Joyce Manor/Algernon Cadwallader @ The Magic Stick Lounge, 8/6/12

On August 6th, I had the pleasure of going to a punk show at the Magic Stick Lounge! California's economic pop punkers Joyce Manor and Philly's noodly mid-90s midwest emo revivalists Algernon Cadwallader (one of my favorite bands, recently) came to Detroit and kicked some major ass.

I missed the first band and caught the last few songs from Detroit's Louder Than Bombs, were on the punk side of emo with yell-y vocals and great guitar parts.

Algernon played third and completely owned. Everybody says they're like a modern day Cap'n Jazz, and I will not argue with that. I embrace it, as they do the style so damn well. Plus, they're much more succinct and more focused on the poppier elements of the genre.

Anyway, the band played extremely tight and were an outright blast to watch thanks to their high energy. Unfortunately they didn't play as many songs as I'd hoped from their latest LP, Parrot Flies (which was #4 on my favorite albums of 2011 list), but, I was pumped that my favorite jam from that, "Preservatives," was played. They sure brought out the jams from their first record, Some Kind of Cadwallader, though. Opening with "Yo Soy Milk" and closing with "Serial Killer Status" were excellent decisions. However, the main highlights (aside from "Preservatives") were "Spit Fountain" from the Fun 7" and the title track from Some Kind of Cadwallader.

My knowledge of Joyce Manor is weak, as I just got into them with this year's Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired. The vast majority of their set seemed to consist songs from their first LP and earlier releases, because I did not recognize more than one or two. Regardless, their energy was also high, and thus were fun to experience in a live setting. I guess I didn't really expect them to be so tight live, though one could tell the drummer was getting tired as the set went on (I will vouch for him as the band completely blazed through their set).

When all was said and done, Algernon Cadwallader and Joyce Manor both played sets probably no longer than 25 minutes and I was home that night by midnight. That certainly added to the overall greatness of the show.