jeez nox5 readers it has been a good long week, what with birthday stuff and reestablishing city friendships and starting a new job, I’ve been meaning to talk about this all week
FIRST STILL:
I’m posting a job! the very first nox5 job posting! my camera, which was kind of a shit point-and-shoot deal, just died on me, so instead of moping and looking at my feet, I will use this as a sign. therefore, I’ve decided to hire someone with a nicer camera, like a DSLR deal, to take pictures at events for nox5. the pay is your admission to events. free shows, just to snap pictures! wow! if interested, send me an email at nmaloneyiii (at) gmail (dot) com.
ponytail, thank you @ studio b, june 14
I turned 23 on the 14th, so I decided to go to a show. just like I did last year! but first I went shopping:
OTHER MUSIC
The Mae Shi – HLLLYH
Suicide – First Album (dlx)
Sloan – Twice Removed
The Mountain Goats – Ghana
Belle & Sebastian – Jonathan David
STRAND
Life of Pi by Yann Martell
The Assignment by Michael Myers
anyhow:
ponytail, thank you @ studio b, june 14
the only band out of those cds that I’ve actually seen perform was the mae shi a few years ago at the now defunct launching pad in muncie, in. they were really awesome and noisy and they did costume changes. I would have bought HLLLYH if it was out when they played, but they were still mastering, so I just bought the remixxx album by yea big, which was totally awesome. a track from that album is after the post.
what really drew me to the mae shi is that they really worked a crowd and put everything into their live show. as such, they developed a straight up dyi following just for rocking shows as hard as possible. so for the b-day show, I decided to check out another band that has been touted as being insane live, philadelphia’s ponytail, during their appearance at brooklyn’s northside festival, nearly all of which I missed (lolz birthday stuff)
so, I showed up at 9:50, because cool dads were supposed to start at 9:30 according to the website, but I know how clubs work in new york, so I was technically on time. or so it would seem! doors actually opened that night at 10:30p or something like that, so I wandered around for a while, looked at all the closed polish restaurants and came back. got in for freeeee
oh shit, I should mention that studio b has this policy that if you go and it’s your birthday you get free admission to the show AND a bottle of liquor, just for being there. so I was really excited to get that free liquor, make some friends, but when I asked about it, the bartender was all “NO SORRY NOT DURING NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL.” I was pretty put out about that, like “oh dang sorry my birthday was at an inconvenient time for your club.” but studio b has a giant disco ball and a great soundsystem and I didn’t want to get blackout anyway, so it’s cool! okay studio b? we’re cool.
but you know who is not cool? cool dads. it’s essentially this guy (who apparently is the booking agent of ponytail) with a guitar and four loop pedals, and he sort of has guitar practice in front of you for twenty minutes. I’m going to be honest guys, and I’m not trying to hate, but watching someone play on a stage with no discernable structure or sense of rhythm or anything for a while then huff into the mic “thanks” and exit is not my ideal music concert.
thank you was next, and while they all wore very tight fitting polo shirts and had a theremin, were not much better. they had songs, sure, but nothing that was tremendously ear catching. they did a sort of screamy-sing thing like the mae shi, but not as well. just not very interesting, thank you! I am sorry!
by now things were running really late, and I had to get up early for my internship, so I made the resolution that I would miss crystal stilts. that’s something that I feel really bad about, because they were probably great, but I had no choice. next time, crystal stilts.
what to say about ponytail? they’re a bunch of teenage kids being really energetic and playing noisy rock music, so be your own pet; but they’re prone to experiment and change time signatures, so deerhoof; but then simultaneous there’s not really anything in the way of lyrics besides molly siegel’s “AWWWWWBLBLBLBLRRRRGBBBBB” punctuating the chaos, so… ? I’m not entirely sure how to classify ponytail, but it’s very entertaining to watch and listen.
but that’s about it. I mean, not to sound ungrateful, because they did play a great set (the highlight of which being ‘celebrate the body electric’ off of their new album ice cream spiritual), but I”m not sure what ponytail is getting at. p4k will wax pretentious about “this band is youth eternal” and “they inspire colors not language,” it just sounds like a bunch of kids on a stage having fun and messing around. and while they’re all talented (well, maybe not siegel ://), it’s just not something I would go out of my way to listen to.
anyhow, how’s your day?
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