Live Review – Ghost, Magik Markers, Dark Meat @ Tasty World, May 13th

We had bands from all over the world Wednesday night—if you still consider New England to be part of the world.

Ghost exists in the place where Stairway to Heaven meets Paperhouse, where In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida meets I am Damo Suzuki. On the wall behind the stage of Tasty World, a set of multi-colored christmas lights encircles the venue’s logo. If you stare into the lights for ten seconds and then close your eyes, a washed-out image of the lights will project itself onto any surface you look at. This is an excellent way to experience Ghost’s music.

If you look behind the post that sits between you and the stage, you will see that there are seven members of Ghost, except for when the lone female member leaves the stage during certain songs to read silently from a piece of paper.

The band announced themselves with an ear-rattling gong. It was a far more effective opening than, “Hi, we’re Ghost”. Then followed 45-minutes of mind-blowing, big-bang- re-enacting, space-between-the-notes-exploring cacophony. Eventually, an air of predictability began to set in, a certain feeling of sameness. Ghost likes their tempos plodding and their chord progressions descending. Was it still awesome? Was it worth the ten dollars? Of course it was. But by the end of the show, it started to feel mind-blowing in a predictable way, which is kind of strange to think about. At this point in their career the weirdest thing Ghost could do is write a charging, ramones-like, pop song. Now that would be psychedelic.

The last time I saw Magik Markers was 2004 when they opened for Sonic Youth in Norfolk, Va. They’ve shed some members since then, and gotten a lot less aggressively confrontational. Here’s what a Magik Markers show looked like in early 2005.



There was none of that on display on Wednesday. As anyone who has a copy of their last album knows—it’s called Boss, and it’s really great (I’ll burn you a copy if you want)—Magik Markers has gone down a more traditional, song-oriented path since their early days. And as anyone who has a copy of the limited edition Gucci Rapidshare Download (I’ll burn you that one too), they’ve only gotten more interesting over time. They have a new album out last week called Balf Quarry that I haven’t listened to yet, but judging by their show last night, it’s worth checking out. This song sounded awesome last night.



I got there at 10:45 and Dark Meat had just finished playing. It figures that on a night of acid-fried weirdness theme, this would be one of the few shows in Athens history to actually start on time. Oh well. A friend shrugged her shoulders when I asked about their performance and said, “They sounded how they always sound”. So I guess we’ll have to continue waiting for the moment where the Meat try to embrace their inner Britney Spears only to fail miserably in the attempt and inadvertently invent an entirely new form of pop music that changes all of our lives forever.

Or maybe I’m asking too much. Whatever. Regardless. All I know for certain is the person responsible for bringing these bands to Athens, including Dark Meat, deserves a free drink/sandwich/burger the next time you see them.