pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news

On Friday, Eugene photographer Kari Spohn and Eugene “post-something” band Mankind hit the Wandering Goat with two very different artistic openings.  Kari’s black & white photography was throughout the coffee shop… her opening starting at 5:30pm.  I dig her work – very “beauty in the everyday” and nice use of lines in concrete and steel in my opinion.

Delightful bites of caprise bread slices and sounds from the espresso machine’s froth fuzz soon gave way to the post-rock / post-metal bombast from Mankind at 6pm…

photo by Wes Hurd

Mankind is a great find for post-rock fans in Eugene.  They played a fairly tight set of some fantastical heavy instrumental music that sucks you in.  Mankind is James Madson on bass, Joe Harvey & John Hurd on guitars and Courtney Stubbert on drums.  For fans of Explosions in the Sky, think a touch heavier.  “Explosions in the Isis” perhaps.  Definitely recommended for fans of Explosions, Isis, Mogwai, et cetera.  And I’m glad Mankind are in Eugene.  I look forward to seeing them play a show where they can stretch their legs – the Goat’s stage is a bit small!

And don’t worry… the sonic takeover of the art opening wasn’t intended as a clash.  It was a compliment to the photography (Kari and Mankind are kindreds).

Over at Bandcamp, you can download (for free) the first batch of demos from Mankind.  You won’t be disappointed:

http://mankind.bandcamp.com/

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Mankind’s Site
• Mankind’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• Kari Spohn’s Flickr / Twitter
• Wandering Goat’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Next show for me… possibly Tin Hat at the Mission Theater (Portland) on 5/19 or Blackfield at Aladdin (Portland) on 6/1.  Or, I assume some other stuff will pop-up in May…

Breaking news as I was writing this review up… Barack Obama announced that a special force killed Osama bin Laden!  Mission Accomplished (for real this time)!  I’m not celebrating the death, but rather the justice.

~Dan – np: Porcupine Tree – XMII