…with the winds dying down and the temperature staying a little above freezing, it seemed like a great night to go catch a show at Pearl (or Vexx, or whatever it’s officially called now…). Unfortunately, we arrived just after the first band, La Dispute, had finished. Much to our chagrin, we were instantly informed by half a dozen attendees of the awesomeness we had just missed…

…so, we settled in to catch Lungs‘ set in celebration of the release of their 7″ on The Mylene Sheath label. For the first time that we’ve seen them, the band evaded all technical difficulties and turned in an incredibly powerful set. Although the star of the set was Mick’s new kick drum (allegedly purchased from screamo powerhouse The Devil Wears Prada), the metallic, yet soaring, guitars found a near-perfect balance of drone and motion, progressing at just the moment when any idea was in danger of becoming stale. The band’s ability to draw out and unfold their ideas at this glacial pace may frustrate some, but really makes it for us…

…closing out the evening, Toads and Mice started a bit slowly, with a few missed notes dashing all hopes of a perfect game. By mid-set, however, they had found sure footing in their newer material. With their winding arrangements, Toads and Mice possess a dreamlike essence: floating and spacious one moment, savage grinding the next, all narrated by the haunting, ethereal vocals of guitarist Dustin Rose. We just have to love a band that can get a crowd alternately dancing and headbanging uncontrollably all within the span of 40 minutes…

For more photos from the show, go here.

…we know it’s Monday, but here’s a great early show at the Dayton Dirt Collective that is sure to be an experience. You’ve got the post-everything Romance of the Young Tigers, the haunting Ghastly City Sleep (Brooklyn), and the savage up-and-comers, Lungs [highly recommended]. Things get rolling around 7, so you can still be home in time to make it to work tomorrow, if that’s what you need to do…

…if yr looking to get something going tonight, head on over to Dayton Dirt Collective for a eclectic bill. Headlining the evening are the sludgy post-rock outfit Lungs. Also on tonight are spooky post-rockers Mako Sica (Chicago), all-female indie rockers Vanity Theft, and Captain Dangerfoot. Festivities kick off around 7, so be sure to make it down early…

…as is becoming typical in Dayton these days, you’ve got a couple of good options for showgoing tonight…

…over at Gilly’s, you’ve got some of Dayton’s finest doing a retake of last year’s highly successful Legalize Gassett benefit. This one’s for the bands, however, so head on down and check out Mouth of the Architect, Captain of Industry (whose latest album, The Bronze, entered the CMJ charts this week), 8-Bit Revival, and Goatherd…

…there’s also a good one over at Dayton Dirt Collective tonight with the ambient Tin Can Telephone, Men as Trees, and one of our newer favorites, Lvngs. Get on out and check these shows out…

…if yr heading out this evening, you’ve got all kinds of options to quell yr rock n’ roll thirst…

…if yr not afraid to drive a bit and seem inclined to do something good, the 2nd Annual Darfur Benefit is taking place all day out at the Janice Ward Center in Clayton. Although Grizzzzy Bear seems to have left the bill, you’ve still got some great music from Stump, Toads and Mice, Lvngs, Stone the Mayor Sheriff, and more…

…over at the Dayton Dirt Collective, you can dig into some punk and garage via offerings from Thee Pistol Whips, The Vectors, Best Friends, and Your Nasty Neighbors…

..if yr musical needs veer toward the ballistic this evening, head over to Canal Street Tavern and dig the unrelenting fury of the rarely-seen Murder Your Darlings and Accidently On Purpose…

…if yr looking for something a little more relaxed, head over to the Trolley Stop and check out an evening of Sleepybird, who are currently wrapping up work on their third album….

