On The Scene: School 01-10-2013

October Fest supplied quite the feast for music lovers last week, especially out of the Maybe Mars camp, who brought Carsick Cars out of the woodwork to get their feet wet before they kick off on their nation-wide tour ending with the release of their newest album in December. So yeah, they’ve got their work cut out for them and after catching a lackluster performance from them (and pretty much everyone else) at Yugong Yishan’s anniversary show, I needed to make sure that Carsick Cars, had indeed not lost the beat. Well, it sure is nice to be proven wrong again and again.

Charged and rocking, Carsick Cars are back with a new sense of purpose and did not disappoint. By the time they were through, School was a sweaty mess of a place. Check out more below as well as Chui Wan getting their disco on.

After missing the first two bands due to being a lazy bastard, and having too much fun watching someone try to create a smokebomb in the midst of a confrontation using a lighter, I made my way into School to catch Chui Wan get their psychedelic on.

Just straight up love this jam – how it completely flips over on itself mid way, turning from a swamped, almost Beatles-esque psychedelic waltz into an all out tribal jam that’s directly out of Talking Heads catalogue. And that violin – this is how you end a song. Can’t wait to see what these kids have in store next year.

Did I mention that Carsick Cars, as per usual, turned School into a hopping, mess of a dancehall? Front row was a disaster zone pretty much – just look at me try to keep my shit together.

How are you not gonna move your ass to this? Granted, at this stage, audiences know these songs like the back of their hand, just as much as band can probably play them in their sleep, but still, not too many bands can continue to bring the KABAM! like these guys do.

And yes if my ears heard correctly there was plenty of new material being showcased as well, including this ditty which my trusty GoPro was able to capture while I was off the clock.

It’s almost frightening hearing a guitar riff like that out of them – it’s something straight out of Jethro Tull’s playbook. Distinctive though. And as always, catchy as all hell.

It wouldn’t be a Carsick Cars’ show without a little Zhong Nan Hai – and as luck would have it, a flying Zhongnanhai cigarette managed to roll off my head and directly into my mouth while filming this – no lie – I was so flabbergasted I had to go around telling everyone – only at School boys and girls.

 

Dying to get my hands on Carsick Cars’ latest romp. Check out Carsick Cars’ tour over at Magneta Booking.