Q. How are you, what did you do Tuesday night? A. Saw the Raveonettes playing at the ’Sco. Q. How was that? A. Well, of course, it’s just, like, my opinion man, but…

New York band The Rogers Sisters inaugurated the first ’Sco show of the year. This trio comprises the Rogers sisters, Laura (drums) and Jennifer (vocals, guitar) and Miyuki Furtado (vocals, bass. Not sister to the sisters mentioned formerly).

I don’t know The Rogers Sisters, but there are no doubt at least 20 articles in existence hailing them for reinventing this and that, for revolutionizing such and such and for finding an original sound somewhere between ESG, the B-52s, the Bush Tetras and the Slits (that’s according to their website). Being an average music listener type, to me, live, all that translated into was a pretty muddy sound with nondescript beats, piddly guitar lines and a bass sound turned up so much that it was felt more than heard (and, judging from watching Furtado actually playing said bass guitar, it was probably better that way).

The audience was quite unenthusiastic at the beginning, and that affected the overall atmosphere, although things picked up more toward the end. Despite his limitations with the bass, Furtado rocked out like a man possessed, which brought the whole performance up a notch. Jennifer went for a quieter, colder feel, and, well, it didn’t quite work out. Admittedly, it’s hard to engage an audience by just standing there with a glint in your eye, but she really just seemed to be either trying to restrain herself or force herself to rock, depending on how you looked at it. Consequently, she was just sort of middle of the road, her lead guitar lines fairly haphazard and uninteresting. Her vocals mixed things up somewhat, and some of the barked lines (harmonized with Laura) were quite cool, but she didn’t really seem at her peak.

Overall, the Rogers Sisters had enough kick to be fun, but eventually all the songs sounded the same, with the same ploddy plod plod drumming, peeoww peeeoooow peeeoow peee peee prring guitar and THAKATHAKATHAKATHAKA bass playing. It ended in a flurry of feedback and crashing as Furtado threw his bass flamboyantly to the floor. Oh, yes, I’ll add this: song endings weren’t coordinated too well. Of course, the artistic musician will tell you that’s a nihilistic approach to music. Or maybe just sloppy playing.
And along came the Raveonettes.

A friend cruelly joked that the title of this review should be “Danish Bombshells Floor Hipsters. Rest Unimpressed.” We won’t go into that, but it’s an interesting point. The Raveonettes are Danish duo Sune Rose Wagner (scruffy, staring into space) on guitars and vocals and Sharin Foo (striped black and white top with shoulder bared, obviously) on bass and vocals. The official Raveonettes website will have you believe they’re the next step in the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll, veering off into the farthest reaches of pretentiousness. Well.

Things started out promisingly enough, with the touring guitarist creating harsh white noise. Hmm. Along came a distinguishable bass line and android-like vocals. Lo and behold, it’s a Raveon-ized rendition of Don McLean’s “Everyday.” Admittedly, it was quite a cool start, and they were sounding good for a while there, but soon it all started heading downhill. The drums were tight and pretty enjoyable, with little subtleties here and there.

But regarding all this “innovative” use of feedback stuff…it’s just getting annoying to see that every “revolutionary” approach to guitar amounts to loads of reverb and putting your arm across the strings to create “atmosphere.” It’s infuriating that bands like the Raveonettes advertise their sound as the “Second Coming of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” while it’s really quite formulaic — nice, sweet poppy hooks, that sterile harmonized vocal approach in every single song and a bunch of noise-wankery to add to the show. The Rogers Sisters earlier weren’t the champions of sonic variety, but they had the advantage of a shorter set and so didn’t have the time to bore everyone to death. The Raveonettes’ sound, on the other hand, was far less muddy and maybe their lack of movement actually helped convey the coldness of the vocals. The show was fun, but also partly because the crowd was much more kinetic than in the beginning. The fans loved it and, well, they play for the fans, these band types, and the crowd at least rocked out.

All in all, it was a fun night, useful for seeing people coming back and all. But by the time it was over, I felt like I’d been listening to the same song for an hour.