Dark Meat: The Other White Meat
by Chris Parker
click to enlarge
Dark Meat bring the party. No doubt. A full-fledged psychedelic, free-jazz, punk-rock freakout, this Athens, Ga., outfit brings horns, strings, multiple percussionists, several guitarists and a loose-limbed aesthetic that would be illegal if you ingested it. Last year’s debut LP Universal Indians utilized 23 musicians, and the touring contingent features from 13 to 18 players crammed onstage like tchotchkes on a mantle. Reminiscent of Polyphonic Spree in sheer spectacle, Dark Meat are their woods-dwelling dark sheep kin, chasing their billowing brain wherever it leads. The debut was dedicated to Albert Ayler, though it’s a lot closer to a groovy blues-psych. Guitarist Jim McHugh admits, “We weren’t good enough to play jazz.” Thank god for that, because their sound’s more inclusive for it: It’s something like The Band getting high with Pink Floyd during a hootenanny at Ornette Coleman’s house. Noise rock for hippies. Just free the jazz and your ass will follow.
Fri., April 3, 9 p.m., 2009
Fri., April 3, 9 p.m., 2009
Comments (0)