I've only been
aware of Benji Hughes for a few weeks now, but after last
night's fantastically weird and diverse 30 minute set I have
to say that I'm really excited for his upcoming debut, A
Love Extreme. He just has something about him that
makes you want to watch and listen, forever. You
should find a seat on the bandwagon now.
To be honest,
the sole reason I was at Stubb's last night was to see the
snazzy Thao Nguyen And The Get Down Stay Down. For six
months now I've been championing their We Brave Bee
Stings And All as the best record of 2008, and even with
one
show under my belt I was certainly looking
forward to seeing them again.
That is, of course, until I realized a couple of things as
they were setting up. One was that I was only going to
get 30 minutes of music, which I knew wouldn't be enough,
and the other was that the Get Down Stay Down were missing a
member (he's apparently gone because of family related
stuff). This was initially sort of alarming since a
sizeable part of me thought that they could have used an
extra musician when I saw them at the Mohawk a few
months back, but once they got things going the blip of
concern that I had ended up being unfounded.
Instead of sounding like they needed another instrument the
songs actually came off like purposely stripped down
versions of what's on the record, and I liked it. A
lot. I didn't realize it last time, but gems like
Feet Asleep and Travel should be broken down to
the point where the focus is shifted to Thao, who easily has
the vocal chops and charisma needed to carry them in a live
setting. Although, on the flip side of things, I will
say that songs like Bag Of Hammers and Beat
aren't as big as they should be. They still sound
fine, but some of you will be left wishing that they had
been a bit more raucous.
I don't know if Thao and the guys plan on loading up on
members in the future to fully flesh out what's been done on
the album, but as of now they're essentially "keeping it
real" and not trying to do too much, which works rather
well. You should definitely go check out what they
have going on. Or else.
:Thao
Nguyen - Bag Of Hammers:
Extra Tidbit:
My friend Leah when to college with Thao and was key in
picking out the outfit worn last night. Personally, I
thought it was simple, yet sophisticated. And stuff.
What do you think? Should Leah be allowed to dress
people?
There was once
a time when I probably would have called Rilo Kiley my
favorite band. Take Offs And Landings, The
Execution Of All Things, More Adventurous - all
of them are brilliant albums that will forever hold a spot
on my list of all-time favorites.
Under The Blacklight, though, is awful. It
literally gives me a headache just thinking about it.
Now for a long time I couldn't necessarily decide if it was
so terrible because of Jenny and Blake's focus on other
projects, bad songwriting or the odd decision to lean
towards 70s glam pop and various other non-traditional Rilo
Kiley-related sounds, but last night all of the pieces
finally clicked into place and I realized this:
They cashed in with an album aimed solely for the masses,
and I don't like it. In fact, I hate it.
All was perfectly fine when it came down to sharing them
with other fans of good music, but I can't handle it now
that they've willingly crossed into the land of drunken
sorority girls who hold a beer in each hand and dance
awkwardly in their designer dresses and high heels. I
don't want to be at a Rilo Kiley show that features mainly
blank faces when they play a gem from yesteryear, and I
especially don't want to be there when Jenny makes everyone
sway their hands back and forth to songs that sound like
they belong on records in the bargain bin. Not only is
it tragic, but it's so wildly disappointing that I can't
help but hang my head in shame.
On a more positive note, the band does put on a good show.
Blake plays with as much passion as anyone I've ever seen
and when Jenny isn't killing me with that golden voice she's
usually got my attention with her stunning smile. It's
just too bad that even those qualities aren't enough when it
comes to the poor setlist and lame crowd (who fights at a
Rilo Kiley show?) that make up their performances.
:Rilo
Kiley - My Slumbering Heart:
- John Laird -
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