That Was The Show That Was: Get Help with E.R. and Soccermom

Thursday night at PA's in Somerville, Mass., three of Boston's best -- we're fudging New York/New Jersey-based Get Help's geographical bona fides here on purpose because of history, man -- brought their A game for an evening packed cheek to jowl with rock that howled. Beatings co-fronter Eldridge Rodriguez stuck the landing on a gripping and occasionally curious set that drew heavily from his superlative 2011 solo long-player You Are Released. The collection grafts onto Rodriquez's characteristically intense guitar shouters electronic beats and samples, and it was interesting to see drummer Dennis Grabowski, who also detonates the cans for The Beatings, play to electronics triggered live by a guy that we assume was Ray Jeffery, co-producer and recording engineer for You Are Released (among other E.R. recordings) brother Dave Grabowski (formerly of Scuba, now of Midriff Records' own Louder My Dear, which features Dennis Grabowski on guitar). Those electronics also writhed in the breaks between songs like a dimly lit pit of snakes, limning the already dark tunes with an ethereal, unsettling dimension. The set was highlighted by Mr. Rodriguez, resplendent in a white suit, delivering a scalding iteration of "Run MF Run;" the live rendition was augmented with a new bell sample and the explosive choruses were gratifying.

Gracious hosts for the evening Get Help obliged listeners with a set almost solely drawn from the quartet's wonderful sophomore record The Good Green Earth, although said set closed memorably with the undeniable, pogoing title track to its 2008 debut The End Of The New Country. Unsurprisingly, the highlights of the set otherwise were our favorite tracks from The Good Green Earth: closer "Crooked Streets" -- rendered here without the sadly beautiful organ backing -- and the strident strummer "You Should Be Home By Now." We'd like to see these guys play more often.

You Should Be Home By Now by Get Help

Jamaica Plain-based Soccermom brought the evening to a kaleidoscopic close with a dazzling set forged from dense guitars and desperate vocals. The quartet, fronted by longtime scenemaker Dan Parlin, was simply brilliant, regularly bending over-driven chords and slide guitar around a decisive rhythmic attack. New drummer Justin Kehoe, he formerly of The Migration Trap, was remarkably fluid and understated behind the drum kit, and seems to be a perfect complement to the extant Soccermom alchemy. We heard new material in the set and it gives us high hopes that the band will garner the recognition it deserves very soon -- if only from the legions of music fans out there waiting for a contemporary take on early Lilys or early Polvo. Soccermom intends to issue later this year a 10" EP titled You Are Not Going To Heaven, and we've heard some of the recordings and they are terrific. If you haven't heard the band's debut single, here's one of the tunes.

Soccermom's "High On Dad"

E.R. and Get Help fans can catch Mssrs. Rodriguez and Skalicky in their natural habitat fronting The Beatings this Friday -- while R.S.V.P.s last -- in Charlestown at an event being helmed by the RSL Blog. So get with that. Soccermom returns to the stage Saturday night at The Beachcomber in Quincy, and again July 16 at Precinct in Somerville, Massachusetts for the Guillermo Sexo record release party.

Get Help Record Release Party With E.R., Soccermom | May 26 | PA's Lounge

Be Prepared: Eldridge Rodriguez | You Are Released | 22 March

Boston noise-rock stalwart Eldridge Rodriguez' fourth solo effort, separate and apart from his work with local titans The Beatings. This full-length was written during and around the sessions for The Beatings' superlative 2009 effort Late Season Kids, and as such You Are Released evidences what seems to have been an incredibly fertile songwriting period for Mr. Rodriguez. But while his songs on Late Season Kids sound contemporary, there is something in the production on You Are Released's more aggressive numbers that imbues the guitar squall with a throw-back flannel dysphoria. Highlights include the annunciatory thriller "The Big Windup" and the melodic, mid-tempo, slide guitar-slung "Fragile Things," during which Rodriguez deploys an uncharacteristic murmur over a pulsing mirage of guitars, confessing "Dear Lord I shot my mouth off again." Midriff Records will issue You Are Released March 22.

