BJM and Pharaoh Overlord

Just back from an electrifying weekend in London. Two live musical detonations deserve mention.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre played in Islington, and their music utterly soared. The audience baited Anton of course, and Anton failed to wholly rise above them, of course. But despite some fraught technical difficulties, gems such as Hide & Seek, Nevertheless and Swallowtail were launched into the stratosphere with drunken aplomb. Joel Gion was in full nonchalance mode, the Taoist ringleader holding the vibe by doing nothing. And Anton, besides performing some crazy mid-encore rewiring of the band’s amps, managed to tell us boozy Brits that if it weren’t for his countrymen, we’d all be speaking German now. Then he started slagging off football. Respect.

Sunday night, Finnish psych-metal wonders Pharaoh Overlord rocked Corsica Studios, and probably shifted the Earth’s axis a few degrees, too. Bassist Jussi Lehtisalo, guitarist Janne Westerlund, and drummer Tomi Leppänen are all members of Circle, too; it’s no coincidence that both bands are among the best live performers I’ve seen in recent years. Pharaoh are more vocal-free and heavily fuzzy with their riffs than Circle, but the essence of both is an ultra-repetitive slow, slow, slow build of oozing mantric sex-metal. Three guitars crunch, buzz and interweave over tight, sinuous bass and drums that give a thrillingly danceable edge to this titanically stoned, ever-growing wall of noise.

Get their records and never miss a chance to see them.