I now know where the former Parlour crowd now hangs, Part Time Punks. Last night was my first time at Part Time Punks, which might come as a shock to any hipster readers we have unless you know me well enough to know that A) Most of my nights out involve work, which means that I'm almost always found in places that look like AFI video auditions and B) When I do go out just for fun, it's either Underground or something involving internationally renowned DJs. And in keeping with That Which Is Liz's Life, I was actually at Part Time Punks for purposes of work. Specifically, I was there to interview Tussle, which I did roughly three hours before the band hit the stage. Tussle had encouraged me to stick around between the interview and the show so that I could see openers Lemonade. Naturally, I obliged because A) I had grabbed the elusive parking spot in front of the club; B) What else would I do? Hang out at The Shortstop?; and C) Considering that I like Tussle and we share a common interest in Captain Ahab and Anavan, I'm inclined to trust their judgement.
Now, I am here to urge you to go see Lemonade. The songs posted on MySpace aren't much of an indicator of the live show. Said MySpace page also offers very little information about the band, so I can't tell you who is who or anything like that. I can tell you that the singer seems like he would be a cool guy. During Tussle's soundcheck, he grabbed an oversized maraca and started shaking it as he slid around the unusually un-grungy Echo floor. During his own set, he came out onstage in a Roadrunner t-shirt and Day of the Dead mask and bounced around as he twiddled some buttons that distorted his voice. After he took off his mask, we could see a Cheshire Cat grin that remained in place for the rest of the show. Smiling onstage is always a plus. The sound is probably best described as noise rock-meets-techno. There were some flat out raver moments on stage, which were augmented by the space alien vocals.
As for Tussle, even the geekiest of my music geek friends (sorry, guys, it's really something none of us can deny) claim that they haven't heard the band. Trainspot some more, friends, because I have seen you headbob and perhaps even dance to this back in the Parlour days of yore. So, this weekend, I kept asking friends if they wanted to go (apparently, everyone was busy) and was consistently answered with "What does it sound like?" I had to state the oh-so-trite explanation, "I guess it's like !!! without vocals." Actually, Tussle is a little more Krautrockish than the bulk of dance rock outfits and that seems evident in the newest material, which the band played last night. (Even though they just released a new album, the shows are now focused on currently unreleased material.) The two drummers play in sync to complement each other and the guitars and other noises lend a rough, metallic edge to the music. Heavy, yet soulful is what I think the kids might say.