Coursing Through The Wires #16 -- Live!

I ventured out for my final live show of the year on December 16 to see ¡Forward, Russia!, Snowden, and Middle Distance Runner at the Black Cat.

Middle Distance Runner -- this DC-based opener (with the unfortunate distinction of a Flash-infested site) struck me as the epitome of "local support."  They brought lots of friends and family (hopefully not all on the guest list), put on a passable and energetic rock set, and did nothing that would possibly upstage the touring bands.  I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again, but I also wouldn't recoil in horror to see them on a bill I'm otherwise attending.

Snowden -- hailing from Atlanta (also with a painfully Flash-heavy website) but sounding quite English.  The most effective selections came when they opted for the double-bass shoegazer approach.  The synth (replacing one guitar) detracted from the overall performance, leading the band into derivative spaces already well-mined by Interpol.  They clearly know how to nail the "single," Anti-Anti, but there were plenty other enjoyable (if somewhat predictable) moments.  And it takes a lot of guts to end with a slow, building burner dedicated to the headliner, especially when the styles are SO different.

Forward Russia -- I've heard that the "numbers gimmick" is coming to an end, and that's probably a good thing. Nobody really wants to hear a song titled "Thirty-four" no matter how good it is.  Hyper-kinetic, even on the "slow new song" mid-set -- "slow" in this case meaning a med(+) tempo.  This was FR's last show of this US tour and of the year, and they left it all on the floor.  Guitarist Whiskas warmed up with (and then successfully employed) some old NWOBHM riffage, adding an unexpected (but welcome) depth to what could otherwise be written off as just another Gang of Four revivalist.  Lead singer practically strangled himself on the microphone cord a few times, combined with coming VERY close to knocking out various audience members with the microphone.

This was a frenetic, pounding, driving set of music that even induced me to pull out the earplugs a couple times.  For the finale,  Snowden joined FR onstage to pound on/destroy the drumkit and keyboard in a monstrous pigpile, concluding with Whiskas hanging his guitar from the sprinkler pipe in a feedback loop broken only when the the soundman dumped to the house monitors. 

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Looking back, I realized that I only attended four shows this year, and the three I picked all featured headliners from Yorkshire -- Wedding Present / Leeds; Long Blondes / Sheffield; Forward Russia / Leeds. (Sticks and Stones was the other, and my attendance was somewhat accidental but well worth it.) Not sure what that means, other than a reinvigoration of some latent anglophilia, the proliferation of music blogs focused on the UK, or just dumb luck.  In any event, I'm hoping to get out a bit more often in 2007.