The Week In... Being Rather Forgettable
finally made it out to a show this week, albeit one I was not expecting to. I'm not sure why I have had such a drought, though free time certainly plays a role. I caught the Pawns and Sad Little Stars at the Velvet Lounge on Saturday. I missed City State and had to leave before Hundred Hundred. Felt bad about the latter, as members of Bellflur were in the band. I have to say, I was not completely in love with either of the bands I saw. Both are from NYC, though the Pawns feature Blake, one of the guitarists from Bellflur and Kat, the lead singer of Hello Tokyo (who are both DC bands for those of you listening in Chicago). I admit, I was going into this with a bad taste in my mouth. Kat and I have exchanged e-mails in the past, and met one bizarre evening late last year at a show in Laurel, MD of all places. She showed me my entry in her cell phone. My bad taste stems from the fact that according to a recent e-mail I received from Kat, she has no memory of ever meeting me. Normally I don't care about these sorts of things – I'm honestly not all that memorable of a guy -- but after all, she did have my number in her cell phone. Anyway...
... Sad Little Stars were a little too quirky for me, a little too happy in between songs. They weren't very sad frankly, and their version of blip-pop was not doing it for me. I heard some good things about their lyrics, and they did seem rather well written. But I need this type of music more dancey, and it simply wasn't happening that night.
The Pawns were louder and brought the hooky rock, but were too... repetitive? Many of their songs sounded alike, were heavy on the guitar riffs and didn't quite get anywhere. Now, to their credit, they are a very young band, and have only been playing together live this year. So if they get rid of the songs with lyrics about ripping someone's clothes off, and focus on the power-pop, I think they'll be fine.
To be clear, I don't think being forgotten by a singer in one of the thousands of bands that write me had anything to do with my not loving the Pawns. So for those of you who feel the need to write Kat and inform her of my shoulder chip, don't bother. I'm over it. Instead tell her to spend more time working to better her band, and the lyrics. Her main band Hello Tokyo seems to have a lot going for them of late, with a couple of their songs being placed on TV shows and the like. So with those contacts, I think the Pawns will do alright for themselves regardless of whether or not I ever fall in love with them.
In Other News
- The mighty Coachella festival took place this past weekend. Were you there? I'd love to hear about it. I found out, thanks to brooklyn vegan, that many of the sets were playing live via some AT+T web-thingy. Sadly, I missed Saturday completely, but caught some good sets on Sunday, including Sleater Kinney and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Would have loved to have seen Depeche Mode's set though. Any reviews out there?
- An interesting week of music biz news. The newest version of the Lemonheads signed with Vagrant records? DJ Shadow signs with Universal. Seems like it should be the other way around right?
- And the Kirkwood brothers, founding members of the Meat Puppets are reuniting. Apparently one of them just got out of jail, and has a renewed passion for music. Looks like prison can reform criminals. Except, don't most Meat Puppets songs sound like they were recorded in jail? Maybe that is a stretch, but I would be interested to hear what direction the new stuff will go.
Stuff I'm listening to
- The new Monster Movie album, All Lost, is a good listen, but it is more a Sunday morning affair as opposed to a Saturday night. Except for “Vertical Planes,“ which is strictly for Saturday night.
- I was a big fan of the Get Up Kids, and hence the New Amsterdams, but have yet to fall in love with their new one, Story Like a Scar. Anyone see them at the Black Cat? If so, drop me a line as I'd love to know how they pull of some of the new stuff. Still, Matt has a great voice for the singer/songwriter sound, even if they technically aren't a part of that genre.
- Getting back to this Vagrant Records deal with the Lemonheads, being a fan of the Get Up kids, old school Dashboard and even older school Saves the Day – all this and I didn't grow up in New Jersey – I just can't see it. Paul Westerberg, ok, that was an intersting move, but understandeable. But Evan "don't look at my track marks" Dando? Does Vagrant realize how many straight-edge kids are at their beckon call?
- OK, so raise your hands if you knew Rob Dickinson, former lead singer of the Catherine Wheel was actually the cousin of Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden. Seriously, raise your hands! I smell a -vs- DJ night...
Shows I think are worth checking out this week
Um... this is a pretty bad week for shows. Ok, I'll be at the Washington Social Club/ Exit Clov show at Jammin Java on Saturday. Yes, I said Jammin Java. Beyond that, the DC Griot show at DC9 on Wednesday has Head-Roc and Storm the Unpredictable, among others. The Concretes hit the 9:30 Club on Sunday, and Geoff Farina hits Iota on Sunday as well. Beyond that, find something better to do.
