the masonic temple, in detroit. i'd never been in a structure like this. foundation stones jutting out awkwardly from the ground, warped from a century (centuries?) of weather erosion. elevators from the 30s, when it was cutting-edge technology, that you don't really want to get in; stairways with cracks that you don't really want to walk up. just a slight slant, six floors up - not quite dilapidated, but enough to make you a little claustrophobic and not really keen on rattling the bass. secret entrances everywhere, no doubt leading to scenes from indiana jones films. shit, was that a secret handshake.....?
as clearly impressive and important as this structure may have been decades or centuries ago, it's just as clearly abandoned, now. if only one could just eliminate the landlords....
the show itself was a bit of an experiment they're doing, in terms of turning their volume down a little. whether the fans are into it or not, i think the band is, and i'd expect it to "stick". i'm going to miss the 'proper show' tonight due to it being sold out, and it's not like i haven't see them play their older material before, but this might be the last chance you get to catch it; this may be the end of la dispute as you know them, and they seem to feel fine about it.
in all honesty, i don't think these kids have really ever identified much as punks, or were ever really interpreted that way. they were really always beatniks trying to exist in a hardcore world, without being forced to adhere to folk music stereotypes. so, this isn't really surprising. and the reality, for me? the reality is i grew up on rem. i grew up on sonic youth. i love these bands. i fucking *miss* these bands. i'm not going to be the person that's going to give them shit for this, as they're not walking outside of my sphere of interest. if anything, they're walking directly into it's center.
but, the thing is these are big boots, if you will. you start conjuring up rem and sonic youth, and you're walking into a world of expectations hitherto unknown to the average mortal rock band. this is the gen x pantheon. and, i'm not sure this band has the chops to get there.
the show was intriguing, if anything because it demonstrated their liabilities. some of the material transferred over well, but the overall impression was that the shift is a work in progress. songs would move forward with little real development and end without any sort of warning. void of the nihilistic context of the distortion cutting out, it left little effect. it's perhaps more literally beatnik, in the sense of raw poetry over haphazard accompaniment. but a castle is not a coffee shop.
if this is something they want to do, i don't want to discourage them. i'm in favour of ambition. and they seem to have lost their guitarist, so it might actually be the most rational path forward to change their sound. but it requires deeper incubation. maybe a bit more maturity. and perhaps a creative spark. hope they get there, eventually.
here is the audio from the night:
http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/shows/2015/04/02.html