Selected Previous E.R. Coverage:
Review: E.R. | This Conspiracy Against Us
That Was The Show That Was: E.R. | PA's Lounge
That Was The Show That Was: E.R. | TT The Bear's

YouTube Rodeo: The Beatings' "All The Things You've Been Missing"

Standout track from the band's stellar 2009 full-length Late Season Kids, which we lauded here. Back then we said of the tune, "[t]he redemptive caterwaul of co-fronter E.R. drives the album highlight "All The Things You've Been Missing" repeatedly into a chorus built on a scalding baptism of blaring, reverbed guitars. At the break-down he spits lines that recall Lloyd Dobbler dialogue, before spinning the song on its side like a bottle cap into a jabbing, acerbic coda." This new video was filmed in late 2010, and local denizens will recognize the stately environs of O'Brien's Pub as one of the settings. The clip is pretty straightforward in an early '80s MTV kinda vein, but the camera work gets more exciting as the song whips itself through terraced crescendos; in a way the best thing the cinematographer can do (and does) is get out of the way while The Beatings tear open a can of musical whomp-ass. Buy Late Season Kids from Midriff Records right here.

Today's Hotness: Pastel Group, The Answering Machine, E.R.

>> We don't know much about Boston's Pastel Group beyond its music (well, and that Nick Pastel restores furniture, which is actually tres awesome), but it is a very strong calling card indeed. The brilliant, new-ish act -- which incorporates a certain New Romantic patience with a gently fractured pop sensibility -- was apparently commissioned in 2009 as a trio. However, a personnel listing at Pastel Group's MySpace wigwam now contains five names; Facebook, of course, lists three people, so who knows; we sent an exploratory email to the band via its MySpace and eagerly await a response. The apparent quintet released earlier this summer the free Jamaica Plain EP, so named because that is the section of Boston from which Pastel Group hails. A second, related EP is slated for release sometime this coming fall. Jamaica Plain is available for free download at this link; in an innovation we've never encountered before, Pastel Group has somehow made it so the EP downloads from Google Docs. The EP's four songs are "Midwestern Sun," "Mistreated," "On This Night" and "Opinions And Thoughts," and they are all winners. To whet your appetite, here's an embed of that last track, a relatively guitar-oriented bleeper that shines brightly.

Pastel Group's "Opinions And Thoughts"

>> According to this post to the band's MySpace blog, the first single from The Answering Machine's forthcoming sophomore set Lifeline will be for the song "Animals." The Manchester, England-based quartet will promote "Animals" with a short slate of late October tour dates in its home town, London and Glasgow; the dates are posted at The Answering Machine's recently refreshed web site right here. We reported here last month that The Answering Machine plan to release the self-produced Lifeline worldwide in January.

>> Elsewhere in Boston: word is that Eldridge Rodriguez' long awaited You Are Released is, errrr.... a little closer to being released. The full-length, the second from the co-fronter of Boston's incendiary indie titans The Beatings, is currently being mastered and E.R. foresees a spring 2011 launch around the time of the annual SXSW confabulation. E.R.'s recent EP There's No Gray Area, No Middle Ground... You Are a Thief is now available through most if not all of your favorite digital music storefronts. Speaking of awesome, have you checked out the free 2009 Midriff Records sampler? It features tunes from most if not all of the cohort, including such fire-breathing classics as The Beatings' "All The Things You've Been Missing" and Eldridge Rodriguez' "Why I Fear The Ocean." But we'll just cut to the chase and say the reason you should download this RIGHT NOW is for The Beatings' cover of Beat Happening's "Indian Summer." Download the .zip file here. And we'll post "Indian Summer" below. The Beatings play House Of Blues, Boston's Front Room for free this Saturday, Aug. 14; E.R. plays Friday Aug. 20 at P.A.'s Lounge in Somerville. Get with that.

