03/09/2005: From Osaka to Yorkshire by way of the Cat (2:28 PM)

Man oh man, what a whirlwind the last 36 hours have been! for the first time in my life I have attended two separate shows at the same venue (DC's Black Cat) on two sequential nights. On Monday night it was Osaka's famous and diminutive para Power Puff Girls, Shonen Knife! They were, in the words of second bill act Visqueen's lead singer Rachel Flotard, "... so cute. I want to eat them." (BTW, Visqueen was quite good, and worth checking out. No snyths, though). It was weird fun watching the trio go through stage antics usually reserved for metal bands with hair bigger than each of the three. The partially ethnically-partisan crowd were whipped into a bouncing fevor by songs like "Rubber Band" and "Hot Mustard". It was a wonderfully weird show.

Last night brought the return of Yorkshire's New Model Army, fully reformed together. They put on an absolutely great show, proving themselves as still one of the strongest acts of the post-punk era, more literate than most. The bulk of the set came from Thunder and Consolation, their most critically acclaimed release. A small cadre of suburban punk poseurs had a modestly energetic mosh going right in front of me, which made for clear viewing of the stage! They didn't perform "White Coats" but they did perform most of their other well known songs, like "51st State." I do recommend peeps checking out this tour if you can. Sadly, with the exception of the SXSW music festival (held right after the SXSW Film festival) NMA won't be playing in dates in the South. Sorry, no repeat of the Atlanta show, King Jelly!