Oh dude, is your head spinnin’ too? I’m having a really hard time with this. Okay, Film School, shoegaze; Airiel, shoegaze; yep, so far so good. Wait, Foul Tip, rock? Birth Rites, rock? Something’s rotten in the state of Iowa.
It seems we’ve got ourselves a bit of a schizophrenic bill here on Thursday night. But there’s that old cliché about opposites attracting or something like that. But if you think it over, it makes perfect sense. (You got your shoegaze in my rock! No, you got your rock in my shoegaze! Scrumptious.) When you’re putting together a mixtape (remember those?) you don’t fill it up with whispy, floating tracks, or stack the sum’bitch up with rawk, you build up and ease off, build up and ease off; and that’s just what Mission Creek has in store for you this Thursday.
Mp3’s and all the dirt that’s fit to dish after the jump…
If you’ve been feeding your Mission Freak lately, you know full well that we’re pretty excited about San Francisco’s Film School. But in case you missed it, you can catch up on some history and some tasty mp3’s and and if that doesn’t sate your appetite, peep Film School’s myspace.
But maybe you don’t know about Chi-town’s Airiel (pictured above). Once a duo, a decade ago, Airiel has blossomed into a sumptuous quartet pumping out gobs of heavenly My Bloody Valentine-laced guitar noise. Like any good shoegaze band, however, Airiel has done more than just bathe their guitars in chorus, delay, and reverb. Take a gander at that mp3 down there and catch a whiff of some Portishead-style trip-hop peaking its unassuming head out from behind those waves of guitar.
Now that you’re all comfortable, wake up.
Local boys, Birth Rites, raised a few eyebrows last month when they became one of the first surprises of the 2008 Mission Creek Festival. They’re back in the opening slot at the Picador and ready to raise a few more eyebrows with their messy, uppity noodling. The quartet bounds back and forth between the taught dynamics of The Pixies and At the Drive-In post-hardcore with just a few of those aw-shit-I-forgot-how-to-play-my-instrument digressions of Pavement for good measure.
And amidst all the rock, an affair that began in early February, full of much fawning and awkward giggling, oh yeah, and some shows and songs in there too, will come to an end. Mission Freak was there at the beginning, and it looks like we’ll be there for the end, as Tanks side project Foul Tip plays its last show for what could be forever Thursday night. However, aside from mine, I think most eyes will be dry as this isn’t so much a good bye but a fond welcome to our old friends The Tanks. After a brief hiatus and much Foul Tip-ing; buzz around the block has it that our favorite trio is about to resume their reign of terror.
Oh yeah, a slight logistical note: both Ed and Adam of Foul Tip have work until late on Thursday, so Film School has graciously ceded the much coveted closing slot. But don’t let that fool you, Film School’s still headlining this thang.
Download: Airiel - Firefly
Download: Foul Tip - Charles Berry
Download: Birth Rites - Prime Numbers
Who: Film School w/Foul Tip, Airiel, and Birth Rites
Where: The Picador
When: Thursday, May 8th
Doors: 9 pm
Cover: $7
This is my most anticipated show in Iowa City since the MCMF.
Check out our in-studio interview with Airiel and Film School at 4 p.m. on KRUI 89.7 FM (or http://kruiradio.org/listen).
Christopher of Alphabet Soup