The Beatings -- "Indian Summer" -- 2009 Midriff Records Sampler
[right click and save as]
[buy music from Midriff here, it will make them happy]

Today's Hotness: Grown Ups, She Sir, E.R.

>> [PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan Bach] You don't need us to tell you one of the biggest stories in the musical underground this summer is the Cap'n Jazz reunion shows. But it is worth reminding indie rock fans that the seminal second-wave emo band's exuberant and angular style of indie rock has been embraced by many contemporary disciples. One such act is Chicago/Indiana-based emo superlatives Grown Ups, whose new full length More Songs is the maiden U.S. release of the rock-solid, U.K.-based label Big Scary Monsters. More Songs, which Big Scary Monsters released May 18, contains newly recorded versions of four songs from the band's 2009 Songs EP, alongside six brand new anthems. One of the new tracks, "Pears," began streaming a couple months ahead of the release of the new record, and the band's publicist has given us the exclusive go-ahead to post the track here. "Pears" surfaces from harsh feedback and sinewy, tangled guitar lines and blossoms into a composition that cycles through jitters and crescendos. It's a fist-pounding, crowd shouter. It's the summers of your youth in convenient pill form; if you are living through your youth now, well, turn this up.

Grown Ups' "Pears"
[buy More Songs from Big Scary Monsters right here]

>> Austin-based shoegaze geniuses She Sir disclosed here early this month that tracks from its jaw-dropping full-length debut Who Can't Say Yes and from its recently released Yens EP are being collected on a forthcoming set titled Ev'ry Thing In Paris. The material from She Sir's Who Can't Say Yes has been remastered, and Ev'ry Thing in Paris also contains a re-recorded version of the 2006 tune "You Can't Change A Thing." Sadly, the collection will initially be available only in Japan and Asia on Happy Prince Records, which releases the record July 14. A European release is in the works, and a limited number of copies of Ev'ry Thing In Paris will be set aside for sale to American fans, presumably through the Internerds. Japanese fans or those brave enough to try to buy something through a web site written mostly in Japanese will be able to buy the record from Nature Bliss right here. If you find that too daunting, don't despair: the entire thing has been posted for streaming at Last.FM right here. Make sure to click here to look at the sweet packaging.

>> Beatings co-fronter and solo rocker Eldridge Rodriguez returns this month with a new EP titled There's No Gray Area, No Middle Ground... You Are a Thief. The four-song release was recorded between sessions for The Beatings' triumphant sixth full-length Late Season Kids and the forthcoming E.R. full-length You Are Released. We've only listened to the EP a couple times so far, but fans are going to be very pleased. It's hard not to dub "They Do It In Spite Of Us" the hit of the EP, what with the lyrics concerning monkeys throwing feces, and the giddy piano and (we presume, faux) maniacal strings. Great stuff. Midriff Records releases There's No Gray Area, No Middle Ground... You Are a Thief June 29.

Behold! The Eldridge Rodriguez Residency!

[Poster by Ian "EEE" Adams]

The New Sound Of Slack: Soccermom Surfaces Slowly

[Left to right: The chair reserved for William Scales, David Kaplan, Danielle Deveau, Dan Parlin]
In the midst of conversation half of the party at the table in the front of the room pauses at the sound of the beginning of the Dinosaur Jr. b-side "Quicksand," only to realize that the tune on the hi-fi at the subterranean Harvard Square bar early Saturday afternoon is actually David Bowie's "Andy Warhol." Unsurprisingly, minutes earlier Dan Parlin and Danielle Deveau offered in just-about-unison "nineties" as an overarching musical influence shared among the four members of the rising, Boston-based indie rock concern Soccermom. Mr. Parlin, who fronts and plays guitar in the band, explains that, despite a suggestion that early '90s Chapel Hill and Louisville post-rock sounds echo perceptibly in Soccermom's forthcoming debut single, the common ground is just generally "nineties."

