BLOUSEUSAQUARTET -TUGS 1 (EXCERPT)
The first week in January is not a time when you expect to witness what could be one of the year’s best shows, but last night at Vermillion, (blouse)usa and Jetman Jet Team torched the post-holidays doldrums with some scintillating music in that small, but fairly crowded space on a rainy Thursday.
(blouse)usa—Benjamin Thomas-Kennedy, drummer for the heavy head-expanding groups Lesbian and Fungal Abyss—was accompanied by the guitarist in both of those bands, Daniel La Rochelle. BT-K wore fluorescent-green raver bracelets as eyeglasses and handed out more of such bracelets during the set. But the music wasn’t DayGlo. Rather, it sounded like a bizarre hybrid of sundownered, gothic/desert rock À la Savage Republic or Scenic—especially with La Rochelle’s John McGeoch/Bruce Licher-like guitar tones—and Boards of Canada-esque downtempo electronica. La Rochelle produced shards of burnt-orange drones while BT-K finessed casually funky beats on a minimalist kit (kick/snare/two cymbals). It was the type of set you don’t hear much in Seattle and I immediately bought the self-titled CD on Dead Accents when it was over. I highly recommend it as a subtly twisted soundtrack for imaginary Twilight Zone episodes.
– Dave Segal for The Stranger