The DJ at Bayside Bowl can't stop playing the Pixies' Bossanova. Not that anyone's complaining. People must think it's a sensible record to bowl to. There are no real hits or infectious sing-a-longs, no riotous Mexican hardcore songs, and the sequence is awkwardly uneven (one side is much noisier than the other). It's abrasive and simply melodic; cultish without inciting an in-crowd karaoke. It thrashes a little, rides a few pretty choruses; people listen or they don't, and then it's over.
Which is to say that if the two modest sets last Friday could fit onto a single live record, it would work out just fine. While HUAK are more politically charged and polyrhythmic than the Pixies ever were, they're more interesting as the noisier band on the bill. Bassist Stefan Hanson and drummer Mike Cunnane are getting better at anchoring Jake's Jehu-riffs and Joel's strat stabs, and their "breakdowns" have a lot more energy contained before the explosion. We are truly glad this band exists.
METAL FEATHERS' set was ho-hum awesome. It's been a while since seeing them, and some of their newer songs do wonderful tricks with what first appear to be dumb, wanky riffs. Sometimes bands need to experience a Doolittle before they realize they don't need constant hooks to be catchy. Jay occasionally extracted hideous sounds from his guitar; everything still sounded fine.
As if one-upping Empire for use of the "dine and dance" claim, the big wooden picnic tables on the dance floor at Bayside Bowl make for a pretty literal interpretation. They're like land mines. This poses no problems for people bobbing heads to the 4/4 MF songs, but those who were dancing to the herky-jerk of Huak were already contorting their bodies pretty oddly. Good thing nobody tried to bossanova.
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