On the single, Soccermom sets off new parts and bridges with a patient efficacy, powershrugs into exuberant crescendoes with nonchalance. The song "High On Dad" opens with a pleasantly familiar, Pixies-ish ascending bass line and finally introduces urgent vocals more than three-quarters of the way through. Everything about Soccermom's music seems informed not only by the best music of two decades past, but also a measured, casual attitude toward crafting good music. Soccermom abides.

The band has percolated for about five years, from its earliest days when Parlin began four-tracking in San Francisco following a stint at Mass Art in Boston. He returned to Massachusetts in 2006, but his music rode the jumpseat while he played with Boston acts including E.R., Get Help and The Spanish Armada (all of the Midriff Records cohort). Only after Ms. Deveau, Soccermom's bassist, threw in her lot with the band did the project gain something resembling momentum. Asked why the band has finally gelled, why it is only now getting around to releasing a first single, Parlin and Deveau point to a collective caesura among the various competing projects. In due course fellow E.R. sideman and Spanish Armada principal William Scales enlisted as a second guitarist, and not long after amiable Spanish Armada drummer David Kaplan claimed the drum stool.

Underscoring Soccermom's unhurried nature is that its show this Friday at PA's Lounge in Somerville, Mass. is only the fifth-ish it has played despite debuting live two years ago. Friday's show was to have been a record release gig for the single, which also includes the rocker "Bill Cosby In Glamorous Chains," but certain delays mean a May gig at O'Brien's or a contemplated June live date are more likely to serve that purpose. Either way seems fine with Soccermom. Despite close ties to the Midriff Records, the band is self-releasing the vinyl single, and it expects to have stock in hand by the end of the month. The foursome envisions additional singles down the road, and expresses no sense of urgency to cut a full-length record for now. Soccermom abides.

Soccermom -- "High On Dad"

Soccermom: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Review: Get Help | The End Of The New Country [MP3]

The release (well, pending release) of New York duo Get Help's solid debut is as good an occasion as any to give thanks for the stalwart musicians out there who make dependable indie rock. Not dancepunk, not nu-rave, not electroclash, not... well, you get the picture. There are now countless bands, and many of them chase countless, cycling trends. Thankfully there are still plenty of acts making great music without aping the latest tight-legged or baggy-arsed hype-riders. Like The New Year. Like Thalia Zedek. And like Get Help.

The web site of Boston- and New York-based indie rock giants The Beatings continues to offer its message, "welcome to the country." So it is hard not to view the title The End Of The New Country as a sort of response, what with 50% of Get Help being comprised by Beatings guitarist and co-fronter Tony Skalicky. There is definitely a sense of old endings and new beginnings baked into the tracks on The End Of The New Country, particularly the anthemic rocker "Red Jacket Orchards" (a real place, incidentally -- the weird thing is we found that reference totally by accident) and the pensive strummer "Life Is Full Of Surprises." The other half of the the duo -- which is augmented for live performances by various labelmates and cohorts -- is Mike Ingenthron of Strikes Again. All three of the aforementioned acts record for Midriff Records, a bi-city collective formed by The Beatings seven years ago. With all those tight relationships in place, it is little wonder that Mssrs. Skalicky and Ingenthron's record doesn't stray far from the Grade A indie rock The Beatings trade in, but it is certainly more than a small comfort.

Like the solo efforts of The Beatings' Eldridge Rodriquez, Get Help doesn't fully embrace the kinetic squawl and electric snarl the characterizes the most compelling Beatings tracks. Instead, The End Of The New Country is as much as collection of moods as it is a group of songs. To that end, Get Help deploys reverbs, acoustic guitars and keys ("Travelers Shave Kit," "Punishing Good Deeds") with the same facility as the distortion levied in the balls-to-the-wall title track. As far as points of reference are concerned, the ballad "All Else Fails" is reminiscent of Yo La Tengo's "Tears Are In Your Eyes," as is the looping guitar at the close of the aforementioned "Travelers Shave Kit. The breezy rocker "It Begins Well" sounds like newer New Radiant Storm King. Mostly of course, Get Help's music sounds like good indie rock. Midriff Records releases The End Of The New Country Oct. 14, and the band will perform a record release show at Great Scott the following night. Now get a load of the title track.

