Some Day it Will Be My Job to Go to Live Shows

I used to be a several-shows-a-month kind of lady. And as with anything, the novelty and excitement of live music started to wear off because I experienced it so frequently. If it were my job to go to live shows, that'd be one thing. But I have a during-the-day job and shows have to fit into the outskirts. Sad. For a variety of reasons, the days of several shows a month are long gone. I'm much more selective about my shows now, which, in my day job/old age, is a preferable way to go about things. Fortunately, the past few months have seen some shows that were certainly worth the pain and sacrifice of venturing out into a night of willful sleep deprivation.

Mates of State, (whose family blog, Band on the Diaper Run, is still a source of pure glee for me), co-headlined a tour with Black Kids and closed out the show in DC. The co-headline meant an hour-long show as opposed to the usual 90 minutes, which was obviously a bit of a bummer. During the song, Now, there was a loud crackle that my brother thought was a blown speaker since there was a marked difference in sound afterwards. Luckily it was "fixed" (or something) soon after because the sound just kind of crept back to normal levels. Regardless of these minor setbacks, Kori and Jason performed from two separate, portable, raised platforms surrounded by translucent, orange orb lanterns and per usual, played a tight, vibrant set. Watching Kori dance with only the lower half of her body while her top half is fully committed to rockin' her organ and keyboard is an extraordinary thing. Two members of string metal band, Judgement Day, joined Mates of State on stage and were an amazing asset. After their last song, the duo returned to the stage sans their Judgement Day back up band, and performed a lovely, relevant cover of Tom Waits' Long Way Home. The setlist spanned their entire discography, which is something I always appreciate from them. Plus, I was kind of OK with them only playing for an hour because I had seen them a few months prior at The Black Cat, where they played an even larger, even more representative batch of songs, for even longer. [On a Personal Epilogue Note: I almost ran out of gas on the way home because I didn't want to stop at an Exxon. When my brother and I left for the show, I thought I'd be OK even though my tank was close to empty. But being on the streets of DC late on a Saturday night means a lot less driving and a lot more idling because those people just stop right in the middle of the street! They don't give a crap! So the gas situation became a little more dire on the way home. The first gas station we saw was an Exxon and I told my brother not to stop there because I hadn't given any of my money to Exxon in years. He shook his head at me and said, "Yeah, I get that you don't want to support them, but this is different. You need GAS." I said, "I know, but I don't want to get gas from Exxon! I think we'll be OK. If the next station we see is an Exxon, we'll stop. I won't tempt fate twice." He shook his head again and said, "Ya know...I've always wondered how people run out of gas. This is how." A few hundred feet later, a Shell station appeared out of nowhere (seriously, I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before, wasn't real and only appeared at that moment because I am the luckiest woman alive) and we didn't run out of gas! I had less than a gallon left. Ha!]

I had been hoping to take a dear friend to the Mates of State show because it fell very close to her birthday. Alas, she wasn't free that night, so I bought her and her boyf tickets to a show at a later date instead: The Shins. This was a very exciting deal for me because the last time I'd seen The Shins was at the giant behemoth of a venue that is D.A.R. Constitution Hall (also with this birthday friend). This time through, they played the much more measonably-sized 9:30 Club and sounded as phenomenal as I'd remembered them. Their set included two new songs and a cover of the Beach Boys' Girl Don't Tell Me, and since they weren't promoting a new disc, they played a number of songs from their first release. The glory of this was overwhelming. The dazed agitation of James Mercer singing, "One wound-up punch of intuition lays flat my whole take on us" was predictably enhanced in the flesh. With a partially new cast of characters, these guys are true candy for the ears. They performed revelatory arrangements of their stellar collection of songs, building all kinds of anticipation for Those to Come.

