dea Lesson No.1

Tuesday, November 3

NARC PARTY



The last Lesson No.1 show of the decade? What, already? Yep indeed. So bravely follow us in a last stand before the, err, teenties, with a squall of rock-based action this coming Sunday (8 November).

Foot Village are Californian crazies who will kiss, then melt, your face with their drums-and-voice tribal punk beatdowns. Ex-Gang Wizard and Friends Forever; releases on Too Pure, Not Not Fun, Upset The Rhythm and some others. A product of the same excitable young-people-in-LA scene (centered round punk venue The Smell) as No Age, Abe Vigoda, The Mae Shi, etc. They get highly nude for some of their record sleeves and while we don’t promise this will happen at Buffalo, photos/footage of live shows back home look frickin’ wild (and the whole jaunt is called the Anti-Magic/Pro-Creation tour). Listening is advised too, so go here.

King Alexander are Cardiff favourites dealing in tangy angular punk rock funfunfun. They haven’t played enough this year. We are pleased to be a cog in the slight changing of this. Buy their records at the link on their name above or have a preview.

Joy Of Sex do Young Marble Giants-esque post-punk with riot grrrl and garage stirred in. Stand-up percussion, love und romance, rhythms that might be called ‘skeletal’. Righteous! It's their first time playing for Lesson No.1. Go cop an earful of, um, sex.

All of this, and maybe more, at Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff; 7.30pm doors, £5 on the door. Thanking you.

posted by The Lesson at 5:17 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 20

SCOTCH GRIME



The third running of Swn, the annual festival from Radio 1 DJ and all-round dude about Cardiff Huw Stephens, begins this Thursday (22 October) and Lesson No.1 are bringing the noise on the opening night at The Model Inn.

Devil Man are the shadowy latest concern of Lesson No.1 favourite Shigeru ‘Shige’ Ishihara, aka Game Boy gabba loon DJ Scotch Egg, with pal Gorgonn from likeminded London crew Dokkebi Q. Promising dark, heavy dub fit to crumble walls, it's Scotch Egg's third ongoing project alongside his solo work and noise-rock band Drum Eyes. No music online that we know of but concurrently copping tunes from here, here and here will give the general idea...

andtheywillriot! (all lower case, thankyouverymuch) burned brightly a few years back, with post-hardcore cleverness along the lines of bands like Botch and The Blood Brothers. Having relocated from Cardiff to London, they’re back after a hiatus, ready to issue a second EP. andyouwillhavealisten,okay?

Team Brick, aka Bristol noisemaker of some repute Matt Williams, deals in a unique, ever-morphing brand of experimentation, previously encompassing guitar pedal abuse, throat singing and even, at the Invada Invasion show in Bristol last month, orchestral pieces. A new album, 'Hyper Vapour', is on its way before the end of the year. Before that, the self-titled debut LP by Beak>, Williams' side concern with Portishead's Geoff Barrow and one of Fuzz Against Junk, comes out on Invada. A Lesson No.1 first no less (unless you count his cameo drumming for Steveless supporting Shooting At Unarmed Men and Duracell way back in 2005!), so get a sonic education.

The Death Of Her Money are more Lesson No.1 staples and almost certainly the finest, heaviest band in South Wales operating today. Throwing names like Isis, Pelican and Neurosis about tells half the story, but their doom-laden discordance is a lot more besides. Their next record is recorded and ready for release - savvy record label owners, you know what to do. And if you don't, bone up here.

Times for the night run thusly:

And They Will Riot (10.30pm-11.00pm)
Devil Man (9.30pm-10.00pm)
Team Brick (8.30pm-9.00pm)
The Death Of Her Money (7.30pm-8.00pm)

And the fine print: wander down to The Model Inn, Quay Street (just round the corner from Clwb Ifor Bach, for the geographically confused) from 7pm. It's £7 on the door or else point your browser this way for festival wristbands and that way for a full list of festival info/times, etc.

