the jazz show on wednesday is clearly far superior to the one tonight.

and, i don't need two jazz shows this week. i mean, i could have two jazz shows, i wouldn't complain, but it isn't necessary. i'd rather mix things up, in general.

see, here's the problem, though. if i go to detroit tonight and it's all feedback and fuzz and long instrumental sections, i'm going to enjoy it. but, if i go to detroit tonight and it's shorter, poppier songs for a mass audience, i'm going to wish i went to the jazz show. so, i'm taking a risk - it's a gamble.

so, do i feel lucky?

punk?

so, here's the deal on tonight, then.

the jazz band at phog - apollo suns - has failed to wow me. so, it's froth's night to steal. i'm going to get some fruit and listen to an older record of theirs. if it wins me over, i'm doing the late night at the ufo, which i haven't been to since they reopened. if not, i'll head down to phog for a beer and check out the jazz band.

this is some quality fusion, and you can be sure i'll be there.

wednesday. ferndale.

if you're going to try and work through this thinnish kind of telecaster rock sound, you need to be able to compensate with something - weird riffs, saucy vocals, whatever. i'm not sure yet if they're pulling it off, but i think they're trying. as it is, it's somewhere in the early speedy ortiz or middle pile space, and kind of struggling to pull itself together, despite giving it a go. sometimes you do everything right and just fail, right? but, they might take a failure comparison as a compliment.

i'm not going to this tonight - i learned the hard way that trumbullplex is serious about it's no punk time rule, and then i'm at the ufo factory until close, anyways. it wouldn't make sense to pay cover twice, tonight.

https://okwasher.bandcamp.com/album/all-aboard

just for clarity's sake: i'm not ignoring the maus show for political reasons. i just have no interest in it at all.

so, i kind of need to alter my initial analysis.

i thought i was dealing with a younger, unknown artist that was demonstrating a little bit of unrealized potential. but, it seems as though the potential was already realized on her previous records, and she's in a typically disappointing reinvention phase.

the potential i was hinting at is actually over here:
https://gabbysworld.bandcamp.com/album/eskimeaux

that's a much more abstract, interesting sound; if she can work a little bit more of that sound into her newer approach....

...but i think i kind of get that she's moving away from this sound because she wants to, too. it's not some kind of accident or something.

i want to be clear: i pointed out that the added depth on the new record separated it from most music in the genre, and that's a compliment, i just didn't grasp the actual, correct context. what i thought was a step towards something interesting is actually too small of a step; listeners have every reason to expect something more elaborate than that, and this hinted at potential is actually probably a bit of a disappointment for a lot of people.

that could still rectify itself.

so, i just clued in that this "gabby's world" is what eskimaux is calling herself nowadays. i guess the pc crowd got to her on that.

that's a shift in sound, certainly. wow.

and, i'm not sure if it makes me more or less interested in the show tonight.

on second thought, this seems front-loaded, too. and, for whatever reason, ripping off sonic youth doesn't seem to bug me.

but, at least i'm pretty confident that ufo will be open past midnight and at least a few people will be there. i can't say that for the other options. and, of course, if i stay here i'll likely be in by midnight.

right now, i think i'm in tonight, but i'll have to think about it.

https://versing.bandcamp.com/album/nirvana

this is frustrating, because with a guitar tone like this, you want them to do something more substantive than sound like a third-rate beck knock-off. but, again: it seems like you're not allowed to make this kind of music unless you're explicitly trying to be really boring. being exciting is apparently incredibly uncool right now....

that said, the other band on the bill seems to be a little more interesting to me, and if i can hang out around ufo for a while, the bus should be in at 5:55. hrmmn.

https://froth.bandcamp.com/album/duress

i would be more interested in a full record in the style of the first couple of tracks, but i guess if you're going to be a real 90s band then you have to have a singer that secretly wishes they were a sappy pop star.

i could check this out some other night, maybe.

https://antighostmusic.bandcamp.com/album/animal-panic

see, this is tricky because the record has a lot of guitars and the ep doesn't, so you're left wondering what you're actually going to get. but, then, if you listen to it more closely...

the first track is called an iberian peninsula (are there a few of them?), and features a direct di meola lift. the second is called a study in red, and is exactly that - red being the crimson record of the same name. direct rip. an impossible bond is...yeah. bond theme. there's a pattern developing: this is a jam band, but it was probably initially a cover band.

so, the answer to the question is probably that the show will feature some open jamming.

but, it's nice out.

and, i don't think i really want to deal with a long wait for the bus in the morning.

https://apollosunswpg.bandcamp.com/album/each-day-a-different-sun

i don't know if these are actually bob seger covers or not, but this is actually a pretty solid opening band.

https://pettytheftmi.bandcamp.com/

my initial reaction to this was "ugh. one of those bands.", and this is certainly an overdone sound at this point that was never very interesting to begin with, but the track clicked in a split second before i got to the 'x', which made me give it a closer listen, and i do have to at least identify this as a little more interesting than it's contemporaries, even if it still pretty much sucks. the difference is mostly in the arrangements, which are a little more developed than i'm used to hearing in this genre. judging by the vocals, she's clearly a big belle & sebastian fan, even if she doesn't quite get to that level of detail, yet.

so, if you actually like this neo-hippie bullshit that's been floating around for a few years now, you might interpret this as brilliant. it's still not enough for me, though - she needs to find a way to get it up to the next level of intensity, and kind of get away from the cliches. but, if she were to do that, she'd probably lose her audience, right? it's kind of fundamentally the genre she's working in that's the problem - there's almost nothing you can do to unborify this broad style without escaping it altogether. the genre is pretty much designed to be boring, on purpose, and if you ignore that, people get excited and lose interest.

that said, it might also be the best show in detroit tonight. i shouldn't be wavering on this, but i suspect it might be worth attending...

see, there's legit potential here.

and, the funny thing about the tunnel being closed right now is that the outer limits makes more sense on a monday night than something close to downtown does.

https://gabbysworld.bandcamp.com/album/beast-on-beast

ok.

so, i have a huge list of hundreds of bands to check out from the last few months of shows in detroit and toronto, and i will get to sorting through it soon.

for now, i'm trying to plan out the rest of the month, and i hope to finish it within a few days. so, i'll be posting here.