Coursing Through The Wires #22-C

And the stirring conclusion to reliving my misspent youth and reconnecting with that elusive spirit that exists in all things independent and powerful...

Electrelane, The Shondes, Tender Forever -- The Black Cat, Washington, DC -- 10 June 2007

Tender Forever -- I only caught a couple songs, as I needed to satisfy my pinball cravings (another part of reliving that misspent youth, thinking of hot Hoboken saturdays spent at "Mr. Big's" deli waiting for the doors to open at Maxwell's).  One woman singing over her own pre-recorded beats and blurps, what even she called karaoke.  The long personal story about the joys of getting drunk on tour did nothing for me, and the whole package was fairly pedestrian.  I do give her credit for getting on stage (something I've never done in a musical capacity), but sadly that's about it.

The Shondes -- The last show I remember that featured a violin was the Dirty Three many years ago... but the Shondes veer far closer to Aussie precursors Venom P. Stinger.  The first sonic reference I made was Antietam, and the second was the Avengers -- both VERY good things.  I can't identify with or speak for their politics (queercore, pro-palestinian jews), but their music has the right mix of off-kilter tunings and arrangements to keep a set going strongly.  Here's hoping that these kids pull it together in a studio soon -- there's kinetic energy to burn and a style worth pursuing further.

Electrelane -- oh my goodness.  Absolutely stellar, before the encore of Springsteen's "I'm On Fire."  Mixing and matching songs from across their catalog without hesitation, this show was pretty darn close to a spiritual experience in the rhythmic propulsions.  Sonic repetitions that deftly avoided the Glass/Reich traps of minimalist expression -- the krautrock motorik experience that can get lost in listening to a CD.  The closest I'd ever come to this type of full mind-body experience was being pinned to the back wall at a Stereolab show in late 1994 before they veered off into the glitchtastic spaces of 90's electronica.

Odd (but appropriate) coincidence: When I headed out on Sunday, my wife was trying out a Kundalini yoga DVD.  The instructor noted that chanting mantras in one's native language doesn't really work because there's too much baggage -- connotations and meanings in words.  Mantras set in an unfamiliar language ideally allow you to feel the meaning without the baggage and to move into a proper deep meditative state... and on this night, Electrelane's music was that mantra-like experience bringing an inner peace (for a little while, anyway).