More Material

Lords / Brucial / Akimbo / More Material: live In Minneapolislive In Minneapolis (2005)
Jade Tree Records

Reviewer Rating: 5

User Rating:

Contributed by: JesseJesse
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Published on May 31st 2005I must preface this review by saying this has been the best show I have ever seen in my life. This was night two of the ride along with Akimbo. I had seen them in Chicago the night before, then stayed with them at a house. After three hours of sleep, we hit the road towards my hometown, Minneap.

I must preface this review by saying this has been the best show I have ever seen in my life.

This was night two of the ride along with Akimbo. I had seen them in Chicago the night before, then stayed with them at a house. After three hours of sleep, we hit the road towards my hometown, Minneapolis. Seven and a half hours later we pulled up to the Dinkytowner and loaded in.

More Material was setting up, and it had been awhile since I'd seen them. Actually, since anyone had seen them. They broke up a while ago, but recently reformed, putting more emphasis on the "noise" part of "noise rock." With the addition of saxophone, violin, and a table of samplers, More Material was ready to rock, or something. They played all new songs, making me want to call them More Material II (like B.A.D. and/or Amon Duul). The drumming now was only in looped patterns, while the guitars were used like the violin and saxophone and electronics to make noise. Think: An ultra-hip Wolf Eyes that digs Suicide and Get Hustle instead of Throbbing Gristle. The set was polished and well-rehearsed, especially since there are still only four members who do all the trading off of instruments. This shit blew me away. It was noise rock with enough structure to keep me interested. More Material II is a big improvment on More Material.

Akimbo played next. Now, the Dinkytowner is small. And Jesus, did they rip. Their performance was dead on, fueled by a lack of sleep and good vibes. They pretty much mimicked their set from the night before, only leaving out "Uranaburg" and adding "Circle Of Hair." Though one guitar player had to leave at 6 in the morning on the day of the show and the rest of the tour would be as a three-piece, no energy was lost on stage. Pat, Jon, and Nat gave it their all, stopping only to adjust the kick drum which had a tendency to hop towards the front of the stage. They played other songs like "Delilah," "Harpoon," and "The Art Of Asphyxiation." They also played the new songs that they played the night before, which are set for a new record due out in February on Alternative Tentacles. I was dying afterwards, but it was cool because the Dinkytowner gives meal tickets to touring bands, and me and Yoni (shit, I hope I spelled his name right, if not, I'm sorry dude), the roadie / merch guy, split a tasty veggie burger.

Next up was a local act that basically surprised everyone. Brucial, a combination of Brutal and Crucial, took the stage as four young looking dudes, two with guitars, one at drums, and one at keys. Out of nowhere, they broke into heavy riff-based metal, akin to the Fucking Champs, only there is one big difference: Brucial is sort of a joke band. Yes, their over the top riffs are, well, so over the top that they can't even help but laugh while paying them. Not to mention the fact that the guitarists tend to high five in the middle of songs. Here's the kicker though: As a joke band, they play metal better than most metal bands I have ever heard in my life. They are technically precise, slamming out power-metal palm-muting and ultra-chug breakdowns. They have doubled guitars and even strings á la keys that sometimes function as sub bass. And the drumming was pretty heavy and technical too. It reminded me a lot of listening to DragonForce, only instead of laughing at the band, laughing with the band. Apparently, they don't practice often, and haven't taken themselves too seriously. And that's a good thing.

Lords arrived at the club in the middle of Brucial's set, and they began dragging their equipment down to the venue. And it was a lot. Why? Haven't you ever seen this band live? Jesus. When they set up, their amps covered the entire back wall of the Dinkytowner. No joke. About 4 Marshall stacks for the guitar and two bass cabs. They ripped songs straight out of their upcoming August Jade Tree release, Swords. They also ripped songs from last year's The House that Lords Built. All in all, they blew me away and l was begging for more when they ended. They played a short set when I saw them in Minneapolis over the summer, and I was pining for a longer one. After the show, when I finally met the band, guitarist Chris remembered talking to me after the Minneapolis show, and drummer Stan remembered that I called him a Neanderthal in the review of that show, and bassist Tony is new to the band so he didn't know anything about me. In summation, they were some of the nicest guys I've met, along with Akimbo, and also rock harder than anything I've ever heard, along with Akimbo.

