Tuesday, March 10Everything Absent or Distorted w/Oatmeal
10pm
Colorado band Everything Absent or Distorted, John Wenzel of The Denver Post says: "Like the cover art of pink-clad friends dancing in a graveyard, the music on "The Soft Civil War" is at once bittersweet and creepily comforting. The Decemberists and The Arcade Fire act as reference points on songs such as "THe Exit Parade" and "Bureau of Yards and Docks."
Melodic choruses bleed into triumphant full-on rock bridges. ...delightful mid-fi fuzz... confident and talented without settling for complete self-satisfaction." Oatmeal combines psychedelia and garage rock with some hard funk nastiness in an attempt to push their music to heights unknown. They take their inspiration from life, nature, the cosmos, the human race, and coffee and want nothing more than to play music for the masses.
Thursday, March 12FASHION w/The Johnny Ill Band, John Barrett's Bass Drum of Death
10pm
FASHION is one of the newer additions to Detroit's punk scene--the group formed in February 2008 and just started playing around town last August. They take experimental, new wave punk to a place you have to hear to believe. Heavy synths set the tone for the female-fronted group that mixes classic punk and 80s style new wave witha taste of many sounds from the past 30+ years. FASHION is led by Shana Norgren and features Craig Brown (Terrible Twos, The Mahonies) on drums, Chris Fusion on lead bass (Tentacle Lizardo) and Matt Bergezz on synthesizer/keyboard. The Johnny Ill Band is on the musically darker side of local punk label X! Records' roster but still mighty punk. As with most Detroit bands, this one's members are in other bands, too-- Terrible Twos and Piranhas.
Fat Possum artist John Barrett is here to promote his Bass Drum of Death project, a minimalist bluesy output with a Black Keys sort of sound. (shown above)