| San
Francisco Guardian by Cory Brown | |
And
You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Madonna (Merge) If the premise for Alan
Moor's excel-lent America's Best Comics series Top Ten is that in a world where
everyone has superpowers of some sort (alien, robot, mutant, or otherwise), a
group of crime fighters, regardless of their outfits or extraordinary abilities,
is just a bunch of cops. Back in our world (which many believe to be the real one, ahem), the only superpower is the ability to entertain. We groom ourselves to be celebrities with the confidence that our 15 minutes is on the horizon, thus transforming us into a nation of glamour gods and hungry starlets, fashion victims, and camera-ready at that. In this world of impeccable chic, a group of guys playing music, regardless of the severity of their sound or their style, is just a band. This is unfortunate in the case of the preposterously (and brilliantly) monikered And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead The Austin band would've ruffled quite a few feathers back in the old days with their vehement bile-driven revision of confrontational punk. Then again, they couldn't have existed back in the old days. The Trail of Dead are very much a sign of the times, the runt pup (or in this case, art fags) who, instead of simply getting tired of being kicked about by the rest of the litter, was dri-ven mad by it and had no choice but to bite back and keep biting With the rabid venom of feedback and fera1, reedy barking of Madonna, their second album, they continue to insist to the listener that they are more than just a band They are death itself bearing the self-satisfied smile that comes from the knowledge that you never knew it would come for you like this In that moment when your gaping jaw is reflected in the shining scythe of their seething punk fury, you will know that the trail of dead referred to in their name is not the wreckage of dismantled guitars the band has been known to leave behind. If you find my head in a stake outside the Bottom of the Hill, don't let anyone forget that I was right. And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead plays Mon/13 at Bottom of the Hill. | |
