Teenbeat’s 20th: Night Two Redux
Posted on March 8, 2005 at 2:53 pm | No Comments
The 3-night Teenbeat Records 20th anniversary celebration thingy finished up over a week ago, and I’m settled back here in Boston, finally nearing normality. A bunch of later-than-usual nights out, soooo much live music, too much beer, and a royally screwed up eating routine really threw me off for awhile. And then there was the smoke, what with D.C. still squarely in the stone age, letting the in-club-clouds gather. I’d become so accustomed to clean lungs that the exhaust hit me like a black-stained bag o’ bricks, and of course, a few of my sweaters still smell like ass. But enough whining, the celebrating was more than worth a small amount of sufferin’…
After the fairly mellow and relatively small kick-off night at the Galaxy Hut, the second (and first of two sold-out Black Cat shows) was quite a contrast. Of the six band lineup, I was most excited for Unrest, who didn’t disappoint… they played a bunch more songs, and were way tighter, than their preview set the night before. I was also very much looking forward to The Fontaine Toups and Plus Minus, and I’d seen True Love Always enough to know I liked them lots. As for Eggs, I’m not exactly a huge fan, and while I was unfamiliar with Jonny Cohen, his performance didn’t really do it for me either. My apologies to Jonny fans for the lack of recordings, as he was well into his opening set by the time I arrived…
First, a few from The Fontaine Toups, fronted by their namesake (and Versus bass player/singer), who I’d seen awhile back here in Boston. Their set was much improved on my memories of their TT’s live show… better songs, better playing, and much more energy…
The Fontaine Toups – Rock and Roll Thru and Thru (live)
The Fontaine Toups – ‘Who Told You‘ (live)
The Fontaine Toups – Huskertine (live)
It was rockin’ enough for me to grab their full-length from the Teenbeat merch table in the back of the Black Cat. Their set seemed to be mostly new stuff, so if you know those two missing song titles, lemme know. (update: Big thanks to TFT’s bass player, Steve Choo, for letting me know those new song titles.)
Next up was True Love Always, who put just the perfect amount of jazz in their pop. I wasn’t quick enough with the recorder to capture their cover of Earth, Wind, & Fire’s ‘September‘ (you can get that here), but hey, at least we get some Bob Seger action in ‘Buried Treasure‘. Here’s a few from their set…
True Love Always – ‘Modesto‘ (live – with Evelyn Hurley)
True Love Always – ‘Buried Treasure‘ (live)
True Love Always – ‘Sunshine‘ (live – with Evelyn Hurley)
Lucky for all of us, Mrs. Teenbeat and former Blast-Offer, Evelyn Hurley, seemed to be on stage as much as the between-set emcees, not just in her own Hot Pursuit, but with both TLA and Aden… and probably with someone else I’m forgetting. Her voice and near-constant smile always seem to make songs better, and you’ll hear more of her when I post songs from the third night (tomorrow, hopefully).
After TLA was another band who surpassed my already-pretty-high expectations, Plus Minus (+/-). Wow. They’re so much more guitar-rockin’ live than their first record (and previous Boston appearances) suggested, and even though I have that disc, I neglected to grab the follow-up EP until the end of their Black Cat set. Yup, even more cash spent at the Teenbeat merch table, with no after-purchase pangs of regret. The electronics/programming of the recordings are still there, but the guitars and stellar live drums build around them powerfully. Here’s three from their set (such killer drumming on the first song)…
Plus Minus – ‘She’s Got Your Eyes‘ (live)
Plus Minus – ‘Making the Horse Drink‘ (live)
Plus Minus – ‘Trapped Under Ice Floes‘ (live)
Y’know, I just love watching James Baluyut play guitar… his enthusiasm is infectious, and his performance in Plus Minus got me even more psyched up for the next day’s Versus reunion (he and fellow minus-man Patrick Ramos are 1/2 of Versus, btw).
Next up was a reunited Eggs. As I mentioned, I’m not so crazy about ’em, but here’s a few songs for those of you that are…
Eggs – ‘Ampallang‘ (live)
Eggs – ‘The Government Administrator‘ (live)
Eggs – ‘A Pit With Spikes‘ (live)
And then, Unrest. F’in fantastic, playing familiar faves and a couple unexexpected treats (glad to see drummer Phil singin’ on WCLA). Brought me back to London, 1993, when I saw them play twice during the 4AD 13 Year Itch anniversary shows. Never thought I’d get that chance again, and there they were in front of me, a dozen years later…
Unrest – ‘Isabel‘ (live)
Unrest – ‘West Coast Love Affair‘ (live)
Unrest – ‘Make Out Club‘ (live)
Unrest – ‘Cath Carroll‘ (live)
So there’s the second night for ya, with one more to go. Little did I know that during the third and final show, a little personal dream would come true. One of my favorite bands would perform their best record, start to finish, note for precious note… but I’ll leave that until tomorrow.
