Again, here I am behind in my reviews. Saturday the 17th, I saw Built to Spill at the Crystal Ballroom! I got there for half of the Prids' set. They were loud. They played rock music. Meh.
Next up, Brett Netson. A member of BtS, I expected good things. Boy, was I wrong. '70's soporific medievalist meandering aimless hippie jam crap. 3 "songs", 45 minutes. But during that otherwise wasted time, I spent a lot of time observing the band. The guitarist reminded me of frightwig (who can be found at a blog entitled sundappled wood), only old and balding. But it was the vibraphonist who I couldn't stop watching. Like a train wreck. I've never seen anyone who so obviously has an eating disorder. From where I was sitting, I had so little perspective I couldn't tell you how tall she was, but I'm gonna estimate 5'6". And she couldn't have weighed 75 pounds. The hollow face, the sunken chest, the convex upper arms, the shoulder blades and spine and scapulae...just looking at her was so sad and frightening. I might look like that if I lost 45 pounds. Maybe. I don't understand how she could be on tour with two bandmates and two other bands, and no one thinks, "she's sick, she won't make it. She needs to be in the hospital." That really rattled me.
Then, finally, BtS. The visuals behind them really captured my attention. And you know how I feel about that kind of thing. It always makes me wonder, "Why do you feel you need to distract me from the music?" But BtS wasn't hiding behind cool visuals. The images, ranging from cartoony to Joan Miro, were kinda fascinating and didn't take anything away from the performance. It was a great show, not too jam-bandy (Nick asked me, "You went to see Built to Spill? Aren't they... (nose wrinkled in subtle distaste) ...kind of a jam band???" Sheesh, some people's histories skip entire decades.), absorbing and intense. Unlike that one time I saw them in Charlottesville, they didn't end the show with Freebird, but those guys put on a great live show every time.
I've seen a zillion other shows, so more to come, I hope...
Monday, June 26, 2006
Sunday, June 04, 2006
I'm so behind!
I have so many reviews to catch up on. It's been a busy week.
First off, Jamie Lidell, Copy, and...hmmm...someone else, at Holocene. Crap, I hate it when I get so far behind I forget who I saw. I had a good friend visiting me, and I promised to get him out to see a show or two. I remember that the first band was "okay, it's electronica." Copy, too, was electronica. I expected to recognize the song on the PDX Pop Now! compilation, at least, but no. Maybe he didn't play it. But it all kinda sounded alike, long blurry swirling whatever, no vocals, just a guy and his keytar. Jamie Lidell: This man's insane. Sometimes that's fun. A blues-influenced screaming Brit in a satin smoking jacket.
Now, I'm going to attempt to review Sasquatch. I fully expect to fail.
The first day, we saw more weather than music. Thunder, lightning, 45 minutes of hail. People made hailmen. Thankfully, we found an indoor sanctuary and didn't get too wet. When we first got there, the sun was shining, Iron and Wine was playing, god was in his heaven and all was right with the world. It was a long, long drive, and we missed some stuff I wanted to see, including Sufjan Stevens, Rogue Wave, and Architecture in Helsinki. I think I saw Band of Horses and liked them, until the hail chased them off the stage. I ended up buying their CD, and it's pretty damn good. Lovely, fuzzy, intense, sort of on a My Morning Jacket - Arcade Fire axis. Neko Case got hailed out entirely. From then on, the main stage was behind. The Tragically Hip were interesting and totally internally consistent. The Shins were pretty great--much poppier, rockier, and more hyper than I expected, given what I've heard. I should buy some Shins. Then, a long wait. The side stages had long been shut down. And after all that wait, it was announced that Ben Harper would play first, and then the Flaming Lips. Oh, fer crying out loud. Ben Harper's stoner neo-hippie played-out jam band crap never belonged on this bill in the first place, and now I'd have to sit through that to hear the Flaming Lips? And I'm frickin' freezing. Shit. I've got a cozy little cabin waiting for me in Soap Lake, I'm tired, and I just don't have the patience to sit through Ben Harper, even for the Flaming Lips. So we left.
