Live Review: Swervedriver, Charlie Horse, Bom Aterg

Greta Mob kicked off the night's noise under their Bom Aterg persona to a suspiciously small crowd. Over 40 minutes the band played two extended instrumental post-rock pieces, which moved from relaxed Slint-esque guitar and feedback jams to wild and frantic near-noise rock bliss. While both pieces felt solid with structural touchstones, they never hindered each member's ability to improvise and interact with one another. It spoke to the group's craftsmanship that it all sounded so natural and effortless. Truly wonderful and noisy post-rock that eschews crescendo cliché shouldn't be so rare. More straightforward, and arguably more suited for the Swervies opening spot, was Charlie Horse. Steeped deep in '90s Americana alt-rock, the five-piece belted out fuzzy and fun, if hardly original, rock'n'roll. The most appealing aspect of the band is frontwoman Crystal Rose, who steps from playful anger to real menace to sensual grooves with charm and ease. A rocking cover of PJ Harvey's Long Snake Moan was a well received closer and suitable touchstone reveal of influences.

Always one of the more muscular and strangely overlooked of the original shoegazers, Swervedriver certainly wasted no time showing they still mean business. Playing through the 1991 debut Raise in full showed off just how different that album is. More obvious, meaty and American than the Slowdives and MBVs of the day, it still stands as a unique statement of the early '90s. The two decades since the album's release has only honed the band's abilities, now both more polished and more daring with sonic ideas. Overdriven fuzz envelopes every song, psychedelic and wah-affected solos pepper the set, and even Adam Franklin's vocals (never the band's strongest point) have aged well. Obvious set highlights Son of Mustang Ford and Sandblasted solidify the album, and the band, as essential and powerful. A second set encore of a handful of Mezcal Head classics and new tunes rounded out the evening, showing that whether the band ever achieve the wider recognition and success they deserve, one cannot argue against their power and swirling beauty, especially live.