Get Help -- "The End Of The New Country" -- The End Of The New Country
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[pre-order The End Of The New Country from Midriff right here]

Get Help: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Related Coverage:

That Was The Show That Was: The Beatings | TT The Bear's
That Was The Show That Was: E.R. | TT The Bear's
Review: Eldridge Rodriguez | This Conspiracy Against Us
Review: The Beatings | Holding On To Hand Grenades

Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, My Psychoanalyst, E.R., Lilys

>> News about the forthcoming Los Campesinos! full-length and attendant touring has circumnavigated the Internets numerous times at this point, and we don't have much to add regarding the Feb. 18 release of Hold On Now, Youngster... save for the fact that Birmingham, England-based indie superheroes Johnny Foreigner will support some if not all of the recenty posted February tour dates. Speaking of Johnny Foreigner, the band just posted a map of its Birmingham digs annotated with commentary about the places noted in various song lyrics. You may recall Brooklyn bar-rock luminaries The Hold Steady did something similar. What is notable about Johnny Foreigner's so-called psychogeography is that there are places identified as being mentioned in songs that we have not yet heard. This means said songs -- if in fact they are songs -- have a chance to show up on the forthcoming full-length from the band, which is expected to be released spring 2008. Ignoring for now things that seem too odd to be song titles, possible new songs include:

"DJs Get Doubts"
"Hennings Favorite"
"I Heard, He Ties Up Cats"

>> One more note related to Johnny Foreigner. The band expressed some excitement lately about a date they are playing Tuesday with an act called My Psychoanalyst, and after downloading the Derby, UK-based trio's excellent single "We Disagree" b/w "Panophobia" from EMusic we can understand why. Big, atmospheric and textured sounds from a just a trio. Very impressive. It looks like My Psychoanalyst and Johnny Foreigner share a manager or some such, so we suppose the fact the acts are on a bill together is not much of a surprise. Either way, the video for "We Disagree" is pretty great; make sure to watch until the song hits its gigantic, epic payoff. Check it out at the top of this item, if you haven't done so already.

>> Boston indie rock power hitters E.R. and the -- well, we can't remember what the backing band is billed as now, although we thought The New Jerseys was a great name -- recently recorded tracks for Band In Boston's Flophouse Sessions podcast. The five-song set includes standout tunes from this year's E.R. long-player This Conspiracy Against Us, namely the bitter ballad "Lexington, KY" and the record's title track. The former song is notable for the awesome lyric "everyone's got a plan and everyone's plan sucks." The version of "Lexington, KY" here is sans the piano that anchored the album rendition, but that creates a lot room for some tasteful strumming and minimal drumming. Also remarkable about this E.R. performance is the approaching-sublime cover of Eddie Grant's "Romancing The Stone." You can download or stream the whole thing right here. E.R.'s most recent release, the digital-only EP ...And The Storm King, was released by Midriff Sept. 25. Here's the album version of "Lexington, KY" we mentioned supra for you to enjoy.

E.R. -- "Lexington, KY" -- This Conspiracy Against Us
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[buy E.R. records from Midriff here]

>> Woah. Legendary indie rock chameleons Lilys emerge from hiatus for a two-night stand headlining L.A.'s Club Spaceland this week. Wild. The shows are Dec. 20 and 21. Notable support includes dream pop act Mezzanine Owls the first night. If we lived in L.A., we'd be in line for this now.

Don't Get Too Attached To Pending Disappointment

Obviously the name Pending Disappointment should be your first hint. But the track we discuss today, "I'll Leave You Behind," is a more explicit warning: self-deprecating, feels-good-feelin'-bad indie rock ahead. But we've jumped ahead of ourselves... The bands surrounding Boston/New York rock concern Midriff Records, including flagship act The Beatings, share common members, but the label's "sound" is less specific than you might imagine. While The Beatings channel Burma-esque postpunk, and side project E.R. proffers a folksier bent, Midriff's latest release -- Pending Disappointment's New York Penn, NY -- takes cues from '90s favorites including Archers of Loaf and Quicksand.

