Beaters - The Soda Bar, San Diego 30th May 2012

Another cracking half hour of red safelight-tinged darkness and noise intensity from Beaters, who were charged with setting the scene for headliners Pop. 1280. If truth be told, there were probably more punters in attendance for this set than actually hung around for the later one. Maybe they all had to be at work in the morning. In any event while the bulk of the set was made up of older tunes that feature on this year's debut album on Volar, we got a couple of new ones in the set (new to me at least) including an extended and gradually building intro song that set the tone well. As a result though we are a couple short on the set list. Next outings for the lads (according to their Facebook page) are up at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on 13th and 20th July, then they return to The Soda on the 21st.

Beaters

Soda Bar, San Diego, CA
Wednesday 30th May 2012

AUD: SP-CMC-8 > SP-SBSB-11 (16Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48Hz) > Audacity (downsampling/editing) > CD wav (track splitting)

Set [33.45]

1.
2. Venom Warrior
3. Contender
4. Dreampunk
5.
6.
7. Fishage
8. Dark Haunter
9. White Hate

Download : Beaters at the Soda Bar May 2012

Pop. 1280 - The Soda Bar, San Diego 30th May 2012

New York industial noise-makers Pop. 1280, who borrow their name from a Jim Thompson novel, hit the Soda this week for a show with local favourites, Beaters (well, they are big favourites at Crashingbeat Acres anyway). The tourists draw much of their inspiration I think, from a period in music history that I remember rather fondly when groups like the Birthday Party were blazing a trail that later branched onto a wider road explored by the likes of Test Dept., Einsturzende Neubauten and SPK, so they were right up my street. Sadly, there were no band members striking metal sheeting or air conditioner ducts with hammers on this evening, but the intensity was there. The vocals layered over the scratching, screeching guitar sound owe more to a later time though I suppose, and I would point to The Stabs as a more contemporary reference point. Overall the effect is a very pleasing one in that they never let you settle into any kind of comfort zone where you might feel you can imagine what's coming next. The group have a very good album out on the consistently excellent Sacred Bones records, and I managed to pick up a couple of older 7" singles too. The tour continues now on the homeward stretch back to the East Coast so there are still a few chances to catch them before they wind up back in Brooklyn in a couple of weeks time.

Pop. 1280

The Soda Bar, San Diego, CA
Wednesday 30th May 2012

AUD: SP-CMC-8 > SP-SBSB-11 (16Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48Hz) > Audacity (downsampling/editing) > CD wav (track splitting)

Set [28.00]

1. Burn the Worm
2. New Electronix
3. [new]
4.
5. Step Into the Grid
6. Beg Like a Human
7.

Download : Pop. 1280 at the Soda Bar May 2012

New Kinetics Album Kickstarter

The New Kinetics, one of our fine local groups who have featured twice on these pages are trying to raise funds to record an new album. They have a Kickstarter campaign going right now and whatever you may think of these kind of crowd funding exercises, anyone who goes all analogue for their recording as they are planning to do, gets my vote. If you have enjoyed the New Kinetics' recordings on here and have any spare cash, please consider helping them reach their goal and you can pick up some of the goodies available along the way.

Mrs. Magician - The Soda Bar, San Diego 26th May 2012

This was the home town album release show for the first-rate debut album from Mrs Magician, Strange Heaven which came out recently on Swami records and which you can get through the band's website  (and all good record emporiums, no doubt). For all you vinyl fetishists, they have released 3 limited 7" singles on various labels with B-sides not on the LP, and indeed have another one coming out soon (a picture disc on Enjoyment records from the UK).
So, with some assistance from a couple of other strong local draws, the Soda Bar was pretty jammed all night and must have been officially 'sold out'. This was a good tight set too, packed with tunes from the LP as you might expect, and that togetherness owes a lot to their touring for almost two months this spring with the likes of Cults and earlier with Hot Snakes. It should be noted though, that the Beach Boys influence that is moderately apparent on the album essentially disappears in the live setting. I'm not sure what kind of mood I was in on Saturday or whether it was just the Green Flash I was gently nuzzling, but I had 'surf-punk Yardbirds' or 'San Diego Arctic Monkeys' buzzing around my head for most of the night. Needless to say, they sound like neither (!) but their catchy post-punk anthems are packed with snappy hooks and biting lyrics that just ooze wit. They are certainly one of the strongest bands from the current local scene and are already moving on to a wider audience. A thoroughly enjoyable night.

