A Night Out at Unit J
This weekend I caught a show at the newly renamed Unit J (formerly known as The Brooklyn Warehouse) in Bushwick. My drummer Jon Wert curated a night of "powerful sounds" as he put it. Unit J is a warehouse dwelling that houses 6 artistic individuals. They've turned their apartment into a pretty awesome live performance, and audio/video recording venue. Last night's show included 3 bands (Sorry Dru Cutler, I missed your opening set), Woodhead, Pseudo-Sentai, and Education Reform. Each band brought quite the ruckus. Lots of guitar pedals, lots of noise, not enough dancing for me, but that's on the patrons not the bands. Between Jon and I, our tastes in music are close but very different. I must say that while the bands were more on the "experimental" side of things than I like due to their usage of compound meters in their rhythm, distortion of voices and other instruments, I really did enjoy them. Woodhead was able to go from out of this world rhythmic changes to a straight forward 4/4 funky jam like this ditty...LISTEN. For Power Ranger themed rockin, Pseudo-Sentai is the band for you. I met Addie, and Scott at another event but never got the chance to hear them play. Last night hey did not disappoint. First, they had the 1995 Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie playing behind their set the entire time. Each member of the band was dressed in corresponding colors to their respective Power Ranger. Besides being distracted by the awesome 1995 movie graphics, the movie went along with the "Universe saving" hard driven riffs of Pseudo-Sentai. Peep their tune Bansheeface. Jon Wert is the best drummer there is!!!! With that being said, Education Reform was my favorite band of the night. After Pseudo-Sentai blew our minds and possible some of our ear drums, Education Reform started with a slow, soft, ambient build up. the lead singer and keyboard player Aaron Kruzik distorts his voice to the point where the vocals work as an added sonic layer to the already lush, and intricate sound. Now back to Jon Wert. Man, that boy can play. I know I'm biased because he also plays with me but I was captivated by his playing last night. He can go from balls breaking beating on the drums to the most gentle percussive additions. I've never heard a more melodic drummer than Jon. I don't remember if they played this one last night but I know it's one of my favorites of theirs. LISTEN Overall a successful night out. There was no cover, just showed love to the venue and bands by giving to the tip jar. I also ended up leaving with music from every band there. Unit J also has a bar where you can buy drinks, but most folks just BYOB. It's a great time. Next time you're in or around the Bushwick area and looking for a good show/party, check their website and see what they've got planned. till next time, #bandidos this is Bandit saying Peace out.