The Minneapolis-based record label, Nice and Neat will celebrate their 10th anniversary in conjunction with the birthday party of its proprietor Hideo Takahashi, and his cohort and crony Srini Radhakrishna this weekend in Minneapolis at the Turf Club. It's magical to think that just a decade ago, when young Hideo was barely knee high to a nickel, and had a modest amount of nipple hair, he was just starting to kick around the noise bucket with his first band, Real Estate Fraud. Starting as a vehicle to release their second single titled It's Funny 'Causes It's True, Nice and Neat Records was born and then over the years grew into the label we know today. Releasing such Earth-shattering singles by some of the most fervent modern punk bands like Das Boot, The Reds, and The Kill-A-Watts, the label has continuously put out excellent music, some of which from Hideo himself with Sweet J.A.P. and Birthday Suits.
Kicking off tonight, the opening act, The Dynamiters from Minneapolis play a clean echo-soaked version of straightforward rock'n'roll that will surely turn you into a party ape on a cheap beer rampage. Next up on the bill are Columbus, Ohio's Guinea Worms. After their recent 7" Box of Records on Columbus Discount Records, and another coming out on the Swedish label, Savage Records sometime this summer, it looks like these guys concoction of fuzzed up garage and post-punk has caught ablaze. The headlining act, Birthday Suits, one of the two bands Hideo is playing in over the weekend, put on a brutal show. Their music rides the serrated edge of noise, and as a two piece, throw up such a menacing wall of raucous and blaring anthems, you'd assume it was coming from an army of malcontent riffraff. Also playing Friday night are Awesome Snakes and the Chicago outfit, Disappears.
Saturday night features an appearance from Fontana, a Detroit act that plays soulfully shattering rock that drags blues cords through a sludge of building, and aggressive rhythms leaving nothing in their path but some sort of Stooges resin and a burning feeling in the groin area. France Has The Bomb is making an appearance too, and with birthday boys, Srini on the vocals, and Hideo on the guitar, you can bet the audience is in for a treat. Their debut single, which just came out on Dusty Medical sheds light on their brilliant pop cake of post-punk tunes and an artfully uneasy sound. Another special appearance comes Saturday with A/V Murder, the newest outfit centered around the modern punk luminary, Jim McCann formally of Baseball Furies, Tyrades, and White Savage. On vocal duties again, as he was in the polarizing no-wave band White Savage, McCann serves up something in a similar vein of the former, with apish, primeval and grunted vocals that blanket the anxiously pummeling songs he is known for creating. Ending off the weekend with a performance from The Potential Johns, from Denton, Texas, will definitely cause a commotion. The blazing power pop they play blistering summer hijinks tunes that sound as if they are being performed in a tunnel, and make everything seem like it's Saturday night. Get there early, as this is going to be a fun show, and you can check out the full weekend line up here
Oh and be sure to buy Hideo and Srini drinks for us (they like buttery nipples) and tell them we said happy birthday.
