Show Review: Whores./MTN ISL

Whores/MTN ISL @ The Earl

I walked in during what I'm guessing was MTN ISL'S second or third song. Recently (and by this I mean over a year), my hearing's been... dysfunctional. You'd think that with the amount of loud shows I've been to over the years, I'd be telling to people to "turn it up!"... much the opposite, actually. Loud noises are uncomfortably loud. It's almost not even worth watching The Wire if I have to have it the lowest volume possible and subtitles. So it came as a pleasant surprise when I found that I was able to put my earplugs all the way in and they still sounded amazing. Seriously, I've been disappointed with The Earl in the past, but tonight the sound was completely on point. (Singer/guitarist Gene Leath mentioned someone called "Wiggins," who Creative Loafing describes as "Atlanta's version of Steve Albini." Now I'm embarrassed I did not know his name before.) I was ecstatic about the performance afterwards, even asking Lauryn "Who do they even sound like?" and she agreed that these guys have really got a unique sound going. With a lot of the types of music I listen to, the band members are all early-mid 20's, but I have to remember that the heyday of this music was two decades ago; I was barely crawling then. The members of MTN ISL clearly grew up with the likes of Failure, Quicksand, and Shellac, and it shows not just in their age, but their awesomely innovative sound. We both agreed that they were very "space-y," and indeed, they had me slowly rocking back and forth at the front, eyes closed. Go see MTN ISL.

The good thing about wearing earplugs, I think, is that it blocks out much of the excess reverb; although they turn down the volume, I find that bands typically sound better with earplugs all the way in. But with Whores., this was not so much the case. Not that it was a problem by any means. If there's one band I'll gladly burn my hair fibers to, it's Whores. You know that awesome feeling you get when you discover an awesome band, and then you find out they're playing in your town a couple days later? Well, how about when you find out they're a local band? I admit this isn't the exact timeline -- when I first downloaded Ruiner last summer, I was aware that they were local, but I had never seen them on any shows or anything -- but it's close enough. It would be a disservice to merely call Whores. my favorite local band, because they are truly one of my favorite current bands. As singer/guitarist Christian Lembach said, "Didn't you guys hear? We're rich and famous now." (Being chosen to open for Floor on not only the Atlanta show, but several regional shows must be a honor, really.)

Bands since the beginning of whenever musicians started recording music and playing live must have grappled with the question of whether to focus more on the actual recorded music or the live experience. Though I'm not a musician myself, I've found that as with most things, the middle ground is truly the best way to go: I've heard bands that shine on album, but are not fitted for the live stage, and vice-versa. Some bands make music just to play it live, and some bands make music with no intention of even doing a show. I still recall a particular interview where Lembach basically said "We will take parts out of songs if they're not fun to play live." I think that I slightly recoiled when I first read this (this was before I had seen them for the first time), but now I understand why he said this. Watch a video (or, hell, see them live!) and you'll see that these three guys truly live for the live show. They jump around, sure, but what really struck me was the the way they were constantly grinning at each other. Fuck all the 9-5 bullshit, the mortgage, the taxes; when these guys get on stage, they are so utterly engaged in the present moment and stoked about it that I can't help but gape at them with admiration, envy, and pure reverence. (And you know a band is heavy when I deliberately take off my glasses just so I can go apeshit.) At the same time, though, their music is just so damn good that I'd be fooling myself if I said their only worth is as a live band. They may not be the most unique band, but everything about them is just so perfectly executed. Go see Whores.