Pre-recorded music was the theme of the evening at Mercury Lounge. Coming from the garage as many of us 80s/90s kids do, the idea of pre-recorded music comingling with a live band is anathema to what is going on. Perhaps now it is what is going on.
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There are brief decisions on Come Dig Me Up, The Tailors second release, – a bent note on the vocal, a particular chord change, the first ten seconds of the LP – that irritate like a handshake & smile that is too sincere. Happily, this makes the rest of the album surprisingly inventive and substantial, and I’m not smirking. The nine songs presented are thoughtful, crafted. Perhaps similar to Teenage Fanclub in the not sweet but hardly sour pop form; in the dexterity of the form. Particularly the sweet earnestness of ‘Bow Road.’
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The Glasslands, in the boonies of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, boasts a lovely decor of corrugated tin ceiling and some sort of bridge support keeping the building up. This atmosphere suited Tuesday night’s opening band, Dynasties, just fine. The two-man effort distorted and drummed its way through half-a-dozen numbers, with alternating two-chord riffs and brief lead-guitar virtuosos. The songs, though not drastically different from each other, seemed born of the two fellows in the band having spent reams of time futzing around with how best the propulsive and fill-ecstatic rhythm could match the voraciously distorted guitar. What is emitted is a loud, often intriguing sound. Aside from a few brief outbursts, the vocals were largely absent. I wondered what a few melodies might do for the sound.
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‘Every time you saw something you wanted / You set it on fire.’ So sings David Williams, behind what sounds like a band called the Beautiful Supermachines. The line above, from ‘Consumed,’ is indicative of the album on a whole. It is funny but desperate; ambitious to hold time, and to almost lose control. And most importantly, it is catchy. The horns on ‘Consumed’ swell into a wonderful, loopy New Year’s party, limping around the place in a euphoric pain, with a climax worthy of Spiritualized.
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