Peaches was on at Mao, Wu Ji was on at YYT and no one knew how the weekend was going to turn out after an Expo related police visit to Logo last week.
I went up to 696 to see Alpine Decline.
OK, 696 are new but they have a cool L.A. band fall into their lap (they are on vacation but as a two piece could do some quick shows) and the venue doesn't mange to get anyone in. And they are useless at doing the sound. 696 - epic fail. Come on.
So, anyway. There were a small group of us who did make it. First on was an upcoming Shanghai based two-piece called Pairs. They feature drummer/singer Rhys and local guitarist 'F'. They were cool playing a mix of fast punk, dreamy indie chops and Shou Wang-esque strumming. Good job.
Alpine Decline got a bum deal out of the sound as they put a lot of effort into the nuances. The guitar sound was much like the tracks on their page, by turns echo-drenched and haunting and with real edge on the distortion. The first thing I thought was that they were exactly the kind of band Splitworks would have on at a Jue Festival. Hopefully they got a better deal up at Live Bar on Saturday. The standout track was The Pilgrim Got Drunk which showcased a full range of Jonathon's guitar licks.
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