Hygiene Wilder and Sex and Death U.S.A. at Bar

Friday, February 10, 2006

Music - Hygiene Wilder and Sex and Death U.S.A. at Bar

Catching Up: Hygiene Wilder and Sex and Death U.S.A. at Bar 1/22/06

My favorite thing about this show was that all the scenesters were scared away by the rock band. Usually the shows at Bar are packed and all the hip kids crowd in to watch the boring drone-rock. This time, though, the opening band was an actual rock group and all the kids sat out in the other room. Sex and Death U.S.A. was competent, if not particularly interesting. Stuck in the '90s a bit.
Hygiene Wilder does politico-punk in a way that's more musically interesting than most hardcore political punk bands, but I'd still like to see them experiment more. With two guitar players, you'd think there'd be at least some solos. This was the second time I've seen them and there didn't seem to be any major deviation in the act. Leslie Blatteau of the Guilty Party is the singer, so it makes sense that they address political topics. Poetic isn't the right word for they way Blatteau writes, but it's closer to that than to typical political rhetoric. It's more like she's telling stories than writing manifestos. At least they have a sense of humor. Leslie poses and dances theatrically and that lightens the mood some.
More of the hipsters came in to watch Hygiene Wilder than the first band, but they had their ear-plugs in. I don't know about those kids.

Pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/72057594052595699/

Band pages:
http://www.myspace.com/sexanddeathusa
http://www.myspace.com/hygienewilder