Captain Haddock are playing when I arrive at O'Brien's. Guitarist, bassist, and drummer are all very tight, and are all doing interesting, fast, kind of punky things. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble hearing them because there's someone screaming. He has a microphone. He seems to be part of the band. He should stop. I would call it "tuneless," but that seems to imply that there's a tune that he's not hitting. It's not like that; he's just screaming. It's not even particularly rhythmic. Nor can I make out WHAT he's screaming. And he's mixed really high, and dominates the experience without contributing. This is apparently their very first gig; perhaps they'll schedule another and not tell him about it.
Last are Kayo Dot, who take forever to set up. There are seven of them, at O'Brien's! The drummer actually sets up in front of the stage, facing the rest of the band. Two guys play only guitars; one plays only bass; one plays guitar, trumpet, and cornet; one plays guitar and French horn and sings; and the lone woman in this whole night of music plays violin and bells. I am intrigued. With all those different instruments, you'd think something interesting would happen. It doesn't. This isn't exactly jazz, but it bothers me in many of the same ways that most jazz does: there's the same annoying wussiness, with entirely too much brushed-cymbal drumwork, and the same fundamental aimlessness. These are apparently highly composed pieces--several of the musicians have music stands, and they all seem to spend a lot of time trying to stay together and manage the transitions--but they never seem like they're trying to GO anywhere. The solos are pointless and noodling and lack any sort of tonal structure, and there's one point where four different people are playing guitars and can't seem to make one decent chord among them. There are also some fast sections with screaming vocals, which sort of come out of nowhere and still manage not to feel directed or propulsive in any way. In case you couldn't tell, I hate this, and stay until the end only because there are so few clearly demarked pieces that giving them three songs means hearing the whole set.
http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/steve/shows/121003.html
Last are Kayo Dot, who take forever to set up. There are seven of them, at O'Brien's! The drummer actually sets up in front of the stage, facing the rest of the band. Two guys play only guitars; one plays only bass; one plays guitar, trumpet, and cornet; one plays guitar and French horn and sings; and the lone woman in this whole night of music plays violin and bells. I am intrigued. With all those different instruments, you'd think something interesting would happen. It doesn't. This isn't exactly jazz, but it bothers me in many of the same ways that most jazz does: there's the same annoying wussiness, with entirely too much brushed-cymbal drumwork, and the same fundamental aimlessness. These are apparently highly composed pieces--several of the musicians have music stands, and they all seem to spend a lot of time trying to stay together and manage the transitions--but they never seem like they're trying to GO anywhere. The solos are pointless and noodling and lack any sort of tonal structure, and there's one point where four different people are playing guitars and can't seem to make one decent chord among them. There are also some fast sections with screaming vocals, which sort of come out of nowhere and still manage not to feel directed or propulsive in any way. In case you couldn't tell, I hate this, and stay until the end only because there are so few clearly demarked pieces that giving them three songs means hearing the whole set.
http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/steve/shows/121003.html
