Revival at the Hexagon Space: We Are the Seahorses, Bunnies, Scary River
by Ed Schrader | August 15, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Posted in Baltimore, music
The Hexagon Space (formerly the Lo-Fi Social Club) at 1825 N. Charles St. has risen from the ashes, offering a more chipper aesthetic, complete with a marquee that is updated daily and shows that give you a lot more bang for your $5 to $7. Case in point, last night’s line-up, featuring local and touring bands, ranging in style from the neon- /thong-clad party antics of New Jersey’s We Are the SeaHorses to the double-guitar/mammoth drumming mayhem of North Hampton, Massachusetts’ Bunnies to the gritty shoe-gazer stylings of Baltimore’s Scary River.
The night opened with Baltimore-based In Every Room. The band means well and has chops that will likely blossom over the course of future shows and rehearsals, yet the interplay of keys, drums, bass, guitars, electronic effects and vocals seems to get overshadowed and exasperated by incongruent attempts to align the elements. Simply put: Stuff is noticeably out of sync. When things are on track, they sound great, with occasional hook-worthy choruses (ex. “ah ah ah ah ha!”). It ultimately feels as if they’re still searching for the right groove, which I think they will find, and I hear The Rentals in there somewhere, which is always a good thing. I think the band could benefit from slimming things down and focusing on dynamics.
The next band, Big Fun, from Milwaukee, was an infectious piano-stomping outfit with tight, well-placed percussion, thick juicy bass, polished guitar licks and a female vocalist who seemed to be hesitating a tad but sounded good when she kicked it up a notch at certain points in the set. She needs to stage-dive/scream and loosen up. Suffice to say, it was guiltless pop, yet unafraid to be such, which made it that much more sincere, and poignant. But I like Current 93, so what do I know?
Bunnies were certainly the gold medalist of the evening, sludging through thick dual guitars and brilliant drum maneuvers, with stoner vocalizations. The meat of the set was undoubtedly in their ability to reach blindingly sweet crescendos, pausing to tantalize us and continuing into yet more crescendos that expanded with masterful drum breaks, playing straight through 20 minutes of heavy escalating thunder that seemed infinite in its black depth.
We Are the Seahorses were off the hook, blasting the crowd with glitter pop guns and de-clothing themselves down to Speedos and spandex underwear. The set consisted of comically catastrophic Wu Tang and Prince covers and a few delightfully blistering noise-pop originals coupled with inaudible screaming, performed while concocting games for the audience, like the one where one side of the audience tries to drag a portly singer across the floor in his undies, while the other half carries the other singer up onto a table. I couldn’t figure out who won. At one point people were rubbing their butts together — go figure. There was fake blood, glitter and glow sticks everywhere, provided by the band of course. It was a blast!
The closer, Baltimore’s Scary River, was a delightful bit of dirty shoe-gazing mixed with a sound that seemed to call upon the muses of WIRE and The Meat Puppets. The two guitarists donned purple wigs and handed out cake, which unfortunately had hair on it. The keyboard brought some well-balanced tinkering to supplement the infectious juvenile crooning from vocalist James Wolf. The band has certainly crystallized its influences into something earnest and new. It felt like a missing step that you wish you took in 1994, but with an urgency that is now.
Shows to see this weekend:
Tonight: Blank Artists Invasion! with Jared Wilson, Josh Dahlberg, Drew Pompa, Love/Hate. 9 p.m. The Hexagon Space, 1825 N. Charles St.
Tonight: Dan Friel (of Parts N Labor), Eats Tapes, Cacaw (ex-Coughs), Hex Speak. 9 p.m. Annex Theater.
Sunday: Reverse X Rays (Austin), Willy Weird (NYC), Teenage Souls. 8 p.m. The Depot, 1728 N. Charles St.
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