Seattle Subsonic

Mudhoney Blows the Place Up, No Age Shuns Ageism

July 24th, 2008

Like many music freaks with an ear to the ground, I jumped at the chance to see a free show featuring one old-skool punk band and one new-skool punk band playing together. KEXP and Free Yr Radio were nice enough set up a lowly publicized, complimentary all ages show down at the KEXP parking lot last night (7/23) with L.A. DIYers No Age opening for grizzled Seattle vets Mudhoney, apparently still riding high from the release of their eighth LP, The Lucky Ones, back in May. So high, in fact, that three-quarters of the way through their set, the band rocked so incredibly hard that the PA system blew a fuse, a jackbox, or whatever, causing a stir and a 15-minute impromptu intermission. It also could have simply been a faulty set up by the sound dude; the jury is still out.

Thankfully, someone finally fixed the technical difficulty and avoided an embarrassing finish to the show by allowing the band to dutifully conclude their set. I like Mudhoney, but I feel like their best years are behind them (their first single, “Touch Me I’m Sick”, is still their best song). They are, however, a local iconic presence that can still coax the aged cave dwellers out from their darkened lairs, as well as those of us floating somewhere in the middle who find their Stooges-via-Sonic Youth blues-punk entertaining enough. The crowd, made up of city-rockers from yore and younger scenesters on hand to catch one of LA’s recent pleasant surprises, was an exercise in dichotomy. In addition to the general people disparity, several local musicians were in attendance (members of Feral Children, the Heavy Hearts, the Purrs, Cancer Rising, Partman Parthorse, Past Lives), along with the resident KEXP DJs and, of course, Sub Pop’s head honchos. I love shows where the people-watching enhances the act on stage.

I don’t know if people regularly make this comparison or not, but the one thing Mark Arm has going for him is that he reminds me of Iggy Pop a little bit. Mostly facially, but his voice and cadence are similar as well. I find his lyricism trite some of the time, instinctive at others; theatrically, though, he’s got nothing on the lead Stooge. Lead guitarist Steve Turner can still shred with the best of ‘em, however, and many of their tunes had the mosh pit ravenously feeding on its victims.

No Age, currently touring with fellow SoCal art-punkers Mika Miko and Abe Vigoda, is the future of punk music. Adhering to venerable standards with well-timed guitar freak-outs, laden in feedback (intentional or otherwise), and head-pounding drums, the duo adds a serving of atmospheric experimentalism to its affable demeanor and catchy-but-not-poppy “melodies”. Dean Spunt plays drums and sings; Randy Randall abuses his guitar and then loops it. I came across the band late last year and quickly admired their first album, Weirdo Rippers. Their second, Nouns, builds upon the first but has a more controlled feel to it.

Many of their songs are short, so they ripped through a set that highlighted “hits” from both records, creating a soundtrack for the first-time crowd-surfers as Randall jumped off anything he could find. And given the amount of cloaking done on his recorded vocals, it was nice to hear Spunt’s words come across rather clearly. The band announced that they will be playing a house-show Friday night somewhere in Seattle, but did not (publicly) reveal the details. A cursory search through the various rogue-venue “websites” yielded no results. The task is at your hand.

(The PI is the only place I’ve found pics posted so far.) And here’re some more.