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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: Bags on March 30, 2004, 02:07:00 pm
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It's a Saturday night show -- hot damn! Who's heading to this one?
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<img src="http://www.jennifer-too.com/finger/ts/box5.gif" alt=" - " />
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So judgemental....but we always know where you stand, don't we. Do you hate Postal Service too? (I don't know Kweller...)
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I wish...had been waiting for Death Cab since i missed them last time, but I have a wedding on Saturday, and was planning on playing it by ear on whether or not I could sneak out early, but since it's sold out, my plans are set. More drinks at the open bar for the Sock.
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Originally posted by Bags:
Postal Service
<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/superpsycho/.Pictures/fun/yum.jpg" alt=" - " />
Isnt Kweller on Woxy all the time with the moderately annoying "rules" song?
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Hey Mark, did you see the Bigger Lovers covered an "Only Ones" tune on their new album? Maybe they'll play it for you.
But for someone who claims to love pop music, to not like Death Cab is ridiculous.
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i wouldn't miss it for the world. While Death Cab isn't the best band live, they are awesome artists and just hearing it... *swoon*
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Originally posted by redsock:
But for someone who claims to love pop music, to not like Death Cab is ridiculous.
I disagree, a lot of their music is pretty straight forward indie rock/emo. The new album is a bit poppier, but they are hardly pop like postal service or erasure.
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I think the guys sickly sweet voice is better suited to the electronica.
I cant say I thought DCfC were at all poppy. The songs I have heard didnt grab me at all. No instant big hooks.
I saw Kosmo played the cover of another girl another planet at one of his last DJ nights.
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Originally posted by mark e smith:
I think the guys sickly sweet voice is better suited to the electronica.
I cant say I thought DCfC were at all poppy. The songs I have heard didnt grab me at all. No instant big hooks.
I saw Kosmo played the cover of another girl another planet at one of his last DJ nights.
uh that cover was done by The Mighty Lemon Drops... let the mocking begin
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You did play a bigger lovers song too, though?
Sorry for not memorising each and every one of your playlists :roll:
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I'm gonna be there.
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By the way, I'm looking for an extra ticket, if any of the regulars here have one....
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Originally posted by pollard:
Originally posted by redsock:
But for someone who claims to love pop music, to not like Death Cab is ridiculous.
I disagree, a lot of their music is pretty straight forward indie rock/emo. The new album is a bit poppier, but they are hardly pop like postal service or erasure. [/b]
Perhaps I am really focusing on the new album, since that is what I've listenend to lately. I have a few holes in my DC catalog, but you can never find them at used stores...it's so irritating.
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I think I posted on this topic earlier, but when I saw them earlier at the start of this tour, Death Cab was disappointing live. The lead singer was really out of tune. Please post a review of how the tour has (hopefully) progressed as they will be returning to SF next month and I would like to see them again, but only if it's improved.
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Originally posted by mark e smith:
<img src="http://www.jennifer-too.com/finger/ts/box5.gif" alt=" - " />
i agree. . .
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Death Cab was disappointing live.
2 out of 2 in my experience, only going this time because somebody else wanted to go
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This is kind of unrelated, but also kind of related, does anyone remember the last time The Postal Service played DC?
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I believe the only time Postal Service has played here was at the Black Cat 4/15/03
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Originally posted by mark e smith:
You did play a bigger lovers song too, though?
Sorry for not memorising each and every one of your playlists ;)
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Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
Originally posted by mark e smith:
<img src="http://www.jennifer-too.com/finger/ts/box5.gif" alt=" - " />
i agree. . . [/b]
I second that.
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Originally posted by El Tee:
Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
Originally posted by mark e smith:
<img src="http://www.jennifer-too.com/finger/ts/box5.gif" alt=" - " />
i agree. . . [/b]
I second that. [/b]
Well, then, I disagree.
So, HA!
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Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Originally posted by mark e smith:
[qb] i was just wondering how you got from the mighty lemon drops to death cab for cutie as the band that did the cover, which is the way i read your post. [/b]
I saw the cover, remebered the bigger lovers were on there, put 2+2 and got 12
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Seems DCfC are quite polarising, even amongst the indie hipsters.
Why do other people like/dislike them so much?
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Originally posted by mark e smith:
I saw the cover, remebered the bigger lovers were on there, put 2+2 and got 12
don't worry i usually get 13.68 :D
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I'm not an indie hipster, but i guess i have to be contradictory in saying that i neither like nor dislike them. They are tolerable but not awe inspiring.