The next day Akimbo and I grabbed some grub with 3/4 of More Material (whose place we crashed at) at the Hard Times Café, then headed down to the Quad Cities for a show there that I had to miss due to having to high tail it to Chicago for a final. All in all, this experience was one of the greatest I've had in my life, capped off with the greatest show in my life. And I'd like to thank everyone I've met while having this amazing opportunity: Akimbo and Yoni, for agreeing to let a gushing fanboy hop into their van, Scott and Cara for being so accomodating, Conifer for being rad dudes, Francisco for making conversation with a lame twenty-year-old kid such as myself, Lords for being a bunch of rad dudes and rocking out so hard, the guys in More Material and the subsequent Minneapolis crew for being awesome people and letting us crash, and to anyone else that I've somehow forgotten. Thanks again to everyone for everything.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Russe11 (July 22, 2005)

I dont know why everyones giving Jesse crap about how he didn't describe Akimbo's sound. This is a show review so shouldn't the readers check out the album reviews for some insight on what they sound like then check out the show review? If you're doing a show review then its probably because you loved the band that played and wanted to share your experience with others. So the fanboy gushing aspect of his review is expected. If you want to know what Akimbo sounds like look at his review of the album because he DOES give alot of insight on their sound and tells you where you can hear some mp3's. And I enjoy Jesse's reviews, theres a good balance of personal and "to the point" writing.

Russe11 (July 22, 2005)

hey jesse could u post ur myspace address again the other link didnt work for me. thanks.

slippy (June 12, 2005)

Big ups to Jesse.

Anonymous (June 11, 2005)

Hey, this is Noah from BRUCIAL. this is actually a good review and I enjoyed it. Jesse is a good kid, so lay the fuck off everyone. At least he's touring with bands, and writing about shows while you are sitting at home jerking off and waiting for his reviews to get online.

Jesse, thanks for the nice words, buddy.

email me.....
BrutalCrucial@yahoo.com

Anonymous (June 3, 2005)

Jesse is blinded by his own arrogance, he can't see that what he's doing is merely mediocre. I guess thats what happens when you're a condescending 20 year old asshole who thinks they know everything. I'm sorry buddy, but you need a serious reality check.

Anonymous (June 3, 2005)

Jesse, I've desire to join any (I'm sure the vast majority of readers simply don't care) attack upon you, but I'd like you to expand on this comment:

"You can't say that I'm not out there trying and working hard to bring some change and progression to Punknews.org."

What exactly do you think a review like this progresses? Sure, it's an honest expression of your feelings and opinions of the show, but reviews such as this proliferate the internet, many of us come to punknews because it's (often?) different and classier than it's companions. You say "change and progression", all I see is the sub-standard hack journalism that plagues the internet. I'm not attacking, let me reiterate, I just have no idea what progress you bring to punknews. I'm confident that thousands of websites write reviews in the same vain. Forgive the Freudian slip. Similar styles of writing had existed for hundreds of years, and consistenly looked down upon. What are you progressing?

- A concerned reader

lushj (June 3, 2005)

Again, what does Akimbo sound like? I know, and you know, but the readers of your review don't. I'm glad you described the sound of the other bands though, since I haven't heard them before.

P.S.- "Brucial" is a great name for this kind of band!!! Tote Gnar!

prankish (June 3, 2005)

Uh, where does the "If you could read..." comment come into context? At what point did I have trouble reading anything you wrote? Are you that desperate to come up with some kind of zinger for your counter argument?

I learned nothing about the bands you reviewed. You aren't making any kind of "progress" for music reviews. There's a reason you don't see reviews like this anywhere: they're ridiculous. "OMG WHAT DID AKIMBO HAVE FOR DINNER DID THEY HAVE PANCAKES LIKE ME?!@?@?"

Believe it or not, some of us know bands! Some of us are friends with bands! Some of us have actually LIVED with bands! And... holy shit... some of us are IN bands! Your daily routine is neither foreign or interesting.

I can understand giving us some pretext to the show. I can even understand talking about some post show activity. But when 90% of your "review" is about how much you love the band and made out with them, it leaves review territory and enters diary territory.

Once again, I really think you're overestimating the impact of your writing. Even if the review was in a format that didn't make everyone roll their eyes, the writing itself is sub par and I don't understand how you plan on "revolutionizing" anything.

