Being a cynical person in an age of over-information and constant movement, I was much looking forward to standing in more or less the same place as my ears rallied along side a bombardment of coarse tunes till the early hours of the following day.
Having forgotten to switch my watch from Miami time to Eastern time, I walked into Churchill’s towards the end of Trench’s set. Vinny’s dense shouts being heard from outside the bar, walking in was a musical embrace, more of a chokehold really but one you come to enjoy. There’s this casual enjoyment I got from watching this young man in a shirt with dolphins doing crud acts of carnal intimacy, stomping around, yelling as his friends played droning, consuming music. Not sure if that says anything about me.
Trench
I’ve developed a love affair of sorts with noisy, technical music; from Dinosaur Jr to more recently Mogwai I can’t seem to get over listening to music that would likely fit into musical scores of automotive accidents. Whenever I hear Other Body is on a show’s setlist I try to make it out, the shouty-authoritative vocal styling’s of the lead singer Andrew McLees pairs well with the almost ritualistic sounding drums and the quick hums of the bass. Though OB’s members have been making their rounds across the music scene for a while, the relatively young Other Body has a somewhat limited range when it comes to songs they can preform live. As good as their usual performances are, the addition of a new song last Friday really gave a rejuvenated kick to their set. Even it being the first time they preformed it, the execution of the currently untitled track (see video “Other Body Part 1”) was remarkable; the song was delightfully crunchy, much like a cheese doodle. Other Body ‘s set was not without it’s minor hiccups but a slightly malfunctioning cord wasn’t enough to taint an otherwise stellar the experience.
Xela Zaid is a curious act that I’d recommend everyone experience. It’s the closest thing to a religious experience one could find at Churchill’s; I don’t know what it is, Zaid’s soft spoken words directly to the crowd, the harmonica, or the deep contemplative glares one receives while he is one stage but there’s a unfalteringly close parallel between Zaid and a Southern Baptist Preacher. Where a stereotypical preacher implements charisma (not to say Zaid isn’t charismatic, don’t personally know the guy), Zaid uses soothing, almost therapeutic ambient music. As the oscillating guitar buzzes and the harmonica chimes you get almost submerged in a coagulated coat of ease of mind, but shortly thereafter he reminds you of the fact you are standing in the sticky floors of Churchill’s with his blaring of compressed static croaking though the amps
Xela Zaid
In between Xela Zaid and Sloth set, I floundered and walked over to the merch tables. Being a pushover for obsolete media and things I don’t really need I decided to fork over a few dollars to buy two of Sloth’s cassettes. Not having any clue what the tapes housed or moreover how Sloth sounded period I was pleasantly surprised by their on-stage presence. I’m at a bit of lost for words when it comes to Sloth. Both member’s donned veils of sorts as they handed out fliers with their lyrics, numerous toy critters (like one might find in a Halloween store), makeshift ninja stars made out of cut out pornographic pictures, and most importantly, smiles (awwwwwww).
Sloth
The performance was backed by a slat of different pre-recorded noises some more coherent than others but all somewhat whimsical; Sloth has since become my favorite off-Broadway performance. Though words couldn’t exactly be deciphered, my favorite of Sloth’s lyrics, which I read off of the sing along handout, has to be “Turtle patrol. Turtle patrol. We are on a turtle patrol. Turtle patrol. Turtle patrol. Let’s help those turtles cross the road.” If those aren’t words to live by I cannot fathom what are.
There is a small price one has to pay to be able to enjoy cavity play live. In a sick monkey paw deal, the penance for the performance comes in the form of a perpetual buzzing in your ears. The newly reformed Cavity has once more become a favorite amongst the band of misanthropes running around Miami, as soon as cavity went on stage to test their equipment the meandering hoard of characters at Churchill’s assumed position on the front of the stage, ready for the harebrained screams and raucous guitars. The collective ebb and flow seen throughout the crowd as everyone moved to Cavity’s insatiably ravenous tunes reaffirmed my excitement to watch Cavity once more. Though I’m sure it was hard for some to dance while trying not to slip on the copious amount of toy rats and spiders left behind by Sloth.