IF THEY DON'T WRITE ABOUT IT DID IT EVEN HAPPEN?

ok, so we went to the //tense// show saturday night at the meridian and it was fantastic. yes, its a shame it wasn't louder but i guess that is what happens when you play large places like that and open for a famous band. remember when sonic youth quit the neil young tour? but despite the sound issues (which admittedly seemed to improve as the evening went on) it was a great show and its awesome to see a band like //tense// getting recognized.

all that aside, what is up with the HOUSTON PRESS? they previewed the show the other day (without naming //tense//), and today they posted a review of the show. while the writer of the review admitted he didn't get to the venue until 10:30, likely missing the performance by //tense//, he mentioned the opening act VERTIGO BLUE in the review but didn't even bother naming //tense//.

and for the record, the headliner was nitzer ebb and they did their thing quite well and they sounded really good. nice and loud. but hey, we're trying to write about local stuff so no need for me to review nitzer ebb. if you want to read about them go check houston press.

-sharpe james

WHERE ITS AT!

lots of stuff happening saturday. terry suprean art opening. somosuno playing. party at dan & jessica's.

this is where the 423 gallery will finish the night off...

LETTER TO THE WIRE

published in october 2009 issue.

LIVE REVIEW: SORRY, THE BATTERY IN MY PEDAL JUST DIED

HOW I QUIT CRACK

//TENSE//

VOIDMATE

live at the mink, houston tx 9-26-09

how i quit crack formerly

houston, now austin at $220/month

liquid sky beats cribbed from the normal

(it all goes back to the normal, look them

up i say)

drones and song

song and feedback

this korg synth says freedom

the make up glows like shiva

this is how we do that dance

tense did their thing

and first just me and jon read up front

then dom then dom then d...

sin realite

if you don't get this - i mean,

why the hell houston press?

why aren't you covering this?

why some post-punk transplants

from jersey need to scoop you?

tense is awesome once again

this is how we do that dance

voidmate - apologies..

its been a tough week.

hung a bit with ralf dead roses after party

dom future somethings did don rickles bit

said hello to jon the wiggins

met people we never before knew

(the importance of living)

missed voidmate. we really

wanted to hear voidmates cover

of 'ouija board, ouija board'

but alas, drove home in mad fog

288 to the city of enchantment

signpost.

this is how we do that dance.

-sharpe james

LIVE REVIEW: DEAR GOD

MUTATING MELTDOWN

//TENSE//

COP WARMTH

HOW I QUIT CRACK

@ mangos houston tx 8-14-09

it has been said this has been the hottest summer south texas has ever seen and this was another hot night. my usual parking space was taken so i had to find another spot. i went to half-priced books and bought a copy of jack kerouac's long lost and recently issued wake up: a life of the buddha which includes an introduction by preeminent religious scholar robert a.f. thurman who is the father of the actress uma thurman. this relates to the 423 gallery as jen FSKD went to boarding school in massachusetts with uma. also, professor thurman's wife is judith thurman who writes fashion articles for the new yorker. the 423 gallery/FISKADORO prides itself on being fashion forward.

i walked over to mangos and officially met bobby from //TENSE//, a band that has been captivating our living/working space in the past couple weeks. also spent some time with jon read from THE WIGGINS who were originally scheduled to play this show until he broke his arm. i hope he gets better soon since i was really looking forward to seeing him perform.

HOW I QUIT CRACK opened the proceedings with a short, woozy, epic (yes short and epic can go together if the performance is that good) and utterly mesmerizing set. tina kneeled on the stage, sang, played a korg synth, used a guitar for feedback and a drum machine played simple beats that stayed out of the way. it was really interesting watching the audience gather around as well, it was as if tina was leading a chorus of delay pedals that drew everyone to her. it was like she was playing sigils or something. the chaos is the magick. i spoke to her afterwards and apparently she's doing a lot of recording lately (check her youtube account for evidence of this - you won't be sorry). the 423 gallery looks forward to a record from her soon.

