We are so great.
but if you don't believe us, here's some stuff other people have said about us:
"the opening band was Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a quintet from Boston consisting of three saxophones, a guitar, and a set of drums. If Noise-Jazz has not yet been established as a respectable style alongside noise-rock/pop, Abraham Lincoln Brigade would cut the ribbon at its initiation. Within the first few seconds of the sets start, I was thrust into a brass orgy with no rhythm or rhyme, and no lyrics save a husky, One! Two Three! Four! and sporadic screams. During the first song, all three saxophonists jumped down from the stage and ran through the small crowd like bees escaping from the hive. To be entirely honest, Im not certain whether the notes they played were arbitrarily and skillfully chosen as they smashed their fingers against the keys, or if the chaos was miraculously pre-meditated. Somehow, it remained tight and together, like a jazz band whose award-winning conductor was both on speed and off his anti-psychotic meds. The set lasted a solid forty minutes, consisting of a number of cacophonous oeuvres of indeterminate length (three minutes? Ten?). The crowd-stopper came at the very end. As with all the songs, the crescendo rose and rose, but this time it led to a drum solo, a guitar solo, and an amazing display of wild musicality as Danny Mekonnen, one of the saxophonists, began to play two saxophones simultaneously, puffing out his mouth around both mouthpieces. After he slung his second saxophone back over his shoulder, he pulled out its mouthpiece and began to shriek sound through the severed wooden head. Birnbaum strutted around stage spewing saliva through his saxophones bell like a bluesman on Bourbon Street, until finally the orgy reached its climax and inevitably ended."
- Erika Hendrix
"Boston triple sax/guitar/drums assault-- like Tim Berne's Bloodcount meets Deerhoof on a bad acid trip. Seriously do not miss this band!"
- Jon Pfeffer of Capillary Action
"The Abraham Lincoln Brigade took the stage first, a band comprised of two tenor saxophones, an alto sax, a guitar, and percussion. The group looked at each other, lifted their horns, and just blew the roof off the Cradle. This was completely chaotic free jazz, Interstellar-Space-style, cranked up all the way to 11, with the three saxes just blasting through. Halfway through the first song, the tenor saxes leaped off the stage and started wailing their way through the stunned crowd. Truth be told, I was blown away, pretty much literally and figuratively.
Once the raucous din finally subsided, the group revealed that the piece they'd just performed was actually a Deerhoof cover. Go figure. The crowd was likely split between those who were impressed by their technical prowess but not the impenetrable wall of sound they created, and those who were more pretentious and pretended to really get into them, like me. Their original material was possibly even more chaotic than the opening cover, culminating in the final song. At one point, each of the sax players put down their horns and just screamed at the top of their lungs, and later in the piece one of the sax players played a tenor and an alto sax at the same time, Rahsaan-Roland-Kirk-style.
I feel that these guys were the absolutely perfect opener for Deerhoof, illuminating many of Deerhoof's free jazz elements, in that both rely heavily on organized chaos and a tight group dynamic. Really, Deerhoof are just a melodic free jazz group who play rock instruments instead of saxophones, while The Abraham Lincoln Brigade are just a textural spazz rock group who play saxophones instead of guitars (plural). I went ahead and bought their self-titled album, curious to hear their studio sound. I was really surprised to find that it's extremely similar to their live show in many respects, giving me a nice little memento of their unique and excellent performance.
- swatbirds.blogspot.com