Mrs Magician

Soda Bar, San Diego, CA
Saturday 26th May 2012

AUD: SP-CMC-8 > SP-SBSB-11 (16Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48Hz) > Audacity (downsampling/editing) > CD wav (track splitting)

Set [31.50]

1. Videodrome
2. True Blues
3. There is No God
4. Hours of the Night
5. Guys in Cooler Bands
6. The Spells
7. Dead 80's
8. Fools Paradise
9. Tabloids
10. Actual Pain
11. Nightlife
12. You Can't be My Man

Download : Mrs Magician at the Soda Bar May 2012

TRMRS - JJ Rad Fest @ The Kensington Club, San Diego 30th July 2011

With summer just around the corner, it will hopefully soon be time for another run through of the JJ Rad Fest in San Diego, which last year was a 3 day celebration of lo-fi/punk/psyche etc music. Orange County garage punks TRMRS were well down the bill at the 2011 event but although they seemed to take an eternity between songs at the time, with a bit of judiscious editing you get this highly likeable, albeit rather brief set. It's well worth a listen as there is a paucity of recorded live stuff out there from these guys, which is a shame. I was reminded of this performance by the recent arrival on the doorstep at Crashingbeat Acres of their split 7" with The Night Beats that you can find on Resurrection Records and which is well worth your attention, and don't forget that their 2011 LP Sea Things is still available on Dead Beat Records. The lads are reputedly hard at work on their new album while continuing to gig regularly so check their Bandcamp pages and see them live.

TRMRS

JJ Rad Fest, The Kensington Club, San Diego

Saturday 30th July 2011

Download : TRMRS at JJ Rad Fest 2011

Young Prisms - The Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach CA 16th May 2012

Young Prisms continue on their gradual migration back to the early '90s when Hut and Creation Records were making the most talked about sounds in the indie-pop world. It didn't end well at the time of course but the recent release - at least in the UK - of the remastered MBV albums which have rightly become regarded as the seminal recordings from the times, has continued the process of  reassessment of a whole group of bands from the era that were (sometimes unfairly) lumped together. Young Prisms use all the distortion and pedal tricks that the likes of Slowdive, Moose and Revolver were already well acquainted with in 1990, yet paradoxically they still sound rather modern. There seems to have been a change in personnel, or at least an absence of lead singer Stefanie since our last encounter, but the remaining group members turned in a very pleasant dreamscape of a set in front of a small but appreciative crowd who were gathering to see the headliners, Dum Dum Girls. As with their contemporaries Tamaryn, who plow a similar sonic furrow, I always feel the band sounds better in the live setting on the more up tempo numbers, and we got a couple of those so I went home happy. There are a few more dates left on this tour (see poster) and some very nice combinations to look forward to up and down the West Coast including joining forces with the afore-mentioned Tamaryn for a home town show.


Young Prisms


The Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
Wednesday 16th May 2012

Lineage:
AUD: SP-CMC-8 > SP-SBSB-11 (16Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48Hz) > Audacity (downsampling/editing) > CDwav > TLH (flac)

Set [35.20]


Download : Young Prisms at the Belly Up May 2012

Lotus Plaza - The Soda Bar, San Diego 11th May 2012

I was actually not going to go to this show until about half an hour before it started but I was glad that I did on a snap decision. I really enjoyed both the Lotus Plaza and the Wymond Miles sets at the time, although I do think that the Lotus Plaza one sounds better on the playback. Both groups of course feature members who are branching out from their full-time jobs, Wymond Miles is a key member of The Fresh and Onlys and Lotus Plaza leader Lockett Pundt, an essential part of the Deerhunter sound. I suppose it is plausible to think that they do these side projects because neither get the recognition they deserve for their contributions to their main groups. Although if we consider that Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox also gets out there on his own too with Atlas Sound, maybe they just need to be apart for a while to freshen things up a bit. In any event it was fairly full at the Soda for this one and with at least one other sold out show in town, it was a good Friday night for our local venues. There were a couple of really excellent extended pieces in this set as well as some unreleased material and they kept things moving along at a rapid clip too. The sound is similar to Deerhunter in parts as you might imagine, I just can't believe we fell for that 'we've-played-every-song-we-have-rehearsed' line so easily!

Lotus Plaza

The Soda Bar, San Diego, CA

Friday 11th May 2012

AUD: SP-CMC-8 > SP-SBSB-11 (16Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48Hz) >

Audacity (downsampling/editing) > CD wav (track splitting)

Set [53.35]

Download : Lotus Plaza at the Soda Bar May 2012

King Tuff - The Casbah, San Diego 11th June 2011

Here is one from the Crashingbeat archives that was well and truly lost. I had completely forgotten it even existed to be honest, until it turned up unmastered, unloved and filed in the wrong place during a recent digital sort out. This half-hour set was a support slot for the excellent Times New Viking and in the middle of a bill that also featured a very early Tropical Popsicle performance on a warm June evening at the Casbah. Listening back it is actually quite a good recording of the King, accompanied by the Audacity lads, playing songs taken mainly from his first album Was Dead on Burger records (originally released on cassette), as well as one (then) new track. It turns out that this unearthing of history is also rather timely as the new S/T album on Sub-Pop which is already available for pre-order, comes out on the 29th of this month and includes the aforementioned 'new' track, Bad Thing. I should also draw your attention to the two other King Tuff shows on here including the much more recent set at Burgerama a few weeks ago.