(Disclaimer for anybody interested: in the slightly nightmarish preparation for our Swn show, bands we attempted and failed to get for one reason or another included Themselves, Burning Love, Magik Markers and All Leather, so don't say we never tried, yeah?)

posted by The Lesson at 11:13 AM 0 comments

Friday, October 9

AT WAR WITH GRINDCORE



Once again the spectre of cancellation hits Lesson No.1, but even swine 'flu can't stop this virulent little bastard TONIGHT (Friday 9 October)

Insect Warfare are Texan grindcore supremos on the final tour ever and they're guaranteed short, fast and loud. They have product on Earache (their latest release ‘World Extermination’, which is actually a Euro reissue of a 2007 LP), Relapse, 625, Six Weeks and labels like that, which may give you an idea of what to expect – 100% raw, unfiltered blastbeat brevity with more than ‘nuff powerviolence and hardcore nous chucked in. They broke up in 2008 and then threw it together once more for this tour, so represent. Check the aural war right here.

Atomçk are a digitally-mangled grind duo from Newport for fans of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, The Locust, Pig Destroyer and various digigrind madmen. Mainly given to kicking out guitar/vox/drum machine mini-mini-mini-symphonies between 30 and 90 seconds long, sometimes they’ll switch it up and introduce some dragging sludge riffs. Split with Spider Kitten out now on their Sharp Noodle label. Sample their noise here.

Pus replace Desecration, who were forced to pull out last minute due to swine 'flu. Who is Pus and why would someone call themselves that? It's a two-guitar drone/doom/riff/noise duo, although can't entirely help you on the latter. They are a mega late replacement so we are grateful in equal megatude.

What else? Get to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, 7.30pm doors (early start, early finish!) and hand us just £5 for the trouble. Perfect Friday night entertainment, we think you'll agree...

posted by The Lesson at 10:42 AM 0 comments

Friday, October 2

A GOOD STALKER NEVER QUITS



We'll keep this simple as the above show ain't strictly a Lesson No.1 effort - it's one of the gigs that make up the ambitious and hugely thumbs-up-worthy Meze Festival in Newport venue the Meze Lounge and adjoining Mojo. Other endorsees of this night of decibel-laced fun are The Joy Collective and Sharp Noodle, so go check those folks out too.

Before all that though, cop an earful of all the bands playing:
Big Naturals
The Death Of Her Money
Spider Kitten
Brown Wings
Atomçk & Cementimental

The two dubiously-skilled members of Lesson No.1 will be DJing afterwards too. T'other essential details for anybody unable to read the above poster = Newport Meze Lounge, Tuesday October 6th 2009, £4 adv, 8pm-2am and tickets are this way. All requests for records you'd like us to play post-gig will be treated with snobbish disdain, no doubt. Unless you ask for some Pissed Jeans or Jesus Lizard, then you'll probably be in luck...

posted by The Lesson at 7:29 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, September 29

LIVE IN HELLSINKI



Anybody who caught Zu at the Invada Invasion in Bristol on Saturday (or Supersonic in Birmingham in the summer) will know this imminent Lesson No.1 delight in association with Swn ain't to be missed. Saddle up THIS THURSDAY, 1 October, then...

Zu are an Italian band who have taken time since the '90s to explore how and where jazz could meet hardcore could meet noise could meet metal could rock your face off. It's abrasive stuff as you might imagine, but life-affirming for real, and we've basically never known anyone to go and see them and not be hit for six. We put them on in 2004 in Le Pub, and they played in Cardiff a year or two before that. They were dope evenings, but sparsely attended. Don't make the same mistake, twits. Their new album 'Carboniferous' is on Ipecac and features Mike Patton and Buzz Osborne, the latest in their many collaborative ventures. Awesome band. Hear for yourself.

Zail = one guitar, one drumkit, some pedals and a storm of overdriven instrumental noise-skree racket. There are two people in Zail and they both used to be in Mountain Men Anonymous. They live in Cardiff and Gloucester respectively and haven't played these parts too much recently, so get involved (turn up early to do this). Listen here.

For all this fun and maybe more, take a trip to downstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach, Womanby Street, Cardiff from 7.30pm - there's a real early curfew on this one (10pm) so don't turn up for last orders and wonder what went wrong. And save two whole coins on the door price by getting an advance ticket for £6.50 here or here.

posted by The Lesson at 4:27 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, September 2

I WANT TO (GO)



Summer's all but over, so Lesson No.1's 'holiday' (read: a couple of festivals and some beers in the park) is over. Back in the house with this humdinger on Thursday 24 September; look to the right of your monitor/iPhone/WHATEVER to see a handful of subsequent forthcoming shows, plus stay tuned for news of our Swn show on 22 October.