I think the amount of attention they get serves as a polarizing agent...making people feel the need to make either a statement of love or hate.
Originally posted by mark e smith:
Seems DCfC are quite polarising, even amongst the indie hipsters.
Why do other people like/dislike them so much?
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Oy, I agree with balls. I don't love Death Cab, but have some friends who do and I think the show will be cool (part of my decision to buy tickets was the Saturday show date, though I think my friends would have convinced me regardless -- these are friends I drag along to things they've never heard of...I owe 'em).
I do like "Transatlanticism." Don't have any other DCfC albums.
I like Postal Service quite a bit, though. I'd see them if they toured, but would neither rant, rave nor pout if I missed 'em for some reason.
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Death Cab grabbed me from the first time I heard them a few years ago when someone lent me Something About Airplanes and We Have The Facts.
Totally there. Got my tix early. Seen them twice and they put on a good show.
How anyone could dislike them is beyond me. It's soooo good....
BK is OK, but really, he should be an opening act for death cab. They're not on the same level.
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i've been looking on ebay for tickets...what once was a $15 ticket before it sold out is going for $75 a ticket on ebay...
insane...
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I don't hate them...just not something I would listen to regularly...although, I did run over and pull the cd out of the player after eight songs...My friend made a cd mix of songs for me...he says he didn't pick a good mix and I need to give them another try. He put Postal Service on there too. They were okay, I liked them a little better than DCfC.
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Originally posted by Bags:
It's a Saturday night show -- hot damn! Who's heading to this one?
have fun being surrounded by about 900 underage girls and their emo boyfriends who only like death cab because of that damn show the OC or who think ben kweller is just too cute to miss out on. blegha barfing.
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I don't think that DCFC are Poppy at all as a genre, just very popular; which would seem to be contrary to my opinion.
I don't like them either. They remind me way too much of Dashboard Confessional, whom I abhor. Given a choice, I'd take DCFC anyday over DC. It's those voices. YUCK! Maybe if DCFC's singer would pummel DC, it might cause him(DCFC) to sprout some balls and not sound like such a fucking ninny.
Ben Kweller does nothing at all for me.
Wouldn't mind seeing Aveo though I think they will come off as your run-of-the-mill 1st of 3 acts. Some of their songs I really like and some bore me.
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Originally posted by Bags:
I do like "Transatlanticism." Don't have any other DCfC albums.
Try "We Have the Facts..." it is the best one...
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Ben Kweller has to have one of the friggin ugliest mugs in all of music. No way would this pussy ever get laid if he weren't a musician.
<img src="http://www.popmatters.com/music/interviews/images/kweller-ben-030604.jpg" alt=" - " />
Originally posted by i do not heart winter:
Originally posted by Bags:
It's a Saturday night show -- hot damn! Who's heading to this one?
have fun being surrounded by about 900 underage girls and their emo boyfriends who only like death cab because of that damn show the OC or who think ben kweller is just too cute to miss out on. blegha barfing. [/b]
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BEN KWELLER "On My Way" ATO/RCA AVEO "Battery" Barsuk
Friday, April 2, 2004; Page WE07
The title track of Ben Kweller's "On My Way" is a simple folkie tune that might have won him 2004's New Dylan award if only that honor hadn't been retired in the '90s, after one too many folk revivals fizzled. Most of the album, however, has a raucous classic-rock sound, and it closes with a song that recalls the layered late-'60s style of groups such as the Beach Boys.
Since Kweller is no Dylan as a lyricist, the bigger arrangements are for the best.
Bigger doesn't mean slicker. Supervised by Ryan Adams's producer Ethan Johns, who encouraged a live-in-the-studio strategy, "On My Way" is looser than Kweller's 2002 debut, "Sha Sha," which wasn't exactly polished to an immaculate shine. Such songs as "Down" and "Ann Disaster" wrap the singer's sensitivity in swagger -- exemplified by Mike Stroud's brash guitar -- while "The Rules" is only slightly folkier. What links the album's various styles is Kweller's gift for melody, whether in the simple, shouted refrain of the opening "I Need You Back" or in the more complex harmonies of the closing "Different but the Same."
While lacking the immediacy of Kweller's catchiest work, Seattle's Aveo has a more assured sense of style. The band's second album, "Battery," is a fine collection of cantering rockers and pensive ballads whose arrangements are lush yet not fussy. Such songs as "Dust That Dreams of Brooms" combine sprung rhythms and William Wilson's yearning vocals -- the band's name means "I desire" in Latin -- with a finesse that recalls the Smiths. Aveo is basically a guitar-bass-drums trio, but it's telling that Wilson places glockenspiel ahead of guitar on the list of instruments he plays. While the three musicians are supplemented here only by keyboards and cello, they have carefully considered each timbre. Aveo desires, but it also ponders, and its brainy pop-rock neatly integrates the two.
