Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tonight: Music Hates You, loud at The Reservoir
Athens, Ga., trio Music Hates You aren’t about to let you off easy. Like Jesus Lizard sunning on molten, accelerated Black Sabbath grooves, the Athens trio are hot to the touch and likely to drop right through the floor of your third story apartment. Frontman Noah Ray’s performances are possessed. He’s always been comfortable as the center of attention. That goes back to the last time you saw him, when he was the skater boy digging around in that dilapidated house of R.E.M.’s video, “End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” It’s still that way today. After a recent show, a Waffle House waitress joked they could plug in there, and so he loaded in. She’ll think twice before she opens her mouth next time.
Ray resembles David Yow vocally—a howling growl, hard-charging rhino coming at you like a blur. Bleeding, broken instruments, and face-to-face in-the-pit confrontations go hand-in-hand with songs like the OCD, blus-psych rave-up, “So Much Dirt In My Spotless Lab,” the grimy, sweat-soaked “Rock’n’ Roll, Ape Sex and Hell” and “You Are My Mess,” in which Ray asks his unwanted child, “When will you grow up and be a man?” On the namesake statement of purpose, “You Have Failed As an Audience/A Beginner’s Guide,” he sings, “Music hates us…We all have to live with it because we all love music…You can’t ever possess it, you only get a taste.”
On the final leg of their first big national tour, they’re probably pretty tight, if a little stir-crazy from the van. That’s nothing a few good pokes in the ribs won’t solve. Just don’t rile them too much, they’re unpredictable.
“We’re going to play what’s in our hearts, let everyone else worry about playing music,” Ray spits. “We start and stop each song together most of the time, other than that all bets are off. But I will promise you, it will be loud.”
Music Hates You plays with Pegasus and Death Came Down the Mountain Tuesday, March 9, at The Reservoir at 10 p.m.
Latest in Scan
-
Red Collar magic saves evening at Motorco
Red Collar releases its new LP in Durham with a fits-and-starts show.
- May 21, 2012
-
Live: Confessor stuns in Raleigh
The Raleigh heavy titans return.
- May 21, 2012
-
Introducing the Independent Weekly's Simple Music Video Series: Frank Fairfield
Old-time musician Frank Fairfield begins our new Simple Music Video Series.
- May 18, 2012
- More »
More by Author
-
Michael Rank & STAG's Kin
Where Snatches of Pink plunged into the grimiest corners with Saturday night's dregs, STAG's debut, Kin, sits on the brink of Sunday morning, glimpsing those virgin rays of light with weary bemusement. (Louds Hymn)
- Apr 4, 2012
-
Midtown Dickens build out and up
On Home, there's a tension between Midtown Dickens' wild-eyed spontaneity and the subtle sophistication and songcraft.
- Apr 4, 2012
- More »
Comments (0)