Spaceships live at Timewarp Music

Maybe it’s because I just finished reading Into the Wild, but If I were to compare garage-punk duo Spaceships sound to say mountains, it would probably be something like the mountains of Mordor—spewing fire and brimstone and appearing all hard and dangerous on the outside, while concurrently possessing an unexplained, irresistible attraction and a warm and gooey inside. Ok, that was a terrible analogy.

Unpretentious and unapologetically raw, listening to Spaceships always leaves me giddy. If you saw their picture and thought, “how cute” don’t worry, there’s nary a pop song nor undistorted note to be heard within a mile of these cats. Singer/guitarist Jessie Waite flits between methodical, almost plodding riffs to manic picking and glissando. Her normally unaffected demeanor will unexpectedly explode in fits of screaming and gesticulating hand gestures (while playing!) like some deep unknown emotion attempting to escape. And, not unlike the more massive of a pair suns in a hypotrochoid dance, the gravity of drummer Kevin LaRose  maintains the natural order and prevents the system from spiraling apart.

Thanks to Fred Kiko (Demolisten, Fridays 6-8pm) and KXLU 88.9FM for bringing Spaceships to the Westside. You can “watch” Spaceship’s full set at the Demolisten UStream page (I use the word watch loosely, it gets pretty crazy toward the end).

UPDATE: Spaceships are playing at the Satellite in Silverlake on April 5.