-- Mark Jenkins
Both appearing Saturday at the 9:30 club with Death Cab for Cutie.
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Note that Death Cab is the 2nd of the 3 bands tonight. From the front page:
Saturday April 3
Sold Out
Doors open at 9:00
Aveo 9:30
Death Cab For Cutie 10:30
Ben Kweller 12:00
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That's sad, except for the Metro people. Or for those who relish the chance of still skipping out and hitting DC9 or some other venue afterwards.
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Now, I was a marginal Death Cab fan (like Transatlanticism, really like Postal Service). I went to the show because some friends really wanted to go. I figure, it's Saturday (my fault, I forgot it's the DC United home opener day).
Great show -- lots of energy, good performing, way more energy than I was expecing -- just really, really good. And this is a sold-out show, which can be hard for me to enjoy. Loved them, bought a CD 'cuz I like 'em even more now. Apparently they're coming back...
Ben Kweller was the 'headliner' - my friends left but I got to hang with Skeeter (which is a treat, everyone -- thanks for the beer, skeet!). Pretty good with the full band; quite loud when he was on his own -- but I left a couple songs in to his "solo" portion because (1) I'd been drinking since 3:00 pm, and (2) I didn't want to fight for a cab.
Overall, great show -- surprising and happily.
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Something about it, I dunno.... Death Cab was definitely better than they were at the Black Cat a few months ago, and the Black Cat was a good show. Tonight was something else. The sound was definitely better.
Only disappointed that it was far too short. They only had about an hour. So they didn't follow "Company Calls" with "Company Calls Epilogue," didn't play "405" or "Title Track"... they just didn't have enough time.
At least half the crowd was there primarily for Death Cab, easily. I hope they come back and do a full show, at the 9:30.
BK was good, but not Death Cab great. His first song was a disaster, musically and also technically (busted bass). Otherwise very entertaining.
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BK beat the crap out of death cab musically. man the crowd was boring during death cab, but BK brought the rock. i love transatlanticism and we have the facts, but they were just boring live, i dunno. the black cat show was better i think. BK is great every time.
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I thought Death Cab was great. After some of the reviews about previous shows, I wasn't really expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought they had lots of energy and sounded great.
I had never even heard of BK until I heard he was on this bill. He was OK, but the show didn't make me want to run back and buy any of his CDs. I might have enjoyed it more if I was more familiar with his material.
Fun hanging out with Bags for a bit, even if our conversations were limited to 15-second bursts between BK songs. :)
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That was the best performance I have seen Death Cab give, but it was short. And something about them is lacking for me, I enjoy the songs but none of them stay with me. I can't remember a single great point, was just an enjoyable show.
I left a couple of songs in to Kweller's set. I have seen him twice before and was not up for another. While his lyrics are stupid he can write a catchy song, but the new songs he played early were awful.
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So does that mean everybody here missed the BK acoustic rendition of ice ice baby? Good times. I thought the show was quite good - 9:30 seemes a bit more condusive to Death Cab's sound than the Black Cat was (they just seem to need a slightly larger space for their sound) and I enjoyed Kweller although I hadn't been familiar with him.
And a cheers to the dj between sets - I was enjoying the music.
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Originally posted by skonster:
So does that mean everybody here missed the BK acoustic rendition of ice ice baby? Good times.
I saw it, but it took me a minute or so to place the song. It was cute. I left shortly after that though.
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Okay, who was there for the opener, Aveo? I'm very curious as to how they came off. I love their songs "Haley" and "Sleep" but have also heard some songs by them that were very dull and rough. Could have been bad demos but not too sure of that. No, in no way did I expect them to compare to the professionalism of either DCFC or BK. Only interested in if they at least lived up to a young opener's level and whether or not to keep my eyes opened for any future bookings of theirs. Thanks in advance.
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Originally posted by Skeeter:
Originally posted by skonster:
So does that mean everybody here missed the BK acoustic rendition of ice ice baby? Good times.
I saw it, but it took me a minute or so to place the song. It was cute. I left shortly after that though. [/b]
I probably just missed...I left in the middle of his third solo song. I may have been into Kweller more if I knew some of his stuff, but I think it says something that, without knowing his catalogue, I wasn't dazzled enough to hang for the whole set.
