Last night Union Pool was the place to be for the Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar/Dead Oceans Showcase. The first band I caught was Parts & Labor who I’d been meaning to check out for some time. This was part of a string of shows they are playing as their final ones before the band goes on a hiatus in February. Until then, they’re playing every songs off of one respective album at each show. This night they played all songs off their LP Receiver, and with great energy. Bassist/vocalist BJ Warshaw played bass like a guitar on many songs, trilling way down the neck, while shouting a couple feet away from the microphone. He switched off an don with vocalist/guitarist/electronics Dan Friel, creating a sound reminiscent of Mission of Burma, but heavier on the electronics and so sounding like somewhere between them and Built to Spill. I’m not sure what the reason for their hiatus is, but it was clear from this show that Parts & Labor have some fervent fans who will miss them when they’re gone.
Experimental garage duo Gauntlet Hair was next, rounded out by another guitarist and bassist. Despite their strange name they had a great, and also great energy. They were spunky, irreverent, and seemed to be exactly the same on stage as they would be off. Drummer Craig Nice had a mostly electronic kit, and guitarist/vocalist Andy R. sang with mouth wide over his garage-gaze guitar riffs. They have a bunch of videos you can check out on their website.
A Place to Bury Strangers – wow. I haven’t been to a show so good in both their performance and the ambiance they created since Himalaya at Pianos. The energy remained the same but changed the whole mood to be a dark and sexy rabbit hole. The band had all the wall of sound anyone could ask for, plus well-timed lighting and fog. At one point, during what was perhaps the climax of the entire show, guitarist Oliver Ackermann triggered a strobe light at the exact moment the entire band broke their own psychedelic barrier to reach new sonic levels just when it seemed they had already reached 11. Needless to say, they played the kind of show that had the power to transport you to another place, as dark and warped or beautiful as you wanted it to be.
