YOU GET THAT FROM YOUR MOTHER
I survived the first week of double job duty, and ended up spending my Friday seeing a friend's band. Steven Birch, who designed a large portion of Oni's early books, is the guitarist in Audio Learning Center; the singer and bassist is Chris Brady, known previously as the leader of seminal '90s indie act Pond. The band is releasing their second album on Vagrant, Cope Park, and their gig at Dante's was their record release party. (If you follow the link to the Vagrant site, once you enter past the ALC intro, a pop-up for the album will emerge, and the bio on that pop-up is the one I did the rewrite on, in case you're interested.)
The gig went really well, with a particularly powerhouse performance from drummer Paul Johnson. ALC played tunes off of both their debut (the excellently titled Friendships Often Fade Away) and Cope Park, as well as one new one, which has to be one of my favorites of their entire catalogue. It's a bit rockier, which is what I like from them. They tend to be from that slow verse-fast chorus emotional school, which isn't always my cup of tea, so when they pick up the pace, it grooves me a little more. For my money, Birch is the guy that makes ALC work. He has a knack for doubling up on riffs, and the songs often flow under the momentum of his guitar work.
All in all, a nice end to an otherwise tiresome week (though, I was none to pleased to wake up with an inexplicable headache this morning; I think starting Legal Drug today is a wash). The noise around my Big Talk column has gone from amusing to me having my fill. Funny that a lot of the criticism it got was over things I either didn't say, or people who didn't resemble the remarks choosing to be offended because they didn't resemble the remarks. I also got a lot of positive responses from various corners of the industry, and I saw a couple of healthy debates erupt--so, successful, I'd say.
Current Soundtrack:808 State, Outpost Transmission
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