Went to a Menlo Park gig last night.  It was unsurprisingly, excellent.  Any gig that requires you to wear a domino mask and cloak, and provides you with free (and quite decent) brandy is off to a pretty good start, in my view.

Menlo Park are the sort of band I think a few people on my friends list would like.  Live, they remind me of early-era Bad Seeds in the best possible way.  Strange, loud, thumping music from a black bayou, a melodic cacophony of sleaze and terrible weather.  Cajun-punk.  Alt. country on amphetamines.

On CD they’re a little slower, swapping out some of that visceral intensity and volume for a slower air of menace, like something skulking around a Southern town where the people all have mean eyes and shit in their souls.

Yes, I know my head is rapidly vanishing up my own arse with these descriptions, but I can’t come up with anything better.

I’d be surprised if there were tickets left for the next couple of nights, but I’ll try and provide more warning the next time they play, although it may be a more conventional gig.  Without the free brandy…