so messed up

For once I will not bury the lead. I was lucky enough to experience a solo performance from Aaron of Tall Firs (his first, apparently) and it was an unexpected beautiful experience. Sounding about halfway between vintage Xpressway material (This Kind of Punishment, Alastair Galbraith) and A THOUSAND LEAVES-era Sonic Youth (one of my favorite and most under-rated albums), with possibly a Dirty Three reference audible in the shifting feel of the songs when heard with full band. I am particularly fond of
"So Messed Up".

A little back story as to how this happened: Sonic Youth played a show Saturday night, once again presenting DAYDREAM NATION. I wavered about getting tickets because their performance in Barcelona left much to be desired, and once I stopped vascillating the point was moot: it was sold out. To add insult to injury, the opening act was announced as the Dead C., who despite living in New Zealand for four years I've never seen here.

Then, to remove insult from injury (if such a tortured metaphorical construction is permissible), the Dead C. announced their own solo gig the night before. Further tantalizing was the rumor that a "super special secret guest" would be playing prior to the Dead C. Given that Lee Ranaldo of SY and Michael Morley of Dead C. have recorded together in the past, that was one possibility. Perhaps a whole Sonic Youth secret show, busting out the jams from albums that didn't come out 20 years ago? At the Dog's Bollix, an intimate venue, there was no way this could be missed.

And so I got there ludicrously early after online warnings: "Door sales only! Arrive early! Special secret guest!" etc. With my general lack of persuasion skills, combined with a previous experience recommending a live Dead C. show to someone who still hasn't recovered from it, I found myself alone at a bar. Did I mention I can't drink at the moment?

(I forgot to mention: the special guest was billed online as "The Tall Sirs". Tall Sirs. Tossers. I get it. Funny self-deprecation.)

So I wait around a generally unpopulated club an hour plus to start, writing to myself in my journal and continuing to drown in self-absorption, notice Lee Ranaldo, think about saying, hey, I interviewed you a decade ago, decide against it, go back to writing, til finally Surf City starts. They're pretty okay, although the fact that I saw them just the night before opening for Interpol with a better light show dims my enthusiasm somewhat. They end, I wander back to a table, do some more writing, and then at some point I realize the guitar coming from the stage isn't the house mix but somebody's starting playing.

I make my way to the stage, where basically nobody is paying attention, and a guy's sitting in the corner of the stage, playing these songs. And ... well, this is where we started. Despite the asshole standing at the front of the stage with his back to the stage talking to the friends, or the charming lady who would rather look into the distance then look at the guy putting on a kickass show five feet away from her, it was pretty outstanding experience.

The punchline, I discovered later when I went to another club, was that a bunch of people had skipped the show when they discovered that the secret guest was ... Sonic Youth's soundman. The joke's on them - I enjoyed Aaron's set much more than I'd have enjoyed 30 minutes of Lee Ranaldo pouring feedback through the speakers.

(Summary of rest of week: The Dead C. were a lot of fun, body-shaking noise with plodding rhythms holding it together. I smiled. After the show I wound up at the Whammy Bar, my favorite venue in Auckland, where The Mysterious Tapemen rocked the house with their debased version of surf rock. Huge fun, though still kicking myself for completely dropping the ball with this cute blonde woman who unsolicitedly danced with me. This hasn't happened to me since Crash Worship, so I don't expect it to happen for another 16 years.

Thursday was Interpol, and it was about what I hoped for from an Interpol show - good sound, they played their best songs, decent lighting and video.

Monday was Explosions in the Sky, and I loved it. I wish I could live in their songs. Some locals complained the show was too long. In my mind, that's a ridiculous comment to make about a headliner unless they're playing games like Guided By Voices and saving their hit songs for the third hour of the show. Opening act Eluvium hid quietly in the corner and made nice atmospheres with looping guitars, noises, and keyboards. And I've forgotten the name of the opening band, but their atmospheric metal style was slightly leaden due to their drummer's overreliance on the metronome in his ear.)