Recent music consumption

Rebecca and I have been on a music binge lately. In order, by date, we’ve seen Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Kasabian, OK Go! and The Decemberists. In order, by best show, we’ve seen OK Go!, Kasabian, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The Decemberists.

OK Go! is probably one of the best bands I’ve seen live. They rocked the house, sounded crisp and clear, had good crowd interaction and mixed things up with a short acoustic set. If they’re coming to a city near you anytime soon I’d highly recommend purchasing a few tickets. As a teaser here’s a clip I recorded during their encore.

Kasabian put on a great show as well, but they won’t be back in the states anytime soon. CYHSY put on a decent show, but nothing to get excited about, which is disappointing considering they’re one of my favorite bands and they absolutely rocked the house at Sasquatch.

This brings us to The Decemberists. Jesus, what a horrific show this was. Absolutely no crowd interaction and the band looked like a dead fish on stage. The show would have been great if I had closed my eyes, but that’s just like listening to the CD. Lame.

Missy Higgins and Ian McFeron at The Crocodile

Last night Kay and I went to The Crocodile Cafe to take in a show. We saw Missy Higgins and Ian McFeron. Overall, I give the show a good grade. Though I always give good grades to shows where I can hear what the singer is singing and the music doesn’t totally sound like ass.

First up was Ian McFeron, who played last year at Bumbershoot. He sounded a little bluesy and a little honkey tonk, but was fun to watch. I always enjoy someone on an acoustic guitar on stage who looks like they’re really enjoying putting on a show. His fiddle player, on the other hand, looked awkward and uncomfortable. She had this smile on her face that said, “I have no fucking clue what I’m doing here. I thought learning to play the violin would land me a rich husband.”

After a brief intermission Missy Higgins came on. You could tell because all of the lesbian’s wallet chains were clanking with excitement. Seriously, the minute this girl started playing the piano every short haired Emo girl in the place let out a sigh. Her Wikipedia entry says her music has been described as “bland and underproduced” and I couldn’t agree more. She sounded fine, but she never really achieved full jamfest, which disappointed me a bit because it almost felt like she was holding back. Never the less, she did end up belting out a few good songs.

As a side note, I drank some Flat Tire beer that that tasted like it had been laced with farts. Seriously, I don’t remember Flat Tire tasting that bad. Luckily, they had New Castle so I was able to clear my palate (as a side note to my side note, I had to Google the correct spelling of palate/pallete/pallet).

The Killers

While this post may be late to the party, I’m far from it. Lauren introduced me to The Killers back in October I believe, maybe even sooner. We then went and saw The Killers, Franz Ferdinand and Modest Mouse at a Christmas concert in December where The Killers totally stole the show. It’s not often that I totally get into a band, but I have to admit that this band pretty much completely rocks my socks off. The whole album is great and I highly recommend checking out their album “Hot Fuss”.