Tuesday, October 30, 2007
 

Yesterday I rambled about Tiger! Tiger! and the fact that they're on Chicken Ranch Records, which is an Austin-based label.  Well, today will pretty much be the same kind of setup.  Only this time around I'm sharing some new music from Parker Street Cinema, who reside on Abandoned Love Records (Lovely Sparrows, Virgin Of The Birds, Nire).  Jon Rooney and Co. have impressed me time and time again with the variety of artists that make up their roster, and PSC is nothing but another fine example of the good work being done there.  If you've been looking for an instrumental album that is easily accessible and/or strays from the slow building, concentration-heavy sounds of Explosions In The Sky or Mono then PSC's Music In The Blood is what you need.  Enjoy.

:Parker Street Cinema - Blood Music:  As previously mentioned, there is no build up here.  The trio set the song's steady pace straight from the beginning. and then spend the majority of the four minute runtime allowing each instrument to have a moment in the spotlight.  Personally, I kind of like the absence of a defined climax.  Not only does it allow you to sit and listen to the already present layers shift around, but it's easier to just pick up and rock.

:Parker Street Cinema - These Precious Seconds:  Like its album counterpart this number gets things moving rather quickly.  However, outside of that and the fact that they both have a theatrical feel they aren't overly similar.  This has a lot of bouncy guitar riffs and a continuous stream of pretty piano work.  It actually kind of reminds me of the kind of song that would be played during a montage of some sort.

On a show related side note, I saw Josh Ritter and Eric Bachmann at the Parish last night. I thought that the two of them put on quality shows that I won't soon forget.  See below for a few more details.

Simply put, Eric really impressed me.  I was kind of expecting it to just be him, but he brought a violinist/drummer on stage and the two of them really made his set really come alive with the constant interaction between their faces and their instruments.  In fact, some of my favorite moments from their performance were the two instrumental jams that they did.  I thought it was great how in between each song that featured Eric's deep, booming voice were these tense little interludes were they just sort of stared at each other as they played away. 

Trust me when I say that Eric doesn't put on your typical singer/songwriter kind of performance.  He knows how to make it interesting in a way that you won't feel like you're being forced to pay attention; you'll just want to.

Around three songs into Josh's set I realized something that I never had even briefly pondered, the guy is the John Mayer of the indie world.  Sure, that sounds more than a little crazy.  But if you had been in the crowd, which was an unexpected collection of average "I like everything" kind of music listeners, then you what know exactly what I mean.  All of those people were dancing, singing and constantly yelling out lines like: "Josh, you're adorable!" and "I love you."  It was more than a little strange given some of the songs that this guy has written.

Still, the guy knows how to entertain.  In between just about every song he told a myriad of random stories that even had me laughing.  He also never stopped smiling as he bounced his way through each song in his hour and half set.  It was honestly a joyous experience that left me happy about being in attendance, which is what it's all about anyways.  Josh is definitely worth the time if you have it.

- John Laird -



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