I felt like going out, you know, for the Faraquet....

After a few nights of staying in and watching mediocre television, I needed to get out of the house last night and decided to check out Faraquet and Statehood at the Black Cat backstage. I am glad I got there early to get my hand stamped, as the show was sold-out shortly thereafter. I didn't really see any of the 1st opener but was able to catch all of Statehood's set. They seemed to be having some technical problems for the first few songs, as it was difficult to hear Clark's vocals. The technical difficulties continued with the laptop thing and slightly disrupted the flow of the show. Clark had to talk a bit more than usual, which may (or may not) be a good thing. Once they got it all together, they sounded pretty tight and the last 3 songs (especially "Every Single Question") were quite good. The band is definitely driven by the rhythm section (Easley and Axelson), but Clark is a pretty entertaining front man when he is actually playing guitar and singing.

After a quick switchover in equipment, Faraquet took the stage to a very enthusiastic crowd. It's funny because the crowd was like 98% male and they all looked alike. Short hair, square shaped hipster glasses, all in their mid-30's. Honestly, I had only heard one Faraquet song prior to the show (from a Dischord compilation that I own) and was interested in checking out Devin Ocampo play the guitar in a live setting. The music is kind of hard to peg. It definitely has a DC/Dischord sound to it and was described by a friend as "extremely mathy". There is not much melody (well no melody to be exact) and lots of weird breaks in the timing. I guess it is not the most accessible music in the world, but you don't always need melody, right? Some of Ocampo's rhythms almost sound like sped-up jazz guitar, and he plays with this ferocious intensity that seems truly sincere. The highlight for me was "Cut Self Not" (the one song I had heard before) and the crowd seemed to dig that one as well. I ended up leaving a bit early, as I was tired and it was getting pretty late for a school night. Do I need to see Faraquet again? Probably not. Am I glad I went last night? Absolutely.