Don't ask me if this line is about you

Wednesday night -- 3/24/10 -- Vadim and I headed out to Holocene for the much-anticipated Xiu Xiu show. It was originally billed as a three band show, but somewhere along they added a fourth band to the bill; which made for three exceedingly longer exercises in patience and one incredible set.

Operative
M'eh.

Pearly Gate Music
Double M'eh.

tUnE-yArDs
Ultra M'eh.

Xiu Xiu
I've seen this band 8-9 times by now (every time Jamie Stewart [with or without Xiu Xiu] has come through town since I've moved here), and each time it's been a completely different experience, usually due to an ever-changing line-up. And this night's show was no exception. With Caralee McElroy out and Angela Seo in, Xiu Xiu has adopted a slightly colder, slightly minimalist electronic noise sound. Korg synth, beat programming via Nintendo DS, knobs, switches, whistles, gongs, cymbals, and guitar. Everything you've come to expect from the group, with some elements gone but with new ones to take their place(s).
My only real issue with their set was the brevity. For the headlining band, they may have played 60-75 minutes; and given the wealth of material they have to pull from, that ain't a very long time.

The set list from the night (thanks internet!):
B D Box (? not a title I recognize, so it may be a new one -- but I recognize some of the lyrics, however I've yet to find from where)
Apistat Commander
Grey Death
Dear God, I Hate Myself
Muppet Face
Gayle Lynn (amazing version of this one)
I Luv the Valley
Falkland Rd.
Poe Poe
Guantanamo Canto
Chocolate Makes You Happy
This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy)
Boy Soprano




too bad they didn't play this one

When the cafe doors exploded...

This past weekend, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists graced the stage at the Doug Fir lounge for two shows -- a 21+ Saturday night show and an all-ages Sunday evening show. Each show had different opening bands (and thankfully, significantly different set lists) -- so, to get the full experience, and since I missed Leo + Pharmacists the last time or two they passed through town, I was at both shows.

Hungry Ghost (Saturday)
A Portland-based guy/girl, guitar/drums, rock/roll duo (featuring Unwound's Sara Lund) -- Hungry Ghost were a lot of noisy fun. It's a bit too easy to compare them to early-era Quasi, but with their easy rapport, bluesy rock songs, fantastic drummer, and school-yard-caliber rhymes, the comparison just fits a bit too well. And given Portland's current glut of hyper-ironic, self-aware RAWK bands, it's a comparison that's certainly welcome.


The Golden Bears (Saturday)
This band has been receiving a lot of love over the past few years -- from both local and national press -- so, I was really excited to finally be able to check these folks out. Turns out...I already had. I don't know why any trace of seeing this band had been wiped from my memory...but I guess a band or two are bound to slip through the cracks, given the number of shows I try to make it out to over the course of the year. That's not to say that this band is worth forgetting. Anything but! A great (loud) fuzzy sound, loads of energy, wonderful lyrics...another fantastic band on the scene that's worth checking out.


The Hive Dwellers (Sunday)
The latest project from Calvin Johnson finds the man backing his solo-work-sound with a jazzy, beachy, guitar/drums duo. Unlike his previous "Sons of the Soil" project, which appropriated some of Johnson's songs in a surfer-cowboy band motif, the Hive Dwellers simply act as background fill-in for Johnson's sparse, at times a capella, modern-prairie cowboy schtick. And in a really odd way, it works. Hopefully an LP will be forthcoming from these guys.
(Also, it's always fun to watch teenagers and newcomers figure out exactly how to respond to Calvin Johnson's stage persona.)