King Tuff

The Casbah, San Diego, CA
Saturday 11th June 2011

AUD: SP-CMC-8 > SP-SBSB-11 (16Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48Hz) >
Audacity (downsampling/editing) > CD wav (track splitting)

Set [30.25]

Dancing on You
Freak When I'm Dead
Lady
Connection
Bad Thing
Pretty Dress
Kind of Guy
Just Strut
Animal
Sun Medallion

Download : King Tuff at the Casbah June 2011

Cosmonauts - The Soda Bar, San Diego 4th May 2012

Orange County youngsters Cosmonauts (who as you can see in the photo above, borrowed most of openers Wild Wild Wets' drum kit), have been on tour with The Night Beats for a while following the Austin Psychfest and made a fine contribution to this show with a well drilled half-hour set. They are choc-a-bloc with great garage-psych pop tunes and the pounding primeval drumbeat is topped off with rivers of reverb. There seem to have been some personel changes since the last time I caught them and this performance reminded me that it has been too long since that last encounter, which is inexcusable really as they are regularly out and about here in Southern California and they are an excellent live outfit. I even managed to miss them despite being in the same building at the Burgerama show! There is plenty of studio material available for the band now too, I have had their sold out debut Burger Records cassette for a while now but if you want to dig further their Bandcamp page is as good a place to start as any and most of the tunes on that debut are available in other formats now as well.

Cosmonauts

The Soda Bar, San Diego, CA
Friday 4th May 2012

AUD: SP-CMC-8 > SP-SBSB-11 (16Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48Hz) >
Audacity (downsampling/editing) > CD wav (track splitting)

Set [30.46]

Download : Cosmonauats at The Soda Bar May 2012

BTW you may have noticed I mistakenly left an extra track split in the first track. I think there are only 7 songs as in the info file. First song is track 1 and 2 combined. 

As a little bonus, here is the set recorded at the Continental Room in Fullerton at the beginning of last year that was a dead link on an earlier post.

Cosmonauts

The Continental Room, Fullerton CA
Sunday 2nd January 2011

SP-BMC-12 mics > SP-SPSB-11 mini battery box (69Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48kHz) > Audacity Downsampling/editing)

Set [22.42]

Download : Cosmonauts at the Continental Room Jan 2011

 Photo by Robert

The Night Beats - The Soda Bar, San Diego 4th May 2012

A cracking night of raw rock 'n' roll energy this one, topped off with this rattling performance from reverb-loving Seattle-based blues-psyche trio The Night Beats. We have featured them earlier on this blog, and they clearly check all the right Crashingbeat boxes, but this one was up another level. I almost got the same feeling watching them, particularly in the second half of the set, that I did with The Birthday Party on the 3 or so occasions that I saw them in the early 80's. For much of the set you would feel that they were moments away from complete collapse, but then as if from nowhere, they would always drag you back on the path. While this show was never quite as extreme as our bygone heroes and we didn't get the equivalent here of Nick Cave lying on the floor screaming for the whole set, that element of (alcohol-feuled) risk, danger even, was ever-present in The Night Beats set on Friday. Entropy narrowly failed to completely take over though and as with many things built from chaos, the result was a glorious coming together of unlikely parts. There were a few new numbers in the set that are not on the 2011 debut album on Trouble in Mind Records which I will assume you have all purchased already, but that you can find on this studio set for MFMU. Hopefully this bodes well for the prospect of a new album or EP in the near future. As usual there were a couple of familiar covers that blend with their sound perfectly. One of the gig highlights of the year so far for me.

The Night Beats

The Soda Bar, San Diego, CA
Friday 4th May 2012

AUD: SP-CMC-8 > SP-SBSB-11 (16Hz r/o) > Edirol R-09 (24 bit/48Hz) >
Audacity (downsampling/editing) > CD wav (track splitting)

Set [44.10]

1 Puppet on a String
2 Sonic Bloom

3 The Eraser

4 Poison in Your Veins
5 Useless Game
6 They Came in Through the Window
7 I'm Not a Young Man Anymore [Velvet Underground]
8 Tapioca Percocet Kiss Kiss
9 Little War In The Midwest
10 Psychotic Reaction [Count Five]

Download : The Night Beats at The Soda Bar May 2012