Sunday was so much better. So. Much. Better. After corn dogs in Ephrata, we got there in time to hear most of the Nada Surf set. They really rocked it, reminding me that the dimensions of an artist's music that get emphasized in a recording are often not the aspects that come through best live. Kick ass. We missed Pretty Girls Make Graves, and that's another band I still need to see. We wandered off and saw some okay stuff at the third stage, then some of the Arctic Monkeys set on the main stage. They were fun rock. That is all. Next up: The Decemberists. Strangely, my first intro to them was at Sasquatch in 2004. My review then: "What the fuck is with all the accordion?" Clearly, I've developed a much finer ear for them since. What an amazing show. Colin Meloy just teases the audience, shushing them or drawing them out at will. He's such a performer. It inspired me to buy Her Majesty The Decemberists, the only disc I didn't own. For the record, the friend with me was equally impressed. Strangely, as I spent the drive playing the Decemberists for my friend, ensuring he was adequately prepared for the show, Colin seemed to be listening in. He spent the first half of the show carefully mimicking the playlist from the drive from our cabin. To the 3rd stage for Rocky Votolato. Cute & hip-folky. Over to the second stage for some We Are Scientists (they Rock (tm). 's about it.) A few songs from Matisyahu (I hate reggae, and I'm pretty picky about hiphop...sure, a Hassidic Jew claiming these art forms is novel, but it doesn't make it sound any better), then back to stage 2 for some Damien Jurado. I know the man's a lovely songwriter, but by this time in the weekend, he was barely background music. Sorry, Damien, next time. I promise. A bit of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (cute and energetic, trying to rock hard), Then back to the main stage for DCFC. Though he often speaks to the crowd, Ben Gibbard seemed to almost have taken a page from the Decemberists' playbook in the way he turned the show into a dialogue. And they rock so hard live. Every ballad and sweet pop number develops a driving beat and a vocal attack that make it sound brand new. Finally, Beck. He played his songs. There were puppets of the band playing the songs, projected behind the stage. My friend really didn't know a lot of the music over the weekend, and said some really objective, insightful things. About Beck: "It was like he didn't care that the audience was there." Stupid scientology. We left early. And we did, eventually, find the car, despite my picking it out from a distance, then deciding it wasn't, actually, my car. But I double-checked! And it was.
And now it's Saturday again. To Acme! Super, wonderful news: When Acme renovated recently, they also made the main space non-smoking! Towne Lounge and Dante's, you're the only holdouts. Get with the program. Sure, Acme's got an open back wall leading to the smoking patio, but it's so much better than it was. So much better. Due to the lingering effects of the Rose Festival Starlight Parade, I got there much later than I intended, and missed Hello Damascus, whom I remember liking once before. Next up was a band that called itself THONG. I was wary. They were actually a lovely, folky, occasionally alt-country six-piece that didn't all fit on the Acme stage. Guitar/male vocals, viola/female vocals (can I have *her* job?), bass/male backing vox, pedal steel, keyboards I couldn't hear, and drums. If the new trend is to sound like Iron and Wine, I'm all for it. Pretty, quiet, with the occasional twang. Stellar harmonies and strings. And occasional trumpet. Last up: Pentecost Hotel. Four-piece (male vox, guitar, drums, bass) that blew me away. Jangly rocky guitars, jagged strained vocals, driving yet playful, I'm hoping they've recorded something and I can find it.
Whew! And now I'm sleepy, from reviewing all these bands and from seeing them play. Until next time.
--OMS
First off, Jamie Lidell, Copy, and...hmmm...someone else, at Holocene. Crap, I hate it when I get so far behind I forget who I saw. I had a good friend visiting me, and I promised to get him out to see a show or two. I remember that the first band was "okay, it's electronica." Copy, too, was electronica. I expected to recognize the song on the PDX Pop Now! compilation, at least, but no. Maybe he didn't play it. But it all kinda sounded alike, long blurry swirling whatever, no vocals, just a guy and his keytar. Jamie Lidell: This man's insane. Sometimes that's fun. A blues-influenced screaming Brit in a satin smoking jacket.
Now, I'm going to attempt to review Sasquatch. I fully expect to fail.
