Carpet of Let, Mr. Rotten, Pairs, and Streets Kill Strange Animals @ What Bar, 13 August 2010

By Josh, 2010年 8月 17日

The bands drew numbers before the show to determine playing order. Wanderlust was originally billed to play but they didn’t make it, something about recording or practicing I think. So first up was Carpet of Let, minus a few members. It was just guitar and drums, and there seemed to be some kind of problem with the amp at first so the sound was very thin. A few minutes in the volume kicked in and the sound rounded out. I really enjoyed the set, except for a brief interlude in which the guitarist kneeled down for some pedal fidgeting and the drummer attempted to fill in the gaps with some disconnected (but pretty great) snare solos. The set ended with a welcome return to coda, the guitarist standing up and the drummer pounding out a loose, tempo-shifting jam.

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Next was Mr.Rotten. I missed some of their set, but what I heard I liked. As much as I hate proliferating genre names, the band describes themselves on their douban as “post-punk gothic”, and while I’m not sure what that should sound like, I believe they nail it.

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Pairs from Shanghai was next. Speaking of proliferating genre names, I’ve seen a lot of mystifying descriptions of this band in the last few weeks (mostly with “noisy” as the common denominator but some as far out of left field as “pop punk”) and I really wasn’t sure what to expect. The Lightning Bolt comparison I saw in an interview on beijingnoise is apt: the drummer Rhys has the energy and performative aspect I associate with late ’90s/early ’00s RISD bands. But the band is also very much guitar-based, with F providing more compelling melodies than I’d been led to anticipate. The recent blog buzz pulled together a decent crowd for the set and it was nice to see Rhys compel everyone to sing along, clap, and move.

Last was Streets Kill Strange Animals, who unfortunately had to deal with the early exodus of some of the crowd. They were quite good: simple, catchy rock jams. Michael of Arm Trick facilitated the sound midway through their first song, to everyone’s benefit. The bass was initially too low and once it got boosted it became clear that this was a crucial part of the ensemble, driving some songs with 16th note bass lines and in general providing a solid bottom line for the wash of guitar and vocal melodies provided by the band’s lead.

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