IRKD!
One night after work last week I went out to a concert by four interesting bands playing at The Sultan Room at Turk's Inn in Bushwick. A couple of the main reasons I picked this venue were that the four bands had unique stylings, and that the show was advertised as from 7pm to 2am.
I viewed this as a great opportunity to hear some new work not only because I had never seen shows by any of these bands before, but two out of the four were doing their "record release show" as part of this big night, so the music couldn't be any fresher than that! Each of the bands had a style that was a little different from what I normally hear in my stream, so that was especially intriguing:
True Dreams
The night was opened up by Brooklyn duo "True Dreams", which describe themselves as a feminist punk guitar and drums duo. True Dreams combines bratty snarls, frenzied screams, and empowering chants with sweet melodies and love letter lyrics. Angela Carlucci (guitar, vox) and Hannah Nichols (drums, vox) contribute equally to the project as songwriters. Here is "Female Artists", which is the seventh track on their new album titled "No. 1", which was released in November.
Hard Nips
Most powerful, thundering instrumentals I've heard in a long time ::: Second band up was Brooklyn Japanese girl band "Hard Nips". Here is "Story Board". This track is actually from a few years ago, but is the lead on their Soundcloud page:
The Johns
It was Brooklyn band "The Johns" that was the original draw for me to go out to this show last week. In wandering around the internets, I had heard their music on line, but wanted to see them live. They describe their style as "Garage Tropicalia", a more detailed description of which is from their Facebook page: The Johns are a musically groovy, visually striking, and lyrically unprecedented garage tropicalia band from New York City. The band combines the complexity and insight of The Silver Jews with the immediacy, economy, and seaside sensibilities of The Ramones and the softly intricate rhythms of the Caribbean music heard at every bodega in town. Basketball player-poet Johnny Dydo fronts the band, his baritone visions exploding through his grunge-princess regalia leaving fans and passers-by collecting and contemplating shards of pink hair, coded dreams, and bits of seashells whose songs can only be imagined in some integrity long ago crushed by the surf or swept away by the Atlantic. Johnny's persona embodies the apparent contradictions that define the band... masculine and feminine, funny and a little scary, brilliant surface and depths so remote they would be unobservable if not for the clarity and specificity of the plan according to which they are constructed. Here is "I Want You To Love Me The Best", which is the third track on their album, "Forge", which was released last Friday, Feb. 14 :::
The Johns is on a European tour right now and doesn't have any upcoming shows listed back here in the States. But here is their Facebook link where you can find out what's next :::
The Johns on Facebook (CLICK HERE).
Mary Vision
The final band playing for the evening was Brooklyn psych band "Mary Vision". Their self-description says that There in the cerebral fog, strings quiver in a bath of reverb (spiritual in it’s existence). Organ drones tasteful blankets, protection from the dusty road, here the vision becomes more definable.. They also did their big record release last week. This is the song "Highway", which is the fifth track off that new album of the same name :::
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So why am I "irked"? Because of the venue and the scheduling.
This was my first trip to The Sultan Room, and, giving a bow to objectivity, the venue was abundantly staffed with friendly and accommodating people and the "house" IPA was very fine as well.
But my main (and subjective) complaint was about the scheduling. I picked this show partly because I was encouraged by the hours originally listed, 7pm to 2am. Since it was advertised that this would be a big deal DOUBLE record release show, I interpreted those hours listed to be at least plausible. ... It meant that I could go out to just one venue for the whole night and not have to plan a combination of multiple venues to fill up the evening. There's a six-hour gap in the trains back home to Philly from roughly 10p to 4a. If I stay in Brooklyn or Manhattan past 9 or 10, I want to be able to plan out music until at least 1a or 2a.
The first bump in the road came when, after I bought my ticket to the show, they changed the start time from 7p to 8p. Well, ok, but that still meant the music might not start until nine. .... and that was what happened.
But I was really pissed when the entire show was over at midnight! First because of the misrepresentation, but second because it seemed a little too "quick". While squeezing 4 bands into 3 hours is not unheard of, it's pushing the envelope towards not giving customers the best value. And third, I didn't want to wait in Penn Station for four hours for a train.
Each venue has its own rhythm in scheduling. It's clear that The Sultan Room's schedule listing should be taken with a grain of salt.
I also didn't especially like the unusual configuration of the room. When I go to shows, I like to walk around to see the bands from different vantage points. This was a problem at The Sultan Room. I was a little put off when I first walked into the room and saw the tight configuration, with different levels with the steps and the partitions.
In retrospect, it was not a good night. My annoyance by the early end time and then having to wind up spending more time waiting for the train than I did seeing the actual show itself equalled or maybe even outweighed any pleasure I got from listening to the music. I did get to see those four bands, but, all in all, the night was a bust. ... Lesson learned. Next time I'll have backup music plans if I go to an unfamiliar venue. ... Just in case.
p.s. ... I thought "punk rock time" meant things go slower, not quicker.
p.p.s. ... Might go hear these four bands again, but not at this venue.
All pics are from bands' Facebook pages