Until then, check out all of my pictures from the shows, which I’ve pulled together in a Teenbeat Flickr set. You can see other fan pics from the event by looking at this Teenbeat Tag search. Gotta love Flickr.
Out into the chilly Boston rain I go…
Teenbeat’s 20th: Night One Redux
Posted on March 7, 2005 at 10:35 am | No Comments
An updated look back at the first of three Teenbeat Records 20th Anniversary shows down in DC a couple weeks ago…
The 20th anniversary shindig put on by Teenbeat Records couldn’t have started off any better: Colin and I decided to get to Arlington, Virginia’s Galaxy Hut a little bit before the listed 8:30pm start time, and as we walked into the smaller-than-expected club, a trio was up against the window getting ready to go. I focused on finding a good spot by the bar, overlooking their identity until Colin said “Isn’t that Mark Robinson up there?”.
30 seconds later, Unrest launched straight into ‘Suki‘, one of my favorites from their brilliant Imperial f.f.r.r. album. Instant and complete happiness. It was Bridget, Phil, & Mark, cruising through a loose set that also included ‘June‘, ‘Imperial‘, ‘I Do Believe You Are Blushing‘, ‘Make Out Club‘, ‘Light Command‘, and a closing combination of the instrumentals ‘Vibe Out!‘ & ‘Hydrofoil’, and there were only about 20 or so early arrivals there to see it. I think most people assumed that the poster listing “DJs Unrest” meant that B, P, & M would just be spinning discs between sets (which they did), not actually opening up. Glad they chose to pull off a practice in public… what a total treat.
So here’s a few songs from Unrest’s first performance in a whole lotta years…
Unrest
live at the Galaxy Hut
February 23rd, 2005
Light Command (live)
I Do Believe You Are Blushing (live)
June (live)
Vibe Out! / Hydrofoil (live)
It was pretty much impossible for the rest of the night’s lineup to live up to a start like that, but there were some really nice moments throughout. Tape-Op guy Larry Crane, who was the bassist in former Teenbeat band Vomit Launch, played a few V.L. songs for us, and here’s one of ’em…
Larry Crane (Vomit Launch) – ‘Stillness‘ (live)
Tracy Shedd made hanging around until the end so worth it. She was a real discovery for me, her voice reminiscent of Lois Maffeo (as Colin pointed out) or maybe early Liz Phair. I’m pretty psyched to check out her recorded stuff, but until then here’s…
Tracy Shedd – ‘Inside Out‘ (live)
Tracy Shedd – ‘Falling On Ice Hurts‘ (live)
Tracy Shedd – ‘New Song‘ (live)
The acoustic recordings are a little hissy due to their quietness (although I tried to remove some of it), and may occasionally be marred by small-club conversation and bag-shuffling, but still worth a listen.
Lots of familiar faces in the club that night, probably about sixty Teenbeat friends and fans gathered together to kick this thing off, including the long-time-not-seen Archie Moore (Heartworms/Velocity Girl) and Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto. I meant to ask Archie if he’s been making any music lately, but spaced it. Anyone know? Colin & I spent some time hanging with Frank & Matt of Shumai (who played a post-fest party on Saturday night), along with Kevin from The Lil’ Hospital.
I picked up the just-released deluxe edition of Unrest’s Imperial f.f.r.r., along with the new solo disc from their drummer, Phil Krauth. For the curious, here’s the tracklisting for that expanded Imperial…
1. Volume Reference Tone
2. Suki
3. Imperial
4. I Do Believe You Are Blushing
5. Champion Nines
6. Sugarshack
7. Isabel
8. Cherry Cream On
9. Firecracker
10. June
11. Loyola
12. Electrico
and these extra tracks…
13. Hydrofoil One
14. Full Frequency
15. Isabel (12”)
16. Cherry Cherry
17. Wednesday & Proud
18. Empire
19. Rip-off
20. Chdemo
The next morning, after a slow rise at my sister’s Arlington pad, Colin wrote and quickly recorded a new song called ‘The Whole Weekend To Go‘, pulling together bits of conversation overheard at the Galaxy Hut. ‘Cuz that’s what Colin does. Enjoy.
More sounds & pictures from the nights two and three, including live mp3s from Versus, Tuscadero, Flin Flon, +/-, Unrest, and many more should be up shortly…