Last Friday twelve people from the TSS crew ventured to the cozy confines of the Echo for a night of psychedelia and post-modern punk rock. Amelia, Zac, Joe and Chris are experienced veterans to the LA music scene but it was their first time to come out with us which was a pleasure to witness.
The night started off somewhat hectic due to long lines for the unfortunate people who did not purchase tickets beforehand but thankfully everyone got in in the end. The music kicked off with band called the Earthman and the Strangers. I did not personally get a chance to see them but James informed me that he was much impressed with them.

Next up on the bill with The Oh Sees from San Fransisco, my reason for being in attendance. The four piece being lead by John Dwyer looked haggard from what appeared to be either an overdose of drugs or perhaps a long road trip, most likely a combination of the two. Their music kicked off with instant intensity and held this through the somewhat abbreviated set of nearly an hr. John informed us midway through the set that had in fact slept the night before in the fetal position with his van. This restless sleep did not appear to have any effect on his guitar playing ability because he ripped his twelve string guitar for most of the night. Their music is simplistic in many respects due to the repetition of chords and drum sequences, yet very appealing in its ability to draw in a musical dreamscape. The lyrics can be described as what you might sing in your car to a song in which you know none of the lyrics but want to sing nonetheless. I actually believe that this might not be far off from how the lyrics are derived from the mind of John Dwyer, they are not so much words as they are grunts, hums, and shouts. The band’s main centerpiece is John who is not shy about being a perceived deviant, seeing as he spits (or drools) into the air or swallow the microphone within his mouth. In fact, according to the drummer (whom I spoke with at length after the set) John is banned from playing at Spaceland due to getting naked during a set with one of his side-project’s performed there two years ago. Interesting, to say the least.








Next up was the headliners, Jay Reatard. The band is a three piece with the bass player and lead singer being a classic throwback to a hair band from the 80′s in appearance but sounding more like Bad Brains from the late 70s (hence Bloodclot’s obsession). Their music is hard for me to speak intelligently to because of my lack of knowledge within the hardcore/punk realm, but the song structure is definitely short and to the point with most songs lasting only a minute and a half. This fast moving pace was enjoyed much by most of the attendance who had formed a mosh pit at the front of stage. Many of the front row photographer had to retreat the side rails (myself included). The set closed with the matching curly long haired musicians jumping on top of the mosh pit in epic fashion.

All and all it was a great night for just under $20 dollars.

Enjoy the videos. Courtesy of the Capt.

Tags: Jay Reatard, The Echo, The Oh Sees

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Concerts, TSS Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.