gigsplurge 27: workhouse, reynolds, december 2000

Workhouse, Reynolds, Bullingdon Arms, Oxford, 21 December 2000

As promoters, we generally had two ideas. One was greasy, swaggering blues punk in thrall to Jon Spencer, the Birthday Party and the Gun Club. The other was chugging minor chord post-rock made by blokes who felt Steve Albini had a 'look' worth cultivating.

Both sort-of-genres wore their budget credentials with a wry British underdog wit; neither had much success in the 00s, although there was the odd glimmer in chancers like Hope of the States and the Libertines. Indie-punk moved towards aloof CBGB revivalism, funk flailing or emo histrionics; post-rock headed for the earnest triumphalism of Explosions in the Sky or took a left turn towards Four Tet and Boards of Canada's pastoral electronica.

Workhouse still chug along, Reynolds split in 2007. Here are the latter, with what I'd describe as an agreeable stoner lurch. Very nice:

gigsplurge 21: the workhouse, caretaker, union kid, november 2000

The Workhouse, Caretaker & Union Kid, Bullingdon Arms, Oxford, 11 November 2000

Great music inspires great writing.

Local rag Nightshift on the Workhouse: "a sonic cathedral of sound".
Drowned in Sound on Union Kid: "dynamics which can be best described as dynamic ... But when Union Kid are sad, their music is sad. As you listen to the heartfelt lyrics and the music has been slowed right down, you can almost feel a frown coming on."
Skippscage--apparently--on Caretaker: "The sound of Caretaker tonight was fat - really fat - no… phat!"

Of all the nights our outfit organized at the Bully, this may have been the most enjoyable, in that it was Peel-tastic, short, and headlined by Oxford's greatest band.