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Though I’ve followed his career since the early ’90s, I never saw Burning Airlines or Channels so this was the first time I’d seen any J Robbins project since seeing Jawbox back in 1995. Watching his new band, Office of Future Plans, headline their first-ever Philadelphia show at Kung Fu Necktie wasn’t disappointing. Their set was short, barely 40 minutes long, as all they have out is a 7” that’s been out for a few months now and an Lp on Dischord that’s about to drop as well. As for the sound, well it sounded like what one would expect a J Robbins-fronted band to sound like, but perhaps a bit more mature.
I watched The Young open for The Sonics the prior day, so we didn’t watch their set. However, we definitely heard them in the back area as they were really loud! I can’t say much more about their set, though.
Bells were the surprise of the night and honestly stole the show for me. Simply put, they were amazing. The instrumental, heavy post-rock they play can be hit or miss, but they really hit it out of the park. It was awesome enough to witness Zach Barocas on drums (credit bassist Adam Rizer for keeping up with him), but the combination of this monster rhythm section along with guest Gordon Withers‘ cello and the guitar work of Chris Ernst and Steve Shodin was hypnotic and enthralling at the same time!
