Moreover, they seemed to agree that Cell-Scape holds up better than the new material, closing with unprintably badass performances of two songs from that album, "Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold" and "A Dreamer Who Is Too Weak To Face Up To," as well as the roaring "Phantasmagoria/ A Shield for Your Eyes" for an encore. It makes a difference to get them out of a cavernous club like Numbers and into a dive bar, where they are closer to the audience. What I found out was that they are indeed still worth seeing. Not that any band can really be said to rock compared to Melt-Banana. White mugs shamelessly and for some reason feels the need to sing half the set through a modified telephone, which is distracting, but the proceedings have a certain slacker charm, and the band does rock. One must admit that it hasn't hurt to include guitarist Bill Kenny of Motion Turns It On, as well as bassist Andres Londono and drummer Steve Smith of. Similarly, Dizzy Pilot has changed dramatically over the past two years, developing into quite a cohesive band. I saw them at least four or five times, and not only did I never see the same set twice, I don't think I ever saw the same song twice. Dizzy Pilot frontman Josh White previously led the fascinatingly unpredictable Drill Box Ignition. Let them not be accused of wearing out their welcome.ĭizzy PilotI did manage to see locals Dizzy Pilot, whose Unwound-covering- Mudhoney punk I would refer to as "grunge" if it was still acceptable to use that term in a non-derisive manner. It turns out that the reason for this is that they move very quickly: apparently they showed up around 9 and finished playing by 9:20.
9:25 p.m.) would put me in good shape to catch local noise act Cop Warmth, who recently have seemed to be everywhere at once. The show being billed at 9, I reckoned that a "rock-n-roll 9" (i.e. So in part, I went to Walter's last night in an effort to find out if the band that blew me away eight years ago was still worth watching. And maybe because I was tired, maybe because it was Numbers - maybe because their straightforward cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" was quite frankly sort of boring - the show that we opened was the worst Melt-Banana show I'd ever seen.
It was not as good as 2000's Teeny Shiny, or probably even 1998's Charlie, which would make it the worst Melt-Banana album in a decade. Then Bambi's Dilemma came out in 2007, which I discovered when my band the Jonx was asked to open their show at Numbers in May. The band was at their peak then, and Cell-Scape was the most focused and exciting album they'd ever made - and yet, in rare agreement with Pitchfork Media, I thought the band's apotheosis was still to come.įour years went by without a new studio album.
After the 2003 show I bought their album Cell-Scape and spent an entire day entranced by its raging, groovy cyberpunk hardcore. I saw them again at Mary Jane's in 20 at two of the best rock shows I've ever seen.
I first saw Melt-Banana in 1999 at the Metropol. Over the past 15 years, Melt-Banana have played a crucial role in bridging the gap between the twee open-mindedness of college radio and the thrilling violence of underground hardcore, slowly training an audience that would understand aggressive, weird, brilliant bands like Deerhoof, Lightning Bolt and the Blood Brothers. For that reason, they are one of the most important acts in American underground music, even if they do live halfway around the world. Melt-Banana, a Japanese band prone to covering Devo and the Beach Boys and fronted by a tiny woman who sings like a Smurf, are quite possibly the world's least threatening grindcore band.
Time pilot band free#
Melt-Banana Melt-Banana with Dizzy Pilot and Cop Warmthĭownload: "Chain Shot to Have Some Fun," available free from the Melt-Banana Web site