Neko Case. When Ms. Case's album, Middle Cyclone, came out, I thought to myself, "Wow, I am going to have a lot to say about this when I write about my favorite music of 2009." Then I realized I was being crazy and hoarding, so I am writing about it now. Plus I saw her perform at the 9:30 Club and Rams Head Live! so it's relevant for this post too. Just like with any band I love, when I sit down and think about how to describe their sound or how their sound affects me, I am overwhelmed with a feeling that I cannot possibly find the appropriate English words to communicate the ridiculous amazingness. The thing is, I can't. I really can't. There is no way that I can effectively depict my love for the various music I write about, in a way that will get you to understand my experience. That disclaimer seems especially in order before tackling the daunting task of describing the live shows of Neko Case. Neko Case's live shows take all the wild, earthly genius of her albums, packages it for transport and then sets it free in a controlled, staged environment right before your very eyes. Her longtime, rock-steady, incredibly talented touring band ensures a tight dynamic set from night to night and her comfortable, witty, goofy banter with the always-delightful Kelly Hogan is icing on the cake. On Middle Cyclone, Case sings about kinds (and means) of nature-- human nature, animal nature and how we reside in the external world of nature. She distinguishes between the three entities to establish a separation...and then croons about the relationship between them, magnifying the overlap, similarities and oneness of humans, animals and our nature-al world, in order to enhance that relationship. Whether she's singing about pharaohs, animal instincts, a tornado in love with you or humans' inability to recognize creatures of the wild as wild, Case's music has a way of liberating both human and beast alike by celebrating us in our own innativity. Better still, there seems to be no one better-suited than Neko to sing about this particular version of how we're same same but different. When she sings "I'm a man-man-man, man-man-man-eater," there's a phenomenal dual truth that lies in the fact that we're hearing this dreamy heartbreaker sing the voice of a man-eating animal. Her live shows do certainly swallow me whole and I, for one, am never surprised.

When The National played the 9:30 Club in May, they did that thing that 9:30 Club sometimes does where the band plays two shows in one night. Then the band played a third 9:30 Club show the next night. I went to two of those shows. The Brooklyn boys always put on a good show and these two shows were no exception. Backing band tour member Colin Stetson opened with an impressive, unorthodox performance that you really just have to experience (I'm hoping he'll hook up with this guy) and the woodwind arrangements he was a part of for The National carried the band's songs just as well as the other arrangements they've done in the past. The band was promoting the AIDS/HIV-fighting compilation Dark Was the Night and debuted three new songs. For the record, I would've taken additional performances of Mr. November in lieu of the new ones. Not that the new ones were bad at all-- it's just that I didn't know them yet anyway and just imagine hearing this live. It's goooooood.

Cyndi Lauper/Rosie O'Donnell. Yes. The Human Rights Campaign has been doing a True Colors Tour for the past few years that involves a 40-plus-dollar ticket to a venue an hour away from me. And while I'm always up for a big gay party with big gay music, I have yet to make it to a True Colors date. Cyndi Lauper and Rosie O'Donnell have been staples of the tour, which decided not to do a big multi-city outdoor amphitheater trip as in years past. Instead, Cyndi and Rosie went on the ten-city Girls Night Out Tour together, playing the 9:30 Club in DC. What?? That's what I said when I first read about the tour. It's safe to say that I never thought I would ever see Cyndi Lauper or Rosie O'Donnell live. Not for lack of want, of course-- I just never thought my path would ever yield the live experiencing of such celebrity. And here was the opportunity to see both of them live together at the 9:30 Club. Obviously, I jumped all over it! It was amazing. Rosie O'Donnell was slated to go on first and do a 30-minute comedy act. Fifteen minutes after she was scheduled to go on, the stage was empty. I found this weird because I've pretty much never seen a band go on late at the 9:30 Club. They run a tight ship. A little more than 20 minutes after she was supposed to come out, Rosie came on and explained that her plane had landed 17 minutes prior. We all expressed our cheer-ful appreciation that she had literally landed and then come directly to the club and she was off and running. There seem to be a lot of strong polarized opinions about Rosie. I like her and always have and I thought she was great. She talked a lot about her family, going through menopause and her love of popthatzit.com. Then she came back out later to sing back-up and play backing drums for Cyndi! Cyndi Lauper. Let me start by saying that for me, Time After Time alone would've been worth the price of admission. On the way to the venue I realized that I'd forgotten my earplugs that I wear so religiously and then thought to myself, "Well, it's Cyndi Lauper. I don't really think she's going to blow the roof off." Yeah, Cyndi Lauper blew the roof off. I was delighted to find that she and her backing band played a very rock 'n' roll show with max volume and guitar solos. One of the first things she did when she got on stage was to remove her shoes for greater dance move mobility. She bopped (which was a real highlight, by the way-- that thumping bass line was siiiiick) all over the stage, draping herself on speakers and lifting her legs and excuse the extra cheese factor, but it really was a great girls night out! Which is good, considering girls just want to have fun. [Wow. Apologies again.]

