A new obsession.

Sunday night at Wonder Ballroom: The Kingdom, Mecca Normal, Viva Voce, and Mates of State (It's this band the title of the post refers to).

I got there nice and early, thanks to local weeklies and even the ad by the local show promoters being just completely wrong. This is not uncommon, and I'm going to have to figure out a better system. So I saw all four sets beginning to end. The Kingdom gets talked up madly by the Portland Mercury, though they point out that one member writes for them. Meh. Pop songs with punk-rock musical conventions underpinning it, without exactly being pop-punk. The guy's got an interesting voice, like if Johnny Rotten had a background as a choirboy. British accent and all...but of course, not British in the least. Silly. All the songs sounded alike, so it got old quickly. Verdict: It'd be okay on a mix tape.

Mecca Normal: I feel like I'd heard this name before, but I'm not sure. They started the theme for the evening (two people, one male, one female, = whole band). They continued the theme for the weekend (More instruments in the song than were being played onstage...Helio Sequence, I'm lookin' at you!). These guys were just weird. He played guitar, she sang, and there was an invisible bass player. I don't like invisible musicians. Her lyrics were excessively detailed confessional prose (sample: "I listened to him stretch the condom...") sung without much rhythm or melody, mostly about people she did or did not sleep with, and occasionally about grocery shopping. Again, all the songs sounded alike. I'll pass.

Viva Voce: Husband and wife team, she played guitar and sang, he played drums and sang. The invisible member played bass. Same one? I couldn't tell. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was a little too arena-rock sounding. She had a double-neck guitar that was fun and hilarious, all rock-star-like. Maybe I just need to be more familiar with their stuff, though, since the two songs I have on PDX Pop Now! compilation discs I thought they knocked out of the park.

Last up was Mates of State. I am absolutely in love with this band. I was wary--another husband and wife duo who had a lot of space to fill with only the two of them. He played drums and sang, she played keyboards and sang. I spent a lot of time watching her hands (well, as best as I could from the balcony in an 800-person venue). Were they also using an invisible bass player? I finally decided that she was making all those sounds. Hooray! This was an amazing set. He's a great drummer, with this odd, high-pitched voice I kept confusing with hers. He also played kazoo (sorry...). She absolutely rocked the keyboards. It's completely joyous, major-key synth-pop, like The Postal Service without any of that pesky self-doubt. That sounds annoying. It wasn't. It was beautiful, and I'm in love.