June 8, 2013 • Ace of Cups, Columbus, Ohio
My fourth trip to Ace of Cups; I think they've become my favorite venue in the area, not only for the good selection of bands, but also because they now have waffle fries.
Lazer/Wulf
This isn't the only time I've enjoyed the first band of the night more than any other (spoiler alert), but it's certainly a rare occasion. Despite their silly name, Lazer/Wulf turned out to be an incredible band. The played some long mostly-instrumental sludgy-math-metal pieces, a style that falls somewhere between Mastodon and Battles. While a blatant disregard for time signatures and conventional rhythm seems like risky business at this sort of show, their music was interesting and engaging 100% of the way through. Great stage presence, as well; these guys have real technical skill and played brilliantly.
• Best Guitar Face Award
White Hills
I'd like to give White Hills the benefit of the doubt and say that Lazer/Wulf was just a hard act to follow, but man is it hard to find much good to say about these guys. They play some sort of psych rock, but it's boiled down to extremely simple and repetitive songs (and I mean that—just playing one note over and over is barely a song) with lots of fuzz distortion and reverb. Nothing original, nothing new, nothing that hasn't been done before forty years ago. The band seemed more concerned about their appearance and stage gimmicks. Give me a break.
• Most Irritating Smoke Machines Award
Blood Ceremony
While Blood Ceremony was a step up from the last set, they still weren't anything to write home about in my book. Their music is basically Black Sabbath with a bit of Jethro Tull mixed in, and literally nothing else. I suppose it would have been a neat and novel sound if it were still the '70s, but I'm pretty sure it's not. To me their songs were pretty safe and boring, rehashing the same riffs and lyrical material. And yes, maybe the flute is cool for a bit, but you do not need ten flute solos on every song.
• Highest Ratio of Songs About Witchcraft to Songs About Other Things Award
Kylesa
And Kylesa was... Kylesa. As usual with the headliner, there isn't a whole lot to say about their performance. I actually haven't listened to the band in a long time so I didn't quite remember what they sound like, which is apparently a bit more psychedelic than I remember. That could also have been from the muddy and disappointing mix, though they still rocked pretty hard, and the solid and heavy rhythm section held things together more than enough to make the show worthwhile. Full set (that's me in the front somewhere)
• Most Drummers After the Melvins Show Award
By the way (and I can't believe I still have to say this): Have some common courtesy when moving to a new place to stand at a show. I saw multiple people tonight walk up and stand right in front of someone else without even looking around. (I was a victim of this myself. Figures.) People want to watch the show, not have to deal with looking around your stupid head.
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