Virgin Mobile Freefest. After getting tickets for this thing about two months ago, I actually didn't end up going. Standing in line to pick up my tickets the Friday night before the show was a bit of a nightmare that involved forgetting my phone, finding out I needed my confirmation number for the tickets, asking a stranger to borrow his phone and rain. After all that hubbub, two friends ended up not being able to go at the last minute, and my brother woke up with some kind of flu-like illness. I contemplated going by myself to see (among many other great things), Weezer play Pork and Beans, but in the end I opted to stay home, hang out with my sick brother, write this post and be home to watch Entourage. 'Cause ya know, happiness only real when shared. Maybe next year?

• Upcoming Shows I'm Totally Stoked About:

The Weakerthans - John K. Samson and the guys never disappoint me. Ever.

Sunny Day Real Estate/The Jealous Sound - My memory of Sunny Day Real Estate's live shows are that they are some of the best in existence. I hope my memory serves me. I'm excited to see Nate Mendel back in the fold. The fact that they're playing with The Jealous Sound pretty much just blows my mind. I'm sure that I will have plenty to say about this show later.

Built to Spill - These guys are one of my Brother's favorite bands of all time so I always go with him to experience the serious skills. They also never disappoint...except maybe a little sometimes when the number of minutes they've been jamming goes into the double digits. Still cool though, of course.

Thrice - With their latest release, they've, once again, pushed their boundaries. They are always so good. They will be so good.

Stay tuned...

200GR8

Lately, I've been doing things late. I fell in love with Sex and the City after the show had wrapped. I fell in love with Gilmore Girls after it had broadcast its last scene. I started watching The L Word between seasons five and six. And now I am here, in April 2009, writing about my favorite tunes of 2008. Granted, I like to give things time to sink in. So I guess I've given you some time to miss the sounds of music past, and now that I'm revisiting them, you can drift back and listen to them with fond ears. Intentionally-created nostalgia! Unless you haven't heard these songs yet, and then you can enjoy the excitement of discovering these beautiful works anew, the way I experience Lorelai Gilmore every time she steps on screen. Right. So in no particular order:

1. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville

Elizabeth Clark Phair released a remastered version of the seminal Exile in Guyville and then made a DVD to go along with it. See both previous blog posts ("Once More, With Feeling" and "I Am Offering You a Free CD. This is Not a Gimmick.") to hear my thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams and desires about it. The remastering is Grade A, the bonus tracks are welcome additions (I put the Girlysound version of Ant in Alaska on a bleeding heart compilation years ago) and the subsequent tour in support of it surpassed any prior notion I had of a dream come true. (Try these for the optimal listening experience.)

2. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell

These young, charming, adorable Canadians had a lot to live up to after their stellar, revelatory 2006 debut EP A Lesson in Crime. The raw, confident talent they showcased at such young ages is the kind that causes me to wonder why the only thing I could think about during my late teens and early twenties was how to hang out as much as possible with my current lady of choice. Why couldn't I hang out with my lady AND write succinct, infectious, pugilistic dance rock? With a disc that clocks in at under 30 minutes, be sure not to let lines like "Australopithecine, rekindle your heart / These hospital machines are state of the art" pass you by.

