The Spinning Room
By Rob Browning

The Dismemberment Plan
Knitting Factory
1/27/01
Is there a better band around than the Dismemberment Plan? Well, probably, but they haven’t come around recently. There’s been quite a renaissance in DC rock recently and the D-Plan have spearheaded it. Call it post-rock, call it post-hardcore, call it what you will, the Dismemberment Plan are simply awesome. Their last two NY shows had been cut short by venue curfews, but it was all about Saturday Night this time around. Hell it was Sunday by the time the last song rolled around. Not that anyone was complaining. No time for that with all the wanton ass shaking going on. They are in the process of getting a new record recorded and if the new stuff they played was any indication of what we’re going to get, it’s going to be one hell of a Fall. They’ll be playing a bunch of college shows towards the end of the month. Check them out.


Rainer Maria
Cave In
Ted Leo
Bowery Ballroom
2/1/01
So I went to see this show mostly to see Cave In. They are from Boston, record for Hydrahead Records, and were rumored to offer the type of larynx shredding rancor that turns the floor into kung-fu mayhem. Call me a masochist, call me immature. You wouldn’t be the first, but there are some things that defy explanation and make a long work week that much more tolerable. My salve is watching the youngsters beat the hell out of each other. Deal with it.

So I dash out of work, take a cab to the Bowery and arrive just in time for Ted Leo. As an old bastard who is not much fun, I really like a nice weekday show that ends by like 11. I figured I’d arrive just in time to see Cave In, catch part of Rainer Maria and fly away home. Not that Ted Leo’s bad, but I have to have seen him seven or eight times in the last year, and the solo stuff he’s been doing doesn’t bear that much repetition. Luckily, this marked the debut of the band he’s been threatening, featuring the good brothers Canty of Washington, DC. They showed up four or five songs in, played some good new stuff, covered Academy Fight Song and bailed. This I liked. Signs are good for the new record.

As the angry young men pushed up to the front of the stage, I braced myself for the slugfest to come. Hell, I waited the whole damn set. All the reviews I had read of Cave In recently have mentioned how the singer sounds like Geddy Lee. I love Rush as much as the next guy, but one shrieking Canadian is enough. The boys seem to be moving in a new direction. Don’t get me wrong, they jumped around a bit and looked to be having a ball, but ultimately sounded like guys in a hardcore band covering Zeppelin. And lo — there was a cover of Dazed and Confused. While it was a pretty decent cover, it really didn’t live up to the hype. Hey kids, I went to high school in upstate New York where your band was judged by your Zep covers. No cheerleaders for you, then.

Now Rainer Maria have recently moved to New York and have been hitting the ground running. I think this was their second show in less than a month at Bowery and it was pretty damn full. As it turns out, this was a record release show for their new Polyvinyl record, A Better Version of Me. This girl and two guys had the crowd from note one. Singer Caithlin is known for her somewhat relative pitch, but she seemed to have much more power behind her singing this time around. Not sure whether it was the recording sessions or what, but she belted it out and played some pretty damn good bass while she was doing it. Not just girls fun either, Bill and Kyle held it down for a pretty great show to celebrate a pretty decent new record. Check out our new hometown heroes next time they play out. They’re a good addition to a local scene that sorely needs it.

Crooked Fingers
Brownies
2/7/01
North Carolina’s Archers of Loaf were one of the best bands of the 90s. More listenable than Polvo, quirkier than the Chunk, they put out five records that were consistently great. While their earlier records were gilded with spiky guitars, the later records relied more on percolating analog keyboards. Now that the Archers are no more, Eric Bachmann has taken the keyboard ball and ran with it. Backed by a quirky backing band of percussion, upright bass and keys, he played great poppy songs that featured his sonorous baritone. Now that the songs are slower, I’m really trying to reconcile how much Eric’s voice sounds like Neil Diamond’s. Now my dear friend Steven will kill me for disparaging the maven of Nights Hot and Summery, but I’m not sure that’s the bandwagon I really want to have to deal with for the next year or so. Imitators notwithstanding, Crooked Fingers really are a great band. Not the most exciting thing to watch, but a great soundtrack to a Wednesday night out.

Low
Pedro The Lion
Bowery Ballroom
2/17/01
Back when everything had to have a —core attached to it, I remember bands like Low and Idaho being categorized as slo-core. What wit there was in the early 90s! The thing that struck me most about them was seeing them play Brownies like five years ago and the singer and bass player going out of their way to not make eye contact, cause if they did they’d laugh and it’d blow the whole concept. Come on guys, it’s not so bad. That being said, they sounded really nice. The close harmony of the unison male female vocals gave them kind of like a Carpenters meets Mazzy Star kind of vibe. Truth be told, I left after an hour or so, but they sold Bowery out, so they must be doing something right.

Now Pedro The Lion are another one of my favorite new bands. A whole lot was made of frontman Dave Bazan’s religious beliefs but any one that’s seen them will tell you that the music is really amazing and the subtext is pretty minimal. Pedro has had a rotating lineup revolving around Bazan. This incarnation featured steel guitar and drums. I’ll quibble at the lack of a bass player, but there’s really nothing better than good steel guitar. All in all this was another pretty great double bill. Kudos to Bowery for continuing to book pretty damn great bills.


Records

Sultans
Ghost Ship
Sympathy For The Record Industry/Swami Records
John Reis is one prolific bastard. Not content with putting out a single every ten or twelve seconds with Rocket For The Crypt, he’s taken the time to record another record with a motley crew known as the Sultans. This little puppy rocks like a motherfucker. Get this record, hear the Vox keyboard riff that powers Just A Fool (that’s down) and I guarantee that you’ll be bouncing off the walls like I do every damn time. The Sultans sound like the Attractions circa ’78 on a whole lot of cheap speed. That is a very good thing. Buy this record. Now.

Rainer Maria
A Better Version Of Me
Polyvinyl Records
This is one of the more aptly named records I’ve run across this year. Rainer Maria were always like a gawky pre-pubescent kid that had good looking parents. You knew that once they got older, they’d get it together, but for the short term you’d have to settle for flashes of greatness. They seemed to have made it through. The songs are consistently good, the harmonies are closer and singer Caithlin’s somewhat relative pitch is pretty close to being on. Not too shabby. They live here in town now, so represent for some potential hometown heroes sometime soon.

The White Octave
Style #6312
Deep Elm Records
Lately, I’ve been all about Omaha, Nebraska’s Cursive. It’s been like a bad afterschool special ever since: I get introduced to Cursive, start trying solo project The Good Life, and before I know it, I’m hooked on ex-Cursive guitarist Steve Pedersen’s new band The White Octave. The White Octave are from Chapel Hill, NC and sound like it. A little bit of old school Eric Bachmann in the vocals, some Pipe-y background stuff, maybe some Superchunk-y guitar parts. Not a bad cocktail, now that you mention it. Looking forward to hearing a lot more of this stuff.

Small Brown Bike
Dead Reckoning
AtArms Mechanics Records
Small Brown Bike have been putting in work for the last couple of years. They take a lot of the noisy melodic stuff that’s big in the Midwest and combine it with a big dollop of Hot Water Music to make a pretty tasty broth. Don’t have too much info on this one, as I bought it from them at Brownies and they didn’t get the artwork in time for the tour, but most if the songs are pretty damn good. A little bit of wincing is in order with the lyrics, but the bombast of the music really does make it much more palatable. Help the youngsters out and get the record. Sounds like their little hearts are in the right place.