Ted Leo + the Pharmacists
I don't know how to describe these guys without slathering such a review in hyperbole. Ted Leo has always been one of the unsung heroes of rock music (and/or punk rock, depending on where your loyalties lie), and has always found a backing band of near-equal caliber.
After the stumble that was Living with the Living (not a bad album, mind you -- just a bit overlong and too ambitious), Leo is back with another set of barnstormers for the Thinking Man (The Brutalist Bricks, for those keeping score). And the fire and the contagious passion found on the album seem to have easily bled over into the live show. Leo + Pharmacists have always come into their own on stage -- even more so than in the studio -- but this past weekend's set of shows were far beyond anything I could have hoped for.
The Saturday night set pulled heavily from The Brutalist Bricks and Shake the Sheets, with the occasional detour into the other albums, as well as a few of those now-expected, odd-ball cover songs.
Sunday, on the other hand, saw one or two of the newer songs swapped for other newer songs, as well as a heavy pull of songs from The Tyranny of Distance.
Both sets were equally fantastic -- and ended up being significantly different enough to make them both a special experience.

Songs played over both sets (in alphabetical order, not set order):
American Ruse (MC5 cover)
Angelfuck (Misfits song)
Army Bound
Ativan Eyes (? -- I want to say he played this one on Sunday, but that could very well be revisionist wishful thinking)
Bleeding Powers (another one I'm not 100% on)
Bottled Up in Cork
Bottle of Buckie
Colleen
Counting Down the Hours
Even Heroes Have to Die
Gimme the Wire
Heart Problems
The High Party
Last Days
Little Dawn
Me and Mia
The Mighty Sparrow
Mourning in America
One Polaroid a Day
The One Who Got us Out
Parallel or Together
The Stick
Timorous Me
Under the Hedge
Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone
Where Was my Brain
Who Do You Love

and two other songs I don't know -- one he referred to as a "new new song", so possibly one that has yet to be recorded, and another cover that I didn't catch the name of.

Blue Skies and a Clean Getaway

This past Friday evening, I went out to Fern Hill Park, over in NE, to catch a free, outdoors double set by the wonderful Valiant Arms. Laid out on the grass under a beautiful blue sky was a great way to experience this band. But then, so was crammed into the bassist's basement during a party earlier this year. They're a pretty versatile band that way.
I took my cameras with me in hopes of getting in a few concert shots, but given the way the whole thing was laid out, it wasn't really condusive to the kinds of shots I would have wanted to get. However, I did break out the digital cam for a few shots.



playing with the fisheye lens




sound checkin'


























trying to be "arty" with a wasted shot

Long Shadows and Gun-powder Eyes: Neko Case, Crystal Ballroom, 06/05/09

I'm hesitant to write any kind of review about Friday night's performance. I'm worried that it will quickly snowball into little more than repetitive hyperbole. But, it really was a great show. One that made me wish I had been able to score a ticket to the following night's performance as well.

Opener Jason Lytle was less than memorable.
I've never been much a Grandaddy fan, so I wasn't really interested in the frontman's new solo material. It was a bit boring and didn't do much for me. Thankfully, he didn't play for very long, maybe half an hour at most -- which was weird since he was headlining a bill at the Doug Fir the following night. Hopefully the people who actually paid money specifically to see him got their money's worth that night.

Neko, and her usual backing band, came on about 9pm (kinda early by Portland standards) and played for about 90 minutes, if not more. They touched on nearly every song from the new album, they even opened and closed the night with "Marais la Nuit" played over the housespeakers. Sadly, "The Next Time You Say Forever" and "Magpie to the Morning" were missing from the setlist, but hearing "Middle Cyclone," "Prison Girls," and "This Tornado Loves You" in a live setting more than made up for it. I also got to hear "Deep Red Bells" and a fleshed-out, full-band version of "Knock Loud," both of which were lovely. As for the rest of the set -- she pulled about half of Fox Confessor..., and the two original tracks that so far are exclusive to the live album. And that's about it. It would have been nice to hear something more from the earlier albums, but that's only a minor complaint; though, it had me curious as to what the setlist for Saturday night looked like.

But, all in all, it was a great night -- Joe and Martin are always fun company; and given the crowd response when Case repeatedly mentioned the "bear convention in town for the weekend", there could have been some even more fun company to be found within. Oh well...




"...did someone make a fool of me?
For, I can show'em how it's done."