…gathering for a rare Sunday evening show at Pearl, things kicked off with the instrumental quartet, Lungs. With their distinctive take on post-rock, the band’s melodic sensibilities and dynamics place them firmly within the bounds of the style. Seemingly most comfortable with the heavier aspects of their spectrum, the more subtle passages are deftly executed. While the band may further explore the middle ranges of their dynamic range, on this evening Lungs demonstrated that they are one of the best young bands in town at the moment…

…next up we had the return of The Motel Beds, not seen on stage since the spring. Backed by members of Captain of Industry and The Human Reunion, PJ Paslosky and co. attempted to kick out the cobwebs from their dormancy and serve up their patented experimental pop. While tuning issues seemed to plague the set somewhat, the Beds still managed to pull together a set of hook-laden tunes that will hopefully continue to improve as the band returns to a more active performance schedule…

…in town from Canterbury, England, Yndi Halda gave a performance that those who were fortunate enough to be in attendance will not likely soon forget. Although the band may be easily tagged as post-rock, there is a nuance and sense of dynamics that provide them with a unique take on the style. Building from incredibly quiet spaces and allowing themselves to explore numerous plateaus, the band’s ability to fully exploit their dynamics and further intensify their melodic themes only served to elevate their crescendos. While many of their contemporaries have codified the patterns of post-rock, Yndi Halda follow their own instincts and come away with a wholly unique canvas that may very well set them apart from the pack…

…closing out the night, Grizzzzy Bear proved yet again on this night why they are one of the best bands going in Dayton at the moment. With special guest John Lakes from Captain of Industry filling in on the drums, the band tore through a handful of tunes from their debut disc, continuing to expand the arrangements to accommodate a near-endless series of riff modulations that could easily provide enough fodder for another band’s entire repertoire. Even intermittent technical problems could not hold Grizzzzy Bear back on this night, as the unreleased Mr. Bloodsuck served as the centerpiece of a brief set that left the audience clamoring for more…

For more photos from the evening, go here.

…tonight is the capper on a huge weekend for us here at The Buddha Den. We’ve put together a great show for you tonight at Pearl that includes the schizoid-pop Grizzzzy Bear, the symphonic instrumental outfit Yndi Halda (from the UK), the indie/power-pop of The Motel Beds, and opening the evening the grinding post-rock of Lungs. Come on out and help us celebrate an amazing weekend of Dayton music…

…with the recent release of their debut disc Enjoy Eternal Bliss, Yndi Halda are starting to make waves in the US. Hailing from Canterbury, England, the band are currently out on their first jaunt through the US, with a tour stop in Dayton scheduled for this Sunday, August 3. Guitarist/vocalist James Vella recently took time to speak with The Buddha Den about their schoolmate beginnings, musical growing pains, and the proposition of their first US tour…

The Buddha Den: Why don’t we start by getting a little background on Yndi Halda. How long have you all known each other? How did the band come together? What musical interests brought you together?

James Vella: The band came together quite gradually and organically over a stretch of time; Jack, Olly and I have always played in bands together since we were children – we formed our first band when we 12 or 13 years old, which eventually became yndi halda when we were around 15. Daniel and Brendan have always been close friends of ours and it was only a few months after we started writing that they filled the “missing member” gaps.

The first band we worked on together was much more rock; we used to listen to a lot of Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, but we all accidentally discovered instrumental music (Labradford, Tortoise, Sigur Ros etc) around the same time and started writing different sorts of songs. More recently, though, we’ve been moving away from instrumental music and writing more pop-influenced pieces. Happily, like with other musical shifts in this band, it all seems to have happened unanimously without planning anything in advance.

TBD: Having worked on the material that appears on your debut Enjoy Eternal Bliss for nearly 3 years, how did the material come together? What sort of evolutions did the material and the band go through during that period? After spending so much time on the tracks, how did the band finally reach the conclusion that it was finished?

JV: I think the reason that record took so long was that we were so young when we wrote it, and the song-writing process was all very new for us. Also, we didn’t really have in mind that we were aiming for any specific project, like a record or anything, and so weren’t particularly pushed to finish up songs for a deadline. We still have some of the early versions of the songs from that record, and the evolution is really noticeable. Although we’re now writing new material that is a huge development of the Enjoy Eternal Bliss songs, I’m still really proud of that record – we all are – and I’m really happy with the creative decisions we made. Things like, for example, the vocals at the end of Dash and Blast, and the glockenspiel part in We Flood Empty Lakes were last minute additions to the songs, and now are among my favourite parts of the record.

