Threadwaxing Space Live

(Zero Hour)
by Joshua Brown

This Zero Hour compilation does for modern indie rock what Rat Music for Rat People did for punk rock circa 1980. In the space of one album, it gives us a key for understanding the creative efforts of an entire scene. The individuals and bands from this particular scene are captured live as they passed through New York City’s Threadwaxing Space, a short-lived but vital venue.

The CD insert is an entrancing collage of pop art that was displayed at the Threadwaxing Space, and it’s a good metaphor for the artful collage of music contained within. One group of pictures has traditional nature scenes on top of which simplistic symbolic shapes are pasted or painted. This corresponds with the musical style of Guided By Voices, who superimpose lo-fi art rock sounds over a ’60s British invasion anthem-rock format. A couple more pieces are loosely sketched line drawings, colored starkly and intentionally sloppy, much like the loose format, ’70s-style sloppy punk played by now defunct bands Shorty and Pony. Black and white summer scene photographs flank a pair of color winter scenes, with no doctoring of the pictures, which reminds of the musical styles of Azalia Snail and the Sea & Cake, who both offer very “scenic” picturesque material with no obstacles to clog the view. Other cool bands worthy mentioning are Blond Redhead, Giant Sand, Guv’ner, and Saturnine 60.