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http://www.senbaltimore.com/music/bands/isthmus-talking-head-club-january-4-2008.shtmlIsthmus: Talking Head Club, January 4, 2008
Baltimore's Isthmus played Talking Head last Friday.
After being totally turned on to Isthmus' EP Of Crimson Clouds and Nectaris Milk (read the review and get an MP3) I had to go check these guys out at the Talking Head Club. Intentionally intimate, uncompromisingly homely, Talking Head is is the corporealization of the punk ethos, getting its stuff together and making good effort to stay legit in the business world, Talking Head can be revered for its gritty exterior and warm, respectable sound. First-time visitors are left to wonder: Can you really park on Davis Street and not get a ticket with all these No Parking signs around? Any time you're at Talking Head, the suits have left downtown for the day so there's plenty of parking around, so never fear. But don't call me if you do get a ticket.
Having made it just in time for Isthmus, the band mingled with the crowd right until playing time, walking the eight feet from the audience to step onto the low-rising stage. The imposing Josef Kienle (bass) owned stage left with his stature and his weapon, a four-stringed Thor's hammer of boom and thunder. Isthmus are a tech-set band, no question. Playing rather true to recordings, the band made very few mistakes, if any. One missed drum hit by the otherwise relentless Chris May derailed things for an almost unnoticeable second. The truest thing about this set was that it sounded better than the record. How many bands can you say that about? The rigid rhythm of Noel Mueller plays right into the spider arms flying up and down the neck on Matt Hogans' guitar. With his slightly shaggy charm, Hogans can best be decribed as the John Mayer of metal, bluesily and virtuosically enjoying the tone of the high E.
What felt like fifteen minutes was actually approximately a forty-five minute set, with an audience of close friends and metal colleagues, metal scenesters, and club regulars. Unfortunately for this writer, a pre-show meal ran a little late and caused some internal unrest, so Chowder played to other ears than mine. I was eager to see how the laptop running Ableton Live would be used in the set. However, their EP (S/T, Bland Hand Records) has been keeping me going for a few weeks, so only death itself will keep me from their next local show.