Subtle Body Tape Release Show
Published 1.26.26
On January 23rd Subtle Body had their first tape release! To celebrate, they had a show at God's Auto Body with Sweepers, NOUN, and the Angies. The bill alone for this show was super impressive so I was really excited for this one! I got there at around 7:20 and made it just in time for the first set. They said to be punctual for this one and were not kidding around. I'm extremely type-A by nature so accounting for punk time drives me nuts anyways and it's nice when a 4 band show finishes before midnight. This was my first time at God's. It's a pretty cool spot! The stage is big. The space itself is kind of long and narrow, but no matter where you're standing you won't really have an issue seeing the bands. One weird thing of note is that they're apparently not friendly to people distributing flyers for other shows, which I think is odd (but what do I know).
First up were Sweepers, who are always great to see. They put out a record a while back which sounds good. They also released a really sick music video for the song Dust Bunny. Since so many are asking: yes, they are very serious (about sweeping). Those floors were clean as fuck when they were done and Christian was picking up beer cans after the show. Renée's broom mic should have been louder. The last time I saw them, at Nikki Lopez, they were having this issue too. It's really a shame about Renée's mic because they are really best heard live. You can't hear or see the sweeping on recording (we have got to find a way).The album is a really excellent punk rock soundtrack for cleaning your apartment. I'm aware of how painfully literal that is but I'm being dead serious. If you need to get chores done but would rather lay down, put a Sweepers tape on and you'll start itching all over until your place is clean.
Second up was NOUN. Holy shit this was fucking crazy. Just straight up insane awesome rock music. I was loosely aware of Screaming Females but honestly not really familiar with them or Marissa's incredible abilities. I must be fresh from a bunker or something (This is what happens when you don't know anything about important music tbh, I mostly keep tabs on music that's at least vaguely about vampires and cemeteries and stuff). A very well curated set and a really impressive range of sounds and emotion (though the set was kind of long imo). It's hard to complain about that when the music is so good. I was really blown away. Marissa Paternoster is a total powerhouse, the vocals would go from beautiful to scary on a dime and the guitar was unreal. Only very good musicians have stickers like
^this on their instruments. All three of the current members are fucking super stars.
Third up were the Angies. It had been a few years since I'd seen these guys. They were already a lot of fun to watch but I like the direction they've taken since I'd last seen them. I feel like they're really destined for greatness. I thought I saw something about them opening for Lydia Lunch a while back but I can't find anything about it now so maybe I hallucinated that. The new material is different but really good. It's a more straight forward rock sound than before, a lot of catchy stuff. I like the old stuff too but I would classify this as an improvement. I think Tara's vocals should have been louder. She's a very powerful singer, so I could still hear her up front, but everyone else was out of luck. It was cool to see them on the bill. They're fan base tends to skew younger and it changed the crowd a bit. A lot of them showed up just for the Angies' set and then left right after, which is a shame. I know some people roll that way but I think it's lame to dissect a bill like that. Seeing which bands the band you like is playing with is the best way to find new music imo (second best is reading this blog :p).
At last we reach the band of the hour. This was my first time seeing Subtle Body. I had been wanting to see them for a while and am glad that I could come to their tape release! I always like when every member of a band is dressed like they're going somewhere different. Wow, what an experience. All the lights went out except for a red glow from the stage for their set. That atmosphere plus the really lush soundscapes had quite an effect. I felt like I was in hell (in a good way). Some points in the set made me genuinely uneasy and afraid. That kind of visceral fear response carries over to the recording too, so that's great. I wanted to hear more from the synth but I always want that. In the recording, the synth is definitely loud enough. I didn't hear anyone else mention anything about it so maybe I'm just insane. Considering it was their tape release and they were the headliner, their set felt really short. Maybe they were bound to the highly publicized 10pm cut off. I'm not totally sure but it's also possible that they played their entire discography since this was their first release.
Over all it was a very eventful night and a bill of serious quality and substance. The show lasted a clean three hours but I feel like I was there for days. Check out the new release here.