Subba Cultcha Showcase at Cake Shop, October 20, 2009
Subba Cultcha Showcase at Cake Shop, October 20, 2009
Small Black was actually not part of the Subba Cultcha showcase at Cake Shop but were playing last in the previous show for Poptarts Suck Toasted, a nifty NY-based blog, which had a great lineup (including Holiday Shores, Freelance Whales, Little Girls and more). All the multi-instrumentalist individuals who play their sets with full bands should take a cue from Small Black: this quartet knows how to multitask. Their singer plays a mixing board and keyboard and their bassist sometimes lends his right hand to beat a tambourine/cowbell with a drumstick, while hammering-on notes with his left. First time I’ve ever seen a bass player break a drumstick on a cowbell—which he may have already broke as well judging by the duct tape. They have a good presence and bob around, particularly the bassist, who was jumping up and down, on and off the small stage so consistently he may have actually been doing calisthenics. I think I saw him losing weight as the show went on. Beneath the reverb the vocals were strong, by the lead singer or in three-part harmonies, and the drum machine and percussive samples they use to supplement their drummer kept the songs full as did the sometimes synthy keyboard notes.
Subba Cultcha, which is not just a Pixies ref but a zine/collective from Amsterdam, started with a DJ set from button-down duo Blondes. I’m sure they are good in the electronic world; they sound like Fuck Buttons but less violent. (Note: There was a woman dancing with a baby wearing earplugs during this set, and the baby was fine, not to say that this was good parenting, but, yes, I am a bigger baby than an actual baby when it comes to electro DJs).
Hospital Bombers are storybook country fusion music with guitar, bass, drums, violin and male-female harmonies. Their guitarist’s voice hearkens somewhere between Hutch Harris of the Thermals, John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats and Doug Martsch of Built to Spill, while their violinist’s is just beautiful. They sang songs with titles like “Punk’s Not Dead,” “Blood Drive,” (including a pun about not being ‘your type’), and “Cows.” When the guitar and violin play the same thing or duel it sounds really cool, and they know how to make the violin rock, but everything else got kind of cheesy for me.
Best Coast’s set ruled, not just because I have been streaming these Californian tunes all of my days since summer via the internet, but because singer/strummer Bethany Costentino is hilarious. She joked throughout her set, speaking for her mic-less guitarist/sidekick known to the audience only as Bob, saying after one song, “Bob is sorry he was so loud. He’s usually quiet. I’m the loud Italian.” Apparently Bethany and Bob usually play matching Danelectro guitars, but Bob’s “wouldn’t fit so he brought his death metal one.” Costentino sings with heavy mic effects but the quality of her voice comes through. She plays with the space on the drawn-out syllables she croons, improvising in squiggled inflections you don’t hear on the record. Bob’s lead guitar on “Wish He Was You” (dedicated to a fourteen year old named Skyler, which was not explained though the story behind the song was—“flying over the ocean always makes [Constentino] feel so low) was my favorite and “Something in the Way” and “Sun Was High (So Was I)” were also highlights. I think I like this music so much because the melodies don’t just drone in harmony on each song, but move around, staying true to the soulful Girl Group pop that no doubt inspired the songs.
The Dutchies in Le Moi Non Plus (that’s French for: The Me Neither) caught my attention when they started speaking in crazy tongues before their set. It sounded like English with a Scottish accent but I didn’t understand a word. “That’s Dutch,” they said. “Not to be confused with German.” Or Scottish, apparently. Their music was far from the lovely surf pop that preceded it. It was turbulent and noisy as hell. They’re a two-piece guitar/drums outfit that alternates between woozy cooing and screaming. Cool to watch. Apparently all the songs they were playing were new. Reminded me of Liars just because of how they were weird in an abrasive way (or abrasive in a weird way?), but were no where near as weird as Angus Andrew (who showed up in the Subba Cultcha zine by the way.)
Surf City brought out the most photographers of the night it seemed, and were introduced by Ted Schumacher of Viva Radio and one of the showcase organizers who told a story about how one time a couple years ago he had sex. Okay, okay, there was more to it than that, but still I can never understand why people tell stories in public forums about having sex. They just end up sounding like Tucker Max but with less lies. Though, the moral of this story was that he (BJ Rubin) had sex with lesbians and made them straight, but this was probably not true.
Anyhow, Surf City’s sound is really big, and really loud. With two guitars and a bass, the lead sometimes gets lost as the other two chug along together (except for really high register surf licks), but this could have just been levels. Their drummer was possibly the best of the night, or at least, played the fastest and with awesome crescendos. Overall it was really tight, they jammed a lot with different variations, and I was able to dance to it, which means it had a solid groove.
By the time zZz came on I was ready to catch some Zs, if you know what I mean. They were supposed to go on at 12 and play until 12:40, and they went on around 12:35. I was pissed because I wanted to see Male Bonding, but this was only because I didn’t yet know the insanity of what I was about to see. Their ex-hippie drummer/singer is an absolute monster. He went crazy on the shared drum set, shaking his head like trying to expel a demon, biting the mic to amplify his ghoulish voice and growl. Their Halloween organ rock turned he basement into a dance party and in the set’s climax the Vincent Gallo-faced multi-keyboardist picked up the keyboards and jumped on his organ and hit the keys while banging the instrument around. Camera flashes outshined those during Surf City.
The British trio Male Bonding was a treat at the end of the night. Super fast guitar and bass fit together in contrasting ascensions/descents and they never really stopped playing until before their last song. By two in the morning, though, it was bounce time.
-Pier Harrison