It is this latter influence that features prominently in the track "I'll Leave You Behind," which is a little similar to Quicksand's phenomenal rocker "Too Official" from the 1993 masterpiece Slip. Boston-based trio Pending Disappointment has curiously banished "I'll Leave You Behind" -- an MP3 of which is posted below -- to the far end of the new record (two songs proximal to the amazingly titled album closer "FFF=666", which of course nods to Jawbox's amazing For Your Own Special Sweetheart) despite the fact that it rocks most steadfastly. Punctuated with harmonics and burbling bass playing in the verse, the track would have made a nice closer or a pointed album opener. Stuttering dynamics in the bridge drive toward an ascending melody and deflating denouement. For optimum enjoyment this track should be blasted loudly. New York Penn, NY will be released Thursday. Pending Disappointment's debut Off The Starboard Bow was released by Midriff in 2005.

Pending Disappointment -- "I'll Leave You Behind" -- New York Penn, NY
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[buy New York Penn, NY from Midriff right here]

Pending Disappointment: Interweb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Previous Midriff coverage:
That Was The Show That Was: The Beatings | TT The Bear's
That Was The Show That Was: E.R. | TT The Bear's
That Was The Show That Was: E.R., The Mitchells | PA's Lounge
Review: E.R. | This Conspiracy Against Us
!Exclusive! The Beatings MP3

Today's Hotness: Frightened Rabbit, The Beatings, Assembly Now

>> BrooklynVegan isn't saying how it knows (oh wait, here is the confirmation at Fat Cat)... Anyway, BrooklynVegan reports here that roundly excellent Glaswegian indie trio Frightened Rabbit has signed to Fat Cat, which is already home to acts including Mice Parade and The Twilight Sad. Frightened Rabbit's debut Sings The Greys, yet to be released in the U.S., is currently being remastered by indie go-to guy Alan Douches, and Fat Cat plans to issue the remastered version this fall. That release will be preceded by a single, the album track "Be Less Rude." The band is working with producer Peter Katis (Interpol, Mobius Band) on material for a sophomore record. We've already heard some demos of new stuff and can say there are hot songs in the works. You can download Frightened Rabbit's original three-song demo from Fat Cat's demo archive here. The band has one U.S. date slated, June 24 at the Mercury Lounge in New York. Here's an MP3 of "Go Go Girls" from the 2006 issue of Sings The Greys, courtesy of the upstanding citizens over at the Self Starter Foundation.

Frightened Rabbit -- "Go Go Girls" -- Sings The Greys (2006)
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>> A lot of news out of the Midriff Records camp. About 18 months on the heels of the release of the record that spawned it, Boston noise-rock quartet The Beatings' blistering fist-pumper "Feel Good Ending" has been given a video treatment. The tune was one of several highlights of the 2006 release Holding On To Hand Grenades, and you can watch the video clip here. As we reported previously, The Beatings have begun work on the follow-up to Hand Grenades. You can see forthcoming tour dates at the band's MySpace lean-to here. Beatings side project E.R. will release an digital-only EP entitled ...And The Thunder Chief June 26. The short stack features five new tracks and will only be available via the Midriff Records web site. And finally, The Spanish Armada, the most recent backing band of E.R.'s Eldridge Rodriguez, will release an album on Midriff this fall. Dig the video for "Feel Good Ending"? Here's the MP3:

The Beatings -- "Feel Good Ending" -- Holding On To Hand Grenades
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>> That forthcoming Assembly Now single we mentioned last week? It's going to be for the track "Graphs Maps & Trees," which has been streaming for some time on the London quartet's MySpace player. The single will be issued in early August on 7-inch vinyl. Once the vinyl run is exhausted, the tune will be available for sale via digital storefronts including ITunes. This all according to a MySpace bulletin from the band a week ago.

