These Are Powers | When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth (The Lounge)
When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth's follow-up to their 2006 debut, "Snacks," bears an appropriate and purposely annoying title, "Not Noiice," which has to be the most obnoxious name since two guys from Ft. Worth decided to call themselves Best Fwends. And of course, when you do something like that, you're bound to make as many enemies as "fwends." I can respect that WDRTE definitely go out of their way to grate on the listener with whatever it takes; two drummers, two singers, a small army on stage, and all of it just to get under your skin with a sound that is shrieking, screeching chaos and spidery guitar lines, jarringly interrupted by low-blood pressure sludge rock. You get the feeling they want to make you nauseated, which shouldn't bother you if you're already sick.

These Are Powers blend noise and dissonance into their song structures in a rather different way, though an easily recognizable way where it's immediately apparent the band is determined to be taken more seriously than the aforementioned pranksters. Theirs is a throbbing, thudding attack, with some tribal-like pummeling as well as some willfully machine-like rhythms. Some of the extended monotone moaning sounds somewhat like the vocals in Live Skull, or the mini-genre of groups that "kind of sounded like Sonic Youth" in the mid to late 80's. Both acts certainly have their moments and that shouldn't be overlooked due to either their occasional mischief or pretense, respectively.

Ratatat | Panther | E*Rock (Granada) THIS SHOW JUST SOLD OUT: In my mind, Ratatat is a band that must be experienced live. Some might see that as a backhanded compliment of sorts, and maybe it is, but it also happens to be the truth. Most of Ratatat's recorded material is solid, dance leaning instrumental music that takes cues from influences as diverse as DJ Shadow, Bollywood and Iron Maiden, embracing heavy metal's past in one instant while looking towards abstract hip hop in the next. This is all well and good, but the experience of sitting down and listening to an entire Ratatat album on an Ipod can be a little bit tedious at times-- the songs tend to get a bit repetitive and eventually become a tad difficult to pay attention to. Live, however,the band is certainly more than a worthy experience. I've been able to catch them several times in the past few years, and watching them do what they do on-stage is highly entertaining in and of itself. Mix this with a lot of volume and an appropriately excited atmosphere, and Ratatat transforms into a can't miss show.

Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge)
This is an after-party for the Ratatat show, and The Frenz will have copies of their new ep.

Both, DL and SR, contributed to today's post.