DC ROCK CLUB
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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Peaced Out

Blitzen Trapper (with Fleet Foxes)
Black Cat Backstage
03/26/08

Okay, I can't really remember a lot specifics from this show, mainly because I had to wait to post this while Sacklunch dicked around for weeks without posting the Sons & Daughters review. So blame him for the low quality of this review.

This show was important as it was Jumbo Slice's final show with DC Rock Club before moving the Austin, Texas. True to form, Mr. Malaprop blessed us with one final goof, referring to opening band Fleet Foxes as "Fleet Feet." Yes, Jumbo, the employees of the running shoe store on Columbia Road formed a band, and tonight they're playing at the Black Cat. All the songs are about jogging. Sometimes I think he says these things on purpose to get a laugh out of us, but then I look into his blank golden retriever eyes and see that he doesn't realize that he made a mistake.

Fleet Feet were pretty good, I thought. I've heard them compared to Crosby, Stills, Nash and/or Young. Makes sense to me. They looked and sounded crunchy and did lots of harmonizing that was nice. I never really noticed the sound quality at Black Cat/Backstage but the audio really came through clearly. Jumbo Slice claimed that lead singer looked like Perry Farrell, which was ludicrous. Dude, leave the celebrity doppelgangers to me.

Headliners Blitzen Trapper followed Fleet Foxes with an hour of desultory hippie crap. I gotta say, I'm getting tired of beards. It's the new goatee. Our own Sacklunch sports one but I think he gets a pass because his beard is more of a middle-aged Jewey/rabbinical beard, than a hipster beard. Back when I was coming up there was a clear division between hippie music and indie music, and now it looks like they've made peace with each other. Actually, they've done more than make peace, it looks like an unconditional surrender to the hippies. How the fuck is some furball wearing a North Face fleece considered "alternative"? What happened here? In my college dorm I was shouted down 100% of the time whenever I tried to play the Smiths by all the Deadheads in the dorm. Can you believe that shit? And this is what I fought for? Tell me I'm dreaming. Tell me there's a hidden camera somewhere in this bitch. Every time I turn around there's some new treehugger Band of Horses-type outfit up on stage playing gentle acoustic numbers.

It's not that I don't like the music. The aforementioned Fleet Foxes were pretty good. I thought Blizten Trapper were a little boring but I can see the appeal, particularly when they played fast. But is this alternative? I mean, "alternative" to me, fuck, to everyone, means "something alternate to something else." In this case it should be, "alternative to shit we hear all the time on VH1." There's a place for this sort of music in the indie world but what say we just pick two or three bands to fill that role, and euthanize the rest, if they refuse to get haircuts, buy proper clothes, and play loud and fast rock and roll?

Rant over. Fleet Foxes get a 6.8 while Blitzen Trapper receive a 5.0. See the Black Lips or the Hall Monitors instead. See Blonde Redhead. Fight the hippie invasion, friends.

3 comments:

sacklunch said...

I find it funny that you are always spouting off about hating hippies. If I recall, you went to a Grateful Dead show or two back in the day. We also went to see Phish. And, if memory serves me, you and I walked down to the Lincoln Memorial to the Jerry Garcia vigil in 1995 when he croaked. So please don't play yourself as some hippie music hater, okay friend-o.

Jimbromski said...

Ultimately, I just want to be accepted and liked by my peer group. Also, you figure with the free love and drug abuse that your chances of getting laid are pretty high.

I'll cop to the Phish and Dead shows but I never went to Jerry's vigil, that's a dirty lie. You've mentioned that before, it never happened. You went with your imaginary friend Harvey the 6-ft Rabbit, not me.

Jumbo Slice said...

I liked both bands much more than you. Blitzen Trapper was good but they can't hold a candle to the collective ass of Fleet Foxes. I usually don't care for that Crosby, Stills, and Nash sound with all the harmonizing and shit. But as soon as they played "Oliver James" I was hooked. I went in expecting another ho-hum indie band w/ too much hype but did a complete 180 after seeing them play.