In some ways the show kind of reminds me of the Liz Phair/Jason Mraz debacle -- each band had its own fans there, and each set of fans seems sure "most people were there to see *my* band." I think it was about even. And I am NOT insinuating Kweller is the shite that Mraz is/was...blech, that'd be way, way mean of me! ;)
This whole shared headliner tour is a bad deal, though. Someone's fans get ripped with the first set limited to an hour....
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at some point, co-headline = ripoff.
Definitely.
Death Cab and Grandaddy are not opening acts. They can both pack 'em in for a hefty price as headliners. At some point the stacking of bands on a single bill has diminishing returns, nobody wants to come and see their band perform for five minutes, especially having to sit through something unknown or less good to do so.
if the club is too booked to give each band its due, the solution is simple. don't book the shitty bands, or create an eighth or even ninth day of the week.
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Originally posted by J'Mal:
if the club is too booked to give each band its due, the solution is simple. don't book the shitty bands, or create an eighth or even ninth day of the week.
coupla things:
1: the club has nothing to do with bands choosing to do a co-headliner tour. we don't force it on them, they do entire tours that way.
B: who gets to decide what a "shitty band" is? if it's you, you'd probably get rid of something i like. if it's me, i'd do the same to you. to each his own.
III: we did over three hundred events last year, which included days with 2, 3, and 4 events. we've done the eight days a week thing, and i'm sure we'll do it again.
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This co-headlining bullshit is completely the will of the artists. It's a whole tour of co-headlining, and they normally swap sets -- one opens on Monday in Cleveland, the next opens on Tuesday in Pittsburg. Has NOTHING to do with the club...
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Originally posted by thatguy:
B: who gets to decide what a "shitty band" is? if it's you, you'd probably get rid of something i like. if it's me, i'd do the same to you. to each his own.
Oh no, thatguy, I wasn't referring to the stuff you like. Only the stuff that Rhett likes.
</sarcasm>
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for those that missed BK Baby.
www.stevensplanet.com/bk.html (http://www.stevensplanet.com/bk.html)
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I *heart* Death Cab, that's all I can say.
I really appreciated that they gave us a glimpse into the "community" of bands-- that the bands I like tend to know eachother... comments like:
Our friend Colin wrote a song about this city's "Oceans garbled vomit on the shore."
or
We're surrounded by D-Plan! (later) Hi, Travis.
(Hey, wait... at their show at Black Cat they threatened to do some collaboration with D-Plan... I'm waiting to hear/see it!)
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Originally posted by J'Mal:
at some point, co-headline = ripoff.
I kinda enjoy the chance to see a band I wouldnt normally go and see. I often leave after three songs, but the spectacle of seeing other people completely into music I dont get at all, is beautiful.
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Given that the 9:30 has only hosted one of the eight shows that I (will) have been to in the first four months of the year, I think it's safe to say that the 9:30 aint booking the "shitty music" that I listen to.
Ironically, of the eight shows that I've been to, only three of them could be called "alt-country", and that included the one 9:30 show i actually went to.
Originally posted by J'Mal:
Originally posted by thatguy:
B: who gets to decide what a "shitty band" is? if it's you, you'd probably get rid of something i like. if it's me, i'd do the same to you. to each his own.
Oh no, thatguy, I wasn't referring to the stuff you like. Only the stuff that Rhett likes.
</sarcasm> [/b]
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Originally posted by Walkie hearts your balls:
Given that the 9:30 has only hosted one of the eight shows that I (will) have been to in the first four months of the year
That is weak. I have been to more shows than that in the last three weeks. Not many have been at the 930 either.
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Originally posted by mark e smith:
Originally posted by J'Mal:
at some point, co-headline = ripoff.
I kinda enjoy the chance to see a band I wouldnt normally go and see. I often leave after three songs, but the spectacle of seeing other people completely into music I dont get at all, is beautiful. [/b]
The downside is that it usually cuts of the set time for the band you did go to see...Liz Phair played for like 50 minutes, and Death Cab for just an hour. That's the downside. If they each did hour and a half sets, it'd rock. Cuz I agree -- I can now say why I hate Jason Mraz, and was blown away at the size and fervor of his audience...
