What to expect at the October 21 show we’re presenting at Williamson Magnetic.
In the shows Tone Madison has been booking as an extension of our efforts to highlight excellent, less-appreciated music, we’ve admittedly given short shrift to the heavier side of things. Which is a shame, because we love a wide range of that stuff. The next show we’re presenting, on Friday, October 21 at Williamson Magnetic Recording Company, makes up a bit for the imbalance with help from Athens, Georgia band Cinemechanica, on tour behind their self-titled sophomore album.
Cinemechanica has been around for more than 10 years, blending the rhythmic complexity and jagged melodic sense of math-rock with screamed vocals and a menacing undertow of metal-inspired drumming. Their first album, The Martial Arts, was released in 2006, and a couple years before that they released a split with two other Georgia-based bands I love, We Versus The Shark and Maserati. (Cinemechanica also shares its current drummer, Mike Albanese, with Maserati, which lost founding drummer Jerry Fuchs in a tragic accident in 2009.)
On the new self-titled album, Cinemechanica incorporates a lot of complexity into a thrillingly brisk and lean whole. Guitarists Bryant Williamson and Bryan Aiken trade a mix of slashing chords, drilling melodies, and gnarled little half-phrases throughout the album, perhaps most fiercely on the short “I Ain’t Gettin’ Shot In Louisville,” and occasionally dabble in dual-guitar harmony, as on “Mike White’s Spies.”” Albanese and bassist Joel Hastat form a heavy but grooving rhythm section—“Grief Assasins” finds them adroitly underpinning the band’s angular guitar interplay with equal parts thunder and swing. Aiken also provides the vocals on this record, a scorched howl with a distinct note of unhinged panic. The overall result sounds like a more metal-leaning Drive Like Jehu, or a less noise-slathered Converge (whose Kurt Ballou mixed this record).
Madison band No Hoax (featuring members of Poney and Tiny Daggers) have stood out over the past year as one of the finest punk bands in town. Their recent EP, (untitled), captures a thrashing, concise approach with a deep and grimy underpinning that comes courtesy of Rachel Kent’s bellowing vocals and Ben Brooks’ mercilessly taut drumming. Opening up the night will be And Illusions, the Madison duo of Emili Earhart (who is a Tone Madison contributor) on electronics and Michael Groome on bass. This is a pretty new project, but you can expect a more experimental, atmospheric set that draws on the duo’s broad musical interests, from contemporary classical to Krautrock.