after HIQC performed, i spent time with phil of A THOUSAND CRANES talking about australia and being shocked at his unfamiliarity with legendary australian punk bands CELIBATE RIFLES & THE SAINTS. i'll need to correct that for him one of these days (note to self). as we were talking the next band - COP WARMTH - were setting up/tuning up off of the stage and on the dance floor and we kept moving back and back.. as they were setting up they kept playing (and we marveled at the number of guitar pedals they had. kevin shields would be envious) and making all sorts of noise and walking back and forth and around marking their territory.. finally they were all set up and as the drummer kicked into their first song the rest of the band went flying into the drum kit knocking it all over the floor - the drummer chased drums and hit everything in sight - people held the drums for him and this san diego gravity records style hardcore raged for the length of the set finally ending in a long section of bass feedback and more pounding on scattered broken drums... i heard someone wonder if they buy a new drum kit for each show. the music was raw and uncompromising and i enjoyed it immensely.

next up was the mighty //TENSE// filling in for THE WIGGINS. we've been obsessing over //TENSE// lately and they did not disappoint. they took back the stage and turned it into a dance party for the last days until the end of the world. the wax traxisms seemed more apparent now that i know the songs well but they are no mere copyists either. they have their own thing going and seem to be living in their own world (and you can say the same for HOW I QUIT CRACK) which is so important if you're going to be doing art. there is that old gospel song that washington dc's BEEFEATER covered on their house burning down album that goes "i'm going to live the life that i'm singing about in my song". this really seems to apply in the songs/presentations of //TENSE// & HOW I QUIT CRACK. this is the place every artist needs to be if they take their art seriously. this is what is meant by 'not selling out'. this is punk rock.

the last band was a trio from austin called MUTATING MELTDOWN. they consisted of a boy keyboard player, and girls on bass & drums. they played a innocent sort of new wave that would fit in well on k records (back when i lived in nj we referred to this as puppycore). they were really good and had an awesome stage presence. what was most fascinating about them is their tour schedule. they played thursday in mexico, friday in houston, tomorrow in little rock arkansas and sunday in iowa city ia before continuing on in minnesota and wisconsin.. it sounds like quite the adventure.

hey jon - get well soon!

-rich kimball

STOP PRESS

//TENSE// will be pinch-hitting for an injured THE WIGGINS tonight at mangos. spread the word.

-sharpe james

//TENSE// : LIVE AT THE HOUSE OF LUXURIOUS DIAMONDS DENTON TX 8-7-09

see what all the fuss is about. you won't be sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jd_3OGqHEY

-sharpe james

CD REVIEW: //TENSE// memory cd (2009 desire records)

discussion between sharpe james (THE SPIES) and jen & rich kimball (FISKADORO) at the 423 gallery this evening.

sharpe: someone needs to notify the systems of romance blog about these guys.

jen: "give me back my life/it belongs to me"

rich: may i have some more wine please? thank you.

sharpe: i think they played with WILDERNESS last year. that makes a terrifying sort of sense.

rich: dread.

jen: they'd probably 'get' our cover of seconds. if you know what i mean.

rich: we sure do jen... we sure do...

jen: "i never want to sink down to your reality"

sharpe & rich: yeah!

rich: i bet this band still uses land lines.

sharpe: work hard short life reminds me of the first 1000 HOMO DJ'S 12". that is a good thing.

rich: i have a theory (i've told this to jen) that the original european synth bands from like 1979-1984 were so convinced of that idea that WW3 would be fought in the european theater that all of that music was about that. see PETE SHELLY's homosapien video and even the let me go video by HEAVEN 17. yeah, seconds may have been about the JFK assassination but it was so much more than that. people seem to forget that for several years we were convinced the end of the world was only minutes away. i think that feeling is coming back.

jen: this reminds me of THE THE song on the some bizarre album (1981) which i don't really think sounds like THE THE. and also THE LOVED ONE, so they definitely have a good techno history behind them. also the title reminds me of no name no slogan (ACID HORSE), plus they kind of sound like that, going back to the alan jourgensen thing.

sharpe: are //TENSE// retro-futurist?

perpetual swim: "you walk the corporate ladder/be all that you can be/when money is all that matters/you sacrifice your individuality"

rich: i feel like i'm in my room in cranford nj in 1984 listening to the seton hall radio station (WSOU-FM) at 1 a.m. this is before it went metal and single-handedly destroyed college radio.

jen: [audible gasp] you are such a hater. i love the metal WSOU.

sharpe: i really can never get tired of dub echoes on the vocals.

rich: it's got that same sonic terrorism feel the MARK STEWART & MAFFIA as the veneer of democracy starts to fade record had yet it sounds nothing like it. it's both scary and beautiful.

rich: when our digital cable freezes up, for a split second i think its due to an electro-magnetic pulse and i instinctively start waiting for the flash and the explosion.