3. Thrice - The Alchemy Index, Vols. III & IV: Air & Earth

Thrice spent two albums writing standout songs that did much to popularize a screamo, hard-edged, metallic genre. Then, in 2005, they turned away from it by expanding their boundaries and sound with a darker, sulkier, more digitized album called Vheissu. Since the band's inception, the one constant has been their evident evolution. They are ambitious, intellectual, challenging, hard-working and, above all else, true to themselves. They know who they are, they know what they want to do and they work hard to be it and do it all the time, over time. In 2007, this meant releasing volumes I and II of The Alchemy Index - four EP's each built around a different element. Volumes I and II were Fire and Water. Volumes III and IV: Air & Earth, released in 2008, are chock full of pianos rooted in vocal harmonies, guitars that sift notes like dirt, atmospheric variance that twinkles like stars and...sonnets. Masters of their craft, their live shows are mindblowing. As an added bonus, Thrice put out another release at the end of last year: the Live at the House of Blues DVD.

4. CSS - Donkey

Cansei de Ser Sexy ("I got tired of being sexy" in Brazilian Portuguese) finds itself on more serious ground with their sophomore effort. This is all relative, of course, as the album is called Donkey. Singer Lovefoxxx shines through blissfully with her accented girlish growls and decisive, commanding, rhythmic voice work. The rest of the team certainly holds up their end of the deal, wasting no time with punky hooks that consistently collide to make inspired dance music at its finest. Also, go see them live. Right now.

5. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us

I'm a relationship-oriented person. This applies to family relationships, friend relationships and romantic relationships. [I guess I could've just said, "all relationships."] Even though I haven't heard it, I'm pretty sure the Katy Perry/Kelly Clarkson song I Do Not Hook Up is about me. My Relationship-Orient Express is also true for bands. I appreciate superior albums and superior songs but what I'm most interested in, and actively seek out, are superior bands. I want to find bands that I know I will want to be with until they break up with me. This tends to cut back on quantity, but it's a sacrifice I can live with. It also tends to block out objectivity - if I have a relationship with a band, that relationship colors my opinion. The biases of loyalty and affection are alive and well in my love of music.

I first saw Mates of State at a theater in 2002, a year after members Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel got married. In the seven years since, they have released two children, three full-lengths and an EP. Sometimes they take their kids on the road with them and sometimes their kids come on stage with them. I love families! I love rock! And I am completely enamored with this rock star family. I already love how Mates of State's music has evolved. And the way their beautiful marriage has beautifully married family and music into their lives has done much to enhance my relationship with their music. Their trademark spazz organ factor is decidedly absent on this latest disc - the large, reflective domestication of piano sound that takes its place is new, exciting, familial, familiar and wonderfully re-arranged.

6. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight

These Scottish heroes are my musical equivalent of Meryl Streep, with a depth and range that is undeniable. They make thumping rhythms and driving melodies that spread out like a fog and envelop me before I have any clue of what's happening. And it's so irresistible, that once I realize it, alls I want to do is sit back and breathe it in. Combined with words that explore the shadow underbelly of love and the sordidness of its absence, The Midnight Organ Fight punctures and punctuates the soundscape with dark, raw, sweaty, reflective songs that, above all else, just keep it so damn real.

7. Stars - Sad Robots EP

Stars' brand of pensive, intellectual, anthemic electro-rock is right up my alley. I've actually said before that if I was a band, I'd be Stars. Or if Stars were a person, they'd be me. They have such a strong, specific overall artistic vision that shapes and colors everything they do, from the music to their layout designs to their lyrical themes to their album concepts to their live shows. The Stars brand is unmistakable and utterly enthralling. The first time I heard the Sad Robots EP on my wonderful, tiny speakers, I was pretty sure I was having a heart attack. True to form, its sweeping, massive musical textures envelop, mesmerize and hypnotize.

