Saturday, November 18, 2007

I love the Most Serene Republic.  Not only do they make really good music, but they do interesting things to go along with it.  Here is an example, it's the video for The Men Who Live Upstairs.  The gem can be found on their latest album, Population.

:SOTO - Episode 36:  It's coming to you a day later than normal, but it still has all you've come to expect.  There's new music from Chris Walla, the Acorn, AM Syndicate, Zillionaire, Wisley and the Vandelles.  I also have some news and notes and a comment or two on Warner Music's recent confession.  Enjoy.
 

- Brand New -

On a show related side note, I saw Brand New with Thrice and MeWithoutYou this past Friday.  I hadn't been to a show that huge in a long while, so it was interesting to say the least.

I don't exactly know a ton about MeWithoutYou or Thrice, but the two of them honestly felt like the same band with the only difference being that one has managed to put the whole package all together.  Now, by that I really mean overall songwriting, as the two of them were both technically sound and interesting to watch on stage.  It's just really clear that Thrice are a point in their careers where they know how to write a good song.  The other guys just aren't there yet.

Before the show I had heard that Jesse Lacey's last appearance in Austin didn't go so well because of something that had been thrown on stage in the middle of a song, so I was curious to see if he was some sort of prima donna.  Well, he wasn't.  Or at least he didn't seem like one throughout the thunderous hour-plus performance that he and his band put on.  Outside of Jesse, I was also interested in seeing how the group's slow building style would translate to Stubb's, which is huge and outside.  I kind of figured that there would be a lot of people talking and generally being annoying, but for the most the incredibly young crowd kept it together and only went bananas in the heavier parts.

The punk/emo scene certainly isn't my kind of sound anymore, but I do think that Brand New is a great band who are worthy of all the attention that they get.  I definitely recommend seeing them live at least once.

- MeWithoutYou -


- Thrice -


- Vin Accardi -


- Jesse Lacey -

- John Laird -



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