Burning Airlines

San Diego's only truly "emo" rock spot, the all ages Che Cafe, sits nestled among the trees of the USD campus near the affluent beach community of La Jolla, CA. This place is not what one might typically expect from a music venue/Cafe (I guess they serve food at some point - probably during the day). You can get some "vegan" soda (meaning no artificial colors, flavors, caffeine - basically all the stuff that makes a soda good) which I sampled. Wasn't bad, but it wasn't a Pepsi either. The actual room where the bands play is pretty small, with an adequate sound system, but through some large patio doors is an extensive patio area that stretches into a wooded path and very dark woods right behind the building. We even saw a 'possum come wandering though while we were hanging out on the patio. What's nice about this set up is one can listen to the music and just chill out (without paying even if you choose not to enter the premises). For an all ages joint, it's perfect. Music and plenty of area to just kick it with your friends. If I were still in high-school, I'd probably be here a lot.

"Lowercase" was the first band to play. I've never heard of "Lowercase," but I checked them out through the glass doors for a few songs, and kept picking out the catchier bits to their songs, while hanging out with some friends outside. Not too darn bad. Jangly intense guitars, and semi-competent vocals, that were cooler for their delivery timings rather than their actual technical proficiency.

I went inside for the "Dismemberment Plan's" set. I had seen them once before, like 3 years ago, when they opened for Hum in San Diego. I bought a pink 7 inch from them that ended up on a couple of compilation tapes I made (meaning I thought they were pretty decent). I was curious to see what 3 years had done to these Washington, D.C. exports. It has seen the addition of some trippy low keyboard sounds, usually played by the bassplayer, and the key lines usually filled in the low end and played out like the bass lines might, with a little extra in the effects department. The singer is kinda dorky, but somehow in a kinda cool way, often working himself up into little spastic outbursts.

The "Dismemberment Plan" play a kind of warped, tight and clean alterna-rock, with a severe insecure drive. Crisp breaks and some odd changes keep you attentive, even if the particular mood doesn't suit you. There's emotion here, portrayed most readily through songs of screwed up relationship issues. The bass player switched between the bassy keys and the real bass throughout the set, usually using one or the other for each particular song, although the guitarist sat down for some sparse background notes for one song. The singer even pulled out a trombone for sporadic horn fills that reminded me of the Cows. I had never heard any of the songs from tonight's set, but I still was able to "get into" most of their set.

There was the occasional ragged moment, but that's the Plan's style, not execution. Surprisingly, the "Dismemberment Plan" turned out to be the crowd rocker of the night.

The main reason for my presence here tonight was to witness the new J. Robbins project. Wearing the title "Burning Airlines," the ex-Jawbox members have picked up where Jawbox left off, and now emote through a straighter, tighter and more stripped melodic emo-rock. Fans of Jawbox should have no problem absorbing this, since it's still J. Robbins on the vocals, which style-wise have not really changed at all from Jawbox, and intelligently mangling his guitar strings to produce some seriously screwed up, but somehow ugly/beautiful, guitar movements. I don't think many, if any, people had the new "Burning Airlines" release, since most just stood open mouthed, observing (much like I did).

You can't really "dance" to this type stuff, so crowd movement mostly consisted of heads nodding up and down. BA were very tight, which is a tricky aspiration with their stutter stops and breaks, and tonight's set saw J. Robbins even jumpin' around a bit on his part of the tiny stage. Just for you unfortunates who never heard Jawbox for a good comparison here, they were an intelligent, indie-emo rock outfit, that composed beautiful and melodic rock songs focusing mostly on guitar dynamics. "Burning Airlines" is definitely a progression of the same mindset that spawned Jawbox, and rightfully so, since 2/3 of BA were previously members of Jawbox. It is a little meaner, a little louder, but still melodically intelligent and complex.

"Burning Airlines" plowed through a meaningful set and were received well. It was hard to tell what people where thinking until the songs ended, but the enthusiastic applause signified the mostly teen crowd was pleased. It was a Wednesday night, so spirits weren't too out of hand, but I'm glad the turnout was pretty decent. Personally, I was hearing new stuff all night so I was mostly taking it in, as I suspect were the general bulk of the crowd. The vibe was kind of like an art show. People stood and stared. Listened and liked. Approved. Then went home.