here comes sickness

i know that ive said this a number of times now, but i really miss going to see shows. the problem is that i dont miss it until im out listening to the tunes. again...gotta do it more often.

and of course this post all starts from going to a show last friday, and of course, enjoying myself just enough to want to go back for more. anyway, i convinced brenda to go with me to the larimer lounge to see a band that i had heard about through one of my indiefeed podcasts that i subscribe to (which, btw, i highly recommend if you are interested in finding new music in the indie/alternative/electronica realms). i wanted to see snowden, but as usual, i insisted on seeing the opening bands as well, which was for the better really .

we walked in while everything absent or distorted was already playing. they are a local band with, i dont know, seven or eight members, who were constantly switching instruments and places on stage between songs (up to 3 guitars at a time along with hand clappers and even a trombone). it really got difficult to figure out who was doing what, so i just gave up and tried focusing on the music. at first i wasnt really all that impressed...another big collective band trying to do something cool, but then i found myself getting lost in some really nice pop-hooks. with big collectives ive found that its easier for me to enjoy them if i focus on some one piece that i like and then branch out from there. not the case with eaod. the secret with this band was their balance of the large number of participants involved in each song and keeping each member at just the right distance from overwhelming the hook of the song. now not every song was worth loosing yourself in, but there were certainly some gems. really not sure if they pull it all off on a studio recording, but live, they have certainly figured out how to juggle it all.

next up was malajube. four painfully skinny french-canadien boys from montreal. again, i wasnt impressed to begin with, but then i realized that they actually had something. unfortunately, i wasnt able to come up with a single band to compare them to, which for me is fairly amazing (cursive, maybe, but thats a bit of a stretch). there was just something about them which i really enjoyed...maybe it was just the right amount of sarcasm that they used when they were speaking to the crowd with those exaggerated french accents (were they making fun of us or was it just me?) or maybe it was just the fact that they could flat out play together.

finally came snowden. i first heard their song, between the rent and me, on indiefeed and was intrigued enough to use them to get us out to see some music. unfortunately, they were the least compelling band of the night. they are just another one of those bands that are using the 'retro' 80s thing thats all the rage with the pseudo-indie/alternative kids right now. the problem with snowden is that they just really arent that great of a band. i really didnt hear anything very original at all. my first instinct was to label them as a minus the bear/the killers hybrid, but then i realized they did have just a touch of explosions in the sky, but that didnt even come close to saving them for me. their performance was far too much contrived drama for me to take seriously, and musically none of the members stood out as having any standout talent. i tried to find some redeeming quality that would keep me interested until the next song (just in case they were saving their best for next), but all i could come up with was how the drummer filled so much of his sound with the base drum. once i realized that was the best i could come up with, i knew i was done. i enjoyed 'between the rent and me' when they played it live, and i still enjoy hearing it, but not enough to make any effort to go and see them again.

i recently discovered that sebadoh is back together and touring, so this saturday i get to see them for the 3rd time in 14 years. that in itself is frightening. i think it was 1993 when i first saw them on the 2nd stage at the 3rd lollapalooza. back then they were dubbed as one of the loudest live acts around. 7 years later i saw them at bimbo's in sf, and now, another 7 years later, they are back together. im really not sure what drummer they will have with them, but sebadoh has never been about the drummer.

-b