Bloody Panda, Villains, Wetnurse @ Santos Party House
 |
New York City has a clutch of top-shelf bands lacking top-shelf status – Black Anvil, Bloody Panda, Defeatist, Krallice, Leader, Tombs, Villains, Wetnurse. (Krallice did get some notice last year, and Tombs’ new record on Relapse should boost their profile.) Thus, they often play at home to spoiled audiences. On February 26, Wetnurse, Villains, and Bloody Panda played a one-off at Santos Party House. Despite its name and Andrew W.K. affiliation, the venue is hardly festive. It’s as typical as a club can be. (After the show, it became an afterparty for Thievery Corporation’s NYC gig.)
Wetnurse go first. The more I see them, the better they get. Their ingredients shouldn’t mesh: proggy punk, classic rock, occasional bouts of metal. (I reviewed their latest record here.) They also look like a motley crew – guitarists seemingly loaned from an indie rock band, bassist seemingly stolen from a metal band, a bald black singer with great abs. But they slay as a unit. Its technicality sounds sweaty, not highbrow. Curran Reynolds’ drumming is subtle, quirky, and motoric all at once. Vocalist Gene Fowler proclaims, “We’re Wetnurse, and we’re from a few blocks from here.” Amen.
Villains have become my favorite New York band. Like Wetnurse, they’re a varied lot. (Perhaps this is a New York thing.) The rhythm section could pass for Redding/Mitchell on Halloween. One guitarist is a total metal dude. With baggy shorts and Air Jordan wristbands, the other looks hardcore punk. The singer is utterly plain – crew cut, t-shirt, jeans, beer perpetually in hand.
But they kill as one. Imagine Hellhammer if they knew what they were doing. Punk, thrash, and black metal spew forth with disgust and disregard for crowd reaction. No “Hello, Cleveland” – just song titles, then songs. The singer was probably born with a glare on his face. It’s not clear that the band members like each other. Hostility radiates from the stage. (I talked to two Villains afterward, and was almost disappointed by how nice they were.) Villains are to NYC what Ludicra are to SF: the sound of the streets. (Appropriately, guitarist Teeth namechecked Ludicra in this interview.) Their forthcoming album on Nuclear War Now! is cause for excitement.
Bloody Panda – Fever (excerpt)
Bloody Panda are much-improved from when I saw them last year. Back then, keyboards suffocated the sound. The band’s funeral doom didn’t crush, but plodded. Their black executioners’ hoods seemed gimmicky. This time, the sound matches the look. The keyboards are down low, filling in cracks with organ strains. But I’d prefer if the keyboards were gone altogether. They’re set off stage right, and all the action is elsewhere. Minus keyboards, Bloody Panda would be terrifyingly bare: guitar, drums, bass, violently off-kilter vocals.
Such exposure made Khanate great – the tension between notes too far apart, the horror of when they strike. But Yoshiko Ohara’s toolbox – screams, singing, everything in between – is wider than Alan Dubin’s, so it’s just as well that her accompaniment follows suit. The band rolls out new material – it, too, has an LP forthcoming – which is vastly superior to Pheromone (which I reviewed here). Unexpectedly delicate figures in the guitar offset heroically groaning bends in the bass. New drummer Lev Weinstein (also of Krallice) is a ringer. Hints of his immense chops peek through in clever fills and cracking snares. Otherwise, the show could be a seance. When the lights come up and the band unmasks, the crowd doesn’t applaud immediately. It’s still getting out from under the weight.
