2 May 2012 :: Mavericks, Ottawa, ON

I’ve written at length about both my love of Future Islands (even if I didn’t love their last record) and their insane touring schedule. It needs to be said and re-said: hardest working band in dodge. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before they came to my hometown.

⊙ Keyword Tags: Future Islands

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Clay: It’s always easy to tell MCA on the record. He hangs back in the mix, an affable scratchiness to his voice; without him, it’s all the leering caterwaul of the other two, flying unhinged into the stratosphere. But MCA hung back, sorta preparing: an absolute calm amidst all the ruckus. When all three shout to punctuate a line, which they do a lot on records, he’s the bass-note that makes it work, the low end theory in practice. Onstage, Mike D and Ad-rock are up front, hyping the crowd, but MCA hangs back—hung back, I guess, not shirking eye contact with the crowd but approaching the entire effort with a bit more concentration. He’d do the dance moves, but only because everyone needed to for it to look cool. Then he’d go hang back. It was cool. It was important, given that there were three of them. Now there aren’t—there are two Beastie Boys, but that’s not enough. There had to be three. But there will still be the records, and you will still be able to pick out Adam Yauch on them, every bit as clear and cool as a morning in May.

⊙ Keyword Tags: Beastie Boys, Mca, Rip

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5 April 2012 :: Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ

The best song Marissa Paternoster performed at Maxwell’s was “Bell,” Screaming Females’ thesis statement from 2009’s Power Move. The song floats by as a subtly melodic and muscular thing of a piece with any other basement punk band until Paternoster’s larynx goes to shreds in the second verse, giving way to her own post-Masicis guitar shredding and heading back again. It represents all that’s great about the Screamales, and is a de facto blueprint for the rest of their albums—including this year’s mighty Ugly, which formed the vast majority of the set.

⊙ Keyword Tags: Screaming Females

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