>> Pitchfork reports here that Pink Floyd's 1967 debut The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is being expanded and reissued by EMI. The three-disc set will contain stereo and mono mixes of the album, four singles from that period, and other rarities. Full details here. We already bought one reissue of the album, and we don't think we need another one. We'll see.

>> Our new favorite podcast? Glad you asked. Apparently the Touch label has had a podcast going back to 2005. We just got on board with the most recent episode, which is field recordings from the Island of Islay in the Scottish Hebrides. There's a bit too much narration for our tastes, but I guess with field recordings you do need a certain amount of context. But anyway, check out the site for TouchRadio here, and try a few of the podcasts. We're digging episode 25 -- it's like the last minute of "CBS Sunday Morning" where they show wild red foxes just chillin' for sixty seconds, except longer.

That Was The Show That Was: E.R. | TT The Bear's 5.17.2007

As the hurriedly scribbled notes (well, arrows, exclamation points and one star) we appended to the set list at left attest, we were pretty jazzed by the E.R. And The New Jerseys set during last week's Midriff Records showcase at TT's. One of the reasons we were so won over was that the performance surpassed our expectations. We had seen E.R. only six weeks earlier, and thought they played a strong set [read our review here]. And yet Thursday's performance was remarkably better; it honestly gave us pause as we left the club and made us wonder why some bands have nights that are good, and some that are sublime.

Certainly the sound at TT's is superior to the more ad hoc sound system over at PA's Lounge. But that's only part of the story. The quartet's energy level was high, and while E.R.'s supporting players The New Jerseys (a/k/a The Spanish Armada) are typically somewhat reserved, the three delivered particularly fervent performances themselves. Drummer Dan Parlin systematically brutalized his drum kit, rarely looking up from the, ahem, beatings he administered to its various components; bassist Bill Scales was tapped into a serious Entwhistle vibe -- maybe its just the beard? -- and knocked out melodic bass parts with counter-melodies we don't recall hearing on the band's recent debut This Conspiracy Against Us; guitarist Greg Lyons effortlessly coaxed spot-on feedback, slicing leads and gripping backing vocals.

The biggest surprise of the night was E.R.'s encore. What is noted neutrally at left as simply "Ministry" was actually a Ministry cover, namely the band's popular industrial screamer "Stigmata." Needless to say, this was insane. Kehoe man-handled the track's merciless beat, with its tell-tale stuttering rhythm giving away what was about to happen for those of us who weathered a de rigeur industrial phase at the turn of the '90s. And Mr. Rodriguez's usual bassy howl didn't need much embellishment to push it into Al Jourgensen's range.

Despite that surprise, based on the star (and of course the exclamation points) we jotted on the set list, you can see we thought the tune "Why I Fear The Ocean" was the short set's emotional apex (we expect the title on the set list "hydro" is short for hydrophobia). On This Conspiracy Against Us the track is a study in texture and production techniques. Stripped of the swirling guitar tracks, damaged angel backing vocals and violins, the track is a barn burner when performed live.

E.R.'s This Conspiracy Against Us was issued Feb. 27 on Midriff; we reviewed it here. Here's the video for Ministry's "Stigmata," posted over at YouTube. And since we've sort of opened the door on Ministry news with this item, we should note that the storied industrial act will release in July a new set entitled Rio Grande Dub, which we think is remixes of the band's 2006 set Rio Grande Blood. Anyway, here are some E.R. tracks:

E.R. -- "Stillborn In New Jersey" -- This Conspiracy Against Us
E.R. -- "You Get What You Want" -- This Conspiracy Against Us
[right click and save as]
[buy This Conspiracy Against Us from Midriff here]

Nota Bene: E.R.

We just got back from seeing E.R. totally destroy at T.T. The Bear's Place. Well, actually, we just got back from walking our dog. But before that we witnessed one of those shows where the band is totally on, and it is a good night, and it makes their previous other "good nights" look merely adequate by comparison. We're sorry we had to duck out of the show early before headliners The Beatings came on. We'll see them some day. More about E.R.'s set tomorrow.