People are quick to celebrate Boston for boasting one of the best live music scenes in the land, and it’s an argument that consistently stands up to scrutiny. But I’ve always found that to be a judgement based on the quantity of bands plugging in Les Pauls and Strats around town as much–if not more–than the quality of bands.
And it’s true.
Don’t hate, facts be facts. The quality is always there, no doubt, but what really makes the Boston scene shine is the head count. There are more bands per square inch crawling through the ins and outs of Allston, Cambridge and Somerville than you could possibly keep tabs on, and that gives rise to a little thing called community.
It struck me that these subtle, decidedly non-Stones at Altamont type of details are exactly what make local music so easy to rally around.
Saturday night’s show at P.A.’s Lounge wasn’t packed to the walls. The noise level in between sets never rose to the point where you couldn’t overhear piecemeal of a conversation happening across the room, even as the warm, bluesy sounds of Tab Benoit washed over the venue’s sound system. The capacity maxed out at 35 or so people, most of them friends of the bands on the bill. Taking it all in as I tackled my first Blue Moon, it struck me that these subtle, decidedly non-Stones at Altamont type of details are exactly what make local music so easy to rally around. It’s friends playing with friends for a crowd made up largely of their friends, like a support group with instruments.
That being said, Incredible Universe picked the perfect time and place to pop their cherry onstage. The jitters and loose ends that typically come with a band’s first show were there, but for a sludge/noise/stoner rock band it’s easy to mistake those nervous ticks and rough spots as being part of the formula. Meshing the fuzzed out bass guitar drone of the Melvins, the extensive and spacey stoner rock jams of Earthless and plenty of off the cuff, solo-driven drum work, the band’s sub-rock sound had the untethered feel of a couple of buds keeping things loose between a few tokes from the bowl.
There was no guitar to speak of, and drummer/singer Ryan Severson’s muddled vocals sounded as though they were being shouted from beneath sea level. But Brett Covney’s keyboards and samplers added just enough atmosphere and texture to keep the music from submerging in a sea of pummeling drums and wallowing bass. Watching them, it’s tough to parse out one song from the next, with hooks and melodies coming second to a tar-thick wall of noise, but whatever. Sometimes it’s just fun to watch a band of musical misfits lock in and zone out in their own little musical cosmos, right?
Two beers later, Geoglyphs were still struggling through sound and lighting issues, which cut the prog jazz duo’s set short considerably.
“We’ve got one more for you guys,” bassist/keyboardist Josh Owsley deadpanned by way of introduction.
But the guys packed a lot into their three songs. While Incredible Universe’s set was a shaggy dog-like walk on the hazy side, Geoglyphs tightened up the loose ends with groove-laden jams that tickle the jazzy sweet spot where Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis and guitar gurus like Grant Green meet. They even had the good taste to throw in some nods to Check Your Head.
Sometimes it’s just fun to watch a band of musical misfits lock in and zone out in their own little musical cosmos, right?
Royal Wedding may have sprung from the ashes of the Big Disappointments, a formerly great band in its own right, but former Disappointments Eric Boomhower and Andy Abrahamson fortunately found it worth their while to color a bit outside the lines with their new incarnation. Garage and pshychedelia still get top billing, but with the assistance of bassist Colin Ashquith, Boomhower and Abrahamson have parsed down the 60s rock formula to the raw essentials ( not a cymbal splash or hi-hat clap to be heard in Abrahamson’s primal drum stomp) while opening the doors enough to let some other sounds creep in. Boomhower’s echoey vocal called to mind new wave era Iggy Pop (New Values-style), or maybe Jonathan Richman during his Modern Lovers heyday.
Enough name dropping? Fine by me. Bottom line is while Royal Wedding lacks the crashing urgency that pierced through the Disappointments’s finest moments, they shrewdly proved that less can be more if you push the right buttons. At least their friends seemed to be feeling it.
© 1999-2012 Dig Publishing LLC. All Rights Reserved. 
