The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 

Review: Six Finger Satellite at Great Scott


VIDEO: Six Finger Satllite live at Great Scott. Video by Matt Parish

If there was one thing I didn’t expect to see displayed on stage this windy Saturday, it was big smiles. Spastic dances? Yes. Twitchy guitar palpitations? Check. Darkly intoned exhortations over a punishing rhythm section? Sure. But when you think Six Finger Satellite, musicians grinning ear-to-ear in musical exultation is not an image that comes to mind.

Of course, you could argue over the degree to which this outfit actually was Six Finger Satellite. The nuances among the band’s storied eras and line-ups aside, there’s a definitive schism in the their time line. In 1999, they were supporting their then-latest studio release, Law of Ruins (Sub Pop), an ominous, prescient turn of phrase that, as it happened, presaged the demise of the group’s most stable line-up. The 6FS franchise may belong to lanky and sardonic frontman Jeremiah “J.” Ryan, but for most fans of the brand, just hearing “Six Finger” conjures the crackly caterwauling guitar of John (now “The Juan”) MacLean and the airtight and spastic lockstep rhythm of bassist James Apt and drummer Rick Pelletier. The band of that era was, especially in a live setting, fearless and intimidating, exuding an aura of brute force, sardonic wit, and casual malevolence that was largely the product of bitter, barely concealed intra-band tensions.

So it isn’t entirely a negative thing to see a reactivated Six Finger operating in a healthier engagement with their own music. The turn-on-a-dime dynamics and precise-yet-carelessly-caustic riffage that have always been 6FS’s calling card were on display during opener “Thrown Out,” which also happens to be the first track on the band’s “new” long-player from Load Records, Half Control. (“New” because the album was recorded nearly eight years ago by a slightly different line-up, and the band have finished touches on a subsequent as-yet-untitled LP that’s due later this year.)

The current 6FS configuration looks odd on paper, especially with Pelletier now playing guitar. But it sort of works. That’s partly because for the most part Pelletier is able to duplicate the shattered-glass ricochet of the classic 6FS guitar sound, but mostly because the bass is now being manned by Providence legend Dan St. Jacques, a notorious noise-rock mainstay who’s been the chaotic center of Von Ryan’s Express, Landed, Thee Hydrogen Terrors, and numerous others. Although his thick distorted attack tilts the band’s sound into more of a standard “rock” stratosphere, the brute force of the air pumped out of his cab’s speakers is enough to propel each tune into the pinned-to-the-red territory that is 6FS’s hallmark.

For the reunion gig of a band who haven’t played Boston in almost a decade, 6FS were miserly with the classics, offering only two songs from the pre-2001 line-up. When they finally barged into Law of Ruins’ “Surveillance House,” it was a moment of pure joy — mostly because the song’s heavy reliance on Ryan’s keyboard prowess was a liberation from the more guitar-heavy sound of the newer material that had hogged the set. “Surveillance House” was also a great example of the repetitive simplicity of classic 6FS: much of the menace was generated not by crazy stage moves but by their coupling of repetition with insistence. The bass line was static and bullying; everybody else slowly ratcheted up the tension and paranoia until, by the end, the frenzied feeling was crackling from the amplifiers.

Half Control’s title track, the set closer, felt like an unexpected Molotov cocktail tossed out by an innocuous-looking group of rock dudes. As the song’s crunch dug deeper and deeper, a glimpse into the band’s younger and slightly more evil ideal was visible, and it was marvelous. Explained the grins, too.

Daniel Brockman

SET LIST
“Thrown Out”
“Half Life”
“Hearts and Rocks"
“Roam from Home”
“Don’t Let Me”
“Surveillance House”
“Hot Food”
“Wilson P”
“The Greatest Hit”
“Half Control”

See also: "Slideshow: Six Finger Satellite at Great Scott" by Christopher Huang.

Six Finger Satellite (a.k.a. 6FS) were an American synthesizer-based noise-rock band, based in Providence, Rhode Island. The band formed in 1990 around a line up...

