Clavius Productions presents:
Sunday, August 12
611 Florida Ave NW WDC
http://www.claviusproductions.org
6pm, $5 suggested donation
202-360-9739 for info
BYOW!
The Wayward (Magic Bullet Rec., ex-Carrion)
The Conformists (St. Louis heavy math-rock, mem. of Yowie, 54 40 or Fight Rec.)
Durga Temple (NoVA sludge rock)
Motreb (NoVA improv experimental psych guitar/drums duo, mem. of Contact Contact)
The Wayward
http://www.geocities.com/wearethewayward
http://www.myspace.com/theewayward
The Wayward was formed in Summer 2004 by two ex-members of Carrion, just four months after the breakup of that band. After three months of songwriting and local shows, The Wayward began touring the eastern half of the US, playing w/ the likes of Battles, Mastodon, Breather Resist, Ed Gein, Anodyne, Baroness, and many more.
After quickly selling out of a pressing of self-recorded, hand-numbered cd's, a second, more hi-fi home recording, the Not Showing the Past EP, was released, sold out, and repressed. In September 2005, a self-titled 7" was released on vinyl on Black Box Recordings.
Meanwhile, The Wayward continued to tour relentlessly, including a 9-week run in late '05 that saw them play with Kayo Dot, Dysrythmia, Stinking Lizaveta, Forensics, The Dream Is Dead, and many more.
The Wayward's debut full-length, The Wayward, is set for release on June 6, 2006, on Black Box Recordings.
Hailing from Fairfax, Virginia (and currently in Baltimore), it's kind of amazing to consider that THE WAYWARD collectively have but a mere six arms. Simply put, there's a LOT going on with the band's music. Slabs and slabs of riffs uncoil at a frenetic pace courtesy of Nicholas and Jesse Skrobisz, a hypnotic concoction brewed from years of brotherhood and shared experience. One-swinging-guy Nathaniel Simms powers his way through the hot choppery, finding rhythms eschewing both harmonious conviction and technicality.
Having looped the U.S. numerous times already, the band will set out this October and November yet again. Overexposure, their second full length and Magic Bullet Records debut, will be in tow on both CD and LP formats.
The Conformists
http://www.theconformists.com
http://www.myspace.com/theconformists
For once it seems as though all the “sounds like” listed in the biography are right on the nose: Don Caballero, Unsane, US Maple, Slint, and the Jesus Lizard. Yup, they’re all here. The Conformists are hardly what their name suggests, which is surely another shot of irony to the rock and roll world. There are lots of solid ideas here, many of which never seem to go anywhere. For example, once you can get past the stupid opening of the track "Black People," the latter part of the song totally kicks ass. It’s got an intense forward march approach with the guitars, sounding like they came out of the Steve Albini school of rockin’ (hey, whaddya know! Albini recorded the album!) with vocals that bellow anger and chaos and the inability to break free. On "Meredith Knezvitch," the opening line "You’re the big man now" had me waiting for one more word (dog) in the hopes that it was a tribute to one of Sean Connery’s finest works, "Finding Forester." But alas, it never came. Instead, the band continued to pound out haphazard beats, wild vocals, subtle basslines and off the wall guitar chords. There’s something going on here; something I really like but there’s also something else keeping me from totally getting into this. I like me some math rock, but this is like drunk math rock on cocaine. Strangely enough, I think I mean that as a compliment. (Kurt Morris, 54 40 or Fight!)
The Conformists have been twisting guitar music into new shapes for over ten years. Like Oxes and Shellac they take something pretty inaccessible and make it somewhat less inaccessible.
Three Hundred is an angular, abstract mess that will put off three times as many people that will love it. It is an album that will frustrate as many people as it pleases. In fact it would be a frustrating album even for those it pleases. The Conformists no doubt themselves take great pleasure in this. They are thoroughly non-conformist in their approach to laying out their post-rock grooves.
Despite the band’s bizarre attempts to sabotage their own record Three Hundred is just about successful. They just about avoid novelty rocking. There are moments of playful self-indulgence and moments of pointless self-indulgence. How much is pretension and ho much is pissing around is hard to discern at times. This is something else that probably brings a smile to the faces of these weirdoes.
Guitar, bass, drums and the odd vocals are all used as weapons to confuse the listener. They take you down dark, dank paths and up febrile, enchanting trails. The abrasive, staccato "Are These Flowers" dares to teach Shellac a lesson in musical misanthropy. It is both harsh and yet strangely alluring. The epic "You’re Welcome" wanders about intensely looking for trouble. Guitars bristle with an almost tangible tension. "Tax Deduction" is a prickly affair reminiscent of Slint at their most eerily wiry and passive-aggressive.
"Black People" has a great title but starts off with an endless series of climaxes before launching into a muscular piece of rocking post-hardcore. The smart arse likes of "Stairway To Heaven" and "Laundry Hepburn" are fun for a few listens but are too slight and end up as essentially inane filler.
Not many people will love them but The Conformists are an endearing band if you happen to like your music difficult and filled with sarcasm. (Nadeem Ali, New-Noise.net)
Find out more about the Conformists here:
http://www.riverfronttimes.com/Issues/2000-07-12/music/music.html