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Archers of Loaf
((Troubadour; 400 capacity; $ 10 top))
Band: Eric Bachmann, Eric Johnson, Matt Gentling, Mark Price.
But a lingering question remains, even after this solid show: Are the kids ready yet for the band's complex, alternately charted and chart-less, noisy excursions?
Lacking the usual melodic love-song choruses and thought-out guitar solos, the music of the Archers is wickedly aggressive yet delicately crafted, an ironic approach that results in a stunning sonic effect. Themes of failure and disappointment cascade through dual guitar-scapes that often begin in synch, but then ricochet in opposite directions. Hardly the stuff of which mainstream dreams are made, but compelling nonetheless.
At the packed Troubadour Monday, the band's 75-minute set sampled songs from its two Alias albums, including last year's "Vee Vee," as well as cuts from various EPs and a number of new tunes that showed a more polished side of vocalist Eric Bachmann and some nifty, unpredictable musical progressions.
Crowd faves "Audiowhore," recent single "Harnessed in Slums," the abrasive, melody-less "Underdogs of Nipomo" and "Web in Front" were classic Archers, delivered with an excess of intensity and fury.
As the set progressed, many of the older tunes began to run together, though, creating the impression of one, big guitar-noise jam.
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