Elliott's Eccentricities- Forever Heavy by Black Moth Super Rainbow

Last fall I went to my first concert at the First Unitarian Church here in Philly with Steve and John.  The week before Steve asked me if I wanted to go to a concert with John and himself, warning me that the concert would be a bit out there. Loving adventure, music, and all things eccentric, I instantly agreed without knowing which band it was. “You sure?” he asked, “the band is Black Moth Super Rainbow and they are a bit bizarre.” I had never heard of them, nor had any idea what I was getting myself into; “Sounds perfect.”

Soon the night of the concert came and the three of us walked several blocks to an old church on 2125 Chestnut Street. Outside was the most eclectic group of people I had ever seen waiting in line; every stereotypical demographic was accounted for. It was a mix of hipsters, high school students, guys in sports jerseys, old people, scene-sters, and people who looked like they just got off work. We joined as the line filled down a steep stone staircase, through a door, and into an extremely cramped rec-room that reminded me of all of the church food drives my mother took me too as a kid. On one side of the room was a small stage, the other was flanked with fold-out tables covered in merchandise.

After a while of standing in the now-crowded and almost-intolerably-hot room, the concert began to play. The show had three opening acts prior to the main event, two of which (The Marshmallow Ghosts and Serengeti) will definitely get an entry in this column of their own someday.  Once they were finished their sets BMSR took the stage and I heard them play for the first time. As I had hoped, my mind was blown to little pieces.

The concert was fantastic; it was an amazing first impression that is probably a part of why I love going back to First Unitarian. On the way out I was sure to pick up their album and give it a listen. I soon found out however that my relationship with Dandelion Gum was going to be different that mine with most other albums. I can (and have) listen to a Man Man album four to five times in one week. I can only listen to Black Moth once or twice a month. This is because of their sound; it’s absolutely fantastic but tends to drive me crazy after a while. Check out Forever Heavy (a pretty good embodiment of their sound) and see for yourself.

On the eccentricity scale ranging from 1 to 10
1- I pirate music.
10- I am building a fleet of helicopter UAVs that will hover in the upper atmosphere and contain servers that will help the world pirate music without being caught.
Forever Heavy- 7/10

Black Moth’s sound is one half outer-space, one half backwoods, and one half LSD trip. For one reason or another, I always imagine a man in a space suit dancing around in the forest under a neon-colored sky whenever I give them a listen. Their sound is heavily distorted, to the point where it is almost unlistenable. The voice effects make the lyrics extremely difficult to understand and the synths overload almost everything else. Yet this appears to be on purpose, it actually sounds really good. By overloading everything, it all flows together into this psychedelic soup that pours pleasantly into your brain. I am not into drugs, but let me tell you, if I was Black Moth would be on the top of my list of “music to listen to while out of my mind”.

I personally don’t think Black Moth makes individual songs that one can simply pop on; they don’t really have strong melodies to follow, choruses to sing along with, or solos to jam to. Instead they create a wonderful sound to just listen to for hours on end. This in effect is extremely similar to the work of DJ acts like the Avalanches, which is hilarious to me seeing as they are so incredibly different.

 Black Moth is the opposite of mainstream music. So if you are one of those annoying hipsters who cares less about listening to good music and more about listening to obscure music, check out BMSR cause they are right up your ally. If you are a hipster like me and just love checking out new and interesting music, still loving it (without complaining) after the mainstream stumbles across it, you should also check out BMSR.