The first day, we saw more weather than music. Thunder, lightning, 45 minutes of hail. People made hailmen. Thankfully, we found an indoor sanctuary and didn't get too wet. When we first got there, the sun was shining, Iron and Wine was playing, god was in his heaven and all was right with the world. It was a long, long drive, and we missed some stuff I wanted to see, including Sufjan Stevens, Rogue Wave, and Architecture in Helsinki. I think I saw Band of Horses and liked them, until the hail chased them off the stage. I ended up buying their CD, and it's pretty damn good. Lovely, fuzzy, intense, sort of on a My Morning Jacket - Arcade Fire axis. Neko Case got hailed out entirely. From then on, the main stage was behind. The Tragically Hip were interesting and totally internally consistent. The Shins were pretty great--much poppier, rockier, and more hyper than I expected, given what I've heard. I should buy some Shins. Then, a long wait. The side stages had long been shut down. And after all that wait, it was announced that Ben Harper would play first, and then the Flaming Lips. Oh, fer crying out loud. Ben Harper's stoner neo-hippie played-out jam band crap never belonged on this bill in the first place, and now I'd have to sit through that to hear the Flaming Lips? And I'm frickin' freezing. Shit. I've got a cozy little cabin waiting for me in Soap Lake, I'm tired, and I just don't have the patience to sit through Ben Harper, even for the Flaming Lips. So we left.
Sunday was so much better. So. Much. Better. After corn dogs in Ephrata, we got there in time to hear most of the Nada Surf set. They really rocked it, reminding me that the dimensions of an artist's music that get emphasized in a recording are often not the aspects that come through best live. Kick ass. We missed Pretty Girls Make Graves, and that's another band I still need to see. We wandered off and saw some okay stuff at the third stage, then some of the Arctic Monkeys set on the main stage. They were fun rock. That is all. Next up: The Decemberists. Strangely, my first intro to them was at Sasquatch in 2004. My review then: "What the fuck is with all the accordion?" Clearly, I've developed a much finer ear for them since. What an amazing show. Colin Meloy just teases the audience, shushing them or drawing them out at will. He's such a performer. It inspired me to buy Her Majesty The Decemberists, the only disc I didn't own. For the record, the friend with me was equally impressed. Strangely, as I spent the drive playing the Decemberists for my friend, ensuring he was adequately prepared for the show, Colin seemed to be listening in. He spent the first half of the show carefully mimicking the playlist from the drive from our cabin. To the 3rd stage for Rocky Votolato. Cute & hip-folky. Over to the second stage for some We Are Scientists (they Rock (tm). 's about it.) A few songs from Matisyahu (I hate reggae, and I'm pretty picky about hiphop...sure, a Hassidic Jew claiming these art forms is novel, but it doesn't make it sound any better), then back to stage 2 for some Damien Jurado. I know the man's a lovely songwriter, but by this time in the weekend, he was barely background music. Sorry, Damien, next time. I promise. A bit of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (cute and energetic, trying to rock hard), Then back to the main stage for DCFC. Though he often speaks to the crowd, Ben Gibbard seemed to almost have taken a page from the Decemberists' playbook in the way he turned the show into a dialogue. And they rock so hard live. Every ballad and sweet pop number develops a driving beat and a vocal attack that make it sound brand new. Finally, Beck. He played his songs. There were puppets of the band playing the songs, projected behind the stage. My friend really didn't know a lot of the music over the weekend, and said some really objective, insightful things. About Beck: "It was like he didn't care that the audience was there." Stupid scientology. We left early. And we did, eventually, find the car, despite my picking it out from a distance, then deciding it wasn't, actually, my car. But I double-checked! And it was.
And now it's Saturday again. To Acme! Super, wonderful news: When Acme renovated recently, they also made the main space non-smoking! Towne Lounge and Dante's, you're the only holdouts. Get with the program. Sure, Acme's got an open back wall leading to the smoking patio, but it's so much better than it was. So much better. Due to the lingering effects of the Rose Festival Starlight Parade, I got there much later than I intended, and missed Hello Damascus, whom I remember liking once before. Next up was a band that called itself THONG. I was wary. They were actually a lovely, folky, occasionally alt-country six-piece that didn't all fit on the Acme stage. Guitar/male vocals, viola/female vocals (can I have *her* job?), bass/male backing vox, pedal steel, keyboards I couldn't hear, and drums. If the new trend is to sound like Iron and Wine, I'm all for it. Pretty, quiet, with the occasional twang. Stellar harmonies and strings. And occasional trumpet. Last up: Pentecost Hotel. Four-piece (male vox, guitar, drums, bass) that blew me away. Jangly rocky guitars, jagged strained vocals, driving yet playful, I'm hoping they've recorded something and I can find it.
Whew! And now I'm sleepy, from reviewing all these bands and from seeing them play. Until next time.
--OMS
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)