sharpe: have you ever seen the movie threads?

jen: (talking about //TENSE// again) its brand new its retro. its awesome.

sharpe: they lose points by having back to back songs start with the letter L. but if that is going to be the worst mistake on this...

rich: i think i heard one lives in houston and the other lives in new york city. but i could be wrong. as we all know my sister knows stephen merritt. i think he'd be scared by this band but you know i probably don't know what i'm talking about.

jen: listening to this recording reminds me of why THE MAGNETIC FIELDS went so horribly awry.

rich: thank god there are no guitars on this. have i told you how sick i am of the guitar lately?? the next person that says FISKADORO reminds them of SONIC YOUTH gets a punch in the mouth. no offense to sonic youth... we love them but...

sharpe: this is the music we need to be playing when we burn down the offices of goldman-sachs.

jen: is it apocalyptic enough? yeah, i think it is.. i think it is...

sharpe: do you guys have any weed?

rich: i think my friend d-jam of the mighty M-LAAB would consider this music thin. i think most music isn't thin enough. this answers that. this is fucking skeletal, its like the x-ray of your body as the flash hits and then you're vaporized. remember the day after? that movie plays like a documentary today!

jen: i love this so.. i'm so mad i couldn't see them last week. i was looking for a job and then i found a job...

sharpe: its sexy. its scary. its apocalyptic as fuck. its music for the times we live in but nobody seems to be brave enough to admit. "body to body. lips to lips." 2009 is 1984. the world ends tonight!

jen: can we listen to some HEAVEN 17 after this?

rich: whatever you want tiger..

LIVE REVIEW: GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR TOM

//TENSE//

FUTURE BLONDES

AFTER PARTY

A THOUSAND CRANES

DJ CEEPLUS BAD KNIVES

@ mango's houston tx 7-24-09

A THOUSAND CRANES opened up with a brave set of burning incense, sacred drones, guitar feedback and travis kerschen expressing complete and total love for all humanity & animals.. and forgiveness of all abusers and enemies. his vocal style is somewhat reminiscent of jon vance of the legendary late 80s/early 90s hardcore band moss icon. his stage presence is undeniably intense, just staring at the audience through dark glasses while beats and noise envelop us. one of these days they will release an album, and based on the cdr's i've heard, it will be tremendous.

AFTER PARTY is a side project of ralf armin's amazing band dead roses. this was drum machine driven and made me think of the music wire may have made in that 7 1/2 year period between '154' and 'the ideal copy'. they just came back from a short tour and were really strong. this is totally a dance band and i hope to hear more from them soon.

FUTURE BLONDES is based around houston legend domokos. when i started hanging out a few months ago dom was the first person i met. meeting him has opened doors. name dropping him has gotten us bank loans. name dropping him has gotten us better drugs. name dropping him has gotten us locked in an infamous mexican prison. right after i met him he left town for a few months, but he's returned and last night was his first show since coming back. as he chanted like jah shaka in an echo chamber, a guy alternating between a moog liberation and a fucked up spray painted guitar played with drum sticks, and tina from how i quit crack niced up the dance.. it was scary and awesome (in the original sense of the word). this was the band that should've played that scene in 'fire walk with me' where the dialogue had to be subtitled. i felt wasted afterwards. and it was a good feeling.

i had never seen //TENSE// perform but they were really great. a boy girl duo, playing behind programmed rhythms attacking drum pads.. i originally started thinking heaven 17, but ralf armin corrected me saying it was more german than that. think some kraftwerk offshoot i missed out on, the beats were motorik.. maybe a touch of soft cell but way more aggro then marc almond ever got. even when almond was fucked up on drugs. afterwards, the gentlemen half of //tense// gave me a cdr that i'm listening to as i write and its really good. will discuss this in the future.

also, i don't want to neglect mentioning DJ CEEPLUS BAD KNIVES who did a dj set between bands. for some reason this reminded me of the time brandon pkH and i saw sonic boom do a solo spectrum set in nyc w the long lost philly noise band un & a duo of alan licht & loren mazzacane-conners opening. in between those acts dj spooky spun an awesome set. dj ceeplus's set was nothing like (never seen spooky scratch) that but it worked in the same way. i don't believe i'm explaining it well... i'd suggest you see him dj. i mean, that fucked up intro to 'oh bondage up yours' would've been worth the price of admission even if the show wasn't free.

ok. yeah...

-sharpe james