Hovering perilously close to gig # 50, last night Union Transfer hosted myself and my lady friend for my 47th and her 6th overall.
Holy Wave? Holy Shit! Never heard these cats prior, but I am sure listening now. I ALMOST dug their set more than Goat's, but Goat added the visual factor to put them over the top.
Holy Wave, a five piece consisting of two guitarists, the drummer, and a key man and a bass man who each switched to each other's other instrument halfway in. That was pretty interesting. Sound-wise, what I basically heard was this: take the overall insistence of the riff in Ghost In The Trees by Thee Oh Sees. Now slow it down slightly and extrapolate it over a full set. Got it? Good. Now add the throbbing bass of Canned Heat in 1970. Got that? Okay, cool. Now, take the Beatles in 1967 and Hawkwind in 1973 and have them fake fight over whose turn it is to drop an acid solo. Got all that? Really? Because I still don't.
I'm dying to pick up an album now, though. Very chugging, poppy, and trippy all at once. Outstanding work that's unlike anything I've heard. They absolutely have their own sound and I'll be listening from now on, and hope you do as well.
Ah, the headliners. Goat, hailing from some tiny forest town in Sweden, came out and rocked their voodoo, and I'm so glad I finally caught their show. I've dug on their album on the label's Bandcamp for two years now I guess (thanks Kojak for the recommendation!!!!) and frankly I was floored. This was my first gig in a decade that also served as visual stimuli- the last being Neil Young on the Greendale tour with that entire town set-up. Luckily, like Neil Young, Goat also has the songs to back it up. If I was buying a ticket for the visual entertainment, I'd be seeing a film.
The five men of Goat, two strats(!), the fattest sounding Rick ever (Apologies to Al/Sleep), the war drum afro funk tom tom tom tom tom tom hitting drummer, and the djembe guy, all masked and black and silver and gold, laid the base for the two singers/dancers/hand-percussionists to ooh and ahh over. The closest thing I can say that I've heard to this band is possibly the Derek Trucks Band on a tear, but instead of jamming and noodling and prowess, Goat goes for the riff, the pop, and the feel of the music instead. VERY different approach to the similar rhythms, but Goat makes it fun whereas an hour of Derek Trucks Band can kind of get boring.
They're not quite a jam band. Not really pop. Way more than "stoner rock". The music is very textured and fluid, yet at the same time very catchy and coherent. Like Holy Wave, I've never heard these sounds put together quite like this. It's time for a follow-up, no?
Cheers to Frank for talking music. Old heads at shows does my heard good. Fuck at 30 myself, at an all ages show at UT, I'm probably closer to being an old head than a young one myself. Screw it, as long as the music stays this infectious and grooving, you can expect my ass to be standing up front, headbanging. The younger kids were...dancing...which threw me way off. If anything all ages shows to me mean young idiots moshing to weed music, which never made any sense to me. I nearly felt out of place in my Pallbearer shirt, save for that other guy in a Pallbearer shirt (Hi, other guy!). There was a young hippie girl with flowers around her head.
Obviously, Goat is stretching boundaries and inviting all listeners in, which widens their audience and hopefully makes them hit the US sooner than later next time. I'm proud of them. They've really developed an inviting sound that can catch anyone's ear, stoned rocker, doom enthusiast, afro rhythm fiend, hippie, punk, they were all there. Good for them, I say. They already had a fan in me, but now they've a repeat gig attendant. My lady friend was equally moved, and we will be waiting for our next ritual.
Succumb to Goat, it's quite painless and fun, I assure you.
Thanks for reading as always, and look for a King Buzzo review from me next month, right here.
Holy Wave @ Bandcamp
Goat @ Facebook
Words: SabbathJeff
Holy Wave? Holy Shit! Never heard these cats prior, but I am sure listening now. I ALMOST dug their set more than Goat's, but Goat added the visual factor to put them over the top.
Holy Wave, a five piece consisting of two guitarists, the drummer, and a key man and a bass man who each switched to each other's other instrument halfway in. That was pretty interesting. Sound-wise, what I basically heard was this: take the overall insistence of the riff in Ghost In The Trees by Thee Oh Sees. Now slow it down slightly and extrapolate it over a full set. Got it? Good. Now add the throbbing bass of Canned Heat in 1970. Got that? Okay, cool. Now, take the Beatles in 1967 and Hawkwind in 1973 and have them fake fight over whose turn it is to drop an acid solo. Got all that? Really? Because I still don't.
 |
| Holy Wave |
I'm dying to pick up an album now, though. Very chugging, poppy, and trippy all at once. Outstanding work that's unlike anything I've heard. They absolutely have their own sound and I'll be listening from now on, and hope you do as well.
Ah, the headliners. Goat, hailing from some tiny forest town in Sweden, came out and rocked their voodoo, and I'm so glad I finally caught their show. I've dug on their album on the label's Bandcamp for two years now I guess (thanks Kojak for the recommendation!!!!) and frankly I was floored. This was my first gig in a decade that also served as visual stimuli- the last being Neil Young on the Greendale tour with that entire town set-up. Luckily, like Neil Young, Goat also has the songs to back it up. If I was buying a ticket for the visual entertainment, I'd be seeing a film.
The five men of Goat, two strats(!), the fattest sounding Rick ever (Apologies to Al/Sleep), the war drum afro funk tom tom tom tom tom tom hitting drummer, and the djembe guy, all masked and black and silver and gold, laid the base for the two singers/dancers/hand-percussionists to ooh and ahh over. The closest thing I can say that I've heard to this band is possibly the Derek Trucks Band on a tear, but instead of jamming and noodling and prowess, Goat goes for the riff, the pop, and the feel of the music instead. VERY different approach to the similar rhythms, but Goat makes it fun whereas an hour of Derek Trucks Band can kind of get boring.
They're not quite a jam band. Not really pop. Way more than "stoner rock". The music is very textured and fluid, yet at the same time very catchy and coherent. Like Holy Wave, I've never heard these sounds put together quite like this. It's time for a follow-up, no?
 |
| Goat |
Cheers to Frank for talking music. Old heads at shows does my heard good. Fuck at 30 myself, at an all ages show at UT, I'm probably closer to being an old head than a young one myself. Screw it, as long as the music stays this infectious and grooving, you can expect my ass to be standing up front, headbanging. The younger kids were...dancing...which threw me way off. If anything all ages shows to me mean young idiots moshing to weed music, which never made any sense to me. I nearly felt out of place in my Pallbearer shirt, save for that other guy in a Pallbearer shirt (Hi, other guy!). There was a young hippie girl with flowers around her head.
Obviously, Goat is stretching boundaries and inviting all listeners in, which widens their audience and hopefully makes them hit the US sooner than later next time. I'm proud of them. They've really developed an inviting sound that can catch anyone's ear, stoned rocker, doom enthusiast, afro rhythm fiend, hippie, punk, they were all there. Good for them, I say. They already had a fan in me, but now they've a repeat gig attendant. My lady friend was equally moved, and we will be waiting for our next ritual.
Succumb to Goat, it's quite painless and fun, I assure you.
Thanks for reading as always, and look for a King Buzzo review from me next month, right here.
Holy Wave @ Bandcamp
Goat @ Facebook
Words: SabbathJeff