The second in the Italian Beach Babes live tape series (the first being the Male Bonding/Fair Ohs live in London tape) which sees the gloomy death punk Blessure Grave kicking out a New Years eve set in Oakland. The thing that often puts me off live sets is not being able to hear very well, more often than not the recordings are overblown to the point of unrecognisable noise, which is fine if you're listening to a Wolf Eyes tape but annoying if you're straining to hear the hooks of a good song. This tape sounds great, the bass has a real treble twang and doesn't take over the mix and the vocals are pretty well pushed with everything else.
But what does a Blessure Grave live set sound like? I have missed out on the 12" on Captured Tracks and the large amount of 7"s dropped in the last year so this is my first BG experience. I can mainly hear an 80's post punk feel to it, with the low Ian Curtis quiver to the male voice and a gentler 45 Grave esque feel to the female one, with the guitars driving the music that is not far from Echo & The Bunnymen or The Gun Club. I generally don't find myself going for alot of bands that could ever be lumped as 'Goth' as its a very lazy term and doesn't really mean much, apart from maybe the band has more black jeans than Bermuda shorts? Yes, this is not tropical and it lies somewhere in the void between depressing, ethereal music and aggressive punk/post punk.
I honestly did not think i would like this as much as i do, and its a great way to jump into a band that has alot of material out there, for a cheap cost, so well done Italian Beach Babes, you did it again!
Blessure Grave - Live In Oakland, CA / 31/12/09
- Intro
- Steps
- Interlude
- 90 Plus Days
- Come Back
- Stranger In The House
- Reduce You to Black Smoke
- Interlude
- Motion Sickness
- Parallel Lives
- Shadow
- Learn To Love The Rope
- Outro
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