De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam, May 22nd
No Joy
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Ever since I discovered No Joy (I think it was last year, browsing through the Aquarius Records store release list) I've been totally smitten with them. Their brilliant mix of dreampop, shoegaze and noisy indierock (or, in their own words Pure Fucking Trip Metal!) was right up my alley, being a longtime fan of bands like My Bloody Valentine, Loop, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Slowdive etc... Needless to say I was pretty psyched to see they would embark on a tour across the great pond! Problem was the only show in either the Netherlands or Belgium was a show in Amsterdam, a 2 hour drive from where I live. So what to do? Well, I braved the friday evening rush hour traffic and 2,5 hours and several kilometers of traffic jams later I arrived at De Nieuwe Anita, (or as guitarist Laura Lloyd said when I mentioned this: 'No waaaay!!?? For this??') a cosy venue that's best described as a cross between a punk squat and your grandfathers living room. The actual stage itself was in the 'basement', with a very cool balcony directly above and around the stage. Downstairs it wasn't that big and it was on the same level as the floor so this made for a very intimate (albeit very, very hot) atmosphere. Perfect for an intense evening of blissful noiserock.
Tomorrow's Tulips
But before it was time for the Canadian quartet to do what they do best, the Californian trio of Tomorrow's Tulips brought us their mix of beachbum surfpunk, lo-fi indie, downer pop and '60s rock. I hadn't heard anything from them, heck I hadn't even heard OF them before, but we all know that from this some of the most interesting concert experiences can spring forth. And interesting it was. Enjoyable too. It was a bit Lou Reed-y, a bit Beach Boys-y, a bit Weezer-y, a bit Nirvana-y, a bit Pavement-y, with the occasional noiserock outburst; all wrapped up in short, powerful songs, some of them barely lasting 2 minutes. Pretty sweet if you ask me and definitely worth checking out if you're into this sort of thing!
No Joy
No Joy
After the break, it was time for No Joy to take the stage and expectations were high. They were for me at least.. But from the very first note it was apparant I would not be dissapointed. Like I said, the venue was perfect for these small, intense shows and armed with their huge array of guitar effects everyone was treated to a brilliant selection of old and new material (their new album 'More Faithful is due for a June 9th release on Mexican Summer). Soundwise it was everything you could wish for. Jasamine's hazy, dreamy vocals just buried deep enough in the mix of hers and Laura's guitar hurricanes, Michael's rumbling buzzy basstones and Garland's powerful drums (extra bonuspoints for Garlands 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin shirt!). As I said it was a nice mix of old and new material and awesome songs like 'Hare Tarot Lies', 'Slug Night' and 'Hawaii' passed the revue, before ending their set with the perfect noisy blissout that is 'E', the opening track from the Wait To Pleasure album... Other than the fact that it could have lasted longer than it did the long drive was well worth this fabulous gig.
Luckily, next time I won't have to drive all that far because bassist Michael Farsky gave me a scoop for the next tour this Autumn. Belgium won't be forgotten this time and they will visit the Botanique in Brussels. So I urge everyone to go and see them, wherever you live. You're guaranteed to leave with a huge smile afterwards..
Björn
Luckily, next time I won't have to drive all that far because bassist Michael Farsky gave me a scoop for the next tour this Autumn. Belgium won't be forgotten this time and they will visit the Botanique in Brussels. So I urge everyone to go and see them, wherever you live. You're guaranteed to leave with a huge smile afterwards..
Björn
