Pontiak teams up with labelmates White Hills for trippy show at Cake Shop
Cake Shop
152 Ludlow St. between Stanton & Rivington Sts.
Monday, February 1, $7, 8:00
212-253-0036
www.cake-shop.com
www.thrilljockey.com
Thrill Jockey is hosting an awesome evening at Cake Shop on February 1 with two of its best artists, Pontiak and White Hills. Pontiak has been one busy band, having released three outstanding discs in the last year and a half, 2008’s SUN ON SUN, last spring’s bigger, more explosive MAKER, and this fall’s limited-edition SEA VOIDS (in addition to a shared record with labelmates Arbouretum in the summer of 2008). The Virginia-based brothers Carney — Jennings on bass, Van on guitar, and Lain on drums — once again deliver a sonic blast of experimental, very loud psychedelic thrashing on such songs as “Suzerain” and “Shot in the Alarm” along with the poetic, folk acoustic “Life and Coral” and “It’s the Life.” The LP concludes with the heavy, trippy title track, which segues neatly into fellow Thrill Jockey artist White Hills. Based in New York City but apparently from another galaxy, White Hills play psychedelic space rock that goes off in all kinds of heavy, far-out directions. Their recordings are often hard to track down, either self-released or released on small labels in very limited editions on vinyl and CD, although Thrill Jockey has been spreading the good word on such freak-outs as 2009’s HEADS ON FIRE and DEAD and a brand-new eponymous record, which comes out February 23. White Hills founder and guitarist Dave W., bassist Ego Sensation, and drummer Bob Bellomo take listeners on fantastical musical journeys; to get a taste of what they’re all about, visit the Thrill Jockey site and check out the streaming “Visions of the Past, Present and Future” from HEADS ON FIRE, ten minutes of furious jams, electronic meanderings, space-age blasts, and slowed-down, ethereal breaks (followed by the atmospheric twenty-six-and-a-half-minute epic “Don’t Be Afraid,” which is like a soundtrack to a creepy thriller set aboard a ghost ship). New York City psychedelic rockers Eidetic Seeing open what should be a tremendous night of live music.