitar, letting the guitarist sing the rest of the set and a synthesizer player.
They have good songs, play an excellent set and fit in well on this bill, a bill, I’m noticing- that none of the bands playing today have a style remotely similar to the others, which is very cool, I believe.
I’ve been looking forward to the last band to play. D-Sagawa is a young, D-beat band that I only saw once before, about two years ago, but during that performance, at Koto’s in Salem, they impressed me enough to consider that my favorite set of the year.
They have incredibly hard hitting, extreme, abrasive music with unequaled energy. They’re a young band, which should be able to expound an ample amount of energy, but I can’t imagine any band expending more energy than what these guys put into their set.
I see their guitarists’ shake their wrists in between sets, the drummer plead for a second to catch a breathe before he starts the next song. After, when I tell them I timed their set at 17 minutes they proclaim, “Oh, usually it’s much shorter than that.”
They also have a female singer who sings in a great, death growl and songs that I couldn’t imagine being more intense, energetic or uncompromisingly real.
Oh, and the drummer also plays in another great band, Mooseknuckle, and his father was in a popular, local eighties metal band, Two Million B.C., that I remember.
Can I add- I believe I’ve seen two of the best sets I’ve seen this year today.
This was a show put on by my punk daughter, Lindsey, whose mother Lady Gaga is equally proud of her as me. (Though I don’t like Lindsey referring to me as Laddie Gaga!)
I thought today’s show, besides being so great, fully represents what goes on in Lindsey’s mind- rebellious, creative, wild, fun stuff.
And though I’m proud of the bands who played today, I’m equally proud of my daughter.
(Slimedog)
