THE
STRANGER: JULY 7, 2009
MUSIC
Fucking
in the Streets
Drinking
for the Kids
by Eric
Grandy
Matt Hickey
I've
never hosted anything much more formal than head lice, so it was with some
trepidation that I agreed to host the opening night of the Vera Project's
"A Drink for the Kids" fundraising campaign—in which the 21-plus
set can raise money for the imminently worthy all-ages venue simply by drinking
selected beer and booze at various neighborhood bars—last Sunday at
the Cha Cha. Fortunately, "hosting" mostly just meant showing up early, buying
the appropriate drinks, and encouraging others to do the same. There was also
an announcement made later on in the evening soliciting donations (something
along the lines of "blurgh blurgh blurgh kids, blah blah blah give us your
money"), and that was that.
The night also benefited
yours truly, as I got to finally check out a couple bands I'd been meaning
to see for a minute now: Unnatural Helpers and Telepathic Liberation
Army.
Telepathic Liberation
Army are a four-piece made up of Lisa Orth (aka DJ Amateur Youth) on
vocals, Michelle Nolan (ex–Chromatics, Shoplifting) on
bass, Alice Wilder (ex–Diamond Cut Diamond) on guitar, and Stacy
Peck on drums. Like their members' previous bands, Telepathic Liberation Army
churn out sharp, wiry, and dark post-punk marked by tense martial drumming,
sinuous bass grooves, harsh flares and then spidery melodies of guitar, and
vocals shouted and dubbed in echo. (During their sound check, Nolan warmed
up with the riff from "Beat It," proving that even at a basement-bar punk
show two weeks after the man's death, you still can't escape Michael Jackson.)
To my ears, TLA sound a bit like Erase Errata, which I mean as an unequivocal
and enthusiastic compliment. It's nice to see Seattle generating some smart
punk rock able to split the difference between righteous aggression and dance
friendliness while retaining some sense of style and smarts. More of this,
less bluesy metal boogie and beardo backwoods folksy bullshit, please.