[Photos by Andrew Parks, slideshow version available here]
A wicked wind, frigid temperatures and a late one last night meant we really didn’t want to leave the office on Saturday. What got in the way of some much-needed rest, however, was a rare hometown set by the post-punk goddesses in ESG. Appearing onstage to a roar of applause, the Scroggins sisters tore through such Lower East Side standards as “You Make No Sense,” “Moody,” “You’re No Good” and one of the most heavily-sampled (and uncleared) singles of all time, “UFO.” (The undisputed queens of New York Noise famously pressed “Sample Credits Don’t Pay Our Bills” in 1992 to emphasize how much they’ve been screwed by hip-hop producers.)
As you’ll see by the following shots, ESG’s 60-minute set was a glaring reminder of just how influential their punk-funk sound has been on acts as diverse as the Rapture, Liars (see “Tumbling Walls Buried Me in the Debris With ESG,” which also swipes its siren sound from “UFO”) and such contemporaries as Liquid Liquid, A Certain Ratio and PiL. Seriously now, how can you not appreciate the locked-down grooves of a song like this:
[audio:http://www.self-titledmag.com/wp-content/uploads/audio4/09%20Dance.mp3]
