Bent Knee + Bubblemath + Gatherers 7/10/18 @ 7th St Entry

So I should include a review here for this show last night Tuesday the 10th of July at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis.

1st off: live reviews are done as often as I can, but sometimes they just don't manage to happen like the Chromeo show a few weeks back. Raphael Saadiq perhaps on the 20th among some others may happen hopefully. Maybe movie screenings like Whitney or the Muse one tomorrow night 7/12.

But this was the 2nd Bent Knee show I've seen in basically 1-year (July 24th last year was the other), and while that show was a huge deal for me to finally see Bent Knee, and also cool to see local band Air Lands with them (and have Sarah from Cloud Cult sit-in); this show included Bubblemath of course, 1 of Minnesota proggiest of prog bands.

Great double bill, and Kai especially is a Bent Knee fan, etc he hosted them last year.

So those 2 along with Gatherers from NJ (not Gatherer, RIP, see previous entry), who I'll say, while I don't know if I'll be pursuing their music necessarily, but they seemed to capture the Post-Hardcore energy and sound well. And a few moments the guitar textures had me turn my head. As I told them, I'm sure some new fans will be made between their and Bent Knee's fan bases.

Bubblemath, played 30 minutes and 3 songs. 2 new ones not on either album. "Refused" in particular I enjoyed, namely the last 1/3 or maybe even half of. Which I told Kai, a lot of their music I tend to focus on the sections in the songs/pieces at times. But also, that tune and the 2nd tune "Everything" are both new, and for some reason the mix for them was not as clear as it was for both Bent Knee and even Gatherers I think.

"Routine" is an epic like the other 2, and from Edit Peptide. And I liked maybe even more than at the show I saw in 2017 at The Triplerock Social Club (RIP).

At any case, 3 songs, 30 minutes. Other than mix/sound issues, it was great to see them again and the 2 new songs are for their next album which I guess is planned to be recorded soon = late 2018 or 2019 release? let's hope.

Bent Knee: the set list I have below likely isn't fully accurate. I'm unsure based on some of the songs they played I didn't recognize and the set lists from setlist.fm vary. They didn't play an encore, and the list below has 12 songs, which I'm thinking they didn't play quite that many. Maybe 8-10?

edit: I think it was 9 songs, as I thought they mentioned the drummer who filled in had to learn "9 songs from their set list" or something.

Land Animal, Hands Up, Leak Water for sure.

Anyway, apologies for the slightly guesstimated set list.

Bent Knee were still really fun, energetic live. And their drummer Gavin Wallace-Allsworth had to leave the tour on June 23rd, after an accident in San Francisco where he broke his foot. But thankfully he had surgery, and is recovering well I guess .

The drummer that filled-in, I forget his name. It may have been Gatherers drummer Adam Cichocki? I forget. But I guess he learned their music really fast, and while they do miss Gavin, the drum work was still excellent last night.

But with the new songs being played and speaking to Ben Levin, they have a new record in the works, which doesn't surprise me, but definitely is one to look forward to. They are prolific, but from album they don't seem to lose any quality in their songs, which says a lot. I see Shiny Eyed Babies, Say So and Land Animal all pretty close, and all having many outstanding tracks that have moments I look forward to and love.

2019 new Bent Knee? let's hope.

Also I picked up the Say So double vinyl, which I hope to show on YouTube soon.

And I met a bunch of really cool fans including this guy Pete and 1 of his sons, from Eau Claire, WI. Also a musician named Mage? who takes a ton of inspiration from Bent Knee and is from MN I guess, but is going to College in LA.

Bent Knee
Bone Rage
Time Deer
Leak Water
Hands Up
Garbage Shark
Golden Hour
Terror Bird
Land Animal

1 of these may have been played:
Holy Ghost
Mother's Day
Give Us the Gold
Being Human


Bubblemath
Refused
Everything
Routine

Gatherers
no set list found

GATHERER (NZ): Rest in Peace (+ Last Song/Video "High Notes")

This sucks and I really ought to write an extensive tribute/homage to this band Gatherer, from New Zealand. A progressive band that of all people, Kimbra recommended, likely largely due to she comes from New Zealand herself and knew them due to that.

I suppose I'll just say, their debut from 2012 So Be It is awesome. It's one of the best albums this decade, especially being a debut album. "Regular Frontier" and "Thrive" among the rest of it, are favorites. And the production is incredibly clear and pristine.

Gatherer found this way to be really heavy, loud, and complex, yet still have dreamy soaring melodies. And the guitars and syncopation was really unlike any combination I'd heard before.

And as they described below, they refused to cater their music to trends.

Heavy Hail their 2nd album from 2015 I recall liking, but my memory was it being a little hit and miss. It used more electronic sides, which I recall the production was quite dense. I wonder if I went back to it now, if I might appreciate it more than I did initially back then as it probably has been 2015 or 2016 when I last gave it a go.

Their new and last song "High Notes" video below) I am enjoying, in a bittersweet way.

Also I think it's worth adding how their previous name/incarnation "This City Sunrise" I also really love, and may be 1 of the best or rarest examples of 'Core music that actually works without the vocals bugging me enough. In fact I grew to enjoy them, almost as much or in different ways than I did with Gatherer.

I forget, but I thought the 2 This City Sunrise EP's I found online to purchase on CD, but never got around to it.

WHY I didn't hear about this until now? (July 11th, per the news/new video+track came out April 3rd), I don't religiously read FB and Twitter feeds (myspace sadly had that setup much better with a blog subscription, etc).

The New Jersey band Gatherers (formerly Gatherer but added the s after the same name of the band New Zealand), I saw last evening with Bent Knee and Bubblemath, and seeing them/thinking about Gatherer from New Zealand, got me curious what they may be up to.

But not shocking, another one goes by the wayside, despite support from Kimbra. O well, maybe Gatherer at the time their music came out, were a bit too unusual to be appreciated. But maybe in the coming years their music will still be discovered.

What the members do next? I dunno. Maybe a reunion of course someday, or other projects perhaps.

In the mean time, I hope to find some other music that pushes boundaries and struggles to resemble other music out there, while maintaining quality songwriting the way Gatherer did.

Facebook April 3rd, 2018

Hey team, we're gonna keep this brief.

We would love to introduce you to our latest and last song, 'High Notes'.

The last few years have been a whirlwind for us as we grew into actual adults and became really hungry for something fresh. With so many years of brotherhood, loyalty and history under our belt we dug as deep as we could to find a new way to do this thing, but as we reached the home stretch we ultimately discovered that our hearts just aren't beating to the same drum any more.

That's it, really. This is where we ended up. We're immensely proud of everything we've done, we lasted longer than most bands ever do and we have a friendship that is unlike any other. At the end of the day our mission was to be an incredible band that refused to follow trends and we can rightly say we smashed that goal out of the park.

We love all of you. To anyone that believed in us, helped us, sacrificed anything in any way for us - we'll never forget.

Onward and upward!

Gatherer

Clip by Greg Cooper, Art by Pat Fox, music by us.

High Notes - Gatherer from Greg Cooper on Vimeo.