Skip to main content

Everything's Ending Here

Probably the first thing most people notice about the Golden Falcons is singer Rob Dunlap. At 6'11", Dunlap is one of tallest lead singers I've ever seen play live. Just like the times I've seen Jon Bunch (Sense Field/Further Seems Forever) perform, I have a small strain in my neck after watching the Golden Falcons. Last night was no different as I saw them play with Saboteur and the Action Is at the Double Wide.

I saw a little bit of the Falcons' set at the Cavern a few weeks ago, but due to various factors (loud and rowdy drunk people filling every bar in Lower Greenville as a way of celebrating St. Patrick's Day was a big one), I didn't see the whole thing. Making it a point to enjoy their entire set, I sat tight and stayed up at the front of the stage for most of the show. The Action Is was good and greasy rock while Saboteur kicked some royal ass. Considering the fact that their new drummer (Tony Wann from the Numbers Twist/Tendril) joined the band the day before, it was a seamless transition.

As for the Golden Falcons, this was an incredible set. While it wasn't that much different from when I saw them a year ago at Curtain Club (also with Saboteur), I was pretty stoked. If I were to describe them, I would make some comparisons to the big riffin' rock ala KISS on some songs and the atmospheric charge ala early Echo & the Bunnymen. While that may sound like a total trainwreck of good things that are good on their own but not good together (like ice cream on pizza), this works really well and makes these guys pretty special in my view.

An extra treat was the set-closing cover of Pavement's "Here." As much as I love the song's melodies, I find the rather doomy-but-not-so-serious line of "I was dressed for success/but success it never comes" always relatable. Not to be melodramatic, but it's an echo that many post-education, pre-responsibility-filled adults can relate to. Seeing this song done faithfully to the original (but with some extra sparks added in), along with an extended outro featuring friends of the band coming up on stage and trading instruments, was the biggest highlight of the show.

Tonight's another show at the Double Wide with the Happy Bullets and the Tah Dahs. I hope I don't stain my neck, but strain or no strain, it shall be a good time.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J

Hello, Control

I'm still a big fan of iTunes . I haven't tried Napster , Urge or eMusic as I've been perfectly happy with Apple's program ever since I downloaded it two years ago. However, an annoying new feature has come up with its latest version, 7.0. Whenever you pull up your music library, a sidebar taking up 3/4ths of the screen appears plugging the iTunes Music Store. Why is this an annoyance? Well, first and foremost, since you can't close the sidebar, you can't escape it. I believe a music library is a private collection, a spot away from the music store. So what's the need for constant advertisements and plugs? To provide a better visual, let me describe what I see whenever I pull up a song in my iTunes library. When I listen to "This is a Fire Door Never Leave Open" by the Weakerthans, I see a graphic for Left and Leaving , the album that it comes from (and available in the iTunes Music Store), along with a list of the Weakerthans' other albums,