The next album is going to be simultaneously easier and more difficult than the first, I think. We’re much more mature now, in terms of song-writing – we were teenagers when we started Enjoy Eternal Bliss – but it’s quite hard to write songs knowing that there are people listening, comparatively.

We always write for ourselves, rather than for an “audience”, because song-writing is just something that we as individuals do, but even so it’s a lot more pressure than the first record to have things finished within a certain timescale, and to fit songs into the “canon” of what we’ve done already and what we hope to do in the future.

TBD: While YH may easily fit into the “post-rock” category, how does the band view itself in terms of stylistics? What do you feel sets your band apart from other practitioners in that field?

JV: Honestly, we don’t really think of ourselves as a “post-rock” band. We’re aware that lots of people do, and it doesn’t bother us, but none of us are hugely into the bands that I associate with the genre. I think we’re a lot more optimistic-sounding than the bleakness that I feel surrounds “post-rock”.

Someone described us recently as “expansive, orchestral indie-rock”, which I think fits really nicely; I definitely like to think of our songs as representing each one of those adjectives.

TBD: Coming from Canterbury, England on your first US jaunt, how has the band prepared for the adventure? What sorts of expectations do you have of touring America? What can audiences expect from a YH performance?

JV: The preparations for this tour have been among the most time-consuming of every tour we’ve done so far! The visa applications especially, as well as finishing new songs and rehearsing with a stand-in violin player (Daniel wasn’t able to make this tour, unfortunately, but our good friend Oli is helping out).

We’ve heard a lot of stories about touring in the states, some of them good (that audiences are really appreciative and welcoming) and some of them terrifying (that the drives between shows take hours and hours). Touring is undoubtedly the best thing in the whole world, though, so we’re looking forward to everything.

We see ourselves as quite a different live band from the recorded material; we play a little louder and little rockier. Whereas in the studio we can spend time and thought on intricate textures and specific sounds, live we prefer to just have fun. We’ve yet to smash any instruments on stage (except by accident), but I’m finding it harder to resist the urge every show!

TBD: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about YH?

JV: New songs coming soon!

…you can catch Yndi Halda at Pearl this Sunday, August 3 as part of The Buddha Den Presents series, along with local flavor from Grizzzzy Bear, The Motel Beds, and Lungs…

…upon arriving at the gallery space in the Cannery District, we were informed that the PA had not arrived and that the out-of-town-band, Unpsparing Sea (from Cleveland), had canceled. As fas as we were concerned, this was absolutely no way to start the evening. Alas, we waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, Lungs began and thankfully their bludgeoning riffs and sprawling grind were sufficient to bring us back into enjoyment of the evening. As a band we’d not yet seen in town, Lungs were a welcome surprise. Drawing heavily from such 90s icons as Slint and Unwound, Lungs has taken enough from that palate and added their own sludgy melodicism to the template. On this particular evening, the band suffered through several gear failures, but still came out just fine. Apparently, the band is gearing up to release a 7″ later this summer, so stay tuned for more on that…



…as if the evening couldn’t drag out any longer and be riddled with any more gear failures, as Romance of the Young Tigers prepared for their set they were befallen by numerous gear-related issues that put their start time well past that promised for the headliner. Regardless, once the group began, their ebb and flow of sonic landscapes resonated through the gallery and out on the streets of Dayton like an ocean across the harsh post-industrial landscape. As the sheets of distortion raged and retreated, the subtlety of the electric piano offered a welcome familiarity against the backdrop of feedback. While Romance of the Young Tigers continues to challenge audiences in Dayton and beyond, we’d have to say that it’s an experience best enjoyed through recorded mediums…


…after enduring the numerous technical barriers, we simply could not hold out for The Human Reunion to take the stage. We apologize to both readers and the band for this, but if anyone has a report or imagery, we’d love to hear it…

…in their ongoing efforts to infuse the Dayton music scene with new life and vigor, the Dayton Dirt Collective will be holding a benefit show this evening at the CADC Gallery (520 E. Third St. in the Cannery building). Headlining the event will be none other than the Kings of Clack, The Human Reunion. Also on the bill are Romance of the Young Tigers, the haunting Americana of Unsparing Sea (from Cleveland), and post-rock outfit Lungs. We’ll see ya there….