Finally Quasi

Well, we might as well start somewhere, mightn't we? This is reposted from the Batcave (see my links), so if something doesn't make sense, go ahead and ask me about it. It could be some sort of joke. I could just have forgotten to explain myself.

Okay, so last night's show at the wonder ballroom:

Pan Tourismos. I'd heard the name once or twice, knew nothing about them, skipped them to listen to the end of the Twins-f'in &%^kees game. Twins won, and it was so worth it! Sorry, Pan Tourismos.

The Minders: I was looking forward to these guys, I'd heard of them repeatedly and expected to enjoy them. There was nothing wrong with them, but they didn't sound like anything but a bunch of other bands. "What do you do for a living?" "I have Robert Pollard's voice." So they sounded remarkably like Guided by Voices, but sober, and perhaps with a lobotomy (none of the weird, bizarre, fun aspects of GBV). And I spent much of their set thinking, "Oh! This bit reminds me of....oh, crap. Who is that?" Here's the partial list I came up with: Elvis Costello, The Waterboys, The Pixies (I wondered, "did they have to pay Frank Black to use that guitar line?"), every generic '60's garage pop band, and the obligatory nod to the Velvet Underground. The one band these guys didn't sound like were The Minders. There was no there there.

Finally, Quasi: I made it. I finally saw Quasi. And...um...I don't know what to say. It's like the complete opposite of the previous band. I simply can't come up with any rational comparisons, or any descriptions, or any words at all. But you know me, I'll keep talking anyway. I don't even know whether I liked them or not. Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney on drums. Imagine her given total free rein...holy hell. I can't imagine how she keeps from putting the drumsticks right through the drum heads. She's all power, and I swear to you, her biceps could rival the Doctor's. She's utterly amazing, and she drove the songs. She's the third voice in S-K, so it was interesting to see her voice get more prominence. Her ex-husband, Sam Coomes, heads another local band, Blues Goblin. He's a f'ing hippie. I hate f'ing hippies. But he plays crazy-ass keyboards, sometimes pounding out stride-piano blues lines with the keyboard set to what I can only imagine is "piano dropped from a great height," sometimes just pounding on the keyboard with his fists. And sometimes you can't tell which is which. At times it was fascinating and engaging, bordering on melodic, at other times it was just about to derail into experimental mess. Frequently I was sure it had derailed, but after a minute or two, Janet's drums would reassert a dominant beat, and hey, it's a song again! Coomes' voice sounds remarkably like Weiss', and the off-kilter harmonies were very fun when they were on (and unintelligible screeching when they weren't). Oh--and there was a bass player. Overall, it was incredibly loud, and powerful, and overwhelming, and interesting. Remind me never to see them in a space smaller than the Wonder Ballroom. I'd just end up a huddled mass on the floor, bleeding from the ears.