Well, I went to see Ruins play in Pittsburgh last night.  There were
actually a total of 5 bands playing, none of whom sucked outright.  In
contrast, the Millvale Industrial Theater continues to be an awful place
to see shows, but at least they're cheap.

PAK
        PAK was the total surprise of the night for me.  They came out of
nowhere and kicked my ass.  Ridiculously technical, elements of hardcore,
math-rock, influenced perhaps by  King Crimson, Doctor Nerve, Talking
Heads, Ruins, with shredding, spastic, thrashy tunes punctuated with
howls, shrieks, squawks, squeals, yips, grunts, shouts, and screams from
the guitarists and bassist, synchronized and alternating - the
construction of it almost reminded me of Gentle Giant's vocal counterpoint
constructions, but with a completely different character.  The energy
level was sky-high, and I was utterly blown away.  This is actually a
brand-new band (though Ron Anderson (Molecules, RonRuins, many solo
projects) and drummer Race Age had played together before), and the fact
that they had only done 3 live gigs before the current tour amazes me,
because they were ultra-tight.  I was truly blown away, and I can't wait
for them to put out a real album.

Noah Samuel Lesgold rec.music.progressive