Stamps Of Approval
Eat cheese and sin at Silhouette Lounge.FEEP was a buddhist prodigy at Silhouette Lounge on Monday, 3 July 2023.
Blanket Approval, Sly Fang, and Bikethrasher complete the fireworks adjacent, triple stack bill.
IBOOKTHINGS trots out new hand stamps.
These hand stamps are new for the backroom at the Sil, right?
After you pay the show cover you’ll receive a big, honkin’ “IBOOKTHINGS” stamp on the back of your hand. The text is mostly illegible, but it lays down the rock n roll stigmata like it’s supposed to.
Gone are the wristbands. Which seemed a touch classier than hand stamps. Maybe too classy for the backroom at the Sil? There are many ways to skin a cat.
Quick hits:
A beautiful World Champ edition Bianchi was locked up outside the Silhouette Lounge. A good reminder that the Tour de France is happening now. We’ll post recaps of the action at each rest day of the three-week stage race. Check it out in the Cycling pages.
Overheard: one woman telling another that she got into Brown, but doesn’t want to go there. And she did not get into Yale, but she does want to go there. Hard luck at the Sil.
Did you know that Bill the Bartender has another gig at Roadrunner? You can catch him there tending bar some nights.
There’s always a weird crowd on nights adjacent to major holidays. Weird crowd, but good crowd. The regulars are out of town, the irregulars take their place.
It was an extremely well lit night in the backroom. Most nights the Allston dive lives up to its name because you can hardly see more than the silhouette of the musicians. Tonight you could study for an organic chemistry final, the place was so brilliantly illuminated.
FEEP
FEEPBoston’s FEEP are regular giggers around town, fitting flush on most heavy rock bills you might dream up. The four-piece includes a synthesizer along with the usual rock n roll guitar/bass/drums triplet, which gives them some spacier options. Think Raconteurs meet Talk Chalk meet Starship.
Blanket Approval
Blanket ApprovalNYC’s Blanket Approval brought a danceable indie groove to the Sil on Monday night.
If you heard their recent single “Happy Alone, Pt. II” you were expecting a synth-driven neu disco experience with shades of MGMT. The synth was definitely in full effect.
Shout out to the guitarist/synth player, switching between strings and keys midsong with deft aplomb. The texture of the live sound in the gritty confines of the backroom, though, was less MGMT, more Franz Ferdinand. A tight rhythm section held down the groove while the guitars bounced on top.
Sly Fang
Sly FangSpeaking of the Raconteurs, let’s wind back the Jack White connection because Sly Fang sounded at times like the White Stripes multiplied by two.
What does that sound like? A kind of maximalist blues rock in minimalist clothing. The four-piece uses two guitars, which is the typical complement in your typical rock n roll quartet.
But instead of dividing labor between lead and rhythm duties, the guitars spent a lot of time twinning chord progressions. If you do this right, you get a really booming, meaty, powerful sound.
Push this approach over the top and you get Glacier, a metal six-piece that triple-stacks three guitar parts (plus a bass) to similar effect.
Sly Fang didn’t quite take it that far, allowing the two guitars to follow their separate paths now and then. But they were digging in the same backyard with good results.
Bikethrasher
BikethrasherIf you saw Bikethrasher at Midway Cafe in June, you knew they bring a mix of originals and covers to each set. The originals hews toward heavy rock with pop accents. The covers are well-curated, making the most of the band’s keen rhythm section. On Monday night, Nirvana’s “No Recess”?
Hearing Bikethrasher live is a reminder how central the rhythm section was for music in the “grunge” era. The twists and turns, starts and stops, crescendos and diminuendos all require split second timing from a tight percussion/bass/guitar triad to make an impact. The first thing people remarked about the rise of “grunge” was the loud, noisy guitar textures on top.
Sure; but what made it work as music was all chugging away beneath the surface. When “grunge” music went into decline, it was because both musicians and audience got too hung up on the surface sonic textures.
Bikethrashing at the HarmacyConsider a band like Garbage – it was all about surface textures, assembled by lab technicians. No rhythm section to speak of, nothing beneath the hood. It wasn’t awful, but it lacked the motor to provoke anything in the audience beyond a little modish sulking.
There was some bikethrashing happening in the CVS parking lot across from the Sil. Didn’t anyone see that? A handful of gnarly youths popping wheelies. On Blue Bikes, of all things. Those bikes ride like a wet sponge. Like a moon rover. Like a Korok with an oversized backpack in Tears of the Kingdom. If you can squeeze tricks out of those bikes, you’ve got skills.
Photo Gallery
An MGMT b-side groove that the house band at Post Malone’s private bowling alley plays every set.