Thursday, October 21, 2010

Candy Claws, Tape Deck Mountain, Wise Blood @ The Delancey CMJ Showcase, October 20th, 2010



I guess Candy Claws were the reason why I trekked out to The Delancey for this CMJ show. Their new album Hidden Lands is dreamy, like the soundtrack to some psychedelic stop-motion christmas movie with paper mache elves and talking snowmen. And they're from San Diego, what's not to like? Okay, so they lose points for the zorro masks, but gain points for wearing headphones on stage. See, it all works out! I really liked what the guitar player was doing, fabulous stuff. Their songs don't follow a straight traditional rock structure (verse, chorus, verse). It's more classical, with key modulations and variation on a theme, less repetition. Different! Good!




Tape Deck Mountain is an awesome band name. Guess what? It's also a damn fine band. Kinda post-shoegaze? This was Carl's favorite band of night. I really liked their lyrics, which surprisingly, you could make out loud and clear. The drummer was simultaneously playing a keyboard throughout, the guitarist had an elaborate looping effects setup, and the bassist plays through a Rat pedal. Cool!

I like bands that get wasted before their CMJ showcase, scream their guts out, rip off their shirt, sample The Beatles, and only play for 15 minutes, like Wise Blood.

1 comment:

adamghory said...

Okay, so at this point I'm kind of obsessed with Candy Claws. I've already listened to their album like 3 times in the last week, and went to another one of their CMJ showcases, with similarly awesome results. I'm kinda curious about their song-writing process. How do they do it? Does one person take the reins? It seems like it must be a group effort, based on the individualism and complexity of the parts, but I have no idea...