1222 Commonwealth Ave, Allston-Brighton

Great Scott’s décor is, in a word, random. International flags suspended from the ceiling, glossy...

  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article

Leave a Comment

Login | Not a member yet? Click here to Join
Follow the Boston Phoenix
twitter facebook myspace youtube rss
All Blogs
Related Articles

The Huge Decision That Hip-Hop Heads In Boston Need To Make This Thursday
Boston Phoenix
The Huge Decision That Hip-Hop Heads In Boston Need To Make This Thursday
Published 10/7/2009 by Chris Faraone
In my five years of covering the hip-hop scene here, this is truly the most severe dilemma that I've ever faced. Click the group name...

Asobi Seksu + Loney Dear + Anna Ternheim
Boston Phoenix
Asobi Seksu + Loney Dear + Anna Ternheim
Published 10/6/2009 by Jason OBryan
Asobi Seksu and their soaring, nu-gazy pop bounce along with Loney Dear and Anna Ternheim at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | 9 pm...

more by webteam
The Mars Volta at the House of Blues | October 7 | October 08, 2009
Swoon at SPACE Gallery | October 07, 2009
Keb’ Mo’ at Music Hall | MOOSE at North Star Music Café | October 07, 2009
Malcolm Rollick at One Longfellow Square | October 07, 2009
Si o Si Quartet at Olin Arts Center Concert Hall | October 07, 2009

 See all articles by: webteam

ADVERTISEMENT
Latest Video
OTD Categories
Out
VIDEO: Throwed! at the Middle East Upstairs
Rare Frequencies
Rare Frequencies: Trouble and treble
Playlists
Lady Lee's Lion's Den Playlist
MP3 of the Week
MP3 of the Week: MEandJOANCOLLINS, "(I Masturbate...
Hot Tix
Ticket On-Sale Alert: Snoop Dogg with Red & Meth...
Latest Comments
Herald's Carr: Obama Nobel a race-based handout - He may be a one-trick pony but Carr does have one more Phi Beta Kappa key than I (and I suspect you)...

By aging cynic on 10-11-2009 in Dont Quote Me

Herald's Carr: Obama Nobel a race-based handout - This from a man who referred to his wife as "Submit" Carr for many years, and as a "present...

By Shava Nerad on 10-11-2009 in Dont Quote Me

Herald's Carr: Obama Nobel a race-based handout - Since Howie brought it up, what are Howie Carr's SAT scores?

By Joe Egan on 10-11-2009 in Dont Quote Me

"Hands-On" Menino - To make a serious city planning and to make fair, impartial decisions, Manino needs to feel the most...

By T.Vincent on 10-11-2009 in Talking Politics

Converge invents new use for Twitter: "street justice" for album leaks - i heard portugal?the?man!!! had to leak their own album for free publicity because nobody cares about...

By b-crizzy on 10-11-2009 in On The Download

Latest Comments from On The Download
Most Viewed
MP3: New Hooray for Earth, "Form"
Who needs a Twug? 20 Must-Read Celebrity Tweets from the Kanye West-Taylor Swift Fiasco
Tonight in music: Deerhoof, Ladyhawke, and Circulatory System
Stop Asking For My Thoughts On Kanye West. But If You Really Must Know...
Mike Cann: "Top 5 20th MassCann/NORML Boston Freedom Rally Weekend Songs"
Elvis Presley at the International, Las Vegas, 1969: Post-game interview
Report: Pavement to reunite, possibly play Central Park Summerstage in 2010
Most Viewed from On The Download
Links
Bradley’s Almanac - Lower Allston blogging and bootlegging since 2001
Band in Boston -
Basstown -
Wayne&Wax -
Aurgasm -
Onward Charles -
Compound 440r -
Anti-Gravity Bunny -
Clicky Clicky -
Soul Clap -
Lemmingtrail -
WMBR -
WFNX -
Beginning To See the Light -
Jump the Turnstyle -
Heads Up Boston -
Loaded Gun -
Enough Cowbell -
Vanyaland -
Sunday, October 11, 2009  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group