I showed up at the Dial
warehouse around 8:30 to the sounds of muffled metal-core coming from the small
practice room where the show was to take place. The cats from Crisis Arm and
Ancient Crux were hanging out in the parking lot and they explained that the
guys who ‘own’ the place (although they are never ever here) were practicing in
one room an recording upstairs in another. Apparently they were supposed to be
done by 8 but come 9oclock the metal practice was just wrapping up and
eventually they came out and listened to a song they recorded out of their
truck stereo. It was like a drunken acoustic singalong, the lyrics of which I didn’t
take the time to decipher, but it was kind of like the song “Rivers of Babylon”
by Sublime with more amp and less soul. This is all besides the point of
course, but the whole situation made the actual show start late so I thought it
would be appropriate to include.
The first band to play was Bronson Caves, all the way
from Azusa. I had listened to their online demos during my lunch break earlier
in the day and it was kind of fey, quiet synth-pop somewhat along the lines of
bands like Tanlines but not all the way developed yet. Their live performance,
however, was a standard guitar-bass-drums trio that I enjoyed much more that
what I had envisioned when listening to those rough tracks. Their sound still
embodied much of the new-wave/80s rock nostalgia that the Los Angeles indie
scene has been obsessed with in the last few years, with an accessible yet
vigorous rhythm section accented by reverd-laden riffing. It seemed like the
guitarist played picked riffs almost exclusively instead of chords or more full
arrangements but that’s not to say it was just tiresome wanking. They had a
very full sound that, while not particularly challenging, was enjoyable and
showed much potential. For one thing their drummer had a real vibed out energy
going on, which is always a good thing. Considering the difference in style
they displayed from their demos to their live set, it appeared that this may
been an early show for them but what they performed was very well-polished.
They mentioned that they were looking for a place record so I talked to the
bassist about the live sessions that Not Punk Records does here at The Dial and
they seemed receptive to the idea. Azusa is a long way just to open up a small
indie show in a practice room, but the dudes in Bronson Caves had a great
attitude and played some great tunes for us. Hopefully we’ll see’em again.
 |
| Ancient Crux |
Ancient Crux, who I had seen as the headliners for
this show, played next. I thought that I had seen them perform before back in
my UC Irvine days, but looking back that was Brent’s other band Trudgers. That
dude has played in like 12 bands in the last few years so it can be difficult
to keep track. They played as a 3-piece as well, consisting entirely of members
of Brent’s OTHER band Rapid Youth. They play a somewhat odd, dark style that
reminds me of early-80s “Pornography”-era Cure as well as modern dark wave bands.
Although I’m not really a fan of this band, for some reason Cold Cave came to
mind when I was watching this set. Brent plays keyboard patterns that are eerie
in a way that doesn’t distract from the acoustic guitar and sullen vocals that
frontman Travis puts on the table, although the vocals for the all the bands on
this night were a bit under the mix. It was a cool, if a bit short, set with a
subtle spookiness to it that went well with the Halloween spiderwebs hanging
all over the warehouse.
By the time Ancient Crux was finished it was already
11oclock and I was tired. Perhaps due to the one-way entrance into the small
room that can impede movement in and out, set-up and take-down in between bands
(a major pet peeve of mine) seemed to take FOREVER all night long. Seeing as
how the show had already started late because of the metal/Sublime owners’
shenanigans, a somewhat dragging feel that I usually don’t experience at The
Dial became a bit present. The later it got, the more I remembered my work in
the morning; but there was no reason to bail out early at this point there were
only 2 bands left and they were both friends. I was just being a sleepyhead.
 |
| Light Light |
The next set was by the homeboy Doug who performs
under the moniker of Light Light. I saw him perform his solo
guitar-loop/feedback-manipulation works a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it;
much like mutual friend Kevin Greenspon, his sound-works can be at once moving,
calming, and jarring. Tonight, however, he was playing with Brent and Trevor
from Ancient Crux on second guitar and drums, respectively, making this the
night of trios. He started with a solo song called “Breakfast” that was like
the previous set I had seen: several minutes of looped distortion and swelling
guitar progressions played with his typical rapidfire strumming and punctuated
towards the end by cryptic, longing lyrics. The full-band arrangements did
little to hamper the personal feel of his songs, which all possess a certain
ethereal quality and marked emotionality. While this isn’t the best way to
actually describe the actual sound of Light Light’s music, it reminds me of the
duality of emotions that are hopefulness and loss. Something about the feel of
the songs is imbued by those opposite yet interlocked emotions – jubilant wishfulness
and an almost defeating sense of being let down. Good stuff, is what I’m
saying.
 |
| Crisis Arm - I have great photo skills, I know |
Closing out the night were Dial constants Crisis Arm.
These guys play here a lot and I’ve seen them so many times recently and they
have become such close friends that its almost difficult to write about them
now. It just seems intuitive at this point. Experimental psychedelic
prog-shoegaze is quite a mouthful, I’ll admit, but I think that’s a pretty good
overall description of their sound. Between the two FX-laden guitarists they
can get to be pretty loud, and although I’ve seen them perform flawlessly in
this small room before, it seemed like the acoustics just weren’t working out
on this particular night. The P.A. problems were even more acute during this
set than the preceding ones, which is a shame because they performed their
cover of My Bloody Valentine’s song “Sometimes” for the first time
at a live show (I believe). Unfortunately, Cameron’s already-soft vocals became basically
inaudible, and the same problem occurred during the next song, a newer one that
I’ve been referring to as “Sweet Time.” There are moments during that song when
both Pat and Cameron are singing and for the life of me I can’t hear either one
of them. That said, the music has been getting tighter in recent months and Pat
has started playing his guitar through a bass amp which gives it more
definition and weight. In the past I could see him totally wailing on the
guitar but Cameron’s leads would drown everything he did out; tonight there was
almost the opposite effect.
It was after midnight by the time Crisis Arm finished
their set and I was straight up TUCKERED OUT so I just gave everybody a hug and
got a ride home. Monday night shows are often barren of crowds but everybody
who was there at this one was friendly and laid back and having a good time.
Hopefully the homeboys from Azusa will mob out again sometime soon because they
fit right into the Dial community.
