Making up for lost time

Believe it or not, Rock Club made it out to a show this weekend. It was the third show of four this week, and it ended a long cold drought.

Last Tuesday was the first of the four nights and the second night of Spoon being in town. They put on a great show at the 930, as usual, with two short encores, great lighting, and a nice mix of tunes from their expanding catalog. I'm always curious about multiple night sets, wondering which night is the better bet. My money was on the second, hoping it worked like the Price is Right's Showcase Showdown. Thanks to our friends at the WaPo's Click Track, the breakdown of the two shows is there to compare.

Friday night was spent at the RnRH to see Baltimore's Wye Oak and headliner Shearwater. Wye Oak rocked it. That two-piece maximizes its profits. Compare that to Shearwater's weighty overhead and off-putting vocals, Wye Oak was the band to see Friday night.

Saturday night, DC's RC membership converged on the Black Cat and began the night with San Diego's Beaters. Metal with a splash of synthesizer. Aggressive and interesting for a song or two, but harsh enough to send us downstairs for a drink.

Next up, we caught a few tracks from ill-named NODZZZ (also from CA). These dork rockers had a Black Lips vibe to them without the full frontal nudity and excessive on-stage spitting. Instead, they had dude with Buddy Holly glasses and a Mr. Spock haircut. They were selling their new 7". I don't have a record player.

Headliners, The Soft Pack, the band whose name is still hanging on the playlist for the comatose WOXY.com, were the final California band of the evening, and showcased a bit of a surfer rock sound. They were excellent from start to finish, great showmanship, excellent vocals, a tight 4some. DCRC was unanimous in its praise for The Soft Pack. I'll be downloading soon.

Here's a clip:



And while we're at it, Monday night brought Vancouver's Japandroids to the RnRH and DCRC out for another show. This was a sacklunch pick, endorsed by Jumboslice, despite Senior Youth Correspondent Andrew's early skepticism about this two piece. Jimbromski and I hung back to catch this act from afar while sacklunch mixed it up closer to the stage with the dozens of young'uns tattooed with big Xs sharpied on their hands. Japandroids were enthusiastic, but we were less so. Jimbromski made the point that they seem to have hatched out of the 1990s, a sloppy loud sound lacking melody. I'm not sure what all the buzz is about.

Siren Music Festical 2009: The Recap

Andrew, our Senior Youth Correspondent, trekked to Coney Island for the ninth annual Siren Music Festival on Saturday. Here's his report:

Siren Fest
July 18, 2009
Coney Island, NY

I stuck with the Main Stage despite Potsy's grumbling about "indie rock roots" at the Stillwell Stage. Getting up close was not an issue, it just took a little nudging of the almost entirely Wayfarer-ed crowd. Frank Black walked by me on the boardwalk, I foolishly (or wisely) did not chase him down for a photograph. In order of my viewing:

Japandroids


This punk duo from Vancouver, BC put on a show that was high on energy but low on good music. My cousin played me some of their record the night before the show and I liked what I heard. Live the next day, I just couldn't get into many of the songs. Occasionally a song would be captivating but too often Japandroids let it die in an abyss of awkwardly placed feedback or drum soloing. Most of the songs were down-stroked guitar and full force drum numbers with vocals slightly out of key as is often the trend with this genre. The crowd seemed fairly responsive despite the lack of interesting song writing and the two dudes in the band seemed the most into playing their set of any group I saw. I think the large bottle of Jagermeister they passed between themselves throughout their roughly 40 min set at some point stopped being a fun accessory to rockin' and started screwing up their singing, which got pretty dreadful towards the end. Compared to other lo fi punk two pieces like No Age or Wavves, Japandroids just did not make it happen for me. Points for energy and interaction with the crowd though.

Frightened Rabbit


In a reversal of my record/live experience with Japandroids, Frightened Rabbit impressed me. I listened to almost all of their last album on my friend's iPod during the bus ride from DC to NY and was struggling to find a second track that was "kind of O.K." On stage however this band did a great job. Songs that bored the hell out of me on the record came across vital and well planned. The singer was a Ewan McGregor look alike with a pretty strong Scottish accent that only rarely got annoying. Their set drew heavily on The Midnight Organ Fight, the band's full length. The drummer pulled off some pretty impressive stuff, all the while with a demonic look on his face. While this band did not knock me on my ass or anything, they were a pleasure to watch and certainly an improvement from Japandroids (a trend that continues). Check these guys out if you are in the mood for a Braveheart version of Band of Horses.

The Raveonettes


It's funny that I said I didn't care about the Raveonettes in my preview post, because it turns out they are a really good band. Maybe funny isn't the right word...ironic? Bone-headed? Anyways having never listened to them before, it was quite an experience getting my first taste of them in a live setting. The Velvet Underground plus Nico was the first thing that came to mind as they started their reverb soaked set. Like the Velvet Underground, most tunes consisted of three chords with a short solo in the middle. Their drummer, who played all of two drums while standing, had about as much variation in his rhythm as a the dinner menu in Little Miss Sunshine (It's always the fucking chicken). I give them credit for getting so many solid pop songs out of two guitars playing less than five chords, a human metronome, and a lethargic and porn-stached bassist. As far playing the same drum beat and chord progression for most the set goes, I would normally say "that's bad" or something to that effect, but the Raveonettes made it work so for that I shall say "don't mess with what works." Front woman Sharin Foo was quite a looker and I was only slightly peeved when I looked for a ring and saw one. Points for awesome music, minus points for not being single, Sharin.

Built to Spill


Some people were talking about things in the preview post comments. Things like "Don't even bother with Built to Spill" or "Built to Spill is a yawn." To those people I would now like to pause and say "Fuck you, sir/madam, for you are incorrect." Built to Spill killed it! Finally a band whose records I love and whose live performance was just as good. Interaction with the crowd was minimal as was movement of the musicians, but come on, these dudes aren't spring chickens anymore. They kicked off the night with "Liar", the first bars of which got a great response from the crowd. It was nice being around people somewhat close to my age who not only new who the band was but who appeared to love them as much as I did. "Strange" was a pretty big deal when they played it, the guitar solos and shredding got epic, but in a good, indie rock way, not like hair metal or anything. People had been screaming for "Carry the Zero" from the get go, so I was pumped when they played it as their last song; it's one of my personal faves. The only disappointing part of the set were two young women standing near me in the crowd. Instead of saying they were sloppily drunk, I will say the had bubbly personalities. What I really should have said: "Hi there. That's a great little dance you and your friend are doing, and I think you should keep doing it. But do you think you could scratch the step where you guys ram your elbows into my lower back over and over?" Everyone near me cheered when they got pushed into the real mosh pit.

All in all, a worthwhile trip to one of the freakiest beaches in America.

My Favorite Band (this week) - Japandroids

Japandroids (JPNDRDS) is yet another solid band out of Canada. They remind me of Death From Above 1979 but with more of that lo-fi sound that's all the rage now (No Age, Wavves, Psychedelic Horseshit, etc.). I saw a bunch of bands last week - Heartless Bastards, Harlem Shakes, Passion Pit, School of Seven Bells, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. I was scheduled to see Japandroids as well but they cancelled because their guitarist, Brian King, was treated for a life-threatening perforated ulcer. Yikes!

King is on the mend though and the band is again touring in support of their excellent album Post-Nothing. Don't miss them when they play DC9 on July 8th.