I didn’t attend CMJ’s annual Music Marathon, but with all the shows put on in connection with it, I was bound to find at least one gig irresistible. Since I missed the SLITS in 1979 and they were at the Knitting Factory Wednesday night (technically Thursday morning), curiosity was overwhelming, and I was offered a guest list slot, so how could I say no? Plus there were other bands on this 12-act showcase gig I wanted to check out.
First, the APES, to see how they are after changing singers. Still great! New guy BRECK BRUNSON lacks the over-the-top showmanship of PAUL WEIL (who’s now two vocalists ago) but offsets that by being a better singer, more versatile and vocally agile. But it’s the rest of the band that’s the main attraction, offering a simply brutal/brutally simple combination of heavy, basic organ, throbbing and thundering bass, and hard-hitting drums that recalls the days when organ power trios were not a freakish exception to the rule but rather a popular alternative to guitar-centric rock.
Then, GENGHIS TRON, because my pal BRIAN O’NEILL recommended the trio. They were a hoot, mixing drum machine, keyboards, thrash metal guitar heroics doused in irony, and guttural vocals in an art-damage explosion of musical parts. One of the weirdest aspects of it was listening to a machine pound out the drum thunder instead of seeing, say, DAVE LOMBARDO (SLAYER) producing it with muscle and sweat. It changed the whole listening experience by deleting the macho element (and maybe making fun of it in the process). Similarly, hearing HAMILTON JORDAN JR.’s two-handed tapping guitar technique in this setting made it less about showing off virtuosity and more about recontextualization. If this had been purely instrumental, it could have seemed like serious avant-garde cut-and-paste, but with MOOKIE SINGERMAN’s basso growling on top adding gleeful, youthful exuberance, it took on a jokey tone – though the juxtaposition of the metal stuff and MICHAEL SOCHYNSKY’s DEPECHE MODE-esque synths is awfully tongue-in-cheek too.
Next, GREEN MILK FROM THE PLANET ORANGE, because I heard last year’s album at the store and liked its eccentric and very heavy take on Japanese psych-prog. But when I rushed downstairs after Genghis Tron’s set, I wondered whether I had the schedule right, because it was more grindcore (but purer than what we’d just heard upstairs). After about 15 minutes, though, the psychedelic sounds I’d expected materialized, and I was reminded of how fine a guitarist DEAD K is. At times there was an EDDIE HAZEL-like simplicity and tastefulness, with every note meaningful and every tone soulful, but there were also sterner, denser moments and some speedcore touches.
Finally, the stars of the evening, the Slits, expanded into a sextet with ARI UP and HOLLIE COOK (daughter of SEX PISTOLS drummer PAUL COOK); guitarists NO and ADELE WILSON, original bassist TESSA POLLITT, and drummer ANNA SCHULTE (an additional vocalist, from Up’s Brooklyn crew, joined for the second half of the set). The shambolic, nearly haphazard nature of the performance combined with a setlist of largely new material and the late hour (they came on a bit after midnight and played until 1:30 AM) to cut the crowd from capacity at the start to about 60% by the close, with the audience wanting more punk than they got as Up and her cohorts focused mostly on reggae. Sound problems didn’t help either, though they weren’t as bad as Up seemed to think (and let’s face it, it’s not very punk to complain so bitterly about feedback). But the much-requested “Shoplifting” pleased the crowd immensely, as did another favorite from Cut, “Typical Girls.” Some songs even newer than the just-released EP were premiered (some sounding tight, some nearly falling apart), a few more golden oldies were thrown in, and Up chatted with/lectured the audience at length. The best parts were brilliant, the glitches were to be expected, and the reggae stuff was often better than the audience seemed to realize – Pollitt provides the supple weightiness the basslines need and usually holds the sound together in spite of Up’s centrifugal force pulling in so many directions. A historic time was had by all.