Lovvers are Nottingham punk-rock party-starters touring amazing debut album ‘OCD Go Go Go Girls’. This is their first Welsh show for 12 months. The last one was put on by us too. It was enjoyable. Seeing as ‘OCD...’ is like everything their three 7-inch singles and mini-album were building up to, this will be even better. Logic, man. Essential noise for fans of Germs, Jay Reatard, early Nirvana, Wipers and 600 others. Feel the (aural) love.

Harbour are South Wales melodic hardcore supremos, mega-catchy and for fans of Dag Nasty, Kid Dynamite and Lifetime. Ex-some other bands you should have liked. We ought to have put them on ages ago but that’s the way it goes. Listen to what we've been missing out on.

Islet = two drumkit freaky noise action from ex-Victorian English Gentlemens Club and current Attack + Defend peeps. Some people have called them the best new band in Cardiff. Feel that hype as fast as it's created! Battles, Oneida and Boredoms fans look this way. Maybe also stuff like Young Marble Giants for their scratchy guitars parts. No MySpace, suckers, so if you're not already aware, you'll just have to trust us on this one.

Saturday's Kids are young locals with Pissed Jeans, Black Flag and Nirvana in their sights, fizzing out awesome gonzo clawhammer punk-rock. They have a really nicely packaged demo (their second) which you can hopefully still buy. They also have the official Lovvers seal of approval! They told us so. Get your ears ready if you don't believe us.

The wheres and what fors? Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff, from 8pm, £5 on the door. Can't say fairer than that. Oh and you may as well Facebook us while you're here, yeah?

posted by The Lesson at 1:38 AM 0 comments

Monday, June 15

BLACK STEEL IN THE HOUR OF CHAOS



As summer proper approaches we're off for our customary seasonal break for a month or two (read: counting our last pennies in a darkened room to a soundtrack of Slayer and tears). But not before this weighty weekend bastard, Sunday 21 June to be precise, probably our heaviest bill in five years of Lesson No.1.

Thou are from Baton Rouge in Louisiana and are one of the most talked-about bands coming up for air from the doom/sludge underground over the last 12 months. Why? Because they’re heavier than a ruined life, playing black metal-soaked slo-mo epics with riffs as thick as the glass on the Popemobile. If Electric Wizard quit eulogising about weed and extracted all the musical optimism from their songs, it might sound a bit like this. They also have a commendably busy release schedule (without going so far as to flood the market), with releases on Level Plane, Southern Lord (upcoming), Woodsmoke, Feast Of Tentacles and more. They all have amazing artwork that’ll make the aesthetically-minded bust a nut when they see them. Don’t miss this! Aural proof here.

Moloch make their South Wales debut (not for want of trying, but still); really great hardcore-infused sludge warriors from Nottingham, featuring dudes from Brain Dead and Army Of Flying Robots. Nihilistic raging gloom for fans of Eyehategod, Grief, Iron Monkey, Sourvein, yadda yadda. They have so far issued a demo, which is sold out, and a 10” single on Feast Of Tentacles/Shifty which you should be able to find in distros and whatnot. Ear abuse you say? Sure.

Ghast - formerly known as Souldust (hence their MySpace URL) - have got to be one of the most slept on black metal bands anywhere. Their debut album ‘May The Curse Bind’ is out now and goes to town welding that Darkthrone-esque cold guitar buzz to obese doom/death pummeling, played with a crusty punk anger. They don’t play round here that often so we're really looking forward to it. Get blackened.

Spider Kitten have been shadowy ambassadors for South Wales downer rock since the early part of the century, shifting focus over the years from an exercise in Earth worship to weirdly anthemic, industrially damaged doom rockouts. Vitus style solo-mo riffing meets the blank garage of early Sub Pop bands. They release all their records on their own Rugland label and can be contacted this way, which also includes tunes, yo...

The nuts and bolts: get down to Le Pub, Caxton Place, Newport from 7.30pm, hand over £5 and, erm, rock the fuck out. Why wouldn't you want to?

posted by The Lesson at 12:41 PM 0 comments