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Saw The Gossip and Panther last night at Neumo’s. If you’ve never seen either of these bands perform then I highly recommend that you check them out.

Panther is the solo project of Charlie Salas-Humaras, the frontman of The Planet The and all around awesome guy. He sings and dances to pre-tracked instrumentals for about 20 minutes and let me tell you, it’s nothing short of amazing. This guy’s got the moves and he’s not afraid to bust them out. I really wish I could have recorded his set with video because the audio recording is only half the story.

Panther – 2006-04-05 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: panther2006-04-05.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: panther2006-04-05sample.mp3

The Gossip played an impressive set even with Beth Ditto being under the weather. She’s got pipes I’ll tell you what. Even with her having a nasty cold, her vocals were still blazing. I also like that there are still bands out there who are about advocacy and social justice. God bless Slim Moon and his label of great bands.

The Gossip – 2006-04-05 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: gossip2006-04-05.at943.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: gossip2006-04-05sample.mp3

Sometimes you go to a show and the opening band make your eyes glaze over as you wait for them to finish whatever the hell it is they’re doing so you can see the band(s) you paid money to see. This is why people show up at the venue two hours late. Not because they want to look cool but because they hate sitting through craptacular opening bands.

But every so often you show up to a show in time to see the first band play and it’s not a total let down. In fact, sometimes you catch a band that is just as entertaining if not more so than than the headlining act and, let me tell you friends, that’s a golden opportunity right there. The crowd isn’t jam packed full of people and you can actually enjoy being up front listening to some decent tunes.

Friday night I went to see These Arms Are Snakes at Neumo’s (Isis was headlining but… meh) and the opening act, Zombi, proved that the order of the show’s lineup is not indicative of how “good” the bands are. These guys fucking killed. They have a huge sound, epic drumming, and an all around smooth sound.

To describe their sound I will say this: You know those action movies from the 80s that always get shown on network tv on Sunday afternoon? The music that plays while the renegade cop storms the abandon factory that the criminals are using to traffic their drugs. That’s what Zombi’s music sounds like. Synth driven, drum backed, guns-out electronic music that is destined to impress.

Zombi 2006-03-32 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
Download: zombi2006-03-31.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: zombi2006-03-31sample.mp3

(I also recorded These Arms Are Snakes’ set but I promised the drummer that I would not publish the recording or trade it with anyone until their new album is out. Sorry.)