Post Post “Drafts” from Post Post on Vimeo. (That’s Post Post back in December 2009 at Lunt Basement.)
Post Post/A Place to Bury Strangers/The Big Pink
North Star Bar, March 31, 2010
You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, “Who is that man?”
You try so hard
But you don’t understand
Just what you’ll say
When you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Dylan pretty much describes my experience of seeing Post Post at North Star Bar last night. Don’t get me wrong, they were great. And tiny. And skinny. And had little tiny amps. And I was old and Mike said “So, that’s what the kids are into these days. Cool.” And I said, “If they’re under 19, then ‘Fuck you.’ ”
Turns out they’re college juniors, or were when they formed. So they’re probably only slightly less than half my age. Fuckers. Good on ya. Their singer/guitarist, Michelle, is like a Norwegian pixie with a voice somewhere between Joanna Newsom and Corin Tucker. Post Post write catchy intricate treble-y pop with melodies that layer on each other and build into glittering messes like shattered glass in treacle. They were good on this bill which tended toward darker/heavier.
Here’s a link to an mp3 off their ep, “Say When.”
Worth seeing live, and if you’re around Philly you have no excuse.
This show with A Place to Bury Strangers and The Big Pink was originally slated for TLA—a much larger room than North Star. I’m sure it was disappointing that the show was moved—I’m guessing not enough advance ticket sales as the recession takes its toll on entertainment—but despite that the bands played well and the sound was great. I like the room at North Star, with the brick and the tapestry on the back wall.
APTBS lived up to their noisy rep, generating tremendous breaking waves of reverb-drenched feedback. It took about 30 seconds to get my earplugs in. Let’s just say even with ear plugs it was so loud I’m certain I’ve made a decade of progress toward the final total deafness that is my fate. Lots of smoke. Lots of strobe lights. An atmosphere of disorientation I find comforting. If you haven’t heard them, check these out:
In Your Heart on You Tube (embedding disabled)
I snagged the set list. Unrepentant fan boy.
APTBS set North Star, 3/31/10
The Big Pink are a band I only knew one song of before this show:
I find that chorus irritating, though I like the sounds in the song. That was definitely the “hit” of the evening. But overall, I liked their other songs better. The band was polished, loud, and good. The beats and tones mix slightly uptempo trip hop grooves with shoegaze guitar/bass work and inventive noisy synth/dj work.
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Looking back over this show “review,” I realize that I didn’t say too much about the actual sounds of the bands, other than a passing attempt at describing Post Post. I immediately felt like I should have, but then decided I was wrong about that. You should go listen to them and decide for yourself. Writing is not a stand in for the music, it only describes the experience of the writer at a particular point in time. You want to hear it? Go listen. This isn’t the 20th Century. Click a damn link. All three of these bands were well worth the ticket price and it was an evening well spent. After Post Post, Mike and I ordered food from the bar but it didn’t make it out from the kitchen before APTBS started their set. We agreed it was better to go hungry than miss a moment. After they finished, we went back in and our food had been held for us at the bar. How cool is that? Even cold, a North Star chicken quesadilla is good grub.
I think I’m going to take credit for inspiring you to write this justification.