ps i love you, suuns, valleys 05-10-2011
mavericks, ottawa
i wasn't able to find a video of valleys playing live. can somebody get some footage up? they're much more powerful live than on tape and and it would be good for them.....
there are three sides to valleys. the first is the now standard girl-with-keyboard-and-gentle-vocals thing. the second is the indie boy with sensitive vocals and electric guitar thing. the third is a totally cacophonous guitar & drum sound that is ultimately derived from the branca/swans/sonic youth thing of the early 80s.
the result is both novel and familiar at the same time. you're unlikely to hear beach house or braids collapse into the kind of utter noise that these guys fall into on a regular basis. you're also likely to be a little tired of that dreary beach house sound and sensitive indie boy sound by now; it's really the noisy escapades that liven the tracks up, give them life and are the point of interest.....
now, i'd like to claim they're still working out their sound and that the fact that a lot of the tracks cut off before they explode is the result of an act experimenting with a sound they're about to perfect. however, that's not really the case. it's partially the case; they released their first record in 2009 and the tracks on that disc seem to be of the nature. they released a second ep in 2010 and the tracks on it seem to, in fact, be further expansions on that sound in a slightly more polished, finished manner. great, then, the next record should be mesmerizing, right? unfortunately, their third release - a three track "tour ep" that i got a free download link for because they were out of physical copies of the 2009 record - has retreated from their noisy point of interest to focus more on the beach house sound. hey, memoryhouse just got signed to sub pop. braids was up for a polaris prize...why not get in while they can?
personally, i think that's a mistake. i think they'll build a more solid base by presenting a unique spin on a common theme than by watering themselves down for further exposure. that's not to say the tour ep is awful, either. there are still some noisy bits....but i was hoping they would become more elaborate over time, not more focused.
as of right now, they're still mostly playing older, grungier material at the shows they're playing, so i can still recommend seeing them very highly, at least for the remainder of this tour. but, i hope they swing back to their noisy escapades; there's nothing more satisfying than a guitar being shredded to pieces through a wall of distortion and reverb, and this act legitimately pumps the noise out with drive and passion.
the first clip here was the highlight of the show. it's indicative of their 2008-2010 output. the second is pretty much the only live footage i can find, but is from a year later and is more indicative of the direction they appear to be heading in.
i initially had a choice between massive festival shows and a record shop show in picking a video (both now deleted) for suuns. the record shop show was closer to what i saw/experienced.
the best way to experience suuns would actually probably be in a disco, not a festival or a medium sized bar or a record shop. seriously...
...and the reason is because they have a definitely danceable nature about them that sort of colours their live output. i've seen some reviews that suggest industrial. umm, what? in what sense? they sound more like an incredibly noisy take on dance-punk than like anything else i've heard with the "industrial" label applied, including the early punk-derived stuff.
in fact, i found a dance club video. not what i saw, but perhaps the way they should be seen. see, with the instigation of flashing lights, better drugs and a more dance-oriented audience, this music could easily incite a crazy fun dance party. what i saw was more along the lines of a bunch of cerebral indie geeks scratching their beards and over-analyzing it.
i think they missed the point. they should have just shut up and moved along with it...
now, there's more than the tyranny of the beat here. along with the beat-oriented dance-punk, this band brings in a sizeable no-wave sound, complete with some serious drum bashing and some really noisy guitars. yes, that aspect is going to bring in some space cadets, and they'll be more than satisfied, they'll be more than plowed by the sheer power of the attack....
...but, overall, what you *should* get out of these guys is a fun, twisted dance party. so, bring your dancing friends too, not just your pothead buddies...
the first video is the dance club video and the second is a full set from nov, 2011 that was filmed in paris, france.
i missed ps i love you last year 'cause i was broke. still broke. i missed them at the bluesfest too, but i tend to avoid that unless there's a headliner i won't see elsewhere. i'm just not a fan of concerts with 50,000 people at them.
see, i knew they'd come back. and, you know what? they'll be back again, too...
in a single pretentious sentence, ps i love you sounds like a no-wave take on a dance-punk take on dinosaur jr. the lou barlow influence is overwhelming, just cleaned up, de-countrified and modernized. that's really the beginning and end of what can be said of what they sound like.
...and, like dinosaur jr, when you're listening to or watching them, what you're going to notice is the pleasing guitar work mixed into song structures that are at times borderline painfully boring. they're one of those acts that you sit through the song to hear the solo for.
...but when the solos come in, they're often blissful. his tone is awesome: pure raunch, all the time. his playing is not technical, but it's very fluid.
so, if you like to get baked and listen to feedback blaring at you at absurd volumes, these guys are just about perfect. otherwise, it's probably not really for you.
the first clip is of the show i missed last year and the second is a full concert from new york, two days after i saw them in ottawa.