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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE + BEN KWELLER
29 March 2004: Calvin College Fine Arts Center â?? Grand Rapids, Michigan
PopMatters Concert Review
by Andrew Watson
The unnaturally quiet atmosphere inside Calvin College's Fine Arts Center was my first clue, my first hint of disappointment. The Death Cab for Cutie show had apparently been moved from the cozy, intimate room I had eagerly been anticipating to the cavernous hall of echoes that doubles as the school's gymnasium. Rats. This unfortunate occurrence could be seen as an unquestionable by-product of the band's increasing fame but also an indication of what appears to be aesthetic changes within the band themselves. Their latest record Transatlanticism can indeed be looked upon as an attempt to reel in the very kids I found myself amongst this evening--the O.C. watching, dorm room file-sharing co-ed set that traditionally gets behind bands of this ilk and propels them to rock stardom. Or so they would hope.
This particular tour with Ben Kweller is nothing less than a college radio jock's wet dream, with everything that's good and, more importantly, profitable about indie rock. Death Cab's Ben (Gibbard) and the other Ben (Kweller) write songs that speak plainly and honestly about things like love, loss, heartache and other topics that occupy the minds of teens and twenty-somethings. Kweller uses a more accessible approach: picture a young redheaded Tweedy fronting the Attractions -- a highly energetic, engaging performer. Judging by the set, his upcoming record On My Way seems promising -- much more developed songs, surprisingly rich three-part harmonies and Kweller's typical flair for lyrical whimsy. He looked to be having quite a time, bouncing from guitar to a tiny electric piano and back. The Vanilla Ice acoustic thing may have been a bit over the top, but when he misinterpreted a fan shouting "Rolling Stone!"(the mag) as a request to play some Stones and abruptly lept into a sloppy but affectionately raucous version of "(I Can't Get No)Satisfaction" he proved himself capable of owning a stage. It was a fun set and all, but the kids were obviously here to see the other Ben.
Death Cab led off with "The New Year", Transatlanticism's lead track and single, almost as if to get it out of the way. The pogo-ing and light shoving that has become de rigueur at all rock shows these days was, for some reason, more annoying to me than ever. I mean, this is Death Cab for Cutie. These are sad kid in the bedroom songs, why-won't-she-call-me songs, songs with the kinds of lyrics and subtle musical shifts that can only really be appreciated if they are listened to closely and carefully. Sure, some of the new songs turn it up a bit. Sure, bassist Nicholas Harmer flails around and contorts himself in odd ways. Sure, the guys are sweaty and move around a bit onstage-it's not like the music is devoid of energy or fervor or whatever. But the fact is, there is no place for slam dancing or crowd surfing or whatever they call it now at gigs like this. Thankfully, some of the old (read:unfamiliar) songs settled the kids down a little. Guitarist Chris Walla is an underrated piece of the charming DCFC puzzle. His playing on "Photo Booth" and keyboard work during "Sound of Settling" all but carried the performances. Gibbard is certainly and deservedly the band's center, but Walla and drummer Jason McGerr have really announced themselves on this latest record. "We Looked Like Giants" rode out its central, layered-fuzz groove for an additional five or six delicious minutes, bass and electric piano looking horns with Gibbard's guitar drone as he Thurston Moore-d his fretboard with a drumstick. "Lightness" featured a chest rattling bass synth rumbling underneath Gibbard's manually operated drum machine. That head spinner led directly into everyone's new favorite couples skate, "Tiny Vessels", which features what I've determined to be everyone's new fave catch phrase: "You are beautiful/But you don't mean a thing to me." It was bizarre. All these young kids, hand in hand, shouting this cold, defensive lyric, somehow indicative of all those bullshit pseudo-relationships we manage to wiggle in and out of, and doing so in a gleeful manner, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to say. There is the possibility, however, that I overthink stuff like this. I mean, the song does rock. Tough call.
They closed the set with Transatlanticism's title track, a gorgeous ode to the use of great sonic upsurges that take so-o-o long to gather up to their full strength that by the time they do -- McGerr pounding hard in a steady repetition, Gibbard off the piano, working his Strat, Harmer doing God-knows-what with his upper torso, Walla in still repose -- you feel at once fulfilled and exhausted. They had, with this final track, finally managed to fill this darkened barn. There's no telling how religious of an experience this would have been in a more appropriate setting, but by the time Death Cab left the stage, all the kids had their skinny little arms in the air, begging for more. My lasting image, however, will be that of the other Ben (Kweller) outside his tour bus after the show, proudly entertaining a small group of fans with a knockout lip synch-ed dance routine to Beck's disco call classic "Brenda". Performers, it seems, just like to perform. It's what they do, whether it be in a nice little room, a cold, massive arena, or a half-empty parking lot in the middle of the night.
â?? 6 April 2004