Mother's Day is really what holidays should be like, in my opinion; showing appreciation for the people in your life who mean the most. No big commercial blowout on advertising or stampedes of junkies under the influence of hope to obtain low-priced, mid-quality goods. It's just as simple as breakfast with mom, some flowers and kind words.
This year we payed tribute to moms by rocking. AMPA had the pleasure of playing with noise-pop Philadelphian band, Banned Books, and Denver instrumental shoegazers, Bizarre Learning Center.
Bizarre Learning Center have been playing basement boiler-room post-punk space jams for the last several years. The three piece allows texture and rhythm to rest as the center piece while decorating it with transforming melodies traded between delay-heavy guitar lines, and subtly rocking but totally driving bass licks. BLC's set had to be cut short after too few songs due to technical difficulties.
Banned Books was in the later midst of a month-long tour, and was settled in for their second night playing Denver. Unfortunately the stellar performance they had packed in was heard only by the other bands. The drums, frantic, broken and free, were woven back together periodically for the off-kilter pop breaks of sugary, soul infused, artful vocal melodies. All happening under the guidance of bass-heavy synth lines oft tied to the edgy spurt and stab guitar so as to put a twirling, hard groove on tunes such as this gem that i filmed on my phone:
until next time...
