Bad Veins @ Gothamist House 10/18 (CMJ '07 Day Three)

When I first heard of Bad Veins it was from a simple Myspace message informing me of their music. I quickly named them my band of the week, and have spent a decent amount of my music listening of the past year listening to this band. The Cincinnati based duo is innovative, interesting, and talented, and had completely captured my attention the only other time I saw them live.

Well, following a raved about show the previous evening, I knew I had to see the band again before I had them on my own bill on Friday afternoon and so I hung around Gothamist House long enough to be repulsed by The Big Sleep, and to hang around to see the band's "stripped down" set.

It was an awesome set, despite some extensive delays during setup due to sound difficulties which forced me to miss a couple of the songs towards the end. The band opened with the song that originally hooked me "The Lie". Singing through a megaphone and a backwards wired telephone, Ben Davis sounds like he is singing to you from another dimension. It comes off sounding distant and ethereal, but also, amazingly, full of passion. It's an awesome sound that shows the band is willing to experiment with different ways to put together their sound. Behind Ben's guitar, keyboards, and vocal work is Sebastien Schultz, a truly gifted drummer that keeps the beat strong throughout every one of their songs. The duo combined with their 1978 Pioneer reel-to-reel player is all the need to craft a sound that is warm, different, and awesome.

I was only able to hang around for five songs knowing I would see them on Friday and wanting to catch as much as I could, but as I sat there I really had to question the idea of leaving. The songs were so crisp and fresh sounding that I was really excited by their music. Lucky for me I would be seeing them again in the week.