May 31st, 2008
Beat Kitchen
Chicago, IL
Sorry, no pictures to accompany this show review. I also apologize for no real deep analysis of it, as I was way more social and drunk than attentive for the later portion of it.
Anywho, this weekend finale in May brought me to Chicago for the weekend for I attended a rock concert of moderately great proportions. Moderate in the sense that there weren't really any big name bands. Great in the way that all the acts consisted of incredibly talented musicians that I adore.
Let's do this.
Chicago's new sexy electronic pop sons Nouns started things off with some smooth jams. This duo is so new and so good. Imagine The Sea and Cake but slower, or a subtler Zoos of Berlin. Nice chorusy, jazzy guitar lines, that classic Rhodes electric piano sound, and some crazy technical drumming. Admittedly, sometimes a little too technical. Nouns are not the perfect live band yet. I can't deny that their songs run together a little too closely, sounding a bit too similar. And the vocals are obviously the most important part, and are lacking a bit on stage. But they are young in both age and experience performing together, and all of this will work out in due time. And when it does... well then, shit. We're in for it.
Playing next, The Silent Years were definitely the highlight of the night. Not only are they the nicest band in Michigan, mayhaps even America, but they are one of the best coming out of Detroit right now. And they confuse the hell out of me. It's like they're ready to make that huge jump to 89X rock. Let me explain. Their songs are so catchy, so accessible, they could and should get HUGE. Like touring with Death Cab for Cutie huge. BUT, at the same time, the band doesn't sound like anyone putting out records these days. Seriously. If you can enlighten me on who you think The Silent Years sound like, then I'd like to know. And don't say Rescue. Sure, three former members of that band that I miss so much are here, but the two sound nothing alike. I have thought long and hard about this, and cannot come up with an answer. Completely original, that is why they are fantastic. The live performance is no insane spectacle, but the songs are so awesome, they speak for themselves. I could explain more, but I'll leave that for when/if I write up a review for their album.
This is the point where I realized I was drunk, and just wanted to hang out. But I couldn't miss one of my alltime musical heroes, Bob Nanna. Bob played in the influential 90s indie/emo band Braid (their third and final full length, Frame and Canvas, is easily in my top ten favorite albums of all time list)! And then Hey Mercedes. It breaks my heart to say this, but his set was a boring heap of sleep. I missed his opener, which I heard was a Hey Mercedes song. Bummer. The rest of the songs were sleepers. But, I am incredibly picky about my acoustic singer/songwriters. If you're going to play a set with nothing but an acoustic guitar, then your songs better be fucking amazing. Or at the least incredibly interesting. And, well, that's all I'm going to say about that.
My boys Javelins finished the night out, and unfortunately I missed their first three songs, which included "Heavy Meadows," my #2 jam from their upcoming album of the same name. I honestly don't have much to say as my attention span was all over the place. But what I will say is that you better pick up that new album as soon as you possibly can, for it is INCREDIBLE. Do you like The Sea and Cake? The Smiths? Talking Heads? The Cure? The Police? Me too! If the idea of all those groups fused together into a superband gives you a boner, then please listen to these jams.
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