8. The Jealous Sound - Got Friends EP

The breathy, raucous shreds of Blair Shehan's band knapsack largely defined my high school career. His subsequent cleaner, more polished project, The Jealous Sound, largely defined my college career. Thus, I went through an entire cycle of denial, eventual acceptance and grief when, after the release of their brilliant self-titled debut EP and their incredible full-length debut, Kill Them With Kindness, The Jealous Sound signed with The Militia Group and then dropped off the face of the earth. The last update on their website is from 2005. So it was an unexpected, jaw-dropping turn and twist (I gasped loudly when I found out) when the band released the Got Friends EP in 2008. Rumored to be what the band managed to record before...they just kind of stopped, the Got Friends EP includes three new tracks plus two remixes of the song, Got Friends - one by the band's bassist John McGinnis and one by Jimmy Tamborello of DNTEL and Postal Service fame. Speaking about knapsack, Blair Shehan once said, "I think we make dark, hard-rocking music with a hook and varied dynamics." That pretty much sums it up for The Jealous Sound too. This EP encapsulates a feeling of being on the cusp. The feeling before the break, the feeling of being on the verge of surmounting the final edge before a vast expanse. It's a hopeful, wide open breath of fresh air from a band that, according to the horse's mouth, is finally stepping into the world of endless possibilities that has always been waiting for it:

From the band's MySpace page:

• Tour when we finish the full length.
  

Posted by The Jealous Sound on Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 3:42 AM

• [The EP] is just what we had at the time, we never want to put out music that we don't believe in (and in no way am i saying we hit the mark with EVERY song we have put out but they all started with heart and the belief that we were on to something). Now we have been given a chance to deliver on a promise we made to ourselves and to you guys. It is a bit of a daunting task when i actually write it out like this but honestly it is something Blair, John and i have wanted to make and it has taken every thing we have gone through over the past couple of years to make this record now. This is everything to us.
  

Posted by The Jealous Sound on Saturday, March 07, 2009 - 5:50 AM

• We just finished the main structure of another song last night so we are moving along quite nicely right now.
  

Posted by The Jealous Sound on Friday, March 13, 2009 - 4:59 PM

• We never really filed the divorce papers, we kind of just separated for awhile till we understood what it is that we really want to do on this next record. It brought us all back here to this moment in time. So, no divorce just a separation (we had to stay together for the kids, they deserve better than growing up in a single band family)... I mean we still have the bands that will always try and sound like other bands that came before them, we have bands that are overly 'happy' with a very false sense of what that word truly means... okay im just going off now, ill quit. I am just excited we get to do what we get to do and you guys enjoy it enough to stick out a very very very dry spell. Appreciation is very under appreciated by some but never lost on us.
  

Posted by The Jealous Sound on Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 9:46 PM

• ...we are trying our hardest to make sure this is the one we have always wanted to make from opening track till the last notes fade. I think we are off to a great start as far as how we want the feel of everything to be and the songs we have so far are fitting right into that little pocket. more to come soon :).
  

Posted by The Jealous Sound on Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 10:08 PM

Perfect.

Other Notes of Note:

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

I can't talk about my relationships with bands and not talk about a band that I've been with since college. The unfortunate thing about Death Cab is that they have graduated from 9:30 Club-size venues to D.A.R. Constitution Hall-size venues. I don't typically follow bands to D.A.R. Constitution Hall. It has nothing to do with elitist judgement. (Or maybe it does, a little.) It has to do with the fact that I have no desire to purchase tickets to a show that I have to choose an actual seat for, at a venue that holds thousands of people. Especially when I've seen Death Cab in a college gymnasium. It seems that their venues aren't the only thing I've outgrown (undergrown?), as I don't enjoy Narrow Stairs as much as I enjoy their other releases. (Of course, playing at venues like D.A.R. Constitution Hall, they certainly don't need my devotion.) Still, their live show always rocks way more than their albums would have you think and the last two songs they've made videos for are two of my favorite songs on the disc.

The Stills - Being Here

I became intimate with The Stills' 2006 album Without Feathers when they played at the 9:30 Club with Rogue Wave. Last year, The Stills released Oceans Will Rise, which won the Juno award for Alternative Album of the Year and the band won the award for Best New Group. (What constitutes a "new group"?) Being Here is the leadoff track for Oceans Will Rise and is the only song I've heard off the album. I really like it. The Stills go down nice, smooth and easy and Being Here is a quintessential example of their crisp, layered cocktail of straightforward rock.