Jesse (June 3, 2005)

"Sure, I realized that I would be angering a bunch of people, namely yourself, prankish, and others who have berated me in the past, but progress never occurs with full fledged support."

Well, if you could read, it says that I've angered you, and other people, namely, who are the ones who have berated me in the past.

And just because there is a blog-type feel to this review, how does this make it not a review? I let people know it was a review from a "gushing fanboy" because it gives context. It shows that I do in fact believe it was the greatest show ever, but again, I was already a huge fan of all the bands playing. Get the point? Every review that hits a 10 is written by a gushing fanboy, I just took the time to point it out.

prankish (June 3, 2005)

Hahaha, I really think you're overdramatizing the impact of your writing.

You certainly aren't doing anything "extravagant", as you put it, in fact it's quite the opposite. You are blogging.

What validity does a review of a "gushing fanboy" (again, as you put it) have anywhere other than a diary?

Here's the other funny thing: you say I've berated you in the past? I don't even remember you, spare your previous "review" of the same band and same overly gratuitous and mastubatory nature. That leads me to believe I've berated you in the past for saying something completely inane, just as I have on this thread. You act like there's some kind of vendetta against you when you've simply been called out for being a spaz on more than one occasion.

Don't put it in the review's section if it's not a review. Period.

Jesse (June 3, 2005)

You can laugh at me all you want, but as it stands, I'm trying something new. I decided to write these two reviews because no one really had written any reviews like this before, and I was attempting to be daring and shake things up a bit. Sure, I realized that I would be angering a bunch of people, namely yourself, prankish, and others who have berated me in the past, but progress never occurs with full fledged support.

I realize that these reviews might seem to some extravagent and overdone. Regardless, I had a wonderful opportunity, and I got to experience something that most people didn't. I decided to take a chance and give people a taste of something that most readers of Punknews.org have not experienced for themselves.

Now I'm sure that I have many enemies on this site. I'm not a conventional writer for Punknews at all. In fact, I've received more hate mail than any other reviewer. But I'll stand by the fact that I'm out and trying new things. While most of my critics are spending their time rifling through my archives on this site to find more fodder for their arguments, I went out and worked hard to organize this "ride along." Call me a hack if you want, be mad at me for a comment I made about your favorite band, if you want, but you can't say that I'm not out there trying and working hard to bring some change and progression to Punknews.org.

prankish (June 2, 2005)

"Wow. It gets funnier everytime. Keep saying it."

Your reviews get funnier every time... though we're laughing at you, not with you. I'm sure many-a-17 year old will be impressed with your story, though.

slippy (June 2, 2005)

I knew this would be a Jesse review because Akimbo was in the title.

Nietzsche (June 2, 2005)

Yeah that's true, I guess you can't take Dragonforce seriously. Although the vocals & lyrics seem cheesy at times, they seriously shred.. and they sure are amusing live..with their synchronized jumping.

Jesse (June 2, 2005)

Wow. It gets funnier everytime. Keep saying it.

elliot (June 2, 2005)

so crucial's riffs....were those kinda like how PMFS's riffs were nu-metal riffs? remember that? yeah!

prankish (June 1, 2005)

"Apparently, they don't practice often, and haven't taken themselves too seriously. And that's a good thing."

Yes because all of my favorite bands never practiced and didn't take music seriously.

....

prankish (June 1, 2005)

Save it for Xanga, seriously.

Anonymous (June 1, 2005)

Hey I saw Devilinside tonight and they sounded nothing like Slipknot, Jesse. Not nu-metal at all.

I thought I'd just point out another time you fucked up a review since your PMFS comment is probably going to once again be brought up fairly soon.

-BSD

Jesse (May 31, 2005)

Whoa, not dissing DragonForce at all. But you can't take the band 100% seriously.

Nietzsche (May 31, 2005)

Jesse, can we be blog buddies?

I seriously want Akimbo to hit up Jersey.
AND YOOOO DONT DISS DRAGONFORCE.

Jesse (May 31, 2005)

Dude, I went head to head with the King for a little while. I tried man, but he was the King.

Anonymous (May 31, 2005)

Jesse got his ass handed to him by The King in 4-square.

Anonymous (May 31, 2005)

So, is this a review of the guy's day?

Anonymous (May 31, 2005)

still wondering what this band sounds like...these reviews suuuuck.